Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 434

"Is this the last one?" Delete asked, squatting down at Mu's feet.

"Yes." Mu nodded. "The last one."

I have also returned to the past.

Xiangzi grabbed the letter, shoved the seed of sorrow into his pocket, and rushed out of the room.

It's difficult to tell you in detail what exactly happened to me, but after thinking about it, I've decided to tell you anyway.

Actually, from the moment we first visited the ruins of the Kamahama Magic Alliance, the person accompanying you, Wakaba Mutsumi, was already replaced.

--boom!

The reverse explosion pulled Mu into the room behind the wall.

The dark figure from the other side removed the C4 bomb stuck to the wall and retreated out of the window. A few seconds later, another dark figure from this side jumped in through the window and dragged the unconscious Mu into the space under the bed.

The dark figure pressed on her chest, removed her protective suit, and revealed a face identical to the unconscious Mu's. A wound on her arm hadn't fully healed.

She threw a pre-prepared backpack under the bed, then lay down at the foot of the bed, pretending to hit her head and pass out.

A few seconds later, Xiangzi rushed into the room.

I woke up at night and found myself under the bed with a backpack next to me.

[The backpack contained a "Deep Stone Lullaby User Manual," a notepad with notes, some food, and a pistol without bullets.]

[This is something my future self left me. The sticky notes listed every step I needed to complete afterward, and everything happened exactly as instructed on the notes.]

[1. Leave the "Deep Stone Lullaby User Manual" inside the barrier.]

Before Xiangzi sneaked into the art museum, Mu placed the "Deep Stone Lullaby User Manual," which she had found in her backpack, inside the barrier. The "User Manual" that Xiangzi received was actually something she had taken from the barrier herself and then put back through Mu's hands; it was a loop.

[2. Wait, until the night the Freeport conflict occurs.]

Mu sat alone on a crane in the free port, watching the moon rise and the waves surge.

[3. After the conflict, enter the passage to the other side, return to June 1st, and obtain the passage to the other side.]

Mu stepped out of the revolving door and saw a face that looked exactly like her own.

"You've come too." Mu breathed a sigh of relief. "The journey to the other side must have been tough."

"They actually went back to the past..." Mu exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Yes."

“I’ve done everything you said. I put the instruction manual inside the barrier, waited at the port until you disappeared, then went through the door, and then came back here.” Mutsu turned around, looking at the passage to the other side behind him. “And then… is there anything else I need to do?”

"Close the passage to the other side," said my future self.

She turned her head and looked at the revolving door in front of her.

"Can it be stored away?"

"There's a switch on the back that lets you adjust the size. The smallest size is about the same as a record player, which is big enough to carry around," Mu said.

"..."

【4 Angry Umbrella Dance Qi Jiu】

Mu used the silk thread to swing forward in the church where there was nowhere to stand, and finally reached the protective shield before the light from the sky covered him.

When she saw Xiangzi lying on the ground, she rushed over and picked her up.

At this moment.

The fragile protective shield was torn apart, and light poured down on them.

Just when everything was about to end, a witch resembling a birdcage trapped them all inside, preventing their final self-destruction.

[5. Accompany Xiangzi to rest for a while, until the battle for Free Port comes again.]

Xiangzi lay on the hospital bed, opened his eyes and saw Mu. His panicked heartbeat slowly calmed down.

Mu opened his eyes and looked at Xiangzi with a complicated expression.

[6. Enter the Other Shore for the second time. Before that, destroy all the passages to the Other Shore. Remember to take Xiang's notebook with you.]

This was followed by several addresses.

Mu got a bunch of explosives from Yan and destroyed the other side passages of the Ode to Praise one by one until only the last one, the other side passage of Free Port, was left, because it was the farthest from Shenbin City and the most difficult place for Xiangzi to reach.

Before finally setting off for the Free Port, she took Xiangzi's notebook, which he had left on his bedside table, while he was fast asleep.

7. Go deep into the mountains and deliver the notebook to Xiang.

Wearing protective clothing, Mu arrived at the room where Xiangzi and Maruyama Aya were talking and threw the metal box containing the notebook at Xiangzi.

In Xiangzi's eyes, he must have been the one who stole the notebook.

But it's okay, Xiang will definitely find a way.

[8. Also, don't forget to lower the passage to the other side, and don't forget to destroy it.]

Mu calculated the time and realized that this matter should have been placed before the seventh item. Before handing the notebook to Xiangzi, she had already lowered the passage to the other side.

The passage to the other side that Xiangzi saw in the deep mountains and forests was actually the same one that was in the Shenbin Magic Alliance.

[9. Next, before returning to June 1st, launch a surprise attack on Sho at the ruins of the Kamahama Magic Alliance.]

Mu returned to where she started, and now she knew who had attacked her.

Using the C4 explosives he stole from Yan, he ambushed Xiangzi and his group. He was accidentally injured during the battle and eventually used the C4 explosives to "blast" his past self back to his original place.

She controlled the explosive charge very well; most of the debris was just a visual effect controlled by the wire, and she was actually not harmed at all.

That's it.

Before leaving, Mu glanced at the three people who were backing out of the building.

[10. Return to June 1st and transfer to this shore.]

Mu, clutching her arm injured by Xiangzi, returned to this side of the river. This was the second time she had returned to June 1st.

Looking at the identical person standing before her, she seemed to understand something. This scene wasn't in her memory, which meant... this was her future self returning to June 1st for the third time, right?

"I'll be back here on June 3rd, right?" Mu asked her other self softly.

"Ah."

"Then, as planned, I replaced myself, who had come to visit with Xiang."

"Ah."

After the replacement, the wound on his hand was not completely healed, but it had already shown signs of healing. However, in Xiangzi's mind, the wound here should be an irreparable injury.

The wound on my arm, having returned from the other side to this side and synchronized with the radiation state, began to slowly heal.

That pistol without bullets was actually equipped with bullets from the other side. Pulling the trigger at the right moment would send the bullet back into the chamber, creating an irreparable wound for Mu, thus covering it up.

“…I understand.” Mu nodded, passing by his future self. “How did things go after that?”

"So far, everything is going smoothly." The future self turned around and instructed, "There is a relatively intact room on the eighth floor. You can stay there for two days—be careful of the battles that will take place here later, and don't get injured."

"Ah."

"Take care of yourself."

"You are me too, in the future."

[11. Wait patiently until June 3rd, then replace her and hand over the prepared items.]

Mu waited on the upper floor for a while. After hearing the first reverse explosion, she immediately used her silk threads to reach the room directly below. To avoid contact with herself, Mu wore a protective suit as a precaution.

The reverse explosion pulled her past self into the room. As she entered, she saw her past self backing away from the room, continuing her conflict with Xiangzi.

Mu methodically hid his unconscious self under the bed, threw the prepared backpack inside, removed his protective suit, pretended to be stunned by the explosion, lay down in a corner of the room, and closed his eyes.

That way, Xiangzi wouldn't notice that there were two versions of himself in the room.

[These are the things I need to do on the sticky note.]

I'm so sorry, Xiang, I've been keeping this from you all this time.

Xiangzi folded the letter and put it in her pocket along with the Seed of Sorrow. She rushed out of the room without even checking out. She quickly found a taxi and told him to drive towards Free Port.

"Why, Mu..." Xiangzi covered her face, letting out a whimper like a small animal, "I trusted you so much..."

Mu didn't explain what happened next, but Xiangzi already understood.

Mutsu, who has been by her side all this time, is actually the one who came back from the future.

Until after that battle,

The taxi fare was so high that Xiangzi's hands trembled. Normally, her hands would definitely tremble, but today she didn't even have time to scan the code to pay. She left all the Fukuzawa Yukichi in her wallet and rushed straight to the warehouse of the free trade port.

He was running so frantically and anxiously that Xiangzi stumbled and almost tripped over the railway tracks.

She recalled the various unnatural moments during her trip to Kamihama. Memories flowed through her heart like a river. She considered all possible suspicious points, wondered who might have caused those unnatural situations, thought about herself, and even considered the possibility that they might be enemies of the eulogists. But no matter what, Xiangzi never imagined that the person hiding behind them, who had been pushing them forward all along...

It will be harmony.

She trusted Mu too much, and Mu was too obedient. She never imagined that Mu would do something against her will.

"Don't go... Mu..."

Xiangzi stumbled and ran into the factory.

—“Xiang”.

She heard Mu's voice.

Xiangzi rushed into the red room, only to find layers of silk threads blocking her way. She took out Reinhardt, but realized that in her haste she had forgotten to bring the bag containing the Seed of Lamentation.

Mu stood in the open passageway to the other side, carrying a backpack and with Delete perched on her shoulder.

"I still can't bear to part with you," Mu said. "I want to see you one last time."

"Why won't you let me go?" Xiangzi tried his best to pull the threads aside and get closer. "I can handle this myself!"

She suddenly remembered that she had a Seed of Lamentation in her pocket, took it out, and stuffed it into the magazine.

“Because you need me, you need me.” He closed his eyes. “You need me to weave another past for this operation.”

Images from the past flashed before my eyes like lightning.

Just as Mami, with a self-destructive resolve, unleashed that devastating light, a witch saved everyone, including Mami herself.

No one knows who that witch is.

Xiangzi's pupils contracted sharply, and he stopped pulling the trigger to cut the threads.

Whose seed of sorrow is this...?

"and many more!"

Xiangzi pulled the Seed of Lamentation from the magazine and shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice trembling with fear.

"Mu! What are you going to do?!"

“We saved the world together, we can’t leave any risks behind,” Mu said softly.

"Do you really have to go back? What if it were me? I could do it too! I could do the same thing!"

“You know what will happen, you’ve been through it, what’s done is done.” Mu’s voice sounded much lighter. She raised her head, her gaze seemingly looking through the ceiling at the distant sky. “Xiang, everyone has their own destiny, and so do I.”

Mortis means fearlessness in the face of death.

The flashbacks of the past continue.

"And then what?" When Mutsu returned to June 1st for the first time, she encountered herself who had returned to June 1st for the third time.

That Mu handed her the passage to the other side.

"Find a suitable time and put it in the cave behind the mountain."

"Come closer, what do you need me to do for you?"

"A major battle will take place tonight in the factory ruins between Kamihama and Mitakihara. Sho and I will go there to fight, and the defenses here will be very weak."

"You need me to guard this place?"

"No, I need you to join the main force tonight to fight in the factory ruins, and then... retrieve my Seed of Lamentation."

The flashback continues.

Just as the dawn was about to destroy everyone, Mutsu voluntarily filled her nearly overflowing soul gem, forcibly initiating the process of becoming a witch.