Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

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Xiangzi changed his wall-slamming posture and forcefully pressed down on Aine's shoulder.

Aine winced in pain as Aine's shoulder was being pinched. However, this caused the despair that had been on her face to fade slightly.

“The Soul Gem…” She raised her empty eyes and looked at Xiangzi, “What use is that thing now?”

"Take it out for me first."

“…Whatever you say goes.” Ai Yin lowered her head and took her Soul Gem out of the ring.

Xiangzi snatched the gemstone and stuck his own and the gemstone together.

It was only then that Aine noticed that her Soul Gem was almost full again. The reason for using "again" is that just a few minutes ago, or even less than a few minutes ago, Mu had cleansed the Soul Gem of impurities for her, using an entire Seed of Lamentation.

It's only been a short time, and it's already full again.

The flower bud-shaped soul gem adhered to Aine's gem, absorbing the filth within, and Aine's pink soul gem gradually regained its clarity.

"Despair, pain, resentment..."

Xiangzi stared at the pink gemstone, watching it rise once again at a visible speed.

"Negative emotions accelerate the accumulation of impurities in the gem. The deeper the despair, the faster the accumulation. In the moment of a person's deepest despair, the soul gem will be filled with impurities in an instant."

While helping Aine purify herself, she also told her the truth about magical girls.

“Just like you just now,” Xiangzi said. “You doubt yourself, doubt the meaning of your existence, feel disgusted with yourself, feel disgusted with the world. At times like these, all the feelings of despair will erupt at once.”

Aiyin stared blankly at Xiangzi.

The filth inside the gem kept rising, and if it weren't for Xiangzi, the filth accumulated over this period would have been enough for her to turn into a witch several times over.

But it doesn't matter, as long as Xiangzi is there, it doesn't matter. She can endure almost endless filth.

“Some magical girls can survive this moment. Their hearts become stronger afterward, the accumulation of filth slows down, their mentality becomes more mature, and their use of magic reaches a higher level,” Xiangzi said. “They can live longer, the longest perhaps from hundreds of years ago to the present day.”

She looked into Ai Yin's pale blue eyes and pondered how to rouse her.

"What is your aspiration?"

She wasn't familiar with Ai Yin and didn't know what to say to be most effective.

“...I have no dreams.” Aine lowered her eyes and said softly.

What are her dreams? Like most people her age, she is filled with confusion about the future and doesn't know where she should go.

The future may be the same.

What is the wish you make when you become a magical girl?

"...Do you really want to tell me?" Aine looked hesitant.

"Speak," Xiangzi replied decisively.

"Don't laugh at me when I tell you..." Aine felt her cheeks burning, "It's... becoming a magical girl."

"When you became a magical girl, your wish was to become a magical girl?" Xiangzi was dumbfounded.

"Pfft." Mu covered her mouth from the side.

"I told you to stop laughing!" Aine gave Xiangzi a >~< look and slapped her hand away. "So what if I made such a stupid wish! There was a familiar on the plane at the time, and if I hadn't made my wish, we would all be doomed!"

"Then why don't you make a wish that's more beneficial to yourself?" Xiangzi asked with a serious face. "Even if it's just for money."

She was actually trying not to laugh.

She received professional training when she worked in customer service, so she can keep a straight face no matter how funny the situation is.

“I…” Aine lowered her head and said hesitantly, “I feel that things obtained through wishing are not truly mine.”

"Good awareness. If everyone thought like you, there probably wouldn't be so many magical girls in the world."

Xiangzi shook his head with a chuckle and made a gesture as if he were throwing something away.

She had originally planned to use words about dreams to motivate Aine and cheer her up, but now it seemed unnecessary.

Aine caught what Xiangzi threw to her and discovered it was her own Soul Gem. The Soul Gem had been purified and was so clear that one could see through it.

Wait, isn't it said that the more negative emotions you have, the easier it is to accumulate...?

Aine blinked strangely.

“Once your emotions stabilize, even if your mental state is very bad, the growth of filth will no longer be explosive,” Xiangzi said. “However, it will still accelerate, and if your mindset doesn’t improve, the growth will get faster and faster.”

If this continues, even if one possesses enough Grief Seeds to prevent turning into a witch, one will end up like Mari Ono, whose Soul Gem will be nearly full in less than a moment.

"What should I do then...?"

"Hunt down witches relentlessly to obtain their Lament Seeds and slow down your own depletion," Xiangzi said. "Or, I can help you purify the Soul Gem. You can come see me every two days; we're in the next class anyway."

Anyway, she can now use her own Soul Gem to purify others, which is equivalent to not consuming the Seed of Lamentation.

Although everyone rejected Xiangzi's proposal to take over all the gem purification work in the team from now on, arguing that "no matter how much magic you have, it's not infinite, and we still have enough of our own Seeds of Lamentation."

However, she had no objection to purifying only Aine.

"Really?" Aine blinked.

“Absolutely true.” Xiang Qi shrugged. “It’s nothing to me.”

"..."

Aine was almost ready to agree.

Ding dong.

The train pulled into the station.

Ai Yin clutched the Soul Gem, bit her lip, and turned her head away.

"I'll figure out how to solve it myself. I owe you so much, my benefactor."

Ai Yin's voice sounded very hoarse. Although it usually sounded a bit hoarse, as if she was speaking with her throat strained, her voice was exceptionally low and hoarse at this moment, as if a person who had lost their voice was desperately trying to speak.

"...I have no reason to continue troubling you."

“Helping you doesn’t require much effort from me,” Xiangzi said naturally.

It was natural to say it from a superior position.

Aiyin looked at Xiangzi, at the pride that emanated from her very bones, and felt that the elite image she had been trying so hard to maintain in front of her classmates was ridiculously clown-like compared to Xiangzi.

"No, thank you."

Ai Yin lowered her eyes, bowed to Xiangzi, and turned to board the tram.

Xiangzi watched her retreating figure, then suddenly remembered something.

"Wait a moment!"

"?" Aine turned around in confusion.

“As long as the Soul Gem isn’t full, you’re not a witch yet.” She looked into Aine’s eyes and said earnestly, “You can always be the ‘ally of justice’ you dream of.”

Ding dong.

The car door closed, separating Xiangzi and Aiyin.

The tram continued moving forward, getting further and further away from the platform.

“A partner of justice…” Aine held her Soul Gem in her hand, examining it carefully, and sighed, “I clearly never said such a word, how did she interpret it, and even said it in public… How embarrassing.”

She put the Soul Gem back into her ring and curled up in a ball in the corner of the carriage.

"Just because you deliberately don't mention Su Shi's affairs doesn't mean I won't think about it...."

Ai Yin wasn't stupid. As an excellent student who excelled in both character and academics and was competitive for scholarships, she had long noticed that Xiangzi was deliberately avoiding topics related to Su Shi.

It's obvious to anyone that she doesn't want me to get involved.

They're actually concerned about me, but they're too embarrassed to say it directly. But how could something like this not concern them?

Xiangzi's ability to comfort people and change the subject is really terrible; Ai Yin sensed this from their first meeting.

"My benefactor is surprisingly clumsy in some ways..."

Ai Yin wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, raised her head, and looked out the window with a sorrowful and confused gaze. She gave a miserable smile, unsure whether she should be happy or sad.

"Aine, where will your future lead?"

The tram carrying the melancholy girl drove further and further away, surrounded by neon lights.

The Lost Tale: The Lost Child - Chapter 279 Our Sin

Xiangzi stood at the edge of the platform, watching the tram that Aiyin was riding drive further and further away.

Only after the tram had completely disappeared from sight did she turn around, conjure a mop out of thin air, find a tap, fill a bucket with water that had been recreated, and bend down to clean up the stains on the ground.

“I’ll help too,” Mu said.

"No need." Xiangzi bent down to continue his work.

She wouldn't give Mu a mop, so Mu couldn't help.

"..."

Mu silently turned his head and found the locked storage room next to him, which was usually where cleaners kept their mops and brooms.

She walked over and raised her finger.

The thread flew out from the fingertip, slipped into the keyhole, and after fumbling around for a while, it was pulled slightly.

Click, the lock opened.

Mu pushed open the door, grabbed a mop at random, dragged it to Xiangzi's side, bent down and silently began to work.

"Where did you get that mop from?" Xiangzi looked up and raised his eyebrows.

Mu didn't speak, his gaze drifting towards the open storage room.

"...A lock opened with a silk thread?" Xiangzi picked up the mop, stuffed it into the bucket, and turned around to ask, "Who taught you to use it in such a despicable way?"

Xiangzi knew Mu as a good boy, and he had never used this kind of sneaky trick before.

"It was taught to me by Miaomeng herself," Mu said.

"Meow Dream?" Upon hearing this name, Xiangzi instinctively rolled his eyes, giving off an "I knew it" look.

Mu nodded.

"Don't listen to her anymore." Xiangzi pulled out the wrung-out mop and continued dragging it on the floor.

When Xiangzi was homeless, he worked as a part-time cleaner. At home, he also took care of all the housework himself. He was quick and efficient at his work. Mu, on the other hand, was a true pampered young lady who never lifted a finger. The clumsy mop actually hindered Xiangzi's work to some extent, and the mop head inevitably pushed Mu aside.

After Mu's mop head was knocked away by Xiangzi's mop head several times, he stood aside looking aggrieved, like a small dog that had been abandoned in a cardboard box.

Xiangzi couldn't stand the way she looked at him, so he deliberately cleared out a spot that didn't really need cleaning for her.

"Mu, is there anything you want to say?" Xiangzi asked, his head bowed.

"...It's nothing." Mu shook his head.

"Do you want to know if there's any hope for Su Shi?" Xiangzi asked again.

Mu paused for a moment, then continued.

"Mmm." She nodded again.

“Su Shi is a flower witch, and she should still be in the cocooning stage,” Xiangzi continued, “just like I was in a while ago.”

Mu's eyes brightened slightly, but he didn't stop what he was doing.

After mopping up the last stain on the floor, Xiangzi stuffed the mop into the bucket of water, stirred it, and then poured the water out.

The round trip didn't take much time.

Mu looked up at her.

"...Finding the barrier won't be easy, and even if we do, what kind of barrier we'll face is unknown." Xiangzi continued, "When Nirvana took place, Yukina-senpai and Kasumi-senpai stood in this position. Now it's our turn."

As she spoke, her eyes suddenly became somewhat evasive.

"At this stage, the flower witch will use all sorts of methods to protect herself. Breaking their self-protection mechanism is not something that can be solved by having power. Otherwise, I would have been killed by Yuki long ago... So... I can't guarantee... that I can definitely... save her."

"..."

"I'll try."