Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 34

"Chuhua, you are my only friend now."

"I can't let you wander around the barrier with me, carrying the witch's kiss, and let you get involved with me... I can't do this to my friend."

"No one knows what kind of effect the witch's kiss will have on you. The farther you are from here, the less likely you are to be controlled by the witch."

"This is too dangerous. I don't want to lose you. Even from the most selfish perspective, I don't want to lose you before I die, and I don't want to imagine you after I lose you, and then pretend you're still there... That's too terrifying. I don't want to go through that again—"

Xiangzi nestled into a warm embrace.

Chu Hua turned around without warning and pulled her into his arms.

"Chuhua?!"

"Xiao Xiang, let me tell you a story."

"what?"

Before Xiangzi could say whether he agreed or disagreed, Chuhua started telling a story.

Anyway, she never intended to listen to Xiangzi.

Once upon a time, there was a country girl who dreamed of becoming a singer one day.

"Years later, the girl from the countryside made her debut in the big city. She became famous and realized her childhood dream."

"The biggest downside of realizing a dream is that realizing a dream also means losing it. She discovered that the life of a celebrity is completely different from what she had imagined... No, maybe she never even imagined the life of a celebrity; she just piled up all the beautiful words in the world onto the word 'dream'."

"Those two words have no meaning for her anymore. She is confused and sad."

"She was singing on stage, but she didn't know what she was singing."

"She smiled brightly at the autograph session, but it was just mechanical control of her facial muscles."

She looked at the cheering audience below the stage, but found them as ridiculous as monkeys.

She started to think the world was rotten, but she didn't know what she wanted.

"She's just like those blind fans."

"Wave, sway, fire, kill."

"War, famine, hurricanes, tsunamis."

"Death, despair, confusion, sorrow."

"They don't know why they are clapping or cheering. They are like flowers that bloom blindly, blooming and withering with the seasons. They have no thoughts of their own, just going with the flow and echoing what others say."

Chu Hua was so excited that he even mentioned that Chaqi Yilin Dam was Siwu Lu.

She held Xiangzi's shoulder and coughed several times.

"...Xiao Xiang...you should know who she is without me saying it..."

"Chuhua..."

The sorrow surging from Chu Hua was almost overwhelming her.

"Yes... cough cough... Triangle Chuhua, that blind, foolish, confused guy."

"Xiao Xiang, do you know?"

Chu Hua raised her hand and gently stroked Xiangzi's hair.

“Every day I spent in Reed Plain was terrible. I played songs I didn’t like on stage and forced a smile to face my fans.”

"In the restroom of some underground bar, I witnessed an unknown magical girl turn into a witch. I had to kill her and take her Lament Seed."

"After that, I saw everyone as a witch, even myself."

Chu Hua said.

"Only you, Xiao Xiang."

"You are still the Xiao Xiang I remember."

"It's still that Xiao Xiang who sang Greensleeves with me that summer."

“I want Xiao Xiang to keep me in his heart. We had a great time chatting that night, but you said that the person I was talking to was Gao Songdeng. But—in my eyes, the one who talked to me about the starry sky all night was you, Xiao Xiang.”

"Actually, I've changed a long time ago." Xiangzi let Chuhua play with her hair, awkwardly looking away.

"No, Xiao Xiang, you haven't changed."

Chu Hua tied up Xiangzi's hair, holding the hair tie that Xiangzi had just dropped on the ground in her other hand.

"You are very smart, you are very serious, you put 120% effort into everything you do, and you don't like others to help you. You are the same as when you were a child, even your hairstyle is exactly the same, you haven't changed at all."

She carefully tied Xiangzi's hair back up, making it look the same as before.

Xiangzi has had this hairstyle since he was a child, but now his hair is longer and doesn't look as curly.

It doesn't look like a doll anymore.

But Xiangzi is still so lovable.

"Do you remember that time you caught the spider? I said I could help, but you wouldn't. You held back your tears and took the spider down and put it in the box."

"You're clearly scared too."

Xiangzi pursed his lips, pushed Chuhua aside, and sat down on the curb by the roadside.

"Still insisting on helping me."

Chu Hua's hair-tying skills were terrible. Xiang Zi was about to pull off the slipknot and re-tie it when she reached halfway through and pinched the slipknot, but then she changed her mind.

"No way, you're the one I'm most afraid of." Chu Hua pouted and sat down next to her.

"No, it was definitely you. You were so scared that you had tears in your eyes, and you were still insisting on catching the spider. I reluctantly helped you get it down."

"Is that what you call doing it reluctantly? You're crying your eyes out."

"Slander, absolutely slander."

"Eh......"

"..."

"..."

They looked at each other, stunned for a moment.

They all laughed in the end.

“6琦哟鸸爸斯事扒噗~”

"How come you remember things from the past so clearly?" Xiangzi asked, both amused and exasperated.

"Because it's related to Xiao Xiang. I remember everything about Xiao Xiang very clearly." Chu Hua hugged her knees, watching the ants crawling on the ground. "I'm sorry, Xiao... Xiangzi, I went too far just now."

"I've turned back into Xiangzi," Xiangzi said.

"..." Chu Hua's eyes turned dejected in an instant.

"From now on, just call me Xiao Xiang, just like when I was a child."

“…Xiao Xiang.” Chu Hua’s eyes lit up again. “Let me help you stop thinking about becoming a magical girl for now, okay?”

"..."

"Anyway, I've already been given the Witch's Kiss." Chu Hua lifted her collar, revealing the Witch's Kiss that emitted a faint glow. "In the worst-case scenario, I can't escape it for the rest of my life."

She blinked.

"You have to take responsibility."

"Pfft—cough cough—!"

“I will take responsibility for Xiao Xiang for the rest of his life.”

"Stop, I understand." Xiangzi rubbed his forehead and sighed helplessly. "I can take you with me from now on, right? Dolores might still need to be handled by you."

"Received~"

Chu Hua answered Xiangzi by resting her head on Xiangzi's shoulder.

Xiangzi also turned his head to the side, resting his cheek on Chuhua's head.

......

......

......

"I'm so hungry, do you want to go get some late-night snacks?"

"I know a street ramen place that's really cheap, I'll take you there."

"Why emphasize that it's very cheap?"

"Because Xiao Xiang invited me out for dinner tonight, Xiao Xiang is treating."

"My treat? Okay... that's not a bad idea."

The Tale of Nirvana: Keep Your True Self: Chapter 43 - You Will Surely Return to the Past

Boom!

The cat-like witch, eight or nine meters tall, raised her steel claws to block the incoming attack. The blade of the giant sword collided with the cat-like witch's steel claws, sparking intense flames.

The one wielding the giant sword was not a magical girl, but a puppet with strings attached. There were two other puppets like it, one holding a shield and the other a bow and arrow.

The shield puppet will step forward just as the witch is about to attack, and make room for the greatsword puppet to take over during the opening. After the witch's attacks hit the shield several times in a row, she becomes extremely irritable and exposes more weaknesses, which are then seized by the archers who have been waiting for a long time.

"Now—Xiao Mu!"

Whizzing--!

The bowstring was taut, then released, and the arrow flew out, imbued with two beams of colored light. In mid-air, it split into two arrows, each with two almost invisible thin lines attached to its tail.

"Characteristics: Connection."

"Special characteristic: splitting."

Two arrows pierced the witch's eyes, robbing her of her sight.

The witch went even crazier, attacking everything in her path indiscriminately. Neither the shield puppet nor the greatsword puppet could get close to her due to her frenzied behavior.

However, the witch was also recklessly squandering her power.

"Characteristic attribute: fatigue."

"Special characteristic: accumulation of paralysis."

Two beams of light traveled along the thin lines attached to the arrows to the witch, and her movements immediately slowed down noticeably. Her attack frequency decreased, her stance became unstable, and her steps became unsteady.

"Special attribute: Enhanced strength."

"Special Feature: Enhanced Jumping Ability."

"Characteristic: Sharp."

"It's the final blow, Xiao Mu."

Nagasaki Motoyo imbued the shield doll with strength enhancement and the greatsword doll with bounce enhancement and sharpness enhancement.

If Ye Mu swings the puppet strings in her hand, she controls the greatsword puppet to step on the shield puppet's shield. The shield puppet bursts out with tremendous force the moment it bears the weight, pushing the greatsword puppet upwards.

Using the shield as a springboard, the greatsword doll leaped up and flew directly above the witch.

The greatsword's blade pointed directly downwards, the force of the leap completely vanished, and the greatsword puppet briefly hovered in mid-air. At the same time, the witch's movements completely froze, and the paralysis debuff that Su Shi had placed on it took effect.

Mu waved his arm downwards, triggering the puppet's final burst of strength.

The greatsword pierced perfectly between the witch's eyebrows, piercing through her skull.

The doll stepped on the witch's head and fell to the ground along with her enormous body, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Then, the barrier shattered like a broken mirror.

The peaceful world returned to reality.

Su Shi took the staff and tapped Mu on the body.

"Feature removed: Mental Focus".

Mu's tense shoulders relaxed instantly, and the puppeteer lines on the shield and bow puppets disappeared at the same time, leaving only the greatsword puppet still standing.