Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 26

“That’s why I can’t accept Popipa’s pointless optimism,” Yukina frowned.

"Just to save face for me, let's each compromise and give Xiao Xiang a chance. How many chances to give him is up to you."

"You're gambling with your own reputation and the future of the entire Reed Plains."

Yukina gripped the scythe handle tighter, bringing the blade tip a little closer to Kasumi's neck. On the other side, the sword tip pressed against her throat also drew a little closer to her own throat.

"How does Yuki know that everything will end when Xiaoxiang dies? If it doesn't end, wouldn't that be even worse? We've lost our only source of intelligence."

"How do you think I found her? By following you?"

"Wow, Yuki, you care about me so much! I'm so touched!"

Yukina looked into Kasumi Kirakira's eyes as if she had seen something disgusting, and then disgustedly removed the scythe.

"They mean there are other intelligence channels, right?" Xiangzi couldn't stand it anymore and added an explanation for Youxi.

"Oh, I see." Kasumi suddenly realized.

"It's better to be straightforward when talking to Kasumi," Tae added.

"..."

Yuki's forehead creased up in a grid pattern, she clenched her fist, then slowly relaxed it.

"Okay, then let's do as you say and compromise."

"Yay!"

Kasumi and Tae high-fived in celebration, their bodies seemingly sparkling with countless tiny stars.

Xiangzi felt a strange sense of disconnect with the two people in Popipa.

On the contrary, Yuki, who was just thinking about whether to kill herself, seemed more like a normal person who could communicate normally.

Come to think of it, if I were in her position, my first thought would also be to eliminate the potential problems.

"May I ask who it is, the one who provided the information?"

The words were spoken by Xiangzi.

“Although I haven’t removed you from the danger list yet, I’ll let it go for the sake of all the information you’ve provided,” Yushina said. “You’re an information broker named Yutenji Wakana.”

This means that she has temporarily lowered her guard against Xiangzi.

“Sincerity begets sincerity.” Toyokawa Shoko put his arm around Shoko’s shoulder. “Look, this is the reward. Yutenji Wakami, Wakami Wakami, Meow Meow Meow, what a familiar name.”

Xiangzi silently took out his small medicine jar and popped a pill into his mouth.

She doesn't want to see this guy for the time being.

She can remove it for now; she doesn't want to see this guy for 24 hours.

"Tch, I even saved your life." Toyokawa Shoko clicked her tongue. "Ungrateful."

It takes time for the medicine to take effect.

But every time the other self sees Xiangzi taking medicine, it will disappear on its own.

So Xiangzi has been taking his medicine a little more often lately.

Yukina stared at the medicine bottle in her hand.

"Do you have delusions? You can see things that others can't, like..." Yukina thought for a moment, "...butterflies or something?"

“Not delusional, but pretty much so.” Xiangzi tapped his temple with a medicine bottle. “The problem lies here.”

"But you seem very clear-headed."

“Because I knew there was another person in my head.” Xiangzi crossed his arms and turned his head away. “Before I knew it, I probably wasn’t very clear-headed.”

"...Toyokawa Shoko, that's her name, right?"

Yuki crossed her arms over her chest.

"Since Kasumi says I'll decide the timing, then..."

She held up two fingers.

"Two weeks to prove you're not a witch, and produce complete information about the Nirvana Barrier."

"Or, I saw Nirvana disappear."

"If you achieve either one, you can survive."

"Two weeks..."

Xiangzi pursed his lips.

"The timeframe is too short. Could you extend it to a month?"

“You heard a lot of what I just said to Kasumi.” Yukina took out her phone, opened a document, and handed it to Shoko. “This is the ‘Witch’s Night’s Track Prediction Data’ that I was talking about. It was compiled by our best intelligence agent, Rinko Shirogane.”

Xiangzi took the phone and flipped through a few pages.

It roughly predicted the trajectory of Witch Night this year. At this time, it is probably still in the Pacific Ocean, and in two months it will be blown over by the monsoon and make landfall with the typhoon.

In previous years, it often landed on the southeastern coast of the western continent, passing through Southeast Asia and other places, which were the areas most severely damaged by the Witch's Night.

But Japan is much the same. Rinko used data to analyze the possibility of Witch Night landing, and the most likely landing point this year is Japan, with the two major cities of Ashihara and Kamihama being the most likely targets.

"...Witch's Night, is it really coming?" Xiangzi handed the phone back to Yuki.

“Very likely.” Yukina took back her phone. “If it lands in this country again, the damage it causes will be no less than that of the year of the great earthquake. Back then, the magical girls of this land were still very weak. Now, the Ayakawa Primal Magical Girl Gathering has been established like never before, and the Kamihama Magical Alliance has also been established. We will not let this happen again.”

“However,” Yuki changed the subject, “if it were Witch’s Night combined with Nirvana, which is of similar strength, it would be a completely different story.”

"...They can't appear at the same time, right?"

"And we need time to rest," Yukina said. "It's impossible to fight two big battles in a row. A month and a half to recover from injuries is already very tight. I hope you can understand."

"I also hope that you can be a good child like Kasumi said, but I am different from Kasumi. I have a more negative view of things and must prepare for the worst."

"Two weeks is the final limit."

"If you still have no way to prove you're not a witch after two weeks..." Yukina looked calmly at Shoko.

"I see."

Xiangzi lowered his head, his hair falling down with gravity, revealing his neck.

"Kill me or torture me as you please."

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping Your True Self: Chapter 32 Chu Hua Says You're Sick

Two days later, the weekend.

The cup was filled with insulated hot water, and sunlight refracted through the glass and the water, creating beautiful spots of light.

Xiangzi picked up the water glass, threw the medicine into his mouth, and then drank all the hot water in one go.

Yesterday, during her follow-up appointment, after an hour-long conversation, the doctor said that her condition had improved significantly, probably due to better living conditions, especially in terms of emotional stability.

Xiangzi found it somewhat ironic.

Are these really all illnesses caused by poverty?

She lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, as serene as the lead singer of Roselia, who wished to remain anonymous and held a sickle to Xiangzi's neck, when she was writing songs.

It's 9:30 in the morning, and Chu Hua has just gone out to "hunt" with Mana.

After the evaluation ranking system was confirmed in [Reed Plains Magical Girl Gathering], the magical girl community became clearly divided into levels: powerful magical girls and powerful magical girl activities, and weak magical girls and weak magical girl activities.

The so-called hunting is, of course, hunting witches, which is a nickname used by magical girls of Somebody level and above for their daily activities.

Xiangzi felt that this way of addressing a witch was contemptuous of her. Contemptuous witches often backfired, so contemptuous of a witch was tantamount to contempt for one's own life. She had always disliked this way of addressing a witch.

There are also examples of arrogant "big shots" being killed because they underestimated their opponents; on the contrary, there are quite a few. While the group action mode makes the magical girls more powerful, it also allows many mediocre people to take advantage of the situation and rise to power.

Just like those mediocre players who sit on the bench the whole time, play for two minutes, and win the championship without even touching the ball, there are many equally undeserving players in Magical Girl.

Xiangzi opened his phone and logged into the [Reed Plains Magical Girl Gathering]. His profile still showed a rating of "Somebody".

She's the most undeserving of the title now.

Xiangzi sighed, covered his eyes with his forearm, and relaxed his whole body.

"What should we do about the witch's barrier...?"

She was currently powerless, while Nirvana still had five familiars. She knew nothing about the characteristics and strength of the familiars, but judging from the size of Nirvana's barrier, the familiars couldn't be too bad.

After defeating the familiar, you must now face the final witch.

Two weeks is too short; she has absolutely no clue what to do.

"No, we need at least some means of self-defense." She jumped up from the sofa. "We have to go and get all the guns back."

She was referring to her father's gun.

Those are all high-quality goods, things you can't even buy on the black market. Many of them were things my father got from the US military base in Okinawa.

When she left the Toyokawa family, she made a special trip to the shooting range, took all the guns her father had left behind, and hid them in a place where no one knew.

Xiangzi picked up his phone and opened a chat window.

Do not......

One person knows, and only one person knows, the location of the gun.

Moreover, that person was not Xiangzi.

Doodle.

As luck would have it, just as Xiangzi thought of that person's name, her name appeared in a message notification on his phone.

【Ruoye Mutsu】: Xiang, I'm at Yuzawa Cafe.

【Wakaba Mutsu】: Waiting for you.

============

It was 10:30 in the morning.

The restaurant features all-wood tables, chairs, and floors, and several pendant lights that emit a warm glow even during the day. The clean, tidy white walls are adorned with photos of celebrities who worked there.

The bar is right in front of you as you enter, with a row of seats in front of it for solo customers. There aren't many tables and chairs in the shop, but it has always been the most famous coffee shop in the shopping street, and also the most famous coffee shop in the Reed Plains Magical Girl circle.

Yuzawa Cafe is a favorite spot for newcomers and beginners, as well as a popular gathering place for veterans to eat and chat. It's also one of the holy grails for magical girls, the cafe of Protagonists, the keyboardist of Aftglow—Yuzawa Tsugumi.

"Here's your orange juice, and your Earl Grey tea."

As a service member, Tsugumi Hazawa served drinks to Shoko and Mutsuki.

"Thank you, senior," Xiangzi said.

"Thank you, senior." Mutsuya greeted Tsugumi politely.

"No need for 'senior' or anything like that. I've said it many times, I'm just an ordinary waitress, nothing special." Tsugumi, holding a plate, nodded gently to them. "Just call me if you need anything. Have a good chat."

People are gone.

"What do you want from me?" Xiangzi said calmly.

"I'm worried about you," Mu said.

Mu's answers are always very concise, unbelievably concise.

"I told you you didn't need to worry about me."

"Chu Hua said you are sick."

Thank you so much for your concern.

"..."

Why did Mu and Chu Hua know each other? Xiangzi didn't remember ever acting as a matchmaker for them.

"It was Chu Hua who sent the friend request first."

Mu seemed to know what Xiangzi was thinking and answered immediately.

She kept her head down, staring at her orange juice, expressionless and without any inflection in her voice. She looked more like a living puppet than a human.

"..."

Xiangzi picked up the cup and took a sip of black tea.