Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 18

Each witch's name is something she is born with; what Meow Dream sees is her name.

"...Has God finally sent someone to punish me?" Yutenji Wakame said blankly.

But the next moment.

A cyberpunk city, a giant white witch, and everything has vanished.

Meow Dream returned to the pine forest in the rain.

Only her soaked, warm pantyhose proved that she had just been caught in the witch's barrier.

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

Chu Hua searched all night but couldn't find Xiangzi.

Chu Hua kept searching and searching, following the last GPS signal from Xiangzi's phone to the pine forest. But even in the city center, it was still a forest, and finding someone wasn't an easy task.

She discovered that someone else was also looking for her, namely Kasumi Toyama, the administrator of RiNG, but the two of them searched for a long time without finding her.

Until dawn.

Chu Hua found Xiangzi, drenched in rain and trembling, in a place where the sun never shines.

"Xiangzi!"

Chu Hua rushed over and hugged Xiangzi's body.

So hot.

I could tell she had a fever without even touching her forehead.

"..."

Xiangzi forced open his eyes and parted his dry lips.

"Chuhua..."

"You're in a terrible state right now, don't say anything." Chu Hua picked up Xiangzi and ran towards her home.

"Chuhua..."

Xiangzi's voice grew a little louder. She hooked her arm around Chuhua's neck and spoke in a hoarse, almost mute voice.

"Please, let me forget everything."

The Tale of Nirvana: Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Chapter 21 - The 21st Century Mental Patient

I'm sick.

You heard that right.

I'm really sick.

It's not the kind of illness that can be cured with injections, medicine, or surgery.

Dissociative identity disorder, cyclothymia, mild post-traumatic stress disorder.

In layman's terms, it's multiple personality disorder, bipolar disorder, or PTSD.

......

Xiangzi walked out of the doctor's office with his medical record in his hand.

"Mental illness often doesn't manifest in a single form. Your situation is quite normal. I've seen cases with seven or eight personalities. Ever heard of Billy with twenty-four personalities? That guy had twenty-four personalities."

The doctor leaned against the door and comforted her.

“Your condition is a bit unusual. Being able to see another version of yourself is more like a pathological feature of schizophrenia. However, you mentioned that you have experienced situations where your body was taken over and you were unaware of your own actions. I will tentatively classify you as dissociative identity disorder, while my colleague is more inclined to classify you as schizophrenia.”

"Am I some kind of rare case now?"

“Strictly speaking, yes.” The doctor shrugged. “But on the bright side, at least your other personality is still yourself, not some kind of antisocial personality that would kill, commit arson, or act lawlessly.”

"...Is this supposed to be a consolation?" Xiangzi sighed softly, glancing at the final price on the prescription slip.

So expensive.

Meat hurts.

"You haven't reached the point where you need to be hospitalized, and that's the biggest comfort," the doctor said, gesturing with his thumb to the people passing by.

A man wearing a paper coin hat and a hospital gown was waving a bamboo pole in the air while shouting.

"Pfft."

Xiangzi gently covered his mouth and bent down in front of the person.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright, he can't hear anyway." The doctor waved his hand. "Go downstairs to pay and get your medicine. Remember not to take too much medicine, remember to come for your follow-up appointments on time, and remember to go out and relax more often."

"Thank you doctor."

Xiangzi bowed deeply to the doctor to express his gratitude, then turned and left.

"I can't tell the difference, Mom! I really can't tell the difference!!!!"

"That's enough, stop trying to fool the Daoist sect of Sitting in Oblivion."

The doctor shook his head helplessly, grabbed the crazed patient, and took one last look at the disappearing girl.

"Sigh, this world is really..."

......

Soft cat paws, steel claws, endless screams of neurosurgery, within the prison gates of paranoia.

A person who bangs their head against the wall.

A blood-stained execution platform, spiked barricades, and bonfires piled up by politicians—hellfire sears the boiling blood of the innocent.

A person making a phone call while holding a brick.

Seeds of death, blind greed, hungry poets, bleeding children—you get none of what you truly need.

Standing on a box of apples, he sang loudly, proclaiming himself to be the true God on earth.

Mental patients in the 21st century.

Xiangzi walked down the hospital corridor and took out his newly bought cell phone.

There are several new messages.

[Kasumi Toyama]: Sho, how have you been lately?

[Toyokawa Shoko]: It's alright.

[Kasumi Toyama]: Did you notice anything unusual at the park that day?

[Toyokawa Shoko]: What's wrong? Haven't you found the witch's barrier yet?

[Kasumi Toyama]: Yeah, it's so strange. I clearly felt a very strong magical power, and Yuki and the others said they felt it too.

[Toyokawa Shoko]: I don't know.

[Kasumi Toyama]: Oh, I'm so glad Sho is alright. As long as the witch doesn't harm anyone, we can keep looking for her.

[Toyokawa Shoko]: Hmm.

[Toyokawa Shoko]: I have to get going, bye-bye.

【Toyama Kasumi】: Baibai~

Xiangzi put down his phone, took the medicine from the counter, paid with his new phone by scanning a QR code, and turned to leave the mental hospital.

It's raining outside.

She looked up and watched the light drizzle fall.

It's raining again.

There's just too much rain this season.

She opened her umbrella and stepped into the rain.

The phone in his pocket vibrated a few times. Xiangzi tossed the bag of medicine into the hand holding the umbrella, freed his other hand, took out his phone, pressed the answer button, tucked it over his shoulder, then took the bag back and continued walking.

"Hello, is this Chu Hua?"

"Xiangzi, what did the doctor say this time?"

"I've been diagnosed, but not fully. I have some bipolar disorder and PTSD, and I don't know if it's schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder."

--"What's the meaning?"

It means "taking some medicine will make you feel better".

"Do you still remember what happened that day?"

"I can't remember."

"I see..."

"Don't worry, I won't suddenly disappear again," Xiangzi sighed softly. "After all, the money for the medicine and the phone were borrowed from you..."

"It's not a loan; my things belong to Xiangzi."

"I'll pay it back."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment.

"...Alright...then hurry back. Don't stay outside for too long. You're still very weak, and the Soul Gem is missing again."

"..." Xiangzi frowned.

--"What's wrong?"

I don't know how Chu Hua could smell it over the phone.

She didn't want to go back to this matter so soon.

"It's nothing, I'll be back soon." Xiangzi stopped and placed the medicine bag under the shop window on the street. "I have to go now, bye."

"Oh... be careful—"

beep----

Xiangzi hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket, and walked towards the park with a pine forest.

This is where everything happened a week ago.

She's back now.

Her Soul Gem disappeared after that night. A magical girl's soul is the Soul Gem; her body is merely an external construct. Without the Soul Gem, she should have died long ago.

But she neither turned into a witch nor died. When Chu Hua found her, she had a high fever, and that was all.

She can't summon weapons or transform; she's now just an ordinary person.

Xiangzi didn't know why, but a section of his memory was completely blank.

The last thing I remember is that I didn't dare to pull the trigger, and after that I don't remember anything else.

When asked, Qubi said he had absolutely no recollection of what happened during that time, as if something had erased it with an eraser that night.

Xiangzi clutched his handbag and closed his eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a fantastical near-future city.

Kasumi Toyama and the others couldn't find the witch's barrier, and Shoko didn't know why either. There were too many mysteries surrounding this mysterious barrier. All Shoko knew was that as long as she came to this park, closed her eyes, and then opened them again, she could enter.

The pedestrians on the street all had faint, blurry X-shaped marks on their faces. The whole city was active, yet it seemed dead.

Xiangzi was free to wander through this dead city.

She boarded a tram and was taken to the sea.

"You're here again."

Dressed in a black and red magical girl outfit, he appeared opposite her, with the armrest in the middle separating the two Xiangzi into two separate spaces.

"I would rather see the lamp than you."

"Really that one?" Toyokawa Shoko raised one corner of her mouth.

"You know who I'm talking about." Xiangzi closed his eyes, trying hard not to get angry.