Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

[Nikaido Hiro]: Only my footprints and Meluru's footprints on the ice.

[Hame Ryoa]: That's right. The photos from the scene have been sent to everyone; you can check them in the group. Next is information about the murder weapon. As shown in the picture, this strangely shaped ruby ​​sword is covered in Meruru's blood. Meruru died from being repeatedly pierced through the chest by this longsword. What are your thoughts on this, Hiro?

(Wait... uh, what picture? What group?)

[Nikaido Hiro]: I've never seen this before.

[Ryota Hasumi]: That's a very decisive denial, but perhaps it is the best solution for the moment. Now, let's look at the condition of the body... I know this is cruel, but in order to prevent another victim and to help Meruru find the murderer, let's try to suppress our fear and see if we can find any information I don't know from the body photos.

(Wait a moment--)

[Ryota Hasumi]: However—cough cough, actually I had already done a little examination of the body before. Judging from the state of the body, the time of death should be about 20 to 60 minutes after we found the body. Although it was just a rough examination without any instruments, I can guarantee that the probability of the body being dead for more than 1 hour is very small.

[Nikaido Hiro]: ...An autopsy? Did you do it?

[Ryota Hasumi]: Heh, it's just a superficial imitation I learned to better perform stage roles in the past. There's nothing to brag about, not worth bragging about at all.

(Phone, phone—tsk, don't suddenly give me that 'doing a good deed and waiting for your owner to praise you' look at me now, are you the golden retriever on the set of the band next door?)

[Chang Rong]: As expected of Leia-sama! This spirit of dedication and improvement for the performance is a gap that other superficial idols can never cross in their entire lives!

[Ryoua Hasumi]: Oh, wow... it's not that amazing.

[Nikaido Hiro]: (...These two guys are beyond saving in every sense of the word)

(My phone—found it! The 'Prison Space' chat app—damn it, I knew I wasn't in their group! You little clique are isolating me!)

When Chang Rong first entered the courtroom, she was filled with emotion, realizing that reality and games were indeed fundamentally different.

For example, the "list of evidence and witnesses" that is essential in court proceedings is something I never actually see in real life, and I imagine I never would.

But when Leia said "view the pictures yourself," Chang Rong sensed something was wrong. Leia's subsequent words further confirmed one thing: they did indeed have a so-called "list of evidence and witnesses," which was stored on the phone.

After brushing off Leia's expectant gaze, Chang Rong immediately pulled out her phone from her pocket to check it. However, there were no group chats in the phone's 'Prison Space'; instead, there were only two private chat records.

"Warden, um, could you add me to the group chat? You should have the necessary permissions, right?"

"The city superhuman ...

Damn it, that stinky bird is still touching it!

I don't know if the cache was cleared or the phone itself was frozen, but both chat logs were blank, with only the message records remaining.

Click on the first one—

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I really didn't want to see that child, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't keep my promise, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

Just staring at the text made Chang Rong feel an inexplicable sense of unease spread over her. She quickly closed the record and opened the second one.

Second record —

"I'm willing, but I'm sorry, I can't keep my promise."

Another promise... a promise? What did the original owner of this body promise?

Come to think of it, I seem to have made a promise about something? Hmm... I can't remember.

If you can't remember, don't think about it. Anyway, it's probably just some old, trivial stuff like "I promised to bring food to my friend but only brought a pair of chopsticks", "I forgot to take the laundry out after washing it, so the washing machine is covered in mushrooms", or "I was so busy playing mahjong and didn't study for my exam tomorrow that I forgot to review". Let's deal with the witch's trial right now.

What were we supposed to do before? Oh, join the group to look through the evidence—forget it, the silly warden's been slacking off too much, he doesn't seem like someone who can help at all. And suddenly telling others at this crucial moment, 'Please add me to the group too, thank you meow, I'll post lots of lewd pictures as a reward meow,' will probably just make him look like an idiot.

This body seems to have a fairly high level of intelligence, so let's just analyze it directly from their testimonies.

Having thought this through, Chang Rong stopped worrying about the small group not including her and prepared to fight alongside Xi Luo to achieve a solo kill of the witch in the top-secret prison with zero evidence and enjoy a delicious meal.

Then he looked toward the podium—

[Nikaido Hiro]: There's clearly another person who's not here, isn't there? Sakura Emma, ​​that's you!

【Sakura Emma】: Ugh!?

[Nikaido Hiro]: You're willing to frame me just to kill Meruru? You bastard...

[Sakura Emma]: No, no! I didn't do that...!

The sight of Nikaido Hiro and Sakura Emma pointing fingers at each other made Chang Rong wonder if she had missed watching the first playthrough of the story.

(While I was checking my phone just now...did I miss a tiny, insignificant, unimportant, pointless discussion about how long it would take—what a load of rubbish!)

"Um... excuse me, could you briefly repeat your previous testimony?"

Now that things had come to this, Chang Rong had no choice but to bite the bullet and raise her hand to speak.

"Oh, of course, no problem, Chang Rong. What are you wondering about?" Leia smiled and tossed her hair, responding with utmost enthusiasm.

"Should we start with 'That being said, we still need to discuss this'...?"

"Isn't that when the Witch Trial just started?! You bastard, you really are the mastermind behind this! Are you trying to use this delaying tactic to execute us all? Are you kidding me, you bastard?!" The hooded white-haired delinquent girl's veins bulged.

"What on earth is this guy saying??" Keycap Coco could completely understand Uchiha's yawn this time.

"Could it be that I and the gorilla woman really unleashed the mastermind? I... I am the sinner, Desuwa..."

"It's okay, Hannah-chan. Even if you're nailed to the pillar of shame as a sinner, I'll be with you~~"

Hannah Tono, who was originally intended to be recruited, now looked like a righteous messenger after the Holy Grail was destroyed, while Sherry Tachibana next to her was happily adding insult to injury.

The other girls were all extremely suspicious of Chang Rong.

As it turns out, games are indeed completely different from reality.

At least in reality, no one will patiently repeat a testimony word for word over and over again, and then just watch the other party use their lawyer's badge to present evidence one by one.

Volume 1: 13. Whose Galah gives Wood a seesaw-like relationship?

Omission

Chang Rong, who was skilled at using the previous steps, accidentally went too far with the omission.

[Nikaido Hiro]: If Hasumi Ryoya's autopsy report can be accepted as an 'anchor', then in the 30 minutes between Meruru's death and the discovery of the body, you and I have no alibi!

[Sakura Emma]: No, that's not it...! I was taking care of Chang Rong-kun at the time, because Meruru suddenly said she had something to take care of, so I...

[Nikaido Hiro]: Are you the kind of stupid dog who barks and screams at the slightest questioning? You said it yourself: 'A murder occurred immediately after Chang Rong woke up.' Nobody wants to know your motives for going to the infirmary, but everyone knows that 'caring for a patient in the infirmary' can't serve as your alibi, because Chang Rong was still unconscious until the body was discovered!

【Sakura Emma】: kiang! ?

(Wait, why was everyone arguing and bickering at the beginning of the trial, but in the short time I was distracted, you guys had already finished working out the alibi? Were you my high school math teachers, deliberately pushing me on physics points while I was sleeping?!)

Chang Rong was completely baffled by the sight of Hiro and Emma breathing on each other. His own two wings (this was fabricated evidence) had gotten tangled in the blink of an eye – what was going on?

—But then again, Emma's little fuss is really delicious...hehehe...What am I thinking!? That pink hair...don't underestimate her, she's definitely not as innocent as she looks! Could it be that Sakura Emma's magic is something like [charm]?

Even though she was completely clueless about the situation, Chang Rong still had a general idea of ​​the current progress of the witch trial.

—It seems that since no one could find any clues from the murder weapon and the crime scene, they started investigating alibis. Unsurprisingly, Hakishi remained on the suspect list, although Heero seemed to have somehow managed to drag Emma down with him.

Sigh, I'll never find such a good friend again... No, no, now is not the time to care about what the relationship between these two is.

Although it seems like Heero dragged Emma into the mess, the reality is not that simple.

Chang Rong secretly glanced around at the other girls in the witness stand. Most of them had conflicted and confused expressions on their faces, after all, there was one more suspect now.

However, there are a few exceptions.

Hasumi Ichirei Rin – Although she struck a very cool and thoughtful pose, it's safe to say that this guy's mind was definitely not on anything this afternoon.

Nanoha Kurobe—Waaaaah, she's still glaring at me…! I absolutely have to get some more friend cards to save my life…!

The most surprising thing is that the name of the person who is called "Yi Ji Ji" is still unclear. It seems that he can switch between two forms and is very powerful.

Unlike the others, she didn't show any confusion or bewilderment after hearing Hero's explanation. Instead, she looked at Hero with a smile of great interest.

That expression was practically saying: Oh, how cute, but this level of cuteness isn't very useful, is it?

...Anyway, that's roughly the feeling. I don't know why, but I always feel that this purple person will be a terrifying character like the female leader of the Kirito clan.

Chang Rong had also noticed that although Hiro seemed to be in control and even aggressive, cold sweat was almost dripping down her forehead.

While dragging Emma Sakura into the mess might temporarily divert attention from the suspects, it would also bring the discussion to a standstill.

The stalled discussion resulted in everyone having to choose one of the two, Hero and Emma, ​​to be executed as the witch—and it was obvious that Hero, who was present at the crime scene, was the more suspicious.

She will still be executed, only with a slight delay.

Chang Rong, Xi Luo herself, and the girl in the kimono adorned with purple butterflies all realized this fact.

The only possibility for a reversal is that 'Sakura Emma is indeed a bad kid, and she used the excuse of taking care of Chang Rong to secretly commit crimes.' But even Hiro herself doesn't seem to believe this, making it completely unclear whether the relationship between the two is good or bad.

—Of course, I don't think Emma Sakura is the murderer either. Although I always felt that Emma had the potential to be a villain, when I first woke up, I remembered that she was looking at notes and fiddling with bottles, seemingly organizing the medicine.

Judging from the workload, it was probably not a task that could be completed in just a few minutes. Moreover, she was right next to me when I opened my eyes, so it's more reasonable to analyze it from the perspective of 'staying by the infirmary the whole time'.

For a moment, the discussion on the scene reached a stalemate. Hitler insisted on Emma's suspicion, but Emma couldn't produce a more detailed alibi, and time relentlessly ticked away.

Just when everyone was a little confused, the doll-like young lady with twin ponytails, wearing a green lace dress, suddenly raised her hand.

[Hanna Tono]: Oh, right! I suddenly remembered, Meruru called me before!

【'Hooded Masked Teen Girl'】: Huh!? Why are you only telling me now?!

[Hannah Tono]: Huh!? I, I just...

(Hmm? Good opportunity!)

When Hannah was being scolded by the white-haired punk, Chang Rong almost immediately sensed this was the perfect timing to boost her favorability.

[Chang Rong]: Such violence against an elegant lady is not a good thing, Ms. Sato Masashi?

【Sato Masashi (?)】: Huh?

[Milia]: Hey, uncle, I do know a classmate with that name.

【Elena Meets Wife Leia 6】?: The costume designer for my pre-medical drama collaboration is named 侕〈字？来〓，j哎i呀呀u，你已经调查了这的事情？常榕，你过过狂的我起来可以怕有点怕~

(If you're pretending to be scared, at least try to tuck the corners of your mouth down a bit.)

[Nikaido Hiro]: No, this guy definitely just randomly picked the most common name.

【Sato Masashi (?)】: What's wrong with you?! Don't just randomly label me with that kind of name, lol!

[Sakura Emma]: Um... if Chang Rong-kun doesn't know Arisa's name, just ask me... she is {Wisteria Arisa}

[Chang Rong]: Doesn't this match up with the character "藤" (vine)? What? My guess was pretty accurate.