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

"What are you busy with, Saeki-kun?" Chang Rong asked curiously, just like when she ran into a colleague while walking her dog and greeted him casually.

"Hmm... Xiao Sha seems to really want to put pills or something in her mouth, but you can't just take medicine randomly, right? So I was wondering if there was anything that could be used as a substitute... I guess I'm being a bit nosy, aren't I?" Milia said with an embarrassed smile, rubbing her cheek.

"Wisteria? Come to think of it, she does seem like she's into something out of nowhere... She almost dragged me into it before, it was kind of creepy..."

Chang Rong recalled the terrifying memory of almost being forced to drink small blue pills (actually calcium tablets) by Zifang Yarisha while lying in the infirmary.

"Well, um, Chang Rongjun and I have something to discuss—"

"We really can't just leave it like this. Let me help Saeki-kun and see if we can find anything useful."

"Waaah...!"

Emma Sakura originally wanted to take Chang Rong away from here, but her white-haired boy chose to help after hearing about Milia's troubles, which made Emma Sakura instantly show a disappointed and depressed expression.

"Since it's all OD anyway, how about having Zifang make ibuprofen? I heard that many people in the US buy this stuff by the kilogram, so it shouldn't have any impact, right?" Chang Rong said, taking out a box of painkillers.

“No, no, no, isn’t that a textbook example of a drug overdose? Uncle, I think we need to find something more harmless, right?” Saeki Miria vetoed the idea, while Chang Rong fell into deep thought.

"Um, that..."

Emma Sakura, left standing to the side, wanted to say something, but the white-haired boy was already completely engrossed in rummaging around and casually exclaiming, "Hey! I have an idea!"

"How about letting Zifang eat this? It's a digestive aid!" "Ziteng will most likely taste the hawthorn slices very quickly..."

"What about this? Montmorillonite powder! I tricked Zifang into thinking it was heroin and letting her inhale it." "Is it a digestive aid followed by an antidiarrheal...?"

"Chun... How... How can there be something like this?! Is this really a medicine that should be kept in the infirmary of a prison island?!"

"...!"

Chang Rong found another blue shrimp-shaped pill in the book, and quickly stuffed it back into a corner, blushing, pretending nothing had happened. On the other hand, Sakura Emma, ​​who was standing to the side with a conflicted and somewhat angry expression, immediately perked up her ears after hearing the keyword and quickly glanced at Chang Rong to confirm the approximate location where he had hidden it.

"I...I'll help too—wooo!"

Seeing that Chang Rong and Milia were getting closer and closer to the medicine cabinet, almost touching, Sakura Emma immediately went over to help, but accidentally tripped and fell next to the cabinet, knocking over the medicine bottles.

"Little Emma! Are you alright...?" "Hehehe...no, I'm fine, sorry."

Milia, who was about to run into Chang Rong, immediately looked at Sakura Emma, ​​who then gave an innocent, silly smile and rubbed her nose.

"Huh? What's this—[Glucosamine Tablet Placebo]? Wouldn't it be fine to use this as a substitute for Arisa-chan? Just put it in an ibuprofen bottle like this—OK, then I'll leave the rest to you, Miria-chan!"

"Huh? Sakura-kun, where did you get this—whoa!"

Emma Sakura, who had gotten up from the ground, had a small medicine bottle in her hand. She showed the bottle to the two of them, and then skillfully and deftly swapped the packaging of the starch tablets and ibuprofen, handed it to Milia, and then grabbed Chang Rong and dragged him away with an unyielding attitude.

"Then thank you very much, little Emma...?"

Before Saeki Miria could even thank her, the pink-haired girl had already secretly run away with the white-haired boy, leaving without a trace.

—Little Emma, ​​I always saw her taking care of Chang Rong and organizing medicines, and she always looked so clumsy and slow when she was doing that. But now it seems like she has finally grown up...?

Emma's smooth and efficient movements surprised Saeki Miria for a moment, and she even forgot to ask where the two of them were going so late at night.

As for Arisa Fujito—many, many years later, after Arisa Fujito had long since left Prison Island and started her own life anew, although she found a little happiness, she could never find the same taste as that mysterious little pill from OD on Prison Island.

"Right, the cafeteria should be pretty empty by now! How about we head there, Chang Rong-jun!"

"The cafeteria? Why do we have to go there again—"

Chang Rong hadn't even finished asking her question when the pink-haired girl started dragging her along again.

What's going on here? Is this Emma's territorial inspection? But Emma just tripped and fell again... Is it the aftereffects of the [magic] acting up again?

Chang Rong looked at Sakura Emma with some confusion and worry. He didn't understand what Emma's goal was in trying so hard. It was something that could be solved by simply hugging and rubbing against her and then finding a place to sleep.

"Sakura?"

The two arrived at the cafeteria, and as soon as Emma Sakura opened the door, she saw Arisa Fujito still inside for some reason.

"Whoa!? Ah, Arisa-chan!"

"Hmm? Wisteria—Pfft!"

Emma Sakura hurriedly greeted Arisa Fujito, while Chang Rong, who was behind Emma, ​​also intended to greet her out of politeness, but before she could finish speaking, Emma suddenly turned around and pressed her against the corner of the restaurant entrance.

What are you doing...?

Although Arisa Wisteria didn't see Chang Rong, she was puzzled by Emma Sakura's unusual behavior. She frowned, got up, and prepared to walk over.

"No, it's nothing! By the way, Arisa-chan, weren't you looking for materials to make a hammock? I remember Rhea-chan saying that she saw some hemp rope in the storage room that might be useful!"

"Hmm? Hasumi... Tsk, I don't want to be helped by that kind of troublesome guy... Never mind, I'll go check it out myself later." Arisa Fujito impatiently rubbed her hood and stopped walking towards Emma Sakuraba.

"Speaking of which, what does Arisa-chan do in the cafeteria?" Emma Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and then asked with a smile.

"Um... well, it's nothing much. I'm just wondering if I could sneak a set of cooking utensils from the kitchen. The food here is terrible, isn't it? And you can often see rabbits and fish in the forest near the river outside the castle. If we had cooking utensils, maybe we could make something else to eat—not for you guys, of course, I just want to improve our meals!"

Arisa Fujito looked away and responded with feigned impatience.

"As expected of Arisa-chan... Hehehe, I hope there's anything I can help with!" Sakura Emma said with a bright and kind smile.

"Hmm, speaking of which... Sakura, you often sit with that guy when you eat, right? In that case, Sakura, do you know his food preferences? Like, whether he likes it salty or spicy, light or heavy on salt, etc..."

Arisa Fujito pulled her hood up to block her view, and at the same time, while kicking the floor, she asked a question as if it were just a casual remark.

"Tsk, well, anyway, don't get me wrong, Sakura! I just feel like that guy always looks like he's been ripped off when he eats. If I could just give him some normal food, I could easily control him. That's right!"

"Sorry, I have absolutely no idea about Chang Rong-kun's tastes. Also, there seems to be some strange black smoke coming from the kitchen. Did Arisa-chan accidentally ignite something? After all, Arisa-chan often burns her bread when she bakes it."

Emma Sakura, her eyes vacant, pointed behind Arisa Fujito.

"That was just an accident...! And—hmm? Smoke!?"

Arisa Futo blushed instantly when her sore spot was touched. She quickly retorted and then hurriedly turned to check if she had really burned down the kitchen.

"There's no smoke from the kitchen, and nothing's burning. Sakura, are you seeing things... um?"

After hearing Emma Sakuraba's words, Arisa Fujito immediately turned around and rushed into the kitchen near the back of the restaurant, but she didn't see anything unusual, and there was nothing burnt.

When she returned to the restaurant, she found that Emma Sakura had disappeared.

"...?"

Arisa seemed completely confused about what had happened; she could only rub her hood again, never noticing that behind the wall in the restaurant stood the person involved in Arisa's problem.

—I... I probably really don't have the talent to cook for that guy...

The thought of being exposed by Emma 3, the sharp-tongued neighbor, for her flawed belief that "roasting things will only result in charcoal charcoal," caused Arisa Fujito to visibly lose her motivation. Naturally, the idea of ​​"going to Chang Rong to ask him what flavors he likes" was completely out of the question.

"What a blunder... I didn't expect Arisa-chan to be squatting in the restaurant at this time...!" After casually dismissing Arisa (and inadvertently causing real damage), Emma Sakura dragged Chang Rong to another destination.

"Oh right... so you can hunt in the wild outside the castle! In fact, wild game is much rarer than regular food! No way, even if I risk getting pushed over by Wisteria's sudden outburst, I have to go find her and ask her what exactly this 'outside food' thing is all about—"

"That kind of thing must be Arisa-chan's hallucination from overdosing on drugs, a hallucination...! Anyway, Changrong-san's activities tonight are to help me overcome the side effects of magic, aren't they!"

Seeing that Chang Rong was about to have her head taken over by the stomach again, Sakura Emma quickly grabbed Chang Rong and ran upstairs.

However, Emma Sakura had just stepped from the corridor onto the second floor—

Emma?

"Noah-chan?"

Standing at the entrance of the second-floor art studio, Noah Shirosaki was holding a stack of drawing papers. He stared at Emma Sakuraba, who was walking up to him.

"Have you seen Rongrong? It looks like Rongrong went to look for you, stare—"

After a brief silence, Noah Kinosaki's gaze towards Emma Sakura suddenly sharpened, and the 'X-catching radar' built into the little balloon started beeping in front of the pink-haired puppy.

"without--"

Emma Sakura forced a smile, intending to say 'I didn't see it,' but then she suddenly remembered something.

"That's right, Chang Rongjun did come to see me, and we even chatted briefly about magic in the courtyard."

"Hmm... Emma wasn't lying. Noah is going to the Midgard to find Rongrong."

Most of the time, the human lie detector Noah Kinosaki stared at Emma for a moment, and after confirming that she was not lying, he nodded and prepared to go down to the courtyard.

"Um... speaking of which, Noah-chan has been spending a lot of time in the art studio lately. Is she drawing character designs and backgrounds for Leia-chan's stage play?"

If Noah continues to move closer to the stairs, she will soon see Chang Rong at the bottom of the stairs. Therefore, Emma Sakura did the same thing as before in the cafeteria, posing a question and making the other party stand still to answer it.

"Hmm... Leia's stage play is currently on hold due to the lack of a script because of An'an's departure... Noah, Noah wants to paint an even more impressive and grand painting for Rongrong, the kind that will instantly restore Rongrong's spirits after she sees it!"

Noah Kinosaki looked a little disappointed when he mentioned Natsume Anan, but he immediately put on an expectant and energetic posture, holding the drawing paper in his hand and saying.

"As expected of Noah, but because Chang Rong-kun has been in the punishment room these past few days, no one has actually cleaned the art studio, right? Although Hiro-chan said that Noah-chan should clean the art studio, it seems that Noah-chan has been leaving it to Chang Rong-kun?"

Emma Sakura smiled and spoke casually, as if chatting about the weather. However, upon hearing these words, Noah Kinosaki's back was instantly soaked with sweat.

"Look, Nono Nonoa doesn't understand what Emma is saying...?"

"Hmm... I was just thinking of going to the art studio to find something. Since the studio is fine, I think it'll be alright if I go check it out, right?"

"Noah... suddenly remembered that he needs to go into seclusion to seek inspiration! No strangers allowed!"

Boom!

Originally intending to go downstairs to find Chang Rong, Noah Kinosaki suddenly ran back to his studio in a cold sweat, slamming the door shut. From inside, one could faintly hear the sounds of paint buckets and spray cans colliding, as well as the dull thud of piles of paper collapsing, occasionally punctuated by Noah Kinosaki's adorable whimpers.

Seeing this, Sakura Emma breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to look at Chang Rong behind her.

"Hmm... Anyway, let's go to the library first, Chang Rong-kun?" Sakura Emma said to Chang Rong with a smile.

"Noah can finally tidy her room by herself... That's great. But it's too strict to make Noah do it all by herself. She's growing so much, we can't let her do too much housework—wait a minute!?"

While Chang Rong smiled with relief, she was still worried about Noah and wanted to go to the art studio to help. However, before she could even touch the doorknob, she was forcibly dragged away by Sakura Emma.

—Wait, why does it feel like I've been the one being dragged around by Emma the whole time?

Didn't we agree to replenish our stamina? Didn't we agree that the magic effect hadn't been activated for too long and was already exhausted? Why does Emma seem more excited and energetic than the excited chicken in front of my house?

However, Emma Sakura seemed to have no intention of explaining at all. She led Chang Rong to the library door and was about to push it open when she suddenly remembered something and turned to look at the white-haired boy beside her.

"Chang Rongjun, please stay here and don't move."

"?"

Sakura Feather/Emma Wo Yilin Deputy <Want to buy herself Yi Juzi Ling's domineering words made Chang Rong pause for a moment, but seeing Sakura Feather Emma's serious expression, Chang Rong didn't say anything, just obediently shrank into the corner.

...Hmm, why do I feel more and more like I'm the pink-haired puppy being led around?

On the other side, Emma Sakura, having secured Chang Rong, pushed open the library door—

"Oh, Emma? It's really strange to see you at the library at this time."