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

Kurobe Nanoha Kaori shrank back somewhat awkwardly and shyly, then coughed twice and gave the next instruction.

"Please hug me, dear sister."

"—"

The guard with the hairband did not respond to Kurobe Nanoha's orders.

"Please bring me a carrot, dear sister. A tissue will do too—um."

The order to have the hairband guard the person retrieving the items was not followed, which left Kurobe Nanoha Kaoru somewhat disappointed.

"As expected, although my older sister still remembers me, she... can no longer unconditionally respond to my whining like she used to..."

Nanoka Kurobe's tone was filled with nostalgia for the past and self-blame.

"However, Chang Rong, you should give it a try too. Your older sister should be able to respond to some of your words."

Nanoha Kaori wiped her eyes. She had to be strong now and couldn't hide behind her older sister like before!

"Okay, I'll give it a try... Radish—Pfft!"

As soon as Chang Rong uttered the word "radish," the guard with the hairband shoved a hard, thick, stick-like object into Chang Rong's mouth.

"Cough cough cough! Well, I can understand this... Hug Nanoha Kaori!"

Following Chang Rong's command, the guard with the hairband carefully wrapped the black tentacles around both sides of Nanoha Kaori's body, but did not make contact.

"Thumbs up." The guard with the headband gave a thumbs up.

"Shake hands—ah, this first..."

The guard with the hairband reached out to touch Chang Rong, but before he could touch her, Chang Rong suddenly remembered something and quickly withdrew his hand.

"..."

The guard with the headband visibly froze for a moment, then immediately shrunk into a corner and went to squat like a mushroom.

"No, no, no, I'm not disgusted by you! It's because of my physical condition! My physical condition!" Seeing that the other person was hurt by her behavior, Chang Rong quickly explained.

—This is so intelligent and human-like! It's nothing like what Kurobe Nanoha said about 'only having partial consciousness'!

"I seem to have some health issues... In short, touching it without authorization might lead to something bad happening."

"Physique?" Kurobe Nanoha Kaori, recovering from the shock of what she had just seen, frowned and asked Chang Rong.

"Hmm, it seems I can 'absorb witch factors,' and the essence of the guardian, or rather the 'remains,' is driven by witch factors. If I touch it, I might harm it."

"Witch factor, huh..." Kurobe Nanoka thought to herself.

"But thinking about it carefully, it touched me before (carried me to the punishment room in a princess carry), so maybe it's okay to touch me...? Why don't we give it a try?"

"—!"

Upon hearing that they could touch the mushrooms again, the guard who was growing them in the corner immediately came over.

Chang Rong stretched out her palm, and the guard extended his tentacles; the two intertwined—

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—"

"Waaaaah, your palms, or rather your tentacles, are smoking, big sister! Just as I thought! Pull, I can't pull them open... Nanoha Kaori, help me!"

Chang Rong was so frightened that she quickly pulled her arm back; the contact felt like an iron hitting butter. The guard, however, seemed to enjoy it, and it took Naoya's help to barely pull her away.

As expected, I am indeed absorbing witch factors. This didn't happen at first, probably because my body had just awakened and wasn't particularly lacking in witch factors. Now, some time has passed, and my body is generally in a deficient state, which is why I want to absorb witch factors.

"In short, you're right, Nanoha Kaori! She is indeed your older sister, and she still possesses the sanity of a 'human,' that's beyond doubt—Nanoha Kaori?"

"So, does that mean my sister's intelligence level is even lower than Chang Rong's? So this is my brother-in-law's charm after all, huh? What sisterhood? It's just a bubble that bursts at the slightest touch..."

"Waaaaah, don't think like that, Nanoha!?"

As expected of sisters, the guard finally emerged from the corner, and immediately the younger sister went to squat in the corner to grow mushrooms. The two sisters even squatted in the exact same corner.

After that, Kurobe Nanoka and Tsuneyoshi tested some more things.

Chang Rong drew Hashimi, herself, and Naiye Xiang on paper using simple line drawings.

"Chang Rong, your drawing... is quite cute." Kurobe Nanoha blinked and looked at the round-headed, elderly Hiro, who was breathing out and wearing a red flower crown, and said.

"Hehe, don't think that I just spend every day with Noah in a daze and admire his cuteness and innocence."

"So, if these three people suddenly escaped from prison right in front of you, how would you respond?"

brake!

A blinding light flashed, and Hashimi's simple line drawing instantly disintegrated, its movements so decisive and swift that Chang Rong and Kurobe Nanoha couldn't help but swallow hard.

Chang Rong drew other prospective witches later, but the results were all similar. Although she had the smoothest experience when cutting down Hiro, the headband guards would kill any other prospective witches who violated serious taboos.

Although the 'older sister' would protect Chang Rong and Kurobe Nanoha Kaoru, that was all. The other prospective witches could not benefit from the 'behind-the-scenes bonus.' To them, the headband guards were still terrifying enemies who would bring death.

The two also tried to remove the mask from the guard's head, but there was still a mask behind the mask, and a mask behind the mask. In the end, they could only conclude that the prison had not made any character designs after the mask was removed.

Chang Rong wanted to lift the loose robe of the guard to see what was inside, but as soon as she brought it up, Kurobe Nanoha Kaori blushed and refuted her.

As soon as Nanoha Kaori retorted, the headband guard showed his displeasure, looking like he was saying, "Don't ruin my good time, you stupid little sister," which almost made Nanoha Kaori go to the corner to hide again.

Unfortunately, what was hidden beneath that robe was nothing but pitch blackness. A blacker darkness than the evidence of a secret curtain.

The two then tried to pull out the weapon fragments, which looked painful and were either broken swords or spears, stuck in 'sister's' chest and head.

However, the two were ordered to refuse as soon as they brought up the idea. Although Chang Rong insisted on pulling it out, she had no choice but to give up in the end when faced with the guard holding up a ham as a threat.

Through a series of conversations reminiscent of turtle soup, the two learned that the 'weapon fragments' were not real weapons, but rather something like control terminals. If they were to remove them without authorization, even the warden, who was addicted to slacking off, probably wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye.

After testing it out, it can be basically confirmed that the 'older sister' is indeed familiar with Kurobe Nanoha and Changrong, and as long as she does not violate any major rules, the 'older sister' will help the two of them.

The only problem is that 'older sister' seems very reluctant to let Kurobe Nanoha Kaori touch her.

"My older sister... she's always refused to let me touch her, even though Chang Rong can," Kurobe Nanoha said, sounding a little dejected.

"You won't touch her... Is it because 'older sister' hates herself for becoming like this, so she doesn't want you, Nanoha Kaori, to touch her like this?" Chang Rong said thoughtfully.

"I... I will never dislike my older sister! No matter what my older sister looks like, I will always love her!"

Kurobe Nanoka quickly told the guard with the hairband her true thoughts.

"—"

The guard with the hairband was clearly taken aback for a moment, seemingly moved by Kurobe Nanoka's words.

"Big sister...you've always protected me, caring for me more than anyone else since I was little...even, because of the erroneous future I saw, you chose to help me get imprisoned here...I'm the one who caused you to become like this, so how could I possibly despise you, big sister!!"

Nanoha Kurobe poured out all her innermost thoughts to the guard with the hairband, telling her about the remnants of the bond that still remained between them, even though the guard was no longer her 'older sister'.

"..."

The wreckage remained rooted to the spot, while Kurobe Nanoha wiped her eyes and nose, opened her arms, and slowly walked towards her 'older sister'.

“We’ll go home together, big sister…! Please believe me, although I may not always be able to stand on my own, I’ve found my 'accomplice'! As long as I’m with Chang Rong, we’ll definitely save big sister, find the real mastermind and take it down, and then bring everyone home, right!”

"..."

Nanoha Kurobe smiled, walked up to the guard, and then—

"Pfft...!"

He grabbed nothing and fell straight to the ground.

"Why...! In this kind of atmosphere, I should be the one hugging my older sister, and Chang Rong should be standing by, clapping and lamenting, 'What a pair of star-crossed lovers!'"

"—"

"Why are you getting angry, big sister! It's like I'm the one stealing your man...!!"

Having missed her target, Kurobe Nanoha Kaori's temper flared up. She angrily took off her cycling hat and threw it on the ground, then walked up to the guard and loudly questioned Ling Ni.

"Chang Rong clearly said that she had no idea what you had done, so in other words—Chang Rong has nothing to do with you now, she is just my accomplice!"

"Alas!?"

Chang Rong, who was happily eating ham and watching the show on the side, suddenly emitted a strange sound effect of being hit.

"—(blue veins)"

"No, no, wait a minute, 'Big Sister'! Your business with your sister has absolutely nothing to do with me, right?!" Chang Rong quickly protested as the guard glared at her with murderous eyes.

"No, of course there is...!"

Instinctively realizing something was wrong and trying to run away, Chang Rong was grabbed by Kurobe Nanoha. She held Chang Rong's arm and wrapped it around herself with a stiff and somewhat clumsy but darkly determined posture, striking a pose that was almost ostentatious in front of the headband-wearing guard.

"No matter what you think, big sister, the one who is definitely not Chang Rong's girlfriend is me!"

"——!!!" "Ughhhhhhhhh!???"

As Kurobe Nanoha forced out her words through gritted teeth, her face flushed, the headband-wearing guard's humanity visibly surged. Meanwhile, Chang Rong writhed and twisted wildly, trying to escape.

"—!"

"Even if you glare at me, it won't work, my dear sister... This is your punishment for refusing to let me hug you! I'll accept you as my brother-in-law!"

—Stop messing around, Nanoha Kaori!?

Wasn't I here to advance the main storyline?! Why did I suddenly get dragged into this bizarre tale of the Kurobe family's scandalous affairs?!

"Right, right, thinking about it carefully, Chang Rong shot at my sister during the witch's trial, didn't she? Heh, no matter what her identity was before, she's nothing more than a hateful enemy blocking Chang Rong's way now!"

"I...I didn't mean that, dear sister! I'm so sorry about what happened before! I'll make it up to you as much as I can, whether it's massaging your shoulders or rubbing your legs!!"

Naiye Xiang went all out! Chang Rong's face turned ashen!

"——..."

As for the headband guard, after wave of intense impacts, he chose to run to a corner and continue planting mushrooms.

"Heh heh... I won... It's my victory, you foolish Onesan...!!"

Kurobe Nanoha grabbed Chang Rong's wrist with one hand and clenched her other fist tightly against her chest, striking a triumphant pose as if she had finally triumphed after hardship.

—No, no, no, what did you win? Top the list of filial piety on Prison Island?!

Chang Rong mentally ranted, while glancing at the headband-wearing guard in the corner who was still growing mushrooms, seemingly rendered powerless by his sister's superior skills.

In fact... Chang Rong just accidentally gave false testimony again.

[False Evidence] The older sister's refusal to let Nanoha Kaori touch her stems from self-loathing.