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

"You idiot rabbit...!!!"

"Gagaga!? No, no, I can't help it... The allure of numbers is simply irresistible..."

Although Hero is a versatile all-rounder with a very high skill ceiling, she is still too demanding in terms of skill... Streamer, do you have any characters that are easier to play?

Yes, brothers, that's our most adorable, most daisuki, and universally loved fairy, Sherry-chan!

Although this selection process should be considered holistically, regardless of its intensity, I can't help it...

Although Tachibana Sherry is, in some ways, the worst possible alternative partner, her strength is still incredibly reassuring.

The ability to shatter a nearly 2-meter-high ice block with a single punch basically means that once you have Tachibana Sherry by your side, you don't need to carry any extra equipment. As long as you see a suspicious ice block, you can just say, "Go Sherry, go punch it!" and end the battle immediately.

"You idiot rabbit... tsk, well, since things have come to this, it's all up to you now, Arisa Fujito."

“…?” Arisa, who was standing to the side, was stunned for a moment and didn’t even realize that Hero had patted her on the shoulder.

Not only Hiro, but the other prospective witches also came over one after another, surrounding Arisa and taking turns to cheer her on.

"Go for it, Arisa-chan...!" "Rongrong, it's all up to you!" "You have to protect my fans!" "I'm entrusting Rongrong to you." "Although I'm very reluctant, I'll leave the idiot knight to you for now. Remember to take good care of him!" "Hmm... I really want to go with him, but it's better to leave him to you for now."

"Please, please ask me...? Someone like me..."

"Yes, Arisa Fujito. Once the exploration begins, only you can try to stop that idiot rabbit from being executed on the spot by that slightly mentally unstable blue-haired detective." Hiro Nikaido said earnestly.

If it's this three-person setup, then the only burden of stopping Tachibana Sherry from kissing Chang Rong naturally falls on the shoulders of Shito Arisa.

"--Is that so?" Arisa blinked.

"No, no, no, what are you talking about? Even the club president wouldn't do something so nonsensical without knowing the facts, especially when we're so focused on the main storyline, right, club president... uh, club president—Sherry?"

"—v—……Oh dear, I just can't do anything with you, innocent Watson, adorable Watson."

Faced with Chang Rong's expression shifting from trust to blankness, and then from blankness to fear, Tachibana Sherry hummed twice and could only ultimately state that she would not engage in any 18+ special CG behavior during the exploration of the underground cryogenics.

“Even if this guy says that, I’m still very worried… I’m still counting on you, Arisa.” Hiro frowned and instructed Arisa, while the others also came over to surround Arisa.

"Everyone, everyone trusts me so much—"

"Wait, wait a minute! Arisa-chan looks like she's about to explode again!? Oh no, can't we all work together to calm her down?!"

Emma Sakuraba suddenly realized something was wrong, so everyone quickly said, "We didn't really expect much from you," "You're just a backup plan," and "Don't take it too seriously," which calmed down Arisa Shito, the humanoid self-propelled reactor who almost replicated "Nuclear power, a piece of cake!"

"Seriously... Am I really that bad Sherry-chan in everyone's eyes? *puffs up*"

In a sense, the culprit, Tachibana Sherry, stood to the side with her hands on her hips, looking sullen, and said with dissatisfaction.

—At least have some self-awareness, you mysterious food-loving girl…!

The elegant, dignified, hexagonal-shaped girl with long, straight black hair, who was the first to start the era of large-scale fan gatherings, thought to herself.

In short, after a slightly bumpy audition process, Chang Rong, Arisa, and Sherry finally formed a temporary Survey Corps and, with the sponsorship of Kurobe Nanoha, headed to the underground cryogenic chamber wearing thick winter coats.

Because of the presence of the human-shaped icebreaker and human-shaped heater, the three of them brought almost nothing this time, and only put on a layer of clothing before arriving at the elevator.

"Ah, Arisa, you've never been here before, have you? This elevator can only carry two people at a time—wait, what?"

"what?"

Sherry Tachibana wanted to tell Arisa that the elevator could only transport people in pairs, but at this moment, all three of them were standing on the elevator, and no alarm sounded.

"Hmm...something's fishy! The elevator didn't alarm, which means—the warden has lifted the elevator restrictions, that's it!"

Tachibana Sherry raised a magnifying glass, pretended to be thinking, and then said this.

"...What?"

Completely bewildered, Arisa Fujito could only habitually tug at her mask.

"..."

Unlike the lively Sherry and the confused Arisa, Chang Rong remained silent after getting on the elevator.

On the one hand, he was increasingly worried that he might actually see something in the underground cryogenics that stored countless witch corpses and remains.

On the other hand... was it really the warden who changed the settings?

The elevator's method of determining weight is definitely not based on weight, given the significant weight difference between the two individuals; it's hard to imagine how to accurately determine this.

It's more likely that the judgment is based on 'type', and thinking about it as 'the maximum capacity is 2 humans/prepared witches/human corpses' would make a lot of sense.

But if you really think that way—

Has she now become an 'otherworldly being' who is neither human nor witch, neither living nor dead...?

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, and Chang Rong put aside her various thoughts and followed the two people to the underground control room once again.

Volume 1: Chapter 113. The dead veteran suddenly got up and attacked me!

"Oh my, we're finally back here! Watson, Watson, look, atomic breath!"

"Hehe, are you a naughty child, Sherry? — Ouch! Why does it hurt so much when water molecule crystals are smeared on my face?!"

"What exactly are you two doing here...?"

There's a difference when there are many people. When I came alone, everything felt like a terrifying, ancient biohazard lab. But this time, with Shirley Tachibana and Arisa Fujito by my side, Chang Rong felt more like she was on a picnic. She didn't feel any pressure or fear at all.

...Perhaps this is why numerical values ​​have remained a dominant and enduring factor in the game.

The three of them then passed through the elevator and arrived at the control room once again, where those peculiar control consoles that looked somewhere between 'antique' and 'modern' appeared before them once more.

Chang Rong's understanding of electronic devices was limited to "which phones don't lag and which phones stop beeping when they lag," so he didn't know what era these controllers and button panels belonged to. However, he was at least certain that if the mice came to a place like this, they probably wouldn't even be able to squeeze out a single memory stick, let alone a graphics card.

"Hmm, this door leads to the freezer, right? It's designed to be as safe as a bomb-proof vault. It's definitely not something you can just smash open with a little effort. Why put such a high-security door here? That's so strange!"

"No, no, no, defining the door as 'whether it can be broken open' is already strange enough...!"

Shirley Tachibana took out her already frosted magnifying glass and examined the heavy iron gate in front of her, while Chang Rong muttered complaints to herself.

"Let's take a look at these messy controllers... Hmm, I wonder if punching them would open the door?"

Shirley Tachibana raised her fist at the control panel, eager to try it out.

“Don’t vandalize public property… No, these things are prison property, maybe it’s right to destroy them…?” Arisa initially tried to stop her, but as she spoke, she began to doubt herself.

—I feel like these two characters' personalities and behavior patterns are completely reversed.

Did you know that there's a sensitive, environmentally conscious gangster girl versus a cold, logical, mechanical detective who always starts by punching anything he sees?

"Don't move around too much, or you might accidentally pull yourself onto the torture platform—that's the ventilation duct over there. I've even prepared a ladder, so you can easily climb up even in this thick outfit! But you'll have to take off your clothes before climbing over, or you'll get stuck."

"—v—……Watson, maybe you shouldn't take your clothes off."

"So wearing such thick clothes will get you stuck at the entrance, at most only your upper body can barely squeeze in... Huh!?"

As Chang Rong was explaining halfway through, a chill ran down his spine. No wonder she was the famous detective Tachibana Sherry; just by being around her, Chang Rong had learned a certain amount of logical reasoning skills and quickly deduced the true intention behind this girl's attempt to trap him.

"You even brought a stepladder here... Watson, you really came to such a dangerous place all by yourself? Have you already forgotten the grounding order we gave you?"

Shirley Tachibana pinned Chang Rong against the wall. Although her amber eyes were clear and clean, there was an inexplicable terrifying pressure that made people afraid to look her in the eye.

"It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing... I just brought the club president back with me..."

Chang Rong felt a little guilty, swallowing hard as she desperately turned her head away and whispered her explanation.

"The control room is already this cold, I wonder what the temperature is like in the freezer. Ugh, my mask's already sticking to my skin! This place is really weird. Let's explore it as quickly as possible. I checked the ventilation ducts, and we can definitely crawl through them—hey, what the hell are you two doing?!"

After examining the ventilation ducts for a long time and coming to a conclusion, Arisa Fujito, her veins bulging, yelled at the two women flirting beside her.

So the plan is that I, the outsider, will be in charge of the investigation, while you two parties involved will be responsible for showing off your love, and then I'll pay for my own taxi home, right?

After being scolded and tortured by Arisa Fujito, Sherry Tachibana, who failed to unlock the 18Xcg, could only snort in dissatisfaction. Then she took out a rope, a flashlight and some other small props from her small handbag and distributed them to the three of them.

"Are we really going to put a rope on you? That looks so stupid, I don't want to..."

Chang Rong planned to imitate the safety ropes used in mountaineering and wrap ropes around everyone's waists as a means of emergency response and communication while climbing the ventilation ducts, but Zi Teng Arisa frowned and shook her head when she saw the rope.

"We can't take risks for this reason, Zifang! Nobody knows what the situation is like in the freezer right now. We need to be prepared as much as possible. We can't be reckless, understand?"

"I got scolded, oh my god...!"

—This guy is definitely doing this on purpose!

Arisa wore a satisfied expression, while Chang Rong looked as uncomfortable as if she had just finished a thesis defense.

With my current setup... I really have nothing but power! Both Arisa Fujito and Sherry Tachibana, as teammates, have such bizarre personalities that they could be used as the reason for the protagonist to be kicked out of a team-breaking story!

The most crucial point is that neither Arisa nor Sherry's initial 'personality' was as abstract as it is now. In other words... this is a story they started themselves.

After securing the rope, Arisa Zifang stepped onto the A-frame ladder and took off her overly heavy thermal coat. Her delicate, fair skin instantly turned red in the low temperature, but Arisa simply rubbed her hands before climbing into the ventilation duct.

"stare--"

"^q^ Mmm..."

Almost immediately after Arisa disappeared, the terrifying spiritual pressure of Tachibana-senpai OMO surged from behind, reminding Chang Rong of a riddle from elementary school. He forgot the specifics, but it was something like, "The boatman is crossing a river, and the boat can only carry two people at a time."

It's obvious that there's something wrong with the boatman's scheduling; he's put sheep and wolves together.

"Well, um—speaking of which, Sherry, how did you get to the freezer when you first came here?"

Feeling that remaining silent and pretending to be an expert would only lead to a worse outcome, Chang Rong quickly pulled out his famous sword, Dongla Xitou, to try and distract Tachibana Sherry.

"Hmm... the first time? It was pretty much the same. I followed Coco to the secret passage, came down, and went through the ventilation duct. It's just that it wasn't this cold back then~"

Tachibana Sherry rested one hand on her chin and said, recalling the past.

"As expected of our president, he noticed on his first visit that this ventilation duct is connected to the freezer!"

"Hehehe~ No, it's just that I saw the ventilation duct barrier had been removed, so I naturally went to crawl through it." Shirley Tachibana rubbed her hair shyly and replied with a smile.

"...Are you a groundhog?!"

"What a coincidence! My colleague, Hannah, said something similar back then too~"

—I absolutely cannot take the club president to places like the Nut and Putty Cave in the future, she'll definitely jump right in without thinking...!

Ta-da!

During their conversation, the ropes binding Chang Rong were tugged twice, a signal from Arisa that everything was normal.

"Looks like Fujito-san's gone to the freezer, I'll go over there too—but wait, don't mess around at a time like this, President...?"