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

"Xiaoxue!! Move aside, everyone move aside—Xiaoxue! Are you alright?!"

As the witch Xue struggled and hesitated, the white-haired boy suddenly pushed through the crowd and rushed to her in an almost violent manner. Without saying a word or making any other move, he immediately hugged her tightly, without even uttering a single extra word, just embracing her even as she held the blood-dripping kitchen knife in her hand.

“I…I—that child Alice…”

"I know, I know... so I'm even more certain it couldn't have been you, Xiaoxue...!!!"

Chang Rong spoke in a voice that sounded like she could grind her teeth to pieces, as if she would collapse and completely lose her will if she didn't do this.

"【Coo coo coo... Sigh, is the holiday over? But you've done a great job. It's rare for anyone to have such a long period of peace in all of history—where did this cherry tree come from? Spare me... Anyway, we received a report of a death: 'Misawa Alice' is dead. So, the witch's trial will begin in two hours. Please do your best.】"

With a fluttering sound, the warden flew into the library, perched on a cherry tree, and announced the death of the prospective witch in an almost merciless tone.

"Witch, judgment..."

These long-unheard words made everyone's hearts skip a beat. The image of Nana Sakuraba being executed back then was like a resurrected nightmare, once again shrouding everyone's hearts.

"A witch...the witch who killed Alice is among us~ (Is it...? Why, why did things turn out like this...?)"

Although she held Xiaoxue tightly and tried to appear strong, the words that came out of Chang Rong's mouth were still inevitably trembling with despair and confusion.

"Wait, isn't Miss 'Vulture' here?" The girl in the white coat looked around and suddenly raised her hand to ask. At this moment, almost all the girls gathered in the library had assembled, except for the dangerous girl covered in bandages.

"Who knows, that perverted guy might actually be the real sardine who fled to avoid punishment... Anyway, it's either that guy or this bean sprout, right? I've had enough, I've really had enough...!"

The rich young lady's tone was somewhat manic, and the successive shocks were pushing her to the brink of mental collapse.

"Um... anyway, we need to... investigate first, right? Arong, Anai, Xiaoxue... say something."

Futter tried to sound tough, but this time she didn't get much of a response.

"Well, since we're going to try the witch, we need to prepare plenty of materials first. But before this trial, I have one request—if you can't come up with a convincing reason for voting for the 'murderer,' I'll vote for someone else and let the trial end with everyone being executed."

"Ugh...!? What, what's wrong with your messy hair!?"

Mari Ebe was one of the few who responded, but her response surprised everyone.

In the witch trial, if there is a disagreement, the worst possible outcome will be: everyone will be executed.

"Isn't the logic simple? The suspect, Sato Yuki, is a member of your little group. If you just discuss it casually and vote for someone as the witch in order to protect each other, wouldn't the person who was voted for have no way to refute it?"

"By the way, if you choose to vote for me, I don't care if I'm wrong, but no one will be able to unlock the countdown mines I've planted... Hehehe." Ebe Mari pushed up her glasses and sneered, the mysterious landmine woman starting to exert her power again.

“We wouldn’t do such a thing… but why did you do it…?” Kurobe Nanoka asked, her brows furrowed.

"Why? Because although everyone here will eventually die, I hate dying with unsolved mysteries even more. If it doesn't bring me the 'truth,' then I won't accept that kind of judgment—"

"I will find her...!! I swear on my life, Xiaoxue is definitely not a 'witch,' I will find the real witch!"

Chang Rong loudly interrupted Ebe Mari's words, while simultaneously shielding Koyuki behind her.

"A life as collateral... Heh heh heh, life is for seeking the truth."

"No problem, I'll find it and show it to you."

Chang Rong responded with absolute certainty, and the girl in the white coat with messy hair didn't say anything more, just shrugged and began her investigation.

“Then… let’s begin the search, Yuki. For… Alice.”

After temporarily calming everyone down, Chang Rong sighed heavily and gently stroked Xiao Xue's hair. Then, he had to suppress the urge to vomit and begin the investigation ahead of the witch's trial.

Volume 1: Chapter 118. No snowflake is innocent in an avalanche.

"Alice...why...?"

Even after preparing himself mentally, Chang Rong still felt an overwhelming sense of dizziness when he saw the girl's body, which was as still as a broken doll, up close. It was as if his body and mind were about to completely collapse at any moment.

"Little Alice's body not only had a knife in her chest, but also in her back... Ugh, what kind of guy is that...? Those kinds of injuries are obviously left when chasing someone who is trying to escape."

While taking photos, Futter wiped away cold sweat and muttered to herself.

"Alice... one of her eyes has a blue pupil?"

Chang Rong noticed something unusual. Alice's eyes originally had a greenish hue, but at this moment, the color of the pupil in one of her eyes had changed.

"No, it didn't turn into a gem, so it wasn't killed by the No. 13 drug. Thank goodness, I almost thought someone had broken into the safe..."

Meruru, who was standing to the side, murmured something to herself, and for some reason, she had a relieved expression on her face.

"What's going on with this cherry blossom tree...? Did the library have something like this before?" Kurobe Nanoha asked, frowning as she rested one hand on the somewhat out-of-place cherry blossom tree.

"I often come to the library with Xiaoxue, and I can say with certainty that this cherry tree never existed before... Where did this thing come from? Could it be related to the case?"

As always, Furt first took photos for record-keeping, and then asked some questions in a low voice out of curiosity.

"Well, that... and then she left behind some weird stuff again... Waaah, every witch leaves behind a bunch of inexplicable things. If this keeps up, the castle really won't be habitable anymore...!"

Although Meru on Ice didn't know the origin of the cherry blossom tree, she seemed to deeply resent this 'strange object that appeared out of nowhere' yet was powerless to do anything about it.

The investigation was not going well at all. Although Fute volunteered to use her "mental writing" ability in conjunction with Arong's terrifying hypothetical reasoning to find the culprit, there were hardly any things in the library that could be called "clues". Even if Changrong wanted to use her mental writing, she would be like a skilled cook without rice.

Although he had talked to everyone, their mental state had become abnormal to varying degrees due to the blows, and Chang Rong was unable to use this unorthodox method to identify who the suspect was.

And ultimately, the person with the most serious 'abnormality' is... Xiaoxue herself.

Another round of searching yielded no results. Chang Rong felt that he was about to reach his limit. Just being with Alice's corpse had already exhausted him.

He left the library and wandered aimlessly into the flower field, where he saw a pure white figure beneath the rainbow.

"Xiaoxue..."

Chang Rong softly called out the girl's name, but Xiao Xue did not respond. She remained sitting in the flower field, staring blankly at the rainbow in the sky that Alice had drawn to please her mother, the little fish.

"Rong, did I...did I really...do something wrong?"

Chang Rong walked to Xiao Xue's side, and the latter spoke softly in an extremely low voice.

"I killed that child, no, not just Alice, but many, many people, because of my obsession, because of me—ugh!?"

Xue's words were interrupted, or more precisely, by Chang Rong's kiss.

"Xiaoxue—will you stay with me forever from now on?"

"...Huh?"

Before she could recover from Chang Rong's sudden kiss, the white-haired boy in front of her had already knelt down on one knee and placed a silver bell engraved with snowflakes in front of her.

"I like you, Xiaoxue. Not the kind of liking that comes from childhood sweethearts, nor the kind of liking that comes from classmates or friends, but the kind of liking that comes from wanting to spend the rest of my life with you."

"You, you, you... what are you saying, Rong...!?"

"Of course it's a declaration of love, silly Xiaoxue... But I also know that this situation is not suitable for a declaration of love, so... we must survive, we must get through this disaster, and after everything has settled down... you can give me your answer then, okay?"

Chang Rong smiled and placed the bell into Xiao Xue's palm, then gently held the girl's slender hand in his and said.

“I… um, I will, Rong.”

I will accept your love... I will live with you forever—after I reclaim the 'original sin' I have spread.

This time, faced with Chang Rong's advances, Xue did not choose to forget, but instead chose to remember, deeply engraving in her mind the scene of the boy kneeling on one knee in the flower field to pursue her.

"—"

Under Chang Rong's gaze, Xiao Xue's eyes regained their light. However, by the window of the corridor on the second floor of the castle, 'Kurobe Nanoha Kaori' watched the two in the flower field from afar, remaining silent.

"Alice, that child, knows the fickleness of human nature better than anyone else, but even so, she still chooses to trust us. She has never regretted this choice, so we must... absolutely not betray her trust."

Chang Rong held Xiao Xue's hands and looked at the rainbow above the flower field, speaking softly.

Wait... a rainbow?

Alice's magic [creating rainbows] does indeed sound like a very dreamy and magical effect.

But if we were to analyze the essence of this magic... creating a rainbow is essentially 'refraction'.

"...!"

Chang Rong suddenly realized something and immediately ran back to the library.

"Rongrong!" "Oh! Rongrong's expression finally means you've thought of some crucial evidence, hasn't it! I'm ready!"

Seeing Chang Rong's expression, Rong Fute gave her a 'I've been waiting for you for a long time' smile and immediately raised the camera in her hand.

"Could you use a fixed light-refractive prism lens to read and write out the entire library?"

"...???"

"So you should just go to school... Here's what you'll do, use the blue filter from Alice's left eye to read and write about the library."

"Hmm, I still don't quite understand, but is it like this...?"

Jungfute, with only a vague understanding, read out a photograph while looking up with a question mark on his head. At first glance, the photograph was of a library with somewhat distorted colors, nothing special.

however……

"Huh? There seems to be something on that bookshelf over there?"

Suddenly realizing something, Futter pointed to a bookshelf nearby. Although nothing could be seen with the naked eye, there was definitely something there in the photo.

"This is Alice's magic. She 'refracted' the light in an area, creating a region invisible to the naked eye, visible only at a specific angle of refraction. And what she desperately tried to hide while being chased must be..."

Chang Rong walked towards the unusual bookshelf in the photo and reached out to touch the empty space where no books were placed.

The next second, a "bandaged arm" that had been hidden from view was suddenly pulled out of thin air by Chang Rong.

"...It must be a very important clue."

Chang Rong placed the object on the table, and everyone crowded around to examine it more closely.

A right arm wrapped in bandages, with a withered, decaying object in its palm, resembling a piece of paper that had been burned to ashes.

"What is this? A mummy's arm?" Ebe Mari asked, adjusting her glasses and frowning.

"No...this is the arm of that guy who calls himself 'Vulture' Gu Yuanyuan—"

"Huh!?" "That missing person!!" "Miss Gu Yuan? Waaaaah, could it be...? Miss Gu Yuan, she... she... she also...!?"

As Chang Rong spoke, everyone gasped.

"As for what's being held in this arm... it should be a flower, but it turned into this form because of Gu Yuan's magic, Rot."

"—!" The young lady in the crowd was suddenly stunned.

"And flowers of this shape..."

Why? Why did it turn out like this? Why does the 'witch' always... put on such a clumsy yet convincing 'disguise'?