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

"Huh?!"

Saeki Miria was startled by Chang Rong's overly heavy realization.

"Ahem, just kidding... My head is still a bit of a mess, but it's much better than when I first crawled out of the basement."

Chang Rong quickly smiled and said he was just joking, then walked over to the cherry blossom tree.

The cherry tree blooming amidst the earthen tiles of the library appeared so dreamy, elegant, and sacred. However, Chang Rong, having regained her memories, knew very well that this cherry tree had sprouted and broken through the soil with the malice of a certain aspiring witch as its seed and the life of another girl as its nourishment.

Chang Rong placed his palm on the cherry tree, trying to sense something. After regaining some of his past memories, Chang Rong's original 'dislike' for the cherry tree dissipated somewhat.

Even though it bears witness to the twisted and tragic fate of the witches, even though Alice fell here in the most cruel way, even though someone's bones may still be buried beneath the cherry tree—it still seems so beautiful and illusory.

"I've never really been sure whether what I've experienced is bad luck or something inevitable. Being able to form such an irreplaceable relationship with everyone now doesn't seem like a bad thing from a certain perspective—but we'll have to see how it all turns out in the end."

Chang Rong twirled cherry blossom petals between his fingers. He didn't actually dislike life on the prison island. Although he was always under the shadow of death and had to eat the prison's homemade fare every day, he had indeed witnessed the deepest emotions of many young girls.

"If it doesn't end well... then it's all just a futile and utterly tragic end... so no matter what, I must..."

We must find a way to get everyone out of this unsolvable deadlock.

"Well……"

Saeki Miria looked at the white-haired boy in front of her with a serious expression. Although she wanted to say something, she opened her mouth but didn't know how to respond.

"By the way, Milia, if someone kills people who have already been identified as bad guys, can she be pardoned in court in some way?"

Chang Rong touched the cherry tree and suddenly thought of something, turning to ask the blonde girl beside him.

"Well... if we really did kill the other person, then even with some favorable evidence, it would be very difficult to defend ourselves. After all, even the incredibly wealthy and anonymous Mr. Bruce Batman only beat someone to the point of being unable to take care of themselves—no, no, wait, Xiao Rong, why are you suddenly asking this? Is, is it... are you planning to do something? No, no, that would be absolutely a no-go!"

Saeki Miria pondered Chang Rong's question for a moment, then realized something. She quickly moved closer to Chang Rong, grabbed his hands, and earnestly advised the young man in front of her, in the tone of a caring older sister, not to take any risks and do anything irreversible.

"No... I was just thinking about something that happened with my old friends, so I just asked casually."

Chang Rong quickly explained that she had no intention of inviting the Great King of hope; she was just asking casually when the scene touched her.

Besides, even if I were to impulsively decide to send everyone to the afterlife, I'd probably be slapped back to reality the moment I stepped outside and ran into Hiro...

Too weak; they lack the strength and power to make breakfast.

"Are you thinking about things from the past? I see... Xiao Rong, you must have had a tough time back then too..."

Realizing she had misunderstood, Milia awkwardly rolled up her blonde hair and said with a forced laugh.

After a polite and sensual remark in a mature, older tone, Saeki Miria paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant. However, after a brief moment of thought, she finally mustered her courage and walked up to Chang Rong.

"Well, um...! Although I know it's not good to meddle at a time like this, and these lecturing words might only annoy people... and, moreover, I know very well that you're working so hard for everyone's future. Saying this would just sound like I'm completely oblivious to the burden you're carrying right now... but even so, um..."

Saeki Miria rattled off a string of low-pressure words, as if encouraging herself. She clenched her fists in front of her, making a somewhat old-fashioned gesture of encouragement.

"Um... if you feel tired, Xiao Rong, please don't push yourself. It's better to rest properly! If you keep putting yourself under too much pressure, you'll lose your ability to make sound judgments due to overwork, and your mental state will deteriorate—this is based on my experience as someone who's been there!"

Milia mustered her courage and said these words to Chang Rong. She sincerely hoped that the boy in front of her could slow down a bit. Compared to when everyone first arrived at Prison Island, Chang Rong had become visibly busier and more stressed recently.

Milia knew very well that she shouldn't be standing in a safe place and pointing fingers at Chang Rong, but she still couldn't help but want to persuade the white-haired boy in front of her not to push himself too hard.

Milia didn't know what Chang Rong had found out or learned in the basement, but seeing him still busy and hurried, the blonde girl felt a little sad. She preferred the white-haired boy who used to be a bit mischievous and occasionally did something wrong.

After all, this way she could unconditionally tolerate his useless behavior and slowly let him fall into the fatal tenderness of adulthood, unable to extricate himself—cough cough cough…!

"Um... I understand, thank you Milia. I'll find some time to rest later." Chang Rong said to Milia with a smile. He knew very well that the blonde hottie in front of him had done a lot of mental work before saying these words to him. After all, Milia was a gentle person who rarely interfered with other people's lifestyles.

"[Afterwards]...? That won't do...! Xiao Rong, I, your uncle, will personally cure your procrastination problem—"

Upon catching the key words, Milia instantly put on a serious expression. She grabbed Chang Rong's shoulder, who was trying to run away, and dragged him to the bench next to the desk without saying a word. Then she sat up straight, put her legs together, and slapped them open.

"Now, immediately, right now!"

"Huh?!"

Chang Rong was startled by Saeki Milia's sudden switch to 'dignified middle-aged president' mode. Before he could react, he was pulled to sit next to Milia.

Should I use my lap as a pillow in a place like this? Well, I do really like Miria's lap pillow... but is this the right time to do something like this? I'm a Sigma man, you know. I should be immersed in the sadness of my memories while searching for a way out of this predicament.

Women will only slow down my exploration!

"Huff huff huff huff gurgle..."

While Chang Rong was thinking this in his mind, his body was actually quite honest. He fell directly into Saeki Miria's deadly gentle lap pillow trap with almost no struggle, accompanied by a series of comfortable, unintelligible interjections as she rubbed his head.

If Rhea Hasumi or Emma Sakuraba were to see this scene, they would probably just shout in disbelief, "Wow, there's a cow!"

My most beloved owner, it turns out, is actually like this in the hands of other wicked and wicked women...! This is too enviable, this is too shocking to my worldview!

"By the way, Milia, about that scarf from before, I don't know why you're asking about it, but—I've apostatized, and the scarf really is incredibly useful!"

After being thoroughly petted and fully energized, Chang Rong suddenly remembered the topic they had discussed at the entrance before leaving the library.

Recalling how she was freezing like a grandson in the basement, Chang Rong revised her rating of scarves that could protect her neck and half her face, raising it from 'complete' to 'top-tier'.

If we're really talking about what's considered "cool," then it has to be the Rai Ninja Headgear. It provides all-around protection for the face from frostbite—a perfectly scientific ninja tool!

"Huh? Is that so... I don't know why you suddenly changed your tune, Xiao Rong, but I've always been a scarf supporter...!"

Hearing this, Milia showed a happy expression. She put on a look of happiness mixed with some worry, like a full-time mother watching her child go to school, and felt her motivation was rekindled.

Looks like I need to speed things up so that Xiao Rong can finish knitting my scarf before the next time she goes to the basement... Huh?

However, not long after the white-haired boy who had been accompanying her in this wicked relationship of shared physical pleasure left the library, a girl with long, straight black hair suddenly walked into the study, interrupting Saeki Miria, who was preparing to demonstrate her domestic skills.

“Ha… I caught you, Saeki Miria.”

"That...Xiao hope?"

Saeki Miria blinked, looking at the disciplinary committee member girl in front of her with some confusion: Nikaido Hiro.

"I've always been wondering why you, Saeki Miria, suddenly became so interested in that idiot rabbit. Your reaction was also strange when they went to explore the basement... So this is how it turned out? Hmph... Interesting. I didn't expect you to have developed this kind of relationship with that idiot rabbit?"

Nikaido Hiro crossed his arms and slowly walked towards Saeki Miria with a cold snort, speaking in a low voice as if reciting a list of her sins.

"Huh? Well, that little hope... you've misunderstood, I didn't mean it..." Saeki Miria hurriedly tried to refute, but her weak words were almost immediately shattered by Xiro's rebuttal.

"You call yourself an 'older man,' yet you're so eager to do such dirty and despicable things with an '00-year-old'? You seem to know quite a bit about the law, don't you? If this happened outside, how would others view your actions?"

"Waaaaah... Um, uncle, I didn't..."

Faced with Nikaido Hiro's relentless pressure, Saeki Miria reverted to her "incompetent middle-aged corporate slave being tortured by her boss" mode, and could only frantically wave her hands and try to change the subject.

"Stop making excuses, I'll just say it straight—[Perjury] Milia, if your dirty and manipulative behavior were exposed, how do you think people would view you?"

The answer is to curse in your heart, 'As expected, there are more opponents now,' and then stare at them with the eyes you would use to look at an enemy.

As someone who had tried to kill Chang Rong more than once, and who had even almost formed a three-person team with Nanoha, Kaori, and Sherry to share rabbit meat in the flower field, Nikaido Hiro knew very well that the moral standards of the prospective witches in this dilapidated prison had been lowered to an unbelievable level under the influence of the idiot rabbit.

In layman's terms, everyone else has done the work, and you've only just gotten a little bit done!

Saeki Miria's lap pillow and head-patting behavior would only make her seem out of place to the other prospective witches because she is "too plain and too conservative," and it is far from being considered a "character collapse."

"Waaaaah..."

However, as one of the few remaining consciences in the prison, this innocent and naive heart of a middle-aged man caused Milia to be deceived by Shiro's false testimony and live in fear.

"If you don't want your affair with that idiot rabbit to be exposed, it's quite simple... just promise me one thing."

Seeing that Saeki Miria was already being manipulated by him, Hiro sneered and took the opportunity to state his 'demand':

"Tell me...how can I make that guy think...that I'm gentle and considerate...!"

"...Eh!?"

Looking at the long-haired, straight-haired Yamato Nadeshiko with gritted teeth and bulging veins on her forehead as she uttered these words, Coach Anzai felt a headache coming on.

------

On the other side, after leaving the library, Chang Rong took out her phone with a satisfied and relieved expression and contacted Kurobe Nanoha.

Although she regained some of her memories, aside from making herself more sexy, it didn't seem to have much impact on her current situation. So Chang Rong decided to contact Nanoha Kaori to see if she could communicate with 'Big Sister' to see if there was any other information, and also to chat with Nanoha Kaori about her seniority.

[I'm in my underground cell bedroom]

Nanako's text message made Chang Rong tilt her head. As the Wild King, she should normally be squatting in the warehouse behind the castle, but for some reason she ran back to the dormitory.

Is he planning to cram for his attendance rate at the last minute? Did he get punished by Heero because of too many absences?

Sigh, I was planning to find an excuse to go to the warehouse and steal some emergency rations, but...

Although emergency rations of compressed biscuits are meant to be eaten in emergencies, isn't our being imprisoned on a prison island urgent enough? So it's okay for me to sneak a couple of boxes, right?

Running out of emergency rations is a very urgent matter, right? So it's okay if I take two more boxes, right?

The emergency rations are running low, so that's also urgent, right? Therefore…

Muttering complaints to himself, Chang Rong arrived at the underground cell. As he passed by Hiro and Emma's bedroom, Chang Rong stopped and stared blankly into the room.

Although this is currently Emma and Heero's bedroom, it also seems to be the cell where I lived during the previous witch trial.

Just like now, I had a 'roommate' back then. She seemed to be an extremely important person to me, and it seemed that I was staying on this prison island because of her.

But I still can't remember... I can't remember what she looked like, I can't remember any of the experiences we had together here.

"Ring ring~~"

Chang Rong took out a silver-white bell with snowflake patterns and shook it in front of the room. The ethereal sound was very pleasant and, as always, made her feel at ease. However, it still couldn't enlighten her and unlock the genetic lock or the lock of her heart.

In addition—it seems to have happened in the last two days—Chang Rong suddenly discovered that his 'love system,' which was already almost useless, has now finally degenerated into pure flight.

Sorry, this system is currently in hibernation due to insufficient memory and computing power.

This shameless system that demanded Bitcoin the moment we met is now asking for RAM. I'd rather support Emma than you! I might as well uninstall it...!

But in the end, is this thing really what is called 'AI' or 'system'? Considering that its only function is to check everyone's 'witch transformation progress' and that no one else can see its existence, Chang Rong always felt that this so-called AI might be more like the ability that she herself, the 'non-human remains' constructed from witch factors, possessed.

After all, the progress of witch transformation is essentially the concentration of witch factors. For someone who relies on witch factors for survival, analyzing the concentration of witch factors in other people is not an impossible task.

Anyway, let's go meet up with Nanoha Kaori first—wait?

Continuing deeper into the underground prison, Chang Rong soon spotted Kurobe Nanoha in what used to be Hosho Mag's cell.

More precisely, he curled himself up like a caterpillar, revealing only a cycling helmet and sunglasses, his black, curly hair sticking out.

...Speaking of which, the quilt she was wrapped in looked so familiar.

"Nanoha Kaori? Why did you come back?"

"Hmm... Chang Rong, you're here."

Upon hearing the white-haired boy's voice, Kurobe Nanoha emerged from the rolled-up towel. She wrapped herself in the bedding and sat up, instantly transforming from a caterpillar into a triangular rice ball.