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

In fact, from the time Xiaoxue transferred to my school in the second year of junior high and the three of us became friends until the eve of our first year of high school, there were no problems whatsoever.

Whatever kind of magic it was, Emma kept it 'safe' very well.

Hiro's own memories were deliberately tampered with by Xiaoxue. If Xiaoxue's purpose was to make him perform some kind of ritual to return the magic of rewind to the Great Witch... then why did she choose this method to restrict his suicide?

Perhaps we shouldn't consider everything too thoroughly. Perhaps Xiaoxue's actions are inherently unpredictable... After all, I only spent less than a year with Xiaoxue. She probably didn't have the opportunity to prepare too carefully; in fact, you could say she prepared too hastily, not even knowing that Chang Rong hadn't actually died but had been resurrected as a 'witch factor parasite'.

What a... despicable guy who's a nuisance in every sense of the word and causes trouble for everyone. If it were me, I would definitely teach Xiaoxue a lesson. This guy is absolutely wrong, wrong in every sense of the word...!

"So, Hiro, you mean... all of Xiaoxue's actions were probably so that you, Hiro, could perform the ritual to summon the Great Witch, so that she could retrieve the magic she wanted?" After listening to the explanation, Tono Hannah frowned and tilted her head slightly to ask.

"exactly."

“But, but… Sherry told me that the book that might have recorded the ritual has already been…!”

The only clue to the Great Witch had been cut off, and upon realizing this, Tono Hannah's tone became somewhat agitated.

"It's been destroyed, that's right. Our last lead has been cut off. If we want to find the Great Witch, find Xiaoxue and confront her, 'now' we have absolutely no chance."

Hiro nodded in acknowledgment of Tono Hannah's guess, and when she realized it, she also showed an almost desperate expression.

"It is precisely because the clues have been interrupted... that I must use magic to go back to the past. This is not only to protect everyone, but also to find the necessary action to reach the source of everything, the clues at the [Great Witch]'s place."

After much back and forth, Nikaido Hiro realized that he could only rely on his own magic in the end; otherwise, it was a complete dead end.

"But didn't Hiro-chan just try it? You'll become a witch because of the taboo and turn into a witch's remains—at that point, you won't even be able to rewind, because witches are immortal! And if Hiro-chan becomes a remains, even if Chang Rong can control or even kill you, by the time you become a remains, almost all the magic you once possessed will have dissipated. In that case... Hiro-chan will really just be dead!"

"No, Emma...! No... perhaps that's true, but at least it's a plan with a 50% success rate, isn't it! If I can successfully rewind, all the problems can be solved. Although gambling is undoubtedly wrong, at least this probability—"

"It's not that high... Hiro."

Chang Rong spoke again, interrupting Nikaido Hiro.

"I've been thinking about this for a while... If your magic [Death Rewind] really is rewind... then why was Coco able to convey to me the events that unfolded after you were beheaded by the guards in the 'first timeline'?"

"—!?"

Hiro was jolted awake. She realized that Chang Rong had discovered an even bigger problem with Hiro's magic, which was also the more important reason why she dared not use the magic.

“If your magic isn’t ‘rewinding,’ but jumps to a new timeline… then, in our eyes, you really just committed suicide and died. There was no redemption, no rewinding, no change, only… death.”

"Ugh...!!"

Chang Rong's words completely struck at the Achilles' heel of Hiro's desire to escape; she was unsure of the true nature of her 'death reversal' magic.

If it truly is time travel, then the chance of success is 50%. But if one doesn't even understand the essence of magic... then the chance of success is reduced by half again. 25%? Or even less—

For a moment, the infirmary fell into a daze. Everyone was silent. The 'hope' that had come with Hiro's speech now seemed even more precarious and weak under constant questioning.

"...I want to go out for a bit and sort out my thoughts."

Chang Rong got up to leave the infirmary, but as soon as he was about to leave, the remaining trainee witches also stood up almost simultaneously, wanting to leave with him. Even though their eyes were filled with fear and confusion, when they looked at Chang Rong, they still tried their best to put on their usual demeanor. The message they wanted to convey was simple: don't do anything strange.

"...Don't worry, everyone. After all...after so many people have sacrificed themselves, it would be the most irresponsible thing to do to die so easily."

Chang Rong wanted to force a smile to make her words more persuasive, but as soon as she thought of the girl who had just disappeared with a smile in the infirmary, she couldn't bring herself to smile.

"Hiro, don't rush to conclusions. Your timeline is tomorrow morning, isn't it? In that case, there's still room for consideration."

"I'm worried."

"...Huh?"

Chang Rong blinked, somewhat taken aback by Hiro's overly decisive and direct rebuttal.

"I don't trust you, you idiot rabbit! So—wherever you're going, take me with you."

Hiro spoke in an almost unreasonable tone, ignoring Chang Rong's expression, and walked to the white-haired boy's side.

"I...uh—wait, wait, wait, wait??"

Chang Rong, who just wanted to be alone, was inexplicably taken hostage by Xi Luo and kidnapped on the spot.

The remaining girls in the infirmary exchanged bewildered glances. Although there was no point in fighting for Chang Rong anymore, it wouldn't be right to just watch the white-haired boy be kidnapped by the freakish long-haired black-haired boy who had tried to kill him in front of everyone just a few minutes ago. What would we eat if Chang Rong really died from being stabbed by Xiluo?

Even Emma, ​​whose mind was only focused on eating and nudging others, knew very well that now was not the time to play around like before.

"Everyone... what are your thoughts on Hiro-chan's magic?"

Emma Sakura didn't catch up with the two. Instead, she looked at the other girls and asked them with a serious expression.

Volume 1: Chapter 144. I Decide the End of the Story

On the other side, after leaving the infirmary, Chang Rong and Xi Luo walked side by side in the castle corridor.

"Was this quiet here before?"

The two hadn't spoken to each other, and the overly silent, even desolate, surroundings made Hiro frown and ask in a low voice.

In Hiro's memory, the castle was always filled with inappropriate, chaotic noises: Coco Sawatari's startled breaths, the hissing of Noah's spray paint cans, Rhea Hasumi's pleasant but meaningless lines, and the back-and-forth, stand-up comedy-like dialogue between Hannah Tono and Sherry Tachibana...

However, at this moment she only felt tranquility, a tranquility that made her feel uncomfortable all over.

The former hustle and bustle and 'crowding' seem to be nothing but a dream illusion; all that remains here is the emptiness bearing the marks of the girls' lives.

"Um, Chang Rong... thank you. I thought you would reject me."

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Hiro fiddled with her long hair at her temples and spoke to the boy beside her.

"Hiro, you also need time to think. Our goals are the same."

"Thinking... perhaps so. I don't know how to apologize to Emma... I hurt her so much, but I was completely unaware of it. Although it started with Xiaoxue's magic altering my memories, all the subsequent actions were my own unilateral and willful behavior."

Hiro lowered her head and clenched her fists. Her tone, unusually devoid of her usual strong and righteous demeanor, sounded weak and somewhat lost.

“What’s more wrong than doing evil is doing evil without even realizing it. I originally thought I just didn’t want to have anything to do with Emma as the individual ‘Nikaido Shiro,’ but at that time I never realized that the influence contained in the name Shiro could have such a wide-ranging impact… Me, a guy who claims to be right but is actually completely wrong— ugh!”

"You shouldn't be saying that to me, Hiro?"

Nikaido Hiro's increasingly self-destructive and self-loathing words were interrupted by a touch on her cheek. Chang Rong gently stroked the long-haired girl's cheek, trying her best to give her a smile that would embolden her.

“Emma has always been waiting for Heero because she is such a kind girl… So, Heero, what you need to do is not give up on yourself, but take her hand, tell her your mistakes, and promise her a future, like this—”

Chang Rong held Xi Luo's hand with her ten fingers, and even through the gloves, she could still feel the warmth of the boy's palm.

"Grab her hand, don't let her get away, and carefully tell her your feelings, word by word—"

"I, I'm really going to fuck you to death—"

"That's not what I asked you to say!?"

This guy is completely beyond saving...!

He poured his complex feelings for Yuki into the story, teaching Hiro how to avoid regrets, only to receive the response, "Teacher, I'm a vanilla bean." It seemed that the only option left for the Yamato Nadeshiko student council president in front of him was to start over.

If they continued talking about Emma, ​​Chang Rong might get killed by Hiro on the spot, so she could only change the subject and talk about their childhood sweetheart, Xiao Xue.

Xiaoxue initially seemed to only want to prove herself... no, it should be said that deep down she probably hoped that someone could negate the revenge she had always insisted on. She was completely lost and only hoped to get a chance to stop, but the series of events that followed far exceeded Xiaoxue's initial expectations; too much happened.

Judging from Xiaoxue's actions in searching for Xiluo, she didn't even know about her 'resurrection'. No matter how you look at it, this kind of person doesn't seem like a 'behind-the-scenes maneuver' at all, but rather more like... a pure idiot who's fighting with her left and right brains.

If Chang Rong could meet Xiao Xue again... perhaps rather than questioning her behavior, he would prefer to ask what she had done after leaving him, whether she had properly washed her hair and taken a shower, and whether she had cut her finger while cooking.

"Now I finally understand why Xiaoxue would force herself to distance herself from me after showing a happy expression every time, and why she wrote in the letter she left me, 'I should have died long ago, but I didn't die at the most opportune time. I didn't die when I should have died. The death I'm facing now should be the judgment I've been waiting for, but... but I'm really scared, scared that I'll never see that flawless person again...'"

"Xiaoxue should have treated me and Emma like a 'tool,' because I was just a tool she was looking for to see you again. But Xiaoxue actually wanted to be friends with me and Emma... She was afraid of losing you completely, but she also carefully cherished this friendship with me and Emma—in the end, Xiaoxue neither 'set up the perfect game' nor enjoyed a complete school life... She really is, truly a complete idiot."

“Hmm…that is indeed Xiaoxue’s unique mark.” Chang Rong agreed with Xiluo’s incisive comment. The snowflake-like girl she knew was essentially a complete and indecisive idiot.

The two reached a consensus on the essence of the Great Witch Snow, and at the same time, while strolling around, they came to Noah's studio.

The art studio, which usually feels cramped, was now unusually empty and quiet.

The studio was filled with a jumble of 'paints' that Noah had prepared to deceive magic. On the wall hung a tattered sketchbook with the words 'Chapter One' written in the upper left corner of the first page, though that was all that was written on the first page.

"In the end, both Noah and An'an completely and utterly exceeded the deadline," Chang Rong sighed softly.

"Noah was clearly closer to me at first, but it's all because of you, you idiot rabbit, that Noah stopped paying much attention to me afterward...!" Thinking of this, veins popped out on Hiro's forehead as he glared fiercely at Chang Rong.

Noah's relationship with his mother evolved from "Hero is the mother" to "Hero is the mother and Rongrong is the father," then to "Only the mother can have sex with the father," and finally to a bizarre and distorted relationship of filial piety: "Mother, go away, Noah wants to have sex with the father."

"This can't be my fault... Logically speaking, my parenting should be correct, it shouldn't be like this...?"

Chang Rong was completely bewildered. Looking at Noah's final pencil sketch in his hand, he couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong, which had turned Noah from the incredibly caring boy into the sleeping pill extractor and body painting fanatic he was now.

but……

[Hehehe, Rongrong likes Noah's paintings, so Noah likes Rongrong too!]

We only see you as a 'monster,' so we've come to hunt down this monster...!

They deserved a better ending.

After leaving the art studio, the two went to the library.

“Marg seems to really enjoy reading here. She was the first to find that strange ancient book in witch's language. That girl... she's a strange girl full of mysteries—of course, she's definitely a con artist, no doubt about it, so what she said in the courtroom back then was definitely a lie!”

Hiro recalled the purple-clad girl who would occasionally appear in the library, and then remembered the words "I love you" that Baosheng Mag left for Chang Rong before he died. He quickly told Chang Rong that it was just an act, a deception. Anyway, forget the beginning and forget the end. Use Rabbit Fist on Mag for me.

"I'm not stupid. I can understand that love at first sight doesn't exist in this world..." Chang Rong, who fell in love with the Great Witch at first sight and whose life was ruined, responded helplessly.

"Speaking of which, if Mag were still here, at least the library wouldn't have become such a terrible place for you, Heero, to do your weird things..." The library wasn't a good place for Chang Rong in the past, because Alice, Futter, and 'Vulture' were all killed here by the young lady. The library still isn't a good place for Chang Rong now; whenever he comes here, Heero uses tutoring as an excuse to grope him...

“Marge? She won’t interfere. After all, I’m also teaching and nurturing students, fulfilling my proper duties,” Hiro lied without batting an eye.

"I didn't really feel the teaching aspect, but I could definitely feel the desire to nurture people..."

Chang Rong muttered to herself, then pondered what it would be like if Mag were still here.

Hey Chang Rong, I love you!

The girl, who had never known what love was, still lingered in my ears with her elegant words of deception at the very end.

She deserved a better ending.

As I left the library, I heard a sound coming from the screening room next door. It turned out that the videotape that had been playing earlier hadn't been paused, and the screen was still showing the past of Witch Island and the witches.

"How do I turn this off...?" Chang Rong walked up to the projector, momentarily bewildered. With neither Fut nor Uncle Milia around, Chang Rong was forced to experience what it felt like to be clueless about home appliances.

“If Uncle were here, she would probably smile and say, ‘Leave this to me, Uncle,’” Chang Rong said, gently stroking the scarf around her neck.

“Milia is indeed the most stable, mature and kind person among all of them. Apart from her inappropriate clothing, I can hardly find any other faults in her.” Shiro also nodded in agreement with the Saeki Milia in Chang Rong’s mind.

Milia's gentleness and kindness may seem ordinary and unassuming, but they are more delicate and tender than anyone else's, just like this scarf, which may not look particularly striking, but is incredibly warm.

"I really want to have Milia pat my head on the lap again..." Chang Rong slumped his head, even his non-existent rabbit ears drooped down and became limp noodles.