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

This scene feels so familiar... It must be a dream, right?

182. Death Flag Capture Operation

"First, give me back my blanket. Second—how did you even get into the bedroom, Nanoha-chan?"

Before we actually experience something, we often have unrealistic expectations about it, but once we actually get it, we find that it's not like that at all.

Chang Rong had always thought that the scenario of "opening his eyes and seeing a beautiful girl greeting him" was very romantic. However, when he opened his eyes and actually found a beautiful girl, Kurobe Nanoha Kaori, sitting motionless next to him, spying on him...

Rather than romantic, this feeling is more like accidentally glancing over while fixing a machine and discovering that Uncle Mai has been watching you from behind a corner all along. It's more of a feeling of terror.

"Of course, pry it open—pfft!"

When Chang Rong asked her a question, Kurobe Nanoha responded honestly, but as soon as she opened her mouth, her older sister covered her mouth and said, "Okay, stop talking."

"Waaah—Um, I came to check because I noticed the door lock was open and there was a crack in the door. I was worried something might happen."

With her mouth gagged, Kurobe Nanoha recalled the reasons she had made up when giving her statement, and said in a somewhat guilty tone as she recalled them.

"The door lock was opened? Hmm... I see. Thank you, Nanoha. But I don't think there should be any danger..." Chang Rong nodded, expressing her gratitude to the mysterious black-haired, twin-tailed woman spying on her.

"Hiss hiss hiss~" The headband-wearing guard 'Big Sister' let out a pleasant hum and glanced at Kurobe Nanoha, her expression as if she were showing off to her younger sister, 'Look, he still has to thank us.'

"Relying on that warden who only thinks about slacking off is really unreliable... Luckily, it was Nanoha Kaori who discovered this. If it had been some other weirdo, who knows what might have happened... Anyway, I really have to thank you again, Nanoha Kaori!"

Chang Rong frowned and complained softly, while the warden, who was happily basking in the sun, was inexplicably burdened with a false accusation. Then, he looked with gratitude at the girl in the cycling hat who was kneeling beside his bed, covered by his blanket.

Thankfully, it was the seemingly calm and mature Nanoha Kurobe who discovered this 'flaw'. If it had been someone else, I feel it would have turned into a really bad situation...

Of course, it would be terrible to say 'others,' but the first thing that came to Chang Rong's mind, besides a certain jellyfish, was another gentle, virtuous, and hexagonal girl with the name "Five."

"Hiss hiss hiss~~!" Seeing Chang Rong's reaction—almost getting her butt kicked but still happily counting her money—the older sister's expression behind her mask became even more smug. She kept showing off in front of Kurobe Nanoha, 'See, I told you so!'

Meanwhile, Kurobe Nanoha looked at her older sister with an admiring gaze that seemed to say, "As expected of a veteran! Veteran, you're so cool!" This veteran really had Chang Rong's personality completely under her thumb.

"Next time I'll check the lock carefully before getting into bed, but speaking of which... what does 'use at will' mean? Did you go ask Meruru for advice, Nanoha Kaori...?"

Chang Rong secretly vowed that next time before going to bed, she would check the door lock several times to see if it was working properly, and then carefully ask Naiye Xiang if she had been infected with the jellyfish virus. She was so angry at what she said.

"Um... what does that sentence mean..." When asked an awkward question, Kurobe Nanoha instinctively tugged at her cycling hat while glancing at her older sister beside her.

"—!" The headband-wearing guard gave a big thumbs-up with his twisted arm, cheering on Kurobe Nanoha Kaori in this way.

Before coming here, the two had a difficult but manageable conversation. According to Nanoha Kaori's plan, when Chang Rong brought up this topic, all Nanoha Kaori had to do was to say "it means exactly what it says" and then make her move. Chang Rong, who was like Xiao Chunan, would definitely not be able to resist, and it was highly likely that he would be defeated on the spot!

However, man proposes, God disposes.

"Well, that means, please guide me during today's mine-clearing and trap-disarming activities—Chang Rong, you don't need to think too much, just do as you please."

Nanoha Kurobe blushed and ultimately did not follow the original plan. Instead, out of shyness, she chose to brake suddenly to force herself to calm down.

"Fizz!"

The guard with the hairband immediately voiced his dissatisfaction, glaring at Nanoha with a look of disappointment.

You're hopeless! My stupid self! You got up early this morning to sneak around and pick locks, just to be the first to enjoy his sleepy smell when he woke up, and then smile and say good morning?

If you keep pushing my butt like that, it'll never be warm enough before it's even hot!

Kurobe only regretted that she had lost her transformation magic in her current form. Otherwise, she would have knocked out her useless little sister and stuffed her into the closet. Then, she would have transformed into her sister's form and seduced the rabbit into the cabin within ten sentences, and she could have made her little sister in the closet watch helplessly as the boy she wanted to pursue a pure love route slowly was fucked to the point of wanting to die in front of her.

"No, don't look at me like that, big sister... I'm too embarrassed to say those kinds of things...!" Kurobe Nanoha Kaori muttered a complaint, avoiding the piercing gaze of the hairband guard.

Cosplaying Meruru's remarks had already exhausted all her sense of shame for the day, and there was no way Nanoha Kaori could hold back the even more outrageous and indecent words that followed. No wonder she was designated as a minor character by Hiro in the previous playthrough.

"I see... I understand now, Nanoha. Hehe, I'm really happy that Nanoha is so eager to help everyone. But this matter can't be rushed, so let's go have breakfast first and then proceed slowly and steadily."

Chang Rong smiled and responded. It seemed that not all the mysterious, lewd girls around him were thinking only about dirty things. There were also honest and straightforward people like Nanoha Kaori!

“I understand, but speaking of breakfast… can I help? I’m quite good at baking, at least to a presentable level.”

Kurobe Nanoka nodded in agreement with Chang Rong's pace, then looked at Chang Rong with some anticipation and applied to be the head chef for today's breakfast.

"It's alright, leave the cooking to me... Hmm, no problem, Nanoha Kaori. I'll leave breakfast to you today, I'm really looking forward to it."

"Yes, yes, I will try my best...!"

Chang Rong originally wanted to continue taking on the cooking duties himself, but he suddenly realized that for some people, 'cooking' is not just pure labor, but another hobby that can relieve stress. Therefore, he changed the subject and agreed to Naiye Xiang's baking class.

Nanoha's reaction was similar to what Chang Rong had expected. The black-haired girl with twin tails showed a happy expression and became full of energy.

Of course, for now, we'll just pretend we didn't see the helpless look on my older sister's face that said, "This account is beyond saving..."

Now that the next step had been decided to be breakfast on Baking Day, everyone planned to head to the restaurant kitchen now. But before Chang Rong could even get out of bed, the headband-wearing guard suddenly adopted a wary posture.

Not only the guards, but even Kurobe Nanoha Kaori frowned, adopting an expression of listening intently, and then instantly revealed a panicked expression as if facing a formidable enemy.

"There are footsteps...more than one, getting closer—what, what do we do...!?"

Upon realizing that someone was approaching Chang Rong's bedroom, the "Goblin Room," Kurobe Nanoha Kaoru instantly showed a panicked expression. Her head shook from side to side like a rattle drum, as if she was trying to find a way out of the current predicament.

Ultimately, Kurobe Nanoha's gaze settled on Chang Rong, or rather, on Chang Rong's bed.

The next second, the mysterious stalker woman seemed to have finally found a formula that could be applied. She grabbed the blankets and pounced on Chang Rong, covering the two of them with the blankets. Then she desperately wriggled and crawled into Chang Rong's arms.

"Wait, wait a minute, Nanoha! Why are you suddenly trying to crawl into my bed for no reason?! Is this reasonable?!" One second Nanoha was an honest and kind person, and the next second she transformed into a bed snatcher. This huge change startled Chang Rong. He pressed down hard on Nanoha's head, which kept wriggling into his arms, with one hand, while the other hand grabbed the blanket that he had just regained, to prevent it from being snatched away by this girl again for no reason.

"Because, because this is the only place we can hide—" "So why do we need to hide!?"

In the face of an emergency, she instinctively burrows into her bed. How exactly is Nanoha Kaori's brain structured to deal with danger? Is she an ostrich? Or a crab lying on the sand?

Chang Rong was internally fretting, utterly baffled as to how this bizarre path dependency had even been created in the first place. It couldn't possibly be someone who broke into his room and then crawled into his bed to avoid the patrolling dorm supervisor, could it?

"ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss~~"

To make matters worse, before she could even manage to drag Nanoha Kaori out, a new challenger appeared. The headband-wearing guard, with an air of 'My stupid little sister has finally figured it out!', despite her body being steamed by Chang Rong's witch factor absorption, still squeezed next to her sister and snuggled into Chang Rong's arms.

"Waaaaah, big sister, please stop making a scene!?"

What are these gossipy women doing here? Are they giving me this much stress first thing in the morning?!

thump—

"Are you awake, you idiot rabbit? What are you planning to do today—leave the door unlocked?" "Good morning, Onii-chan! Onii-chan~~"

Hero and Coco's voices came from the bedroom door. Hero, who was about to knock, noticed that the door was unlocked, so he simply pushed the door open and went in.

Upon entering the room, the first thing she saw was this scene—

"In short, we must take today's operation seriously and cannot afford any mistakes. We must become the best witches and make Prison Island answer us, understand?"

"I understand..."

Chang Rong, wrapped in a blanket, sat on the bed, adopting a superior posture as she gave orders, while Kurobe Nanoha, who had somehow appeared here, hurriedly straightened her clothes while nodding to indicate that she understood.

"Ah, Hiro, Coco-chan, good morning."

Chang Rong looked at the two people who entered the room and greeted them with a smile.

"...What are you doing?" Hiro-chan frowned, her eyes gradually becoming sharp.

"Oh, well, we're rehearsing! We're rehearsing how to carry out today's mine clearance operation," Chang Rong explained with a smile, her hair still a bit messy.

"rehearse……?"

Although she really wanted to yell, "Is this how you rehearse?!", when Hiro saw the "big sister" standing in the corner, sharpening her knives at her, she decided to pretend nothing had happened for now. After all, apart from her messy appearance, that idiot rabbit didn't look like she had been forcibly taken.

As a person, you should avoid doing things that will leave others scratching their heads.

Because Chang Rong stopped Kurobe Nanoha Kaori's mysterious behavior of "hiding in her own bed whenever something happens" in time, the morning commotion was glossed over. However, Chang Rong still didn't know how the door lock broke, which seems to have become another unsolved mystery on Witch Island.

Afterwards, the group arrived at the cafeteria. Kurobe Nanoha Kaori went into the kitchen and busied herself for a long time before finally bringing out a large plate of fragrant butter toast.

"How are you feeling... Chang Rong?"

"Mmm, it's delicious! Naiye Xiang's cooking skills are truly amazing, it's incredibly delicious!" Chang Rong gave Naiye Xiang a thumbs up.

"Ah, um..." Seeing Chang Rong's response, Kurobe Nanoha blinked, then lowered her head somewhat absentmindedly, seemingly not very happy.

"Huh? What's wrong, Nanoha? Was there something wrong with my answer?"

Chang Rong noticed the somewhat disappointed look on Naoya Kaori's face and quickly asked if there was anything wrong with her answer.

"No, no, no, I'm just glad everyone likes it. But... um, I feel like Chang Rong, your reaction would be a bit stronger?"

Nanoha Kurobe tilted her head and said somewhat uncertainly.

"An even bigger reaction? Is it the kind where you're all smiles with amazing special effects behind you, and you float up like Hannah?" Chang Rong asked curiously.

"Hmm...it should be the kind of scene where they're crying and screaming, crawling on the ground trying to pull off my stockings, begging me to give them just one more bite, just one more bite—"

"Isn't that O poison?! And it's the late stage of O poison! It's just a baked dessert, it shouldn't be that serious... Or did you replace the white flour with white O powder, Naoya Kaori?!"

Chang Rong was instantly astonished. He had been imagining a version of O drug that would make him float naked after taking it, but Naiye Xiang had directly transformed into an even more ruthless 99K drug.

"Um...sorry, maybe I was just hallucinating again..."

Faced with Chang Rong's complaints, Kurobe Nanoha could only shrink back, like a child who had done something wrong, and no longer bring up the topic.

After Nanoha Kaori made a mistake and ran away in embarrassment, Hasumi Ryoya seized the opportunity and walked up to Chang Rong with a cool demeanor.

"Ahem... Chang Rong, would you like to dance with me? As the only male among the prospective witches, you are the best partner for a duet in every sense of the word."

With a piece of bread hanging from her mouth, Hasumi Ryoua struck an elegant and graceful pose as she spoke.

"Ah... um, sorry Leia, I still have to..."

"Your Highness...! How did you rest?!"

Chang Rong looked at Lian Jian Leia and seemed a little embarrassed, wanting to refuse. However, before he could respond, the mastermind behind the scenes, the mysterious jellyfish girl, Ice Meruru, suddenly came up to him, as if she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Ugh, I slept really well last night. Is there something you need, Meruru?"

"Of course...! I, I've already been holding back a whole bunch of sins waiting to be vented on to the Holy Son, I confess!"

On the ice, Meruru clasped her hands together with a devout expression, but her unnatural flush, heavy breathing, and the close-up of her lower abdomen clearly demonstrated her determination to fight Chang Rong's mother in a proper battle.

"Hey, I was here first—" Hasumi Ryoya was startled by the jellyfish that suddenly appeared. She tried to stop it, but was interrupted by another voice.

"Oh dear... Is it really necessary to confess and vent first thing in the morning? That's not a good choice. How about doing something more meaningful, Chang Rong? For example... would you mind reading and appreciating a book with me in the library in peace?" Bao Sheng Mag put a hand to his mouth, striking a seductive pose as he asked with a smile.

"Noah came out for breakfast today! So Rongrong should reward Noah by being his human model, how about it~?"

"Didn't I tell you... you'll only scare away the monsters like this... no, but the farther away those kinds of creatures are from me, the better...!"

Noah Shirosaki stuffed the bread into his mouth and swallowed it in a few bites. Then, as if to take credit, he invited Chang Rong to join him. However, Noah's overly direct seduction provoked An An's dissatisfaction and complaints.