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

It's in the district now, as expected.

When I crawled to T3 yesterday using my red underwear, I checked the time and saw it was 5:45 AM. I knew then that I was done for the day.

I can only manage a perfect attendance of 4 words today to keep my writing speed from freezing. I'll try to improve it for you guys tomorrow.

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Also, suddenly a lot of people in the comments section are saying it's almost over.

Now that things have come to this, it seems impossible to say things like, "I actually still want to keep writing and make money."

The ultimate goal is to finish the novel at 200 million words! It might end in stages, then transition to a modern slice-of-life story, a witch's rest story, or a personal "what if" story; we'll see then.

216. Don't make Sister Ma laugh.

"Well, in short, now that you're alright, you big idiot, hurry up and cook for us! But, well, don't overwork yourself..."

After Chang Rong glossed over the topic of Xirokoko's simultaneous absence with his witty remarks, the fluffy pigeon, disguised as An'an, approached Chang Rong and urged him to hurry up and cook, her voice filled with a mixture of expectation and concern.

"No problem, no problem~ I've been itching to get my hands dirty these past few days, and I'm just about to get to work! But An'an, why do you look so excited? Has no one been cooking for you lately?"

Chang Rong struck a pose showing off his muscles and happily agreed. Although cooking for more than ten people every day was physically demanding, he was actually quite eager to try cooking again after not cooking for a while.

"Hiro has been cooking for everyone... but his food always emphasizes nutritional balance too much... and he always stands next to Noah and me watching us eat vegetables... honestly, I'm a future great writer! Writers should eat whatever they want! So go and fry some potato chips and popcorn for me!"

An'an sullenly waved her overly loose sleeves, complaining and whining. It was clear that during this period, because she couldn't focus her attention on Chang Rong during lunchtime as before, Xiluo had been using all her misplaced energy to "torture" the children's group.

"Although Hiro's methods are a bit strict, being a picky eater is really not good, An'an. Besides, you can't eat potato chips and popcorn for breakfast... How about I secretly add some extra butter to your pancakes? But remember not to let Hiro find out, okay?"

Chang Rong smiled and ruffled An An's fluffy white hair. Although An An was still a little sulky, she eventually nodded obediently and agreed to this little dirty deal.

“Um… Chang Rong-kun, I want to help too! Chang Rong-kun, you’ve only just recovered, you can’t overexert yourself!” Upon hearing that Chang Rong was going to cook, Sakura Emma cautiously raised her hand to help.

"Haha, no need, Emma. I can do it myself." Chang Rong smiled, indicating that there was no need to trouble Emma. It wasn't out of pity or anything, but mainly because when she put this guy in the kitchen, the actual output of the dishes never matched the amount of food prepared. It must be Emma's big hands... no, her little mouth that were working.

“If it’s baking, I can lend a hand too,” said Kaori Kurobe thoughtfully from the side.

"It's alright, it's alright. Nanako probably isn't used to using the oven in the kitchen." Chang Rong shook his head and refused Nanako's offer. To be honest, before figuring out exactly what this girl had added to her bread and pastries, Chang Rong wasn't too keen on letting others taste them.

Of course, this doesn't stop me from continuing to slip away.

"Nono... well, Rongrong, why don't you rest a bit more? Noah doesn't want you to cook or anything like that..."

"Hehe, it's okay, Noah. I'm much better now, don't worry about me."

"That's not what I meant... No, no, this is terrible..." Noah Shirosaki looked conflicted. She tried to stop Chang Rong from cooking, but to little avail. She could only look around in embarrassment and bite the spray paint button to relieve the pressure.

Putting aside Noah's reaction that he didn't want Chang Rong to cook, perhaps because Chang Rong had just recovered, now was a good opportunity to gain favor and show off her Yamato Nadeshiko power, and more aspiring witches also came over to offer their help.

There is a mysterious woman who claims to be able to physically combine three portions of rice into one portion of two-star rice.

There are also mysterious hypnotists who claim to be able to cast a spell on food that makes it "so delicious that it will be unparalleled for eternity, leaving people grateful to tears and speechless, saying that they have never had such wonderful food before, please feed me, feed me," but the price is that they cannot remember the details of the meal.

There were also those who tearfully claimed they could make food that resembled poop, in order to remind everyone of the mysterious woman who was the true master of Witch Island.

"I appreciate everyone's kindness! But I'll do it all by myself today. I'll be careful not to tire myself out. Consider it a way of thanking everyone for taking such good care of me these past few days!"

Chang Rong had to give false testimony to fool everyone. Rather than saying that among these people, apart from Hannah Hiro who was a genuine cook, almost everyone else had their own quirks. They probably couldn't compare to Nanoha Kaori's older sister in terms of cooking skills, I mean, all of them combined.

Leia's cooking is either too bland, like food for a sick person, or a lethal amount of ramen high in oil, salt, and calories. I heard that this is because idols have strict control over their food intake, so when Leia occasionally sneaks out to eat, she eats this high-calorie 'junk food' as a form of revenge.

Because every time she sneaked out, she would see another handsome idol from the Azure series showing off his ramen-making skills at the ramen shop, Rhea's guilt wasn't that great, since the other idols had done it too.

In short, after kicking out all the guys who would destroy the house, steal food, poison, make poison, break things and explode, and cook Indian food by hand, Chang Rong was finally able to come to the kitchen alone and immerse herself in her cooking without being disturbed or eaten by others.

Speaking of which... there were times when Xiaoxue and I cooked together here before.

As Chang Rong stood in front of the stove stirring the eggs, he suddenly recalled the girl who was as beautiful as a snowflake.

Because the way he retrieved his memories was somewhat inelegant, Chang Rong spent the first half of his time thinking about Se Se after regaining them, and the second half thinking about how not to be seduced by others. This rare moment of leisure finally gave him time to rethink the matter of the instigator of all this, the "Great Witch Xue".

Xiaoxue was standing here at that time, looking somewhat comical as she stood on a stepping stone box, holding a kitchen knife and looking troubled at the vegetables, muttering some meaningless, melodramatic remarks such as, "If the levitation magic hadn't been separated, I wouldn't be in such an embarrassing state."

If she accidentally cuts something crooked, Xiaoxue will even yawn and berate the knife, cutting board, and vegetables, wondering if there's something wrong with how she did it. Anyone who sees her like this probably wouldn't think that this is the legendary great witch with great potential and a grand future.

Perhaps 'Sato Yuki' is just a minor, pretty girl who has an inexplicable obsession with playing the role of 'mother' but is completely incapable of taking care of Alice, whose way of raising Meruru can only be described as tragic, and who likes to indulge in fantasy. She has nothing to do with witches or dark secrets.

But that's just how it is. She is both his clumsy and naive childhood sweetheart, and the last witch who is burdened with hatred and wants to destroy humanity by herself. At the same time, she is also a fussy and indecisive mastermind who likes to take back her moves. She is a helpless "bad chess player" in every sense of the word.

What exactly is Xiaoxue's situation now? What were the words she wanted to say to me but couldn't say back then? Was she planning to give up the shackles she'd been bound for a hundred years? Or was she trying to reveal her most inhuman side?

Although she regained her memories, Chang Rong surprisingly did not hate Meruru or 'Big Sister'.

During the time she spent with them, Chang Rong learned that she had touched their inner wounds, their own despair, and most importantly, their desire to make amends and atone for their sins.

But Chang Rong never even had the chance to see Xiao Xue again.

Meruru has been searching for Xiaoxue, but from the accounts of Shiro and Emma, ​​Xiaoxue seems to believe that she is 'dead', which is why she wants to contact Shiro and retrieve the magic 'Death Rewind' from him in an attempt to save herself.

However, this seemingly insignificant great witch, as always, let her luck down. She hadn't actually died; instead, she had reawakened through a symbiotic fusion with the witch's essence. And Xiaoxue, lacking both the time and the resolve to strip Hero of his magic, could only ultimately hand the key to humanity's destruction to Emma, ​​hoping and praying that Hero and Emma could 'do something'.

Thinking about it that way, Xiaoxue's goal must be to be summoned again through the ritual, right? If that's the case, we should be able to meet again soon.

Although I'm curious to know how you've been doing since I left, whether you've learned how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and whether you still throw all your laundry into the washing machine and make it spin like a top—but before that, Xiaoxue, you need to take care of all this mess first.

"Why aren't you resting properly this morning? Why are you cooking alone in the kitchen? You idiot rabbit, do you want me to gore you to death again?!"

"Wow, Hiro!? What are you—ah, it's Mag?"

Lost in his memories, Chang Rong was startled by Xi Luo's voice and quickly snapped out of his reverie. He turned to look at 'Xi Luo', only to find that the person leaning against the kitchen door behind him was a black-haired, purple-eyed girl named Bao Sheng Ma Ge, wearing a black and white checkered kimono with purple butterfly patterns.

"Do you feel disappointed seeing me, Chang Rong? Besides, I was just watching from the kitchen doorway, I didn't mean to go in and cause you any trouble." Bao Sheng Mag raised his palm and smiled as he joked with Chang Rong. Ever since the last incident where peeling potatoes resulted in French fries due to an extremely high wastage rate, Mag had been blacklisted by the kitchen staff.

"However, how should I put it... wearing an apron in the kitchen first thing in the morning, with a delicious expression that looks like a widower or a single mother, Chang Rong, you're really funny no matter how you look at it~"

"...?"

Chang Rong tilted her head, unable to visualize the scene no matter how hard she tried to understand how Mag described it.

Speaking of Marge… Chang Rong had originally thought that after their conversation that night, Marge would keep a certain distance from him for a while. After all, although it was acting, he had genuinely and extremely roughly pinned her down.

But contrary to expectations, after that, Baosheng Mag acted as if nothing had happened, still interacting with her with that leisurely expression. Even yesterday, she came to the infirmary like the other prospective witches, trying to perform 'intimate heart-fluttering therapy' on her.

However, there are still some differences from before. Although the original Marg liked to tease him, if he tried to approach her, Marg would flutter away like a butterfly.

But yesterday, Marge was only at the stage of 'pretending to be coy and timid'. Before she had even done anything, Marge inexplicably stopped right after starting, shook her head as if thinking about something, and then ran away in a slightly disheveled manner.

...So it seems he still harbors some resentment towards me?

"Oh well, just take it as a meaningless casual remark from a conman. But Chang Rong, you do... give off a slightly different vibe than before, don't you think?"

Baosheng Mag leaned against the wall, one hand on his cheek, and smiled jokingly.

"Is it different? Indeed... Growth is about overcoming one's immaturity. As a Sigma man, I naturally have to overcome my former naive and immature self."

Chang Rong nodded in agreement with a cool pose, but the sight of him constantly stirring the batter in his arms made it seem like the scene had nothing to do with Sigma.

"You're right, Brother Chang Rong. If you don't mind, could I also personally witness your 'transformation'? Hehehe... Have you truly become a qualified man, or are you just putting on a show of maturity? I'm very curious, what exactly are you— um...!"

With her signature mysterious smile on her lips, Baosheng Mag exuded a maturity beyond her years in every word and action. She walked slowly to Chang Rong and gently placed her hands on Chang Rong's shoulders like a python.

Just like before in the infirmary, as soon as Baosheng Mag stood next to Chang Rong, the con artist girl seemed to be electrocuted, letting out a short gasp and quickly putting distance between herself and Chang Rong.

"...This is really, really embarrassing."

"I'm so sorry," Baosheng Mag said with a low, self-deprecating tone. Then, like a group of aspiring witches who have arrived at a restaurant only to find that it's not open for business, arrived at a detective agency only to find that Watson isn't at work, or arrived at an art studio only to find that the models haven't had any water, she showed a disappointed expression and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, Mag!"

Seeing that the mysterious purple-skinned man was about to fly away like a butterfly, Chang Rong quickly let go of the egg beater and reached forward to try to grab Mag's arm.

"No...don't touch...!"

The moment Chang Rong's hand grasped Marge's slender wrist, Marge seemed to be struck by an electric current. She pulled her hand back with even greater force, looking somewhat disheveled, and then turned her back as if refusing to speak to Chang Rong.

“I’m sorry, Mag…! I know you don’t like being touched by the opposite sex. What I’m trying to say is—no matter what you’ve been through in the past, it won’t happen here, so just take it slow and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If there’s anything I can help with, the confessional door is always open.”

Chang Rong said to Marge with concern, in his opinion, Marge was acting as if a taboo had been touched, and if he did not intervene and guide her, she would only get stuck in a rut.

The most critical issue is that the damn YUKI system didn't revert to the old version after regaining his memories. Chang Rong could still only see the approximate 'favorability' values ​​of everyone. Putting aside the few 99/100s, Coco and Hiro successfully reached the perfect 100/100 after last night's events.

No, no, that's not right. Now is not the time to consider affection levels. Mag's affection level is only 85... Huh?

When Chang Rong noticed Mag's stats, he was taken aback. He had thought that after that incident, Mag's evaluation of him would only have become lower. However, he had just noticed that Mag's stats had unknowingly reached a very high level.

"Oh, since Brother Chang Rong is promoting it so enthusiastically, I'll definitely come and support him if I have the chance~ It's just that I don't have any troubles to confide in."

Just as Chang Rong was wondering, Marge turned around again. She smiled at Chang Rong, her face completely devoid of the burning and flustered expression she had when her arm was grabbed earlier; she seemed like a completely different person.

Chang Rong was increasingly confused about what Bao Shengma was thinking, but when he saw the batter in his hands, he suddenly realized something.

"By the way, Marge, since we're just killing time, how about we play a little bet?"

"Hehe, I have no problem with that, but Brother Chang Rong... you haven't handed in your underwear for today yet~?"

"Please give me a few more days, Sister Ma! I will definitely find a way to raise the interest..."

Chang Rong immediately backed down. She had thought she had seen through Bao Shengma's inner defenses, so she confidently gambled with her. In the end, she lost all her underwear and even had to pay out of pocket for several sets of underwear.

"Seriously, I'm not some villain who would confiscate someone's property just because they owe loan sharks money and default on their payments~ So, Brother Changrong, what are you planning to bet on?"

“If I win, Mag, you have to come to the confessional and tell me all your troubles! But if I lose… I… uh, I…”

Chang Rong stopped mid-sentence, asking, "Does Witch Island offer loan services? If so, do they support Guodai (a loan service)? I can't just say, 'Go get an invoice from Xiluo, she's mine now,' can I?"

"Alright, alright, Chang Rong, playing with you just once is fine, okay? If you win, I'll let you use whatever you want on top of that, how about it? This is a rare super perk!"

Baosheng Mag extended his fingers and gently placed them on the gaps in the armor covered by his kimono, striking a seductive pose that seemed to reveal everything with just a little effort, as he spoke to Chang Rong.

He gets angry at the slightest touch, but he still strikes this pose. What is Mag doing...?

Chang Rong frowned, but didn't ask any further questions. He poured the batter into a frying pan, turned his back to Marge, and spread out the pancakes. Then he handed the steaming, wheat-scented pancakes to Marge.

"The bet is on how this pancake tastes?" Chang Rong said with a sneer, while deliberately turning his body to the side, inadvertently revealing the bag of salt placed next to the cutting board behind him to Marge.

“Oh dear, I’m not very good at cooking… Could it be that it’s actually savory? Hmph, you’re too naive to think I’d say that, Chang Rong. The answer is still the classic original sweet flavor!” Bao Sheng Mag suddenly changed the subject, announcing the result with an unquestionable tone.

"Goo-wah!? W-why!!!"

Faced with Baosheng Mag's accusations, Chang Rong instantly showed an incredulous expression, as if she had just finished playing all the games in the "Bear Run" game and was about to unleash her full potential, only to find the next day that everyone around her was only playing the hacked version.

"Brother Chang Rong, you're still too green. You deliberately exposed the bag of salt behind you, thinking I would notice this 'unintentional clue' and try to mislead me? But unfortunately—gambling is not just about basic logic, but also about interpersonal communication. Brother Chang Rong, you take cooking so seriously, you would never intentionally ruin the food. So, the result can only be the original taste."

"How...how could this happen..."

Chang Rong knelt on the ground, stunned and incredulous. She had just been thoroughly outmaneuvered by Hiro's superior strategic skills, yet she had still suffered such a crushing defeat...

"You'd better get up quickly. The way you're kneeling on the ground... I mean, it's actually very easy for you to get kissed by fans, isn't it?"