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

Tachibana Sherry rubbed her hair and temples, then looked thoughtfully at Natsume Anan beside her and said softly.

"After all, too much socializing is meaningless and just a burden. It's obvious that An'an, you're the kind of person who would gain nothing from socializing. Normally, I wouldn't care too much about you. Of course, I'm not specifically referring to An'an. Rather, I don't really care about most people's intentions!"

"I, I don't care about you, you super strong, eccentric girl...!" An An, who had just been dissed by Tachibana Sherry, quickly retorted in retaliation.

"But things are different now... Well, I'm sure I really want to become partners and good friends with everyone, including you, An'an."

Tachibana Sherry closed her eyes slightly, trying to analyze her thoughts with 'logic'. After several tens of seconds of creative AI brainstorming, Tachibana Sherry nodded, confirming her thoughts, and said with a confident tone.

She hoped to become close friends and companions with everyone, not just Watson, Hannah, and Emma.

"I, we also... hope to become closer to everyone..." An An, unusually, did not refute or mock, but nodded shyly and awkwardly, just like Tachibana Sherry.

For An An and Shirley, 'socializing' was more like a burden and a curse. Rather than trying to get along with everyone, it was much more comfortable to close themselves off and only communicate with a very small number of 'companions'.

But at some point, this overly negative 'social approach' gradually sank like a melting iceberg. Both Shirley and An An began to take the initiative again, engaging in empathetic social interactions with others, becoming companions, confidants, and even rivals (?).

"It must be that stupid monster's fault... He just dragged people out without explanation and then arbitrarily changed them in his own way... Hmph, that guy is indeed the most willful and cruel one... He has to be defeated!"

Why did I gradually become like this? While pondering this question, the image of the white-haired boy lingered in An An's mind.

If it weren't for him... I might still be holed up in my room, staring at a blank sketchpad, deceiving myself that I'm a writer, while unilaterally and persistently avoiding contact with other people...

“That’s right, that’s right, that’s what makes Watson so amazing!” Shirley Tachibana nodded with a smile. Although her memories were still a bit blurry and broken, none of that prevented the originally malfunctioning robot Shirley from attributing the most important ‘guide’ in this journey of retrieving her inner self to Chang Rong.

"And this is the same Watson—who's currently out on dates with Arisa-chan...?"

"Huh!?"

Suddenly, Shirley Tachibana changed the subject. She moved close to An An and whispered something in a devilish voice, which naturally startled An An.

"If An An hadn't stopped me, I probably would have eliminated Arisa long ago and made her show a completely un-girlish expression, right? But who exactly caused trouble and made Ben Holmes leave the stage with such regret?"

Tachibana Sherry moved even closer to Natsume Anan, the blue-haired detective's golden eyes fixed intently on the pigeon spirit before him, his smile overly bright and dashing.

“I, we…we are just…” Natsume An’an swallowed hard, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

"But what is it? Speaking of which, An'an, you really like writing, right? In that case, why don't you write a detective novel? The mystery can't be easy for me to guess, okay? Because that would be too boring. But it also can't be completely unsolvable for me, okay? Otherwise, Miss Holmes will get angry, all puffed up!"

"Wh-what is this..." An An swallowed hard. Before, when she kept her distance from Shirley Tachibana and they were not familiar with each other, she had never felt this kind of terrifying pressure that made it hard to breathe.

"It needs to have elements of romance, action, suspense, comedy, time travel, history, leisure, current affairs, food, pure love, NTR, love, death, and robots. Hey, An An can definitely write it!"

"How could we possibly..."

"You can write it down, right?"

"We..."

"0v0, right?"

"Waaaaah...!?"

Looking at Shirley Tachibana, who was practically right in front of her, with a forced smile and empty eyes, An An instantly broke out in a cold sweat, finally realizing what kind of being she had offended.

—You stupid monster, save me!

The writer, who was prone to procrastination, let out a desperate wail.

At the same time, Chang Rong, who had successfully escaped with Arisa, suddenly froze on the spot.

"Achoo...! An'an? (Without concern) It must be my imagination."

Chang Rong rubbed his nose, completely ignoring the last groan of the bean sprout girl, and turned his gaze to Arisa Wisteria beside him.

"How is it, Arisa?"

"I...I'm fine, I'm much better now."

After taking a few deep breaths, Arisa's chest heaved much more smoothly. After all, even if you run the same distance with the same amount of energy, the feeling of pressure and exhaustion is completely different depending on whether the Terminator Tyrant's scythe is chasing you.

"As expected, it turned out to be this messy situation... I'm sorry, Arisa, for making you suffer like this." Chang Rong rubbed his hair and apologized to Arisa.

"No, please don't apologize like that. Actually, I feel very happy."

Arisa quickly shook her head to tell Chang Rong not to worry about her, and then tried to explain in a slightly shy yet happy tone.

"Actually... before I came to Witch Island, I was a runaway who wandered around everywhere, so I didn't really have any friends... Being able to fool around and play with everyone like this is much happier than I imagined."

Arisa smiled and said to Chang Rong.

"--Hmm, Arisa, you're definitely cuter when you're smiling without hiding it."

Chang Rong looked at the white-haired girl in front of her, remained silent for a few seconds, and then nodded in response.

"Eh...? I... um...!" Hearing Chang Rong's praise, Arisa belatedly touched her cheek and realized that the black mask she was supposed to be wearing had actually never been put back on since the scene in the courtyard where the two of them took off their masks and gently kissed Chang Rong.

Arisa Fujito instinctively panicked and wanted to put her mask back on, but her fingers paused for a moment. After a brief thought, although her cheeks were steaming shyly from being directly exposed to everyone's view, she ultimately did not put her mask back on. Instead, she exposed her face completely, tilted her head slightly, and looked away from Chang Rong.

—Arisa, you're so cute from every angle.

Seeing Arisa's slightly awkward and shy demeanor, Chang Rong smiled and sighed inwardly like an aunt.

"【Coo coo coo... Here's a brand new kill notification. Tachibana Sherry and Natsume An'an, both prospective witches, have perished together. What a pair of smiling tigers, two star-crossed lovers! Coo coo】"

"?"

The two people were stunned for a moment when they heard the kill notification. The settlement delay was quite large. Was it lagging?

"Right, right...we still have to keep fighting...!"

Seemingly to avoid the embarrassment of taking off her mask, Arisa quickly stood up and somewhat flusteredly struck a fighting pose for Chang Rong.

"Heh heh, are you going to attack me again, Arisa? Before, someone interfered, but this time no one should bother you. I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

"As for teaching or disciplining... I'll try my best to be patient...!"

Upon hearing that she would be severely bullied by Chang Rong, Arisa's already flushed cheeks instantly became even hotter, and her chest, which had finally calmed down, began to heave again.

"Well then, take this, ee-ya!!"

Chang Rong attacked Arisa with a hand chop, but this so-called 'attack' was no different from playing around in terms of force or movement.

"Then I'll retaliate too...!"

Arisa wrapped her fist in flames to create a fiery fist and counterattack. However, the speed of her punch was so slow that one couldn't help but wonder if she was only focused on collecting defeat CGs. The thin, pitiful layer of flames also dissipated halfway through the punch, serving only a visual and sterilizing effect.

The two were thus caught in a tense standoff that was hard to define as either flirting or a battle of wits.

"Hmph... You've got some skills, Arisa! In that case, I'm going to get serious now—"

Beep beep beep!

Chang Rong, who was becoming increasingly engrossed in the slow-motion combat with the dummy, rubbed his wrist. Just as he was about to pounce again, his phone beeped once more.

The club president is already outdated, so who could it be? But whoever comes, it shouldn't be a big problem, right?

Boom!!!

As Chang Rong was thinking this, before she could even confirm the general direction, two figures suddenly barged in.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!"

"Bang!!"

If Chang Rong and Arisa's 'battle' wasn't particularly fierce, but at least it could be considered a 'battle in accordance with the Zhou Dynasty's rites,' then the sudden intrusion of this fight between the two of them instantly made it seem like a kindergartener scratching each other's faces.

The clanging and exploding of metal against metal was incessant, rust sparks flew everywhere, and the sound of air being torn apart, along with the crashing and smashing of furniture, rang out continuously.

Two pitch-black figures roared and tore at each other like humanoid typhoons, devouring, shredding, and gnawing away everything around them that was caught in the blast.

This wasn't a battle at all; it was a clash of two natural disasters.

Those two black shadows were none other than Nikaido Hiro, wielding a fire poker, and... 'Big Sister', wielding a scythe.

"...Wait a minute—why is Hiro fighting with her older sister?! Does this make any sense?!"

Chang Rong blinked, and after the initial shock, she quickly asked the mass-produced warden clone next to her.

"【Coo coo coo... Actually, this kind of scene has happened quite often before... It's just that there are very few prospective witches who can 'fight' each other.】"

The warden's voice rang out, indicating that charging at the guards wasn't exclusive to Hiro.

"Big sister, what are you doing here! Where's the losers' viewing area?"

"Hiss hiss hiss~!" "Heh, you still have the energy to be distracted by conversation? I really underestimated you...!"

—I don't understand at all... By the way, has Heero's fighting power skyrocketed again?!

The headband guard seemed to want to explain something, but without Nanoha's translator, Chang Rong couldn't understand at all, and her older sister was quickly drawn back into the battle with Hiro.

"Anyway—why did my older sister become a participant in the battle royale?!" Chang Rong complained loudly. Could it be that the battle royale competition is like the Holy Grail War, where it can never be a textbook-perfect process and someone always has to mess things up?

"Hmph... This is all because of me, Xiaorong! I'm the one who invited 'Nanoha Kaori-neechan' to help!"

"—Milia?"

Another familiar voice slowly emerged, and the hot girl Saeki Miria, who called herself an "uncle," slowly walked out of the room. Although she had that kind, affable smile on her lips, she somehow looked a little creepy at this moment.

"There's no need to be so surprised, Xiao Rong. After all, the adult strategy is to call in people and use connections, you know?"

Milia straightened her imposing front armor, smiled, and shook her finger at Chang Rong.

"No, no, no... it's still weird to try to find connections with my older sister, we're even different species now...?" Chang Rong wiped away her cold sweat and complained.

"I was originally planning to withdraw from the competition, after all, battle royale... well, although I really wanted to win the prize, the chances were just too slim. Even if I participated, I'd probably just be used as cannon fodder... But just as I was heading to the flower field, I witnessed Nanoha Kaori's terrifying rampage, which scared me so much that I ran away. However, my legs gave way and I fell to the ground. Nanoha Kaori was the first to rush over and help me up—"

Milia rubbed her cheeks with her fingers, somewhat embarrassed and ashamed as she recounted her actions since the start of the battle royale.

"However, thanks to this little incident, I ended up making a devil contract with Nanoha-neechan!"

"Did we skip some of the most crucial steps?"

—How exactly did they go from a fall to an alliance?! Just tell me the key point!

"You'll find out about that later, Rong... Anyway, hmph—Nanoha Kaori-neechan is really amazing! Even that Nozomi can only be at a disadvantage!"

"Tsk...if I could get a full set of equipment..."

Hiro clicked his tongue and frowned in rebuttal. Chang Rong was momentarily at a loss for words, only feeling that it was best to avoid provoking Hiro unless absolutely necessary. This guy had already begun preparing for the Remains Cup.

"I don't know why Xiaosha is here too, but even if Xiaoxi, Xiaosha, and Xiaorong team up, they probably still wouldn't be a match for Nanoha Kaori, right?"

Milia walked up to 'Big Sister', and at this moment, the pressure of 'adult' emanating from her was fully displayed. Even the aura of 'Big Sister' was suppressed for a moment, and she became a high-level henchman by the side of the big boss of the dark secret.

Love, dreams, and magic are all just empty illusions in the face of adults' dirty deals.

"However... I aspire to be a lawyer, so it wouldn't be right to just crush everyone with force... Hmm, let's resolve this conflict in a civilized way. Here we go, Witch's Judgment—it begins again! This time, let Nanoha Kaori be my judge, my shikigami, and punish everyone to death!"