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

This is a date, Chang Rong... even if you're stupid, you should realize that!

Looking at the black-haired girl with pigtails fiddling with various things in front of her, Chang Rong's lips curled up slightly, revealing a relieved yet resolute smile.

Even if this perpetually underperforming, clueless information girl is hiding some terrible secret weapon, so what! A true Sigma man... is one who fights the right battle at the right time!

Chang Rong rolled up his sleeves and walked confidently toward Naiye Xiang, revealing his resolute back. No matter how this date ended, he was determined to stay with her until the very end!

With this awareness, Chang Rong soon started attending baking classes with Naiye Xiang.

"What's the point of throwing raw chocolate coins into a pot and melting them into liquid chocolate, then cooling them back into chocolate blocks? Why not just make chocolate coins directly?"

Chang Rong, who was watching Nanoha Kaori's steps from the side, couldn't help but ask in a low voice. His instinct as the head chef of Witch Island made him extremely curious.

"..."

"Damn, why are you staring at me like that, like you're looking at Emma in the kitchen... I was just curious and wanted to ask, I wasn't planning on eating the ingredients!"

Chang Rong, who had been glared at by Naoya Kaori, quickly tried to explain himself.

"Haha... While it's fine to eat it directly, and many people simply reshape it and call it their creation, truly high-quality chocolate is not that simple. It requires adding appropriate ingredients based on the desired texture and effect, such as cream, pistachios, or even mint. Tempering the melted chocolate is also a crucial step, as it affects the taste and appearance of the final product."

"Huh... I didn't know there were so many different interpretations? I rarely make desserts, at most I just make sweet omelets or tamagoyaki, so I really didn't know."

As Chang Rong listened to Naiye Xiang's dessert baking class, she nodded and watched the chocolate gradually melt into liquid in the pot, sighing in amazement.

"What flavor is Nagi Kaori planning to make this time—"

After watching the chocolate coins in the pot completely melt into liquid, Chang Rong turned to look at Naoya Kaori behind him, but his words got stuck in his throat before he could even finish speaking.

Just moments ago, Nanoha Kaori was wearing her usual black coat and plaid skirt, but somehow she had taken off her coat and put on an apron instead.

That would be fine, but the problem is that—judging from the gap between the apron and that fair skin, it seems that Nanoha Kaori really is just 'wearing an apron'. That's right, she is the legendary top assassin in the kitchen, the mysterious naked apron woman.

"Ugh... Nai, Naiha Kaori, what is this...?"

Chang Rong blinked, his voice stammering. Although he wanted to quickly look away, the black-haired girl with pigtails in front of him seemed to have learned Rhea's gaze magic, fixing Chang Rong's gaze firmly on the slightly swaying knot of the apron, the unknown area separating skin from fabric.

"There's a reason for this... there's a reason for this."

Nanoha Kurobe's cheeks were flushed. Her upper body was tense and pressed together, trying to protect herself as much as possible with the thin apron. Her left hand gripped her right arm, and she bit her lip, slightly turning her gaze away, desperately suppressing the shame that made her want to run away and hide in a corner.

"I loved baking desserts when I was little, but... because I often ended up covered in flour and butter, so... when I was learning to bake with my sister, I would dress like this, so that if I accidentally got dirty later, I could just take a shower and wash myself—"

"I see—that's not surprising, that's not surprising." Chang Rong nodded mechanically, having neither the point nor the energy to discern the truth or falsehood of Naoya Kaori's words at this point.

"In short... after the chocolate melts, it needs to be cooled and tempered as soon as possible, otherwise it will separate into oil and water, and then it will be unusable."

Kurobe Nanoka didn't offer any further explanation for her current attire. She simply blushed and slowly walked to Chang Rong's side, standing close to the white-haired boy as she took the chocolate liquid out of the pot to cool it down. During this process, the two, separated by a thin apron, inevitably came into contact with each other.

—Completely different from what Marg was like back then…!

Feeling the itching on her back and the faint warmth, Chang Rong's gaze returned to the portable gas stove in front of her, but she still couldn't shake the image of Naoya Kaori from her mind.

Every move the black-haired twin-tailed girl made at that moment—the movements that should have been incredibly skillful, yet became clumsy due to shyness, the soft touch that occasionally clung to his body, the strands of hair that occasionally brushed against his cheek—all of this made Chang Rong clearly feel the presence of Kurobe Nanoha Kaori at that moment.

In this light, he could indeed be considered a good boy. After all, even though he had just played a game with Milia in the infirmary last night, he almost suffered a crushing defeat today after being attacked by Nanoha's apron. Yet, he was still a boy at heart.

"Next, all you need to do is spread the melted chocolate evenly over the container to cool it down—no, no… this looks really weird, Chang Rong…! I… I… I’d better switch back—"

To Chang Rong's surprise, it was Naoya Kaori, who was right next to him, who couldn't hold on any longer.

The girl, wearing a thin apron, finally shut down completely due to prolonged brain overheating. She shrank back from Chang Rong's side and prepared to go to a corner to change back into her previous clothes.

"Wait a minute, Nanoha Kaori—!"

"Ugh...!?"

When Kurobe Nanoha was in dire straits and preparing for the Dunkirk evacuation, it was Chang Rong who grabbed her hand and forcibly kept her there.

"Now that we're on a date, could you indulge me a little bit of my whims once in a while? I really think Nanoha is... adorable, so if possible... could I look at her a little longer?"

Chang Rong held Kurobe Nanoha's hand and asked shyly.

Just as Nanoha and the others thought this was probably their last chance, so did Chang Rong. Their time on Witch Island wouldn't last forever, and this dreamlike 'date' would be fleeting.

Since that's the case... let's just consider it a small personal desire of mine. Chang Rong also hopes that this special period can be extended a little longer.

"Me—me—me—me—"

When Nanoha Kaori's light gray eyes met Chang Rong's, and after hearing the white-haired girl's words, Nanoha Kaori, who was already out of sorts, completely froze and became unresponsive.

After repeating a few words meaninglessly, Naoka's head spewed steam, and then she suddenly grabbed the container of chocolate liquid and held it above her head as if she was about to pour it over someone.

"What the heck is going on all of a sudden!?"

"Sister, my older sister told me this trick. She said all I have to do is stick chocolate on myself and then have Chang Rong lick it. That way, I can win in one fell swoop—"

"My eyes are all swollen like mosquito coils," said Kurobe Nanoha in a confused tone.

"Putting aside the fact that such a perverse and wasteful behavior is how you expect to win, Nana Kaori, what you're holding is hot water! And because you haven't turned off the stove, it's all bubbling away!"

Chang Rong loudly complained to Naoya Kaori, and after much persuasion, she finally managed to prevent Naoya Kaori from grabbing the wrong pot and having a hot pot dinner on the spot.

However, after this commotion, the ambiguous atmosphere that the two had just painstakingly built up completely vanished.

At this moment, Nanoha Kaori was wrapped in a blanket and huddled in a corner, cosplaying as a super Yunnanese person, while Chang Rong could only squat beside her, constantly comforting and soothing the girl who was growing mushrooms.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault, I completely messed it up..." Nanoha Kaori muttered softly, shrinking her head back.

"Haa... Don't say that, Nanoha Kaori. Rather, this kind of Nanoha Kaori is the Nanoha Kaori I know. Sometimes she messes up and is a bit clumsy, but she is more serious than anyone else—this kind of Nanoha Kaori is also cute, and I like her just the same."

Chang Rong gently comforted her while reaching out to rub Naiye Xiang's head.

“…woo”

"Let's keep going, Naoya Kaori! We haven't finished making our own chocolate yet!" Chang Rong continued to encourage Naoya Kaori, who gently shook her head.

"Um... Chang Rong, actually, when you held my hand just now, my magic activated—"

"Illusion magic... What did you see, Nanoha Kaori?" Chang Rong frowned. The [Illusion] information point, which was a money-losing tool, was in a sense the engine of the party wipe in the last playthrough. Could it be that Nanoha Kaori just happened to have some past memories again?

"I saw it...I saw it...Chang Rong, you were all tangled up with other people—"

"Pfft, cough cough cough!!!"

—This is even worse than hallucinating a murder case!! Both result in deaths, but at least the previous murder cases were more serious.

"Not only Heero, Emma, ​​and Arisa, but even Noah and Anan are there—"

"……what?"

Chang Rong froze instantly. She could admit to the previous few people, after all, it was the crazy music party before he committed suicide last week. But Noah An'an?

"But, I was in it too... So, I'm not angry... Rather, I knew from the beginning that Chang Rong, you couldn't possibly be just my accomplice—"

Chang Rong only vaguely caught most of what Nanoha Kaori said in her shy words, as his brain was still processing the content of Nanoha Kaori's vision.

There are only two possibilities for this explanation: first, Naoka is hallucinating and she has made a big mistake.

Secondly... the images she 'hallucinated' were actually 'future events'.

It should be... it should be that Nanoha Kaori, who has always only sold and never touched this, is bound to get her feet wet eventually. She accidentally crashed and slipped away, so she started hallucinating... It definitely wasn't that she actually accidentally opened some kind of terrifying 1v13 dungeon, right...?

"Chang Rong".

His random thoughts were interrupted by Nanoha Kaori's voice. When he came to his senses, the girl who had just been planting mushrooms in the corner was now standing next to him, her eyes fixed on him.

Nanoha looked at the white-haired boy in front of her, and after a brief silence, she smiled happily.

"Perhaps I'm not much different from the so-called chocolate. In the past, in order to find my older sister, I had to force myself to make changes, but I didn't like the changed me. I also knew very well that such changes were just crude changes on the outside. I was still just that idiot who could do nothing without my older sister."

"But... until I met you, and with your help little by little, I regained my flavor and warmth. Although I may not have changed much, I am very clear that I am indeed different. Even if I have returned to the original version that I like, the little things I have experienced with you during this time have completely influenced and changed me."

Kurobe Nanoka gently placed her hand on Chang Rong's cheek, speaking in a tender and happy tone.

"—Me too, Nanoha Kaori. It's not just you who's been changed; I've also been affected and changed far too much on this witch's island."

Chang Rong put aside his wild thoughts, took Naoya Kaori's outstretched hand, and let her dream about the future that belonged to the two of them.

People with flaws meet on this witch's island, influencing and changing each other, supporting each other to become better—perhaps this is a miracle that belongs only to them, a miracle that even magic cannot achieve.

After a brief silence, the two looked at each other and smiled simultaneously. Naoya Kaori then rose from the corner again and, with Chang Rong, began to remake their special chocolate.

This time, there were no further hiccups, and Chang Rong made perfect pistachio chocolate step by step under Naiye Xiang's hands-on guidance.

However, as she approached the final step, Nanoha Kaori placed her fingers on her waist bag, a hint of hesitation flashing across her face.

"By the way, Chang Rong, they should have some extra packaging bags over there. Could you get me some?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Kurobe Nanoka took a breath. She first sent Chang Rong away, then took out the 'computer parts' that had been ground into powder beforehand, blushed, and threw them into the chocolate liquid and stirred them evenly.

Although Nanoha was incredibly happy to have just opened up to Chang Rong, it was precisely because they had opened up to each other that Nanoha began to yearn for a deeper 'communication'.

"That's right, Chang Rong... This, this is all your fault! If I hadn't hallucinated your terrible behavior, if you hadn't been seducing me all along... I, I definitely wouldn't have done this...!"

While trying to justify herself in this way, Kurobe Nanoha Kaori stirred the 'potion' in the pot like a witch.

—I did it, big sister…! See? Your little sister can take this step too if she tries hard enough!!

As she watched the mysterious powder melt in the pot, Kurobe Nanoka's face revealed a cute expression of having figured out her plan.

"I brought it back and packaged it—hmm? What happened? You seem really happy all of a sudden, Nanoha Kaori."

"Ah... well, I just suddenly remembered the scene of my older sister having her fingers bitten by Hakimi on the street before... Anyway, that basically counts as finished!"

Naoya Kaori quickly made up an excuse to get away with it, and then poured the chocolate from the pot into the mold she had made to cool it down.

Not long after, a heart-shaped pistachio chocolate appeared in front of the two of them.

"Is this the chocolate we made ourselves...? What a roundabout way we've come..." Chang Rong said with some emotion as she looked at the product in front of her.

"I originally planned to eat it directly, but Emma and Arisa are waiting for us... and it wouldn't be very discreet... so..."

"?"

Unlike Chang Rong, who was filled with emotion and sighs, Naiye Xiang, after seeing the chocolate made, seemed to be muttering to herself, as if she was plotting something.

Nanoha seemed to have made a decision. She neatly wrapped the chocolate, then held the heart-shaped chocolate in both hands and looked at Chang Rong with a very serious expression.

"Chang Rong, this chocolate... means a lot to me, so if you're planning to eat it, you must tell me, and we'll open it together, okay?"

"Yes, I understand." Chang Rong nodded seriously.

—Perhaps this is what is called 'a sense of ritual'. I can understand Oona Kaori, after all, this chocolate does have special commemorative significance for me.

"You absolutely have to invite me!" "I know..."

Although it was very memorable, Chang Rong couldn't understand why Naoya Kaori repeatedly emphasized that the two of them had to be present to eat it.