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

Watching the group prepare to leave, Chang Rong wanted to say something, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't utter a decent sentence. She could only stammer and form hand seals on the side.

On the contrary, Chang Rong's current flustered state, which he had never shown during the one-sided rampage, made Emma laugh happily.

"Hehehe... I didn't expect Chang Rong to look so embarrassed. I feel like I really... really gained so much today! I'm not angry at all. I love every aspect of Chang Rong, so Chang Rong... you don't need to be too nervous or worried." Emma showed her cute fangs and comforted Chang Rong.

“That’s right… Although the order is completely different from what I expected, but… I don’t dislike it this way. This happiness is a treasure that you gave me, Chang Rong, and I will never forget it.” Arisa nodded to Chang Rong with a blush on her face.

"Although I don't know why some people are missing from the scene I 'visualized' back then, but... but... sob sob, I, I'm also very happy, there's no doubt about that...!"

Former Xiao Chunu Naiye Xiang was somewhat confused as the number of people who participated in the Silver Party did not match up, but this trivial confusion was quickly washed away by the sense of shame that surged onto the moral high ground.

"Lady Changrong, wouldn't it be better to give everyone some time and space at a time like this...? After all, I'm a 'girl' just like them, so I can at least understand how they feel, right?"

Seeing everyone's reaction, Meruru put on a seasoned expression and smiled at Chang Rong.

Chang Rong was well aware that although the bond between him and Emma and the others had already met the requirements, using the 'mysterious little pill' as the final step was still a bit delicate. Letting each other cool down and examine their relationship was indeed a good choice.

So Chang Rong stopped forcing herself to say anything to everyone, and instead nodded and watched the prospective witches leave the lake, temporarily bringing this date battle, which had ended too explosively, to a close.

Nothing else went wrong. At most, Emma sniffed her own scent, blushed instantly, and said she wanted to rinse off in the lake, since the Arisa brand dryer was there anyway.

As a result, when everyone went to play in the lake, they seduced a senior female student who was a water monkey. Before she could even finish saying "I hate it so much," Chang Rong sent her to be reincarnated on the spot. That was all and not worth mentioning.

As a Sigma man, I think we'll be able to resume our usual close relationship when we meet again.

Thinking this way, Chang Rong found when she woke up the next day that she didn't even have the courage to send a message to Emma Naiye Xiang Yali.

What if Arisa thinks this relationship is too abnormal and runs away? What if Emma thinks she can't have it all to herself and turns evil? What if Nanoha can't help but brag to her older sister, and then her sister comes to her without even putting on her robes, begging for ascension and salvation...?

What if Meruru accidentally tells everyone? What if the warden actually creates a white-haired loli-type body and comes knocking on the door?

The frustration of these seemingly insurmountable solutions gnawed at Chang Rong, even causing him to forget to use his once-proud skill of 'rambling/false evidence'.

Unable to go directly to them, and not wanting to stay cooped up in her bedroom overthinking, Chang Rong could only pass the time by wandering aimlessly around the castle.

After wandering around for a long time, he finally thought of a seemingly good way to relieve his anxiety at the moment—that is, to find the 'S2 champion' Tachibana Sherry, who had personally opened the forbidden door to him, and chat with her to relieve his inexplicable tension.

Since Shirley was the one who led me down this path of immediate execution (?), talking to her must bring me peace of mind!

However, it is clear that this was a wrong choice, a terrible one.

"Hmm... I understand, Watson! Anyway, you must be so bored and nonchalant because nothing exciting has happened lately, right? In that case, hmph—! Then this Sherlock Holmes will bestow upon you the tension you crave most!"

"Uh... Huh? What?"

When Chang Rong came to her senses, she looked at the mysterious, sickly wheelchair-bound detective in front of her, whose head suddenly had a mysterious light bulb popping out. She suddenly wondered if she had just dug one trap and then immediately crawled into another deep pit that she had dug herself.

-

Thanks to Brother Chenguang for the sudden, unexpected help!

Melatonin doesn't seem to be working... I'm really struggling with this.

255. This is an anomaly, Watson!

"Wait a minute, Sherry—at least, at least tell me what your definition of 'tension' is...!"

Chang Rong, who was being dragged around by the blue-haired character, was now filled with regret for the actions she had taken in a moment of impulse.

Because his somewhat absent-minded way of communicating successfully angered Sherry, she seemed to be planning to "find some excitement" for him. However, the problem was that the behavior that could make this sick, wheelchair-bound detective feel "excited" would probably be like a high-voltage electric shock to an ordinary person, who would die instantly with a snap if touched even slightly.

"Nervousness, huh...?"

"That's right, it can't be something like skydiving without a parachute, bungee jumping without a rope, jumping into the Yellow River with just a sack over your head, flying a plane only to find there's no landing gear and the destination is two towers, or queuing up in Shinjuku to perform Suku Nuo rituals!"

Chang Rong frantically made sarcastic remarks, while Tachibana Sherry just smiled and waved her hand after hearing them.

"Seriously, Watson, what do you think I am? I would never do those things! Besides, those things don't sound tense at all, do they?"

"Hey!?"

Although Chang Rong knew that Shirley's threshold for seeking thrills was higher than that of the average person, she was still taken aback by Shirley's nonchalant response.

"In short, it's an even more terrifying and exciting situation—well, you probably wouldn't understand if I just said it like that, Watson. Anyway, come with me and see for yourself!"

Without saying a word, Tachibana Sherry dragged Chang Rong to a room inside the castle. After arriving at their destination, Tachibana Sherry pulled Chang Rong to a corner and then carefully observed the room not far away.

Following the cautious, evasive gaze of Tachibana Sherry from the corner, Chang Rong immediately noticed the person in question sitting in the room—a girl with long black hair, dressed in a red and black prosecutor-style JK uniform, Nikaido Hiro.

"Uh... I admit that sometimes being in contact with Hiro is indeed 'exciting,' but it shouldn't be this extreme, right?"

Chang Rong blinked and turned to ask Tachibana Sherry behind her, "Spying on Hiro around the corner can't possibly be more exciting than queuing up to perform Su Nuo, right?"

"No, no, no, you've only seen the surface, Watson!"

Unlike Chang Rong, who looked completely bewildered, Tachibana Sherry had her brows furrowed tightly, her expression extremely serious and earnest.

"Based on my observations, something terrifying happened on Witch Island recently...!"

Tachibana Sherry lowered her voice, whether she was genuinely nervous or just being mysterious, and whispered to Chang Rong.

"Many people have suddenly undergone a drastic personality change without even realizing it! This change is difficult to explain logically, so the only possibility is that they have been secretly invaded!"

"Huh?" Chang Rong blinked, unable to give an effective response.

"Watson, when you were doing the mine clearance operation, didn't you encounter an old mirror demon who could possess other people's bodies? Perhaps that old demon didn't actually disappear, but instead went into hiding to continue carrying out her evil plans? And Hiro over there is the best proof! She has definitely been possessed and replaced!"

Sherry pointed to Hiro in the room not far away and said to Chang Rong with a shocked expression.

"I didn't notice anything unusual, but..."

Chang Rong secretly observed Xi Luo again through the corner. Xi Luo was sitting upright in the room, and on the table in front of her were various flowers, gardening shears and vases.

Hiro focused intently on observing and comparing the flowers, occasionally picking up gardening shears to decisively and skillfully trim and shape them, then carefully placing them in the vase and adjusting their positions, nodding occasionally at his creation.

Anyone who sees this scene would probably immediately be convinced that the black-haired, red-eyed girl is a genuine classical Yamato Nadeshiko.

"It's really rare to see a normal rare Yamato Nadeshiko Hiro. I thought they were all out of print."

Chang Rong nodded with a satisfied look on her face. Because the circumstances of their first encounter were quite special, Chang Rong had hardly had a chance to experience Hiro's mode.

"Why do you look so mesmerized, Watson? I didn't come here just to feast your eyes—this is an anomaly, Watson, an anomaly!!"

"Whoa!?"

Seeing that Chang Rong's attention was completely drawn to Xi Luo, who was engaged in flower arranging, Tachibana Sherry quickly pulled Chang Rong back, pouting and emphasizing that Xi Luo was acting strangely.

"……Um?"

Hiro looked up at the corner of the hallway but didn't notice anything unusual. After a brief hesitation, she focused her attention back on the vase in front of her.

After experiencing so many events—being beheaded, framed, forced to participate in trials, forced to judge others, voluntarily hanging himself to rewind time, and finally meeting everyone again—Hero finally had a rare short break.

All that's needed to figure out the missing part of the ritual is to end this. Now that Warden Meruru has become a true ally, Hiro no longer needs to worry about fighting each other or whether anyone will fall into despair.

After a long absence, Hiro was finally able to rediscover the hobbies he used to use to relax.

Of course, an even more important reason why Hiro is so calm and humble now is—

—Yes, this is my championship trophy, in memory of Nikaido Shiro's outstanding performance in achieving the first kill in Season 3. Very good.

Hero nodded at the flower trophy in front of him, and as he recalled the glorious moment when he won the world's first kill that night, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly again.

Immersed in the atmosphere of pride, Hero was completely unaware that the Sigma man had been relentlessly grinding for KDA these past two days, and even less aware that the S2 champion was currently running around with the championship prize.

"Cough cough cough... Even if Sherry says it's an anomaly... I don't feel anything particularly strange about it?"

Chang Rong, who had been pulled back to the corner by Shirley, stuck out his tongue and asked Shirley Tachibana, somewhat confused.

"Don't you find it strange, or terrifying, Watson?"

"Yes, it's scary—no, no, no, while Heero can be a bit crazy sometimes, she's not scary enough to scare even you, Sherry!"

Chang Rong quickly retorted that although Hiro was a terrifying character who would grab a fire poker and puff out her breath at the drop of a hat, and was suspected to be the daughter of a yakuza family, and who was said to be able to get people to go scuba diving in Tokyo Bay, she shouldn't be so intimidating that even Sherry would give her a wide berth.

“That’s not what I was talking about, Watson… Look, this is ‘that’ Shiro, right? ‘That’ Shiro! And now she’s quietly doing flower arranging in her room like a Yamato Nadeshiko, it doesn’t match her character at all!”

Shirley waved her hands, trying to explain the unusual nature of this incident to Chang Rong.

"Uh...Isn't Hiro's character supposed to be a Yamato Nadeshiko? At most, it's just that she hasn't paid much attention to taking care of herself before," Chang Rong complained helplessly.

"You're so wrong, Watson!"

Shirley Tachibana pointed a finger at Chang Rong, a smug smile playing on her lips, revealing a smug expression as if she had solved a cold case.

"That was just a disguise, an act!"

"Acting skills?"

"That's right! According to a book I've read before, someone once said that a person actually has several sides that exist simultaneously, such as the 'ego,' the 'id,' and..."

"Superego?"

"Hey hey, no problem~~!"

"Hey!?"

Chang Rong instinctively replied, and the next second Tachibana Sherry instantly showed a 'I can't do anything with you' expression, sticking out her tongue and making a cute face while planning to untie her short skirt and start a game on the spot.

ONP, is there really such a top-level battle of wits?!

Chang Rong, who had completely fallen into the trap, broke out in a cold sweat. However, to his surprise, the malfunctioning detective in front of him did not actually strip naked and fight him for 300 rounds. Instead, Tachibana Sherry happily pretended to take off her clothes and then stopped.

"—What's wrong, Sherry?"

This unusual behavior prompted Chang Rong to curiously approach Tachibana Shirley and ask if she was feeling unwell today, or if the grass was too wet and her shoes were too tight.

"……snort"

Shirley stared at Chang Rong, their amber eyes locked for a long time before the blue-haired guy suddenly crossed his arms, snorted coldly, and turned his head away.

"I have a feeling that you're becoming more and more perfunctory, Watson!"

“…Huh?” Chang Rong was stunned for a moment, not understanding for a moment what Shirley meant by ‘perfunctory’.

"Or rather, Watson has lost all sense of 'interaction' now? Anyway, at the beginning, Watson, you were clearly trying to resist and dodge seriously, but now Watson seems completely indifferent... no, it's practically seduction, and you're always ready to lie on the ground and expose your belly—if you don't resist the kissing game and even enjoy it, then what kind of kissing game is it!"

"No, no, no, I don't understand what you're saying at all, Sherry..."

Chang Rong was sweating profusely as he tried to explain, but in a sense, he did understand what Shirley meant.

I was indeed very serious about the topic of relationships with the opposite sex at first, and I had considered it a lot.

Am I human or a ghost? Is their affection for me a result of the "suspension bridge effect" or a natural progression? Do I really deserve to accept such profound feelings?

But later, as the prospective witches opened their hearts to me one by one, and became honest with me—

Even if Chang Rong were to deliberately try to recreate the innocent and naive demeanor she had at the beginning, she probably wouldn't be able to pull it off at all.