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

"Ugh...!?"

Chang Rong pinched Xiao Xue's cheek, then revealed an incredibly dashing and happy smile.

"Since your life has always been driven by resentment and revenge, then... starting today as a watershed moment, why not try to live for love and happiness from now on?"

"By the way, this feeling is actually surprisingly quite nice~?" Marge chimed in with a smile.

"—"

Seeing the boy's warm smile and the hand he extended towards her, the Great Witch was stunned.

Then she nodded and smiled in response.

"I will try to live on, carrying this happiness that I will not lose to anyone, together with Rong—"

"That won't do, meow!!" "Xiaoxue can't eat alone and steal Changrong-jun's food...!!" "No, Noah needs to correct that, there's no such beautiful dream!"

The group, who had been laughing, suddenly exhaled in shock upon sensing the Great Witch's possessiveness.

"...What a bunch of noisy little seniors." Xiaoxue said helplessly.

It looks like I'm in for a lot of trouble.

"Well then, let's get away from these stupid idiots for now, before we finish dealing with these matters."

The light snow drifted over the castle, forming a spiral shape with one finger pointing to the sky and the other to the ground.

At first, everyone was confused about what Xiaoxue was doing all of a sudden, but the next moment, a violent tremor suddenly spread throughout the entire island.

"Waaaaah—W-what's going on!?"

"I am lifting the entire island into the air and setting up some vortices around it as a barrier—by the way, during my slumber, human technology should not have developed a way to strike vertically from the sky."

"Whoa, a railgun!? There isn't one yet..." Zedu Coco responded softly.

The roaring and trembling didn't last long. After everything calmed down, the group left the central courtyard and came to the entrance. When they saw that the sea outside the cliff was no longer azure but a white 'sea of ​​clouds', they finally believed that the entire island had indeed detached from the ground like an ark.

"So... um... having just woken up, and after being ravaged like that by Rong, using this kind of magic again is still a bit of a stretch..."

"Xiaoxue...!"

Chang Rong quickly stretched out his arms to catch the snowflake girl who was slowly falling due to exhaustion.

"You've worked hard, Xiaoxue. Go and rest for a bit."

"...Don't leave me, Rong."

"—No, not again. Never again."

Chang Rong gently carried Xiao Xue away to rest, while the others watched their retreating figures, exchanging glances before tacitly deciding to give the star-crossed lovers some alone time. However, as a substitute, after seeing them off, everyone instantly turned to look at the warden and the elder sister.

"You're Nanoha's older sister! So cute!" "A mere warden can be so adorable, let me cuddle you!" "Older sister, what exactly happened during the old days?!" "It's all your fault, you silly bird, making us eat poop for so long!!" "Older sister, can you tell us about Nanoha's embarrassing childhood stories?!" "You cunning bird, you changed the costume and even changed the voice actor, how awful! So cute, you could debut on VTuber!"

"Hahaha... Everyone, don't panic..." "Coo coo coo... What, what's going on here, coo..."

Surrounded by the crowd, the two who had regained their bodies were forced to become sacrifices for the prospective witches to satisfy their curiosity and impulses.

The noise echoed through the castle high in the clouds. At least for this moment, this place became a pure sanctuary for the girls and witches, undisturbed by any strife.

Just like the Witch's Island before all the strife began, mysterious and blissful, like a fairytale dream.

------

Thanks to Chenguang for the generous gift of the salted fish spike!

I need to take a day off because my relatives are visiting, and I've also created a temporary file backup group.

Relatives from out of town suddenly came to visit today, just before the Dragon Boat Festival. I need to spend some time with them, so I'm asking for leave.

This book isn't finished yet... There will at least be individual paragraphs for each character to conclude it, and some obvious issues will be addressed before it's officially finished.

Although it's not finished yet, it's almost over. It should be completed within this month. Thank you all for staying until the end.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Thanks to Yifangmolu·Yixiangmitu·Sidihuanshen·Lishenlong·Chenguangmoxin·hjhnb for the donation! 316. The Most Useless Witch on Witch Island

"Waaaaah... Uncle, my legs are giving way..."

"Ugh... I didn't think that guy was lying, but seeing it with my own eyes still makes me feel... it's unbelievable."

"This, this is too outrageous, this is magic, right—oh yes, this is indeed magic..."

On the cliff edge outside the entrance to Witch Island, Saeki Miria, Tono Hannah, and Sawatari Coco huddled on the edge, peeking out to observe the scenery outside Witch Island.

Night had fallen, and the azure sea had been replaced by an even more boundless horizon. A deep black sea of ​​stars stretched out before us, with twinkling white lights like sugar sprinkled on bread, while the fluffy clouds at our feet resembled soft cream.

The entire Witch Island truly floated in the air, even higher than the clouds in the deep space. The vortices that could be glimpsed from time to time around acted as a barrier, just as Xiaoxue had said, cutting off the last possibility of the island being disturbed by humans.

"How on earth did humans manage to defeat the witches... Just how powerful must the witches have been to unleash such power back then?" Coco muttered to herself, looking at the starry sky so close to her.

"If I had become a witch back then, would I have been able to achieve this level..." Tohno Hannah swallowed hard, a chill running down her spine at the thought that she might have dragged Witch Island down with her due to a mental breakdown. Luckily, she met Chang Rong, and the flight was kept within the range of just the two of them going up and down.

"Witchhood does indeed amplify magic to a berserk degree, so your worries aren't unfounded—what are you doing so late?" "Well, well..."

“Little Noah? And… uh, Little Noah is here too.” Milia turned around at the sound of the voice and saw Nikaido Hiro, who still had a serious expression, and the colorful little balloon in her hand that was kicking its legs wildly, trying to escape its fate of being hung on the hook.

"Let's come and see if Witch Island has really ascended to heaven... Although Witch Island is full of incredible scenery, the scene in front of us is still even more magical."

"I see—putting everything else aside, it is indeed very beautiful."

Hiro also focused his gaze on the starry Milky Way that seemed so close he could almost touch it. Witch Island, being far from the dust and smoke, already had a clear view of the stars, but at this moment, he felt even closer to those stars.

Hiro knew perfectly well that this was an illusion; a height of a few hundred or a few thousand meters was negligible compared to the distance of the universe. But the clouds floating beneath his feet and the dazzling stars—such a beautiful and fantastical scene gave Hiro unrealistic and childish ideas.

"So—what's the deal with Noah?" Zedu Coco asked, pointing to the portable, colorful balloon that Hiro was holding.

"Oh, this girl was caught plotting with the warden to ambush the idiot rabbit in the middle of the night. To prevent her from causing trouble, I brought her back first."

Hiro glanced at Noah in his hand with a helpless tone, while Noah turned his head slightly, pouting in protest with an expression that said, "I think I did nothing wrong."

"Noah just wanted to prevent Rongrong from being ravaged by the evil witch!"

"Haha... Xiaoxue wouldn't even protect the rabbit meat that was right in front of her, let alone sneak away and eat it. She probably wouldn't do anything strange to Xiaorong."

Milia chuckled. Everyone had witnessed the fighting prowess of this promising witch, which could be summed up in two words: roadside.

"You caught Noah, but where did that silly warden go?" Zedu Coco rubbed her hair. How come one of the two little ones who ran away is missing?

"Oh, the warden has been taken away by Meruru."

"...The warden has it tough too." Everyone mourned the silly bird for a few seconds, wondering how many feathers she would have left on her head when they met again.

"Wow...wow, what a beautiful canvas! Noah's inspiration is flowing, the universe is singing to Noah!"

Noah, who was still angry with Hero, also saw the starry sky and Milky Way on the other side, and her colorful eyes instantly reflected countless dazzling lights. Noah twisted her body and broke free from Hero's grasp, walked to the edge of the cliff, and raised her hand, intending to adorn this galactic curtain with even more magnificent starlight.

"Huh...hehehe?"

However, the spray paint in Noah's hand was simply sprayed out and immediately disappeared in the wind without any pause.

"Have you forgotten? After everyone used magic to summon Xiaoxue during the ceremony, the magic we possessed was absorbed back by Xiaoxue." Having cared for the child for so long, Shiro immediately recognized what Noah was trying to do and explained to her that everyone's magic had temporarily disappeared.

"Oh right, I completely forgot about that. I thought I was just busy with something else today..." Ze Du Ke Ke belatedly realized that her clairvoyance magic had already been revoked. "So... um, are we back to normal now?" Milia rubbed her hair, asking uncertainly.

"That's certainly a valid interpretation. Once Xiaoxue has finished processing the witch factor recovery and resolved Chang Rong's physical issues, and settled down those former prospective witches, everything should truly be over."

While holding Noah back to prevent her from running around, Hero spoke thoughtfully to the others.

"Hmm... So, what will we do next?" Tono Hannah's expression was somewhat subtle. Although Chang Rong had told everyone before that "everything is about to end," looking at the Witch Island hovering in the night sky, everyone truly felt that "it is about to end." When the Witch Island returned to the ground, this story about magic and original sin should come to a complete end.

This also forced everyone to start thinking about how they would reintegrate into the society they had been voluntarily or involuntarily separated from after leaving Witch Island.

"What to do? It's simple: re-enroll, apply for government subsidies, exchange contact information with other prospective witches, attend classes together, participate in tutoring to catch up, and provide regular follow-ups with the prospective witches—"

"That's going too far with reality, meow! Don't make such a realistic statement devoid of love and dreams in such a romantic and magical setting!" Zedu Coco interrupted Hiro, complaining.

"Hmph, unlike you mundane people who live day to day, my plans will not be affected by getting involved in something as trivial as a witch's revenge."

"The aura of a gangster heiress..." "No wonder Xiao hope is a gangster's daughter..." "The power and influence of a triad boss, meow."

"No way! Don't have such a ridiculous misunderstanding about me!" Hiro instantly bristled.

There was someone who initially wanted to become the core leader, disciplinary committee member, and righteous judge of the team, Yamato Nadeshiko. But after everything settled down, in everyone's impression, she became a mysterious food-loving woman, a mysterious yakuza woman, and a mysterious perjurer. Isn't that hilarious?

What? This person is actually me?

Damn it... Where did things go wrong to turn out like this?!

As the story neared its end, Xiluo began to reflect on which aspect of her performance she had mishandled, resulting in her character becoming so chaotic. Was it the first time she tried to befriend Chang Rong? Or the second time? Or perhaps the third or fourth time…?

"Speaking of which, Xiaoxi, aren't you planning to talk to Xiaoxue? You and Emma were Xiaoxue's companions, right? You must have a lot to talk about, don't you?"

"Although there are indeed many questions I want to ask that idiot, but... let's not bother those two idiots for tonight."

Hiro smiled and shook his head, turning his gaze once again to the vast Milky Way before him.

When Hiro awoke from his cell, confused and struggling to understand what was going on, he never imagined the story would end up like this.

Having followed this arduous journey to reach the stars—for someone who has repeatedly used death rewind, wouldn't that be the most 'correct' thing I've ever done?

------

"Rong...Rong—Wa ...

"Xiaoxue, I'm here."

"Rong...that's great, you're still here...still by my side..."

Xiaoxue suddenly woke up from her dream, her forehead soaked with sweat, and her breathing became extremely rapid. It wasn't until she felt the gentle embrace from the white-haired boy beside her that this great witch, who could destroy all of humanity at will, calmed down again.

"Did you have a nightmare? Like, your child misbehaved, took your pension money, and went out to play pachinko—"

"...I would never have such a vivid and tasteless nightmare, Rong."

Seeing the boy's serious yet mischievous expression, Xiaoxue quickly regained her composure.

"I did have a nightmare where Alice and Noah locked me in the basement..." Chang Rong awkwardly rubbed his rabbit head. As they were about to leave, everyone began to reflect on their mistakes during the trip. Even Chang Rong gradually realized that in terms of teaching and nurturing, he seemed to have only sparked a strange interest in educating the children.

“I… have dreamed of you before, no, I should say, more than once, time and time again… I always see your figure in my dreams, Rong.”

Xiaoxue got out of bed, her pale blue eyes fixed on the boy, as if afraid that he would disappear from her sight again.

“Those imagined scenes are incredibly real, but every time I try to touch you, the illusion vanishes… So I’m afraid, afraid that right now it’s still just a dream—Rong, you really exist in front of me, don’t you?”

The witch, considered the greatest threat by human governments, was now as fragile and pitiful as someone afraid of breaking a toy. She didn't even have the courage to try to touch Chang Rong, and only dared to ask in a soft, gentle voice.