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

Chang Rong got up from the lower bunk of his newly purchased double bed, yawning as he took a comb from the cabinet next to him. He moved to make room, and the girl in front of him understood perfectly, sitting down next to Chang Rong and letting him style her hair.

The girl was very short, less than 1.5 meters tall, and her body was so light that it could be described as 'abnormal'. This made Chang Rong always worry that when they went out together, the girl might float away like a balloon in the wind.

To prevent that from happening, he would stay close to the girl every day, blocking out all the inexplicable malice that came his way.

Although the girl possessed a captivating beauty, as dreamlike as snowflakes blooming in the height of summer, seemingly so fragile that it was almost despairing, her life skills were so poor that it was almost hopeless.

I remember the first time Chang Rong invited the girl to his home, he needed to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner so that the girl could play games in the living room to relieve her boredom.

When Chang Rong brought over the curry stew, she saw a bizarre scene: a girl standing in front of a black-screened television, seriously torturing it.

"What are you doing... uh, what are you doing?"

When faced with a girl poking the TV screen with a finger like a cat, Chang Rong's first reaction was to suspect that the sugar powder she bought was fake, and that the word "sugar" was just a sticker.

"Rongxi, this thing doesn't obey my orders." The young girl tapped the screen twice more, and only after confirming that the other party's father still didn't care about her did she turn to look at Chang Rong.

"Perhaps it's because it's not turned on, and this model doesn't come with a voice assistant."

"Turn it on...? Never mind, Rong, I order you—[Do it for me]."

The girl moved her finger, which was originally poking at the TV screen, to Chang Rong's cheek and started drilling and drilling, all the while saying terrible words in a deliberately low voice.

"..."

The two looked at each other, and for a moment the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

—Are we really, really going to do this? Here? What about the protective measures? What about the preparation materials? Whose surname will the child take?

"Hmph, it seems the magic of brainwashing has also been spread."

Chang Rong swallowed hard, feeling his heart race, while the girl snorted and lowered her fingers, muttering something under her breath.

"Anyway, I don't know what you originally meant to do... but the food is already ready, isn't it? It's your favorite sweet curry stew. You should eat more to grow taller, and don't worry about gaining weight, because whether you grow horizontally or vertically, it's all progress, oh my god!!"

"How disrespectful! Accept the curse from the witch."

"I told you not to kick my shin with those thick-soled leather boots... and what kind of curse is this?!"

"Because Rong is an idiot, she won't squat down so I can kick her in the face."

"You idiot with no common sense..."

We chose our own paths, and looking back now, many things that seemed inexplicable were actually foreshadowed.

If I had to trace it back, it seems like when I noticed this girl during my self-introduction at school and mustered up the courage to talk to her, her question, "You can actually see me?" was probably the first warning sign...

This ethereal girl, whose name is ●●● and who seems to exist outside of this world, is Chang Rong's 'classmate,' 'friend,' and 'cohabiting partner.'

Chang Rong considers himself a man with great love and sophisticated tastes.

Since Jiuji invited her to live with Liu Jue (not because of any dirty or filthy thoughts that her father had, but because he felt that if she left this guy to fend for himself, he would soon die of exhaustion).

This eccentric woman repeatedly emphasizes that she is not human but a "witch," and vows that her purpose in life is to destroy humanity.

It's just a case of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), those who know, know. If left unattended for a few years, when these people look back at their old posts on social media, they'll naturally empathize with why their idol, Red A, wanted to kill his past self so much. No one else will need to intervene.

The biggest difference between ●●● and other chuunibyou is that her illness is really serious.

She would stand in front of the kitchen stove, making mysterious spiraling finger gestures while muttering that she wanted to summon flames to heat up the bread slices, until Chang Rong couldn't stand it anymore and came over to turn on the gas valve to fry the bread slices for her (with extra honey and butter).

She would hold onto the edge of the sofa with one hand and remain motionless. When asked, she said she wanted to lift the sofa with one hand to retrieve the coin that had fallen in. Afterwards, she got a cramp from holding the position for too long and had to be massaged by Chang Rong to relieve it.

She would sometimes tumble and fall off the top bunk while half asleep, and when Chang Rong questioned her, she would stubbornly insist that "she wasn't half asleep, but that she hadn't used the levitation magic." But it would take a long time to coax her to calm down and stop torturing this damned gravity that bound her mind.

She would deliberately make Chang Rong buy the latest DVDs of the animated film series and let her handle them, saying that this way she could watch all the works at once. But when asked, she would know nothing, forcing Chang Rong to make another trip to rent the earlier works.

She would cough occasionally, and after seeing Chang Rong turn to her with a confused yet concerned look, she nodded with a satisfied "humph" to indicate that this was the power of the witch.

She would change Chang Rong's phone wallpaper to her selfie before he left the house, saying that this way Chang Rong could know his whereabouts whenever he unlocked the screen—although she never guessed correctly, Chang Rong didn't change the wallpaper because the selfie was cute.

When TV salesmen came to her door, she would hide behind the door and say in a gruff voice, "I'm Kiryu Kazuma, get out of my way!" Then Chang Rong would record her and listen to her repeatedly until he kicked her shin and forced her to delete the recording.

She would stare at the spilled milk and mutter something until Chang Rong came over with kitchen paper to wipe it up, at which point she would snort and say that Chang Rong had ruined another masterpiece that she could have completed.

She would rush over and hold Chang Rong's finger when he accidentally cut it while cooking, neither letting Chang Rong stop the bleeding himself nor stopping it for him, which made Chang Rong sometimes wonder what he had done to offend her.

When she didn't want to go to school, she would cup Chang Rong's face in her hands and rub it vigorously, then say, "I'm entrusting this body to you for now," and turn over to continue sleeping—until Chang Rong violently dragged her out of bed and she would reluctantly get up.

When she failed an exam and was detained for remedial classes, she would stare blankly out the window, muttering things like, "I might as well memorize the answers and jump back to the morning..."—words that were ambiguous and dangerous. But after Chang Rong asked, "So you memorized the answers?" she would fall silent and behave herself.

She would watch Chang Rong's back without saying a word while he helped her wash up, change clothes, and prepare breakfast.

She would secretly get out of bed while Chang Rong was fast asleep at night and stand beside the boy, silently watching him as he slept peacefully.

On the way home from school, she would sit on the back of the bicycle with her legs together, holding Chang Rong with both hands, and use words like "you're just a nobody" to encourage him to speed up the climb.

And when she stopped doing anything and simply stared blankly at the boy, she would occasionally reveal a fleeting, snowflake-like smile:

"Hey, Rong, do you know that you saved the world again today, just like always?"

"It was nothing, don't mention it—get out of bed and don't go back to hiding under the covers, you're going to be late for school!"

"Hehehe... I... I'll just go ahead and destroy this world. You will become the sinner of all mankind—uh, I already said no carrot shreds in sandwiches, you stupid, monkey-like human who can't understand anything...!"

"If you finish eating, I'll take you to see the penguins after school."

"Hmph... Fine, then let you bunch of ignorant sinners live one more day."

So, the girl, who had been forcibly dragged out of Xiaoben's bed, suppressed her disgust and put the vegetable, mayonnaise, and ham sandwich into her mouth, putting away her terrifying magic that could 'kill all of humanity,' and looking forward to the 'clucking and quacking' after school.

This was supposed to be a boring, repetitive, clichéd, and monotonous story, like a diary entry.

A boy who claims to have been reincarnated from another world meets a girl who claims to be a witch. The two people, both of whom are somewhat abnormal, are gradually drawn to each other, changed by each other, and made each other more complete—as should be the case.

But just as Chang Rong mustered the courage to take this relationship a step further, the 'boring daily routine' he had scoffed at countless times was disrupted.

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.

-

He fell asleep normally, but when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a strange, ancient prison.

Everything around me was so unfamiliar, and the air was filled with the eerie smell of rust and decay.

But when Chang Rong saw that familiar white figure in his sight, he forced himself to calm down and forced his brain to start working.

"●●●! ​​Are you alright? Damn it, where is this place? Please don't tell me this is the Northern Myanmar Industrial Park...!"

"I'm fine, Rong. Look."

The girl skillfully did a somersault.

After confirming that the girl in front of him was still as eccentric and adorable as ever, Chang Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

—Although I don't know where this place is, since she's here, I have to protect her.

Unlike Chang Rong, who was nervously observing her surroundings, the girl simply raised her finger and muttered something, just like she always did when she had a 'chuunibyou episode'.

—Alright, the magic has taken effect. So, is it really okay to do this...?

Chang Rong, busy gathering as much intelligence as possible, did not notice the extremely conflicted and confused expression on the face of the girl behind him.

The intelligence gathering operation did not go smoothly; more accurately, it was interrupted.

Suddenly, the old display screen outside the prison's iron gate lit up, and an owl, with a voice that sounded like it could transform into three different forms and had a combat power of up to 60 million, signaled everyone to go to the designated location.

The cell door unlocked automatically, and Chang Rong could only lead the girl, cautiously observing the other 'cellmates' in the other cells while following the guidance of the enormous, twisted monster.

On the way to the reception room, a girl with an old-fashioned camera around her neck wandered around aimlessly, looking around. Her behavior seemed to anger the guard, and the twisted monster's scythe swung down ruthlessly without warning.

At the critical moment, Chang Rong and a black-haired girl with twin ponytails wearing goggles took action.

Chang Rong picked up a trash can and smashed it against the sickle to block the attack, while the black-haired girl with pigtails grabbed the camera girl's arm to try to create distance.

But the strength of the guards far exceeded Chang Rong's expectations. The monster merely twisted its body slightly, and its sharp scythe sliced ​​the iron bucket in two. Ironically, it was the severed part of the bucket that cut Chang Rong's palm.

Fortunately, before the farce could escalate further, the warden's arrival brought the guards to a halt and back to standby mode.

This 'interlude' also revealed a fact to all aspiring witches—

Whether it's the prison, the owl, the twisted monster, or the other girls around her with their confused and fearful faces, what she sees at this moment is definitely not a prank show.

—Even so…why does this guy still manage to kick his own shin in his spare time?! I was just trying to be a super cool hero and save the damsel in distress, not asking other girls for their phone numbers!

Chang Rong mentally complained as she tried to stop the bleeding from her hand.

However, it must be said that ●●●'s usual silly, adorable, and self-centered demeanor actually reassured Chang Rong a lot.

And... it seems there are some people among these who are similar to myself.

Chang Rong wanted to glance at the black-haired twin-tailed girl who had also immediately taken action to save people, but was immediately grabbed by ●●● and her gaze was forcibly [controlled].

After following the monster to the living room, before they could even observe their surroundings, the owl flapped its wings and flew to the only modern home display screen, casually uttering human language.

Ah... so many people... Let me introduce myself, I'm the lovely owl in charge of this prison, the warden...

Looking at the owl in front of him, who introduced himself in a languid, unmotivated tone, Chang Rong felt a throbbing pain in the nerves near his temples.

I've complained countless times, 'I should be showing my true abilities now that I've come to another world, but why is this world so mediocre and boring?!'

Forget about superpowered heroic spirits coming to fight the sorcerers, not even a hair on the school idol band Kamito could be seen.

Did I really time travel, bro? It feels more like some god made an immigration wish that accidentally ended up in my body? This kind of situation is quite rare.

However, when Chang Rong actually encountered the extraordinary, he realized he had only been paying lip service to it. Everything unfamiliar gave him a headache, and his only wish was to take ●●● home with him.

[Let's finish this introduction quickly and go home... This is the prison for witches. You all possess "witch factors" and will eventually become terrifying "witches." It is the warden's and this prison's duty to contain monsters like you with terrifying and uncontrollable powers... Sigh, in short, you are all villains who are harmful to the world and unwanted by the world. Understanding this as soon as possible will surely be of great help to everyone.]

"Demon... Demon demon demon demon demon witch! Hehehe... I knew it! Science isn't the only path to truth in this world!"

"(On another note) What kind of cage is this? This place is so cheap... Never mind, give me some space, the sofa looks so soft (oh, I want to sleep...)...!Zzzz..."

"Stop making such ridiculous jokes! Do you want to die for wasting my time?! You'd better kill yourselves right now and die a thousand times over!"

"What a beautiful room! I have to take a picture... Wait, why is there no film in the camera I received?"

"【Prison】, huh? That's interesting. I didn't even know how I got caught. Is the guidance of the gods over? I haven't killed enough yet."

"Um...why did it turn out like this? Waaah...everyone, please calm down..."

"Witch Y, prison u...*...e So that's what Nana saw when she saw V—no, no, I'm only now..." 86

Faced with the owl's words, the girls around her reacted in different ways, though their veracity was uncertain.

Chang Rong didn't choose to make any eye-catching moves at this moment. He just frowned and silently observed everyone. Meanwhile, with veins bulging on his forehead, he couldn't stand it anymore and squeezed the girl's cheek, who had been persistently kicking his calf since the beginning, into a ball.