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

"For you, President, any locked room is a piece of cake—ooh!?"

As soon as Chang Rong finished speaking, a hurricane strong enough to blow one's nose crooked swept past his face, making him momentarily think that the space was being bombed and slapped in the face.

"Don't be nervous, Watson. There was just a bug on your nose that I was trying to swat."

—She didn't say she was going to kill anyone...!

"Yes, yes, the familiar Watson is back, that's how it should be!"

Shirley Tachibana gave Chang Rong a thumbs-up, sporting her usual carefree smile.

That really fits her 'inspiring' style.

Chang Rong sighed with a wry smile. She thought she had disguised herself quite well, but it seemed that everyone noticed her loss of composure and wanted to motivate her in their own ways.

As the male protagonist of Galagimo, such a lack of initiative is a serious dereliction of duty, and this cannot be tolerated.

"Clap clap—!"

Chang Rong patted his cheeks to cheer himself up. Right now, any pretense of reminiscing about An An was meaningless and would only give the witch more time to hide herself.

If you truly feel responsible for An'an's death... then put aside your sadness and regret, and do everything in your power to find the witch.

"Coco-chan!"

"Huh!? What, what did I do! I already said I had a reason!"

Not to be outdone, Ze Du Ke Ke mustered her courage and retaliated against Chang Rong.

"I order you to immediately change your name to Kurobe Nanako, and then go back to your sewing machine—after all, from a magical perspective, Kurobe's [Vision] can be of great help, and judging from her performance in the last Witch Trial, Kurobe's logical thinking is still stronger than Coco's, that's the second win. Also, Coco is a domesticated keycap, while Kurobe is a wild one, that's the third win. Nanako has three characters, Coco has two, that's the fourth—"

"Don't pad your word count if you can't come up with a reason!! And that's not how you use advance voting, you monstrous rabbit—you really are the rigger, aren't you!!"

Even Zedu Coco, if provoked, will still unleash the Human Emperor's Step. Chang Rong's astonishing wisdom even directly reverted Zedu Coco to the 'custom-made behind-the-scenes' version of the last battle in the meeting room.

"...No need, Chang Rong, just let me go to the punishment room."

While Chang Rong was still pondering whether there were any other 'useless fog' besides the ruffled Hakimi that could be optimized and thrown into the dark room, and was beginning to secretly observe Tachibana Sherry, Kurobe Nanoha stepped forward.

"Kurobe-kun? Me—"

“I know you all mean no harm, but right now I am the prime suspect. If I can help you all, I’ll accept being put in solitary confinement without any problem.”

—I don't want to be 'protected'. If possible... I'd rather fight 'alongside' with him.

Kurobe Nanoka looked at Chang Rong, who was trying to rescue her. Although she was somewhat happy, she also felt that familiar 'suffocating feeling'. In order to avoid any accidents, Kurobe Nanoka voluntarily chose the identity of the prime suspect and would be detained in a small dark room before the witch trial.

"……OK then."

Nanoha Kaoru seemed to have calmed down a lot. After the initial shock and panic subsided, at least in the eyes of the prospective witches, Kurobe Nanoha Kaoru was still the perfect lone wolf persona of 'cool, with a story, obviously smart, precise and resilient'.

"But don't fall asleep during the visitation period, Kurobe. If we come across any strange 'evidence,' we'll come over during visiting hours and have you help [Vision] identify it and gather information. Is that alright?"

"--Yes, I will do my best."

Nanoha Kurobe looked at the white-haired boy in front of her, a smile appearing on her lips as she nodded in agreement.

"Gugugu three—like—⊙Is it already your choice of suspect? Then hurry up and vote...I sigh, I have to go back to prepare for work."

The warden flapped his wings and reluctantly left Chang Rong's head, flying to the monitor.

Click!

The screen lit up, and the jungler with the [Vision] ability was banned.

"Then please wait in the punishment room for a while, Ms. Kurobe. If you resist... you will be killed."

The 'hairband guard' approached Nanoha Kaori, preparing to escort the suspect to the punishment room.

"—"

Chang Rong carefully observed every movement between Hei Erbu Erna Yexiang and Shan Na Lengge's 'watching guard' and indeed made some small discoveries.

When Kurobe Nanoha Kaori sneaked into the punishment room late at night to retrieve Tachibana Sherry, she would instinctively stay closer to the window, probably so that she could escape immediately if caught by the guards.

However, on her way to the punishment room, Kurobe Nanoka unusually moved closer to the side of the 'hairband guard'.

There is definitely something more to the relationship between Kurobe and the 'hairband guard'; they are very likely the 'sisters' I've been guessing about.

—Great! Although it's best to keep the fact that [Kurobe Nanoha is connected to the guard] a secret for now, considering other people's tolerance, I can at least talk to Nanoha about that guard with the hairband.

I need to find a way to get the Black Division to talk to the guards and stop them from constantly watching me and increasing my killing intent. It's really terrifying...

If Nanoha can communicate further with the 'hairband guardian,' perhaps they could find a small, dark room with a lock and talk sometime in the middle of the night. If Nanoha really is the 'guardian's' sister, then nothing should happen.

Chang Rong decided that after the witch trial, she would take the initiative to find the two of them and go to a small, dark room where no one would notice to discuss important matters.

"Coo coo coo... Well then, now that the voting is over, what's left for you is the search phase. For the sake of a peaceful life in the future, I hope you can find the real culprit before the trial begins—that's all."

After the warden finished speaking, he flapped his wings and disappeared into the ventilation duct high up in the room. Before he disappeared, Chang Rong heard the last sound: "Coo coo coo, can't wait to see how Chairman Ai will do something big, coo coo."

...What if in the end the warden turns into a witch and shoots us all?

“Since Nanoha Kaori has made up her mind, we absolutely cannot betray that trust. We must find evidence of the murderer of Natsume Anan within this precious investigation time! So let's begin now—”

"Wait a moment."

Hiro interrupted Rhea's speech.

"Do you remember what Baosheng Mag did during the last trial?"

"So...did you say things like 'I love you, Brother Changrong' to Rongrong?" Noah tilted his head and recalled.

"No...that's not what I meant, Noah!"

Nikaido Hiro's cheeks instantly turned red, and he quickly moved the leaky balloon aside.

In fact, a sentence that Baosheng Mag said during the trial still lingers in Hero's mind to this day.

"If our positions were reversed, would Brother Chang Rong still go to such lengths to give false testimony to protect you?"

Even now, Nikaido Hiro hasn't dared to think too much about the con artist's casual remark.

He had once clearly intended to kill Emma Sakura. In fact, if it weren't for the idiot rabbit's inappropriate behavior towards Coco Sawado, he might have already carried out his plan to kill Emma Sakura.

Chang Rong had seen and accepted the imperfect and ugly side of Hiro.

But when Sanruozi actually commits murder, an absolutely 'wrong' act that cannot be denied... what will his choice be?

Would he fabricate evidence for himself? Or would he, like myself, remain steadfastly convinced that 'correctness' is the only solution?

Despite Nikaido Hiro herself being the type who prides herself on the theory of 'correctness above all else', she is actually incredibly afraid.

She feared that if she made a 'wrong' choice without even realizing it, the boy would abandon her without hesitation.

He feared that the idiot rabbit would personally prove that 'Nikaido Hiro' had no value whatsoever, and that only 'Nikaido Hiro's true essence' was what his gray eyes had always been focused on and cherished.

Hiro didn't want it to be like this, but he didn't dare to think about what he would do if it were.

So Hero—as always, chose to escape.

"Yuebao—Shengma—once tried to frame me by stuffing Meilulu's phone into my clothes before the trial. This kind of criminal behavior of destroying the scene and creating false evidence must never happen again. Therefore, I propose that the search be conducted in pairs."

Instead of ignoring and burying the thorns that the conman had planted in their hearts, Nikaido Hiro spread his hands and made his suggestion to everyone.

"Oh, as expected of Hiro! This suggestion is perfect!" Hasumi Rhea snapped her fingers in approval.

"Hiro-chan is still as reliable as ever... Hmm, I agree with Hiro-chan too." Sakura Emma nodded seriously.

"Oh my, you can come up with some good ideas sometimes~ That definitely deserves a thumbs up!" Shirley Tachibana still had that cool, silly grin.

"Hmm... Well, it's not entirely impossible..." Tono Hannah agreed softly, covering her face with her fan.

"Uh...no way? What if it's that freakish guy with me..." Hakimi, Old Wu, Old Wu.

"Noah... Noah only hopes to help An'an-chan..." Noah Shirosaki gradually adjusted his mindset.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his suggestion, Nikaido Hiro nodded with an expression that said, "I knew that all along."

"Alright, then I'll team up with the idiot rabbit, and you two will pair up—dismissed."

After Nikaido Hiro finished speaking, he tried to slip away with Chang Rong, but they were too slow and were surrounded and intercepted by the crowd.

"As expected of Hiro, you really should take Nanoha Kaori's place and go to jail!" Hasumi Ryoya gripped the hilt of her sword.

"Hiro-chan... You're already such a far behind idiot... Why do you always try to get attention?" Sakura Emma's eyes were empty.

"Hiro's head really is broken! It's okay, I can fix it with a tap~~" Tachibana Sherry rubbed her hands together, ready to make this trial a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

"Your manipulation is way too obvious, desuwa! Do you think I'm stupid?!" Tono Hannah was so angry she floated up.

“This + can be used to paint with a ribbon! I”X “This Yingzhen deleted no, dig coc flow o sauce~” “Ee ee ee!?” Ze Du Coco couldn’t help but jump in front of Chang Rong again, and was immediately ripped up and changed to cat TV.

"Hiro, Rongrong... um... Noah thinks it's okay too." Noah Kinosaki put a finger to her lips, thought for a few seconds, and then nodded to indicate that she didn't mind.

"Tsk...this bunch of stupid people who are surprisingly efficient at taking action...!"

Hiro's plan to enjoy the rabbit alone was met with unexpected resistance, leaving him speechless and furious.

Then everyone started listing who would be more suitable to partner with Chang Rong.

Some people said, "I can teach Chang Rong how to strike a cool argument pose," some said, "It's only natural for detective assistants to work together," and others said, "I can eat a lot."

"—Stop fooling around, everyone."

Chang Rong couldn't stand it anymore. Although she knew this was a way for everyone to adjust themselves in 'extreme situations', it seemed to be heading towards a chaotic battle between gods and humans, so Chang Rong had to quickly pull the plug.

"I've already decided on my partner a long time ago—"

"who!!?"

Almost everyone's eyes instantly focused on Chang Rong.

Stared at by so many eyes, Chang Rong felt a chill run down her spine. She had a feeling that depending on her answer, the number of pieces she would be broken into would be different in the next second... No, no, no, she had to survive intact!?

Chang Rong swallowed hard, and forced himself to continue:

"Of course—"

———4:44 PM on [Month] XX———

———Prison Island Meeting Room———

"The bow and crossbow, and the crossbow bolts, have disappeared. When did they disappear?"

Click!

Chang Rong took a picture of a blank wall in the reception room and made notes on it at the same time.