Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

Slurp—!

Just as Xiaoyan was about to say something, the bus suddenly made a sharp turn, so sharp that it nearly threw the two people sitting on the roof off.

Grabbing the railing to steady herself, Xiaoyan compared the bus to her memories of Mitakihara and discovered that it had suddenly turned onto a side road far away from Mitakihara Middle School.

Meanwhile, the situation on the train was also extremely strange. Despite the significant tilt, all the passengers remained seated steadily, their faces obscured by strange smiles, casting an odd shadow over the entire space.

"Zhi, you will soon be able to see the specialties of our world."

Xiaoyan tossed the bag full of school supplies to Zhi and immediately ran towards the front of the car.

"what is that?"

"The witch's minions—familiars!"

She leaped from the guardrail on the front of the bus, landing steadily on the hood. She pulled out her P220 pistol and aimed it at the bus driver.

This is a girl with curly hair, wearing a suit skirt and tie. Her curly bangs do not cover her eyes, but you can still only see the corners of her mouth with a strange smile.

If it's taken into the sky, even a rabbit's head can't be cut off.

She drove with a serious expression, unmoved even when Xiaoyan's figure completely blocked her view, dutifully playing the role of a bus driver.

Xiaoyan pulled the trigger.

The purple magic bullet pierced the windshield, but after the girl disguised as a bus driver tilted her head, it unfortunately hit the driver's seat instead.

Xiaoyan frowned at the exaggerated reaction speed, but before she could take the next step, the girl who had dodged the bullet seemed to realize something, turned her head to look at the back of the seat that had been pierced, and then immediately screamed and began to swerve the steering wheel wildly as if she had been frightened.

"Xiao Yan, jump out of the car!"

Zhi, who was still on the roof of the car, was almost thrown off again. After finally regaining her balance, she saw a shop on the street corner magnify in her field of vision.

Xiao Yan immediately abandoned her plan to continue the attack, and with a stomp of her foot, jumped off the front of the car.

Zhi, carrying her handbag, landed on the ground right after her, and the next moment, the wobbly bus crashed into a convenience store on the side of the street.

The violent explosion shattered the windows of shops along the street, and the faint sound of fire truck sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Let's go, looks like we'll have to run to school."

Xiaoyan adjusted her dark red half-rimmed glasses, took the bag back from Zhi's hand, and ran straight towards Mitakihara Middle School.

"Hey, what about that familiar? Aren't you going to take care of it?"

"We're almost late, there's no time to worry about this now, let the senior handle it!"

————————————————————————————————————————

They rushed to the school gate, but the empty campus was deserted as classes had already started.

"Although I've complained about it before, I still want to say it now: I really miss the physical abilities of magical girls back then."

The two were leaning against the wall at the entrance of the teaching building, recovering their strength. Although Ash's physical fitness was also very strong, she could recover quickly when her strength was exhausted. However, this still took time. After catching their breath for a while, they quickly recovered. Then, Xiao Yan quickly tidied her clothes by looking at the floor-to-ceiling glass at the entrance of the teaching building.

"Yoshi! I'll be able to see Madoka soon!"

She adjusted her facial expression, forcing a smile back onto her face, which had cooled down due to the brief battle.

Then she took Zhi and headed straight to Xiaoyuan's class.

But after climbing a few steps, he turned back.

"Let's go to the administration office first. I feel awkward going in like this..."

She caught a glimpse of the fleeting nervousness on Xiaoyan's face, and Zhi smiled kindly. Without saying anything more, she silently followed behind her.

"Oh, you're that transfer student. Your homeroom teacher has already gone to the classroom. Didn't she take you there?"

Upon arriving at the academic affairs office, after handing over her enrollment materials, the teacher there calmly asked her a question.

"Ahaha... Well, the bus was in a bit of an accident on the way to school, so I was late..."

"Really? Should I find someone to take you there?"

Although the words were spoken with concern, the tone remained indifferent.

"No need, no need! I know how to get there!"

She should have realized that since class had started, the homeroom teacher should have already gone to the classroom. Her nervousness caused her to misjudge the situation, making her situation even more awkward. She immediately fled the administration office, so she didn't hear the head of the administration's mechanical mutterings afterwards.

"Another transfer student has arrived, another transfer student has arrived."

The two left and went up the stairs, but Xiao Yan lingered at the entrance of the stairwell.

"What should I do? Should I just go in like this? What if Ms. Saotome asks, 'Excuse me, what can I do for you?' That would be so embarrassing..."

"Why can't I be given a normal chance to introduce myself during such an important reunion?"

"It's all that familiar's fault! Once I've sorted things out here, I'm going to find her master and then I'll grind this place ten or twenty times!"

What appears before Zhi now is no longer a warrior with countless reincarnations and who has crossed the battlefield of fire; she is just an ordinary girl who has finally returned home and is looking forward to reuniting with someone important to her. Her current anxiety and uncertainty reveal the vulnerable side of the girl's heart.

"Relax, relax~ Just show the courage you have when facing the ice dog, and remember to show your coolest side, okay?"

Seeing how youthful Xiaoyan was, Zhi couldn't resist taking advantage of her height to ruffle her hair.

"Don't mess up my hair! And if I wanted to look cool, I wouldn't dress like this!"

"Yes, yes, yes~ Then please, Princess, show your girlish side to those you care about!"

Looking at Zhi, who was secretly laughing in front of her, Xiaoyan couldn't help but want to punch her.

"puff--!"

Then she actually punched him.

"Phew—I'm still not very mature after all... 'I want to meet Xiaoyuan again, not as the one she protects, but as the one who protects her.' Isn't that the wish I made back then? Indeed, as you said, shouldn't this reunion be an explanation of that wish and a display of my cool side?"

She pulled a braid to her front and gently stroked it.

"But I always feel that by making the decision to bring Madoka back to the World of Fire, I have gone against my own wishes. However, the most important thing is to meet Madoka again. So let me be willful for once and complete this reunion with Madoka with my original appearance."

With her braids swung back behind her, she resolutely embarked on her journey to the classroom.

————————————————————————————————————————

"Well then, Xiaomei, please come in~"

The classroom door opened, and amidst the sound of footsteps, Yan stepped into the classroom, meeting the curious gazes of the entire class.

At that moment, as if sensing something, the girl with short blue hair, the girl with long red ponytail, and... the girl with short pink twin ponytails all curiously peeked out and stared at the girl with two braids and dark red half-rimmed glasses.

"My name is Homura Akemi, nice to meet you."

Yan walked to the center of the podium, stopped, turned around, and bowed slightly to the whole class with a faint smile on her face.

"Xiaomei has been hospitalized due to heart disease, and it's rare for her to be able to come to school. She's bound to feel a little lost, so please help her out!"

After introducing herself, while her homeroom teacher tirelessly explained the reasons for her transfer, her gaze quickly swept over the other three unusual girls.

Their eyes met, and she was certain that all the girls were looking in her direction.

She slightly closed her eyes, her left hand brushing against her bangs, and as she raised her head, strands of hair were swept out from her forehead.

The ring on his middle finger, engraved with exquisite runes, was revealed.

Outside the classroom, the footsteps stopped, and the bag slowly slipped from the hand.

PS: Yunxi: The content in 【】 is research on Madoka Magica, and all information comes from the Madoka Magica Baidu Tieba forum.

PS1: Thank you to reader [Yuan Shen Xin Zui - Houmura] for the donation and monthly pass!

Destiny III: Time Flies

We can never forget the promise we made to each other.

In an arcade in Mitakihara, a girl is dancing wildly on a dance machine.

[Close your eyes gently and confirm again]

Her braids were already undone, and her dark red half-rimmed glasses were nowhere to be seen. She didn't look at the prompts on the screen at all, but simply pressed the rhythm of the music and stomped hard on the buttons on the dance machine. Her dance moves were casual and swaying, like a small boat rocking in a storm.

Let's dispel the gathering darkness and move forward.

The music suddenly swelled, and Xiao Yan's dancing became even more frantic. Purple flames ignited on the flatboat, the purple so intense it was almost black.

Zhi watched with concern as Xiaoyan vented her frustrations on the dance machine, but she didn't stop her, because she knew that Xiaoyan needed to vent at that moment.

Who would have thought that the so-called "returning to one's own world" actually refers to "the world in which one exists," rather than the "world in which one once existed" as Zhi unilaterally believed.

Even she, as an observer, felt a strange pang of pain when she saw another Homura Akemi do the self-introduction that Homura should have done, let alone what the person in question must have felt.

"If there is another version of myself, then what is the purpose of my existence now that I have returned here?"

These were the words Homura kept muttering when she escaped from Mitakihara Middle School with Origami.

Even in the eyes of this world, everything that Homura Akemi did should be considered right and reasonable.

However, seeing Homura at that time, Ori truly experienced what despair was, no, it would be more accurate to say that she directly witnessed despair itself.

The purple flames turned black at that moment, and almost spread outwards. Fortunately, Zhi reacted quickly enough, picked her up and carried her on his shoulder, and quickly escaped from Mitakihara Middle School. Otherwise, the black flames would have devoured the entire school.

She carefully pulled open the clothes under her shoulders, where deep black burn marks remained on the spot where she had once carried Xiao Yan. If it weren't for the golden flames she had used to cover the wounds, these highly corrosive dark black substances might have already covered her entire body.

After confirming that the wound had not worsened, Zhi pulled her school uniform up again to cover it, glanced at Xiaoyan who was still venting her anger, and then turned her gaze to the third "person" beside her.

This is a young girl dressed in a smart gothic sleeveless short outfit, with short blonde hair, giving off an arrogant and conceited feeling.

Arrogant fools, unforgivable! This affection belongs only to us.

Honestly, this guy gave me a very strange feeling, just because there were black ripples in her purple eyes, and she was also dancing on the dance machine, with limbs that looked like dolls, mimicking Xiaoyan's movements perfectly.

This person was encountered when Zhi was carrying Xiaoyan away from school. She suddenly appeared out of nowhere and dragged Zhi into this arcade.

At that moment, she was completely unafraid of the black flames on Homura's body. Before Orihime, who was already stunned by the black flames, could react in any way, she picked Homura off her shoulder, selected a song on the dance machine, and threw Homura onto it.

Strangely enough, Xiao Yan, whose eyes had been lifeless, slowly began to dance to the rhythm of the music, and the raging black flames gradually lost their ominous color, returning to purple—yes, deep purple.

Zhi tried to communicate with the blonde girl, but she completely ignored her and simply imitated Xiaoyan's dance moves, dancing in place as well.

Well, as long as Xiaoyan's condition improved, Zhi didn't want to investigate anything further. Even if she found a clock on the wall with the hour, minute, and second hands spinning wildly on the clock face like they were racing, she wouldn't be surprised.

After all, it was such a large arcade, and they were having so much fun here. Not to mention players, she hadn't even seen a single staff member. She didn't want to use the word "weird" to describe this place anymore, because this place itself was synonymous with weirdness.

Therefore, we are not afraid at all.