Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

After Mami finished her introduction, Zhi quickly bowed and then stole a glance at the other Xiaoyan.

Yan was also somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected that this guy would come knocking on her door again so soon after she had started to have doubts about him. So she stopped refusing and waited for the others to express their opinions.

"It's okay! It's okay! It's painful to have nothing to eat, I understand how that feels. Luckily, I bought a lot of bread, let's eat together later!"

I don't know what touched Kyoko, but this equally carefree foodie, carrying a bag of bread, ran up to Kyoko, grabbed her neck, and pulled her toward the bench.

"I'm fine~ Xiaoyuan, what about you guys?"

"No problem~"

Madoka answered Sayaka with a smile, while Homura shook her head noncommittally.

"Alright, let's start lunch then~"

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On the rooftop of a tall building near Takihara Middle School, Homura was observing Ori's progress. Through her binoculars, Ori had successfully infiltrated the gathering of five magical girls. Right now, she was enjoying Kyoko's bread and Asami's black tea, tasting the dishes brought by the others.

I'm a little envious of her.

Seeing Xiaoyuan pick up a piece of fried chicken for Zhi, Xiaoyan smacked her lips, then stopped paying attention to the glutton and started observing the others.

Well, Madoka's bento box contained fried chicken and rice balls shaped like the five characters' heads; Mami's included sandwiches, cheese, and black tea; Sayaka's bento box featured dishes shaped like Kyubey and Sherlock, along with snacks made from the five characters' Soul Gems; and her own bento box...

It's actually a very ordinary Japanese-style bento box, which really suits my personality.

She made a self-deprecating remark and then began to observe this other version of herself more closely.

In the field of vision, another Flame sat between Sayaka and Kyoko. At this moment, Kyoko seemed to have taken the blue Soul Gem from Sayaka's bento box, causing Sayaka to fight with Kyoko across Flame.

Flame, caught between the two, looked somewhat awkwardly at the two scrambling for the gem, waving her hands helplessly. It wasn't until QB swallowed the Soul Gem that Anzu was blocking behind her that Red and Blue stopped their playful fight amidst the laughter of the others.

There doesn't seem to be anything strange about it. Xiaoyan compared it with her past self and found that it wasn't too different. However, Zhi said this morning that this guy put a lot of pressure on her, and she remembered that she should have been a rather weak person during that period. She should observe him more.

Zida was also by her side at this time, watching the airship in the sky, and kept trying to hit the stone up with a knitting needle.

The tinkling sound kept echoing behind them, and Xiao Yan finally couldn't take it anymore and had to order her to stop.

"Hey, can you be quiet for a second?"

He hid the knitting needles behind his back, turned his head away, whistled, and pretended not to know anything.

"...What did that airship do to you?"

Nodding.

"Do we really have to take it down?"

Nodding.

What will happen if we don't get it off?

She tilted her head, as if pondering how to express herself, and finally seemed to have discovered something, running to the edge of the tall building and pointing in a certain direction.

Xiaoyan moved her binoculars over and saw two girls playing with rolling hoops. However, one of the girls, with curly hair, looked somewhat familiar to her.

"It's that bus driver!"

Xiaoyan roughly understood what Zida was trying to say, and she asked again tentatively.

"You mean, that unknown witch uses airships in the sky to monitor what's inside the barrier?"

He shook his head, then nodded.

"It's not just for surveillance?"

He nodded, then shook his head.

"...for purposes other than surveillance?"

He nodded.

Xiao Yan covered her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache. This way of communicating was just too tiring.

"So your frequent creation of barriers was to prevent us from using these things?"

Nodding.

"Since you can distinguish the familiars in other barriers, do you know who the witch here is?"

After a moment of silence, he nodded.

"So...who is that witch?"

Zi Da stretched out a finger and pointed straight at us.

"Me? Don't be ridiculous. Am I a witch? I myself... wait, I know I'm not a witch, but there's more than one 'me' here!"

She turned around abruptly and pointed the binoculars at the flames once more.

Sure enough, at this moment, everyone around was happily eating. Even Zhi, who had joined in the middle, was chatting happily with Mami next to her. She even curiously touched Beibei's head, not afraid of being bitten off by the snack witch.

Only Yan stared expressionlessly at the scenery below the rooftop.

Xiaoyan moved the binoculars in the direction she was looking, and all she could see were people whose faces she couldn't make out.

"She also noticed the anomaly? But it doesn't seem like her memories are intact. So it must be the second possibility: that Homura Akemi, as a witch, has also rewritten her memories?"

The telescope was moved back, and in that instant, Xiaoyan finally saw the confusion in her eyes clearly.

"So, what exactly do 'I' want to do?"

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 I want to put PS on all the Madoka Magica chapters!

Project Ten of Destiny in Progress

The pleasant mealtime came to an end, and the five or six girls cleaned up their dishes while discussing their plans after class.

"Ryougi, I wonder if you have time tonight? I'd like to discuss tea ceremony with you some more."

It seems that Orihime has perfectly completed her task. Her previous education as a young lady was indeed worthwhile. She found a lot of topics to talk about with Mami Tomoe, who is also a young lady. Although she doesn't actually like these topics at all, she is quite dedicated to helping Homura achieve her goal.

"Haha, I should be free, but I need to tell my family first. How about we contact each other after class?"

"No problem, but there's one thing I'm curious about. Given Ryougi's family background, why would she eat convenience store bento boxes?"

"Well... that's because I tend to spill my lunchbox easily, so I basically don't bring expensive lunchboxes to class."

"Oh dear, it seems you've had a tough time too."

"Haha, it's alright."

Meanwhile, Homura, who was observing Homura through binoculars in the distance, keenly noticed that before Mami extended an invitation, she seemed to want to speak to Ori also. After Mami beat her to it, she frowned and turned to ask Kyoko.

"Sakura-san, are you free tonight? I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Huh? Ah... I guess nothing's wrong?"

"Hey, all you ever do is go out and have a big meal, what else do you do?"

"What?! Even I would dutifully go out on patrol at night!"

"That...that one?"

"No problem, Xiaomei, I'll agree for her. But if you're going to treat her, you'd better watch out—she might eat you out of house and home!"

"Hey! Don't answer for me! ...Anyway, like Sayaka said, I'm fine."

"Okay! Let's walk home together after school then~"

"Hey, do you all have somewhere to go after school?"

"Yes, yes, Xiaoyuan, look at those two groups of couples over there. We've all been abandoned. It's so sad... *sobs*"

"Hehe, Xiaoyan and the others probably have something to talk about."

"So! It's rare that we're the only two without anywhere to go, how about we go shopping at the department store together after all this time?"

"Great! I haven't had a proper shopping trip lately because I keep having nightmares, so I'm going to do a big shopping spree today!"

"Right, right, then it's settled!"

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The school bell rang, and the once bustling rooftop fell silent once more.

After everyone else had left, Xiaoyan came to the rooftop alone. She walked to the bench, stood in front of where Xiaoyuan had been sitting, closed her eyes slightly, and silently recalled the voice and smile of the person she missed that she had seen through the telescope.

Seeing it but not being able to touch it made her extremely uncomfortable, and this was the only way she could find some solace.

After a while, the door to the rooftop opened again, and Zhi returned to the place.

"Homura, did you see that? Mami already asked me out tonight. Operation a huge success!"

Upon hearing that cheerful voice, Xiao Yan opened her eyes, adjusted her facial expression, and smiled to welcome today's hero.

"Of course, you did a great job! Thank you for your hard work!"

"Aww~ I can actually see Homura's smiling face! Today's hard work was worth it~"

"Ahem, anyway, you should go with Mami tonight and try to get her to reveal the magical girl thing."

"Of course, leave it to me~ After all, I used to be a young lady, so I have some experience in dealing with young ladies."

Zhi patted her chest confidently, then she realized a problem.

"Wait, wait, wait, if that's the case, won't you be all alone tonight?"

“No problem. You’ve sent Mami away, and I’ve sent Kyoko away. Now it’s just Madoka and Sayaka left. I plan to follow them and see if there’s an opportunity to make a move when Madoka is alone. That way, we won’t have to go through so much trouble.”

"Sigh...doesn't that mean my final role was just to get Mami out of the way?"

Zhi thought she had finally helped Xiaoyan properly, but she didn't expect there was an even more direct way, which made her feel a little discouraged.

"Of course not. My operation tonight is very risky, because even if Xiaoyuan is the only one left, I still have to worry about the other guy."

"Another guy?"

"That's right, because that guy didn't say anything, I almost ignored it."

"So who exactly is that guy?"

"That pet that Xiaoyuan calls QB, whose scientific name is 'Incubator', looks like a cat and a rabbit at the same time."

"That mascot just like Beibei!"