You call this a love game?

"Why don't you go and take a look? You might be pleasantly surprised."

"No need, it's her turn to make a choice. As for you, don't miss the contract deadline, get out of here."

"Tsk~ Sometimes I'm really curious where you got such amazing abilities from, even though you're not a magical girl."

Kyubey jumped down lightly, landing in front of Bai Yu, his bright red pupils staring intently at him, as if he could see right through him.

"Don't ask. Even if you knew, it wouldn't make a difference."

"That's not necessarily true. As long as we can observe it, we can analyze it; as long as we can analyze it, we can control it, and eventually it will become our tool. So, are you going to tell me?"

"No."

......

As Sakura Kyoko walked home, the setting sun cast a long shadow over her. She kicked at the pebbles by the roadside, her mind still replaying the confessions of those people from earlier.

"They're all lying..." she muttered to herself, her fingers unconsciously twirling the ends of her hair.

As she passed the convenience store, she subconsciously touched the wages she had just received in her pocket, hesitated for a moment, and then went inside.

"Welcome~" the shop assistant greeted lazily, the dull afternoon sun making one feel drowsy.

Sakura Kyoko stood in front of the shelf, her gaze shifting between bread and her sister's favorite pudding. In the end, she took two boxes of pudding and a bag of bread, and grabbed a lollipop while paying.

"That'll be 680 yen in total," the clerk said after scanning the code.

Sakura Kyoko took out the envelope and suddenly noticed the cigarettes her father often smoked next to it. Her fingers paused for a moment, then she took out another banknote.

Minors are indeed not allowed to buy cigarettes and alcohol, but it's not impossible to make an exception by saying you're buying it for your parents. The shop assistant turned a blind eye and casually scanned the pack of cigarettes and handed it to the girl.

Stepping out of the convenience store, Sakura Kyoko bit into a lollipop, the sweetness melting on her tongue, but unable to dispel the bitterness in her heart.

My father left early and returned late every day, all to preach those doctrines that no one listened to...

As she turned the corner, a commotion arose. She looked up and saw a group of people gathered not far away, shouting things like "heretic" and "get out!" She could hear several familiar cries of pain mixed in with the noise.

Her heart suddenly clenched, and she turned and ran in that direction.

"Dad!" She squeezed through the crowd and saw her father being pushed and shoved by several men and women, his black robe covered in mud.

Sakura Kentaro stubbornly held up the stack of flyers, his voice hoarse as he shouted, "Despair is the root of destruction! As long as we hold onto hope..."

"Shut up, old man!"

A burly man raised his fist, and without thinking, Sakura Kyoko rushed forward, shielding her father with her body.

"What are you doing!" She opened her arms, as reliably as a grown-up child holding an umbrella for her elderly father.

The lollipop fell out of his mouth and shattered on the ground.

The men were taken aback for a moment, then one of them sneered, "Oh, so the heretics have accomplices?"

But seeing that it was a little girl, they stopped attacking and dispersed, cursing as they went.

"Xingzi..."

Hearing a weak voice behind her, Sakura Kyoko quickly turned around to support her father, only to find that his lip was cut and his eyes were bruised.

“Dad, let’s go home…” Her voice trembled slightly.

“Kyoko…” Kentaro Sakura’s eyes were somewhat unfocused, yet he still clutched the flyers tightly. “Why can’t they understand…”

On the way home, her father kept muttering to himself. Sakura Kyoko supported him, feeling the shopping bags in her hands getting heavier and heavier, and her father's figure becoming more and more hunched, as if he could not straighten his back at all.

After dinner, Sakura Momo happily ate her pudding while her mother busied herself applying medicine to her father. Sakura Kyoko sat in the corner, staring blankly at her father's lifeless back.

"Don't you want some pudding, sister?" the younger sister asked, leaning closer.

Sakura Kyoko shook her head and pushed the other box of pudding over as well.

In the stillness of the night, Sakura Kyoko tossed and turned in bed. Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting a silver line on the floor. Staring at the light, she remembered what Shiraha had said.

"By becoming a magical girl, any wish can be granted..."

She turned over and buried her face in the pillow.

The image of my father bleeding and in a sorry state lingered in my mind, along with the leaflets covered in footprints—the manuscripts of the new doctrines that my father had spent several sleepless nights writing.

He tried so hard...

If... if everyone could listen to their father...

Sakura Kyoko sat up abruptly, her bare feet touching the cold floor. Looking at her sleeping sister beside her, she tiptoed to the window, where moonlight shone on her clenched fists.

"Chubi..." she whispered to the air, "Are you there?"

"Of course, I'm always here whenever you need me."

A white creature emerged from the shadows. "Have you made up your mind?"

Sakura Kyoko stared at Kyubey's harmless smile and nodded firmly.

"Yes, I want everyone to listen carefully to Dad's preaching."

Cupid's tail wagged happily, "A very good wish."

Is it really possible?

The thought had barely formed when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if an ice pick was piercing her heart. She saw her hand reach out uncontrollably toward Cupid, and the moment her fingertips touched the downy fur, a dazzling white light engulfed her vision.

"The contract is complete, Sakura Kyoko. Your wish has been fulfilled. From now on, you are a magical girl."

As the white light gradually dissipated, Sakura Kyoko felt light as if she were walking on clouds. She looked down at her palm, where a bright red gem lay quietly, gleaming eerily in the moonlight.

"This is... the Soul Stone?"

She carefully touched the surface of the gemstone, feeling a slight coolness on her fingertips.

“That’s right.” Cupid perched on the windowsill, his tail swaying gently. “Now test your strength.”

Kyoko Sakura gripped the gemstone tightly, and a warm current suddenly surged from her chest to her limbs. She watched in astonishment as her clothes changed in the light.

The red miniskirt was bathed in light, and black stockings accentuated her slender, perfect legs inside her mid-calf boots. A metal spear appeared out of nowhere, its heavy weight almost causing her to drop it.

"Looks like this is your weapon. It seems to have pretty good attack power," Kyubey exclaimed.

She awkwardly brandished her spear twice, the tip drawing a silver arc in the moonlight. Suddenly remembering something, she turned to look at her younger sister on the bed. The little girl was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the commotion.

“Ordinary people can’t see magical girls unless you show them to them,” Kyubey explained. “Shall we go and put it into practice? There’s a witch nearby.”

Sakura Kyoko took a deep breath, gently pushed open the window, and the night breeze brushed against her cheeks. To her surprise, she found that she could clearly see the lightning rods on the top of the tall buildings.

She tentatively took a step forward, and her body lightly leaped onto the windowsill. The night wind billowed her skirt, and her heart pounded in her chest.

Nervous, uneasy, excited...

Complex emotions filled her mind.

"Don't be afraid, magical girls have physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people," Kyubey reminded her from the side.

Sakura Kyoko bit her lower lip and leaped forward—

The wind whistled past her ears as she plummeted downwards. In mid-air, she frantically waved her arms, but her feet landed firmly on the ground, where fallen leaves fell silently.

"Wow, that's amazing..." She looked at her legs in disbelief.

"It's an enhanced jumping ability. With skillful control of magic, you can walk on walls as if they were flat ground."

Following Kyubey's instructions, Sakura Kyoko manipulated the location of the magic power within her body, concentrating it under her feet. She first stretched out one foot and stepped on the wall, finding it to be surprisingly stable, as if it were glued to it.

She quickly mastered the technique and began running on the walls and rooftops.

Sakura Kyoko gripped the spear tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force. She stared at the twisted entrance to the barrier not far away, her throat tightening.

The night breeze blew up the stray hairs at her temples, which clung to her slightly sweaty forehead.

Although this wasn't her first time hunting witches, and she had gone with Bai Yu several times before, she was basically just an observer. Even with the protection of the ribbon, she would still be surrounded and attacked by the familiars, leaving her in a very sorry state.

This was the first time she had ever hunted a witch on her own, and the intensity was completely different from before.

She took a deep breath, the tip of her gun scraping across the ground and sparks flying, the barrier twisting like a torn wound.

The moment she stepped into the barrier, the thick air made her stumble.

Countless scarlet eyes lit up in the darkness, much like a pack of wolves seen in the wilderness at night.

Full of oppression.

Chapter Ninety-Three: She's my girlfriend!

"left!"

The spear swept across instinctively, the clanging of metal making his hand numb. The dark figure let out a scream like a baby crying, then turned into black smoke and disappeared.

Sakura Kyoko was breathing heavily when she realized her arms were trembling uncontrollably.

The second wave of attacks came even faster. She rolled around in a disheveled manner to dodge. When the gun barrel hit something soft, it splashed out a putrid liquid. Something grazed her calf, causing a burning pain.

It's still too difficult for her to fight a witch alone, especially this witch who is so tough that she can't break through her. She wanted to use her high mobility to entangle her, but instead, she was exhausted by the endless stream of familiars.

"Phew~ Focus, you can do it, Anzu."

Sakura Kyoko clutched the Soul Gem to her chest tightly, and images of Shiraha leading her to hunt witches flashed through her mind.

Think about what he would do.

Gradually, her mind calmed down, her thoughts racing as she pondered the witch's weaknesses.

Everything that can move has a weakness, and she clearly misjudged her opponent's strength and didn't consider that.

This witch was as hard as a sheet of iron, making it difficult for her spear tip to penetrate her body and cause effective damage. In that case, she might as well use an extra-large attack to break through her defenses in one blow, which would surely kill the witch.

In the blink of an eye, Sakura Kyoko deflected the attacking familiar with her spear, then opened her arms to the empty space in front of her. A burst of blazing white light erupted from the spear tip, revealing a massive spear almost the same size as the witch beside her. She grasped it with one hand, then hurled it with all her might. The red spear, radiating white light, pierced towards the witch, who let out a wail as if glass were shattering.

As the last wisp of black smoke dissipated, Sakura Kyoko knelt on the ground, the pitch-black Seed of Sorrow lying in her palm. The turbidity within the Soul Gem was slowly receding. She stared at her face reflected on the surface of the gem and realized that her mouth had inexplicably stretched to her ears.

"Hehe...I won...I won! Wuhu~!"

The joy of victory was so overwhelming that she almost couldn't help but cry.

She never imagined that she could actually defeat a witch all by herself; it was simply unbelievable! This was something she had never thought of before, nor dared to imagine.

On her way home, she would occasionally toss seeds of sorrow into the air and catch them again, humming a tuneless little tune, her ponytail swinging with each step.

As she passed a convenience store, she suddenly stopped and struck a pose in front of the glass window, mimicking the one she had just used to charge into battle with a gun. She was so amused by her own exaggerated movements that she burst out laughing.

In the shadows at the alley entrance, Bai Yu fiddled with the cross on his chest. He watched the girl brandishing a spear in the air, and his lips twitched. When the girl suddenly turned into a ghost, he instantly vanished behind the wall, leaving only half a leaf swirling in the wind.

......

The next morning, Sakura Kyoko rushed into the church half an hour earlier than usual.

Even the nuns hadn't gotten up yet, and Bai Yu was still soundly asleep in his warm bed.

Sakura Kyoko, however, was too excited to care about any of that. Having already obtained the key from Shiraha, she opened the church door and then pushed open Shiraha's door.

The morning sunlight slanted through the gaps in the curtains and onto the bed. She rushed to the bedside, bracing herself on the edge with her hands. Her red hair was a little messy from running, and the ends were still covered with morning dew.

"Father! Get up!" she whispered in Bai Yu's ear, her knees unconsciously swaying up and down against the bed.

Bai Yu frowned, buried her face in the blanket, and mumbled indistinctly, "What time is it...?"

"I have something extremely important to say!" Sakura Kyoko reached out and pulled the blanket, but when she pulled it off, she found that there was a naked body under the blanket, and the exposed upper body was extremely shocking.

The pectoral muscles are a standard inverted triangle shape, with the pectoralis major muscles on both sides extending naturally outwards. The surface muscle lines are clearly visible, and they look tight and elastic, like a carefully sculpted rock, full of power and vitality.

"you you you......"

Sakura Kyoko pointed at Shiraha's body, stammering and unable to speak.

She hadn't expected Bai Yu to have a habit of sleeping naked; if she had known, she wouldn't have lifted the covers.

Glancing at the boy on the bed who seemed to still be half asleep, Sakura Kyoko covered her eyes, which were about to develop styes, with one hand, and slowly reached out to cover herself with the blanket again. However, her face was full of blushing, and her expression gradually began to break down.

But she regretted it after putting it back on.

She gestured with both hands in front of her chest, then compared them to Bai Yu's chest in the air, and her face immediately fell.

She... seems to be younger than a boy.

No, no!

Sakura Kyoko shook her head vigorously.

She still has room to grow, and how can a girl compare to a boy!