Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

"If you've given up, don't keep biting like a dog."

"Why......"

Su Shi could no longer maintain that smile.

"Please, anything is fine. I want to go back to the days when Crychic was still around. I want to go back to the happy times we had. Xiaodeng and Lixi feel the same way. I'm planning to call Xiaomu." Su Shi glanced back at Mu and continued, "And then I'll have Xiaoxiang come back too."

"Oh?" Xiangzi glanced at Mu and asked, "Really?"

Mu lowered his head.

He shook his head gently.

"Eh?!"

Su Shi turned her head in disbelief.

"...Why? Am I the only one who thinks that way?"

Mu shifted his gaze.

“But, but the person who founded Crychic was Xiao Xiang.” Su Shi said as if in a death throes.

"So I ended it myself—"

“—It’s not over yet!”

Su Shi suddenly shouted.

"I've worked so hard for Crychic all this time!"

“No one ever asked you to do this.” Xiangzi squinted, as if looking down at Su Shi, who was about the same height as him. “You’re being too presumptuous.”

"What happy and joyful times, what wonderful memories, what difficulties we faced together."

"You have no idea what it means to become a magical girl."

"what?"

"Shh-"

Xiangzi raised his index finger and placed it in front of his lips.

"Don't talk yet."

"Mu, how much does Su Shi know about 'us'?"

Mu shook his head and said in a low voice.

"Su Shi... knows nothing."

"what."

Xiangzi smiled sarcastically, turned around, and looked at Su Shi.

"You know nothing, that's why you can say such naive things."

"Know what? Is there anything I absolutely need to know?!"

"Of course..." Under the influence of dopamine, Xiangzi was ready to tell everything directly.

She had been worried that Su Shi wouldn't be able to handle it once she found out.

But now...

Nothing matters anymore.

"Xiang."

Mu suddenly grabbed Xiangzi's sleeve and shook his head.

"Don't say it..."

"There are some things that you will eventually find out, no matter how much or little you can bear them."

Xiangzi shook off Mu's hand, opened his palm towards her, and asked for something.

"Give me the Soul Gem."

Mu pursed her lips and obediently did as she was told.

Xiangzi picked up Mu's Soul Gem and turned to walk outside.

"Xiao Xiang, where are you going!" Su Shi called out.

"Hold Mu tight, don't let her fall," Xiangzi said without turning his head, his voice fading into the distance.

At first, Su Shi didn't know what Xiangzi was planning to do until a minute later, when she walked two hundred meters away.

Mu collapsed without warning.

Su Shi instinctively reached out to support Mu, only to meet a pair of pupils that were as wide open as a dead person's.

......

It's not like...

Su Shi held Mu's body, but could not sense any life force in her.

There was no pulse, no heartbeat, and no breathing.

Nothing is different~ (seven) Si. Dance wine} kick eight.

Mu died.

Su Shi seemed to hear a cracking sound, and the thing called worldview suddenly opened up, splitting open a huge crack.

Xiangzi walked back and placed the Soul Gem back into Mu's hand.

Mu's pupils contracted back to normal, and her heartbeat resumed.

“You…” Su Shi knelt on the ground, her mouth opening and closing.

"The Soul Gem is a materialized soul, which is like the CPU of a computer for a magical girl. The body is just a peripheral such as a keyboard and mouse."

Xiangzi looked down at her.

"As long as you have enough magic power, even if you lose your whole body, you can recover with the Soul Gem—think of Lixi."

"The moment we wished to become magical girls, we were no longer human."

Xiangzi sighed.

"Living a happy life is just your fantasy. Do you know how many magical girls have died silently in some corner of Reed Plains? You should know, but you've been hiding in your warm little nest called Crychic and don't want to know."

"When you start to face all of this, you'll realize that our carefree days will eventually be shattered by reality. I've just brought that day forward."

"..."

Su Shi knelt on the ground, head bowed, lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

"So, put aside that naive idea. This is the last time." Xiangzi turned around and walked past Su Shi. "From now on, don't bother me again."

"Wait a moment......"

Su Shi still wanted to persuade him to stay.

Xiangzi no longer wanted to talk to her.

All that needs to be said has been said.

Continuing will only remind her of one person.

"wait a minute!"

Su Shi suddenly raised her voice and shouted.

"do not go!"

"Even so, I don't really care. As long as everyone's here, that's enough..."

She rushed forward and grabbed Xiangzi's hand.

"Please, if it weren't for you, I would..."

"let me go."

"What do you want me to do for you to come back!"

Su Shi knelt down on the ground and begged her.

"I'm willing to do anything I can!"

......

"Pfft."

Someone laughed.

Shoko Toyokawa, who had been watching the whole thing, managed to suppress a laugh.

"Hey, you're willing to do anything? That sounds so familiar."

she says.

Xiangzi turned his head and looked at Su Shi's pleading expression.

She remembered someone.

Selfish, stubborn, hypocritical, and obstinate.

She looked into Nagasaki Motoyo's eyes as if she were looking in a mirror.

"...You said you were willing to do anything. What kind of resolve did you have when you said that?"

Xiangzi said in a low voice.

When my mother lay in the hospital bed and her heart stopped beating.

She said the same thing.

and then?

The same pine forest, at the same time.

She said the same thing here.

and then?

She wanted to say the same thing in the blood-soaked church.

and then?

Time and time again, because of the phrase "I can do anything," she fell into an increasingly deeper vortex.

"Are you willing to bear the weight of life behind these words? Are you willing to see the truth behind them? Are you willing to bear the consequences of your own inadequacy? 'Willing to do anything' is such a heavy statement."

If you're willing to do anything, would you be willing to become a familiar that has no self?

If you're willing to do anything, would you be willing to die for me?

If you're willing to do anything, do you know how much weight that carries?

Xiangzi looked down at Su Shi.

"If you can't do it, don't say such things casually. This is advice."

“But I really…” Su Shi looked up at Xiangzi with eyes that seemed to be praying to a god.

It was as if Xiangzi was her god.

"You actually... just want Crychic, right? You don't care about me at all."

"?!"

"I just happen to be one of the parts of Crychic."

Xiangzi shook off Su Shi's hand.

Su Shi, however, did not shamelessly try to get closer to him again.

She stood frozen in place, as if petrified.

Xiangzi looked at her coldly.

"Looks like you're just like me, all you think about is yourself."