Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

“But you are not a complete person now, and you cannot return to the River of Time.” Junko Haga revealed the true nature of Mayumi Haga. After she became a guardian, the missing part of her prevented her from ever coming to Junko Haga’s side again. “Have you forgotten what you look like now?”

"Then..." Yuga Mayumi looked stunned. She suddenly straightened up, only to find that black dragon scales were growing wildly on her body and falling off continuously.

She realized the biggest side effect of forbidden techniques.

The fact that a person's heart can never be restored means that she can never die as a "human being," and the souls of her loved ones are swallowed up by calamity, unable to reunite. Mayumi Haga can only endlessly repeat these pains, wandering in the sky.

She can never go home again.

Main text: Chapter 155 Who's outside the door?

As the last sentence fell, Mayumi Haga suddenly snapped out of her false memories, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head, and she shivered.

When I came to my senses, I found myself standing alone in the empty room.

She felt a rare sense of unease, looking around as she realized that her once-distant but always clean and cozy home, though somewhat dilapidated, was now just a broken, rickety bed and a window. A dark human figure was deeply imprinted on the bed frame; Junko Haga, who had been sitting there, was nowhere to be seen.

The once bright and warm light was swallowed up by the silent darkness, leaving only a dim lamp in the room, and Mayumi Haga's shadow flickered in the candlelight.

It was pitch black outside the window; not even a breeze could get through the broken window.

The voices of others calling her that she could previously hear have now disappeared.

Mayumi Haga knew what this meant.

As the price for using forbidden techniques, her soul will be frozen here.

The Junko Haga she saw before was nothing more than her illusion.

After all, the real Junko Haga, her mother, had already returned to the River of Time many years ago. She had even seen the second incarnation of that strange yet familiar soul, greeted it, and then left.

Now, the River of Life has been completely swallowed up by the calamity, along with the soul that was once named "Haga Junko" within it.

She couldn't possibly be here.

Everything here is merely Mayumi Haga's subconscious longing for the love she received in her childhood.

It's really embarrassing to think about it.

Mayumi Haga should have felt her face burning, after all, for someone who hadn't faced her own weaknesses in a long time, confronting her true inner thoughts was truly shameful.

But then she thought that there was no one else here, and the so-called "shame" was lessened by more than a little when she only had to face self-examination.

The spiritual protection provided by the world's consciousness was indeed powerful enough; she deeply felt this. After the spiritual protection failed, her original willpower remained, but the emotions that had been suppressed suddenly surged up, making her feel out of control and exhausted.

...That's enough. Even though it's just a hallucination, I can still see my mother's face, which I've almost forgotten.

Mayumi Haga thought to herself, standing in the house where she had lived as a child, like a silent tree.

She wanted to smile, but wasn't quite at peace. She didn't want to cry, but a certain thought was swelling within her.

She pursed her lips tightly, lowered her head, and stared at her toes.

Her nose started to sting without her realizing it, so she took a deep breath and suppressed the strange feeling in her heart.

After standing there for an unknown amount of time, Mayumi Haga finally slowly moved to the corner of the wall and sat down.

There is neither day nor night here, only pure darkness. The candle has only a tiny bit left, yet for some reason it never seems to burn out.

She sat in the corner, her back against the wall, clutching her weapon.

Unlike before, she relaxed her body at this time.

Actually, she came here after her mother passed away.

Out of a secret and shy feeling, she would subconsciously tend to gather information or choose the Far East, where she was born, as a place to settle down. However, she was also somewhat hesitant to return home and would often avoid the place where she used to live.

The last time I came here was after the calamity struck.

The house where I lived with my mother when I was a child had actually been abandoned after she left. After years of being deserted, it was finally blown down on a rainy night and then became someone else's new house.

The people who lived in this house changed generation after generation, until finally, after the disaster struck, their lives came to an end.

When Mayumi Haga arrived, only an old man remained in the house.

An elderly man in his sixties who fell from a mountain years ago and lost both legs.

Mayumi Haga originally wanted to take him away, but the other party refused Mayumi Haga's kindness and hoped to die in the ancestral old house.

“I’ve always lived here… My children are all gone. After they leave, no one will come to talk to me at my grave, will they?” the old man said. “That would be too lonely.”

The old man had very poor eyesight, perhaps because he was nearing the end of his life, or perhaps because he had gradually become accustomed to it, and he could no longer smell the stench of the rotting corpse in the house.

Mayumi Haga found a corner where there were no corpses piled up and sat down.

She didn't say anything, but felt that the layout of the room was both unfamiliar and familiar.

For example, many years ago, my mother Junko Haga's bed was also placed in that spot. It wasn't exposed to direct sunlight, but the light was good and warm.

She didn't tell the old man that his children actually lived nearby or even inside the house, now mixed into an indistinguishable pile of debris; she simply said, "I lived here when I was a child."

"Really...?" The old man's mind was indeed not working properly. He didn't realize that Mayumi Haga looked to be about the same age as his granddaughter. How could she have lived here as a child? He chuckled and said, "That's quite a coincidence."

Mayumi Haga responded with a soft "hmm".

“My granddaughter is the same age as you, and she doesn’t like living at home either. She’s always thinking about going out…” the old man said. “The young people have gone too far away and haven’t contacted me in a long time. Why did you leave home back then?”

Mayumi Haga wasn't entirely sure of the answer either. She thought for a while, just about to answer...

Then I saw the old man on the bed close his eyes.

The old man was clearly on his last breath, yet his body began to decompose. Fortunately, he had already lost consciousness, so he did not experience inhuman suffering in his final moments.

Mayumi Haga remained seated and did not move.

She watched as the old man, long since ravaged by calamity, turned into a pool of foul-smelling liquid before her. Only at dawn did she stand up and gather the scattered bones from the bed and bury them properly.

She didn't know the answer to that question.

Why leave...?

She simply followed her mother's dying wish and kept moving forward.

At a point in her life where she felt stagnant, she stood in this familiar room and once again fell into confusion.

If we cannot move forward, wouldn't we be swallowed up by the sorrow that follows?

Without spiritual protection, those past emotions quietly surged from the depths of her heart. Yuga Mayumi sat blankly in the corner of the room, letting herself be swallowed by these rising tides.

It feels like a piece is missing from my heart, and only now is the wound starting to hurt.

Just as Yuga Mayumi was about to be completely swallowed up, a noise suddenly came from outside the door.

She instinctively turned around to look.

All that could be seen was the creaking of the dilapidated wooden door, but the person pushing it from the outside wasn't strong enough, only managing to knock some dust off the door.

Yumi Haga didn't realize what it was. Just as she was about to look away, she heard two more knocks on the window.

It was a reddish-brown shrike, tapping on the window with its sharp beak, trying to attract her attention.

Main text: Chapter 156 Only Yuga Mayumi

—The shrike.

Yuga Mayumi immediately recognized the species of the uninvited guest that appeared in her mental space, but was slightly puzzled as to why there would be a live bird in such a place.

I don't seem to have a particular fondness for birds, so why is there a shrik that doesn't seem very polite here?

All I saw was the red and black shrike tilting its head. Seeing that Mayumi Haga wasn't going to open the window for it, it pecked at the window several more times, then flapped its wings impatiently, making a banging sound as it hit the window.

At the same time, its feathers bristled, and it muttered curses, looking quite angry.

Mayumi Haga didn't think she knew this unruly little bird and initially didn't want to open the window for it, but when she thought about the emptiness outside this spiritual space, she felt a little reluctant.

Never mind, I'll just go open the door.

Just as I was thinking.

In that instant when her heart began to waver, Mayumi Haga heard the sound of a sharp bird's beak pecking through the fragile paper.

Only then did she realize that the windows of the house had actually always been made of paper.

The shrike was making a sound that resembled knocking or something similar...

...It was the sound of a wizard desperately trying to pry open a small hole in the seemingly unbreakable wall of the heart.

.................................................. .................................................. .

“We need to open the heart of Mayumi Haga.” The white-haired wizard transformed into a small red and black bird emitting a faint glow, and as she spoke, she flapped her wings to lead the way for everyone.

As Mayumi Haga's mental space began to collapse, leaving only a small corner, the surrounding area turned into nothingness. Without Lania's protection, everyone would have been swallowed up by the concept of "the destroyed world" and remained there forever.

Incidentally, because Lania's wizard name is [Shrike], this wizard name, which in a sense relates to the characteristics of her soul, determines the way she operates in this space.

It is indeed much more convenient to take this form, since a mere remnant soul cannot exert enough power here.

Lania followed the three of them and guided them to Mayumi Haga's side when the time was right.

Her analysis left the three of them feeling a bit uneasy.

“Mayumi’s mental defenses…” Sugiyama Rika’s expression was grim. “It seems like a major challenge.”

Although her magical abilities are top-notch, she is indeed a bit clumsy when it comes to verbal sparring.

Moreover, Mayumi Haga was the most stubborn child she had ever met.

Lania said, "I'll pry open the wall of my heart in a moment, and then you can go in and pull her out."

……peck?

So it wasn't a mental breakthrough, but a physical one?

The three looked at each other in bewilderment.

According to their understanding, the more a companion is in a mental crisis, the more idealistic power and magic will be able to shine.

It has always been like this.

That's why they found it so challenging; after all, the difficulty of defeating Haga Mayumi seemed exceptionally high.

Moreover, after witnessing the landscape of Mayumi Haga's inner world, everyone felt that words became incredibly heavy at this moment. The words that could be easily spoken in the past felt light and powerless when faced with Mayumi Haga's heavy past, and were even considered offensive.

For Lania, a wizard from the same world as Mayumi Haga, the power of the heart towards the world of children is the more mysterious thing.

For her, all she had to do now was forcefully break through the barrier in Mayumi Haga's heart, and who knew what would happen next... but it was better than doing nothing at all.

So she led the three of them to the door of the hut where Mayumi Haga was hiding.

This is a wooden house with a high roof.

In the Far East, where it snows heavily in winter, roofs are designed with a high slope to allow snow to slide off without crushing the houses.

The shape of this room is too clear, and it looks eerie because of the lack of background. It's like a sticker that suddenly appears in the darkness, and its edges are gradually being stained by darkness.

Lania knew she couldn't delay any longer, so she immediately stepped forward and used the last bit of her magical energy to pry open the window.

Inside the house, Mayumi Haga looked over in surprise.

In her line of sight, the door lock was silently broken, and the figure that appeared at the door was very familiar.

The outside world suddenly brightened, and light streamed through the crack in the door, falling on Mayumi Haga's face.

"...How did you get here?" She was stunned for a moment, her reaction slow because it was so unexpected.

But Mayumi Haga's expression did not show the expected joy; instead, it turned somber.

"This is too risky...!" Mayumi Haga's second reaction was that she felt a chill run down her spine at the danger of everyone's actions.

If these people were to become trapped in their own mental world or even die here, she would not feel the warmth of being redeemed, but rather endless regret.

These things haven't happened yet; all that's left for Mayumi Haga is her anger at these people for coming here without thinking.

She wasn't upset that her vulnerabilities, which she didn't want others to see, had been exposed, but rather she was angry at the reckless actions of these men.

How dare they come here like this... You know, this is a completely one-way street. Once they are completely worn away by this forbidden technique, Tono Hitomi and the others' souls will never be able to return.

Since they've already made their decision, why are they coming here to die?

Mayumi Haga was filled with resistance; she just wanted to drive these guys out as soon as possible and didn't want them involved.

The house seemed to come alive according to its owner's will; the wooden planks underfoot suddenly rose up and intertwined to form an obstacle, the walls began to press down, and the door panels radiated scorching heat, determined to drive away the intruders.

It seems that Mayumi Haga expressed her thoughts quite firmly, both in words and actions.

However, no one, regardless of who they were, intended to leave.

If you ask why, it's because...