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

She only took care of the child for a few years; for the rest of the time, Mayumi Haga struggled on her own.

In their subsequent meetings, the two didn't spend much time together. The penultimate and second-to-last meetings were even less pleasant, during which she, under the control of the calamity, stabbed Mayumi Haga.

She is not a qualified guardian.

Ulzana found it strange that she was being treated as a "parent" all at once.

"But in Yuhe's heart, you are like a mother to her." The homeroom teacher smiled and explained to the giant woman with a sad face in front of her, "If you didn't hold such an important place in her heart, I wouldn't have been able to summon you here."

Urzana was taken aback, then said bitterly, "Then I'm also an unfit mother."

It will only bring pain to Mayumi, and it's normal for the child to resent or hate her.

Moreover, she chose to run away after regaining her senses, so Mayumi must be even more disappointed in her.

This once generous and straightforward giant, despite being physically healthy, showed signs of deep weariness and sadness in his spirit.

The homeroom teacher said gently, "But she is just like you."

It is precisely because they care about these closest people, and because they still love these family members who are not related by blood, that they feel wronged by the other party's estrangement.

"..."

“Since you think you’re not a good enough parent, why don’t you start now and try to be a better one?” the homeroom teacher advised her. “Children of Yuhe’s age, although they have the ability to be independent, still crave their parents’ approval and love… She needs you very much.”

Urzana did not answer immediately.

"You believe you've committed an unforgivable sin, but in Yuhe's eyes, perhaps none of that compares to the misery of the time you've been away from her." The homeroom teacher smiled slightly, meeting the parent's bewildered eyes. "Why not try to make amends?"

Urzana thought the old lady was right.

Although she didn't know who this old lady was, why she was sitting here patiently comforting her, or what it meant that she had been summoned by her... what she said did make sense.

She should at least try to gain Mayumi's forgiveness.

Main text: Chapter Ninety-Seven: Guardians and Guardians (?)

When Rika Sugiyama received the call from Ayasa Terasaki, she was eating a uniquely spicy dish in a foreign country. The Mapo Tofu on her plate had a spiciness she rarely encountered, and she was frantically wiping away tears and blowing her nose with tissues, looking quite disheveled.

Just then, Terasaki Ayasa called. She happened to take out her phone to use a translation app, and when she saw the caller ID, she answered casually: "Hello?"

"Hitomi... illusion magic? Huh? Wait a minute, is Kirino-senpai supposed to be coming to our house for a home visit these next few days? But I'm not here." Terasaki Ayasa told her about the home visit, and Sugiyama Rika was taken aback.

In her memory, the old master who was skilled in using word magic and whose magical attainments were quite profound was not someone who could be easily fooled.

At that time, Cai Sha was always too tired to get out of bed during the day because she patrolled too late at night, so she thought of using illusion magic to fool her homeroom teacher.

Their high school homeroom teacher, Ms. Kirino, happened to be no ordinary person, but a magician who had been stationed in Miracle City for forty years.

As expected, Terasaki Ayasa was caught red-handed.

Fortunately, Ms. Kirino is a very tolerant person. As someone who has been through it all, she knows that the work of magical girls is quite demanding, so she let them off the hook.

After that, she would turn a blind eye to their sudden running out of the classroom or skipping class during class... It can be said that she had already made her presence known to Ms. Kirino.

Having a homeroom teacher who knows the situation to help cover it up is indeed very convenient.

So, last year, when Sugiyama Rika sent Haga Mayumi to high school, she discovered that Kirino-senpai was also the homeroom teacher of the two magical girls in that year.

So, during a private conversation, I introduced the true identities of the two magical girls, Crimson and Iris, to Ms. Kirino, hoping that she could relax a bit with these two juniors.

It can be said that Sugiyama Rika secretly contacted Ms. Kirino and registered Tono Hitomi and Takajo Yuri with her.

Generally speaking, unless it's something too outrageous, Ms. Kirino probably wouldn't make a home visit... right?

So did Xiaotong do something... or is it just the regular home visit time each semester?

Sugiyama Rikka was completely baffled.

Terasaki Ayasa was also quite puzzled: "So, Ms. Kirino won't easily cause trouble for Tono and the others? When that child asked me for the Illusion Magic Notebook, she seemed very anxious. I thought Ms. Kirino was already calling her parents."

"Huh? Speaking of phone calls, Kirino-senpai seems to have contacted me not long ago." Sugiyama Rika then noticed the mountain of missed call notifications on her phone. Among a bunch of messages labeled "Dad" and "Mom," she found the missed call from Kirino-san from a couple of days ago. "Looking for me?"

“Perhaps it’s because you’re now the administrator of Miracle City.” Terasaki Ayasa also felt that Kirino-san’s handling of Tono Hitomi’s matter was a bit strange.

Why call Sugiyama Rika when you're supposed to be visiting the Tono family?

Could it be because she guessed that Sugiyama Rika and she were dumping a lot of work on their juniors, leaving them no time to go to school?

Sugiyama Rika really couldn't understand it, so she scratched her head and said, "Then I'd better go back and take a look."

She wasn't very familiar with the flight path here, and if she rashly used flying magic to go back, she might bump into other people... It would be better to use the teleportation ability of the spiritual vein.

Sugiyama Rika possesses a small portion of the spiritual vein's access, which allows her to return to that city from anywhere in the world at any time.

"Speaking of which, why don't you answer the phone usually?" Terasaki Ayasa said unhappily after finishing her more important business and finally being able to contact Sugiyama Rika by phone. "Using long-distance telepathic communication consumes a lot of magic, and you never answer when I call you."

The red-haired guardian, when questioned, replied sheepishly, "Because my relatives are really annoying..."

Sugiyama Rika had no desire to be dragged back to manage the family business, especially since her parents and other relatives always nagged her endlessly.

If she hadn't kept her phone on silent the whole time, it would have been a relentless 24/7 bombardment.

“I’m fine with it, since I can still contact you with magic… but have you considered that your ward might also need to contact you?” Terasaki Ayasa said irritably. “You picked up a child, so you should at least take good care of them, right?”

“I did give Mayumi my contact information! And I even used a separate phone that wasn’t on silent…” Sugiyama Rika defended herself, “but…”

She only receives a call or text message from Mayumi Haga on the last day of each calendar month. He will report on the events of the month to her and then politely hang up.

At other times, Mayumi Haga, wanting to avoid disturbing her travels, would never take the initiative to contact Rikka Sugiyama.

"...You! Come back here and help the kids deal with the home visits! These days are the home visit days for high school students. Do you want Yuga to be embarrassed when the teachers come to visit?" Terasaki Ayasa really couldn't stand Sugiyama Rika's rough and laissez-faire parenting style. As a more reliable elder, she couldn't stand it anymore.

This grown-up child! He's not a competent guardian at all!

Sugiyama Rika nodded and bowed profusely on the other end of the phone: "Yes, yes, I will definitely keep my phone on next time... I'm so sorry! I'll go back and see what happened!"

After hanging up the phone, she felt a bit of a headache: "Going back to deal with home visits..."

Using teleportation magic to go back wouldn't be too troublesome, but I'd definitely get a good scolding from Kirino-senpai.

Despite being somewhat reluctant, Sugiyama Rika slung her backpack over her shoulder, paid for her meal, and prepared to find a place to teleport back to Miracle City.

Oh right, you should also bring some local specialties; the hot pot broth here is pretty good.

Just as she was thinking this, Sugiyama Rika's phone vibrated again.

It was a call from Ms. Kirino, the homeroom teacher of Mayumi Haga and the others.

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

"Are you Mayumi's mother?" Hitomi Tono was very curious about Ulzana's existence. She moved closer to Ulzana and asked in a low voice.

In her mind, Mayumi Haga's legal guardian should be Rika Sugiyama.

However, considering that Sugiyama Rika has never been in Miracle City and has not spent much time with Haga Mayumi, and that Mayumi was already ten years old and her personality was beginning to take shape when she was found.

So, during this ten-year gap, who raised Mayumi?

Hitomi Tono was curious about Mayumi Haga's past, but considering that she didn't seem to want to talk about those things, she didn't ask at this stage and planned to wait for a better opportunity to get information without reopening Mayumi Haga's old wounds.

And now, Urzana, an important figure connected to Mayumi Haga's past, has appeared before her.

This made Hitomi Tono unable to suppress her curiosity. Seeing that Urzana seemed easy to talk to, she moved closer, lowered her voice, and asked in a decibel she thought Mayumi Haga couldn't hear.

When asked this question, Urzana was trying to pick up a cup from the table.

The cup was as big as a normal person's face, but she could wrap it in one hand.

However, when she reached for the handle of the cup, she couldn't touch anything; her hand grasped nothing and passed right through the cup.

Urzana opened her palm and examined it closely, finding it to be slightly more transparent than usual.

If you don't look closely, you won't notice anything unusual.

She is not a physical being now... or rather, because the energy supplied by the Fire is insufficient to reshape her body.

Sitting here, Urzana is simply looking at a more solidified soul, or rather, a projection.

While inside Mayumi Haga's backpack, she could touch things because she was close to the fire. But after she came out, she couldn't anymore, and she even had to control her body to avoid falling downstairs.

Urzana was not surprised, after all, the fact that her own body had shrunk clearly revealed a kind of predicament of insufficient energy.

In the past, the energy that the Guardians used to regenerate their bodies was bestowed by the River. As long as they were in that world, no matter how damaged their bodies were, as long as their core remained, they could obtain the River's energy to revive themselves.

If the river dries up, meaning that all living things in the world except the Guardians have been devoured, the Guardians will completely lose their ability to regenerate.

Having lost their homeland, these guardians have also lost the foundation of the long river, essentially becoming no different from stones containing souls.

As for Mayumi, it's probably because she still carries the flame within her, which allows her to regenerate without limit, just like before.

Ulzana turned her gaze to Mayumi Haga, who remained in the kitchen and still refused to come out and speak to her.

I really miss Mayumi when she was seventeen.

Ulzana began to feel a little fortunate that she could still sit here and still see Mayumi Haga.

Moreover, Mayumi seems to have made some good friends in this world.

She whispered to Hitomi Tono, "I am not Mayumi's blood relative."

They don't look alike at all, so saying she's Mayumi's mother is a bit far-fetched.

To be honest, Urzana's mood improved somewhat because of this question.

"Is there anything I have in common with Mayumi?" Her expression relaxed considerably, and she even smiled without realizing it when she asked the question.

Tono Hitomi thought about it seriously for a while: "The smile... the smile is very similar."

"Hmm?" Ulzana and Hitomi Tohno whispered to each other on the sofa, "A smile?"

Although Mayumi Haga rarely smiles now, Hitomi Tono recalls the traveler Mayumi Haga from her dream, whose smile is just as refreshing as that of the giant lady.

Despite not being related by blood, she inexplicably felt that the giant woman in front of her must have occupied a very important place in the most important stage of Mayumi Haga's life.

It was so important that certain personality traits and expressions were learned and have not been forgotten even now.

"Speaking of which, what's this about a home visit?" Ulzana hadn't even figured out what was going on before Ms. Kirino had given her a long talk. Now that Ms. Kirino had temporarily left to make a phone call, she was finally able to get some information from the second human she could communicate with. "She didn't come to the house and smash anything, did she?"

"...A home visit isn't about damaging your belongings," Hitomi Tono quickly waved her hand and explained, "It's just a teacher from school coming to check on things."

Ulzana responded with an "Oh," as she digested the slight cultural differences.

Although you can understand the language of this world without learning it, there are indeed significant differences in vocabulary compared to theirs.

Where they live, if someone you don't know very well says they want to go to someone else's house, it's usually seen as a sign that they're looking for trouble.

But... teacher?

Is Mayumi reading a book?

Urzana was not very familiar with the education system of this world, and could only barely understand the information in these few sentences before falling into deep thought.

After arriving in this new world, she found everything around her to be extremely unfamiliar. Even the few words spoken by Hitomi Tono contained a great deal of expression that she could not immediately understand.

It's like putting a land animal into the sea... it needs to adapt to almost everything.

Has Mayumi always lived in this kind of environment?

Urzana knew about Mayumi Haga's personality.

This child loves food, music, and travel. He is extremely content as long as he can ride a pony through the woods, and his favorite thing is to wander aimlessly across the plains, encountering strangers and unfamiliar landscapes.

Mayumi Haga is quite different from her. While Urzana also enjoys traveling, she wouldn't rule out a settled life either.

But Mayumi Haga, just like the nickname her biological mother gave her, is like a feather covered in the glow of freedom, who loves to wander and roam.

She seemed to regard that world as her home, and wherever she was, she felt at ease whenever the wind blew by.

Wandering alone on the mainland, creating countless memories, building countless bonds... it's quite a romantic thing.

But now, Mayumi Haga has a place to live.

Although this room is spacious, it is far less expansive than the world I once lived in.

The house did not restrain Mayumi Haga.

What truly bound the true bow was herself…and perhaps also Urzana, and countless memories. These heavy things locked the feather in the box, weighing it down and making it no longer light.

Urzana watched Mayumi Haga's retreating figure.

She needs to talk to Mayumi.

Just as I was about to speak.

"Ding-dong." The doorbell rang from outside.

Then, a boisterous voice rang out from outside the door: "I'm back, Mayumi!"