It happened just before the man in the black jacket was about to open fire.

“Huh? What’s that? Let me see. Let me see.”

A cute voice rang beside his ear, sounding just like the call of the girl next door.

Only then did he notice the presence of a young girl beside him.

Not only that—she was sitting on a stool atop the table, her pretty little legs crossed. The simple lines beneath her skirt were faintly visible.

She leaned forward and carefully examined the weapon in his hand. Her white hair swayed slightly.

When did she get here?!

The leader of the black-jacketed delinquents nearly cried out that he was seeing a ghost.

First, he’d run into a boy who could fight like a monster. Then, a girl who appeared like a phantom.

Just where had the proprietress, Sakai, found so many helpers?

Before the delinquent leader could even blink, his handgun somehow appeared in the girl’s hands.

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. He instinctively reached out to snatch it back.

Then—

“Bang! Bang-bang!”

The silver-haired girl pulled the trigger right beside his ear, firing into the air behind him.

The gunshots rattled the leader’s skull. At the same time, he realized something.

If the girl before him had wanted to, she could’ve blown his head apart just now.

The gunfire intimidated everyone.

In an instant, the izakaya that had been roaring with commotion fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

……

This was a major incident.

Emergency calls flew through the dispatch lines like snowflakes, reaching every operator in the system.

Before long, large numbers of police officers and special-response personnel arrived in vehicles. They surrounded the entire red-light district.

A brawl was one thing.

A gunfight was another matter entirely.

The person leading them was Mr. Kenji.

The officers were gathering the delinquents and escorting them away. A fairly senior-looking officer was smiling obsequiously at Kenji.

Soon, the proprietress came rushing over and threw her arms around Kenji.

Completely flustered, Kenji patted her on the back.

The officer who’d been grinning flatteringly could no longer force a smile.

“Are you all right?”

Shizuku and Mari surrounded Yukieda with worried expressions.

If they hadn’t been in public, they probably would’ve lifted her skirt to check whether she was injured anywhere.

“N-no…”

Yukieda stammered her reply.

The fearless courage she’d shown earlier vanished without a trace the moment she saw Shizuku. She looked like a frightened quail.

As if she’d remembered something, Shizuku hurriedly searched the surrounding crowd.

The young man with the demon mask had already disappeared.

Shizuku felt a little disappointed. She hadn’t even managed to thank him properly. She didn’t even know his name.

“That boy was so cool!”

Mari hugged her books, stars shining in her eyes.

As for why Yukieda had appeared at that place at that time—

“My brother! My brother and I were having a meal here!”

Yukieda began spouting nonsense.

Shizuku scrutinized her suspiciously. Yukieda wore a stiff smile.

“If he’s Yukieda’s brother, then he should be my brother too, right? Why won’t you let me meet him? Wait! Could that masked young man just now have been your brother?”

Faced with Shizuku’s questions, Yukieda’s already muddled mind became even more tangled.

“Yes… But he can’t meet anyone right now. His identity is very special. He does classified work, you know?”

The moment she finished speaking, Yukieda regretted it.

She should’ve simply said they weren’t the same person.

Even Mari only half-believed that excuse, let alone Shizuku.

And yet, what Yukieda had said was actually true.

“Really? Then at least tell me his name, Yukieda.”

Faced with her daughter’s plea, Yukieda realized she had to offer some explanation. Otherwise, she’d never get away with this.

Helplessly, she said, “Xialong.”

Mai didn’t need that name anymore, anyway…

Just then, medical personnel wheeled out the groaning Hansen.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the white sheet covering his body—and the glaring, massive patch of blood staining it.

Shizuku turned her head away, unable to bear the sight.

“Yukieda, if something happens next time, don’t hide it from us, okay? Mari and I were really worried about you. I thought you’d been taken away for some strange reason.”

“That’s right, Yukieda-chan. I was so scared you’d show up with all kinds of strange expressions on your face.”

Mari nodded along.

“How could that happen…? Shizuku doesn’t know, but Mari, you should know better, shouldn’t you? Don’t let appearances fool you. I’m incredibly good at fighting.”

As she spoke, Yukieda rolled up her slender sleeve.

“I didn’t even—”

Why does it hurt so much between my legs?

What exactly happened while I was drinking?

I remember hugging a man very intimately…

And when I woke up, weren’t my clothes a little too disheveled?

They looked as if someone had thrown them on me carelessly.

The smile on Yukieda’s face first stiffened, then became painfully forced.

“What’s wrong?” Mari asked curiously.

“Nothing. I’m a little tired. I want to go home as soon as possible.”

With Kenji there, the rest of the procedures were simple.

After a brief questioning, Yukieda and the others were allowed to leave.

Shizuku and Mari still had to return to the academy and deal with the aftermath of skipping class. However, Kenji had sent someone to explain things, so there shouldn’t be any serious trouble.

As for Yukieda, she returned to her apartment in a daze.

The moment she entered, she hurried to the full-length mirror.

She lifted her skirt and tossed her panties aside.

There didn’t seem to be any visible change in their shape, but the pain was definitely real.

“Blood?!”

She found no other wounds.

Yukieda’s pretty face had been flushed from the alcohol. Now, it turned deathly pale.

So it really happened afterward.

She didn’t even bother putting on her slippers.

Barefoot, she stepped onto the floor and ran to Mai’s door.

Her pale feet slapped against the ground as she went.

She had countless questions she wanted to ask.

Like a wife catching her husband cheating, Yukieda pounded fiercely on Mai’s door.

She was starting to worry that Mai hadn’t returned yet. Just as she prepared to call him, the door opened.

Mai had changed into casual home clothes.

He’d even washed his hair.

Not a trace of alcohol clung to him.

Yukieda’s heart sank.

Could he really not be Mai?

Without waiting for permission, Yukieda slipped into his room and plopped down on his bed.

Mai hesitated.

“Um, Yukieda, you haven’t showered yet. You’re sitting on my bed.”

“Huh?”

Yukieda instinctively wanted to say, “I’m not dirty.”

No. That wasn’t it.

Was this guy trying to hint at something?

She’d come too quickly and forgotten to put on underwear. Luckily, her skirt was long enough.

Yukieda crossed her legs and quietly tugged her skirt down.

Without getting off the bed, she asked on her own initiative, “We were together the whole time while we were drinking, right?”

“Yeah.”

Mai gave her a definite answer.

Yukieda inexplicably relaxed. Then she continued asking, “I didn’t do anything too outrageous, did I?”

A sliver of hope still remained in her heart.

Mai fell silent.

His silence made Yukieda’s heart sink again.

Looks like I did quite a lot of outrageous things…

Mai remained silent, and Yukieda gritted her teeth.

“Then tell me. What did we do? Don’t tell me we did that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

Yukieda sat there in a daze, her heart turning to ash.

She hadn’t expected it to be true. She couldn’t remember a thing.

No—that wasn’t entirely true.

But things had already come this far. Regretting it wouldn’t help.

Fortunately, she wasn’t a real girl in the strictest sense. There was no need to make a life-or-death fuss over something like this.

Still, she felt a strange melancholy.

Her most precious treasure had been handed over just like that, for no apparent reason.

Whatever. It wasn’t a big deal.

Their relationship might be a little awkward from now on, that was all.

Yukieda was a mature adult, at least in some respects. She still had to take precautions.

She pretended to ask casually, “Cream puffs or snow cakes?”

“?”

Mai genuinely didn’t understand what she meant.

The old man’s innuendo had clearly gone beyond his level of comprehension.

He thought Yukieda was asking what kind of food he liked.

The topic was a little abrupt, but it did fit Yukieda’s personality.

“Cream puffs,” he answered.

“Cream puffs…”

Yukieda repeated the words under her breath.

Her pale face suddenly flushed again. She gritted her teeth.

“Didn’t you think about how troublesome cream puffs would be?”

She was preparing to get up and buy some medicine.

The emergency kind.

“Troublesome?” Mai still didn’t understand.

From the beginning, his conversation with Yukieda had felt strange.

Weren’t cream puffs and snow cakes both food? What was so troublesome about them?

“I don’t like snow cakes.”

“You don’t like them? Just because you don’t like them?”

Yukieda stared at her partner in disbelief.

They’d known each other for quite some time, but this was the first time she’d realized Mai was such a scumbag.

Eating that kind of thing could seriously harm the body.

Yukieda glared at Mai viciously, then prepared to stand.

“Wait. Where are you going?” Mai hurriedly asked.

He felt that Yukieda’s attitude toward him had become extremely hostile.

“Where am I going? I can’t get pregnant. Where do you think I’m going?”

“Pregnant?”

Putting the context together, Mai finally understood what Yukieda meant by cream puffs and snow cakes.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But his original intention had been to leave his partner with a deep impression.

So in that instant, he decided to add fuel to the fire.

“I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to, either. I even tried to resist, but…”

Mai paused.

“Yukieda squeezed too tightly. You’re a Magical Girl, after all. There’s no way a human could beat you in a contest of pure strength.”

Ignoring Yukieda’s stunned expression, he continued.

“Actually, Yukieda forced me. My precious first time…”

*(He meant his first time drinking.)*

“And I even wiped you…”

*(He meant the alcohol stains.)*

Was this really what had happened?

Thinking about it, it made sense.

Mai might be unsmiling and enjoy wandering around in women’s clothes, but he was a serious person at heart.

There was no way he would take the initiative and do anything to her.

But if she’d gotten drunk and forced herself on him, then everything could be explained.

She never imagined that the person who had destroyed the pure friendship between two men would be herself.

Yukieda believed Mai’s story.

She vaguely remembered forcing herself on him.

She hadn’t felt much earlier, but now her head suddenly began to ache, as if she’d been drinking counterfeit liquor.

She staggered to her feet.

Her snow-white hair drooped limply over her backside.

Her butt felt cold?

So be it.

Her heart was much colder right now.

“I’m sorry. It’s all because I drank too much. I overestimated my self-control…”

Yukieda apologized, her face filled with regret.

“I’m a sinner. I’m a sinner.”

Even the last time she’d been with Kenji, things hadn’t gone this far.

Yukieda actually trusted Mai deeply.

Whenever she was with Kenji, she constantly worried about causing him trouble, so she remained extremely restrained.

But when she was with her partner, she thought that no matter what she did, Mai would clean up after her.

She simply hadn’t expected her indulgence to bring about such a terrifying consequence.

And now, Mai really had cleaned up after her.

Just not in the metaphorical sense.