Jiecheng Yuan just didn’t want things to get too R-rated. If it was a chance to get close to a beautiful girl, though, she’d be a hundred percent willing.

It was only natural to feel nervous doing something like this for the first time—especially while staring at the flushed face of a bona fide beauty. Her heart was pounding faster than ever.

Aside from that one time Quanshan Baqi had caught her by surprise, she’d never even held a girl’s hand. To jump straight to something this advanced was bound to leave her flustered.

You’ve got this, Jiecheng Yuan! Your chance to get close to a beautiful girl is right in front of you!

Jiecheng Yuan lowered her head even further. Just as she was about to press her lips to Baqi’s, the girl’s voice rang out from the back of the storage room at the worst possible moment.

“Jiecheng! About what happened in the cafeteria just now, thank—”

The girl’s voice was soft, and she spoke quickly. Whenever she got to an important word, it came out muffled, making it impossible to hear what she was saying.

Eventually, the girl’s unfinished sentence caught in her throat. In the end, she swallowed the rest of it.

The girl didn’t continue, but their secret mana-replenishing session had already been interrupted.

Jiecheng Yuan’s head stopped halfway through its descent. She stiffly twisted her neck toward the sound, and Quanshan Baqi turned to look into the depths of the storage room at the exact same time.

The storage room was pitch-black against the light, so it was hard to make anything out. But there was no doubt that the figure was Tenrai Herika.

“What are you two doing?”

Herika shifted. Clearly, she’d noticed what Jiecheng Yuan was about to do—or, rather, was already doing.

Jiecheng Yuan couldn’t tell whether Herika was moving forward or backward, but her body bumped into the stacked tables and chairs. They lost their balance and began toppling to one side, knocking into other items as they fell and setting off a chain reaction like dominoes.

Crash, crash.

The clatter of tables and chairs filled the room. Herika hunched her shoulders with every crash, until the noise finally stopped.

Bang!

A huge roll of carpet—or maybe a banner—leaning nearby toppled over, bringing the not-so-melodious concert to an end. The dust it kicked up made Herika cough violently.

The once-neat storage room was now a sprawling mess, as if someone had dumped a bucket of paint across a blank sheet of paper. Herika stood helplessly right in the middle of it.

Though she couldn’t see clearly, Jiecheng Yuan was sure they were all frozen in place, staring at one another through the darkness.

Quanshan Baqi was the first to recover from her shock. She turned back to Jiecheng Yuan, took both her hands, and gave them a shake, pulling her out of her embarrassment.

“Hey, Xiao Yuan, how about we go somewhere else? We can replenish mana somewhere else—mmph!”

Jiecheng Yuan cut off Baqi’s half-finished sentence—not by interrupting her or covering her mouth with a hand, but by bluntly finishing the move she hadn’t managed to complete before.

Jiecheng Yuan had done it out of desperation. Baqi was holding both her hands, so she couldn’t use them. If Baqi said the words ‘replenish mana’ in front of Herika, the two of them might as well quit school, hold hands, tie themselves up, bend over, and wait for someone to have their way with them.

She’d managed to shut the other girl up, more or less. But what now? How was she supposed to replenish mana? She had absolutely no experience!

Last time, she’d been so clueless that she’d simply let it happen without thinking about anything. That was no use as a reference.

Was this time supposed to be the other way around? Baqi seemed to have crashed, too.

She couldn’t just do nothing and end things here. Without another thought, Jiecheng Yuan launched her attack.

Hiss—her tongue scraped against a tooth. That hurt.

So rushing in wasn’t going to work. First, don’t panic. Try making contact slowly. Once she could feel the other person’s presence, tentatively offer a response, then gradually let the feelings between them—and the intimacy unfolding between them—grow warmer together.

Slowly, slowly, it grew more passionate. They used up the little oxygen between their lips and teeth. The less air in their heads, the greedier they became; the greedier they became, the more passionate it grew.

Then she swallowed the rich magic, along with the other girl’s sweetness, before finally pulling away, reluctant to part, and gazing into her eyes, still shining with moisture.

When it was all over, Jiecheng Yuan secretly bit down hard on the tip of her tongue. The pain in her nerve endings snapped her out of savoring the sweetness that lingered in her mouth.

The room was pitch-black, and Herika couldn’t see the details anyway. She could take advantage of having interrupted Baqi, finish replenishing her mana, and then make a quick getaway.

The room was dark, sure, but Herika’s eyes still worked. Of course she could tell what the two of them were doing.

“Eek—!” Jiecheng Yuan clearly heard Herika let out a cry of alarm. Her heel struck a table leg with a dull thud. Herika’s figure wobbled a few times, but she managed to stay upright. For a short while, she made no other move.

Poor kid. The sight must’ve scared her silly, huh?

Herika might not have been the only one startled. Baqi tightened her grip on Jiecheng Yuan’s hands, and Jiecheng Yuan, who’d been about to leave, found she couldn’t pull herself free.

Baqi lowered her flushed face, hiding half of it beneath her collar. Flustered, she shuffled her feet against the floor, making a constant, teeth-grating noise, as if she were working up to saying something.

That was only to be expected. Baqi had now tasted the same shock Jiecheng Yuan had experienced at the café. A sick thrill of revenge filled Jiecheng Yuan’s heart.

Wait. Was this really how it felt to get close to a beautiful girl? Sometimes, a mind that jumped around too much wasn’t a good thing.

“Xiao Yuan…” Baqi finally spoke, peeking out a little from behind her hands. “Replenishing mana in front of someone like this… mmmph!”

Once again, Quanshan Baqi’s words were cut off in exactly the same way.

She couldn’t tell whether Herika had noticed anything suspicious—like how she kept interrupting Baqi at the same particular moment. Anyway, she’d do it first and think about it later.

Less than ten minutes ago, on the rooftop, she’d reminded Baqi not to say things like that again. Are you an idiot? Don’t you know the woman standing in front of you is a Magical Girl who might knock you to your knees and drag you off to do ‘star work’?

Okay, maybe you really don’t know. But that’s no excuse to say things like that! You’re making this really hard for me!

Jiecheng Yuan screamed inwardly, but her body honestly and eagerly launched into another round of attacks. She kept sneaking glances at Herika’s reaction, too.

Herika’s shoulders trembled. Then came the loudest scream of the day:

“Awful! Pervert! Shameless! Death sentence!”