I have to say, aside from Shuiye You, that hardcore masochist, the other Magical Girls are all pretty wholesome.

“You’re awful! The worst!”

Herika loudly hurled childish insults at her, but Jiecheng Yuan remained completely unfazed.

The game world really is so civilized. Even characters famous for their short tempers use such adorable insults.

In the real world, they might’ve cursed her entire family. Compared to that, this was a breeze.

A breeze or not, her relationship with Herika was definitely about to take a turn for the worse. Jiecheng Yuan figured that if there were a favorability meter over Herika’s head, it would’ve plunged straight through the bottom.

Jiecheng Yuan was completely immune to Herika’s trash talk, but Baki wasn’t nearly as unfazed. Her shoulders twitched, and she looked like she couldn’t take it for another second. Yuan could already sense the magic brimming inside Baki’s body.

If Yuan hadn’t grabbed Baki’s hand and squeezed it, then shaken her head with the tiniest motion when Baki looked up at her in confusion, Baki might’ve transformed and hit Herika back on the spot.

Quanshan Baqi—this girl’s a ticking time bomb.

After Yuan gave her a warning, Baki reluctantly gave up on transforming. Yuan didn’t relax until the magic stored inside Baki had faded away. Even so, Baki stuck out her tongue and made a face at Herika, refusing to back down.

Those two really were polar opposites. One was so painfully awkward she couldn’t say what she really felt, while the other was exactly as she seemed and said whatever came to mind. Put them together, and they were bound to blow the roof off.

Yuan didn’t know how strong Baki was. Aside from running away and helping Shuiye You set up two Binding Traps, she’d never seen Baki fight. But Herika? Yuan knew her all too well.

This hopelessly prickly girl’s transformation took her pride to the extreme. Her fighting style was to unleash devastating bolts of lightning with overwhelming force, blasting every enemy to bits. When it came to offense, she had offense; when it came to defense, she had offense.

If those two actually transformed and started fighting, they’d tear the whole school apart.

Herika seemed to have worn herself out from yelling. She kicked a chair lying on the floor in a fit of pique. “How long are you two planning to stand around here? Don’t you have anything to do? Hurry up and get out!”

“Hmph! You think I’ll leave just because you told me to? Xiao Yuan! Let’s keep kissing!” Baki stubbornly tugged on Yuan’s arm, swinging it around, and pouted as if deliberately trying to rile Herika up.

Please, no. Even if I wasn’t acting embarrassed, I really wanted to find somewhere to hide like a little pill bug!

If I couldn’t distract myself by letting my bizarre train of thought jump to something else, I’d die of embarrassment.

She knew perfectly well why she was sticking with Quanshan Baqi: to stop her from doing anything too extreme. But she couldn’t spend all her time on that, only to end up cluelessly losing alongside this idiot after they’d been all lovey-dovey together.

What was the real goal? Clear their names! They had to clear their names!

That meant getting along with Herika. The same went for Shuiye You, whom she still hadn’t met at school. As for the other Magical Girls, even if they didn’t team up, she couldn’t afford to make enemies of them.

The first step to getting along was being able to talk normally instead of arguing!

“All right, quit it.” Jiecheng Yuan tugged at Baki, then let go of their joined hands. If Baki said anything dangerous again, Yuan wouldn’t have to resort to shutting her up with a kiss.

As a way to do that, it was pretty heart-pounding. Baki seemed to enjoy it too, but it was only an emergency measure. The last few times, Yuan had had no choice.

“Hmph! I’ll let it go for Xiao Yuan’s sake!” Baki gave a heavy snort, as if to show Herika who was boss. Then she turned toward the door with Yuan and pulled the storage room’s sliding door all the way open.

“Hmph! You’re the ones I don’t want to waste my breath on.” Herika gritted her teeth. The sunlight streaming in was so bright she could barely keep her eyes open. She folded her arms across her chest, squinted, and turned her head away from the light. Then she tossed her hair with her chin held high, not sparing the two at the door another glance.

Herika was the prickly, withdrawn type, so Yuan couldn’t tell whether her harshness meant she was putting on an act or was genuinely upset. If she left a bad impression on another Magical Girl, it’d be hard to fix things when they needed to work together later. She couldn’t leave this hanging until next time.

But prickly types were a lot like tsunderes: they were easy enough to win over. People rarely liked that kind of bad temper, so they tended to be lonely. Show them just a little kindness, and even if they didn’t give in right away, they’d at least warm up to you a bit… right?

“Aren’t you coming out too? Class will start soon.” Jiecheng Yuan softened her tone, trying to ease the tension.

“What’s it to you?” Herika grumbled, sounding like she was muttering to herself on purpose so Yuan would hear. When Yuan stayed by the door, she impatiently urged her on. “What are you still standing around for? Get out already!”

“Fine, we’re leaving! Come on, Xiao Yuan!” Baki grabbed Yuan’s hand and headed outside.

Wow. That’s not what you were saying less than a minute ago.

But Jiecheng Yuan still didn’t move. She had a vague feeling that Herika was very clearly trying to hurry her out, and that was downright unusual.

“Why aren’t you leaving yet?” Herika’s voice grew even more urgent when Yuan still showed no sign of going.

“Is there something you still need to do?” Yuan tried to confirm her suspicion.

“W-What would I need to do? I just like staying here, okay?” Herika put her hands on her hips, but her gaze kept darting away. That only made Yuan more certain her guess was right.

“If there’s anything we can help with, just ask. We’re classmates, after all.” Yuan could feel Baki tug impatiently at her, but she still finished what she was saying.

“Who needs your help? I can handle things on my own… No, I don’t have anything to do!” Herika said, but her eyes kept stealing glances at the mess all over the floor. She looked ill at ease, though she was still trying to keep up appearances.

Ah, I see. Got it.

Jiecheng Yuan smiled knowingly. She already had a plan. She winked at Baki. “Baki.”

“Yeah? What is it, Xiao Yuan?” Baki tilted her head.

“Come help me tidy up the storage room.” Jiecheng Yuan stepped back inside and casually turned on the light, making the mess even clearer.

Only then did Jiecheng Yuan turn to Herika.

“Would you like to help too?”