Jiecheng Yuan couldn’t make sense of Herika’s train of thought. How had things suddenly gotten this absurd? She didn’t think I was giving her advice, did she?
The appeal of a bratty little pest is the contrast when they get taken down a peg. Without that, they’re just annoying!
Before Jiecheng Yuan could explain—or stop her—Herika happily scampered out of the storage room.
After that, Jiecheng Yuan made it to class just under the wire, and lessons began. Miraculously, the entire afternoon passed without a hitch. The girls talked about Yuan less during breaks, and their conversations had returned to the shows they’d watched and where they were going after school.
When they got back to the classroom, Baki even sneaked Yuan a thumbs-up. That finally put Yuan’s worries to rest—she’d been wondering if Baki was mad at her for some reason.
The afternoon classes were much easier. It wasn’t until she came to this world that Jiecheng Yuan learned middle schoolers here only had two classes in the afternoon before school let out.
No wonder the other students had time to work part-time, go shopping or to karaoke, and even start bands.
Jiecheng Yuan half-listened to the lesson as she thought about her next move. Before long, the school day had ended without a hitch.
“What? That Blond Shorty is a Magical Girl?” Quanshan Baqi, walking down the hall beside Jiecheng Yuan, stared in disbelief. A shadow quickly fell over her face.
“Shh—” Jiecheng Yuan raised a finger to her lips. “I was alone with her just now to make sure.”
Jiecheng Yuan lied without batting an eye, using an excuse she’d prepared long ago. The answer she gave was absolutely correct, anyway. Nobody would care how she’d proved it.
Besides, no one knew what had happened in the storage room. Herika and Baki weren’t likely to talk to each other, either. She’d passed the information to Baki and gotten some one-on-one time with Herika to raise her affection at the same time. It was the best of both worlds.
It would’ve been even better if Herika hadn’t made that bratty declaration.
But Quanshan Baqi said nothing more. She just kept walking, her head—usually held high with such cheer—quietly drooping as she stared at the tips of her shoes.
Yuan couldn’t understand this sudden change in her. She’d expected Baki to either brush it off or take her words completely to heart. Even if she was surprised, she shouldn’t have reacted this strongly. This heavy expression was the last thing Yuan had expected.
“Don’t worry. It’s normal for there to be Magical Girls at school. As long as you don’t transform on campus, no one will find out.” Jiecheng Yuan tried to reassure Baki, while also reminding her not to do anything rash.
But Baki kept walking down the hall as if she hadn’t heard. It wasn’t until they were almost at the school gate that she broke the silence. “Is she… strong?”
“I’m not sure. But it’s better to be careful,” Jiecheng Yuan replied.
“Yeah. I’ll be careful.” Quanshan Baqi still looked troubled. It was hard to tell whether she’d taken Yuan’s words to heart.
Jiecheng Yuan wanted to say a few more comforting words, but she didn’t know where to begin. In the end, all she could do was watch Baki climb into a private car that looked like it cost a fortune and drive away.
She’d been wondering how to ditch the clingy Quanshan Baqi after school so she could make her next move. It looked like she wouldn’t need to worry about that now.
Even so, she was a little concerned. But she still had to go through with what she’d planned. For now, her main goal was to recreate the game’s plot as closely as possible and keep the future’s course in her own hands.
According to the game’s story, she could meet the last of the main characters, Shuiye You, in the Kyudo Club’s activity room after school.
Like Herika’s outburst in the cafeteria at lunchtime, this was a guaranteed event: a character introduction and an opening affection scene. Only after that would the main story begin.
Wait, why did Jiecheng Yuan’s mana-replenishment scene happen before the other two main characters showed up? Obviously, it was there to hook players with a steamy scene and get them past the game’s two-hour refund window, you idiot.
Come to think of it, Jiecheng Yuan had met Shuiye You once before. But in those circumstances, forget raising You’s affection—Yuan had been lucky not to get pinned down and beaten up.
No, wait. With Shuiye You, Yuan would probably be the one getting put through the wringer. If You didn’t get her way, Yuan would get beaten senseless.
Before she knew it, Jiecheng Yuan had reached the Kyudo Club’s entrance. Because of the club’s special requirements, the school had set aside an area in a far corner of the grounds to keep the other students safe.
In other words, students rarely passed through here.
In the game, Shuiye You knew that and was doing something very in-character—and very popular with players—when Xiwei Li accidentally wandered in and caught her.
The developers’ goal was clear: first show off Shuiye You’s cool beauty, then let players discover that she was the type to make herself easy to win over.
Ah, what a twisted character—and her first-meeting scene was just as twisted.
Speaking of twisted, apart from the original game’s Jiecheng Yuan, that pure, innocent little flower, every other character was twisted in their own way. After all, characters without a gimmick don’t sell well.
Players loved all those twisted characters. For Jiecheng Yuan, who had to deal with them for real, it was a nightmare difficulty setting.
Terrified of what was about to happen, Jiecheng Yuan paced outside the Kyudo Club for a full three minutes. In the end, she steeled herself and pushed the door open.
The first thing she saw was Shuiye You in her kyudo uniform, her face slightly flushed. Her bow stood propped in the corner, untouched. Her chest guard had been cast aside, and a coil of rope lay nearby. Nothing about the scene suggested she’d been practicing archery.
Yes, that’s right—the rope. Even though Jiecheng Yuan had braced herself for this, the sight still hit her like a shock.
The cool beauty, her clothes in disarray, looked flustered when she was caught. The embarrassment quickly faded, replaced by a look of forced composure.
Seeing that striking expression in person, after having seen it in the game’s CG, left Yuan with mixed feelings.
Thump.
Jiecheng Yuan hurriedly shut the door, imitating Xiwei Li in the game. If this were a game, two options would pop up here: “Turn and leave” and “Open the door again.”
But in Jiecheng Yuan’s redemption plan, how could “Turn and leave” possibly be an option?
Jiecheng Yuan took a deep breath, patted her cheeks with both hands to psych herself up, and prepared to face the even more explosive scene that came next.
Three, two, one—open the door!
