Mu Yurou woke up and found herself surrounded by darkness.
After her eyes adjusted a little, she finally saw where she was.
“Aquarium?”
Mu Yurou tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she collapsed again.
“Ah… It hurts.”
Her whole body tingled with pain as she pressed her hands to the ground, barely managing to stand.
She looked around.
Huang Xi wasn’t beside her.
Her Magic Armament had deactivated, returning her to her true form.
Her Magic Power was depleted, so she couldn’t transform again for a while.
Mu Yurou shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts.
She recalled what happened before she lost consciousness.
Just ten minutes ago, Mu Yurou and Huang Xi were being carried through the air by Mu Ming’s tentacles.
Mu Ming didn’t even look back, as if lost in thought.
“Where are you taking us?”
Mu Yurou asked.
Mu Ming didn’t reply, just kept flying.
The three of them passed through the Barrier, but Mu Ming showed no sign of stopping.
“Hey! We’re past it now, it’s safe! Let us down!”
Huang Xi sensed something was wrong and tried to break free from the tentacles, but they only tightened.
“What if I say no?”
Mu Ming’s voice carried a hint of danger.
“What? I thought we were on the same side!”
“Hahahahaha~ You two are so naive. I’m a Witch. How could I possibly fight alongside Magical Girls? If it happens… There must be another reason~”
Mu Ming mocked their innocence.
“Let us go!”
Mu Yurou and Huang Xi struggled, but it was useless.
“Stop struggling. It’s pointless. Now, both of you, sleep for a while. How about it?”
As she finished, the tip of a tentacle appeared, with a slender needle attached.
It moved towards Huang Xi’s neck first.
“What… did you inject me with?”
As soon as Huang Xi spoke, she felt an overwhelming drowsiness.
Her limbs went limp, and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep.
“Alright, you’re next~ You’re not afraid of injections, are you?”
The tentacle’s needle approached Mu Yurou’s neck, gently pressing against her skin.
It didn’t hurt—if anything, it tickled, like a mosquito bite.
Mu Yurou felt something injected into her body.
So sleepy.
So tired.
She wanted to close her eyes and sleep.
Her hand clutched her neck as it slowly fell.
Just before she lost consciousness, she saw Mu Ming turn her head, a hint of hesitation on her face.
Looking at the two sleeping girls, Mu Ming spoke softly.
“You two are just bait…”
“Doing this… She’ll probably hate me…”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. She never cared about me. But if this works… She’ll have to care about me alone…”
Mu Ming’s eyes dimmed.
Mu Ming flew to a place she had already chosen in her heart—an abandoned aquarium in Red Sea City.
***
Time returned to the present.
Mu Yurou steadied herself and decided to search for Huang Xi in the dark.
The aquarium was pitch-black.
No sunlight could reach inside, and sometimes she heard small noises.
Those were the little animals living here.
As she walked, suddenly—something tripped Mu Yurou and she fell headlong.
“Ow.”
Mu Yurou turned to see that what had tripped her was Huang Xi.
“Huang Xi? Wake up, wake up.”
Mu Yurou shook Huang Xi’s body.
“Uwahhh~ Don’t… Don’t shake me.”
Huang Xi felt like her soul was about to fly out from all the shaking.
“Where are we~ Heaven…? Why is heaven so dark… Whatever, I’m so tired. Let me… sleep a bit more…”
Huang Xi slumped into Mu Yurou’s arms and dozed off again.
“Wake up, wake up.”
Mu Yurou shook Huang Xi even more frantically.
Suddenly, the lights flickered on.
The sudden brightness made Mu Yurou squint.
“Awake? Don’t worry about your little girlfriend, she’s just asleep~”
How did little Rou wake up so fast?
Whatever.
Just as well—I have some questions for her.
Mu Yurou guardedly pulled Huang Xi into her arms, staring at the Witch who had captured them.
“You two… have such a good relationship…”
Mu Ming’s shadow extended tentacles, wrapping around them.
“What do you want with us?”
Mu Yurou had heard from her seniors that Magical Girls caught by Witches rarely had good fates.
“Don’t be scared. I’m not going to eat you.”
“You two… Why are you so close?”
Mu Ming asked.
???
What did that have to do with the situation?
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I said~ Why are you two so close? I’m curious.”
“What are you after?”
“Answer my question… Xiao Rou~”
Mu Ming called Mu Yurou’s nickname as if she’d always known her.
“You know my name!?”
“Of course I do. That little blonde girl is Huang Xi, and your older sister is Mu Xi~ I know all about them.”
“Who are you really?”
“Right now, I’m the one asking questions~”
Tentacles slowly wrapped around Mu Yurou’s body, leaving a ticklish feeling where they touched.
“If you don’t want your sister to get hurt, answer my question. Even if it might mean nothing to you.”
“Now, tell me…”
“Don’t hurt my sister! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
“We were always good friends, and then… well, things happened, and our relationship got closer.”
Mu Yurou blushed.
For some reason, the atmosphere felt like a late-night girls’ talk about love.
“What kind of things?”
Mu Ming was very interested.
“W-We were comrades. We fought side by side, and then… it just happened.”
Mu Yurou looked at Huang Xi, sleeping like a kitten in her arms.
“Be more specific.”
Mu Ming sat down, propping her cheeks with her hands and listening intently.
“Eh? Oh… It was a few weeks ago. That Big Bug invaded. We almost died. Then Huang Xi confessed, saying she didn’t want any regrets before dying…”
Mu Yurou remembered Huang Xi’s words from that day, the kiss, and the faint scent of flowers on her body.
Her face flushed red again.
Are deathbed confessions really that common…?
Mu Ming would remember it.
“And then? Did you accept?”
Mu Ming lay on the floor, chin in hands, legs swinging in the air like a little girl.
“Yeah. Actually… at first, I didn’t really feel that way about her…”
Mu Yurou clenched her hands, embarrassed.
But once she started, she couldn’t stop talking, and the two girls chatted on.
“Eh? Really~”
“Well… maybe I did feel something…”
“Oh? Tell me more…”
Mu Yurou felt that the Witch before her seemed harmless, almost like a little girl curious about love stories.
“Fine…”
“Then, the story begins on the day I first awakened as a Magical Girl.”