Chapter 374
Sakaki Chika blinked.
"Yes, after all, she's someone we really miss."
"Huh?"
Sakaki Chika felt like she had misheard.
The nostalgic look in Tachibana's eyes flashed by, quickly replaced by calm. Then, her long, beautiful eyes slowly turned to Sakaki Chika, scrutinizing the pretty idol with her striking makeup.
She took a sip of tea, then put it down.
Once again, as if struck by a sudden thought, she looked at the rabbit again and casually brought up the matter.
"Speaking of which, I remember you've had this rabbit for a long time. I recall you didn't have such a cute plush toy before I came back to this city."
"Ah, yes... this is..."
Sakaki Chika looked left and right, hesitating to speak. The woman could clearly see that the child was becoming embarrassed.
That's really easy to understand.
Just as Sakaki Chika was wondering how to explain, Tachibana smiled and, without any prior warning, suddenly said something that Sakaki Chika had never expected.
"A gift from Miss Haihara? How enviable! I've never received a gift from her."
The woman propped herself up with her hands, resting them on her chin.
She had a sweet smile on her face, as beautiful and elegant as a flower.
What I just said seemed quite natural, but upon closer examination, it actually feels rather... strange.
But Sakaki Chika's expression changed from initial stunned silence to one of confusion.
An eerie silence fell over the lounge after Tachibana's words.
"You know Teacher Haihara? No... why?"
Sakaki Chika murmured in confusion.
How did he know about her relationship with Teacher Haihara?
She had never told anyone about this gift.
For a moment, there was no other sound in the lounge except for the light tapping of a woman's fingernails on her teacup.
When the sound stopped, Tachibana lowered her head and chuckled softly:
"That's a good question."
"Didn't we agree before that we'd have a baby together for Miss Haihara?"
After Tachibana finished speaking, for some reason, Sakaki Chika's blood suddenly felt as cold as if it had frozen.
But this is not the end.
As the tense atmosphere spread, Tachibana remained seated on the sofa, calmly gazing at the translucent tea swirling in her cup.
"But why? This is clearly a great opportunity, but Miss Haihara remembers nothing, and we're all back to square one."
"But you're actually a little afraid to face Haihara- san right now."
"That won't do, Chika."
Her tone and voice remained very gentle, a rare quality that made Sakaki Chika feel like she was being treated by a kind elder.
Tachibana has always used this method to communicate with Sakaki Chika.
But this time, Sakaki Chika began to sense something amiss, a very unsettling feeling.
Instinctively, Sakaki Chika took a slight step back, but she was currently sitting, and the thought of standing up made her very uneasy.
"Miss Tachibana, who... who are you? Are you really Miss Tachibana?"
She had already picked up the Pendulum around her neck, ready to transform at any moment.
In her eyes, the woman in front of her, Tachibana, had become some kind of Monster person in disguise.
But what is the truth?
Tachibana still had the same expression that Sakaki Chika remembered, but something seemed strange about her. It was as if Sakaki Chika had discovered something in Tachibana that she had never noticed before.
"Oh, I almost forgot, I haven't told you yet."
She slowly put down her teacup.
The teacup made a crisp sound as it hit the table.
Even now, this person showed no intention of fighting, continuing their casual conversation, and smiled as she looked at Sakaki Chika ---
"I'm not lying, my name is Tachibana Aeruru, and your grandmother's name comes from me."
"By the way, I'm also--- the Demon King, a Monster."
Chapter 143 Clues
Early in the morning, a stranger arrived at Kougami Kage's research institute. Actually, "stranger" wouldn't be an accurate description, since the two of them had met a few times before.
Especially for the visitor— Haihara Ryo —she had repeatedly, intentionally or unintentionally, overheard her beloved younger sister mentioning the woman Kougami Kage.
This moment at the research institute is quite rare for Kougami Kage, as it is the first time that someone other than the Magic girl and Lily has come here.
Or is it that... this person isn't actually an exception?
"These are the results from the previous examination of Lily's body. They should be easy to understand, right?"
Kougami Kage always presents two different faces when interacting with Lily and when interacting with others.
Most of the time, she was taciturn and had no interest in anything outside of her research.
Upon hearing the name "Lily," Haihara Ryo lowered her eyes slightly, clearly annoyed, but unable to say anything in response.
"Serpent System Magic Spell, this level of Magic Spell, can only be cast by any Magic Armament except for 'Lost Paradise Twilight'."
Haihara Ryo didn't seem to intend to deliberately hide her true identity from Kougami Kage; in fact, there was nothing she could hide anyway.
Upon hearing this, Kougami Kage pondered for a moment:
"Is that the strongest Magic girl's Magic Armament?"
Haihara Ryo nodded.
"Even if it's the strongest Magic girl's Magic Armament, it's still just Magic Spell cast by the Magic Armament. You can't easily undo it?"
Kougami Kage rubbed his temples.
After two days of research, Doctor Hong Shang also discovered that the Magic Spell on Lily was no ordinary problem.
Although she has many ideas and a lot of thoughts, in the end, she is just an ordinary person without Magic Power.
Normally, she could use the Magic Power of the "Ouroboros" Crystal to conduct various researches.
But in this situation, her intuition told her that it was best not to do that.
"Under normal circumstances, I could indeed break the spell, but what's stopping me isn't the power of the Magic Spell itself, but... Lily's own thoughts."
The woman, who looked very much like Haihara, sighed softly.
This answer undoubtedly made Kougami frown and pause for a moment.
What were Lily's own thoughts?
Why would it be turning back into a high school student?
It would be more accurate to say that this was one's own wish, but why did Lily have the same idea...?
After that, Kougami Kage learned a lot of things he was curious about from Haihara Ryo.
During this process, Haihara Ryo also learned a lot from Kougami Kage.
The woman gently pressed the back of one finger against her chin.
"I see. You know more than I imagined. No wonder you're a descendant of Alchemist."
What was originally just a simple exclamation, Kougami Kage heard words beyond his comprehension.
She raised her eyes slightly:
"Alchemist? What are you talking about?"
At this moment, Haihara Ryo calmly examined Kougami Kage's face, and then looked away after a while.
I almost forgot about that.
"Although it was just a guess before, the fact that you have no Magic Power at all makes you very similar to the descendants of those ancient Alchemist."
In fact, Magic Power exists within every human being.
Because Magic Power originates from desire.
As long as there is desire, regardless of whether it can generate great power, it will serve as a source of Magic Power and give rise to the seeds of Monster.
There is only one exception.
Those were the ancient Alchemist and their descendants.
"Hmm, and judging from your appearance, you might have very pure blood."
Roland had actually mentioned this to Haihara Ryo before.
From any perspective, although Kougami Kage is not Magic girl, she is definitely not an ordinary person, and her understanding of Magic Power far surpasses that of most Magic girls in R'lyeh.
This fact did not seem to pique Kougami Kage's interest.
"Knowing all this is completely useless."
Haihara Ryo remained noncommittal.
"That's true."
Although in Haihara Ryo's memory, many of the descendants of those ancient Alchemist played the role of evil beings secretly plotting conspiracies in R'lyeh, and some even joined forces with the Black Death Cult.
But for Crown Rank Magic Girl like her, she really didn't cause any significant trouble.
On the contrary, some of the things that Kougami Kage did made her feel somewhat dangerous.
"Now, let's talk about something else. You must have noticed the strange things happening in the city lately, right?"
She brought up some recent urban rumors that had been reported in the city.
For example, a large number of strange black plants that have multiplied and spread in a corner of the city have been discovered, suspected to be the work of an unknown Monster.
Also, lately, the Magic girls have been dealing with almost exclusively Flower Monster.
This situation is reminiscent of the time when the Bird-Type Devil King was resurrected, and a large number of Bird-type Monster appeared in the city.
Haihara Ryo didn't seem inclined to keep anyone in suspense regarding this:
"The Hell-Colored Nightmare Demon Flower, the most hated of all the Demon King. Although its strength isn't particularly formidable, it's still very difficult to deal with."
"Moreover, her desires are the strangest of all the Demon King."
The very word "strange" is strange in itself, referring to the desires of Monster.
As Witch, Haihara Ryo has seen all sorts of strange Monster and naturally has all sorts of strange desires.
Compared to other Monster, the desires of the Hell-Colored Nightmare Demon Flower are indeed difficult to comprehend.
"Besides cultivating Monster, her ability also includes weaving dreams, using manipulation to alter others' thoughts and memories, creating false illusions."
"With this ability, she often plunges R'lyeh's Magic girls into nightmares..."
At this point, she didn't know why she stopped talking.
For unknown reasons, when many Magic girls of R'lyeh are trapped in nightmares due to the power of the Nightmare Flower, the content of these nightmares is always inextricably linked to their mother-daughter relationship.
Perhaps it's because parent-child issues are indeed a lifelong struggle for almost every Magic girl.
"So, it turns out that all these Demon Kings, whether Bird System, Lunar, or Flower... have gathered in Maple Plain City."
Doctor Hong Shang also found many records of the Demon King's resurrection in the past.
But this is the first time I've managed to collect all of them.
If we had to name one, the only one missing would be the Wind System Demon King, but there's never been a record of the Wind System Demon King being resurrected, and even the whereabouts of the Devil King Crystal have never been known.
However, when Kougami Kage murmured these words to himself, Haihara Ryo's gaze changed slightly.