Chapter 437

"I... don't want to be with you."

A brief silence.

"Don't you dare say things like that to me!"

Roar.

Suddenly, Kazama Kiriori yelled at Haihara Lily Chou in a voice that sounded like she was in a frenzy, a voice she had never heard before.

Those words became the final spark that broke Kazama Kiriori.

There were no warning signs whatsoever.

It's like a well-behaved dog that doesn't understand why its owner kicks it.

She doesn't understand anything; all she can do is bark in a wronged and angry tone.

Kazama Kiriori's beautiful face was completely distorted, consumed by a chaotic rage.

"Call----"

At this moment, the wind outside was still howling mournfully.

Even with the blizzard outside the window, the room was utterly cold.

All that remained was utter loneliness and bitter cold.

Kazama Kiriori's body was still trembling uncontrollably, and her face was still very pale.

During this period, she was constantly on edge and hadn't been able to sleep for many days.

Therefore, she may genuinely be incapable of thinking normally.

Before her, when the seriously ill girl finally swayed and collapsed forward, Kazama Kiriori remained stunned.

She stood there, motionless.

"... Eh?"

Chapter 192 The Great Empire

Kazama Kiriori was still somewhat dazed, and when Haihara Lily Chou suddenly collapsed in front of her, it felt as if her head had been hit with a "clang".

Her face froze at first, then quickly, fear rose on her face and took over her entire body.

No longer having time to recall what had just happened, she caught Haihara as she collapsed towards her. Seeing the girl's weak state, Kazama Kiriori realized what she had been doing all along.

"Mom..." she said softly, puzzled.

"I'm sorry... I..."

Then, she panicked and first carried Haihara to the sofa, then started thinking about what to do next.

"Medicine... no, I absolutely need to get better. Are there even any people at the hospital at a time like this?" She looked anxiously out the window at the still heavy snowstorm.

"Hospital... what should we do? Calm down..."

Normally, Kazama Kiriori would be able to calm down and come up with the most suitable solution.

But recently, she has been overwhelmed by pressure and is now in complete chaos.

Oh, right.

Go find Sakaki or Aunt Kougami.

They might be able to improve Mom's condition...

Kazama Kiriori quickly made a phone call.

However, all I heard on the other end of the phone was a "beep beep beep" sound.

The brief wait was already unbearable for Kazama Kiriori.

Why can't I get through?

She called several more times, but still couldn't get through... Kazama Kiriori's heart was pounding.

At this point, she no longer had the time to think about what had happened.

She had to take her mother to receive treatment.

After taking a few deep breaths, Kazama Kiriori calmed down a bit from her earlier outburst.

She quickly went back to her room, searched the vicinity, and found the azure Crystal she had originally given to Haihara.

Kazama Kiriori stared at the Crystal for a moment, her gaze sharpening before she put it away.

A moment later, a burst of light appeared.

Once again, Kazama Kiriori transformed into the Magic girl Phantom Wind and effortlessly picked up Haihara.

Now that we can't contact anyone else, the fastest way is to take Haihara directly to a hospital that's still operating.

She used Magic Power to raise the temperature around herself, and then carefully manipulated the Magic Power to create a transparent film to protect Haihara from the cold wind and to withstand the acceleration during flight.

Then, she opened the window.

A fierce, cold wind, accompanied by snowflakes, rushed into the room, and Phantom Wind stepped out the window.

She looked in the direction of several hospitals she remembered.

The next moment, she disappeared.

Correspondingly, along her flashing path, the original wind direction was completely reversed, and the wind flow stirred up huge ripples, even the snow dust stirred up was swept up in circles.

During the day, the gray, hazy sky was completely opaque, and the heavy snow made it seem as if a real fog had enveloped the view.

Phantom Wind's heart was increasingly shrouded in gloom.

As she flew over the city, she vaguely sensed that something unusual was happening in the city below.

The sound of a child crying...

What happened?

Phantom Wind glanced around and saw that nothing seemed to have happened. He suppressed his worry and knew he had to get his mother to a place where she could get treatment first. He would check on the situation here later.

On the way, Phantom Wind paid no attention to anything else and just rushed to the hospital.

However, during this process, she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

The girl he was holding in his arms seemed to have... undergone some change?

She looked at the girl she was holding, puzzled, thinking that the girl had woken up, but that wasn't the case.

Phantom Wind immediately felt that the person in his arms seemed much lighter.

Is this an illusion?

She instinctively looked down, and without a doubt, her mother was still in her arms, but something felt off.

It seems a little small.

"... What?"

When Phantom Wind looked again and saw clearly, he was completely stunned.

The girl in her arms was no longer a young girl.

To be precise, it was still Haihara Lily Chou, but she was no longer the same as before, no longer the sixteen-year-old high school girl.

Instead, she looked like a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl.

Why is it getting smaller?

What exactly happened?

In the short time she had just carried her mother to the hospital, the girl Haihara in her arms had already become even smaller.

As she pondered this, a gentle, irritating female voice—the kind she least wanted to hear—sounded in her ear.

"You look terrible. Did you have a nightmare?"

My gaze turned toward the direction the sound came from, and there stood the Flower Demon King.

The woman said with a teasing chuckle—

"A bad child who deceives his mother."

The Kirishima family.

Kirishima Ai sister, Hina, is currently alone in bed, hugging a pillow, looking somewhat lonely and worried.

Now she is all alone in the house.

However, to be more precise, she wasn't entirely alone, because a little bird kept her company.

Little Silver Feather, for some reason, is also so depressed today that she can't even eat.

Something unexpected happened last night.

Their mother did not return until late at night.

At first, because Mom sent a text message saying not to worry if she didn't come back, they thought something might have happened at work, so they didn't even call after that.

They went to sleep with some worries.

Their mother still hadn't returned by this morning.

Kirishima Ai chose to transform into a Magic girl and go out to find her mother's workplace and check on the situation.

But even now, Kirishima Ai has not returned.

Chu couldn't help but feel uneasy, but now she was all alone at home, so she could only hug Silver Feather and wait anxiously for her sister to send a message home.

"Silver Feather... Do you think my sister and the others might have encountered some kind of accident again?"

She asked worriedly.

"Gurgle!"

Silver Feather seemed quite emotional as well, and answered loudly.

Chu lowered her head, a hint of gloom creeping onto her face.

"This time, I have a very bad feeling... I hope we can help my sisters."

"Silver Feather, what do you think?"

To others, Kirishima Hina seemed to be confiding her troubles to a bird that couldn't understand human speech.

However, Silver Feather answered very seriously:

"Coo coo... coo coo coo."

The chicks seemed encouraged as well.

She secretly clenched her little fist.

"You're right. If my sister encounters any serious danger again, the two of us will go to help her."

For some reason, Hina exuded a strange yet natural confidence.

Silver Feather's first reaction was, of course, great encouragement, and she cooed. However, as she cooed, she suddenly felt that something was not quite right:

"... Goo?"

They... two of them?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the same time...

---On a street in the city.

Kirishima Ai, who had already transformed into the Fate Kite, was staring at the scene before her in utter astonishment.

In the city, many adults, despite the heavy snowfall outside, came out.

The snow didn't seem to freeze them at all, as if some magical force was protecting them.

When Fate Kite rubbed her eyes again, the adults who had swum out onto the street had completely changed.

---They all turned into children around thirteen or fourteen years old.

And such bizarre scenes are happening in various parts of the city right now.