Chapter 538

At this point, Kirishima Ai reluctantly stopped their awkward little act, lowered her fist, and pushed the freshly cut fruit towards Kuroki Yuka, saying earnestly:

"Speak, what do you know?"

"I know nothing."

Kuroki Yuka displayed the small orange peeled by Kirishima Ai, revealing a refreshing smile, and answered confidently.

"... I really have control over you."

"Hey, I really don't know anything. I'm just a private under Miss Overlord. This little round bird probably knows more than I do. Don't put pressure on me. Put pressure on Silver Feather instead, sister."

"Gurgle?"

Silver Feather immediately gave her a "Not a sister?" look.

Kirishima Ai looked incredulous and said with utter disbelief—

"No way, you've been hanging out with Teacher Haihara for so long, and you don't know a single useful piece of information? Lung Mist Kuroki!"

"If I knew any useful inside information, I would have led the sisters to save Maple Plain City. Would I need you to torture me here?"

Kuroki Yuka a look of smug pride on her face.

After confirming repeatedly, Kirishima Ai realized that Kuroki Yuka was indeed just a traitor, but she didn't know any useful information.

Unable to accept this fact, she asked again, still unwilling to believe it:

Even so, don't you have any constructive suggestions regarding our actions?

Up to now, although they know that R'lyeh is going to fight the Overlord and Haihara is also going to take revenge on R'lyeh, and both sides are highly motivated to fight, they have no idea what exactly happened back then, nor can they stop either side.

All that is known is that Haihara seems determined to wage war against R'lyeh.

All the R'lyeh people, regardless of their relationship with him, regarded their teacher, the Overlord, as their enemy.

Regardless, many people will certainly be injured as a result.

Moreover, neither side heeded the advice.

"We can't possibly get R'lyeh and Haihara to both give up their plans to attack each other, can we?"

"If only one side gives up, the other side will continue to attack."

Kirishima Ai's response was a well-reasoned and supported statement.

Kuroki Yuka returned to what she had said before--

"But then, like we said before, Kirishima, is there really anything we can do? Whether it's stopping Haihara- san or persuading R'lyeh, it all seems completely irrelevant to us."

Kuroki Yuka once again stated reality as if it were perfectly natural.

They had already fought against the Overlord once before.

The result was that it wasn't even a problem.

Putting aside Haihara, in fact, if Haihara hadn't been there, they probably would have had a very difficult time, if not a hopeless one, defeating Princess R'lyeh and Faust's team.

After hearing all this, Kirishima Ai seemed to agree.

Kirishima Ai wasn't so impulsive or hot-blooded as to be deaf to reason.

However, there are times when she doesn't want to give up easily.

"... But I don't want to just sit by and watch everything happen without knowing anything. I know it sounds stupid to say this, but aren't we Magic girls?"

She lowered her head, resting her chin on her hands, looking somewhat dejected.

Even if there's really nothing they can do.

In the past, their strength was never enough; this time, it may be the smallest they have ever been able to influence the situation.

"That's true..."

Kuroki Yuka could understand this thought.

Perhaps he did have a change of heart and wanted to help Kirishima.

After a while, Kuroki Yuka thought for a moment, trying to see if there were any clues she could find.

Finally, she said, somewhat uncertainly and speculatively:

"If you want to know what really happened, maybe you can get the answer by asking Ms. Roland? She was also Haihara's student before, wasn't she?"

"Also, before, I went to her house in R'lyeh with Haihara- san, and there seemed to be some clues there."

Upon hearing this, Kirishima Ai raised her head and blinked.

Although we haven't been able to contact Roland- sensei in any way lately, Teacher Haihara used to live at R'lyeh's house...

It doesn't seem like it's entirely impossible.

Although it can be predicted that the difficulty will be significant, it's still better than not being able to think of anything at all.

A resolve gradually formed in Kirishima Ai's heart.

Seeing Kirishima Ai's expression, Kuroki Yuka felt a slight sense of relief for some reason.

"I see."

"However, Kuroki, after conspiring with Teacher Haihara- Teacher Haihara for so long, haven't you ever wondered about her motives or asked her what she really wanted?"

Finally, Kirishima Ai asked the question as if it were just a casual remark.

Therefore, Kuroki Yuka naturally said:

Of course I don't know.

"... You're not lying to me again, are you?"

"I'm just a keeper of dogs and Magical Bird, how would I know...?" (The rest of the text is a fragmented and nonsensical collection of characters and phrases, likely due to OCR errors. A more coherent translation would require the original, uncorrupted text.)

Kuroki Yuka grabbed the Silver Feather again, her gaze shifting to the side.

Just as Kirishima Ai was feeling uneasy, she heard the doorbell ring.

"Ah, the pizza's here! Want to eat together, Kirishima? We ordered the super-sized one."

Hearing the doorbell ring, Kuroki Yuka immediately broke into a happy smile.

Kirishima Ai was stunned for a moment.

"... Me?"

"Well, we couldn't finish it anyway. Did you have lunch? No, I don't think so."

Kuroki Yuka spoke, she held the Silver Feather bird in both hands, swaying it left and right like a roly-poly toy, and smiled broadly.

Outside the window, the wind howled through the snow.

Two Problem Child with differing opinions, along with a Magical Bird, eventually reached a temporary reconciliation in the bleak and cold winter wind and had lunch together.

Meanwhile, Haihara, who had just woken up, also saw the numerous text messages that Kuroki Yuka had sent her.

The woman rubbed her eyes, feeling slightly sleepy. She curled up in the warm blanket, leaned on the pillow, and began replying to Kuroki Yuka.

--A new day has begun.

Volume Four Does This Count as a Magical Girl??: Chapter 56 Heading Towards the End

"Chika, feed me."

Inside the coffee shop, a woman with long, silver-gray hair suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke to a petite, delicate chestnut-haired girl at the other end of the table.

This statement came quite suddenly.

The woman remained calm and composed, gazing at the girl with her dazzling purple eyes.

The little girl with big, beautiful eyes, her mouth slightly open:

"Huh?"

"Is it wrong to suddenly want to be comforted?"

At the table where cake plates were laid out, Haihara was talking to her former idol, Kokoro, in a way that sounded like the words of a failed adult.

Although a woman's face could easily make her a gold digger for any young girl.

But it still surprised Sakaki Chika greatly, yet she was also very happy:

"Uh-huh."

After realizing what was happening, she nodded cutely, then nervously and earnestly scooped up a spoonful of her cake and carefully brought it to the teacher's lips, wanting to see if the teacher would accept her cake.

The cake, covered in cream and adorned with strawberries, emitted a sweet and enticing aroma, and as sweet as the cake itself was the idol's expectant expression.

In the past, Haihara never seemed to be this proactive except when asking her mother to do chores.

As a result, the woman ate it quite naturally.

She held her silver hair back with one hand, lowered her head, and took a bite of the cake.

Sakaki Chika could clearly feel the fork she was holding pressing down as the teacher bit into the cake.

Recently, Haihara has had a good appetite and also enjoys all kinds of sweets.

After tasting the cake the little girl fed her, she gave a thoughtful look.

Seeing her teacher like this, Sakaki Chika felt an indescribable sense of happiness welling up inside her.

She smiled like a blooming flower, one hand supporting her chin, gazing sweetly at Haihara's face.

"The teacher is so cute today!"

Sakaki Chika couldn't help but praise her.

If she could, she would even like to take a picture of Teacher Haihara eating cake.

Meanwhile, Haihara wiped the cream from her lips with a tissue, snapping out of her reverie, and said with a barely perceptible embarrassment:

"... I thought my attempts at being coquettish were a bit too embarrassing."

She is very self-aware as a woman of a certain age.

"We hope there will be more embarrassing moments like Teacher Haihara's."

Sakaki Chika's tufts of hair swayed back and forth, her beautiful, soft eyes had been bright ever since, and her slender, soft legs under the table were swinging gently in a good mood.

At this moment, Sakaki Chika felt a strange sense of accomplishment, like she was in a visual novel, finally reaping the sweet fruits of her labor after much effort. She felt like she had really raised Teacher Haihara's affection level quite a bit!

This weekend was another day that Sakaki Chika asked Haihara out on a date.

It was called a date, but in reality, it was more like a lonely weekend. Sakaki Chika wanted to meet up with her teacher to chat and have something to eat.

After all, she usually lives alone, and the food she cooks isn't very good.

Eating out alone can feel a bit lonely and scary.

Using that as an excuse to ask Teacher Haihara is perfect.

Because of the weather, they didn't plan to go anywhere; they just wanted to find a place to spend time together.

The result is that Little Chika is now having a very enjoyable and fulfilling time.

"But teacher, has something happened lately that's making you feel down?"

Sakaki Chika looked at Haihara with concern.

This was the first time she had ever heard the description "teachers need comforting".

Generally speaking, when the teacher is in a bad mood, President Kazama is always there, so she rarely gets a chance to be present.

Upon hearing Haihara pondered how to describe it.

Wouldn't it be embarrassing to admit that I've made a complete mess of my family relationships?

I felt that it would only worsen her already terrible adult image.

I don't really want to talk about it...

The woman skipped over the topic altogether.

Haihara's only redeeming quality is her honesty.

Sakaki Chika's strength lies in her unwavering support for Haihara, making her another considerate and caring daughter after Kazama Kiriori.

"Then let's wait until the teacher wants to speak before we say anything."