Chapter 97

Just then, Dark Feather suddenly felt his chin being lifted up, forcing him to look up at the other person.

The woman's face was shrouded in darkness, and although it was not clearly visible, it possessed an eerie beauty.

She pinched the girl's chin and shook it from side to side:

"However, there is still a way for you to obtain power comparable to that of the Fate Kite."

Upon hearing this, the girl paused for a moment, then raised her head slightly, gazing up at the woman.

Comparable to... power?

After the woman let go, Dark Feather instinctively grabbed her wrist.

"What should I do...?"

That's a good question, I must say.

The Witch looked at Dark Feather gripping her wrist and pondered for a moment.

Then, she raised her finger and gently touched the girl's lips.

She touched it downwards and said with great interest:

Open your mouth.

Faced with the woman's command, Dark Feather was a little confused, but she obediently complied, opening her mouth to reveal her pearly teeth and little tongue.

After seeing the girl obediently do as she was told, the woman suddenly pinched Dark Feather's wet tongue with her fingers and gently pulled it out.

At first, Dark Feather didn't understand, and then he awkwardly cooperated with the woman's fingers, thus revealing his tongue.

Perhaps finding it a bit disgusting, Dark Feather showed a somewhat repulsive expression.

But then, the Witch pinched her nose—

"... Hmm?"

Does she look like a dog right now?

The Witch pinched her nose, her tone still as enigmatic and emotionless as before:

"Be a good puppy and listen to me. If you behave well, I'll give you what you want."

"I don't know..."

Her nose was pinched, and she continued to stick out her little tongue, speaking indistinctly.

The Witch nodded in satisfaction upon seeing her like this, but still felt a little regretful.

"I thought the puppy would drool like that."

Sticking out his tongue, pinching his nose, he looked utterly foolish.

Hearing her words, Dark Feather grinned, revealing her sharp canine teeth, but because she was still sticking out her tongue, she looked like an angry, silly dog.

"Does it really have to be a 'tear'...?"

Dark Feather seemed reluctant.

"I was just kidding."

The Witch shook her head.

Dark Feather's gaze regained some calm; it seemed she didn't actually need to listen to this woman and do such a shameful thing.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she suddenly felt as if something had wrapped around her ankle.

This feeling is strangely familiar.

The next moment, she felt one of her feet being pulled up, and then the rest of her body began to spin uncontrollably, the whole world in front of her was rapidly turning upside down.

While it doesn't cause dizziness for a Magic girl, confusion is definitely a factor.

Then she felt a little cold.

A black, misty whip wrapped around her ankle, suspending her upside down in the air.

However, since she was only hanging on one foot, her other leg bent down and almost fell in front of her, and after she was completely upside down, her clothes also hung down.

"... Huh?"

Dark Feather was stunned.

Why... did it turn out like this?

And the skirt too... if that's the case, then isn't that...?

On the other side, the Witch used her Magic Power to conjure another pointer and waved it in her hand.

The Black Magical Girl's bottom began to ache slightly.

"Excuse me... what is this?"

"We're a tough team, you know. As punishment for failing, you'd better bear with it, and don't fail again next time."

Although she couldn't see the woman's true expression, Dark Feather seemed to see a devilish smile on her face, and the girl's face turned extremely pale.

Watching the pointer sway gently, memories and pain flooded back, and Miss Dark Feather finally couldn't hold back her tears.

"Gently... gently..."

Chapter Twenty-Eight Crescent Getsuga Tensho

Before they knew it, the end of the semester was approaching. Both the students and Haihara, as the homeroom teacher, would have a vacation of more than a month. During this time, they would not need to see each other again and would not have to worry about the troubles caused by those Problem Child students for the time being.

The time before vacation is when Haihara is most tired.

After all, she was the homeroom teacher.

Final exam results are also very important to her, because her class's absenteeism rate is already terrible. She might be able to salvage the situation with the final exam, but pessimistically, her performance might decline this time as well, which would only worsen her already poor grades.

However, it wasn't entirely without things to cheer about.

In the past few days, she and Ms. Suzuki have been in more contact than before. Not only have they had more topics to talk about, but they have also been having dinner together more often in the evenings. Although there has been no intimate behavior yet, it can probably be considered a typical close friendship between women.

As for what they talked about... Ms. Suzuki did most of the talking, while Haihara just nodded and hummed in agreement.

"Speaking of which, taking care of children is really a troublesome thing..."

"Um."

A while ago, a little girl from a relative's family came to visit Ms. Suzuki's house, but it seems she has moved away in the last couple of days.

It's understandable that Ms. Suzuki, who has always been single, isn't good at taking care of children.

Is Haihara good at this?

I guess so.

Although, given her personality, it's not the type of thing she's good at.

But the truth is, she now has a daughter, and she lived with her daughter for a long time before, so it's impossible for her not to be good at it.

At most... I guess I'm just not good at dealing with kids.

"That child has been living on their own ever since, and I'm a little worried..."

Suzuki gently rested his chin on his hand.

Although they had only spent a few days together, Suzuki was worried because the child was her sister's child and she would be living alone with the child from now on.

Furthermore, considering the child's situation...

"Moreover, the child seemed to have had a cold before leaving."

"Cold?"

Haihara somewhat confused.

"Hmm, in her room, if you're not careful, the trash can is overflowing with toilet paper; she seems to have a really bad cold..."

"..."

After hearing what Ms. Suzuki said, Haihara fell silent for a moment.

She vaguely recalled some events from a few years ago, a year or two after she adopted Kiriori.

At that time, the two of them lived together in a small room that was only big enough for two people to sleep in. There weren't even many doors in that kind of small house, so it was inevitable that they would occasionally bump into things they shouldn't have.

After accidentally seeing her daughter's private moments a couple of times, Haihara began to consider separating from her daughter in the future.

It's normal for teenage girls to be a little restless, right?

Although she was incredibly embarrassed when she first bumped into it, she finally understood why the toilet paper at home was always used up so quickly.

However, Ms. Suzuki doesn't need to know so much.

"If you have a cold, eat something..."

She casually mentioned a few cold medicines that could be given to children, thus glossing over the topic.

Although I don't know the child from Ms. Suzuki's relative's family, I still hope she doesn't get discovered.

After that, they talked for quite a while longer.

Ms. Suzuki is indeed a talkative person. No matter how clumsy Haihara's response is, she can naturally talk about other interesting things. Even if you are not interested, you can listen calmly to her speaking in a pleasant voice.

Occasionally, I'll hear about topics that interest me.

"Haihara, have you ever... encountered children with psychological problems before?"

She is a music teacher, and although she has more work experience than Haihara, she doesn't spend much time with her students.

As teachers of core subjects, even if they are not homeroom teachers, they often have to interact and communicate with students, and occasionally, inevitably, they will have to listen to the students' troubles.

Upon hearing Suzuki's question, Haihara, unusually, did not respond immediately, but instead stood there in a daze for a while.

"... I think so."

Finally, she answered calmly.

Although their school is very good, everyone's suffering is different. Family problems, personal problems, school problems... there are many things that can leave students of this age feeling overwhelmed.

However, she was the kind of teacher who didn't really care about her students.

Normally, no Student Council would come to her to confide their troubles.

Thinking this, Haihara took a sip of sake.

"My sister's child seems to have had serious psychological problems before, and still needs to take medication..."

Haihara's hand paused slightly.

She looked up and thought for a moment:

"Letting that kind of child live alone is a bit much."

She could never bring herself to let her daughter, who has mental health issues, live alone.

Although she is Ms. Suzuki's older sister, she is undoubtedly a matriarch of a large family with a significant generational gap.

"Right..."

Chatting with Ms. Suzuki was one of the few times Haihara was both engaged and relaxed.

Although it wasn't exactly fun, it made her feel at ease.

Sometimes, Haihara would think, "I wish I could marry someone like Ms. Suzuki."

At night, the lights were not on at Kuroki Yuka's house.

She doesn't particularly like lights or bright environments.

Now, she's lying on the sofa wearing a loose-fitting tank top and shorts. Although she hasn't done anything lately, the feeling of exhaustion just won't go away.

She has been in this state ever since that battle with the Magic girl Fate Kite.

Because she was Magic girl, she suffered a serious injury and it will take a long time to slowly recover her Magical Girl Dark Feather powers by replenishing her Magic Power.

Because she was impatient in this regard, she had prematurely depleted a lot of her Magic Power. Now, the feeling of exhaustion was deep in her bones, and she didn't even want to lift her legs.

Then he entered a state of depression.

Her hair was now a mess, sticking up in clumps, and her clothes and the surrounding room were also in disarray.