Raising magical girls, and leave them with eternal regret?!

“Whew… whew… Finally made it. I didn’t know there was such a long uphill road to your school. This is quite a challenge.”

After riding WuYue to the entrance of her school, YouYu, who had been pedalling furiously, could no longer maintain his vigorous demeanour. It was as if he had suddenly deflated, leaning against the bicycle and gasping for air.

“… Sorry, YouYu. If I had gotten up earlier, you wouldn’t have to be so troubled.”

Seeing YouYu in such a state, WuYue couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of guilt and regret. It was her own fault, yet she had inconvenienced him—a wounded person—so much.

He had not only made her breakfast but even ridden her to school. She couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that seemed to linger around her heart.

“Well… to be honest, there’s no need for you to feel so guilty. After all, this was my own voluntary choice, and it has nothing to do with you.”

“Or rather, I’m the one who has pressured you into it… Sorry about what I said before.”

“Eh?! No! There’s no need to apologise! I know, YouYu, that you said those things for my sake… It’s actually me who…”

Upon hearing YouYu’s apology, WuYue immediately shook her head in panic, waving her hands frantically. The intensity of her gestures made her ponytail sway wildly, resembling an anxious little dog, which was rather endearing.

Seeing her like this, YouYu decided not to tease her further. Instead, he smiled and said:

“Alright, alright. Where did that confident and strong side of you from yesterday go? There’s no need to be so hard on yourself.”

“No, no, no! I’m not…”

“If you’re not, then hurry up and go to school!”

Before WuYue could finish her sentence, YouYu interrupted her.

“If you really feel sorry, make me the dish you made yesterday when you come back! I really like it!”

“Alright, then, goodbye!”

“Eh?! Wait…”

After saying so, before WuYue could react, YouYu dismounted the bicycle and quickly ran off in the direction they had just come from.

All that was left was a bewildered WuYue.

“…”

As she watched YouYu’s fading silhouette, WuYue fell into a prolonged silence.

“Such a strange person…” she thought to herself.

And within her heart, a seed of subtle emotion began to take root quietly.

————

“So, why didn’t you fall off the bicycle and let the car run you over in front of her just now?”

“?? Are you trying to really get me killed!?”

After returning home and hearing this question from the voice within him, YouYu, who had just taken a sip of water, couldn’t help but spit it out.

“My body isn’t even reinforced to that level yet, is it? Even if I wanted to create such a scene, I’d still need to make sure I wouldn’t actually get run over!”

“? Is that possible? You’ve survived lightning strikes so many times. What could a car do to you?”

“…”

“Alright, I misspoke earlier. What I actually meant to say is that now isn’t the right time. It’s just not the right time, got it?”

“After all, besides her, I’ll have to deal with other magical girls in the future, right? If something unexpected happens and I get surrounded, I might need to draw negative emotions from her to strengthen myself. But if I drain her negative emotions too quickly, it wouldn’t be good for long-term development.”

“And the ordinary people without any power… they have too few negative emotions to be of any real value. I tested this when I got back, and you saw the results.”

“So, unless you can boost my power, I won’t be doing such things until the time is right.”

“…I can’t do that right now. My mana hasn’t fully recovered yet, but maybe in the future?”

“…Then let’s talk about this in the future.”

After silencing the Mamba, YouYu sighed.

Although this snake sometimes said shocking things, he was surprisingly easy to handle.

To be honest, before he had a concrete understanding of Mamba, YouYu was quite anxious. After all, who knew what kind of trouble these non-human beings could stir up? He was already prepared for the worst.

But it turned out his worries were unnecessary. Mamba was nothing like the evil cadres portrayed in the animes. In fact, it seemed quite concerned about its subordinates?

Regardless, it was best to maintain the current status quo for the time being. There was no need to change the relationship in the short term.

“Sigh… After dealing with this guy, I should focus on WuYue now.”

“I was planning to rest for a bit, but I really need to consider this issue.”

Shaking his head, YouYu began to ponder.

According to the Mamba, the magical girl FireBird had appeared around this time in previous timelines.

In other words, this period was the best opportunity to “build affinity.”

It was also the ideal time to obtain negative emotions such as “guilt” and “regret.”

But first, there was one crucial question to understand.

What exactly were the “evil cadres” who betrayed Mamba like?

Understanding their information was crucial for his future actions.

Unfortunately, last night, when he asked Mamba about this, the response was, “I don’t remember. I need some time to think.”

The reason was simple: since Mamba had been driven out and couldn’t find its base, it had slowly forgotten details about its former colleagues.

After all, from that point on… Mamba began its time-travelling journey, vowing to defeat all the magical girls and return to impress those traitors.

It had then travelled through dozens of timelines, each time failing and being beaten half-death by the magical girls. This led to further time-traveling, resulting in a gradual decline in its own power…

This was also why Mamba’s memory had deteriorated.

Despite having the ability to traverse timelines, it was still in such a sorry state—YouYu hadn’t expected this.

Furthermore, apart from Mamba changing his life form and strengthening his body, he hadn’t received any substantial help.

This meant he had to rely on himself from now on…

The road ahead is sure long and uncertain…

“Well, since it’s impossible to obtain information about those villains, for now, I should focus on doing what I need to do…”

But first, he had to prepare everything needed before the “Raising” phase.

With this thought in mind, YouYu got up from the sofa, opened the door, and left “home.”

Because now, there’s something he needed to do—for himself and for WuYue.

That is—to go to work.