Chapter 22: Entering

"Huh? Keiko-neesan, you're bathing so early?" Wakaba asked curiously as she saw Keiko enter.

"Wait, could it be that I've actually been in here for a long time?"

"Cough, cough... Who is in here? Why is there so much steam?" As soon as Keiko entered, she was choked by the thick water vapor filling the bathroom.

"Keiko-neesan, it's me!" Wakaba scrambled over, having hastily pulled on her yukata without even tying the sash.

Among her three roommates, she was closest to Keiko, who often brought her delicious treats—though Wakaba had no idea where she got them from.

"Oh, it's Wakaba-chan!" Keiko ruffled Wakaba's damp hair. "Why did you make this place look like this?"

"I was just..." Wakaba stammered, trying to come up with a perfect excuse; after all, she felt her intelligence had increased.

"Did you fall asleep in the tub and forget to open the window?" Keiko asked.

"I..." Wakaba wanted to deny it, but upon reflection, it did seem that was exactly what happened.

"Oh, you poor thing~" Keiko stepped forward and patted Wakaba's wet little head.

Meeting Keiko's strange gaze, Wakaba quickly changed the subject. "Keiko-neesan, don't you think there's something different about me?"

"Different..." Keiko stared at Wakaba for a moment. "Have you become prettier?"

She did indeed think Wakaba looked more beautiful today. But then again, Wakaba was already the academy's greatest beauty, so it wasn't easy to tell if she had actually changed.

"No! Look closer, Keiko-neesan?" Wakaba blinked her large, dark eyes, continuing with great enthusiasm.

"Did you grow taller?"

"No."

"Did you eat until you were stuffed?"

Wakaba was left speechless. She said bluntly, "Keiko-neesan, don't you think I've become smarter!"

Keiko froze, and the look she gave Wakaba became increasingly sympathetic.

*This foolish child, has she still not recovered from what happened last time? Ah, what a pitiful child, living in such a soul-crushing place since she was small...* Keiko sighed inwardly.

But then, thinking of the task she had to complete, she gave a self-deprecating smile. Who was she to laugh at a fool?

...

A few days passed in a flash.

Wakaba had grown accustomed to life at the academy. Whether it was because her consciousness had ascended or simply because life at the academy was too monotonous, she found that she only needed to allocate a tiny fragment of her consciousness to her main body to handle almost all academy activities.

Therefore, she focused her primary consciousness on her clone to experience a less tedious, normal school life.

At this moment, at Sakai First High School, it was lunchtime.

"Shiratori-kun, I made this lunch for you!" Rie Hanada, a beautiful girl with a voluptuous figure, held out an exquisite bento box to Wakaba.

The bento was colorful, featuring rolled omelets, cauliflower with char siu, carved lotus root slices, grilled sausages, tempura, and more, all arranged in the shape of a heart.

This had been happening every day for the past few days.

The students in Class 2-6 were already used to it... like hell they were!

No matter how many times they saw it, they felt their worldview collapsing.

Rie Hanada's public confession from a few days ago had become known to the entire school via the school forum that very evening. Many didn't believe it, yet the very next day, they saw Rie Hanada waiting specifically at the school gate for Kiyoshi Shiratori to arrive so they could walk to class together; they saw them eating lunch together and taking walks; they saw her quit the dance club just to walk home with Kiyoshi Shiratori...

She would even drop by Class 2-6 for no reason at all, just to talk to him or give him small, handmade gifts.

Their jaws hit the floor.

As for why Rie Hanada liked Kiyoshi Shiratori, the reason was the cliché of a hero saving a beauty!

For a time, countless boys in the school who harbored crushes on Rie Hanada beat their chests in frustration, cursing themselves for not being the one to play the hero that day.

"Hmm, thank you." Wakaba accepted the bento as a matter of course.

"Well, Shiratori-kun, I'll be going now. Let's walk home together after school..." She finished, and without waiting for a reply, she turned and left, looking overjoyed.

She left the students in Class 2-6 in a state of stupor.

In the classroom, Wakaba opened the transparent lid of the bento and began to eat without the slightest bit of reserve.

"Tastes good, much better than a sandwich~~" Wakaba remarked.

"Shiratori-kun, when are you and Hanada-san going to make it official?" Asaka Fujii, who sat in front, turned around to ask.

Wakaba kept eating as she replied, "I don't know. We probably haven't spent enough time together; I don't really have feelings for her yet."

"Ugh..." Asaka Fujii was utterly speechless. Although what Kiyoshi Shiratori said made sense, it sounded incredibly strange to her ears.

"Hanada-san is only being this good to you to repay your kindness. If you don't decide quickly, she might be snatched up by other boys," Asaka advised.

"Let them snatch her, then." Wakaba’s expression remained indifferent, her tone flat—undoubtedly, truly indifferent.

"...Alright." Asaka Fujii felt that if she kept talking to this guy, she would become abnormal herself. How had she never noticed before that Kiyoshi Shiratori was so... dense?

A famous campus goddess was pursuing him, yet he remained unmoved, even going so far as to criticize her for not sparking any feelings in him.

Thinking about this, she suddenly felt that Kiyoshi Shiratori was far more excellent than the other boys in class who couldn't even string a sentence together when they saw Rie Hanada. At the very least, his mindset was superior to theirs.

After school, Wakaba walked home accompanied by Rie Hanada.

When they reached the gate, Rie Hanada tried to come in, but Wakaba declined, saying, "We aren't that close yet."

Wakaba returned home, grabbed her gun, and went out to work, intending to toil until midnight to strike it rich.

By nine o'clock, she had already finished two jobs.

On a street in Koji-machi, a sudden, intense longing rose within her!

"I want it!"

"That is my love, my light!"

"I want to embrace it this very instant..."

This was the Magical Girl's craving for the aura of the Fog Realm!

Wakaba looked in that direction and discovered a strange, new street, pitch-black and radiating an eerie aura.

She suppressed the intense longing in her heart and hid in the shadows.

Soon, a series of footsteps approached; other Magical Girls were arriving, and there were several of them.

"This Fog Realm looks much larger than the previous one. The filth-beasts inside should be stronger, too... Let's go back and prepare first."

She turned and rushed home, grabbed five fully loaded magazines, five grenades, and two large landmines she had purchased from the organization, then hurried back.

The extra street remained. Ordinary people affected by the Fog Realm walked in, two or three at a time, and then vanished into thin air.

"It seems the Magical Girls who went in earlier haven't defeated the filth-beast yet."

Wakaba did not hesitate and stepped into the street. A familiar sense of weightlessness washed over her. Her vision blurred, and when it cleared again, she was already standing on the familiar black, muddy ground of the Fog Realm. The gloomy sky looked like a dirty rag, and everything within her sight was permeated with an aura of decay and deathly silence.