Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 545

"I do not know!"

Xiangzi screamed in despair.

"So what exactly happened last night, Desuwa!!!"

===========

A dozen minutes later, Chu Hua sat at the dining table wearing a T-shirt with the XD smiley face logo of a certain band, with a plate of toasted bread slices in front of her.

She stared awkwardly at the bread slices, not daring to lift her head.

Xiangzi sat opposite her, took a bite of the toast with egg and bacon, chewed it elegantly and slowly, swallowed it, and then looked up at Chuhua.

There was a faint 'well' symbol on her forehead.

"So, last night you ran out and hugged me without drying yourself, getting my pajamas wet. Then, because we were both so tired we didn't want to move, we just stripped naked and climbed into bed and slept until now." Xiangzi rubbed his eyebrows. "As far as I remember, that's how it happened."

"Probably?" Chu Hua looked at the bread slices absentmindedly, the blush on her face still not fading.

That sacred, inviolable, yet filled with an alluring charm that tempts one to depravity...

It’s over.

Misaka Chuka's life is over.

She was completely and utterly immersed in that gentle embrace.

But she is willing.

Chu Hua poked the bread slice with her finger.

"Besides sleeping, there shouldn't be anything else, right?" Xiangzi asked.

"Maybe?"

Chu Hua said absentmindedly, her tone tinged with regret, "Ah, why is it only like this?" She lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then looked up at Xiao Xiang.

"Hey, Xiao Xiang... do you remember what I said last night?"

"..."

This time, it was Xiangzi's turn to fall silent.

Her gaze shifted away unnaturally, as if she habitually wanted to avoid the topic.

Anyway, there were no strange bruises or hickeys when I woke up this morning, so... it should be nothing serious.

“There are four days left until the 27th. Starting today, more witches will appear. We need to hurry up and wipe out the stronger ones.” Xiangzi casually changed the subject. “As for the weak ones, we have limited energy, so let’s just leave them alone. They won’t cause any problems in just a few days.”

Even if something really happens, there's nothing Xiangzi can do.

Out of sight, out of mind.

She thought somewhat irresponsibly.

"it is good."

Chu Hua nodded, picked up a slice of bread, spread a layer of jam on it, opened her mouth and took a bite.

The warm sunshine was blocked by passing clouds, and the well-lit room suddenly became a bit cooler, and the atmosphere changed from a romantic pink to a business-like loft color scheme.

Chu Hua understood Xiangzi very well. She knew that when Xiangzi couldn't handle a topic, he would always try to shift the conversation to "work" and repeat things he had said a thousand times before.

She was already used to it and had learned when to switch to the left-ear-right-ear mode.

"And also, Dolores these past few days..."

As was his habit, Xiangzi began to repeat the things he needed to pay attention to, and out of the corner of his eye, he inadvertently noticed Chuhua's eating habits.

At home, Chuhua doesn't usually bother with slow, deliberate eating; she completely lets loose and reverts to being that island girl. She takes a big bite, the crispy bread crackling, and a little jam dabs on her lips.

The "left ear in, right ear out" pattern was forced to stop because Chu Hua noticed that Xiangzi was no longer making any noise.

So she shifted her attention from bread to Xiangzi.

As soon as he looked up, he saw Xiangzi's face so close to his.

Xiangzi raised his hand and wiped the jam off Chuhua's lips, then put his jam-covered finger in his own mouth.

"Xiao Xiang?!" Chu Hua's brain froze; his CPU processing speed couldn't keep up with the development of events.

Xiangzi looked at his fingers, which were still slightly saliva-covered, and realized that he seemed to be unusually bold at times, and that this sudden boldness would come at the cost of tenfold shame afterward.

She wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground, so she could only blush, turn her head to the side, and whisper.

“I heard what you said last night.”

"So... this is a return gift."

The Tale of Reincarnation: Bonds - Chapter 725 Encounter

For Chu Hua, the time she could spend with Xiangzi always passed very quickly.

Not long after breakfast, they had to throw themselves back into the process of clearing out the remaining witches of the Reed Plains in preparation for the final battle against Nirvana.

There was something that kept chasing after her like a wheel, and ever since Chu Hua stepped out of her house, she had felt incredibly depressed.

During a break from her battle against the witch, she looked up at the sky.

Perhaps it was the calm before the storm; the sky over the reed plain was clear and cloudless, and the sunlight was so dazzling that it made people feel uncomfortable.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, picked up the Seed of Sorrow left by the witch, and continued on to the next destination.

During this period, the witches of Reed Plains began to be active day and night, and even during the day, they could easily find targets that needed to be cleaned.

Now, apart from Mujica's five members, there are less than ten magical girls left in Ayashihara, helping to clear out these "witches who appeared out of nowhere".

For dozens of cycles ago, they truly did not know why the witch would appear so frequently during this period.

It was only after a period of investigation that we learned that all of these guys sensed that Nirvana was about to arrive and that huge changes might occur in the future, which made them so restless.

Whether it was the witches who were already dormant in the reed plains or some unhatched seeds of lamentation, they sensed the coming of nirvana and emerged one after another, like small animals before an earthquake or tsunami, an instinctive act of self-preservation.

This kind of thing happened before when Nirvana descended. However, as Xiangzi sealed Nirvana within his soul gem, the space stabilized, and these witches returned to the shadows.

Chu Hua just dealt with such a restless witch.

Originally, she was going to the next place.

but--

An unexpected yet predictable figure blocked her path.

Chu Hua stopped at a deserted street corner and looked at the golden figure blocking her way.

The same shoulder-length blonde hair, the same purple and gold eyes, the same height, the same voice, even the mole on her body was the same. She and that figure were face to face, as if looking in a mirror.

This was their second meeting.

Chu Hua silently gritted her teeth, watching Dolores warily.

“Good morning, my past self,” Dolores said softly.

“Xiao Xiang told me to be careful of you,” Chu Hua said. “I didn’t expect you to actually show up, especially in broad daylight.”

"As long as you can sense the fluctuations in magic, there is no difference between morning and night," Dolores said calmly.

Didn't you ever consider that I might call someone else?

“If you were to convert the sensory range of every active magical girl in the Reed Plains into a circle, you'd be right there in the blind spot of those circles, unable to contact anyone.” Dolores tilted her head. “Besides, even if you could, you wouldn't, and even—”

Doloris squinted, looking curiously at her past self.

"—You will prevent us from being discovered by others, especially Xiangzi."

Chu Hua clenched his fist, bared his fangs at Dolores, and his eyes gradually turned into vertical pupils that shrank into slits in the sunlight.

After all, it's the same person; they look exactly the same when they're angry.

“Looks like I was right,” Dolores said. “After all, we’re the same person, and I know exactly what you’re thinking. We need a space where we can talk one-on-one, so I can…”

whoosh-

Several cracks appeared on the cement floor. The next second, Chu Hua appeared about two meters in front of Dolores, her legs transformed into metal-like reverse joints, and her left shield slammed into Dolores's forehead.

With a muffled thud, the shield was gripped by a giant claw.

"...so that I can see how foolish I was in the past."

In the blink of an eye, Doloris's body had completely transformed. Her entire body was covered by a hard, dark brown keratin layer, which resembled a suit of armor, leaving only one thigh, waist, and part of her face exposed to the air.

At the same time, her height also increased to over two meters, and she grew dragon-like wings on her back. The wing membranes were translucent and crystalline, and her long tail was also covered with thorns made of yellow crystals.

This posture is somewhat similar to, yet different from, that of Hatsuka when she was close to becoming a witch.

It is neither like any animal nor any construct; it is a posture that changes entirely by instinct, a posture that Dolores transformed into after experiencing betrayal and her soul falling to the bottom.

Chu Hua clicked her tongue at the unsettling sight, then flipped over and stood on the shield held by Dolores, swinging the one-handed sword in her other hand.

"I'm not like you!" Chu Hua shouted at Dolores. "Our future will never turn out like this!"

Doloris tilted her head back to avoid the blade of the one-handed sword, and then she had to face the tail that Chu Hua had just transformed into.

Then, the two thick tails collided in mid-air.

The loud noise from the collision spread outwards with a gust of wind.

“At this point, I still liked to use those fancy illusions,” Dolores said. “Instead of spending so much time thinking when you’re using illusions, you should fix them early on, get used to them, and let these organs that didn’t exist before become a real part of you.”

This stance is Dolores' true fighting stance.

Doloris, who has become like an alien and fixed her transformations into a hundred forms, and Chu Hua, who changes her use of different creatures or constructs from time to time depending on their function and purpose, are the same person, but their fighting styles are clearly different.

Just as Dolores said, when Hatsuka uses the Hundred Forms technique, she needs to think about when to conjure which limbs and which organs to use in order to deal with which situations. She will make different countermeasures based on different situations.

However, thinking requires the brain to mobilize the body, and the reaction speed will always be slower than pure neural transmission—that is, instinct.

Chu Hua never realized that during the time she almost became a witch, she was relying on her body's memory to act.

Wings, tail, hands, hind limbs—all her organs seemed to be something she was born with, and all her movements were instinctive reactions that didn't require conscious thought.

Dolores discovered this, and she fixed the Hundred Transformations, allowing her body to adapt to these forms. Over time, this fixed set of transformations became the weapon that best unleashed her power.

“You can’t keep up with me,” Dolores said with ease.

Dolores can subconsciously perform the actions she wants without having to think, and this saved thought space makes her exceptionally adept in battle.

By mastering this body to its fullest extent, making every movement instinctive, the brain can allocate more energy to strategy. While the fixed set of moves may limit her potential to some extent, it also raises her minimum performance level to an awe-inspiring degree.

Doloris exerted immense pressure on Chu Hua through language, attitude, and various forms of suppression.

Under pressure, thinking can become flawed, and it can even cause momentary memory lapses.

Even though the time is very short, victory or defeat is often decided in an instant, and by the time Chu Hua notices it, it's already too late.

The crystallized wing membranes flapped towards Chu Hua, the enormous wings sealing off all of Chu Hua's escape routes and forcing her to hold her small round shield in front of her.

The shield collided with the wing membrane.

The violent collision seemed to transmit something, causing Chu Hua's pupils to tremble violently. Doloris noticed Chu Hua's sudden change in expression, shook his head helplessly, and then exerted even more force on his wings.

Bang!

A figure flew backward from the dust and smoke generated by the impact, leaving a long trench in the concrete ground.

The Tale of Reincarnation: Bonds - Chapter 726 Let's Drown Together with Your Past

It's quiet at night.

Chu Hua carried a lamp and walked to Xiangzi's bedside, holding a lunchbox in her hands. She placed the lunchbox on Xiangzi's bedside table, then dragged over a chair and sat down next to Xiangzi.

"Xiao Xiang..."

"Go away."

Chu Hua had just opened her mouth when she was interrupted.

Xiangzi faced the wall, his back to Chuhua, and his voice came out in a muffled tone.

"But you're already like this—"

"Get away!"

Xiangzi suddenly turned around and yelled at Chuhua, accidentally bumping his elbow on the bedside table.