Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 181

Terasaki Ayasa realized that Karasu probably hadn't adapted to the small brain of her new body yet and was a bit overloaded with thinking, so she quickly said, "I'm sorry, let Haga explain the situation to you."

Yuga...?

Oh, Mayumi!

They were a beat too slow to react; Crow Feather poked his head out.

Behind the hospital bed curtain that Terasaki Ayasa had lifted, she saw Haga Mayumi, with black hair and black eyes, standing silently, staring at her without blinking.

Mayumi!

Yaba flapped its wings happily and plunged headfirst into Haga Mayumi's arms.

"Croak!" I missed you so much...

The little crow snuggled up to Mayumi Haga's collar and started to act cute. It was about to roll around a few times, but halfway through, the crow sensed that Mayumi Haga wasn't in a good mood.

She poked her head out from her collar: "Caw?" What's wrong, Crow?

Haga Mayumi: "..."

Forget it.

She pressed down on Raven's restless head, stood up, and was about to take her leave: "Thank you for your help, Ms. Terasaki."

After encountering Megarane and Urzana, Mayumi Haga gained some understanding of how to resolve the Calamity Corruption.

Simply put, it's about "destroying the old to build the new".

That's why she was able to make the decision to kill Raven Feather so quickly at that time.

While this choice was certainly rational, its impact on Mayumi Haga during execution was immense.

She thought she had gotten used to it, and as she grabbed the wire, she silently told herself that a short pain was better than a long one, and that Raven Feather couldn't go on like this forever.

But having truly strangled Karasu, and watching her friend's life slowly slip away in her hands, Mayumi Haga belatedly realized that during the entire process, Karasu stopped struggling after recognizing her...

Mayumi Haga didn't know how to describe her feelings.

She immediately untied the wire around Ya Yu's neck, actually just subconsciously feeling that such a weapon should not remain on Ya Yu's body.

The next step is to find a way to use fire to draw the soul corrupted by the calamity out of this body, and then...

Yuga Mayumi didn't know exactly how to do it. After she killed Crow Feather, her soul was stored in the fire seed, but what to do next was still a complete blank to her.

Fortunately, at this moment, Ayasa Terasaki appeared.

Terasaki Ayasa, who had initially used magic to hide in a corner to avoid the crow's attacks, came forward to check on the situation after seeing that the fight had ended.

As expected of the captain of the Magic Side Firefighting Team of Miracle City in this world, Terasaki Ayasa helped Haga Mayumi transfer Karasu to her workshop, which is also a magic clinic, and assisted in the work of reshaping Karasu's body.

Crow Feather huddled inside Mayumi Haga's clothes, her small body warmer than expected. Even though her body was made of cold star fragments, it still had a furry feel to it.

Unlike ordinary gem beasts.

Just two hours ago, my friend was gently calling my name and watching me slowly die through my eyes; now, he's become a little crow in my palm.

Still vulnerable, still trusting themselves unconditionally.

Mayumi Haga tried to tug at the corners of her mouth, but still couldn't manage a smile.

Terasaki Ayasa seemed to notice Haga Mayumi's dejection and called out to her as she was about to leave, "Wait a minute."

"..." Mayumi Haga stopped and looked at the doctor with a puzzled expression.

"You should get your hand bandaged." Terasaki Ayasa pointed to Haga Mayumi's left hand, which was still dripping blood.

Mayumi Haga subconsciously raised her hand, only to be shocked to find that the wound, which should have healed, was still deep enough to expose the bone, and the bleeding had not yet stopped.

She hadn't noticed it earlier, perhaps because of her feelings of guilt, which prevented the wound from healing.

If the crow was struggling from beginning to end, Mayumi wouldn't feel much. The main issue is that calling its name while holding its breath is a bit...

Text: 287. Magical Free Man Haga Mayumi

Occasionally, its self-healing ability might not be so obedient.

Mayumi Haga is rather insensitive to physical pain, as her wounds usually heal quickly on their own. The current situation is actually due to emotional instability causing her subconscious to preserve the wound.

What is this? Self-punishment?

I won't comment too much on Terasaki Ayasa; it's better to let Haga Mayumi deal with this kind of mental issue on her own.

She's not a psychologist.

-----------------

For Mayumi Haga, the feeling of bandaging a wound was indeed very unfamiliar.

She returned to the house she was temporarily renting in the bizarre city with her right hand wrapped in a bag. As soon as she opened the door, she saw a house full of people.

Hitomi Tono, Yuri Takajo, Akari Arisu, Rika Sugiyama, Megane, Urzana-senpai, and Ukigumo-senpai... just listing their names makes the room feel like it's full of people.

Mayumi Haga stood in the entryway: "..."

What are these people doing? Are they having a party?

Sugiyama Rika exclaimed excitedly, "Mayumi, I heard from Ayasa that a new Jewel Beast has been born!"

Case solved.

Aside from the guardian who always follows Mayumi Haga and Miss Fish Head, everyone else is just there to join in the fun.

Because the venue for the second hide-and-seek game was damaged by crow feathers, making it impossible to broadcast live, and because the terrain in the center of the venue had been destroyed by the raised stone pillars, the organizers urgently stopped the game.

The festival schedule will be adjusted before the venue is fully repaired.

Therefore, the hide-and-seek competition originally scheduled for today will be postponed, and the third game will be changed to the second game.

Today was free, and the competition won't continue until tomorrow, which is why these guys had so much free time to sneak into Mayumi Haga's rented apartment for a gathering.

I mainly want to see the new partners.

Compared to Megaran, whose personality is a bit too anthropomorphic, the new companion Ravenfeather is much friendlier and quite cute.

A tiny crow, no bigger than a palm, peeked out from under the collar of the grumpy-faced Mayumi Haga: "Caw?"

This is... a welcome party?

Hitomi Tono pulled back the confetti cannon with a "bang" and laughed, "It's a welcome party!"

Because the new body is a gem beast made from star fragments, its basic principle is no different from the transformation partners of magical girls, so everyone can understand what the little crow is saying.

It's equivalent to FreeWheat Mind Communication.

Raven Feather was a bit of a social butterfly; seeing so many people around, her already confused mind, which had just been resurrected, became even more disoriented.

Especially when it saw the glittering confetti falling after the cannon salute was fired, the bird became excited and sprang from the chest of Mayumi Haga, opening its beak to peck at the shiny glitter.

What is this? How interesting, let me peck at it.

Oh, it's sequins.

What is this? How interesting, let me peck at it.

Oh, these are Jewel Beast hair clips used by magical girls to transform.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch... Tono! Don't let her peck me!" Tono Hitomi's gem beast, Ryan, woke up with a start and cried out in terror.

Everything in the room seemed new to Ya Yu.

Unlike Megaran, who had a period of clear-headed activity before being defeated by Mayumi Haga, Karasu was sent to the place closest to Mayumi Haga from the very beginning.

In other words, apart from the magical space used for the competition, Raven Feather had never been anywhere else.

Moreover, compared to water spirits, the winged race is more curious about new things. Arriving in such a different place from before, and with Yuga Mayumi by her side, who brings a sense of security, Crow Feather immediately became excited.

Looking here and there, pecking at things... Oh! There's even a shiny crystal water sprite head!

A raven feather flew to Megraine and landed on her hair, its tiny claws hopping around on it: "Caw..."

Are these ornaments made to resemble aquatic creatures? Liangliang really likes them.

Megrana angrily retorted, "Hey! Don't just step on other people's heads like that, it's very rude!"

"Croak?!" It's alive?!

Crow Feather was startled, but found it quite amusing, so it hopped around a couple more times.

Hehe, this water demon gets angry every time it's stepped on, it's so much fun.

Megrana was furious. He already disliked the guy, so he stuck out his hair to grab the bird.

Raven Feather was far more agile than the water sprite with only one head left. It darted and weaved through the air, easily dodging Megaran's frantic hair.

Haga Mayumi: ...Sigh.

It seems like we have more and more strange pets in our house.

But it must be said that the natural way these two acted silly, and the fact that their situations were so similar—both of them were killed by Mayumi Haga and transformed into their current state—melted away some of the heavy guilt she felt in her heart.

“Speaking of which, Mayumi,” Sugiyama Rika said, having watched the pets fight for a while with Haga Mayumi, then remembered something. “Did you come to Strange City because of the spiritual vein mining rights?”

“I’m here to find someone; she might be deep within the spiritual veins of this city,” Mayumi Haga said.

On her way back, she learned Lania's approximate location from Ravenfeather.

In the area where the remnants of the calamity still remain, and where most of the undigested souls still reside.

The true form of the calamity... or more precisely, the true form of the calamity that Mayumi Haga saw, has been definitively eliminated.

Calamity actually possesses a certain level of intelligence, though it may not be very clever, but it certainly does. Moreover, this ability to think allows it to hide undigested souls somewhere in this world.

According to the structure of the world as seen from the children's perspective, the places where these things can be hidden and not easily discovered are definitely not on the surface that people can see.

Mayumi Haga didn't know what decision Rania had made, but judging from Karasu's memories, Rania's soul was clearly weakening rapidly.

She must find Rania as soon as possible.

The spiritual veins of Miracle City are being inspected and managed by Sugiyama Rikka, who has also just visited the Underworld. Haga Mayumi is certain that Rania is not there.

So, the next step is to search within the spiritual veins of Strange City.

The entrance to the spirit veins in each city is different. You cannot use a Miracle City ticket to enter the spirit veins of the Strange City.

Mayumi Haga desperately needs to win the match so that she can enter the Spirit Vein.

“This won’t be easy,” Sugiyama Rika said. “You’ll be facing all the weirdos in this city, and as magical beings from Miracle City, we can’t help you.”

To prevent mining rights from falling into the hands of magic users from other cities, the festival competition actually prohibits magic users with affiliated factions from participating.

For example, the two current magical girls of Miracle City, as well as Rika Sugiyama and Ayasa Terasaki, who were once magical girls of Miracle City, and even the monsters from there, cannot participate in the competition before they change sides.

However, Mayumi Haga is not subject to such rules.

Since arriving in this world, she has always been a free agent within the magic faction.

Text: 288. Flight Competition

Mayumi Haga has always been a free agent within the magic faction.

She's already considered an oddball, and now she possesses a Jewel Beast, making her a mysterious magical girl in the eyes of some.

Although she was chosen as the Despair Monster, she doesn't rely on human emotions to survive like other monsters, nor does she experience the taste of despair.

Although she mingles with magical girls, she doesn't possess any real magic. Jewel Beast was created temporarily so that her friend could have a body that could move freely... The Star Fragment has no function of storing or converting magic power.

Given her status as an outsider, although she regularly resides in Miracle City, she has not been classified as part of Miracle City's camp.

That's why I can participate in the festival in the Strange City so casually.

If she has a faction, participating in the competition won't be so easy; she'll at least have to transfer her spiritual vein registration here.

After explaining everything to Mayumi Haga, Sugiyama Rika said, "Putting aside the fact that Hitomi and the others are judges now, even Ayasa and I can't help you much."

She is nominally still the head of the magical girl organization in Miracle City, as is Ayasa Terasaki.

“However, with your abilities, you should be able to handle any competition,” Sugiyama Rika said, “as long as it doesn’t involve magic.”

Sugiyama Rika has great faith in Haga Mayumi's abilities, but Mayumi also has weaknesses in magic.

For Mayumi Haga, who cannot generate magic on her own, winning a competition that primarily involves magic is practically impossible.

Unless I'm playing a match and then French kissing Xiaotong for thirty minutes straight, haha.

While Makoto cannot win magic competitions, he can easily dominate other competitions.

Thinking this way, Sugiyama Rika underestimated her own ability to jinx things.