Chapter 87: Friends for a lifetime.

When Zhong Shuixi opened her eyes, she saw the ceiling above her.

A slight, dull ache lingered in her body, but she could feel that she was lying on a soft bed.

The remaining strength in her body was not enough to allow her to sit up. She could only gently tilt her head and scan her surroundings.

Then, she saw a silver-haired little girl sitting on a chair beside her bed, dozing off.

This silver-haired little girl was the girl who had interfered—no, who had awakened her Yukina’s distant cousin, Bai Shen Kanon.

Through Charlotte’s thorough scolding, she had suddenly achieved enlightenment, realizing that her actions were not what her Senior would have expected.

She had almost committed the grievous mistake of murdering her best friend. She truly was unforgivable.

At that moment, Charlotte, who had been dozing, woke up with a start. Seeing Zhong Shuixi awake, Charlotte was overjoyed.

“Xiaoxi, you’re finally awake! How are you feeling?”

Charlotte patiently asked while helping Xiaoxi sit up, her tone full of genuine concern, as if Xiaoxi were the sister she cared for the most.

“Mhm, I’m alright…”

Zhong Shuixi replied subconsciously, but the next second, she realized something was wrong.

Her physical condition shouldn’t be “alright.”

When she attacked the Kendo Club, she had repeatedly used the silver dagger the man gave her to stab her own body to trigger her power, leaving her body utterly riddled with wounds. Logically, she should be feeling intense pain.

Yet, now, she felt no pain at all, as if all her wounds had been healed.

Thinking this, Zhong Shuixi’s gaze fell upon Charlotte’s right hand.

She was surprised to see that Charlotte’s right hand was completely clean, with no trace of the dagger having pierced her palm.

Not a single scar remained. Could modern medicine really achieve this?

‘As I thought, Yukina’s distant cousin is actually a very powerful Esper? No wonder I lost to her.’

‘No, I should say, it’s only natural that I lost to her.’

“Senior…”

“What is it?”

“You’re Senior, aren’t you!” Zhong Shuixi stared intently at Charlotte, speaking her guess.

“Eh?” Hearing Zhong Shuixi’s question, Charlotte looked completely startled.

Her disguise had been seen through so quickly. Her eyes darted around, wanting to run away, but Zhong Shuixi tightly gripped her wrist.

Seeing the earnest look in Zhong Shuixi’s eyes, Charlotte realized she was already convinced that she was her Senior.

Charlotte sighed helplessly and decided to confess to Zhong Shuixi.

“I guess you figured it out! Xiaoxi!”

“Senior, you’re not dead! That’s wonderful!” Zhong Shuixi’s expression was confused.

“But I clearly saw your corpse before. How did you end up like this, Senior?”

“Uh, the process is very complicated to explain simply. I’m not exactly the Senior you knew. After the car accident, I was reincarnated into another world. After becoming the strongest Star Witch, I came back to the real world.”

“Hmm?” Zhong Shuixi listened to Charlotte’s explanation and looked completely dazed. Even simply put, Charlotte’s story was utterly shocking.

“You still can’t understand it? That’s understandable. It took Yukina over half an hour to believe what I said.”

“I believe you, Senior. I’ll believe anything you say!”

“Uh…” For some reason, Xiaoxi was looking at her with a look of admiration.

“By the way, how did you find out who I am? I thought I hid it very well! Did I say something earlier?”

“It’s probably because of the way you talk, Senior! I saw the shadow of Senior in you just now, and I guessed that Senior was actually still alive in this world. It’s a good thing, then that also explains why Yukina wasn’t sad. It’s because the person who cared about her the most is still by her side.”

“Ngh… It looks like I need to change the way I talk. The fact that I reincarnated as a witch and returned could cause Yukina considerable trouble. Xiaoxi, can you help me keep this a secret?”

“Mhm, I’ll keep my mouth shut! I won’t tell anyone! You can count on me, Senior!”

“Speaking of which, Xiaoxi, you caused quite a commotion! If I hadn’t been here, Yukina would have been killed by you.”

“I’m sorry, Senior, but that’s not entirely my fault. You’re largely responsible too!”

“Huh?”

“If you had told me about this when we first met, maybe I wouldn’t have been so depressed that I was exploited by someone else. Ultimately, this is the result of your own arbitrary actions, Senior!”

Zhong Shuixi’s retort left Charlotte completely speechless.

Her own secrecy had led to this conflict.

She was like an unfortunate martial artist who, after finally reuniting with his family, was immediately targeted by an evil character and dragged away.

‘Is this kind of outrageous story, which even the most absurd writer couldn’t write, supposed to be funny?’

“Alright, alright, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have hidden anything from you.”

“You shouldn’t have gotten into that car accident in the first place, Senior! If you had just watched the road when you crossed the street, none of this would have happened.”

As Zhong Shuixi said this, Yukina walked into the first-aid room, carrying a plate of washed fruit.

She immediately saw Charlotte and Zhong Shuixi holding hands and looked at them with disdain.

“Yukina…” Seeing Yukina walk in, Zhong Shuixi paused slightly.

In this incident, Yukina was the person she had wronged the most.

Yukina hadn’t done anything wrong, yet because of her misunderstanding, she had almost killed her most cherished friend, almost killed her most cherished family member.

The scars she had inflicted could never be mended.

However, Yukina acted as if nothing had happened, walking up to Zhong Shuixi’s bedside as always.

“Xiaoxi, how are you? Are you feeling better?”

“Yukina…” Zhong Shuixi’s eyes filled with grateful tears. She hadn’t expected Yukina to still treat her as a friend.

“Xiaoxi, what’s wrong? Are you still in pain? Did this guy bully you? Just tell me, and I’ll get revenge for you!”

Zhong Shuixi squeezed Yukina’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Yukina. You are my best friend, and I did something terrible to you. I’m truly sorry!”

Yukina merely smiled slightly.

“I’ve completely forgotten about that! You don’t need to worry about it! Besides, I’m partly responsible for this too. I unilaterally hid the fact that my brother had returned, and I’m sorry for making you so worried. But it’s all in the past, Xiaoxi! Don’t worry about it anymore! Let’s just say we had a fight, and now we’ve made up!”

Hearing this, Zhong Shuixi felt as if Yukina was a saint, shining brightly before her.

“Okay, Yukina. We’ll be best friends forever!”

“Mhm, Yukina!”

The commotion caused by Zhong Shuixi, which resulted in the mass fainting of the entire Kendo Club, finally came to an end.

With Yukina’s constant efforts, the incident was successfully covered up.

As for Mika, although Yukina couldn’t fully explain the situation, when Yukina asked Mika how she knew about superpowers, Mika also began to play dumb.

As a result, even though Yukina hadn’t explained anything, both sides reached a consensus not to interfere.

After school, Yukina and Charlotte walked home.

“I finally managed to cover up the mess you made, brother.”

Yukina sighed, looking utterly exhausted.

“Eh? What do you mean, ‘the mess I made’? I tried my best to resolve the situation with Xiaoxi!”

“And what then? Brother, do you remember what you promised me? You promised you would never use magic in the school! Yet, you broke that promise, flying all over the school, and letting so many people see it! If you hadn’t been flying so fast, you would have been completely exposed!”

“Hey! Don’t blame me for that! I wanted to quickly find the mastermind who was manipulating Xiaoxi!”

“And did you find them?”

“Uh…” Charlotte fell silent.

“I found him, but he got away.”

“So you didn’t find him, did you? Honestly, brother, just thinking about all the trouble you’ll cause me in the future gives me a massive headache…” Yukina complained.

However, at this point, Charlotte was deep in thought.

She had never met that man before, yet for some reason, he was terrified of her and even spoke of a twenty-year-old grudge.

No matter whether it was twenty years ago in the real world or twenty years ago in the other world, she hadn’t been born yet. How could there be a grudge?

Furthermore, he had a massive amount of magical power on him.

Although it was nowhere near her level, it was clear that he wasn’t a person from the real world. He had crossed over from another world, just like her.

The cross-world magic she used was from a scroll she seized from Feiye Zhenhong. This meant that in the other world, she wasn’t the first person to use cross-world magic to travel to the real world.

It wasn’t surprising that there were people who could use magic in the real world.

And there was one more crucial point.

The silver dagger that Zhong Shuixi used was exactly the same as the silver dagger that Charlotte always carried. Even the carvings on the dagger were identical.

The silver dagger Charlotte used was a farewell gift from Master Chloe, who also said that the dagger was passed down from Granny Rhani.

That’s why it had the unique magical engravings of the Mist Witch, the Night Witch, and her own Star Witch engravings.

And the silver dagger that Zhong Shuixi used also had those three magical engravings.

It was as if the single silver dagger had suddenly been duplicated.

A silver dagger that should only exist as one suddenly had an identical copy. No matter how she explained it, it made no sense.

And Zhong Shuixi had confessed that the dagger was given to her by that man.

So the question was, who exactly was that man?

“Brother… Brother… Are you even listening to me?”

Yukina’s call interrupted Charlotte’s thoughts.

“Eh? What did you just say, Yukina?”

“I was asking what we should eat for dinner tonight! You’re not thinking of making some bizarre concoction again, are you?”

“How could it be a bizarre concoction? It’s delicious, isn’t it? Shaula said it was good.”

“You even let your other sister try it! Can you stop messing with your sister! I’m starting to worry if your other sister will even live to adulthood.”

Charlotte and Yukina continued to bicker happily as they walked home.

“Hmm? By the way, did I forget something important? What was it? I can’t remember. Well, if I can’t remember, it probably wasn’t that important.”

Charlotte casually dismissed the forgotten matter.

Meanwhile.

Huangquan Ai woke up in the dark pit.

She climbed up and looked around in confusion. Then, she immediately looked horrified.

“Eh? Where is this place? Kanon-chan, where are you? Help me!”

****

Late at night.

The full moon was high in the sky.

A figure slowly flew through the night sky above the brightly lit modern city.

It was a girl with beautiful blonde hair, wearing a maid outfit.

At this moment, her expression was extremely anxious.

“Lady Charlotte, something is wrong! A disaster has happened! Where are you?”