Cured, but Still Drooling

Rain slapped against the glass, leaving streaks of water behind.

Through the window, two vague figures—one higher, one lower—could faintly be seen.

Looking a bit closer…

The lower figure had its head buried deep against the upper figure’s legs.

It was hard not to let one’s imagination run wild.

“Mom!”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not your mom!”

In reality, however, it was just a certain empty-headed girl clinging tightly to Flona’s white-stockinged calf.

Kirishima Shiro’s eyes were hazy, as if veiled by a layer of mist, her whole body going limp as she sprawled on the floor.

Her arms were wrapped extremely tight, her forearms pressed against Flona’s fair, slender leg, even her fingertips sinking into the soft, supple flesh beneath the stockings.

Her head rubbed restlessly against the bend of Flona’s knee, her bangs becoming slightly disheveled.

The tip of her nose was almost touching the cool white fabric, her breathing carrying faint warmth as it brushed across the surface of the stockings again and again.

From time to time, she even let out an unconscious little hum, like a clingy kitten that refused to let go no matter how much you pulled.

What should be done next?

Flona snapped her fingers, and a wisp of blazing golden flame sprang from her fingertips.

Burn her?

With just a light touch of the flame to Kirishima Shiro’s body, she would surely be reduced to ashes.

However, the other party, even in her out-of-control state, hadn’t begun slaughtering indiscriminately.

That meant her conscience still remained, and her awareness hadn’t completely fallen.

And then there was the fact that people called magical girls heroes who protected the city.

And also…

“Your drool—your drool is about to drip onto me…”

Flona pinched Kirishima Shiro by the shoulder and neck and shook her, only for the girl in her arms to mutter softly and rub against her again, crystal-clear saliva hanging at the corner of her lips.

It took Flona quite some effort to move this soft, heavy lump onto the sofa cushions.

When she let go, Flona looked troubled at the spreading damp patch on her white stockings, standing out conspicuously against the pristine silk.

What was there to worry about with an idiot dumb enough to get hit by her own magic?

Flona extinguished the holy flame in her hand, a new idea forming.

At present, Kirishima Shiro was in an “Aba-aba” state, so perhaps she could ask her for some information she wanted.

Then decide whether to deal with her afterward.

Thus, Flona and Kirishima Shiro entered a pleasant “I ask, you answer” session.

“I think I more or less understand everything now.”

After finishing her questions, Flona stretched lazily.

Three years ago, a black rain fell, causing a certain degree of mutation in various plants and animals, and from this, evil monsters were born.

Following that came a curly-haired little fairy called “Uru,” who searched for girls in need of help to form contracts.

If the contract succeeded, the girl would transform into a magical girl of love and justice, bearing the responsibility of eliminating monsters.

As for Kirishima Shiro, she didn’t know what malice or witches were, only that recently there had indeed been a voice constantly tempting her to do bad things.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

After finishing the questioning, Flona felt even more confused.

For a contract to be formed, both sides had to know its contents.

Even if witches might be pitiable in their circumstances, knowingly entering a contract that would lead to madness of the mind and harm to innocents was still a choice that planted the seed of hatred from the start.

In Flona’s eyes, the moment a witch made that choice, she had already become detestable.

Even if she burned them all, Flona wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of mercy.

Yet Kirishima Shiro told her that Uru had bypassed the contract restrictions, using the banner of justice to turn people into magical girls.

Wasn’t that equivalent to producing a batch of ticking time bombs?

Once the malice inside a magical girl reached its peak, becoming a witch would only be a matter of time.

This made Flona feel deeply uneasy.

For now, it was unclear how large the scale of magical girls was.

It would be best to find this Uru as soon as possible and stop its contract activities.

Flona asked Kirishima Shiro, “Do you know where Uru is?”

“U… Uru went with my senior to wipe out a monster organization, and they haven’t shown up for several days now… hrrr…”

It seemed the duration of Frozen Thinking had ended.

Kirishima Shiro slumped against the armrest of the sofa, slowly closing her eyes, a half-mumbled murmur escaping her lips.

She had clearly fallen into a baby-like, high-quality sleep.

“She fell asleep? At least tell me where the monster organization is first.” Flona covered her face.

Thinking carefully, Kirishima Shiro probably didn’t know the exact location of the monster organization anyway.

If she had known, why would she have chased monsters around asking about her senior’s whereabouts?

It seemed Flona would have to find a way to catch a monster and ask for directions.

Flona yawned. “Before that, I’ll rest for a bit.”

“Mom, don’t leave me!”

In her sleep, Kirishima Shiro’s breathing grew rapid, her hands flailing aimlessly in the air.

Only after she grasped Flona’s wrist did her expression gradually calm.

A nightmare?

The rain outside had already stopped, moonlight slipping through the sheer curtains and edging the girl’s pale cheeks with silver.

After learning that magical girls were merely innocent victims of deception, Flona’s hostility toward Kirishima Shiro had already faded away.

“The ignorant are not guilty. Since I borrowed your bed, let’s sleep together.”

Flona slid her hands beneath Kirishima Shiro’s neck and knees, gently lifting the soft body up.

…

Sunlight filtered through the half-closed window, casting fine patterns of light and shadow over Kirishima Shiro’s eyelids.

Her eyelashes trembled, her consciousness slowly smoothing out like a crumpled piece of paper.

A gentle breeze carried a trace of coolness, a faint fragrance lingering in her nose, instantly dispelling the remnants of sleepiness.

Kirishima Shiro propped herself up, the blanket slipping down to reveal her delicate collarbones.

Only then did fragments of yesterday’s memories hazily resurface.

She remembered that she seemed to have turned into a different person, uncontrollably inviting Flona into her home and even using Frozen Thinking on her.

After that, she couldn’t remember anything.

Right—where was Flona?

As she was about to get up, Kirishima Shiro instinctively reached out beside her.

The delicate texture beneath her palm made her freeze.

Kirishima Shiro stiffly turned her head and saw Flona’s peaceful sleeping face.

Golden hair like silk spread across the pillow, her breathing light and steady.

Oh, so she’s in my bed…

No, wait!

Why is Flona in my bed, and where are our clothes?

Staring at the scattered clothing strewn across the floor, Kirishima Shiro was unable to recover for a long while.

With her shallow understanding of physiology, it seemed she might have done something socially fatal to Flona!

“Mm…”

At that moment, a soft murmur escaped Flona’s throat, her long lashes fluttering slightly.

It was clearly a sign that she was about to wake up.

Kirishima Shiro had to think of something—quickly!

The moment Flona opened her eyes, she fell silent at the scene on the bed.

As if struck by a silencing divine spell.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry!”

From her perspective, Kirishima Shiro was kneeling before her in a perfect dogeza posture. Her snow-white skin glowed softly, dark hair clinging to her smooth shoulder blades with nervous sweat.

Even the toes curled unconsciously at her ankles carried a shy allure under the morning light.

The atmosphere was so ambiguous that it gave Flona the illusion that she had transmigrated once again.

This bed sheet is so white—no, that sun is so round.

No, that’s not it!

Flona calmed herself and asked, “Is apologizing over here always done in such a terrible posture?”

Well, she had seen far more absurd things back when she was subjugating the Demon King.

“But I really am sorry to you, Flona.”

“You didn’t do anything bad. What do you have to apologize for?”

The only Frozen Thinking you used even bounced back onto yourself.

With a child this foolish, Flona was afraid she’d end up selling herself without realizing it.

“Didn’t I?” Kirishima Shiro asked in confusion.

“No. We just slept together for one night. By the way, you fell asleep even earlier than I did.” Flona raised an eyebrow at her. “If any ‘bad things’ happened, I’d be the one who did them.”

What bad things?

Of course, stripping Kirishima Shiro completely naked and thoroughly purifying her malice.

After all, malice takes root in the soul.

If purified forcibly, it would inevitably cause damage to her soul.

Another method of purification was through skin-to-skin contact, allowing sacred energy to slowly seep into her spiritual body.

Seen this way, such “frank intimacy” was indeed a necessary condition for purifying Kirishima Shiro’s malice.

And because of this, all the malice she had painstakingly accumulated disappeared—she really was a big “bad” person.

Thinking of this, Flona nodded seriously.

“Pfft!”

Kirishima Shiro suddenly laughed, her shoulders trembling lightly.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, I just think the way you speak nonsense with such a serious face is really cute, Flona.”

Although they hadn’t known each other long, Kirishima Shiro found it hard to imagine Flona doing bad things.

Magical girls, who were constantly exposed to malice, had long honed their sense of good and evil into an almost instinctive sharpness.

And the benevolence surrounding Flona was clearly as warm and vigorous as the sun.

With Flona putting it that way, all the earlier awkwardness between them vanished.

Kirishima Shiro probed, “Flona, do you remember what happened after I invited you into my house?”

“What happened?”

After hesitating for a moment, Kirishima Shiro vaguely explained, “Like… did I do anything that went beyond your common sense?”

Such as casting magic on Flona.

“Hmm…” Flona thought for a moment. “Does clinging to my clothes while calling me Mom and refusing to let me leave count?”

“No!”

She actually did something that embarrassing?

Instantly, Kirishima Shiro felt an urge to go back to yesterday and beat herself up.

But judging from Flona’s reaction, her identity as a magical girl hadn’t been exposed.

As for why they slept without clothes?

Kirishima Shiro chalked it up to her loss of control yesterday.

With her senior and Uru both gone, she had no way of knowing why she lost control.

All she could do was take things one step at a time.

“Oh, right, there’s one more thing. This morning, the glass plate in your clothes kept ringing, so I turned it off for you.”

“The glass plate?”

Seeing Flona point at her pocket, Kirishima Shiro understood. “You mean my phone.”

“If it kept ringing, that was probably my alarm, uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to be late for school!”

Seeing the display reading [Alarm in 22 hours 57 minutes], Kirishima Shiro hurriedly yanked open the wardrobe and started rummaging for a new school uniform.

Flona lay lazily on the bed, watching the flustered Kirishima Shiro.

A magical girl who protected the city actually had to go to school?

Well, that made sense. Even the mages in the Hero’s party, despite their contributions in subjugating the Demon King, still had to attend the Tia Magic Academy to continue their studies and strive to graduate as soon as possible.

Fortunately, I’m already retired.