Chapter 4: Magical Girl’s Witch Trial

As if sliced by a sharp blade, Mahiru felt like a puddle of water sinking into a dark ocean of shadows.

Past memories flickered through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Mahiru couldn’t understand the meaning behind their sudden appearance.

In the midst of his confusion, a faint light appeared at the bottom of the dark sea.

It was a young girl slowly sinking toward the ocean floor.

Her eyes were gently closed, and she appeared to have lost consciousness long ago.

“This is…”

Before Mahiru could react, he was rapidly pulled into the girl’s body.

Her body was nothing more than an empty shell, but as Mahiru merged completely with her, life finally returned.

She slowly opened her eyes, which sparkled like the starry sky.

***

When Mahiru woke up, his head felt heavy and groroggy.

His body felt strangely light, almost as if it didn’t belong to him.

“Ababa…”

It felt like he had just woken from an incredibly long dream.

Even though he was conscious, Mahiru remained in a daze.

“Where is…”

The surroundings were pitch black, though he could vaguely discern the shapes of nearby furniture.

He seemed to be in his own living room.

‘Huh? Why are the lights off? Am I raising night owls here?’

Mahiru tried to get up to turn on the light, but to his surprise, no matter how much strength he used, he couldn’t rise from the floor.

It felt as if something was tightly gripping his wrists.

He hurriedly turned his head and was shocked to find his hands locked to two legs of the low table by a pair of shiny handcuffs.

‘Eh? What on earth is happening? Why am I handcuffed in my own living room? Was I kidnapped? Where’s Xiaoye? Is she okay?’

Mahiru’s face contorted with shock and panic.

Just then, a familiar voice drifted over from in front of him.

“Are you finally awake?”

Mahiru instinctively looked up.

Suddenly, the living room lights flickered on.

The piercing glare flooded his vision, nearly blinding him.

Since he couldn’t use his hands to shield his eyes, he could only squeeze them shut and grimace.

He didn’t dare open them again until 10 seconds had passed.

Once his eyes adjusted to the bright environment, he realized that a black-haired girl in a black dress was sitting 5 steps away.

She sat with her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hand, staring at him with a yandere-like expression. T

he red bow on her chest was so striking that Mahiru found himself staring in a daze.

“Eh? Xiaoye?”

The black-haired girl before him was undoubtedly his younger sister, Shinoya Hiiragi.

However, what felt strange was that no matter how much the usual Xiaoye fooled around, she would never look at him as if he were literal trash.

Because of this, Mahiru froze for a long moment before calling out her name.

“Oh? You actually still remember me?”

A hint of disbelief flickered across Xiaoye’s face, leaving Mahiru even more bewildered.

‘What do you mean, “actually remember you”? You’re my sister! I could forget 100 wives and still never forget you! Even if those wives are all from games and anime and I switch them out every few days…’

But before Mahiru could voice his confusion, Xiaoye suddenly pointed a ring of keys at him, holding them like a dagger.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m your brother, of course! Don’t you recognize me?”

Mahiru was confused as to why Xiaoye would ask such a thing, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he noticed something was wrong.

His voice… it sounded different than before.

“Eh? My voice…”

“Have you finally realized?”

Xiaoye pulled out a mirror and held it in front of Mahiru.

“I’ll ask you one last time. Looking like this, are you really my brother?”

Through the mirror Xiaoye held, Mahiru was shocked to see that the person reflected was not the plain-looking boy he expected.

Instead, it was a girl with long silver hair and a small, delicate, youthful face.

She looked quite cute—cute enough to be his 101st wife.

“Ehhhhh?!!!!!”

Mahiru’s cry of shock dragged on for a long time.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

He couldn’t believe he had just casually turned into such a cute girl.

“Is this me? How did I end up like this?”

“Do you really not remember anything? Brother, you were eaten by a Witch.”

“What? I was eaten by a Witch?”

At Xiaoye’s words, Mahiru felt a sudden pang of a headache.

Fragments of memory pierced his mind like tree sprouts bursting through rock.

It seemed that really had happened.

While he was taking Xiaoye out to buy clothes, they were suddenly attacked by a Witch.

Seeing that Xiaoye was about to fall victim to the monster, he had charged forward without a second thought.

And then…

His body had been chewed up and swallowed by the Witch like a handful of french fries.

The reason he remembered the scene so clearly was that he could still faintly feel that unprecedented, agonizing pain.

But here was the problem: If he had clearly been eaten by a Witch, why was he not only alive, but transformed into a cute little girl capable of having a conversation with Xiaoye?

As if sensing Mahiru’s confusion, Xiaoye added another sentence.

“That’s because you are a Witch now!”

“Eh? I’m a Witch?”

Xiaoye tilted the mirror slightly.

Through the reflection, Mahiru discovered a silver halo hovering above his head, much like a character from Blue Archive.

For such a halo to appear above one’s head, there were only two possibilities: an angel or a Witch.

Strangely, while the halos of previous Witches were dark, Mahiru’s was silver and flickering slightly, as if it were still charging.

“How is this possible? How could I become a Witch?”

Mahiru looked completely incredulous.

“My brother… my wonderful brother was eaten just like that. He was my only brother. Do you have any idea how much I’m suffering right now?”

As she spoke, a tear of genuine sorrow escaped the corner of Xiaoye’s eye.

“But I’m right here,” Mahiru responded weakly.

“It’s just that my body somehow turned into this.”

“Still lying!”

Xiaoye suddenly pulled out a needle from somewhere and jabbed it ruthlessly into Mahiru’s fair arm, making him scream in pain.

“Ah—Xiaoye! You can’t just try to kill me because I’ve become a Witch! We’re siblings! Though I guess we’re sisters now.”

“Allow me to expose your lies!”

After pulling the needle out, Xiaoye dropped the collected blood onto her phone screen.

The screen lit up instantly. Xiaoye checked the results and showed them to Mahiru.

“Look. Your blood type is now Type O. It’s completely different from my brother’s original Type AB! You aren’t my brother at all. You’re just a monster that devoured his personality and disguised itself as him!”