A little later, they decided to hold a meeting, setting the location at the dining table in the living room.
On either side of the square dining table sat two wooden chairs. Chinrei and Yang Xia sat facing each other, while Yang Mo sat to the left of her older sister.
Yang Xia was the first to speak.
“Let me ask you first, how long have you been staying here?”
“Since last night.”
Chinrei answered briefly, and before she could say more, Yang Mo eagerly added, “And last night, we took a bath together, and even slept in the same bed!”
For some reason, she wore an expression of pride as she spoke.
“What?” Yang Xia looked at her in disbelief, then turned and glared at Chinrei.
“You just met her yesterday and things already went this far? What kind of tricks did you use?!”
But when she remembered all the things that happened last night, Chinrei also felt awkward, furrowing her brows slightly as she answered:
“Rather than using any tricks, I was basically forced into it.”
“Forced? My sister would never do something like that!”
With a doubtful look, Yang Xia turned to the left and faced Yang Mo.
“Yang Mo, is that true?”
Yang Mo tilted her head and glanced away, pouting as she said:
“I don’t understand what you two are talking about~”
“Huh?”
Yang Xia was dumbfounded.
Just what have you been up to, kid!
Even though Yang Xia didn’t say anything, Chinrei could easily read what she was thinking from the look of horror on her face.
Perhaps realizing there was no point in dwelling on this, Yang Xia rested her forehead for a moment before continuing with another question for Chinrei.
“Let’s drop this topic. So, what’s your real identity? Explain.”
Chinrei said, “Alright, I already told Yang Mo about this, but before I finish, you have to promise not to get too worked up.”
“No problem. If Yang Mo can accept it, it can’t be that big a deal.”
“In short, I’m a doll created by the Witch…”
The instant she heard those words, Yang Xia shot up from her seat, pressing her hands against the table.
“A Witch?!” she cried out.
Even Yang Mo beside her was startled by the commotion.
Chinrei quickly tapped the table twice to remind Yang Xia, “Hey, you promised not to get too worked up, remember?”
“Ah… um, sorry…”
After apologizing, she blushed and sat back down.
Chinrei continued explaining, “To be exact, I’m one of the dolls that were created. My sisters are all automatic killing machines, but by some chance, I was the only one who developed my own will.”
Yang Xia asked, “Why is that?”
“I don’t really know either.” Chinrei shook her head.
She did know that she was here because of the reincarnation of her soul.
But why did I reincarnate? Was it just because of my wish?
She pondered these questions.
But regardless of the reason she came to this world, her own will would never change.
“Even though I don’t know why I was born…”
She placed a hand on her chest and continued:
“But I don’t want to do bad things, nor do I want to help the Witch. All I want is to live a peaceful life.”
And in that peaceful life, the happiness of Magical Girls was also an essential part.
Chinrei turned her palm, which was on her chest, toward Yang Xia, and asked her, “Can you accept this explanation?”
“It’s not that I can’t accept it…”
Maybe because Chinrei suddenly became so serious, she seemed a little deflated.
“After all, you’ve stayed with my sister for nearly two days. If you had any bad intentions, you would’ve acted by now. But how do you explain what happened on the message board?”
Now it was Chinrei’s turn to try to gloss things over.
“Think about what happened when we met yesterday.”
“Yesterday… I think…”
“You sensed some strange magical energy, so your first reaction was to destroy me.”
Chinrei finished the second half of her sentence for her.
Yang Xia’s aggressive attitude softened, and she looked aggrieved.
“Well… sorry, I was too impulsive.”
She lowered her shoulders and put both hands from the table onto her lap.
Seeing her like this, Chinrei raised an index finger, closed one eye, and said:
“It’s not entirely your fault. I could tell you were a Magical Girl from the start. If you’re a Magical Girl, it’s normal to have misunderstandings like that.”
Now that she’d said this much, Yang Xia immediately understood what she meant.
“I get it, so did Koya do the same thing?”
“That’s right. Luckily, I managed to survive by giving it everything I had.”
Chinrei thought, although it was true she fought desperately to survive, the reason was, of course, something she made up.
Yang Xia showed a look that was half admiration, half lingering fear, and said to Chinrei, “I can’t even tell if you’re lucky or unlucky to have survived that powerhouse senior…”
“It’s because I was being chased by her that I ended up in Star Lake Town and got rescued by Yang Mo.”
With that, she and Yang Xia both looked at Yang Mo.
Yang Xia asked, “Is that true?”
“Mm!” Yang Mo smiled and nodded, then put her palms together and raised them to her cheeks.
“It was truly a fateful encounter! Though there was still something a bit disappointing about it.”
Chinrei and Yang Xia both looked at her curiously.
Yang Mo continued, “We met at the junkyard. If only it had been somewhere more romantic.”
“You have the nerve to say that!” Yang Xia stood up, her voice rising.
“No more picking up things from places like that next time!”
But in response to Yang Xia’s warning, Yang Mo only turned her head to the side and stuck out her tongue.
Afterward, Yang Xia gave Chinrei a look of disgust, covering her nose with her wrist as she spoke.
“No wonder you seemed so dirty yesterday. Are you clean now?”
“I’m completely clean now, of course!”
“If you smell, I’ll toss you out right away.”
“Huh?”
Chinrei immediately threw away her goal of peaceful coexistence.
She slapped her hand on the table with a loud smack and stood up to confront Yang Xia.
“Are you forgetful? Didn’t we just say I took a bath?”
Despite the tension between the two, Yang Mo had no intention of stepping in to stop them.
“Oh, right!” She suddenly remembered something very important, her face breaking into a cheerful smile.
“Chinrei, do you remember what you said yesterday? You said that if you got along with my sister, you’d become our third sister. Now, we’re one family!”
What?!
Those words were like thunder out of a clear sky, completely stunning Chinrei into a dazed state.
Did I really say that? Thinking back… Maybe it was right after we took that bath yesterday? Did I really say such a thing? Why does this kid remember it even though I just said it offhand?!
Chinrei wished she could travel back in time and strangle her past self.
She and Yang Xia had both been staring at Yang Mo, but after two seconds, they turned to look at each other.
“Be family with this person? That’s impossible!”
Almost at the exact same moment, they both blurted out the same sentence, and at the same time pointed an index finger at each other.
Only Yang Mo on the side was still enjoying herself, sitting in her chair with both hands propping up her chin, quietly watching everything unfold before her.
After a long separation, the lively noise had finally returned to this home.