Want to be human, but cube-like

"Okay, see you tomorrow..."

Responding softly, Mu watched as Su Shi disappeared from his sight.

Standing at the entrance of the ring, the delicate, blue-haired girl, like a finely crafted doll placed there as an ornament to be admired, stared blankly as the band members left one by one.

Are you... awake?

She was still wondering if the white creature she had just seen on the tram was someone's prank.

But no matter how much he asked in his heart, there was no response.

A sense of loss welled up inside me, along with questions about the strange creature.

Could it be... not an illusion?

But it seemed to call out to Su Shi as well, and appeared to know her, yet Su Shi seemed not to hear it and ignored it...

"Su Shi..."

Recalling the question Su Shi had just asked her, Mu lowered her head and murmured something sadly.

She didn't know what to do.

If... if she were there, she could help me handle these problems.

A cold wind blew by in the early spring evening, bringing a chill to the girl's slender neck. She couldn't help but hunch her shoulders, her small figure clutching her guitar case appearing so delicate.

Her already delicate and flawless face, in this lonely environment, gained an even more endearing and charming appeal.

This beautiful scene, unwittingly, fell into the eyes of a blue-haired girl in a burger shop across the street.

…………

P.S. Just a quick note: to ensure the privacy of the characters in the book, Kyubey doesn't actually have mind-reading abilities, won't break into other people's homes without permission, and won't spy on other people's private spaces.

This change was made to avoid potential issues, but it will be presented in a more reasonable way within the storyline.

However, Kyubey in the original work didn't actually have the ability to telepathically connect, right? It could only transmit information to others. I don't think there was a scene in the show where the five color teams could communicate with it without saying a word. Maybe I just forgot?

However, it definitely can't read minds, otherwise it would have known Homura's abilities at the beginning of the story, and it wouldn't have been so surprised when Madoka wished to become a god.

Volume 2: Chapter 205 You are free.

"The price of this baked button mushroom cap could indeed be lowered slightly..."

Holding the customer reviews that Alex had compiled over a long period of time, Xiangzi pondered them carefully.

After all, today's lunch was a trial run of the new products. By the time Xiangzi came home from school in the afternoon to help Alex organize the menu, it was already close to lunchtime. So they decided not to open for business during the evening mealtime and instead add the new dishes to the menu first.

So, Xiangzi and Alex casually found a seat in the burger shop and sat facing each other. They ate their dinner while discussing the prices of the new dishes.

"Sea urchin sauce... sea urchin is indeed more expensive, but it's the same price as a serving of meat, hmm..."

Looking at the other pending question listed by Alex below, Xiangzi fell into deep thought.

Although it's a sauce, it's made with sea urchin as the main ingredient. Sea urchin is relatively expensive, so it's not hard to understand why it's priced the same as meat.

However, considering its positioning as a sauce, this price is indeed a bit exaggerated.

It's inevitable that customers will complain.

After all, customers don't care about the price of the raw materials for your sauce.

"Then let's lower the price slightly, making it only twice as high as other sauces."

Without much hesitation, Xiangzi quickly made this suggestion to Alex.

This is the advantage of having an infinitely resource-rich alternate world as your backing—or rather, a game world, as you should call it now.

Any food ingredient, as long as it can be grown and raised, is essentially a cost-free business, so there's no need to worry about profits.

Even if they gave these sauces away for free, let alone just lowering the price a little, they wouldn't lose money.

However, that would only make the guests suspicious.

After all, it seems very strange to sell food that should be expensive at a low price, and it's hard to gain trust in such a situation.

"Well, Xiangzi, it's up to you to decide."

Alex, resting her chin on her hands and quietly watching Xiangzi as he pondered, answered softly.

"what……"

Upon hearing this, Xiangzi sighed softly.

"Alex, you need to be more assertive, this is your burger shop!"

She put down her pen and paper, looked up at the other person, and said.

"...Own opinion?"

A slightly unfamiliar word reached Alex's ears, leaving her somewhat confused.

"You have to learn to make your own decisions and try not to rely on others to make choices for you."

Knowing that Alex was like a blank sheet of paper and knew nothing, Xiangzi patiently explained things to her slowly.

After all, she didn't know how many things Alex still didn't understand, so she could only wait for the right opportunity to teach her little by little.

I have a feeling that it's like they're raising Alex.

"In that case, we can consider it a step forward on the path to becoming human."

Just as a child who is not yet an adult gradually learns to be independent, this is also one of the necessary factors for growing into a human being.

She smiled faintly and said.

"Should I...make the decision myself?"

With a slight frown, Alex accepted this concept, which she had never thought about before.

It really is completely unfamiliar.

After all, before coming into this world, Alex never had the right to make her own decisions.

This is also

"My freedom?"

Suddenly, the word came to her mind.

That was a feeling she experienced when she first came into this world.

But Alex has never been able to properly understand this word.

She simply linked the loss of her mother and the decision to stop indulging her to freedom.

She imbued the word with a negative, lonely connotation that she abhorred.

But at this moment, Alex seemed to have gained a new insight from it.

"free……"

Shoko was taken aback by Alex's sudden question, but he quickly recovered.

"That's right, it's your freedom, Alex."

She was pleased that the other person was able to learn to understand this abstract concept.

"Learn to make your own decisions, don't blindly follow other people's wishes and go against your own ideas, and stick to your own choices."

As he spoke softly, Xiangzi slowly recalled his stubborn decision to leave the Toyokawa family.

Even now, she doesn't know if it was right or wrong, because her father showed no sign of cheering up because of her encouragement.

But it was precisely because of this choice that she was able to meet Alex.

Therefore, Xiangzi sometimes feels fortunate for the decision he insisted on.

She could hardly imagine what would have happened to her if she hadn't met Alex that day, and what kind of people Alex would have met and what she would have become.

"This is a very important ability that is essential for being a normal person."

In Xiangzi's view, Alex lacks the ability to make independent choices, which is why she stagnates and falls into depression because of Aine's departure. If Alex were to learn to be independent during this process, she wouldn't be so troubled by this matter anymore.

"You must remember that you are free."

She spoke very seriously to Alex.

"I am free..."

Blinking her clear, light red eyes blankly, Alex began to ponder what Xiangzi had said.

"...!?"

Just then, as Xiangzi's gaze swept across Alex's face, she seemed to unexpectedly spot a familiar figure from behind Alex through the glass window of the hamburger shop.

He paused, startled, and instinctively looked in the direction of the blue light.

...Mu?

Across the wide street, Xiangzi looked towards the distant entrance of Ring, at the seemingly serene young woman whose eyes revealed a hint of loneliness.

Why is she here? And she seems... a little down?

In an instant, Xiangzi, who was still puzzled, stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

She recalled that she had ridden the tram with her and almost spotted her Takamatsu lamp.

Even after Xiangzi realized that the other person had gotten off at the same stop as her, she continued to follow him until she saw the light go into the ring, at which point she returned to the hamburger shop, still confused.

They both appeared at the same livehouse, making it hard for Xiangzi not to connect the two of them with the band.

But... didn't Mu say that they never practiced together again after that?

She gently bit her lip, and seeing that Mu seemed to be preparing to leave, a thought flashed through Xiangzi's mind, and she suddenly stood up.

"Alex, I have to go out for a little while. Can we take care of the menu when I get back tonight?"

Calming his inner turmoil, Xiangzi asked Alex softly.

"Well, I was just about to go out too. I'll lock the door later."

But to her surprise, Alex also stood up and said something.

"Eh?"

Slightly taken aback, Xiangzi assumed that Alex intended to accompany him.

"I want to go out and see if any witches or familiars are wandering around outside tonight."

However, Alex's words dispelled her doubts.

"After all, Xiangzi, you said I am free."

Although she still couldn't laugh as easily as before, Alex seemed to be in a much better mood.

"For me, going out on adventures every night is the most relaxing and liberating thing I can do."

This is probably one of the few things she has done entirely based on her own inner choices, rather than following habit.

…………

P.S. I cropped out a tiny bit of the bottom half of this image, but it still feels a bit risky...

Xiangzi is slowly dyeing Alex with her own colors.

Is this a kind of growth for Alex?

By the way, my neighbor has started renovating again these past few days, fiddling with that old electric drill. It's so annoying.

Volume 2: Chapter 206 Xiao Xiang... is dead?!

Why hasn't Xiao Xiang come back!?

In a secluded public restroom, a brown-haired girl stood in front of the washbasin, facing the mirror, and asked a question.

There was no one around her at all; she looked like a patient who had suffered a mental breakdown.

But in reality, Su Shi was asking the question to Kyubey, who was reflected in the mirror and squatting behind her.