Want to be human, but cube-like

"As a very scarce resource, resource allocation often becomes a dilemma when magical girls launch a collective attack."

Its eyes were wide open, blood-red, even closer to dark red than Alex's deep red eyes in her current demon form.

"It's not uncommon for people to fight over a result they're not satisfied with."

Qiu Bi's words made Su Shi's expression tighten.

…………

PS: The witch's battle was skipped entirely; it was basically just Alex wielding a sword, hacking and slashing, the Phantom Sword flying around, and dimensional slashes sucking in energy, while Souyo just lazed around on the sidelines.

Volume 2: Chapter 220 My shop is very big; you can sleep directly there if you get tired of playing.

Although Kyubey spoke calmly about seemingly reasonable questions, Alex always felt that his words carried some kind of malice.

She didn't glean anything from what Cupid said; it was just a very inexplicable intuition.

"I don't need this."

As she spoke, Alex casually tossed the Seed of Lamentation to Su Shi.

"Huh? This won't do...?"

Su Shi instinctively caught the seed of lamentation, but hesitated for a moment.

Even though Alex also contributed a lot to the fight against the witch, and even guided her to learn how to use her true abilities.

If Alex weren't here tonight, Su Shi would find it hard to imagine how she could possibly fight that terrifying witch all by herself.

But after hearing Kyubey's explanation, she realized that the Seed of Lamentation was indeed a very important and irreplaceable resource for her.

But if that's the case, wouldn't Alex have wasted a whole night, risking her life to fight, only to gain nothing in return?

"For me, the Seed of Lamentation can only be displayed at home as a decoration."

Moreover, it was the kind that couldn't be placed steadily at all. Alex glanced at the Seed of Sorrow, which was held in Su Shi's hands and had sharp ends that made it impossible to place properly.

It can't be used as a consumable, there are no crafting recipes for it in the recipe book, and you can't even find its attributes. To her, this thing is completely useless.

Since Su Shi needs it, then we should give it to her.

"However, this Seed of Lamentation looks different from the one I got last time?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the Seed of Sorrow a few more times before noticing that Alex was somewhat different, and then moved closer to Su Shi.

She looked down to examine the Seed of Sorrow that she had just given to Su Shi, so much so that she didn't even notice the two cute, fluffy rabbit ears on her head drooping in front of Su Shi.

A faint fragrance wafted over, it was hard to tell if it was the scent of hair or the fur on the rabbit's ears. Su Shi subconsciously sniffed, her cheeks flushing slightly.

Is it the smell of shampoo? Or is it a fur conditioner for rabbit ears? ...Speaking of which, does she use fur conditioner like a pet?

Looking at the long rabbit ears, Su Shi imagined Alex taking a bath, using a brush to apply pet grooming solution to the rabbit ears while she was taking a bath. Her index finger trembled slightly as she held the Seed of Sorrow, feeling a little restless.

It looks so smooth... I feel like it would feel really nice to knead it with my hands?

Su Shi thought to herself.

"So, how do you plan to use it to replenish your magic?"

Alex suddenly looked up, and as she finished speaking, she found that Su Shi was staring at her with a strange look.

"Ah! Hmm... Yes, yes, it's for replenishing magic power..."

Realizing that her gaze was impolite, Su Shi blushed and turned her eyes away in a fluster, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She continued speaking, following Alex's words.

"Um, how...how do I do it?"

But Su Shi, who was holding the Seed of Lamentation, also looked at a loss. She picked up the Seed of Lamentation, held it between her fingertips for a moment, and looked slightly helpless.

"Just bring the Soul Gem close to the Seed of Lamentation."

Seeing this, Cupid offered a timely reminder.

"Is it that simple?"

Alex had thought that some procedure or ritual was required to use the Seed of Lamentation.

After all, the magic-related modules she had encountered before were all quite troublesome.

Su Shi hesitated for a moment before closing her eyes slightly.

A flash of light, and she deactivated her transformation.

The gorgeous outfit she was wearing was replaced by the relatively simple yet exquisitely crafted uniform of Tsukimori High School.

Su Shi had considered whether or not to maintain her transformed state indefinitely, since in the magical girl anime she knew, after transforming into a magical girl, they all had to hide their real identity.

However, after making a contract with Kyubey, the witch girl she became did not seem to have the ability to conceal her identity in her transformed state, nor did she have any impressive-sounding code names or anything like that.

When Kyubey was introducing matters related to magical girls, he also did not mention whether or not it was necessary to conceal his identity.

Not to mention, when he first met Alex, Kyubey called her by her real name.

Now that things have come to this, there's no need to maintain the transformed state in front of Alex.

The Soul Gem embedded in the clothes fell back into Su Shi's hand, and she slowly brought it closer to the Seed of Sorrow, as Kyubey had instructed.

Visibly, wisps of grayish-black mist-like energy drifted out of the Soul Gem and were absorbed into the Seed of Lamentation. The bright yellow gem, which had been slightly murky, suddenly became much clearer.

"The consumed mana... has been replenished."

Blinking and gazing curiously at the two gems in her hands, Su Shi sensed them for a moment and exclaimed in surprise.

She felt that her body did indeed feel a bit lighter than before.

"But it seems more like purification than replenishing magic power?"

Alex frowned and muttered something in confusion.

She glanced at Su Shi's status and was surprised to find that the "Transformation in Progress" status on the other party had increased to "(359:59:55)".

"This Seed of Lamentation should be usable two or three more times."

As if he hadn't heard Alex's mutterings, Kyubey stared at the dark Seed of Lamentation and spoke to Souji.

Alex did not lower her voice.

Three hundred and sixty hours... fifteen days?

Alex didn't mind that Kyubey hadn't responded; she was simply curious about magical girls anyway.

She silently calculated the number in her mind and wrote it down, but did not say it aloud.

Compared to this, Alex had other things she cared about more and needed Su Shi's reply.

Let's think of a topic that can help us connect first.

Alex, who had been taught a lot about social skills by Xiangzi, pondered for a moment.

Considering that she left after dinner and moved so quickly, and only found the witch's barrier after Su Shi, even if Su Shi was led by Kyubey and headed straight for the witch's barrier with a clear purpose, she should still not have had time to eat dinner.

"It's so late, Suze, you probably haven't had dinner yet, right? I just happened to open a burger shop in Ikebukuro~"

So she asked, seemingly casually.

"The store is quite big. If you're hungry, I can treat you to a hamburger... By the way, do you like black tea? We have some high-quality black tea in the store, I can brew it for you to try."

Considering that Su Shi and Xiang Zi were the same age and had similar personalities, both being gentle, they should have similar interests, Alex added another point.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, Su Shi, who had just turned her gaze away from the Soul Gem and the Seed of Lamentation, suddenly tensed up, looked up at Alex, and had a feeling that the other party seemed to have ill intentions.

And, hamburgers...?

Upon hearing this word, and recalling the witch Su Shi from the hamburger meat incident, his face turned pale again.

"No, no need! Thank you! My mom is still waiting for me at home...!"

She stammered out an excuse.

I have a feeling that if I go back with her like this, something really bad is bound to happen...!

…………

Volume 2: Chapter 221 Xiangzi, I met a magical girl tonight!

I was rejected...

Watching Su Shi and Kyubey hurriedly leave, Alex stood there, looking somewhat depressed.

She didn't understand why Su Shi was afraid of her, even though she had always been quite friendly.

Is it because I've never laughed?

Walking to the abandoned warehouse, in front of the guard booth that was also abandoned there, Alex used the dirty glass window as a mirror to reflect her beautiful face.

But now, she can no longer laugh like she used to.

Recalling the time Xiangzi pulled at the corners of her mouth to make herself smile, Alex poked two index fingers at the corners of her mouth and pulled them upwards.

Through the glass window, the stunningly beautiful bunny-eared girl wore a forced, comical expression. Her lips were pulled into a slight upward curve with her index finger, but the fact that they were still pursed made the expression look nothing like a smile.

very ugly.

Once she lowered her hand, her delicate, flawless face, freed from the pull, returned to its original expressionless state.

Looking into those deep red eyes again, one could vaguely detect a hint of sullenness.

This is her expression, which hasn't changed much over this period of time.

"..."

Alex exhaled a heavy breath silently, her eyes lowered, and even her two long rabbit ears drooped listlessly, softly clinging to the sides of her head.

He raised his hand, grabbed the two long ears, and rubbed them vigorously as if venting his anger.

The slight stinging sensation forced her to break free from that low mood.

But when she looked at herself in the glass window and saw that her ears were a mess from being rubbed, and even the originally soft fur was standing on end, Alex felt annoyed and began to slowly comb them with her fingertips.

Then, when her fingertip accidentally brushed against her earlobe, she was stimulated by the sensitive nerves in her ear, causing her body to tremble involuntarily.

...Never mind, I'll just ignore it.

Somewhat disheartened, Alex glanced at her status bar and saw that her monster form only had less than four or five minutes left.

She casually tucked her long ears behind her head and headed toward the hamburger shop.

Let's go back.

……

Why would Mu say something like that...?

On the second floor of the hamburger shop, standing in front of his Roland VR-730 keyboard, Xiangzi was lost in deep thought as his fingertips gently stroked the keys.

It has been a long time since Mu and I parted ways at Yuzawa Cafe.

She walked silently with Mu for a while, watching him board the tram before returning to the hamburger shop.

Throughout the journey, Xiangzi hesitated to speak, but she didn't know what to say, remaining in a strange state of entanglement and confusion.

The same thing happened even when we walked back into the burger joint.

Adding to his unease was the fact that he almost bumped into Takamatsu Tōdō on the tram earlier that day, so he decided to go to the soundproof room on the second floor and play some piano music to calm his mind.

Since Alex stopped playing in the band with Lena and the others, the entire second floor has been empty. Alex hasn't touched an instrument in a long time. Thinking that this place shouldn't be wasted, Xiangzi moved her own piano down from her bedroom and would come here to relax whenever she had free time.

But today, this way of relaxing doesn't seem to be working very well.

The confusion in her heart prevented her from calming down.

We absolutely have to form a band!

The words that had even made Xiangzi feel a sense of estrangement from Mu resurfaced in her mind once again, and she pondered them carefully.

Why is Mu suddenly so obsessed with the band?

Xiangzi suddenly realized that it had only been a few months since she last met her childhood friend, but when they sat down to chat again, she felt a sense of unfamiliarity and incomprehension towards Mu.

However, Mu Mingming doesn't like the current Crychic style...