NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - Stay at my home
“I really can’t believe this…”
As he regained consciousness, feeling the lingering ache of the relentless lightning, YouYu rubbed his forehead and let out a deep sigh. He pushed himself upright, moving slowly from a lying position to a seated one.
He had never anticipated that the “judgment” lightning would strike with such unrelenting frequency; it was as if he was caught in a battle between Star Pl**tinum and the world, bombarding him continuously and giving him a taste of a “lover’s” treatment.
What can I say? It seems that Mamba truly lives up to the title of the lightning endurance king. The physical enhancements granted to him have proven to be exceptionally powerful.
However, he can still feel the pain. After all, he didn’t have any ability to dull his senses.
“You’re awake? How do you feel?”
“… Mamba, do I look like I’m doing well?”
“… I’m sorry, I didn’t anticipate this. I thought you’d endure it as I did, fully conscious.”
“Then why couldn’t you endure the lightning for me?”
“It’s fine. I passed out just like you did.”
“So, are you saying it’s my fault?”
With a resigned grumble, YouYu began to survey his surroundings—like the bed he was lying on, the wardrobe next to him, the desk with various items, the door, and the window nearby.
Clearly, he was now in some room. Hmm… Upon closer reflection, in the last moments before losing consciousness, he seemed to have been thrown above Earth and then fell.
So, who picked him up after that?
As YouYu was lost in thought, the door to the room suddenly creaked open.
“Creeeak—”
In walked a girl with her hair tied up, wearing an apron, and holding a bowl.
Noticing that YouYu had woken up, the girl’s blue eyes widened in surprise. Then, she smiled warmly and hurried over to him, saying:
“Ah! You’re awake! Quick, quick! I’ve just made a pot of porridge. You should drink it while it’s still hot!”
“Uh… Well, thank you?”
Caught off guard by the girl’s sudden and enthusiastic demeanour, YouYu hesitated for a moment. Despite his doubts, he accepted the bowl of porridge and set it on the nearby table.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Sorry, I just woke up, and I’m not feeling very hungry.”
“Oh, I see~”
The girl nodded her expression a mix of confusion and innocence—her “anime girl” vibe was quite strong.
So, it was this girl who had picked him up?
While YouYu was contemplating, he was interrupted by Mamba inside him, who spoke up with an unusually agitated tone:
“This! This girl, I know her! She’s the magical girl Firebird, the one who has thwarted me many times!”
“…Huh? So, I was picked up by a magical girl? What a coincidence.”
“Forget about that for now.”
Mamba’s voice grew increasingly agitated:
“Right now, she has not yet received her powers! So you need to quickly kill her now to eliminate future threats!”
After all, in the previous time loops, Mamba had never encountered such a perfect opportunity to eliminate a magical girl before she gained her powers.
And now, he actually stumbled upon such an opportunity…
It must be seized firmly!
“You need to calm down, just calm down, alright? If we act now, we might attract all sorts of trouble. Just like in animes, magical girls often have a powerful backup…”
“But she hasn’t become one yet!”
“No, no, no! You don’t understand. All magical girls, at the moment their timeline is set, their fate becomes unchangeable. Like how you’ve always tried to defeat them but have never succeeded.”
“If we force a change in their ‘fate,’ we might face irreversible consequences…”
“…Is, Is that so?”
“It is.”
However, in reality, these were just made-up explanations with serious logical flaws.
But it didn’t matter; as long as he could fool it, that was enough. After all, in their interaction, Mamba appears to be quite naive, so this little bit of rhetoric was sufficient.
No matter what, even if he were going to play the villain, he wouldn’t resort to killing. His values were relatively upright!
After all, he was also being forced into this situation, so he had to choose a gentler method in this environment.
“Uh… are you okay?”
“Ah! Cough, cough, cough! I’m fine, I’m fine!”
The girl’s puzzled tone pulled YouYu back from his “daydreaming.” He took a sip of the porridge on the table and then smiled as he said:
“Um, thank you for picking me up. I had a heatstroke at the time, so I passed out on the side of the road. If it weren’t for you, I can’t even imagine what would have happened to me…”
“Huh? But I thought you fell from the sky, didn’t you? With a loud ‘boom’! And you had all these injuries!”
“Oh~ then its because I had a failed parachute jump.”
“Huh?”
After calmly saying this, he ignored the girl’s expression, which looked like her CPU had overheated, and continued:
“My name is YouYu. What’s your name?”
“My name… I’m WuYue!”
“WuYue, hmm, that’s a nice name.”
Smiling, YouYu went on:
“Then I’ll remember your favour of saving my life.”
“Huh? The favour of saving your life… there’s no need to exaggerate like that. I just saw you were injured all over, so I brought you back home… there’s really no need to thank me!”
Although WuYue was speaking humbly, her shy gesture of scratching the back of her head and chuckling revealed her immense joy.
What an innocent child… And to think she’s so trusting, bringing him back to her home without a second thought.
Though, there’s one thing that still confused him: Why didn’t she just take him to a hospital?
“Probably best not to ask that question.”
He couldn’t afford to pass up this opportunity to get closer to her.
“…Um, YouYu, where is your home? Or can you tell me your family’s contact? I’ll call them to take you back. We can’t let them worry about you!”
“Home? Hmm… I don’t have one here. As for family, they’re no longer in this world.”
It was an instinctive response, but as soon as the words left his mouth, YouYu realized what he had said and quickly turned over at WuYue.
What he saw was a tearful WuYue, her expression turning into that of a little crying kitten.
“Sniff… I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to ask you that! I’m so, so sorry!”
“Uh… it’s okay, I’m used to it.”
Even though she misunderstood his meaning, though it was true that his family was no longer in this world.
But was it really necessary to react so dramatically? This teary-eyed, emotional display… isn’t it a bit too much? Especially considering they were complete strangers just moments ago?
If he ended up dying in front of her, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how much she’d cry!
“Sniff… I-I’ve made up my mind!”
Wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, Wu Yue, feeling a certain similarity between herself and YouYu, made a decision in her heart. Pointing at him, she said seriously:
“YouYu, if you don’t have a home, then stay at mine!”
“I will take you in!”
“…Huh?”
Seeing how serious WuYue looked, with no hint of joking, YouYu was left stunned, unable to believe what he was hearing.
No way, seriously?