Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 187

Mayumi Haga: ...huh?

She remained silent, but her attention was actually focused on the magical girls' chat channel.

After the rules were announced, many eccentric individuals had already begun intensely discussing strategies via telepathy. Team players, feeling they should conserve their energy, focused all their efforts on assisting the player most likely to win.

Amidst the noise, Hitomi Tohno's voice, as a magical girl, was the clearest in terms of telepathic communication.

[The judges did help prepare those slips of paper; I really hope Mayumi gets the one I wrote.]

"[What you wrote...]" Arisu Akari questioned, "[Although I can roughly guess the content, weren't they all scattered around?]"

She stared warily at Tono Hitomi, not wanting her to help Mayumi Haga cheat in this situation.

"So it's all about hope, hope, huh?" Hitomi Tono chuckled. "All the notes I was in charge of had 'the person I like' written on them."

[That really has Hitomi's style.] Yuri Takajo remarked.

Arisu Akari gritted her teeth: [I wrote them all… Do you know you were responsible for a hundred pages?]

As the former glared at her angrily, Tono Hitomi let out a guilty laugh: [Hahaha...]

"But then again, can people be used as borrowing targets?" Yuri Takajo asked. "Wouldn't that be too confusing?"

[This is also a matter of luck.] Arisu Juri was rather cold-hearted. [Drawing a slip of paper that reeks of gossip can only be considered bad luck.]

She thought about it again and again, still very angry, and slammed her hand on the table: "No way! From now on, I have to review all the content you're responsible for!"

"Okay..." Hitomi Tono mumbled.

After hearing all this, Mayumi Haga: ...

One hundred tickets... There are only three hundred contestants.

Doesn't that mean I have a one-in-three chance of finding this kind of note?

After stuffing in so many slips of paper, I was still hoping to draw one...

Mayumi Haga subtly disliked Nakano Hitomi's plan.

If you find the note and it contains this kind of content, just exchange it with someone else.

As Mayumi Haga was thinking this, she heard the strange man with the microphone on stage continue to add to the rules:

"If you really can't find what's on your note and want to exchange it with someone else, that's not impossible. But!"

The emphasis on that "but!" gave Mayumi Haga a sudden sense of foreboding.

"It will deduct half of your score!" the microphone guy said.

Haga Mayumi: "..."

why?

"After all, this competition is largely dependent on luck." The microphone guy was completely unaware of how infuriating his words were, and he chuckled, "Besides, if the notes could be switched so easily, it would be bad if conflicts broke out among the players."

After saying that, he glanced at Mayumi Haga, the solo competitor, and gave her an encouraging smile.

Haga Mayumi: "..."

makes sense.

If it were another contestant standing here instead of her, then it's quite possible that another team would grab her and force her to switch the note.

Although eccentric people don't usually have bad intentions, they still have to use some tricks when competing.

To prevent weaker teams from having all their slips of paper taken, the organizers made some rules. Initially, they wanted to prohibit exchanging slips, with violators losing all their points. However, they felt this was too harsh, so they changed it to a rule where both sides voluntarily exchange slips, with half the points deducted.

After all, there are still people who genuinely cannot find what is written on the note but are sincerely willing to exchange notes.

Now, Mayumi Haga can only hope that the note she received wasn't written by Hitomi Tono.

The whistle blew, and the players scattered.

Mayumi Haga also found a quiet alley with few people and searched for the note she needed.

According to the host, the note wouldn't actually be hidden very well. After all, the city is huge, and if it were really hidden, the competition wouldn't be able to finish all day.

The contestants must reach the finish line before sunset, or they will not receive any points.

Mayumi Haga needs to speed things up.

The note should be more noticeable if placed inside the balloon... Ah, found it.

As soon as my gaze shifted into the alley, I saw a light, ethereal shadow dart past.

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a balloon familiar that had been imbued with magic, thus forming a bear shape that could run and jump.

It's pink, and through the semi-transparent belly of the bear you can see colorful pieces swaying inside as it moves, and the strip of paper rolls along with the colorful pieces.

It appears to be a competition prop made by someone you know.

Mayumi Haga thought of Sad Bear, who was skilled in such magic, and the latter was also invited to become a judge.

The balloon bear was a little clumsy. When it saw Mayumi Haga appear, it let out a silent scream and ran away with its short legs.

But it wasn't very fast, so it was grabbed from the ground by Mayumi Haga in the next second.

With a "pop!" the balloon burst, showering Mayumi Haga with confetti.

She opened the note, and upon reading it, her expression froze on her face.

...It's unlikely we'll win this match.

She avoided Hitomi Tono's note, but stumbled upon the worst option—for her.

The note read: "[The person who gave you flowers last time]".

This is a very distant memory for Mayumi Haga.

Neither before nor after she came into this world did she ever give flowers to anyone other than her mother.

Text: 299. Anomaly

"Huh? Why did Mayumi stop?" Through the camera lens, Hitomi Tono noticed that after receiving the note, Mayumi Haga stopped with a hesitant expression, and she seemed a little anxious.

Akari Arisu calmly replied, "He probably drew something he couldn't find himself."

Tono Hitomi was prepared to secretly deactivate her transformation and appear on Mayumi Haga's inevitable path, but judging from Mayumi Haga's reaction, it seemed that the other party had not drawn the note she had prepared at all.

"Actually, it's also possible that she doesn't want to... umm!" Arisu Akari wanted to say something more, but Takajo Yuri covered her mouth, forcibly silencing her.

Fortunately, the camera captured the note in Mayumi Haga's hand in the next second.

Mayumi Haga was the first contestant to receive the note, so the live broadcast camera and the host's commentary mainly focused on her.

"This human contestant was the first to find the note! Let's see what's on her note..."

"[The person who gave flowers last time]! This topic isn't very common. If someone doesn't have this habit, they probably won't have a target!"

"Some viewers might be wondering, since this is the person we presented flowers to last time, is it okay to present flowers here and then take them to the finish line?"

The microphone-wielding monster made a large X with his arms in front of his chest: "This is an illegal act of cheating that is not permitted by the rules! This match is entirely judged by a magical referee, and victory is only achieved if the conditions on the note are met perfectly!"

"For example, if the slip of paper you draw is about 'someone you like,' you can't just hand it in to anyone on the street. The magic can detect whether the contestant's intentions are genuine, thus preventing any cheating!"

As he spoke, the microphone freak secretly wiped the sweat from his brow.

This match was indeed more difficult than the previous ones, mainly because it was necessary to widen the score gap.

This was requested by the Prankster and the Orange Juice Man, and it was discussed with the event organizers.

Otherwise, given the current pace, with the score remaining relatively close, the players won't be very motivated.

We need to stimulate the players' competitive spirit.

However, that being said, this match is going to be a long battle, which is a day longer than the originally requested match time... Perhaps those two oddballs have their own considerations.

Let's switch our perspective back to the magical girl.

"The last person to give flowers... eh? Mayumi doesn't seem to be very interested in flowers. I've never seen her give flowers to anyone..." Tono Hitomi was thinking when a scene suddenly flashed back in her mind.

She suddenly fell silent.

Ruined.

Mayumi did indeed send flowers to close friends a long time ago, but that was...

That's Mayumi's mother.

Hitomi Tono still remembered some fragments of memories she had seen in Mayumi Haga's mental space, including a scene where young Mayumi Haga would bring back small flowers from the edge of the forest to her bedridden mother.

Because that was Mayumi Haga's most precious memory, a rare and heartwarming moment from her childhood, she never treated anyone else like that after her mother passed away.

Although Hitomi Tono felt a little jealous when she realized that Mayumi Haga had never given her flowers like other couples, she was still filled with unease when she thought about this.

Oh no, who wrote this? Isn't this hitting Mayumi's sore spot?

And this rule... it's absolutely terrible.

I thought we could win this game, but now it seems we can only get half the points at most.

Mayumi Haga made her decision faster than the magical girls in the stands. Almost as soon as she realized that she couldn't find the person on the note, she set her sights on the strange man next to her.

The strange man next to him, coincidentally—or rather, as expected—obviously received the note written by Tohno Hitomi. A one-in-three chance was still a bit too high.

When Hitomi Tono wrote the note, she didn't care about the person's life or death. Most of the weirdos have never been in love, or rather, the weirdo group is just clueless when it comes to emotions.

The eccentric contestant looked up, exchanged a glance with Mayumi Haga, and suddenly found his savior: "What's yours?"

Haga Mayumi was shown to the other party.

The player was overjoyed: "Let's switch!"

He just happened to find this person.

The eccentric man happened to take the leftover carnations from the flower shop where he worked on Mother's Day and give them to the elderly lady next door who had been taking care of him.

His home happened to be nearby, so after exchanging the note, he could just run over and carry the old lady on his back!

The two quickly exchanged notes, and now all Mayumi Haga needed to do was go find Hitomi Tono.

...She still fell into Hitomi Tono's trap.

When Hitomi Tono saw this, her eyes lit up. She turned her head to look around, and then immediately sneaked away from the stands.

Hehe, Mamiya still needs her.

She needed to find a place to undo her transformation, so she went to find Mayumi.

Just as she was leaving, Hitomi Tono passed by the seats next to the weirdo.

She glanced at it again.

...Strange, where are the Abyss Gentleman and the Sad Bear, who usually stay here eating the sponsor's snacks and drinking tea?

Perhaps she went to the restroom.

Speaking of which, do weirdos need to go to the toilet?

Hitomi Tono didn't think too much about it and walked straight past.

The Gentleman of the Abyss frowned deeply.

He hurried along, trying to find the Prankster and the Orange Juice Man, but couldn't find them in the lounge.

Pushing open the door to the orange juice weirdo's subordinates' lounge, one finds several weirdos watching a live stream and playing Ludo. They are startled by the sudden appearance of the Abyss Gentleman: "Whoa!"

Coming to their senses, the subordinates noticed it was the Gentleman of the Abyss and were somewhat surprised: "Lord Jack, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Where is Jeffrey?" The Abyss Gentleman spoke a little faster than usual.

The subordinates looked at each other, and finally the one being looked at said, "Isn't Lord Jeffrey in the break room or the factory?"

The Abyss Gentleman's expression grew even uglier, which was reflected in the gradual disappearance of the white emoticons on his oil-colored face.

"What brings you to see Lord Jeffrey?" the subordinate asked, somewhat puzzled.

Before the festival began, the Orange Juice Monster and the Prankster were indeed very busy, but once the festival's project team was able to operate on its own, the two monsters stopped showing up.

The Abyss Gentleman paused for a moment, then said, "It's nothing. Tell Jeffrey I'm looking for him when he gets back."

As he closed the door, the Abyss Gentleman met the slightly worried gaze of the Sad Bear following beside him.

He didn't speak, but just looked at the floating rainbow track located by the sea.

The entire city and the Rainbow Raceway over there are now shrouded in the domain created by the Prankster.

But the feeling he got from that magic was very strange.