Raising magical girls, and leave them with eternal regret?!

Locked up. In the truest sense of the word.

Well, this was within YouYu’s expectations—something bound to happen sooner or later.

He just hadn’t expected it to be Bai Yu.

Not WuYue. Not Liu Meng.

Bai Yu.

“…Well, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Lowering his gaze to the floor, now lightly dusted with frost, YouYu pondered.

Bai Yu’s actions were indeed a little beyond his predictions, but looking at the situation so far… Uh, well, things hadn’t fully played out yet, but most likely, this was just a straightforward case of imprisonment. Nothing more.

After all, judging by Bai Yu’s demeanor, she didn’t seem to have any… unusual desires.

So, for now, the situation remained under his control.

Besides, his original plan had been to use his current “setting” to make contact with Bai Yu again—it just so happened that it unfolded in this particular way.

But this worked too.

At least now, he only had to deal with Bai Yu. That made things much simpler.

Oh, and as for these so-called handcuffs? They were basically useless. If he wanted, he could break free anytime.

But before that, there was something he needed to figure out.

Why did Bai Yu have this idea in the first place? Why go so far as to “imprison” him?

And most importantly—

Lifting his head, YouYu glanced toward the dark corner of the room, where an assortment of peculiar, ominous-looking “ accessories” lay piled up. A cold sweat ran down his back.

“…Where did she even get all this stuff?”

No matter what, YouYu had made up his mind.

He had to get to the bottom of this.

Because until now, Bai Yu had never shown any signs of wanting to “lock him up.”

Had he overlooked something in the past?

“……”

Tearing his gaze away from those age-restricted items, YouYu turned his attention back to Bai Yu.

At that moment, she was frowning, staring at a whip and a red candle in her hands with a puzzled expression—like she genuinely had no idea what they were even for.

Ignoring the objects she was holding, YouYu let out a sigh and spoke with deliberate caution.

“…Bai Yu, to be honest, I really don’t understand. What exactly are you doing?”

“You dragged me into this strange room for no reason… and even cuffed me here. You owe me an explanation, don’t you?”

“Don’t tell me this is something we’ve done before… I sincerely doubt I’d ever be into something like this.”

“Hmm…”

At YouYu’s question, Bai Yu fell silent for a moment. She stared at the items in her hands, seemingly trying to come up with some kind of explanation.

But in the end, she simply let out a helpless sigh, tossed them aside, and walked up to him.

Then, in an honest, straightforward tone, she said—

“I just wanted to see if I could keep you locked up, YouYu.”

“But… these things probably don’t mean much, do they? With your current strength, escaping would be effortless.”

“…Yeah, pretty much.”

YouYu nodded. If he weren’t trying to figure out what was going on, there was no way these restraints would’ve held him.

“I see…”

Though she wasn’t surprised by his answer, Bai Yu still seemed a little disappointed.

“……”

After a brief adjustment of her emotions, she exhaled slowly, then forced a faint smile as she spoke.

“Should I say… thank you for your cooperation, YouYu? At the very least… they got to serve some purpose, even if just a little.”

“I know you’re wondering why I did this. So go ahead, ask whatever you want.”

“Either way, my goal has already been achieved.”

Hearing that, YouYu remained silent for a moment before finally giving in to his overwhelming curiosity.

“…So why exactly did you want to ‘lock me up’?”

“And more importantly—where did you even get all that stuff?”

“Those things…”

At his questions, Bai Yu’s expression darkened slightly. There was a hint of hesitation in her eyes.

After a brief pause, she sighed.

“The reason I tried to ‘lock you up’… is because of a friend’s suggestion.”

“The friend of mine was worried that something might happen to you, so she suggested it.”

“I didn’t take it seriously at the time, but then… you disappeared again.”

“That’s when I remembered her suggestion.”

“Maybe I did it to make up for something… or maybe just for my own peace of mind.”

“So—that’s why I bought these things.”

As she spoke, Bai Yu turned her head, looking toward those “peculiar accessories.” Her expression wasn’t one of embarrassment. Instead, it was eerily solemn.

“Since I couldn’t buy them normally… I had to go through some special channels.”

“And… it cost me a lot of money.”

“But in the end, they were completely useless.”

“……”

“I guess I understand how you feel now, Bai Yu.”

After a moment of silence, YouYu spoke.

Though ideally, those things would never have to serve any purpose to begin with.

‘…Time to get to the real point.’

With that thought in mind, he continued.

“So, what exactly is your goal? Why did you bring me here?”

“Don’t tell me it was just… uh, to test out these things?”

“Of course not.”

Bai Yu shook her head.

“Bringing you to this room was purely accidental… This is my house, by the way, so don’t think too much about it.”

“As for why I brought you here—”

She paused briefly, gathering her thoughts before speaking again, this time with unwavering seriousness.

“…Forget it. I really don’t think I’m suited to lying.”

“As always, I’ll just tell you the truth, YouYu.”

“The reason I brought you here… is to keep you from meeting WuYue and LiuMeng.”

“You should know very well—right now, there’s no way you can choose between them.”

“If you make a decision, there will be irreversible consequences.”

“But… if you don’t, then things might escalate between them, possibly leading to an even bigger conflict.”

“So, I decided to help you. I ‘took’ you from them.”

“This way, they’ll turn their focus onto me instead—and you won’t have to face that painful choice.”

“At the very least… it’ll ease the tension between them for now.”

“But if you do this…”

Hearing Bai Yu’s reasoning, YouYu frowned.

“Won’t this ruin your relationship with them?”

“Are you really okay with that?”

“I think you should reconsider—”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Cutting him off abruptly, Bai Yu stepped closer, placing one hand against the wall beside him. Her voice was firm.

“…Back then, my hesitation caused so many tragedies to unfold.”

Doubt.

Lack of confidence.

YouYu’s ‘death.’ WuYue’s ‘loss.’

She had spent so much time trapped in that state.

For so long.

And deep down, she had come to realize—

If she didn’t change, she would never be able to do anything.

But back then, there had been nothing strong enough to make her change her mind.

So—when the situation forced her hand once again, Bai Yu made her decision.

To help YouYu.

In her own way.

No matter what it took.

“…I don’t want to see those things happen again.”

“And ever since you ‘disappeared,’ I’ve already made a promise to you and WuYue.”

“In the future, no matter what, I will do everything I can to help you both.”

“So—”

Taking a deep breath, Bai Yu locked eyes with YouYu and, word by word, declared:

“For you, I’ll do anything.”