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

“What do you want to do with her?”

The moment the door swung open and Liu Meng’s words rang out, the atmosphere in the room instantly froze over. A deep, suffocating silence took hold—so quiet, it was almost terrifying.

After a brief pause, YouYu, who had already anticipated this reaction, still couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation as he looked at the scene before him.

“Come on, Liu Meng… I didn’t even say anything just now.”

“I was just talking to Bai Yu about something, that’s all.”

“…Of course I know that. It was just a slip of the tongue.”

Liu Meng corrected herself without missing a beat, then took a deep breath and turned to Bai Yu—her gaze locking onto the girl standing far too close to YouYu. Her brows furrowed deeply.

However, just as Liu Meng was about to say something, she was interrupted by an anxious WuYue.

“Hey! Bai Yu! What were you two just doing in here?! Why were you standing so close together?!”

“And YouYu! You seriously don’t care at all?! You’ve never acted like this with me before! This is seriously weird!”

“Uh…”

…Purely accidental.

He wanted to explain that it was Bai Yu who had leaned in toward him first. But judging from the current situation, no amount of explanation would do any good.

And honestly… yeah, it did look kind of weird.

After thinking it over, YouYu decided to take the safest approach—he took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Bai Yu.

Bai Yu, sensing the situation, didn’t make things difficult for him. She also stepped away, a faint blush dusting her cheeks from the unexpected turn of events.

“……”

…Probably.

Seeing the distance between Bai Yu and YouYu increase, WuYue still seemed like she had more to say. But before she could speak, she felt a firm hand press down on her shoulder.

Turning around, she saw that it was Liu Meng.

Now that there was some space between YouYu and Bai Yu, Liu Meng’s expression had improved—slightly. But she still looked terrifying.

With her voice lowered, Liu Meng said,

“Let’s take this outside first, WuYue. We can’t afford to delay breakfast, and this isn’t the right place for this conversation.”

“Once we’re out there… we’ll have them explain everything properly. Especially Bai Yu. She needs to tell us exactly what they were talking about—since we only caught the last part of it…”

“And more importantly… while we were outside making breakfast… she was in here, with him—”

Liu Meng trailed off, but WuYue understood the implication perfectly. She nodded in agreement.

At the same time, she made a mental note: Next time, I need to keep a closer eye on Bai Yu.

With a sigh, she relented,

“Fine, fine! YouYu… Bai Yu… we’ll talk about this later. There’s no point dragging this out now and missing the best time.”

“For now, let’s just eat.”

“……”

“Yeah.”

…

A while later.

After giving themselves a few minutes to cool down, the four of them finally sat around the dining table again.

Maybe it was because they’d all instinctively given each other some breathing room, but the atmosphere was noticeably less awkward than before. At the very least, Bai Yu no longer looked panicked, and YouYu no longer looked completely lost.

Sitting down, Liu Meng glanced between YouYu and Bai Yu—particularly at Bai Yu, who seemed like she had something to say but was hesitating. Finally, Liu Meng sighed.

“So, Bai Yu, what exactly were you and YouYu talking about just now?”

“I wasn’t entirely sure while I was making breakfast, but I could still hear bits and pieces of your conversation… and at the very end, I definitely heard something about ‘be with you.’”

“So, I’d appreciate it if you could explain clearly.”

To be honest, hearing just that one line wouldn’t normally have been enough to get this kind of reaction from Liu Meng.

But right now… this was a delicate situation.

It was obvious—both WuYue and Bai Yu had feelings for YouYu.

And if she wasn’t explicitly trying to avoid hurting YouYu, Liu Meng wouldn’t even consider handing him over to Bai Yu.

Given the circumstances… and depending on Bai Yu’s response now…

Liu Meng might need to reevaluate her.

“……”

“So! You two didn’t actually do anything, right?! Bai Yu?!”

“…Nothing happened.”

Seeing WuYue’s agitation and Liu Meng’s dark expression, Bai Yu finally nodded and gave her answer.

Then, as she recalled the events that had just unfolded, she let out a small sigh and turned toward YouYu.

Her gaze was clear—help me out here.

“…”

“…Well, the situation is pretty similar to last time, but at least this time, she’s asking for help herself.”

Feeling Bai Yu’s expectant gaze, YouYu exhaled, then tapped his fingers against the table to draw everyone’s attention.

“Alright, alright. This really isn’t that big of a deal. There’s no need to turn this into some kind of interrogation.”

“I’ll explain everything. Just listen, and you’ll get it.”

As expected, the moment he said that, Liu Meng and WuYue both went quiet.

After clearing his throat a few times, YouYu finally began,

“So, here’s what happened—”

…

It took about ten minutes to summarize the events that had transpired. When he was done, he looked at the two girls, now deep in thought, their expressions unreadable. Letting out a quiet sigh, he sat back down.

Then, glancing at Bai Yu—who still looked slightly uneasy—he reassured her,

“Don’t worry, Bai Yu. They’ll understand.”

“I mean… they’ve probably been in a situation like this before, right?”

“……”

“Yeah.”

Seeing Bai Yu nod and finally look a little more at ease, YouYu turned his attention back to Liu Meng and WuYue. Taking another deep breath, he started laying out the next steps in his mind.

“Even though that little ‘incident’ was unexpected… at least now, they have a better understanding of Bai Yu.”

“Once WuYue and Liu Meng fully acknowledge her…”

“Then I can move forward with my plan.”

After all, the reason he had woken up and immediately started giving Bai Yu a “serious talk” wasn’t just to help her adjust her mindset.

It was also to take advantage of this accidental development—to push WuYue and Liu Meng toward re-evaluating Bai Yu.

Because in his upcoming plans, the cooperation between these three girls was absolutely essential.

And if they were going to work together, they needed to at least understand each other.

Only then… would they become stronger.

And only then… could he proceed with Phase Two.

From this moment on—

He would start paving the way.