Is This How You Use a Self-Destruct Switch?!-Chapter 24 : Reiko: RIP

Tsuan instinctively reached out both hands to push against Amber's shoulders, but somehow the other's arms had already wrapped around her waist, carrying the undeniable strength of a magical girl and firmly fixing her in her embrace.
The girl who had just been made restless by Yoko's questioning instantly received her own 'punishment.'
"Slurp... mm..."
Subtle... satisfied sounds rang out at extremely close distance, mixing with both their equally rapid breathing, sounding particularly clear in the suddenly very quiet room.
Whether it was Megumi, or Yoko and Ruby, or even Tsuan who was being held and nibbled by Amber... at this moment, none could squeeze out a syllable from their throats.
Until Amber seemed to have tasted something sweet and loosened that piece of tomato, then vigorously nuzzled against the deliciousness in her arms.
"So... so sweet..."
She seemed completely immersed in her own world, her cheek gently rubbing against Tsuan's like a small animal that had found a water source, greedily taking what she wanted.
Megumi remembered that this kind of... directly intimate contact to absorb magical power essence from another magical girl was called 'mana transfer.'
It was a term that had been forgotten by the times.
Not only because the process itself brought... face-reddening embarrassment—especially when completely unprepared. More importantly, in this current era, it had almost lost any necessity for existence.
Monster attacks, for current magical girls, rarely reached the tragic extent of needing to drain all magical power. Even if extreme situations of magical power depletion really occurred, there were countless more convenient and dignified alternatives.
For example, Megumi could freely create ice cream condensed with cool magical power, or carefully prepared magical power potions by Ruby and the others...
Mana transfer, this ancient and direct method, had long been sealed in history's corners, regarded as a nearly lost secret art, or... a legend with ambiguous undertones.
However, at this moment, under everyone's shocked gazes, Amber was using the most primitive... most jaw-dropping method to once again practice this 'mana transfer' approach.
In a sense, this behavior happening under Megumi's nose even... had considerable educational value. If this scene were recorded and edited into instructional videos to send to other magical girls... it would probably cause a 'learning' boom? After all, this was a rare standard procedure live demonstration.
Of course, this course value was established on the premise that Tsuan wasn't desperately struggling in Amber's arms.
But... with little effect.
Magical Girl Amber, who was originally known for her strength and destructive power, even in her detransformed state, wasn't an existence Tsuan could easily resist.
However, Tsuan wasn't alone.
"Amber! What are you doing?!"
Megumi and Yoko finally tore through this eerie silence. They awakened from their initial petrified state, their voices distorted from extreme shock and some indescribable panic.
Megumi rushed forward, trying to pry apart Amber's arms wrapped around Tsuan's waist. Yoko jumped onto its master's shoulder to pull forcefully, but even adding the desperately struggling Tsuan, they couldn't budge Amber an inch.
The tongue tip licking the flesh even leisurely stirred the tomato juice twice, making the black-haired girl in her arms tremble before she bit down hard in unbearable frustration—
"Wu!"
Perhaps the pain worked, or maybe she had already absorbed enough magical power. In any case, Amber opened her misty eyes under the sharp pain, then...
Those golden pupils blinked, seeming to take some time to connect this cute face before her with 'Tsuan-chan' in her memory.
Then, her gaze slowly moved down, landing on Tsuan's lips that had been licked wet and glistening with tempting moisture. The traces she had just left remained there.
A belated, enormous confusion and some indescribable satisfaction simultaneously surged into Amber's heart. She licked her own lips, as if savoring the... peculiar taste of some sweet magical power source she had just tasted.
It was indeed delicious.
"Tsuan-chan..."
She murmured, her voice carrying the hoarseness of just waking up and a hint of intimacy she herself hadn't noticed.
"You... taste like..."
She tilted her head, seeming to search for appropriate description...
"...delicious tomato jelly."
She completely didn't realize that saying such things now was no different from being a pervert, still immersed in the wonderful magical power she had just tasted—even temporarily forgetting something.
Why would she taste magical power from Tsuan?
But now there was no point in considering this.
"Amber! You idiot!"
Her head was directly pressed down by Yoko's bristled tail, and her body also naturally knelt on the bed, facing Tsuan whose eyes were hidden by long hair and whose expression couldn't be seen, in a standard and embarrassing dogeza posture.
Megumi didn't even know how to comfort the sobbing Tsuan, only able to carefully pull this... suddenly transformed 'new companion' away from Amber's side to settle on the other side of the bed.
She herself stood like an awkward yet firm barrier in front of Tsuan—this was the only protective measure she could think of at the moment.
For a time, the room fell into suffocating dead silence.
Megumi froze in place, unable to squeeze out an appropriate word even after racking her brains. Amber buried her head in the blankets, her brain obviously still trying to reboot, attempting to understand what exactly she had just done.
As for Tsuan, who was protected behind Megumi... her mood was unexpectedly calm at this time, even with some secret joy—after all, this situation where everyone was embarrassed was better than what was about to happen just now...
The silence of three people with their own thoughts wove together this extremely bizarre quiet in Amber's bedroom.
Yoko glanced at the black-haired girl firmly protected by Megumi, showing no aggressive intent. After confirming safety, it decisively extended its claws and pinched Amber's ear tip, not too lightly or heavily.
Amber, completely awakened by this action, finally managed to piece together the memory fragments from just now with difficulty.
She had actually directly stolen magical power from her new companion's body... so bad...
Guilt and anxiety instantly overwhelmed her, making her like a large pet dog that had committed a grave mistake, burying her entire face deep into the fluffy mattress, only making muffled... heavily nasal apologies.
"S-sorry... Tsuan-chan... I... I didn't mean to..."
Her voice was as quiet as a mosquito, full of bewildered panic.
This serious meeting that should have been led by Megumi and Yoko to interrogate 'suspicious magical girl' Tsuan was thus completely ruined by Amber in a truly catastrophic way.
After all, it was really hard to judge at the moment whether Tsuan's tomato sauce prank that made several people cry was more heinous, or Amber's... primitive to outrageous mana transfer behavior that was almost 'robbing' magical power from Tsuan's body was more heinous.
This subtle silence actually made Tsuan quietly feel an inappropriate... secret joy.
Although she seemed to have lost something very important in confusion, like a large amount of magical power and some indescribable dignity, at least...
This was better than being treated as an enemy and completely opposed...
She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the choking in her throat. Her arm, trembling with some weakness, reached over Megumi's determinedly straight back in front of her, gently landing on the head of the girl who had buried her face in the mattress, radiating thick regret.
The moment her fingertips touched the soft hair, Tsuan's voice rang out, carrying obviously suppressed hoarse crying, actually comforting this 'perpetrator':
"It's okay, Amber."
And... thank you.
She paused, as if finally laying down the burden of disguise, weakly yet clearly echoing Yoko's previous accusation.
"After all... the culprit who made Amber and Megumi-chan consume so much magical power to clean up the mess..."
That voice, somewhat lacking in vigor due to magical power being forcibly absorbed, frankly admitted the fact they had already guessed.
"Is me."
"——!"
Megumi suddenly covered her small mouth, her water-blue twin tails swaying lightly in the air from this violent movement. Those eyes usually full of gentleness and smiles were now wide open, filled with disbelief.
Although she had already guessed the truth, as long as Tsuan shook her head in denial, she would unconditionally believe her good friend... but...
The fact was, her good friend was the bad magical girl who had wantonly squandered magic and casually created panic at school.
Exactly the same as the possibility she least wanted to believe in her subconscious.
Amber finally lifted her head from the mattress, resuming a kneeling position. She blinked those clear golden pupils that seemed to reflect the sky.
She seemed to completely fail to understand the undercurrents in this complex situation, only catching the most important question for her.
"Then..."
She looked at Tsuan carefully, with some apprehension.
"Are we... still friends now?"
In her world, logic was as simple as a straight line.
Tsuan did bad things, she also did bad things. Although the nature seemed different? But since both had done it, as long as the result... everyone could still be together, then wouldn't it... be fine?
She looked at Megumi and Yoko with somewhat pleading eyes, hoping they wouldn't make too cruel a decision.
The little fox was choked by this overly simple question, momentarily speechless.
Megumi's eyes moved complexly between Tsuan and Amber, opening her mouth but not knowing how to define this chaotic relationship at this moment.
Ruby? Well, it was still thinking about seventy-two ways to eat carrots.
Thus, the right to answer this question was ultimately returned to Tsuan by fate.
She looked at Amber's eyes full of hope and without any shadow, and felt Megumi's tense posture in front of her, still trying to protect her.
A warm current mixed with strong determination suddenly dispersed the weak fatigue and remaining shame.
"Of course!"
Her voice suddenly rose, carrying an undeniable decisiveness, even bringing a hoarse choke from the effort, as if declaring an inviolable iron law.
"We are of course friends!"
On this point, Nakana Tsuan absolutely, absolutely would not accept even the slightest doubt or refutation!
No matter who it was, it wouldn't work...
Even if... every day I need to pay a price once...
It doesn't matter.
Her answer was like sunlight dispelling gloom, completely melting the stagnant embarrassment and unease in the room.
Megumi's water-blue eyes, originally filled with shock and complex emotions, were instantly lit up by pure joy and relief.
Her tense shoulders suddenly relaxed, her face blooming with an extremely brilliant smile, as if the previous clouds had never existed.
"Tsuan-chan!"
She almost immediately turned around, opening her arms, using a gesture full of protectiveness yet incredibly gentle to firmly embrace the still somewhat weak Tsuan.
Her hug was so forceful, carrying the relief of something lost and found and full of tender love. The familiar candy fragrance instantly enveloped Tsuan.
"So good... really so good..."
Megumi buried her face in Tsuan's soft hair, her voice muffled, carrying a nasal tone of pure joy.
Pranks and such, could be discussed later!
As long as Tsuan-chan was still Tsuan-chan, still her friend, that was enough...
At the same time, Amber let out a spirited cheer, like a large dog that had finally received its master's forgiveness and was excited to the extreme, immediately bouncing up from her kneeling position.
"So good——!!!"
She completely ignored the subtle relationship between the two, and couldn't care about any restraint. She directly opened her arms, carrying irresistible enthusiasm and recklessness, pouncing from the side.
While happily shouting that Tsuan-chan was the best!, she used her warm and energetic body to firmly sandwich Tsuan in the middle together with Megumi.
The three magical girls hugged tightly together on Amber's soft big bed. Sunlight streamed through the window onto them, outlining an almost unrealistically warm picture.
All barriers were dissolved by the pure, warm embrace. Only the relief of something lost and found remained, and a new... unbreakable bond quietly growing.
Yoko looked at the scene of several people hugging together in front of her, sighed helplessly, and lightly flicked its fluffy tail before finally choosing to land on Megumi's leg.
Although it really wanted to continue questioning Tsuan's identity and the purpose of her pranks, but...
Asking at this time would be too impolite. Later... we'll talk about it later.
Anyway... it glanced at Tsuan's tear-stained but obviously relieved profile, then looked at its master who was stupidly hugging and nuzzling people non-stop.
The result wasn't bad.
"I feel like I'm forgetting something..."
The next second, Amber's room door was knocked.
"Dad and Mom? What's wrong?"
Amber, who was preparing to open the door, heard a voice that obviously didn't belong to her parents.
"Amber-san, I'm Enoki Reiko, student council president of Forest Moon."
Yoko remembered what that thing was.
"Why didn't you go to school today?"
Game over.
And it wasn't just one person who was doomed.
If Reiko knew who was all in this room, she would probably leave immediately and call to apologize.
But it was too late now.
"Ah, ah... President-san, I..."
Amber faced the tightly closed bedroom door, her face full of embarrassed awkward laughter, her tongue seemingly tied in knots, completely unable to make up a reasonable explanation for her outrageous behavior of going to the wrong school this morning.
Megumi also felt a wave of guilt surge up... after all, she was the one who suggested Amber accompany her today—although she originally meant after school, but regardless, the current situation seemed inseparable from her.
However, the uneasy atmosphere in the room wasn't only due to Reiko's questioning outside the door.
Tsuan's gaze moved away from her two flustered companions beside her, landing on that door that was once again knocked by Reiko's knuckles. That tapping sound seemed to knock on her heart with each strike.
An indescribable emotion silently rose and swelled in her chest with her breathing.
Amber just didn't go to school... and Reiko personally came to find her.
What about me...?
From yesterday morning... until now, we haven't had any contact at all... why?
"Megumi-chan."
Tsuan's voice was very light, carrying a strange calm. Megumi instinctively turned her head, crashing into Tsuan's red pupils that seemed particularly silent at this moment, as if covered with a layer of shadow.
"What's wrong...?"
Megumi's heart tightened slightly. Tsuan's current expression made her feel uneasy.
"Amber and... Enoki-san."
Tsuan paused, her gaze sweeping over that door again.
"Are they good friends?"
"Probably... not?"
Megumi tried hard to recall, with some hesitation.
"I've never heard Amber mention her? Maybe... just acquaintances?"
She tried to give an appropriate answer, but inadvertently made the already fragile Tsuan's mouth corners droop.
I see...
So in Reiko's view... we don't know each other.
"I say, can you let me in?"
The student council president, who had been waiting at the door for a full three minutes, barely suppressed bulging veins on her forehead and reminded Amber to open the door.
Then... her gaze swept over the awkwardly smiling Amber, the embarrassed Megumi... and... the black-haired girl who was hugging her arms with her back to her.
Reiko frowned.
"So it was you who stepped on my foot at the convenience store that day."
She casually broke the awkward atmosphere with this comment, then naturally sat down beside Tsuan.
Reaching out to touch her head...
Then
Her hand was dodged.