“Whoa, what are you doing?”
“Are you playing a punishment game?”
Bai Qiuchen, who woke up in the morning (around 10:00 AM), wanted to find something to eat.
But as soon as he went downstairs, he saw 4 lolis standing in the living room as if they were being made to stand as punishment at school, Jiu standing stiffly beside Bai Qiumu, and Bai Qiumu sitting across from them, 1 hand propping up her head, her elbow on the sofa armrest, looking at her phone and occasionally glancing sideways at them.
“Nothing, don’t mind it,” Bai Qiumu replied.
Bai Qiuchen leaned close to his sister’s ear and whispered a warning: “I don’t really understand you girls’ interests, but just don’t go too far. After all, I’m more or less their guardian now.”
“If you do something wrong, you should be punished.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?”
Bai Qiumu glanced at Jiu.
Jiu, standing to the side, did not dare make a sound.
“I clearly didn’t do anything, so why am I being punished, meow…”
Shang Mengyou looked pitiful, on the verge of tears, making anyone who saw her want to pat her head and comfort her.
“I clearly didn’t do anything, yet I just feel like I should be punished… This feeling is really strange.”
“If you didn’t do anything, then you shouldn’t be punished… You really have no backbone, actually willing to accept this kind of inexplicable punishment…!”
Xilalite refuted Alice’s words, but her confidence was clearly lacking.
None of them understood why they were being punished, and they understood even less why Jiu alone was not punished.
Based on their understanding of Jiu and their long experience with her, Jiu had always been someone who took responsibility on her own initiative.
Even if it was not her responsibility, she would actively take it upon herself.
Where exactly was the problem?
Why was Jiu the only one not punished?
Clearly she could sit down, but she asked to stand just like them.
Jiu felt the same way.
There were things she should remember, something that should have happened, but there was no relevant memory in her mind at all.
Li Ai did not speak.
Since waking up in the morning, she had been silent the whole time, always looking as if she were thinking.
“Now, now, isn’t it too unfair to punish them without even knowing what happened?”
“How about we let it go?”
Bai Qiuchen, who had pleaded for the little lolis, immediately felt several grateful gazes.
“Teacher, meow…!”
Bai Qiumu thought for a moment.
“That seems reasonable too. Then let’s treat it as part of training.”
After saying that, Bai Qiumu did not give her brother a chance to ask further and left directly.
“It’s finally over, meow~~”
The little lolis, as if finally freed, each found a seat and sat down.
It was unknown how long they had been standing, but judging from their tired expressions, it had probably been several hours.
“You really don’t know why you were punished?”
Bai Qiuchen asked.
“I really don’t know, meow…”
“I want to know too.”
“Why am I being punished?”
Bai Qiuchen turned his gaze to Li Ai and Jiu, wanting to hear what the 2 of them had to say.
Li Ai shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Teacher. I’m not clear on what exactly happened either.”
“I don’t know anything either.”
“In that case, there’s no need for you to accept Xiao Mu’s punishment at all.”
“If you’re afraid of her, you can come to me for help.”
“I believe Xiao Mu is not an unreasonable person, and she won’t make a fuss without reason.”
He had watched his own sister grow up, so he believed he understood her personality fairly well.
However, if his sister got serious, he would be the only one who suffered.
But if he could successfully portray himself as a righteous good older brother, what did a little suffering matter?
“Actually… none of us know why, but we feel we should be punished.”
“It’s different from feeling guilty.”
“It’s more like…” Alice paused to think, choosing her words. “Because we did something wrong, so we should be punished.”
It sounded like an unbelievable reason, but—
“…I see.”
Bai Qiuchen had a guess in his heart.
It must be his sister’s doing.
What had they done that was worth his sister teaching them a lesson?
“I’ll later—“
Bai Qiuchen suddenly froze for a moment, as if he had seen something that concerned him.
He looked at the little lolis, but they showed no reaction.
The little lolis noticed their teacher’s movement and looked around.
It was the same scene as usual, nothing else.
“…All right.”
He was heard muttering, then said nothing more.
He went to the fridge, took out milk and ice cream, then went to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal, muttering, “Is it not good to eat these things on an empty stomach?” and returned to the second floor.
The little lolis watched his behavior in confusion.
He clearly looked like he wanted to say something, so why did he suddenly seem to understand something and leave without saying anything?
But let’s set aside the teacher’s strange behavior for now.
The little lolis immediately gathered in a circle.
“Everyone, do you remember what we did last night?”
Alice first raised the question that had been lingering in her mind.
“Didn’t we just discuss things in Jiu’s room and then go back to our own rooms to sleep?”
Xilalite said casually.
“Then why did we gather in Jiu’s room, and what were we discussing?”
Alice asked again.
“…”
This time, no one gave an answer again.
The fact that they had gathered in Jiu’s room meant there was something worth all of them discussing together.
Since it was something worth all of them discussing together, it was impossible that not a single one of them could remember it.
“This can only mean that our memories were tampered with.”
Li Ai reached a conclusion, her tone brooking no doubt, as if this were the truth.
“Tampered with all 5 of our memories without anyone noticing?”
Alice thought this was unlikely.
She knew their abilities very well.
Not to mention herself, among them were the active strongest Magical Girl and He Xi—Ri Bai Jiu.
Whether in sensitivity and accuracy of perception or reaction speed, they were above the others.
After all, there was no one in the association who could sneak attack them, and Jiu was even stronger than them.
With Jiu’s strength, could someone really tamper with their memories without anyone noticing?
“I also think it’s impossible.”
Xilalite agreed.
“Who has the ability to tamper with our memories without any of us noticing?”
“Only I can enter my shadow.”
“Could it be large-scale magic, meow?”
Shang Mengyou tilted her head in thought.
“But large-scale magic has a very long casting time, meow.”
“We couldn’t possibly not notice, meow.”
Even if the range were limited to Jiu’s room, the time needed to cast it would definitely be enough for them to notice.
“That’s right.”
Jiu immediately agreed.
She knew her own strength well.
Although she did not think she was as exaggeratedly strong as her friends said, if someone wanted to use magic or a Miracle on her, she would never let that person leave unscathed.
But there were no traces of battle in her room, which meant either that person’s strength was several levels above hers, or else…
“Then it can only be someone familiar.”
Li Ai said again in a certain tone.
“It must have been done by someone who could make all of us let down our guard.”
At this point, the answer needed no further words.
The person in this room who could make all of them let down their guard could be no one other than that person.
But questions came one after another again.
“Why would they do this?”
Jiu asked in confusion.
“Could it be to cover something up?”
Xilalite’s words made Alice and Li Ai become alert.
“Something incredible must have happened last night.”
“Could it be that Teacher used his own Miracle?”
“And our memory loss is also because of Teacher’s Miracle?”
Xilalite took a tablet out of her shadow and checked last night’s surveillance footage.
“…It was deleted?”
However, she was surprised to find that the footage from Bai Qiuchen’s room had been missing since yesterday afternoon.
“Teacher is indeed unfathomable.”
The troubled little lolis sighed collectively.
It seemed this would become an unsolvable problem.
“From now on, we must pay even more attention to Teacher’s behavior.”
“We can’t let what happened today happen a second time.”
Alice said with a firm look in her eyes.
“Should I call it cute, or naive?”
Bai Qiumu, who had been openly eavesdropping the whole time, let out a scoff and stood up to return to her room.
The facts proved that a few wet-behind-the-ears children were not worth fearing.
To think she had actually considered them a threat.
Now it seemed she had been completely scaring herself.
However…
“I didn’t expect they actually knew that my brother is Bai Qiu… I’m a little looking forward to what happens next.”
Jiu suddenly raised her head and looked toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Jiu?”
Everyone looked at her in confusion as she suddenly did this.
“…Just now, was there someone else here?”
Jiu murmured.
“Was there?”
“I didn’t sense anyone at all, meow~”
Jiu shook her head, and as if to deny herself, she smiled.
“It was probably my imagination.”