Something's off about this magical girl.

What's the point of Chapter 66?

"Oh, right, that... that..."

Standing on the desk, Yubi waved its little paws, gesturing for the two to look at it. Its ahoge (cowlick) twitched, and it struck a pose that was trying its best to maintain its dignity but appeared rather strained due to its size.

"You're giving up being a contracted beast and want to become a magical girl instead?"

Tao Zhuo was sprawled out on the stool, lazily glancing at Youbi.

"If you continue to be so disrespectful, I will strip you of your qualification to upgrade to a Seven-Star Magical Girl in the future!" Yubi put her two little hands on her hips, her ahoge standing up high, looking like she had brought out some incredible trump card.

"Luckily, I can't reach the seventh star." Tao Zhuo wasn't buying into that threat and casually replied without even raising her eyelids. In the history of Qixin Academy, no one had ever reached the seventh star through body tempering.

"Hmph." Yubi turned her face away, not intending to play with such a low-level magical girl, then turned to Gu Bai, who was still pondering the time-stop problem, her two large ears perking up slightly: "Um, where's the magical girl Fuyutsubaki?"

dong dong——

Just then, the door was pushed open, and Dongchun walked in. Her steps were as steady as ever. Her gaze first swept across the room, then landed on the round figure on the table, and an undisguised look of disgust appeared on her face.

"Hey, isn't it still class time? It's not right for Dong to skip class!" Tao Zhuo immediately perked up, sat up straight on the stool, and put on a righteous expression, as if only she was the right person to be there.

"So you are here?" Dongchun realized this as well and closed the door behind her.

"I wasn't skipping class, I was..." Tao Zhuo paused, her excuse already prepared, then put on an extremely serious face: "Researching how to make you immortal!"

"Really?" Dongchun asked skeptically.

Tao Zhu patted her chest, her expression so sincere it was almost touching: "Sister Dong, it's true I lied to you once or twice, but would I lie to you forever?!"

"Related to it? Time-stop magic?" Fuyutsubaki's gaze lingered on Yubi; seeing her contracted beast here, she had already deduced it.

"Ah..." Tao Zhu's mouth opened slightly, clearly not expecting that Dong Chun already knew.

Dongchun stood beside the empty chair and continued:

"Actually, they mentioned this the last time they saw me. I don't believe it; true time-stop magic doesn't theoretically exist."

"Ah, does magic even have a theory?"

Unexpectedly, it wasn't Youbi who refuted Dongchun, but Taozhuo—she rested her chin on the back of her hand, looking genuinely confused. Seeing Gu Bai looking at her, she smiled awkwardly and tucked the stray hairs that had fallen beside her face behind her ear:

"I just think 'do this, do that,' and then I can use magic!"

That's a bit too idealistic.

Gu Bai originally thought that magic was essentially closer to cultivating immortality, where each move actually had a fixed formula.

"Either is fine, there's no superior or inferior one; magic varies from person to person!"

Yubi took a half-step forward, her two large ears twitching, then turned her face towards Fuyutsubaki, her tone abruptly changing to one of almost fawning eagerness:

"Magical Girl Fuyutsubaki, but what I said that day was absolutely true. Hmph, your current acceleration has already reached its limit, don't you want to give it a try?!"

"..." Fuyutsubaki knew that Yubi might be useful, but for some reason, she personally hated this creature from the bottom of her heart. Her gaze lingered on it for less than a second before she gently looked away.

"Sister Dong, why don't you give it a try? What if it works?" Tao Zhuo leaned closer to Dong Chun, lowered her voice, and smiled, her eyes crinkling with a hint of encouragement.

"Do we have to do it this way?" Fuyutsubaki finally raised an eyebrow slightly and spoke.

"First, I need to eat every single herb available on the market to gather all the magical trace elements into my body." Yubi paused, her ahoge twitching slightly as if she'd been electrocuted. "How come you've already completed this step?"

"The medicine really works..."

Tao Zhuo turned her head and glanced at Dong Chun. Was this all part of her plan?!

But even the contracted beast is afraid of her, just how sick does Winter Sister have?

"Continue." Since Dongchun had already spoken, she naturally wanted to get to the bottom of it. She placed her hand on the back of the chair, her expression unchanged, but her eyes held a hint of scrutiny.

"Secondly, let me take a look first..."

Before finishing speaking, Yubi flew to Fuyutsubaki's side, looking surprised, and then skipped over the topic.

"Then came the final step, seeking truth within—and that was done too?!"

"All done? What's left to do?"

"W-You don't need to do anything, Master. As long as you maintain this state and advance to the Seventh Star, you will naturally master the time-stop magic." In her shock, Yubi uttered a rather extraordinary title.

"Huh?" Tao Zhu tilted her head, as if to say that Dong Meimei was about to take off?

"I'm not kidding, it's true, um, um."

Yubi's ahoge twitched, as if realizing her lapse in decorum, and she quickly composed herself. Then she turned her gaze to Gu Bai, pointing at him with her short hand: "Don't just watch. Even so, you still need to make some adjustments. Come and train with your master for a bit, and help me test it!"

"I'm just an ordinary psychology teacher," Gu Bai said casually, though he was still keeping something in mind.

"Ordinary? Dealing with your master is a piece of cake for you—"

"—What do you know?" Gu Bai's voice immediately turned cold: "I've never fought in front of you, have I?"

The room fell silent for a moment.

"...You were also given a magic sword by the Seven Star Magical Girls, so you can't be weak, right?"

After a moment's hesitation, Youbi fluttered her little wings twice, then regained her composure. Before Gu Bai could say anything more, she had already flown to Dong Chun's side, her eager expression returning.

"Go, master, go to battle! Battle will make you stronger!!!"

"So why did Dong-mei suddenly establish a master-servant relationship?" Tao Zhuo complained from the side.

"No, not at all," Dongchun replied crisply.

"It's like looking for your mother!"

Yubi shook her two big ears and rattled off a set of fallacies as if they were perfectly reasonable:

"If a skilled magical girl has the potential to become my master, then she will be my master!"

"What kind of absurd logic is this?"

Tao Zhuo bluntly raised her middle finger, then withdrew it, slowly turning to Gu Bai. Her peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly, a smile appeared, and her tone carried a hint of sweetness: "Teacher~"

"what?"

"Damn!" Tao Zhuo immediately replied with a single word.

Then she realized that replying with that word would sound terrible.

Looking around, Dongchun remained expressionless, Gu Bai's expression was normal, and Youbi was still close to Dongchun.

Thank goodness these guys didn't surf the internet much, so they managed to save face. I breathed a sigh of relief.