"So clever."
Eriri placed Eve, who had been resting in her arms, onto the seat to her right. Then she reached out and pulled Yui Kotegawa from her left into a gentle embrace.
"Yui-chan, you guessed right. This is exactly what I wanted to talk to you all about." As Eriri gently stroked Yui's head, her expression turned serious.
"I plan to return to the future—ten years from now. No, more precisely, a little over nine years from now—starting tomorrow, with Neme-chan and the others."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Yui once again fell silent. She lowered her head and pressed her forehead against Eriri's chest, her face full of gloom.
After spending more than two months together, Yui had already come to see Eriri as an irreplaceable presence in her life, forming a strong emotional dependence on her.
If possible, she even wished to be by Eriri's side every single day.
So realizing that she wouldn't see Eriri again for nearly a decade filled her with an overwhelming sense of loss and a sudden urge to cry.
At that moment, Sairenji Akiho and Sairenji Haruna also grasped the weight of what Eriri and Yui were discussing.
"What? Eriri-nee is leaving us?!"
Akiho immediately sprang from the sofa and rushed to Eriri, her face full of urgency. Haruna also followed, her expression equally flustered.
"Eriri-nee, do you really have to go?" Haruna asked, clearly reluctant.
"Yes. Originally, we were supposed to go to the future over two months ago. Now that it's been delayed for so long, it's time to leave."
As Eriri's words settled, Yui—still resting against her—suddenly lifted her head and looked directly into Eriri's eyes.
"Then... can you take us with you to the future?" Yui asked in a tentative voice, her face showing a glimmer of hope.
Akiho and Haruna's eyes also lit up at her words, their faces quickly filling with hopeful anticipation.
"It's possible," Eriri replied. "But are you really willing to leave your parents and families behind? It might only be an instant for you, but for your parents, not seeing you for ten years would be incredibly painful."
At those words, the three girls immediately froze.
Their desire to go with Eriri had been purely impulsive. In their longing to stay with her, they hadn't considered what it would mean for their families.
Now that they understood the consequences, hesitation took hold.
They wanted to continue living with Eriri, but they also didn't want to cause their parents sorrow.
Seeing the three little girls fall silent, Eriri gently rubbed each of their heads, a soft smile spreading across her face.
"A short separation is for a longer companionship. So don't be sad. The next time we meet, we'll be together forever."
Ten years might seem long to ordinary people, but for Eriri, who possessed an endless lifespan, it was only a short while.
And the three girls before her were certainly not destined to remain ordinary either.
"Alright, that's enough about this topic. Let's talk about something else." Eriri's gaze swept across their faces before she continued, "Do you girls want to become extraordinary beings?"
"Eh?"
Hearing this, the previously conflicted trio immediately widened their eyes in surprise.
"We can get amazing powers just like Neme-chan and the others?" Sairenji Akiho asked excitedly.
Yui Kotegawa and Sairenji Haruna also looked at Eriri with eager eyes.
At their age, what little girl didn't dream of becoming a magical girl?
Back when Nemesis had shown off her extraordinary abilities, they were already full of envy. Now that they knew they could gain powers too, how could they not be thrilled?
"Of course you can."
Without hesitation, Eriri extended her right index finger and gently tapped the foreheads of each of the three girls, planting a powerful energy seed within them.
"All done. I've implanted energy seeds in each of you. From now on, as long as you train yourselves, you'll soon be able to wield great power," Eriri said with a gentle smile as she withdrew her finger.
"Mhm! Got it!"
The three girls nodded quickly. Though they didn't fully understand what the energy seed was, they could all feel a warm sensation inside, filling them with excitement and hope for the future.
After the girls calmed down a bit, Eriri continued with her instructions.
"Akiho, Haruna-chan, Yui-chan—you each have a key to this villa. After I return to the future with Neme-chan and the others, you're welcome to come play here or even live here long-term. Just treat this place as your home."
By now, the girls had mostly come to terms with Eriri's departure. Even if they hadn't, there was little they could do—after all, their parents were just as irreplaceable to them as Eriri.
So when they heard Eriri's words, they nodded in agreement.
To them, the villa held deep emotional significance. Even if they couldn't see Eriri for ten years, at the very least, they wanted to hold on to the precious memories they had made together.
...
The next day arrived quickly.
After explaining everything the day before, Eriri didn't rush to send the Sairenji sisters home.
Instead, she let them play in the villa until past nine in the evening before finally opening a space-time portal to send the reluctant girls back to the Sairenji household.
Thanks to some precautionary measures Eriri had taken during their pickup, their parents didn't notice their absence despite them being gone for several hours.
Yui Kotegawa was also personally escorted home by Eriri around the same time.
Even though she returned two or three hours later than usual, her parents didn't say much. In fact, they warmly invited Eriri to come in and stay for a bit, though she politely declined.
Having completed everything she needed to do, Eriri took Nemesis, Eve, and Tearju and leapt through the time stream once again, heading to the future ten years ahead.
...
"Alright, Tearju, Neme-chan, Eve-chan—welcome to the future ten years later."
As she sensed they had returned to the day she first arrived in this world, Eriri smiled and addressed the three.
Looking around at the unchanged room, the trio wore uncertain expressions.
"Master, master~ Are we really in the future already?"
"Of course we are."
They were now in Eriri's bedroom.
Because this time-jump had been a direct leap across ten years—instead of the gradual page-turning-like rewinding of time from before—Nemesis and the others didn't perceive any noticeable external changes.
If Eriri hadn't said they had jumped forward, they might have thought they were still in the past.
"Looks like Yui-chan and the others don't come into my bedroom very often. Still, they've already moved into the villa."
Eriri casually scanned the villa with her senses, easily grasping the current state of everything inside.
Although no one else was present aside from the four of them, she could clearly see the bedrooms belonging to Yui Kotegawa, Sairenji Akiho, and Sairenji Haruna, along with traces of their daily lives.
The villa had been imbued with an auto-cleaning function from the moment Eriri created it.
No matter how much time passed, it would never accumulate dust, so there was no need for regular cleaning.
This was one reason why Eriri's bedroom hadn't changed in the slightest.
The main reason, however, was that Yui and the others rarely entered her room. Or, if they did, it was only occasionally and they left everything untouched out of fond remembrance for Eriri.
The group didn't linger long in the bedroom. As soon as they confirmed they had arrived in the future, Nemesis and Eve eagerly flung open the door and ran out, with Eriri and Tearju following behind at a leisurely pace.
Once they reached the living room, the three girls finally noticed changes in the villa.
The television in the living room was no longer the same one from ten years ago, and various decorations had been updated. Overall, it still looked very nice.
Photos were now affixed to the walls, showing the growth of Yui, Akiho, and Haruna over the years. There were casual family snapshots, pictures in school uniforms, and more.
The most recent one showed Yui and Haruna standing together at a school entrance, both dressed in matching JK uniforms.
"Wow, Yui-chan and the others have grown so much!" Nemesis exclaimed upon seeing the photos.
She then turned to Eve thoughtfully and said, "Eve-chan, do you think we should look like teenagers too?!"
Eve nodded firmly. "Mhm! I agree. If we still look like this when we see Yui-chan and the others, they'll totally treat us like kids."
"Exactly! We can't let that happen!"
No sooner said than done, Nemesis and Eve used their transformation abilities to shift their appearances to that of teenage girls.
Seeing the two now in forms identical to how they looked in the original series, Eriri and Tearju smiled gently, showing no surprise.
After all, it wasn't their first time seeing Nemesis and Eve like this.
...
Sainan High School, Class 1-A.
The teacher at the podium was diligently lecturing, and most of the students below listened intently, with only a few exceptions.
Before long, the school bell rang, signaling the end of class. The teacher closed the textbook and concluded, "Alright, that's all for today's lesson. See you tomorrow, everyone."
With that, the teacher left the classroom, marking the end of the day's lessons.
The class instantly became lively. Students grouped up to hang out, while those in clubs quickly packed up and hurried out.
Now fifteen years old, Yui Kotegawa and Sairenji Haruna were students in Class 1-A, and their seats were right next to each other.
As in the original story, Haruna was the class representative. However, Yui was not the class's disciplinary officer.
In the original timeline, she became a disciplinary committee member due to the influence of her lawyer father and her strong sense of justice.
But in this version of events, she had been more influenced by Eriri—even though Eriri had only been with her for just over two months.
As a result, Yui's way of handling things now carried faint traces of Eriri's personality.
"Haruna, want to head home together later?" Yui asked as she packed her books.
"No, I'm going to hang out at the tennis club for a bit. Yui, go on ahead without me."
"I still don't get why you joined the tennis club. With your current physical abilities, winning a world championship would be a piece of cake."
After nearly ten years of training, both Yui and Haruna had fully absorbed the energy seeds within them.
Though they had never tested their limits, they knew their powers were immense.
In fact, they were now easily on par with Nemesis and Eve—among the strongest in the galaxy.
In response to Yui's comment, Haruna just smiled softly.
"It's just a hobby of mine. Besides, I wouldn't use extra strength to play tennis."
Yui didn't press the issue. She had only been venting anyway.
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