The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

Chapter 452 Strange Yet Familiar

Snow City has the largest rabbit-tribe beastman settlement in the country.

Perhaps due to the relatively low cost of living here, many rabbit-like beastmen from impoverished families have settled here, gradually forming a unique local population pattern:

"Humans live in cities, while rabbit-like beastmen live in the suburbs and countryside due to poverty. As they are squeezed out of their communities, they gradually gather together and eventually form this huge settlement."

Su Tianqing sat on the bus, close to the catgirl next to her, the two sharing an earphone to watch a video.

The video content is about the situation in the Snow City rabbit tribe settlement.

The settlement is located in a suburb not far from Syracuse, but there is no subway line in the area, so people have to take a bus to get there.

Although Fenrir said, "Why don't we just fly there?", Su Tianqing persuaded him to stay on the bus and enjoy the scenery along the way, saying, "The point of traveling is to enjoy the process."

The heavy snowfall before them truly gave these southerners a taste of what a "snow scene" was all about.

Snowflakes fluttered down, and the flower beds and bushes along the roadside were piled high with snow. Road maintenance vehicles that had been spreading de-icing agents had already cleared the snow off the roads, so vehicles could drive without much difficulty.

When the bus pulled into the station and the group stepped onto this unfamiliar land, the scene before them took them by surprise.

"...Is this the place?" Su Tianqing murmured to herself.

Before me lay a landscape completely different from that of Syracuse city.

Low-rise shacks and bungalows form the main feature of the view, with a few three- or four-story apartment buildings scattered among the bungalows.

There are some basic infrastructure and shops, but the variety is... pitifully small; perhaps only the streetlights look the most sturdy.

There are no high-rise buildings, no commercial districts, and the biggest entertainment facilities are the dilapidated gardens and historic children's parks on the street. Even the convenience stores and other shops are of a very limited variety.

Although Syracuse's economy is relatively sluggish, it is still a city that has developed over many years, with skyscrapers and a full range of infrastructure, making it one of the top cities in the country.

The straight-line distance between this place and the city center is clearly only about eight or nine kilometers, yet it gives one the illusion of having arrived in a slum.

"It feels like a lifetime ago" perfectly describes this feeling.

"The economic situation here seems to be quite bad," commented Nan Jiayu.

"Yeah... just looking at it makes me feel... awful..." Su Tianqing sighed.

Thinking of this, the golden-haired fox girl turned her head and glanced at Xia Taotao beside her.

The pink-haired bunny girl stared blankly at the town before her, her bunny ears tucked into her warm fur hat, but the tips of her ears could still be seen trembling slightly.

What is she thinking about right now? Is she being stirred up by the desolate scene before her, bringing back long-forgotten memories, or is she feeling lost and confused by this strange yet familiar feeling?

Su Tianqing couldn't help but speculate in her heart.

...

The bus drove away, the roar of its engine gradually fading into the distance.

Almost no tourists walk this way, and there aren't many pedestrians either; both orcs and humans are present, making the station rather deserted.

The further they went in, the more passersby there were, and the proportion of rabbit-like beastmen also increased sharply.

The group strolled along the sidewalk, observing every possible detail.

Xia Taotao, in particular, would peek into the doorway of every shack or bungalow she passed, only to quickly look away again.

Su Tianqing had no idea what the rabbit girl beside her was thinking, but her series of subtle actions were enough to explain everything.

"Tao Tao, do you remember this place?"

While Nan Jiayu and Fei Yelan were being pestered by Aurora to play with the spinning teacups on the street, Su Tianqing sidled up to Xia Taotao and whispered a question to the rabbit girl.

Xia Taotao seemed to suddenly snap out of her reverie, glanced at the fox girl who had gotten close to her, then looked at the children's park and the few scattered amusement facilities in front of her, and nodded.

"I vaguely remember some things... but..."

The rabbit girl said softly.

"...Tianqing, I'm feeling a little scared."

"I don't know why I forgot my hometown, but ever since we came here, I've had this inexplicable feeling—"

"Deep down, I seem to be terrified of everything here."

A long silence followed.

Xia Taotao looked out over the park, unsure where to look. After glancing around, her gaze settled on the dilapidated slide.

Following her gaze, Su Tianqing saw children chasing and playing around the slide. Almost all of them were rabbit-kin beastmen, their colorful furry rabbit ears swaying in the warm sunlight.

Su Tianqing didn't say anything, but gently patted Xia Taotao's shoulder, using the warmth of her palm to offer the comfort she could.

"It's okay, Tao Tao. Although I don't know what you've been through in the past, you don't need to be afraid of these things now. We are all your friends."

"...Thank you."

After another long silence, the rabbit girl stammered out the word "thank you," her cheeks slightly flushed.

The lively laughter from not far away caught their attention.

Seeing Aurora having so much fun on the teacups, other children gathered around, and many stood on them, significantly increasing the pressure on Fei Yelan, who was in charge of operating the entire ride.

But she seemed to be enjoying it, and even worked harder than before.

"Let's take a walk around here. The dogs seem to be having a lot of fun."

"……Um."

Xia Taotao nodded.

But just as the two had taken a few steps and were about to wander around again, a small figure suddenly darted out from around the corner. She slipped on the melting snow and fell backward in front of them.

"Whoa!" "Thump!"

A solid, muffled thud was followed by a whimper of pain.

"it hurts……"

Are you alright?

Su Tianqing quickly stepped forward to help the little rabbit girl who had fallen to the ground. She glanced at the items scattered all over the ground from the little rabbit girl's arms and was slightly taken aback.

Those were scattered colored paper drawings, wrapped in plastic bags, now scattered all over the ground, with only a few remaining in the pockets, still bearing images of magical girls from various cities.

"Ah...ah, I'm so sorry...I'm sorry..."

Upon seeing that the person in front of her was a stranger, the little bunny girl who had fallen showed intense panic on her face and hurriedly lowered her head to apologize.

Looking down, she saw her scattered picture cards. She hurriedly bent down to pick them up one by one, carefully blowing away the dust and snowmelt before putting them into a plastic bag.

She curled up like a little rabbit, as if holding a bag of precious treasures.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to stop you two..."

"Waaah..."

While apologizing repeatedly, the little bunny girl walked forward, clutching the plastic bag in her arms. She had clearly fallen hard, and her movements were somewhat awkward.

Looking at her back, and then at her pink hair and bunny ears that were exactly the same as Xia Taotao's, Su Tianqing seemed to realize something.

The fox girl and the rabbit girl exchanged glances, nodded at the same time, and silently followed.