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Knock! Knock!
The person didn't wait for an answer, simply using the knock as a warning before pushing the door open.
Creak—!
The door swung open gently—and Alice Kuonji—carrying a breakfast tray, slowly entered the room.
"Hmm?" The moment she entered, she saw Aoko's smiling face. Her lips curved upwards slightly, but the next moment, her expression returned to its usual placid calm.
"You seem to have recovered well, Aoko," Alice said flatly.
As she spoke, Alice glanced at Haru. Aoko, who had just been through such a brutal ordeal last night, was now smiling. Though it was partly due to her naturally optimistic personality, Haru must have played a part in it.
'Probably another teasing stunt,' Alice thought to herself.
Seeing Alice, Aoko's eyes widened slightly. She surveyed Alice's unharmed body, a flicker of relief on her face, then, wrapped in her blanket, she said with a grin,
"Alice, give me the breakfast. I'm starving!"
Alice didn't answer, simply carrying the tray carefully, preventing the liquid on it from spilling, and slowly walked to Aoko's side, placing the tray on the cabinet.
Aoko shifted and was about to reach out for the chopsticks when she looked down at the blanket she was wrapped in, then at Haru, who was staring at her, and her brow furrowed slightly.
"Turn around!" Aoko glared at Haru, her tone unfriendly.
"It's not like I haven't seen it before," Haru grinned, glaring back at her.
Hearing this, Alice slowly turned her head and, looking at the staring figure, a cold glint flashed in her eyes.
Seeing Alice's displeased expression, Haru's face stiffened. Considering Alice's sensitive state, he decisively chose to back down. Haru threw up his hands, uncrossed his legs, picked up the chair, spun it a hundred and eighty degrees, and sat down with his back to Aoko.
Clank—!
The sound of a wardrobe being opened, followed by the rustle of clothes.
————
A few moments later, Alice's calm voice sounded. "...It's okay now."
Haru turned his head and looked at the bed. The sick girl was simply dressed in a white wool sweater and a pair of casual pants, sitting on the edge of the bed, devouring her food.
Alice handed him a tray with a sandwich and a cup of tea. Haru took the breakfast and examined it.
It was just a simple English ham sandwich and a cup of breakfast tea, a very simple meal, but—
Haru lifted his head and looked at Aoko's happy expression. This was probably a relatively lavish breakfast in her daily life.
"Speaking of which, what do you two usually eat for breakfast?"
Haru asked, a look of surprise on his face as he looked at the overjoyed Aoko and the silently chewing Alice, whose lips were curved upwards slightly.
"..."
The somewhat cheerful dining atmosphere suddenly vanished.
The hand holding the sandwich froze in mid-air. Her slightly parted cherry lips, which were about to take a bite of the sandwich, also froze.
Alice's chewing also stopped, and an unnatural blush flashed across her delicate, doll-like face.
Haru's lip twitched. Looking at the suddenly-unnatural two, he had a feeling he had just touched a sore spot.
Alice's gaze flickered. She hesitated for a moment, then said, her voice unnatural, "Stale, dry bread and cold water."
Aoko nodded with a look of bitter resentment, and gently took a bite of her sandwich, chewing with a blissful expression.
"—I'm surprised you can maintain such figures." Haru glanced at Alice's exquisite figure. Based on his manual measurements from yesterday, the feel was exceptionally good. He had originally thought it was due to careful maintenance, but now, it seemed it was probably a witch's natural talent.
After a few seconds of thought, Haru turned his head and, surveying the tea-drinking Aoko, looking at her scale which was far beyond that of her peers, said, his tone complicated, "This can't be explained by talent alone. It's definitely an anomaly, right?"
"Hmm?" Aoko, who was sipping her tea, narrowed her eyes, a fierce glint in them as she looked at him. "What were you just thinking?"
"I was thinking I should have paid you your maid's salary a few days ago, so you wouldn't all be malnourished," Haru said, his expression unchanged.
"Oh?" Aoko looked at him with suspicion. Her intuition told her he wasn't telling the truth.
"By the way, the barrier has been broken. What are you two going to do now?" Haru deliberately changed the subject.
"Broken?!" Aoko put down her teacup, her expression grave as she looked at Alice on the chair beside her, her gaze filled with a question.
She had originally thought that Touko's target last night was only her. But now, hearing his words, she immediately knew that her housemate had probably also been defeated.
"Is that so? Alice lost too. I can probably guess some of it, but can you tell me the specifics?" Aoko swirled the tea in her cup, looking at the rippling surface, her tone sharp.
Hearing her words, which seemed to be picking at a wound, Alice wasn't angry. Having lived with her for two years, she could somewhat guess Aoko's true intentions.
She wanted to use the process of thinking of a countermeasure to numb herself, to forget her fear.
Alice subconsciously omitted what had happened after Haru's appearance and succinctly described last night's battle to Aoko.
"As I thought, that mutt is a major enemy. I went all out last night and only managed to pierce its fur. As I thought, the reason I was retaliated against with a claw attack was because I angered it," Aoko muttered under her breath.
"Hmm?" X2
Haru and Alice's brows furrowed. They looked at the muttering Aoko with a look of bewilderment. In the small room, any sound was extremely clear, so they had immediately heard her words.
"Aoko? You're saying you pierced the Phantasmal Species's defense? You used magic?" Alice looked at her with shock.
She was exceptionally familiar with Beo's fur defense, having fought it once. Even the Giant of the Bridge, which had been passed down for a thousand years and was known for its strength, couldn't break through that iron wall. And yet Aoko had broken it. Besides using magic, she couldn't think of any other way she could have done it.
"Did you use King Arthur's Mana Burst or Shiva's 'Destruction' divine power?" Haru asked, a little unsure.
He hadn't felt any magical fluctuations last night. If Aoko had used magic, he would have instantly sensed it, even from a city away. Since she hadn't used magic, then the only way she could have broken through the Phantasmal Species's defense was with the contents of the two books he had given her.
"That magical power is divine power? No wonder my eight layers of magical power only converted enough to cover one finger," Aoko blinked. She just now realized she had done something amazing.
'The contents of that book actually teach how to convert a human body into divine power? Just thinking about it is amazing. Wait, doesn't that mean the favor I owe is too great?' Aoko was about to sigh with emotion when she looked at Haru with a bewildered expression.
"Your Origin, it really is [Destruction]," Haru said with a sigh.
Then, he noticed her bewildered expression and frowned slightly. "What's wrong?"
Aoko's gaze flickered, and she turned her head away.
"...It's nothing. I just feel that if my stored magical power were increased by twenty times, I could directly kill that mutt."
Just then, Aoko's eyes widened slightly, her gaze fixed on Haru.
"Do you know any way to increase my magical power by twenty times?"
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