After chatting with Ayase Aragaki for a while, Asakura was somewhat glad that he hadn't rashly gone to her door but had conveyed his message through the small Snake.
It wasn't that there was any danger on Ayase Aragaki's side; for example, that she had been turned and was waiting for Asakura to come so she could bag him or something, but rather that the young girl's emotions seemed a bit... well, too serious.
Of course, it might also be because communicating with a small Snake felt different from face-to-face interaction with a person, just like some people appear serious and earnest outside, but when they see cute cats and dogs, their demeanor changes drastically, and their voices can't help but become high-pitched...
In any case, the communication time with Ayase Aragaki wasn't too long, but throughout the process, Asakura several times showed the expression of an old man on the subway looking at his phone due to her slightly explicit words.
Why does a young girl have to be so serious all the time? If it's really too much, maybe she should go play in a band to relax...
Finally, feeling overwhelmed and sensing that continuing to listen would give him a stomachache, Asakura quickly gave her a few instructions, telling her to pay attention to her own safety, and then hastily went offline.
As for the small Snake, it stayed by her side, giving the girl a way to contact him urgently, bypassing potential surveillance.
It's worth mentioning that unlike the small Snake pendant given to Chihaya Anon, which was mixed with many alchemy materials, the small Snake with Ayase Aragaki was just a real Snake modified by the Curse [Snake], and it needed to be fed some raw meat every two days to maintain its vital signs.
It wasn't differential treatment. It was simply that the considerable amount of alchemy materials Asakura had accumulated from missions earlier had almost been used up after he could use Curse and began related research. The remaining ones he carefully collected and stored for emergencies.
In short, the shortage of alchemy materials made Asakura turn his attention back to the Nameless Magic Book's quest: the system's recent rewards had been a bit random, and it seemed like it hadn't dropped gold coins for a while. Perhaps completing this quest would bring in new alchemy materials.
The latest quest remained stuck on opening and making a profit from the storefront at 12 Toyama Shopping District.
"Survival Strategy—!" Asakura shouted with a serious expression.
"Huh?" Chihaya Anon looked at him blankly.
"Regarding the fact that I inherited a shop but don't know what kind of shop to open to make a normal profit..." Asakura said deeply, resting his chin on his hands.
"If you add some beautiful girl elements and title marks, it could be a light novel title these days..." Miss Anon, the beautiful girl, said.
"At such a critical and important moment, only Anon is in the Clubroom..."
"Do you have any complaints?" Chihaya Anon stared at Asakura with adorable dead fish eyes. "Asagumo-senpai is busy with her class's school festival preparations, Yui-senpai is also helping Yukino-san with the Service Club's requests, and Ruri-chan and that Kaju-chan aren't Soubu High School students, so I'm the only one free, I'm really sorry, huh..."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but grumble to herself.
She mumbled about how she had originally returned to Japan intending to have a sparkling high school life, hoping to be surrounded by many people and become the focus of the popular kids like she was in middle school. It would be even better if she could join a band and become a lead singer, adored and supported by countless people.
But then, by one careless move, she stepped into the supernatural world, and she herself had to restrain her desire to perform, hiding gloomily in the Clubroom all day long doing nothing, and then still being complained about as useless by Asakura...
"Ugh, my original rose-colored youth..." The girl murmured with a hint of regret.
"Other things aside..." Asakura listened to the girl's complaints and asked somewhat puzzled, "Don't tell me you can only cast Curse with the help of the pendant. Even if you really awakened your own Curse and became a true Curse, you wouldn't have to spend all your after-school time here. If you want to join a band or something, why not just go do it?"
"Eh, isn't there a setting that 'if you have supernatural abilities, you must act low-key, otherwise you'll be caught and dissected'?" Chihaya Anon's eyes widened, as if she had just learned some incredible information, and she asked.
"Unfortunately, there's no such setting. As long as you don't expose yourself, there's no problem. Moreover, the Magic Club isn't some dictatorial club. Aside from needing Avengers to assemble in case of an accident, it doesn't have mandatory rules for club activities..." Asakura spread his hands. "Look, isn't Yui a member of the Service Club while also being a member of the Magic Club?"
Chihaya Anon stared blankly at Asakura.
Chihaya Anon was thinking about something.
Chihaya Anon showed an expression of sudden realization.
"I see..." the girl leaped up from the sofa, grabbed her school bag, and made a 'Hail Hydra' gesture towards Asakura with a serious expression—Asakura thought she probably originally intended to make a cool 'Shalala~' gesture and then walked towards the door: "Then Anon is off to find her youth!"
"Wait, wait, wait..." Asakura quickly stopped her. "Even if it's just Anon, you can at least serve as a reference for opinions. If even you leave, I'll only be able to discuss it with Hoshino."
"Am I some untouchable?!" Miss Hoshino Ai, who had been eagerly watching the two of them pulling and tugging in the poster, was suddenly cued and couldn't help but show a displeased expression, complaining loudly.
"It's not that I'm looking down on you, but I just feel that any plan discussed with Miss Hoshino would probably end up unfinished..." Asakura said with some difficulty.
"You ARE looking down on me!" Hoshino Ai became even angrier, her star eyes full of displeasure.
"So, Asakura-kun, what exactly do you want to discuss?" Chihaya Anon couldn't help but interrupt Asakura's conversation with the beautiful girl on the poster. To prevent him from becoming a pathetic otaku obsessed with two-dimensional characters, she actively asked him, "You've been acting a bit strange since earlier."
"Hmm, I think I've mentioned it before, but it's about the shop in Toyama Shopping District. I'm finding it difficult to decide what kind of business to open to make a normal profit..." Asakura sighed.
"Is that such an important problem?" Chihaya Anon was a bit puzzled.
"It's very important, or rather, it's an urgent problem..." Asakura replied with great distress.
If it weren't for the constraint of having to make a profit, he himself wouldn't care at all about the type of shop. Even opening a fake antique shop that doesn't open for three years would be fine, but then his system quest would be stuck. If possible, he still had to operate it properly.