Eriri left the activity room looking like she had lost her soul, not even hearing what the "benefits" Asakura had started preparing were.
This made Asakura feel a bit dejected. Having brewed too many quick-acting truant candies, he had lost his latest loyal user...
"So, what does everyone plan to do next?" Asakura asked. "I mean, how are you going to spend the rest of the time left in the school festival?"
"Even though Asakura-san looks like the school festival is about to end and it's just garbage time left..." Yukinoshita Yukino calmly reminded, "in reality, only a little over half of it has passed. Even the large-scale activities prepared by the student council for the afternoon haven't started yet."
Hearing this, everyone in the activity room showed a somewhat weary expression.
Although they hadn't appeared to go through any grand upheavals, running around all morning and the mental and physical exhaustion of preventing the cursed Holy Grail from causing a major disaster meant that, for the members of the Ministry of Magic, today had already been quite tiring.
To be honest, even Asakura felt like throwing everything aside, going home, and sleeping before doing anything else.
"As for me, I should probably go help out at my class's stall later. After all, I feel a bit bad for the others if I skip too many shifts..."
Yuigahama Yui was the first to answer without thinking too much.
"Me too." "That's right, that's right."
The two Yanamis replied in unison.
"Yanami, can you change back to your original appearance? Looking at you like this, I don't even know which one of you to look at." Yuigahama said to her.
The two Yanamis gave Yuigahama a big thumb up in perfect synchronization, then they put their arms around each other's shoulders and merged together like two drops of water, becoming the true Yanami.
For some reason, the latter's face even wore a smug "ta-da~" expression like a magician who had just finished a performance.
"Thinking about it that way, during the busiest time, the three of us have been slacking off. The schedule for the class must be exploding by now." Asakura rubbed his chin and said with a bit of schadenfreude.
"Uwah, now that Takuma-tan mentions it, it really seems like..."
Yuigahama Yui couldn't sit still anymore and ran out the door, pulling Yanami with her.
"Ah~~" Yanami let out a leisurely cry, looking like a lady from a good family in a Japanese period drama having her kimono sash pulled by a wicked official.
"Are you not going over there too?"
Yukinoshita Yukino stood up and walked toward the door—looking like she also intended to return to her class to finish her work—while asking Asakura.
"The snacks for our class were all provided by me, so I have the privilege of slacking off."
Asakura said cheerfully.
If I have to work after providing the dango, and I still have to work even if I don't provide the dango, then didn't I provide them for nothing!
Yukinoshita stayed silent for a moment, muttered "wicked capitalism..." and then silently left the activity room.
"Those three actually just ran off wearing those kimonos like that..." Asakura sighed and asked Asagumo Chihaya: "Is it really okay for them to go like that?"
"It doesn't matter as long as they return the clothes on time." Asagumo Chihaya said. "And actually, those kimonos aren't high-end goods worn for coming-of-age ceremonies. The material is quite... well, it's a good value for the price, so it doesn't matter even if they get ruined. After all, the deposit has already been paid. It's better to say, from the perspective of breaking even, it's better if the customers lose the clothes..."
Just where on earth did you get kimonos made of such poor material...
"Speaking of which, Ai-chan is also in the middle of promoting for the class, so I have to hurry back." Hayasaka Ai also stuck out her tongue and said: "By the way, are the kimono rental clothes in Asakura-senpai's class very expensive? I'm the only one not wearing a kimono, so I feel a bit left out..."
"They're very cheap." Asagumo Chihaya said with narrowing eyes and a smile. "The person in charge of cost control in our class is very capable. I have discount coupons here, for you."
For some reason, seeing this smile, Asakura had a subtle feeling that the person in charge of material cost control in their class was likely Asagumo Chihaya herself...
However, it probably wasn't a bad thing, so Asakura didn't voice this feeling and instead silently drank some tea to hide it.
"Thank you, Asakura-senpai! Then I'll be going now!" Hayasaka Ai happily ran out of the activity room like a Labrador that was finally able to go for a walk.
Suddenly, only Asakura and Asagumo Chihaya were left in the large activity room.
"What do you plan to do next, Takuma-kun?" The girl put her hands behind her back and asked Asakura somewhat playfully.
"Hmm, although there are still many things to do..." Asakura rubbed his chin, then suddenly reached out toward the girl and made an inviting dance pose: "But as expected, let's finish our unfinished date first."
"Although I'm very happy, is it really okay?" Asagumo Chihaya said this, but her hand put itself into Asakura's without the slightest hesitation, looking like she had accepted the invitation. "If we don't quickly prepare the rewards to replace the Holy Grail, the afternoon student council activity will become a big joke, right?"
"Regarding that, actually, I've been preparing from the start."
Asakura blinked and snapped his fingers with a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Then, the teacups the Ministry of Magic members had just been drinking from on the table all disappeared, replaced by seven golden chalices.
"This is..."
Asagumo Chihaya observed them closely and then immediately discovered their true nature: "Are these chocolates wrapped in gold foil?"
"Yeah, actually the contents are different besides the chocolate. Each chocolate cup is different, but whether it's quality or quantity, it should be enough to satisfy any student participating in the activity." Asakura nodded and replied: "Not to mention there are also the rewards provided by the student council."
And what Asakura didn't say was that in each chalice, there was actually a very tiny amount of Felix Felicis—that's right, it was the stuff he had drunk before.
This stuff is extremely precious and cannot be mass-produced. Asakura only managed to get some residue from the walls and bottom of the bottle when he was cleaning his potion bottles. Considering that after this stuff is used, the sealing effect of the original potion bottle becomes much worse, and it wouldn't keep for long even if it wasn't used, and such a tiny amount of potion wasn't of much use to Asakura, he simply added it to the chocolate. It could be considered a small reward for those who could obtain the "Holy Grail" (and were willing to eat it as soon as possible).
After all, for Muggles, even a tiny amount of Felix Felicis can bring unexpected good luck.