Early morning.
The girl's eyelashes fluttered slightly, then slowly lifted upward. The amber eyes of the newly awakened bore a layer of hazy mist; after the morning light filtered through, her pupils transitioned from a chaotic golden brown to a clear luster. She just stared blankly upward, blinking her eyelids half a beat late.
"An unfamiliar ceiling..."
"If it were familiar, then something would be wrong."
Asakura stood at the door of the room and knocked impatiently: "Alright, stop reminiscing about the lingering charms of sleep. If you don't hurry up and get ready, you won't catch the earliest tram... Or are you saying it doesn't matter if you go to school without wearing your uniform?"
"If I don't rush back, forget the uniform, even my school bag isn't here..."
The girl was like a wage slave who woke up to find it was earlier than expected and happily planned to sleep in, only to be woken up by an alarm clock 5 seconds after lying down, struggling painfully between her eyelids and her dependence on the comfortable bed.
"If you don't get out of bed quickly, there won't be time for breakfast..." Asakura looked at the other party's trembling, somewhat old-lady-like movements and said jokingly: "You don't want to be like the heroine in a Showa-era manga, running to school with a piece of toast in your mouth while panickingly saying 'I'm late, I'm late,' right?"
"What does it matter, that's a classic..." the girl first retorted full of resentment, then noticed Asakura's half-smiling gaze staring at her head. She couldn't help but blush, reaching out to try and flatten the ahoge that had curled up because she hadn't slept well, while muttering: "To actually mock someone, really inconsiderate."
Asakura shrugged indifferently and left the room.
After this fuss, Kita Ikuyo finally broke free from the control of the sleep demon and woke up completely. After a simple wash in the bathroom, she walked downstairs.
At this time, Momoka was already sitting at the bar, eating what looked like a rather sumptuous breakfast. Judging by her energetic and rosy complexion, she should not be troubled by a hangover.
"Kita, over here." Seeing Kita Ikuyo walking down the stairs, Momoka waved to her: "I heard from the young boss that you specifically stayed behind to take care of me, thank you."
"No need for thanks, actually I didn't help much."
Kita Ikuyo shook her head gently, then she looked at Asakura, who for some reason was wearing an apron and was bringing her portion of breakfast to the bar, and asked abruptly: "Red or blue?"
"Red..." Asakura said.
"Ugh..."
Kita Ikuyo had a look of regret as if she had "guessed wrong."
"What? Is it a pill?" Momoka asked with a face full of confusion.
"She's asking about towels..." Asakura replied: "The red one is mine."
"Oh, I see."
Momoka realized, but then she asked doubtfully: "Didn't Kita wash her face last night?"
"What I used last night were the disposable wet wipes I carry with me..."
Kita Ikuyo said sullenly: "So I forgot to ask... why is there a disposable kit for toothbrushes but not for towels?"
"Actually, there are compressed towels, but you didn't ask..." Asakura spread his hands, expressing helplessness.
As a side note, whether it was the disposable toothbrush or the compressed towel, both were bought by Asakura from the convenience store yesterday... that's right, it was when he helped Kita Ikuyo buy her underwear.
However, no matter what, they had already been used anyway. No matter how much she regretted it, it wouldn't help. Besides, the level of shame from having shared a bathtub for a bath last night was far greater than sharing a towel.
So Kita Ikuyo simply broke the jar and sat down boldly next to Momoka, planning to turn her grief and indignation into an appetite.
Asakura didn't mind either.
After all, if it were at home, he would have to cook himself, but here was the Rabbit House behind the back door connected to the round table hall. It was part of the area covered by the Spirit Kitchen effect. If you wanted to eat anything, you could just order directly from the domestic house elves.
Even though compared to desserts, the domestic house elves were slightly lacking in other cuisines—after all, they were born making British food, and their sense of taste felt somewhat contaminated—but after Asakura's correction during this period, the taste of the dishes they made finally began to lean toward Asian tastes.
"Delicious, I feel like Rabbit House could totally change its business to an Izakaya..." Momoka highly praised the craftsmanship of the domestic house elves.
Asakura took a bite of tamagoyaki and felt that the taste and texture were no different from ordinary fried eggs. Then he took a sip of miso soup and found that instead of miso soup, this thing tasted more like a watered-down version of Northeast China's big bean paste soup. He immediately stopped having any expectations for Momoka's culinary taste.
He couldn't help but cast a look of pity at the other party: what a poor child, probably never ate anything good since she was little.
Kita Ikuyo seemed to have tasted something was off, but seeing Momoka eating so happily, the high-EQ social butterfly girl didn't say anything to spoil the mood.
Because the girl was still in a hurry, she just stopped after tasting a few breakfast dishes and prepared to say goodbye and leave.
"I'll walk you..." Asakura untied his apron and said: "Kawaragi, I'll trouble you to wash the dishes and take out the trash after you finish eating."
At this time, Momoka, who was immersed in the miso-stewed mackerel, had her mouth stuffed and couldn't say anything, so she hurriedly gave Asakura an OK gesture, indicating no problem.
Kita Ikuyo probably felt that it was too much trouble for Asakura and wanted to decline, but Asakura had already stepped out of the door first.
So she could only follow him in a hurry.
"No need to say thanks, actually I need to take the tram too..." Asakura said to the girl who caught up in a rush.
"Asakura-kun needs to as well?" Kita Ikuyo was stunned for a moment.
"You didn't think you were the only one who had to go to school today, did you?"
Asakura said casually: "My uniform is also back at home."
"I see..." Hearing this, Kita Ikuyo didn't say anything more, but just followed behind Asakura step by step, looking like a very obedient little maid.
It was still early, and even the wage slaves hadn't set out yet.
There weren't many pedestrians on the road, which gave the air a bit of a lonely feeling.
"Actually, what Asakura-kun said was wrong oh..." the girl suddenly walked quickly to Asakura's side and said in a low voice.
"What?" Asakura looked at the girl beside him.
"Things like 'no need to say thanks,' if I think about it carefully, Asakura-kun has actually taken care of me quite a bit."
"There's no such thing."
"There is. If Asakura-kun hadn't spent money to buy my bass so I could buy a new guitar, I would definitely have no more connection with the band now."
"That was just pure luck."
"Then, if Asakura-kun hadn't agreed to let me work in the shop, I would have had no way to learn guitar from Momoka-san, and even if I met Ichiji-senpai and the others again later, I certainly wouldn't have been able to return to the band."
"That was me taking the initiative to let you work; you seem to have the causal relationship wrong..." Asakura said in the tone of 'You are the challenger!'.
"And yesterday when I wanted to stay, it was clearly a lack of trust in Asakura-kun, but you weren't angry at all. Even though I didn't really help Momoka-san with anything, you still helped me a lot..." the girl continued: "No need to be busy defending yourself. When I was changing clothes, I actually saw Asakura-kun's uniform in the room. Although you are always sharp-tongued and unforgiving, Asakura is really a very gentle person."
"You're blind."
Asakura said without the slightest wavering.
After all, he was an Azkaban certified by the Sorting Hat.
"Really, why do you always have to say things like that? A tsundere boy isn't cute at all..." the girl said, puffing out her cheeks.
"I would be in trouble if I became cute, right?"
"No, there's no such thing."
"...Your tone is becoming just like Hitori, lacking confidence."
"Ugh, hey hey..."
☆
"So I discovered another you."
After sending Kita Ikuyo back, Asakura changed into a different set of clothes himself, and ran to Sobu High with an empty school bag.
Then he found Yanami in the classroom looking somewhat dispirited. After taking her to the Service Club activity room, she explained the situation.
"What 'so'! I only heard that you were flirting and chatting with some stray cat from who-knows-where for the whole night, hey!"
Yanami slammed the table hard, then because the reaction force was mutual, she clutched her red palm, looking like she wanted to cry but had no tears.
Asakura didn't speak, but just took the SD (Super Deformed) Yanami out of his pocket- the little fellow had been fed a large piece of ham in the morning, and after eating and drinking her fill, she had been sleeping. That lazy appearance was exactly the same as the genuine Yanami.
"It really is me?! Hey! But I didn't feel the curse activating?"
"I asked you twice before to go to the club room to practice the demon curse, you skipped them all, right?" Asakura approached the girl and said.
"Because you scheduled them during snack time..." Yanami's eyes darted around guiltily.
"In any case, you can only eat four meals a day. Can't you move snack time to the evening and turn it into supper time?" Asakura said.
"Supper time has other arrangements!" the girl said confidently.
"?" Asakura looked at her doubtfully.
Three meals a day plus snacks and supper- wouldn't that be five meals? But the girl's body didn't show the punishment that occurred due to violating the "ritual."
Well, in short, her weight hadn't turned into 8 times the original.
"Because I wake up very late and often don't eat breakfast, I can enjoy snacks and supper at the same time!" Yanami said triumphantly.
No, there's absolutely nothing to be proud of in that, right?
"To summarize, this child is likely the result of your laziness."
Asakura poked the SD Yanami's little face.
SD Yanami let out a moan of unknown meaning, flipped over, and continued to sleep soundly.
"Then what should I do now?" Yanami watched herself being poked back and forth by Asakura, and couldn't help but swat his hand away with some dissatisfaction, asking with a frown.
"There are two choices."
Actually, upon seeing Yanami, Asakura roughly understood what the current situation was.
To put it simply, it was a curse rampage caused by magical redundancy.
It was just that Yanami's quality as a witch wasn't high, and the Curse [Crowd] wasn't a formal curse in a sense, so the impact wasn't great, it just created an SD Yanami.
But if things continued like this, the situation would definitely get worse, so the girl's problem still had to be solved.
"Oh, there are actually two ways? As expected of Asakura-kun!"
Yanami didn't realize the seriousness of the problem and said happily.
"Your current situation is essentially that your magical power exceeds the range you can control, so you just need to consume your magical power."
Asakura explained.
"Although I don't quite understand, I basically get the gist." Yanami patted her chest and said: "So what do I need to do?"
"The first method is simple, direct, and effective, it won't take more than a minute."
"Then that's the one!" Yanami pounded the table without hesitation.
"Then get ready for a kiss. If you're not used to it, closing your eyes is also fine."
"Get... out! Why is it a kiss!"
The girl's face turned red instantly, looking at Asakura in embarrassment and anger.
"Because mucous membrane contact is required, a French wet kiss will have a better effect- basically tongues intertwined together and then..." Asakura said while even trying to demonstrate his flexible tongue.
"Don't describe it in such detail! I feel like unwanted knowledge has suddenly flooded into my brain!" Yanami covered her ears and complained loudly.
"Don't worry..." Asakura comforted the girl: "Your head isn't that smart."
"Rather than comfort, that's more like damage on another level! Anyway, it's too early! Absolutely not!"
"Then you can only choose the second way." Asakura said without much emotional fluctuation, as if he had long expected her to refuse.
"If you dare to say it's doing [Censored], even I will get angry oh!"
"Ugh, why would you think of that kind of place? That's too lewd." Asakura looked at Yanami with disgusted eyes.
"Wasn't it you who said kissing and stuff first!"
"There's also a kiss to show friendship."
"In reality, which country would use a French wet kiss to show friendship! It's too open!"
"Anyway, the second method is..."
"Don't start escaping when the topic is unfavorable to you!"
"Anyway, the second method is..."
"Ignored?!"
"Anyway, the second method is..."
"The topic has started an infinite loop! Fine, fine, go on."
"It doesn't require a wet kiss or physical contact, but it stretches the redundant magical power that could have been finished in an instant over a longer period of time."
"I see, I understand, I understand..." Yanami nodded, "But to ensure there are no deviations in our understanding, can you explain it in simpler and more concise language? Within about twenty words."
So you didn't understand at all, right?
Therefore, Asakura said simply and directly: "For the whole day today, you have to stay with me."
"A whole day?!"
"Ah, I won't go into the girls' restroom with you."
"You didn't need to accompany me in the first place!"