"Yawn~~~"
"What a big yawn. Ai-nee, did you not sleep well last night?" Asagumo asked.
"I stayed up a bit late watching some famous beauty videos recently." While Ai answered, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and let out a light yawn again.
"If you really can't manage, how about sleeping for a while?"
"No, no need..." Ai rubbed her eyes and said: "I slept almost enough during the lunch break, and now I just haven't quite recovered yet. Besides——"
She looked toward the sofa.
"That, is it my mistake... Why does the sense of distance between Anna-chan and Takuma-kun today feel a bit subtle."
"Because of this."
Asakura reached into his pocket and then pulled out a three-heads-high pocket-sized Yanami from inside.
The little fellow's cheeks were bulging, and some cookie crumbs were still stuck near her mouth, looking as if she were eating snacks; on the side, the original Yanami (?) was watching this three-heads-high version of herself with a look that only held envy, jealousy, and hate.
"Why can this child eat sugar-frosted almond cookies, while I only have one candy?" she issued an indignant complaint.
"Because this child's face feels softer to touch." Asakura pinched the little fellow's cheeks and said.
"My face is also very soft!" Yanami was filled with righteous indignation.
"Are you inviting me to touch you?"
"I, I am not!"
"Then there are no cookies."
"Ugh..." Yanami let out a cute wail; from her somewhat indignant expression, it seemed she was really seriously considering whether to sell her body (meaning being pinched on the face) in exchange for sugar-frosted almond cookies.
"Oh, so cute!" Ai's eyes sparkled with light as if she had seen some cute pet while staring at the pocket Yanami: "I feel like filming a cute pet video and posting it online would be very popular!"
"You can't film it oh." Asakura warned.
"Why a cute pet video?" Yanami also protested from the side.
"Shall we have some tea? Although today there is only Darjeeling." Asagumo also seemed very happy as she joined in the chaotic situation.
"Just not filming it then. Because it's very cute. Yes, please add a bit of milk for me!"
Ai answered with ease.
If Hitori were here, she would probably feel envious of this kind of social ability that showed absolutely no stage fright.
Asagumo added tea for everyone with a smile.
After everyone drank tea together for a while.
"By the way, isn't this completely unchanged?"
Yanami looked at the three-heads-high herself who was sprawled on the table, holding a cookie about the same size as her own head and enjoying it in large mouthfuls, and said with some suspicion: "Will going on like this really be useful? Don't tell me that after Takuma-kun has had his fill of touching for a day, you'll tell me this is useless, and in the end, we still have to... ki... kiss!"
"I feel like Anna-chan seems to have some subtle expectations; is it my mistake?" Ai looked at Yanami's appearance while holding her teacup and complained in a low voice.
"Ho, how could I be expecting it! It's just that after chatting with Chihaya-chan before, my sense of chastity has become a bit strange, that's all!"
"Eh eh eh? Just because of chatting, that kind of thing would become strange?!"
Asakura: "Sodayo."
"Why is Takuma-kun the one answering?!" Ai complained loudly.
And at this time, Yanami looked at Ai as if lost in thought.
Ai, who was made very self-conscious by her gaze, shifted her body uncomfortably: "Why is Anna-chan looking at me with that kind of gaze?"
"Although it's just Asagumo-san's side of the story... But when Ai-nee joined the Magic Club, did you experience any... well, very intense (in terms of chastity) things?"
Yanami asked.
"Very intense (literally) things?" Ai recalled the Mirror Aberration she encountered when joining the club, as well as the heart-shaking scene of the Battle of Thousand Leaves Harbor after joining, and couldn't help but nod vigorously: "There were, there were, they were truly very intense (literally) things! I think I won't forget them in this lifetime."
"It was actually true!"
Yanami was greatly shocked: "So I am the one who is foolishly being excluded..."
"But since Anna-chan has already joined, you will experience it sooner or later." Ai said.
"I didn't realize I had already been added to the full menu?! Corrupt! This is truly too corrupt!" Yanami shivered.
Ai looked at the other party blankly, while Asagumo, who had long ago seen through the whole situation, was suppressing a smile.
Just then, the three-heads-high pocket Yanami let out a long sigh as if satisfied and then disappeared.
"Oh! Finally——"
Seeing this, Yanami couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief while raising both hands in a cheers gesture and speaking happily.
Only then she somewhat doubtfully touched her own chest.
Although she didn't say it out loud, the girl found that now that the matter was resolved and she had regained her freedom and didn't have to stay by Asakura's side, she didn't seem as happy as she had imagined.
"Excuse me."
At this moment, Asakura suddenly reached out and hugged her, giving Yanami a start.
"Wait... Eh? Is it coming? Now? Here? Takuma-kun, are you serious?!" The girl spoke in a panic; if it were a manga, her eyes would surely have turned into whirlpool eyes by now.
Asakura didn't answer, but just lifted the girl high up like he was holding a small child.
The whole movement was too smooth, so much so that the girl didn't feel any romantic ambiguity at all, only a sense of humiliation from being treated as a small child by the other party.
A moment later, Asakura put the girl back on the ground and let out a light sigh.
"The weight is not right." He said: "There should still be two Yanami who haven't been recovered."
"Why does Takuma-kun act like he knows my weight so well! Also, what's with that measure word? Am I some kind of animal?!"
Yanami spoke in a state of exasperation.
"Don't talk nonsense, how could I know your exact weight." Asakura waved his hand: "It's just that didn't I say before, after grasping [Crowd] and merging the four of 'you' into one, your weight would become 4 times the original, so even if I don't know your weight, as long as I weigh it slightly, I can roughly understand how many people's weight it is now."
Despite saying this, even though Asakura's physical constitution was a bit better than ordinary people's, he wasn't particularly outstanding in terms of strength, so in reality, when the girl recovered three people's worth, he basically couldn't lift her.
"Is it okay not to go find the other two Anna-chan?" Ai asked with concern.
"If we can find them, that's naturally best, but currently there's no clue at all. Rather than spending energy running around everywhere, it's better to just wear down Yanami's magical power here to eventually achieve the effect of recovery."
Asakura spoke in a very serious tone with a pragmatic (doesn't want to go out) attitude.