Ayase, who completely did not expect to run into Asakura in a place like this, could truly be described as overjoyed at this moment.
However, she immediately began to stare at Asakura's face with a mix of curiosity and concern.
To be precise, she was looking at his right eye, which was covered by an eyepatch.
"Asakura-nii, what happened to your eye?"
"Because of some 'accidents'... anyway, it's just an eye ailment flaring up. Don't worry, it's not a big problem," Asakura comforted her.
"That's good then..." Seeing that Asakura really didn't seem to care much about his eye, the girl let out a sigh of relief, thinking it must only be a minor issue.
"Asakura-nii, were you here with Kirino too..." She glanced at the large and small bags in Asakura's hands: "Are you here to buy things?"
"To be precise, I'm attending a convention. As for Kirino..."
Asakura hesitated for a moment, nodded, and then shook his head: "She and I aren't on the kind of close terms where we'd go out shopping together. If I had to say, I'm just out playing with my kouhai."
Ruri, cooperating perfectly, paced over to his side so that everyone could understand who the "kouhai" Asakura spoke of was.
"Kou-kouhai?"
Ayase looked at Ruri, who provocatively puffed out her chest—which didn't have much of an incline—causing the girl's perfect smile to show signs of breaking down.
"You two sure are on good terms... well, she is your kouhai, after all," she said, forcing a smile as if trying to convince herself.
"Only for now, anyway."
Ruri responded meaningfully.
Ayase's eye corner twitched, and the air began to fill with a subtle scent of gunpowder.
"Oh? That sounds like you're implying something?" She tilted her head slightly, her tone still gentle, yet carrying a hidden sharp edge.
"You're overthinking it."
"Really?"
"Because I'm too lazy to speak in riddles to a Muggle who can't understand human speech."
"Muggle? What are you talking about?" Ayase frowned.
"Simply put, I have no interest in Muggles," Ruri said.
Though she didn't know what a "Muggle" meant, Ayase could still understand that the other person was badmouthing her: "For someone wearing such strange clothes, you sure have a nasty way of talking."
"This is the Magical Raiment of the Queen of Night Demons. It might indeed be a bit too advanced for someone without aesthetic ability, but then again, I didn't dress like this for people like you to look at."
"Full of nonsense. I get it now, you're one of those people dressed weirdly like that person from earlier!"
"Alright, stop arguing."
In the end, Asakura took the initiative to speak up and break the confrontational atmosphere between the two: "Strange clothes don't mean there's a problem with one's character. You should be very clear on that yourself, right, Ayase?"
"Asakura-nii, you too... what exactly is this convention you mentioned..." Ayase looked at Asakura and asked seriously.
"Summer Comiket. You know about anime, right? It's a convention where enthusiasts in that field exchange and sell manga or novels they've drawn themselves."
Asakura answered.
"Sorry, my family doesn't allow me to watch those... I heard they are things for children. Do they really have such high popularity? I even saw a bus nearby earlier with those characters plastered all over it..."
Ayase frowned.
Ruri seemed to have an objection to her statement that "anime is for children" and wanted to say something, but she was stopped by Asakura's gaze.
Ayase glanced at her, and then the girl's gaze instantly locked onto Kirino, who was looking away evasively: "So, that means Kirino is an 'enthusiast' too?"
"Th-that..." Kirino began to stammer.
"Having one's own hobbies isn't anything strange. It's just that some people feel ashamed to tell others what they like. I remember you're not the type of person who likes to publicize things others are ashamed of, right, Ayase?" Asakura explained: "Let's not get to the bottom of it so much."
"I didn't really mean it that way... it's just that Kirino's attitude made me feel a bit strange," Ayase muttered: "Then what about Asakura-nii?"
"Me? While I'm not a fanatic enthusiast, I do watch a few of the more popular seasonal series every quarter."
Asakura answered candidly: "I even bought some doujin novels when I went to the Comic convention earlier."
"Is that so... although I still don't quite understand what's so good about that stuff," the girl said, her attitude softening slightly upon hearing this: "But since Asakura-nii watches them... then recommend some anime? Manga? Anyway, give me that kind of stuff, I'll try to understand Asakura-nii's interests properly."
"Really! Ayase, you're willing to watch anime too!"
Before Asakura could even speak, Kirino suddenly revealed an extremely pleasantly surprised expression.
"Eh? Um..." Kirino, who had been stammering just moments ago, suddenly became so enthusiastic that Ayase was caught a bit off guard.
She could only nod reluctantly: "If it's a recommendation from Asakura-nii..."
"Then you absolutely must watch this Stardust Witch Meruru! It's superb!"
Kirino immediately took out her phone, switched to the lock screen, and showed her treasured anime stills to Ayase: "I never get tired of it no matter how many times I watch! I highly recommend it!"
"...I, I feel it's a bit..."
Cold sweat began to roll down Ayase's forehead.
She looked at her best friend's phone screen—setting aside the juvenile art style, the characters alone gave her a feeling that something was very wrong.
The female lead and supporting lead were wearing clothes that were relatively normal and conservative, but the problem was that the shot used a near-upward-looking perspective, so the two loli characters' panties were completely, thoroughly, and very clearly exposed.
And in the corner of the poster, a black-haired woman who was likely an enemy character wore a combat suit that defied logic—one couldn't help but wonder 'How do you even put that on?' 'Why doesn't that string fall off from ○○?' 'It would be a total exposure with just one move, right?'—questions like these. In terms of skin exposure, it far exceeded a normal bikini...
In short, it didn't look like a proper anime no matter how you looked at it.
Ayase looked at Asakura with pleading eyes: "Um... does Asakura-nii recommend this anime?"
"Me? I don't really watch magical girl shows. If I had to say, I've only seen that popular work called Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and it felt pretty good."
Asakura answered casually.
So, Ayase immediately used his words as an excuse to back down: "Well, in that case, I'll watch that one too."
"Eh? Why? Obviously Meruru is the true masterpiece..."
Kirino puffed out her cheeks, dissatisfied.
"Should I say it's a matter of aesthetic taste, or that the characters' outfits are a bit too much for me... anyway, sorry Kirino, I really can't accept it."
"What a shame... but it's okay. As long as Ayase starts watching, I'll finally have someone to talk about anime with at school~"
Kirino was silly and happy for a moment, then asked curiously, "But, I remember you used to hate this kind of stuff, Ayase?"
Ayase glanced calmly at Asakura—the latter was still complaining to Utaha that the baseball cap she was wearing (also obtained from Eriri) looked a bit strange (Utaha: "Because there's a pair of cat ears underneath!"). Noticing that he wasn't paying attention to her side, she said to Kirino: "I just feel that, without personally investigating or coming into contact with it, making a snap judgment like 'Anime is bad!' is inappropriate."
"I see. As expected of Ayase, you're so understanding! I was worried several times that you'd find out I was watching anime."
Kirino seemed to relax completely: "By the way, I have a Meruru artbook here (all-ages). Take a look, if you're interested..."
As she spoke, she tried to pull the artbook out to recommend it, but accidentally dragged out the bonus setting collection for True Sister Wars. It fell to the ground, flipping open to a page showing a character with their clothes being torn—this thing had over thirty pages, and more than twenty of them were "clothing-burst" illustrations of different characters. In fact, landing on anything else would have been the low-probability event.
"Ah..." Kirino froze.
Ayase's expression also turned sour instantly.
She picked up the setting book before Kirino could, flipped through it briefly, and asked the girl: "Can I see the other things in that bag?"
"T-this... actually, most of the things inside are for my big brother! You know, my brother really likes this kind of dis... disgusting (she gasped, seemingly pained by having to personally say that the works she liked were disgusting) stuff—"
"Let me see."
"Wait..."
Kirino's resistance was practically nonexistent against Ayase, whose strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
She easily snatched her best friend's paper bag and pulled out a few thin booklets at random.
Even without flipping them open to check the contents, just seeing the giant fleshy worms on the cover... or the R18 label in the top right corner, was enough for her to understand what these were.
"Don't worry... I won't tell anyone at school about this. Or rather, someone like you... to go so far as to lie... just to buy this kind of... this kind of eyesore... even if I told people, they wouldn't believe it..."
Ayase spoke in an incredulous tone, her voice trembling slightly.
Then, her voice suddenly stopped trembling, replaced by a cold, emotionless tone that made one's spine chill:
"But... I'm sorry, I cannot continue to be friends with someone like you... Kousaka-san. Please, from now on, don't talk to me anymore, even at school—"
"That's enough."
Asakura clapped his hands, interrupting Ayase.
Since the secret was out, he had no intention of covering for Kirino; he simply handed back the paper bag that belonged to her.
"Everyone, let's take the train home first. It's about to rain, and staying here isn't the solution... Ayase, if you don't mind, could you have a cup of coffee with me?"
As if to annotate his words, pitter-patter raindrops began to fall, and the air seemed to grow thick.
Eriri pulled away Utaha, who still wanted to say something to Asakura—likely intending to follow along for 'coffee'; Saori gave Asakura a 'I'm counting on you, Asakura-shi' look before leading away a soul-crushed Kirino along with Ruri; Marin also left Asakura with a "Call me if you need help," and walked away somewhat helplessly.
Thus, the once-bustling scene was suddenly left with only Asakura and Ayase.
"Sorry, Asakura-nii (Brother Asakura), for making a scene in front of you," the girl said with a bitter smile.
"No, before that," Asakura shook the paper bag in his hand: "I bought that kind of stuff too. Aren't you going to break off your friendship with me?"
"Asakura-nii is different."
The girl said seriously.
Sister, if you're this blatantly double-standard, little Kirino is definitely going to cry if she finds out.
"Anyway, let's go take shelter from the rain," Asakura said, looking at the girl who was silently standing in the rain, clearly in a bad mood. "Don't you need to tell the staff?"
"I'll contact them with my phone later."
The girl said softly.
Asakura checked for nearby coffee shops and took the girl to the nearest Star... bucks.
"What would you like to drink, Ayase? My treat," he asked the girl.
"Coffee... whatever, anything is fine." Ayase shook her head.
"At a time like this, it's better to drink something sweet. I'll order for you," Asakura said. The girl nodded, so he turned to the employee at the counter and said seriously: "Peach Frappuccino with extra whipped cream, extra whipped cream, extra whipped cream, plus citrus pulp and chocolate chips, light ice."
The employee was startled, then, with a look of 'I've met an expert,' solemnly repeated the order to the back—an order that would seem like word-count padding if repeated here.
Ayase had a look of 'Is this some kind of incantation?': "Won't that be too sweet? And you said extra whipped cream three times..."
"Sugar helps restore the mood. Apparently, ordering it this way gets you even more cream than a normal 'extra' request," Asakura said. "As for me, please give me a Frappuccino (Original flavor)."
Ayase: "..."
Though the ordering process felt a bit chaotic, the actual product looked quite good when it arrived.
The girl took a sip of her special drink, and her eyes instantly narrowed.
"So sweet..."
"Do you want to re-order?"
"No need." The girl gently stirred it with her straw: "Asakura-nii is right. Drinking something sweet really does make me feel a lot better."
"Then let's talk about the main topic." Asakura also took a sip of his original Frappuccino to moisten his throat.
"If it's about Kirino..."
"No, I want to apologize to you," Asakura said.
"Eh?"
"Thinking about it carefully, I should have realized. Suddenly changing from a normal person to an esper—and an ability that is useless in daily life other than causing trouble—it's only natural to feel lost about your situation, worried about the future, or even fearful of your own power. These negative emotions ferment over time and become harder to bear... Someone should have been there to guide you properly, but I never showed up for various reasons. For that,"
Asakura nodded slightly toward her: "I am sorry. Truly sorry."