Before beginning to repair the wooden cabin, Hachiman had already expressed his dissatisfaction with this heavy physical labor.
"As long as it doesn't rain during these three days" — that was how he was praying at the time.
As it turned out, it seemed his prayer did not take effect.
Even though it was clear and beautiful in the morning, the clear afternoon sky suddenly reversed its offensive posture and gradually began to drizzle.
"Because the person praying wasn't a silver-haired, cat-eared loli shrine maiden," Asakura said.
"Excellent, it seems the reason why human prayers to the gods never work has been found," Hachiman nodded with an air of seriousness.
The two of them were currently taking shelter from the rain inside the wooden cabin, except even though it was a wooden cabin that had undergone simple repairs, there were still places leaking water at this moment; the two curled up inside the room watching the pit-a-pat of the rain curtain, feeling an inexplicably desolate sensation.
"Such a heavy rain also means there's no way to continue repairing the house. In a certain sense, it can be counted as achieving my initial wish through a roundabout way, can't it?"
Hachiman's dead-fish eyes reflected the puddles on the floor as he spoke with a lack of drive.
"Hachiman, those words of yours sound quite a lot like a villain executive from a daytime cartoon, you know? A sunny day is a win, a rainy day is also a win—win, win, win—only losing everything at the very end when crushed head-on by the protagonist group."
"That's not bad either. Compared to the kind of protagonist who gets beaten up from beginning to end by the villain and only wins at the very last moment to achieve final victory, I'd rather be a villain who has a blast for a whole season and only gets defeated once at the very end."
Water continuously seeped through the roof joints, and raindrops fell along the slanted wooden beams, tapping out an uneven rhythm on the floor.
A drop of water suddenly fell from directly above Hachiman, landing precisely on his shoulder.
He looked down at the wet fabric, his mouth twitching slightly as he shifted half a step, successfully evading the next round of targeted fixed-point strikes, then looked back at Asakura.
The water leakage in this wooden cabin was actually quite severe, yet Asakura's body showed absolutely no sign of being dampened by the rain at all, as if he had known long beforehand exactly where the rain would leak down.
"Speaking of which, who was responsible for the roof of this house of ours?" Hikigaya asked.
"Don't remember, but it wasn't me," Asakura replied.
"Wasn't me either. Well then, looks like it was Hayama."
Hikigaya mumbled: "I just knew that the kind of popular, handsome guy who looks bright and cheerful on the surface would definitely hide an indescribable darkness deep down in his heart."
No, it was also possible it simply hadn't been their turn yet, right? After all, Tobe had been playing dead like a corpse all morning; with only three boys, the wooden cabins they could repair were actually quite limited.
The sound of rain pressed down in waves, then slowly dispersed again.
Hikigaya let out a sigh, looking up at the continuously leaking roof; the expression in his dead-fish eyes looked as if he were evaluating the durability of life.
"Since it's like this, why not just tear it down completely and rebuild it? It feels like it would save a bit more trouble."
"Because tearing it down and rebuilding it costs more money, right? For the school, it would be better to just let the third-year students go to Kyoto to play for their school trip."
"Damn capitalism!"
This doesn't have anything to do with capitalism, does it?
At this time, a petite figure suddenly arrived at the wooden cabin.
"Tsurumi?" Asakura was taken aback, looking at the little one whose hair tips were still dripping water: "What did you come here for?"
"I..." Tsurumi Rumi wanted to say something, but looking at Hachiman who was hiding in the corner like a vulture, she mumbled haltingly: "Nothing, just looking around casually."
"I'll go over to Komachi's side to see how her situation is. Maybe my little sister needs me," Hachiman said, rising quite naturally as if he hadn't noticed Tsurumi Rumi's gaze at all.
"I don't think Komachi would be very happy to be seen by you in a wretched state," Asakura criticized.
"It doesn't matter, I like a soaking-wet Komachi too," Hachiman responded.
"You'll probably get a huge deduction of Komachi Points from her... how many Komachi Points do you even have left now?"
"...The love between older brother and younger sister cannot be measured by numbers! If I must say it, then it is," Hachiman wore a serious face; it seemed he only showed such a serious expression when talking about his younger sister: "Infinite Love!"
"Uh," Asakura was somewhat speechless: "Alright, as long as you're happy."
He cast a glance at Tsurumi Rumi, who was shivering slightly from being caught in the rain, and lightly snapped his fingers.
The spell [Scale] spread out across the ceiling; an invisible force gently and stably formed a barrier on the ceiling, and all the rain seeping into the house was guided to the base of the wall, instantly giving the originally damp interior a much more refreshing feeling.
Hachiman stared at Asakura with a sharp gaze.
As if he completely failed to catch his meaning, Asakura directed an innocent smile toward Hachiman, whose body had been dampened in several spots by the leaking raindrops.
Hachiman flared up in anger for a brief moment.
He silently raised his middle finger at Asakura, then walked into the rain curtain quite dashingly, leaving behind a wretched silhouette three seconds later.
Only after Hikigaya left did the expression on Tsurumi Rumi's face visibly loosen.
Only the sound of rain and the breathing of two people remained in the wooden cabin; the little girl stared blankly at a small wet patch on the floor, looking as if she could see flowers blooming out of that stain.
Asakura didn't particularly care; he knew very well that the little one had that kind of tsundere personality that had recently fallen out of the meta; words that could easily pop out of the mouth for a bright and cheerful person would require a distorted child like her to agonize over for a long time.
Therefore, he merely lifted the plastic bag at his feet — this was used by the shopping group earlier to hold things, but after the bought food was placed over by the cooking station, the bag was asked for by Asakura; on the surface he said it was to be used as a luggage bag, but in reality it was used to hold some little things that couldn't be shown out in the open.
Like the Bowtruckle.
Upon receiving Asakura's signal, that little wooden person crawled out from the bag, its slender body moving nimbly on the floor like a walking wooden twig.
It ran straight to the corner of the wall where Asakura had guided the leaking rain, tilted its body back, and let the raindrops fall onto its body one by one.
Its wooden body took on a dark luster after being wetted by the water; the little wooden person was clearly quite satisfied with this 'wooden house'.
It spread its four limbs, swaying slightly under the rain as if enjoying some exclusive ritual.
No, to be precise, it looked more like a dancing stick insect; while being somewhat comical, it also carried a dash of inexplicable cuteness.
Tsurumi Rumi was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but let out a gentle laugh.
That laugh was very light, yet it seemed to loosen up the thing that had been pressing down on her chest a bit.
She raised her hand to wipe the corner of her eye, her gaze following the movements of the little wooden person, her expression no longer so tense.
At this moment, the girl was sitting on the bedding against the wall, her hands wrapping around her knees, her spine slightly curved.
"I... regret it a little,"
She said in a small voice.
"What?" Asakura asked.
"I originally thought nobody cared about me, and that it wouldn't matter even if I disappeared... but in reality, it doesn't seem to be that way."
The girl didn't regret sending the little wooden person back to the old tree spirit's side—although from the final outcome, it was somewhat of a futile effort, there wasn't anything inherently wrong with the act itself.
She said in a small voice: "I shouldn't have secretly run out all by myself."
She thought of Hiratsuka's anxious expression, and remembered the way Yukihira Itsuka had showered her with warm care. Even that ice-cold flat-chested big sister, though her words were a bit harsh, even an elementary schooler like herself could tell she was genuinely worried about her.
That wave of regret didn't surge up suddenly, but rather piled up bit by bit.
No, if she thought carefully about it, rather than calling it regret, it felt much more like guilt.
"Don't worry about it, haven't you already been punished by me anyway?"
Asakura waved his hand: "A little brat only in the fourth or fifth grade shouldn't be overthinking all this random stuff. If kids don't cause trouble for others, are they even kids anymore!"
"I'm already in the sixth grade," Tsurumi Rumi retorted with some indignation, but then hugged her knees and fell silent again.
Clearly, in her eyes, walking a stretch of the road while carrying two snakes didn't count as much of a punishment.
"Itsuka wouldn't cause trouble for others," after a long pause, she said sullenly.
"That child is indeed much more mature than many of her peers," Asakura let out a sigh. "In fact, she's mature to a fault, which makes one worry instead..."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Tsurumi Rumi looked at Asakura in confusion.
"A child being mature to a fault usually means her parents aren't quite so mature themselves." Asakura pulled a clean towel out of the plastic bag—honestly, this thing was meant to be used to build a nest for the Bowtruckle, but unlike cats and dogs, the Bowtruckle as the offspring of a tree spirit didn't shed hair at all, nor was its body dirty, so the towel was as good as brand new.
Asakura wrung out the towel, and then, ignoring the little one's protests, rubbed Tsurumi Rumi's head, gently drying her hair: "By comparison, you are much more normal—just an ordinary little brat who acts deep but loves to cause mischief."
"That's not true at all, Asakura-nii, you don't understand!"
"Your next line is: 'You'll understand when you get to my age'!"
"No, no matter how you look at it, there's no way you can undergo reverse aging, right, Asakura-nii?"
"True." Asakura nodded, and then used the towel to wipe the girl's face, earning himself two punches from the embarrassed and indignant girl.
Of course, the little girl's fists carried absolutely zero lethality.
"Unlike Itsuka, I can tell that although you might not have many friends at school, your home environment should be pretty decent. Children from terrible blended or dysfunctional families don't usually develop your kind of drive and personality."
Asakura continued.
"Is that so..." Tsurumi Rumi mumbled sullenly.
"Well then, as a part of your punishment, Rumi, go and build a good relationship with Itsuka." Asakura put away the towel, casually making the suggestion after subconsciously taking a sniff.
Regrettably, there was no scent of a girl, only the extremely refreshing, herbal, woody aroma of the Bowtruckle.
"Eh... I'm not good at getting along with that type of person..."
"If you were good at it, it wouldn't be called a punishment."
"Ugh, true..."
"Look over there." Asakura gestured by tilting his chin toward the corner.
"What?" Tsurumi Rumi looked over subconsciously, and then discovered Asakura was pointing toward the Bowtruckle.
Right now, the little wooden person was still bathing in the rain, looking quite happy.
But that wasn't the main point.
"Ah..." Tsurumi Rumi said in some surprise: "It sprouted...?"
On the little wooden person's head, at the exact position where the flower bud originally was, a tender green little sprout began to pop up. It looked incredibly pleasant and carried a wondrous sensation as if something had been reborn.
Asakura didn't say anything more, simply watching the little wooden person enjoying itself in the leaking rain alongside her.
The sound of rain continued, and the wooden cabin remained dilapidated, yet at this very moment, it felt exceptionally peaceful and secure.
After another period of time, although Asakura himself didn't care, Tsurumi Rumi felt that she should try to earnestly interact with Yukihira Itsuka.
Thus, the little girl said goodbye to the Bowtruckle, and after playing together for a brief while, she left the cabin rather reluctantly.
Instantly, Asakura was left entirely alone in the wooden cabin.
"Huh, what's with this sudden urge to say 'Busy, it's good for everyone to be busy~'..."
Asakura mumbled to himself as he curled up alone on the bedding.
I'm not lonely at all! I have a ton of things to be busy with!
Like optimizing potion formulas and figuring out how to design the steps for control experiments; like re-planning the route for the nationwide ghost story tour; like issuing directives to the house-elves to develop new pastries to prevent the journey from consuming too much funding and leading to a lack of operational momentum; like occasionally taking a quick glance at the textbooks to prevent Yukino from usurping my throne...
"Too busy, way too busy..."
Though his mouth said this, Asakura himself remained completely motionless, curled up on the bed, to the point that even his gaze seemed to be undergoing a convergent evolution toward Hachiman's style.
Just then, a figure walked inside from outdoors.
"Oh? Yukino, what did you come here for? I'm super busy, I don't have a single bit of free time, you know!"
"Then I'll leave." Yukino turned to depart, but was immediately blocked by Asakura.
"There's no need for that either. Seeing that the Service Club is a strategic partner of the Ministry of Magic, and you are also an honorary member of our Ministry of Magic, I can tentatively spare a tiny bit of time to hear what you want to say."
I don't recall ever becoming an honorary member.
Yukino thought to herself, but seeing that Asakura appeared to be in an excellent mood, she involuntarily followed his lead and sat down on the opposite bedding.
"So, is something the matter?" Asakura asked while brewing tea for the girl.
"Where did you get a tea set from?" Yukino knit her brows, asking in confusion.
"Borrowed it from Yui, she has quite a lot of good stuff over there... I even suspect she stuffed every single unused and replaced gadget from her home entirely into Napoleon's stomach."
Asakura replied.
"Your tea-brewing technique is wrong."
"It's not like you came here to drink tea anyway, don't sweat the details."
Asakura handed the teacup over to the young girl: "So, what exactly is the matter?"
Yukino fell silent for a moment, opened her phone, and displayed the news on it to Asakura.
[Sudden Abnormal Climate in Osaka: Dense Fog Conditions Continue to Persist]