"...Teaching and learning are two different things."
If teaching guaranteed learning, the five of them wouldn't have ended up in the Service Club's remedial class.
"Also, will this method work? I feel like it's a bit opportunistic."
"Hush, he's not the type of person who would care what method we use."
"Whatever, let's just try it first."
Itsuki commanded the Gingerbread Witch: "Summon a Candy House right here."
"Oh." The Gingerbread Witch.
In just a moment, a Candy House identical to the one in Strange Speech Forest rose from the ground.
Watching the Gingerbread Witch's relaxed expression, Itsuki inexplicably felt like this person was putting on an act for her.
"A difficult Pokémon that refuses to exert itself because it wasn't personally captured?"
Itsuki thought curiously.
The Main World also has Pokémon, but the company name is Nintendo. Maybe it was an idea from a player who had visited the Pokémon World.
Hmm... Although basic technology didn't wildly advance in the Main World for various reasons, medicine and entertainment are indeed very developed, especially the entertainment industry, which copies all the masterpieces from other worlds. Shizuka Marikawa still hasn't finished catching up on her TV dramas.
Itsuki and the Gingerbread Witch walked into the Candy House and began slacking off. The audience maintaining the trial in front of the Magic Mirror also put down the cookies in their hands.
"Did she find a solution to the illusion?"
Illya asked.
Through the Magic Mirror, they saw Itsuki sitting at a table, melting Gingerbread Men in her mouth one by one.
"The problem is, they haven't realized they're in an illusion, right?"
Hanako was full of complaints.
"Should we lower the difficulty? Itsuki just started dealing with the Supernatural World. It's normal for her not to realize she entered an illusion the moment she stepped into the pumpkin carriage, right?"
Tohsaka Rin suggested.
The power of Strange Tales is quite strange; who knows what kind of situation they are in.
"It's certainly normal for her not to realize it, but what about the Gingerbread Witch beside her not noticing?"
"This difficulty level was set precisely because she has the Gingerbread Witch's help."
The Scarecrow quickly explained that the one left with Itsuki to set up the illusion was just its clone.
The Gingerbread Witch can't see through the illusion?
Aren't illusions standard equipment for most Strange Tales in Strange Speech Forest? How can you, a witch living in Strange Speech Forest, not notice it?
What a strange situation.
The problem is, this makes its professional performance look terrible.
"Hey, there's dialogue again."
Illya said, causing the Strange Tales and the two living people to all look over.
The journey to the Rapunzel Territory is long, and the pumpkin carriage's movement doesn't require control.
According to Miss Red, they would likely only reach the edge of Strange Speech Forest the next day.
Since Hanako and the others are Modern Bizarre Tales, they had no intention of leaving the pumpkin carriage during their team-building exercise to star in a season of "Alone" in Strange Speech Forest. Instead, their interest was focused on the reality show starring Itsuki and the Gingerbread Witch inside the Magic Mirror.
To be honest, Itsuki's trial looked quite boring.
After all, the Strange Tales present couldn't hear the Nakano Quintuplets' internal communication; they could only watch her and the Gingerbread Witch continuously walking back and forth along the same path.
But now, the plot inside the Magic Mirror suddenly changed.
It went from "Waiting for Godot" to "Detective Charlotte."
Because all five personalities were awake, Itsuki's appetite was extremely strong.
The head of a Gingerbread Man was bitten off by Itsuki's clean white teeth. Its remaining body, hands, and feet were still hopping and moving, looking as amusing as the Chocolate Frogs in Harry Potter.
Tasting the delicious food made Itsuki radiate a feeling of happiness, and she secretly decided to eat her way through the entire amusement park.
The remaining Gingerbread Men showed no emotion upon witnessing their companions being eaten.
Itsuki picked up another one, and just as she was about to put it in her mouth, her pupils suddenly dilated.
A lightbulb of inspiration went off.
"How many Gingerbread Men did we deploy to scout the path when we got into the pumpkin carriage?"
"Eighty." The Gingerbread Witch replied.
This number was precise, because these eighty Gingerbread Men had been freshly baked by her not long ago.
"So, how many did I eat?"
Itsuki was about to recall, but Ichika, inside her mind, already answered, "It was fourteen."
Itsuki: "..."
"How do you know that?"
"Ehehe, I was bored."
"Eighty minus fourteen is sixty-six."
Itsuki began counting the number of Gingerbread Men scurrying around inside the Candy House.
Soon after, she got the answer.
Sixty-three Gingerbread Men.
"Why are only three missing?"
Itsuki questioned. The intelligence of these Gingerbread Men was quite worrying; she remembered that some started forgetting or even getting lost right after she gave them orders.
These Gingerbread Men had scattered to scout the path, and she had been walking for so long; logically, there shouldn't be so many Gingerbread Men remaining around her.
"Unless... the distance between herself and the Gingerbread Men never left a certain range."
Itsuki: "Am I caught in a Ghost Wall?"
Just as she reached this conclusion, a faint, wavering voice reached her ear.
"Congratulations, Itsuki, you have discovered that you are inside an illusion."
"Now that the riddle of the first stage has been solved, you will soon enter the boss's second phase."
Itsuki: "..."
This was Illya's voice.
What is with that tone?! So you guys were treating me like a game character!
Wait, the boss of the first stage?
How many stages do you plan on having?!
"Boss Second Phase incoming!"
On the other side of the Magic Mirror, Illya was cheering enthusiastically for the progress bar of the reality show, which had finally moved.
Illya struck the pose for a Magical Girl transformation.
Hanako, meanwhile, summoned flames to melt the Gingerbread Witch's Candy House, covering Itsuki entirely in melted cake and chocolate.
"That's too much."
Itsuki was extremely annoyed.
Looking forward, there was a Scarecrow stuck in the ground.
This was its main body, thrown over by a vote from the Strange Tales Association members to act as the first stage boss.
Before the tense atmosphere could build up and before the sparks of battle could ignite, several pumpkin fireworks set off by Illya already appeared in the sky.
The coerced Scarecrow: "..."
Itsuki, covered in cake: "..."
This wasn't the most unacceptable part for her; the truly melodramatic thing was something else entirely.
In her vision, she, the Gingerbread Witch, and the Scarecrow opposite them all had a status panel.
Itsuki: Apprentice Trainer.
Skill - Apprentice Pokémon Command: An Apprentice Trainer doesn't understand Pokémon command; instead of giving orders, it's better to let the Pokémon decide its own moves. However, you can use pure passion to shout divine techniques such as "Dodge quickly," "Hold on," or "Get up."