Just at this moment, another person came over.
"Little kid, you seem younger than you act. Your way of talking sounds so grown-up. Are you trying to copy adults on purpose? You're such a cute child," a grown woman said as she walked over.
"Oh, what are you here for, lady?"
"This is a famous place for tourists! Of course I came to have fun!" the grown woman said excitedly.
Famous place for tourists—Ryougi Shiki's house.
Tia felt speechless inside.
What is all this? What is there to see here that's worth visiting?
"If you come to Kanbuchi City, you have to visit Ryougi Shiki's house! It's what all the travelers who come to Kanbuchi City have agreed on," the grown woman said again.
It hasn't even been that long since the world became like this, right? How did it become something everyone agreed on?
Tia felt like all she could do now was complain.
"Miss Ryougi Shiki is such a good person, and so pretty, and she's done so many good things. I've wanted to come for a long time," the grown woman continued, "If you're talking about tourist spots, then it's Miss Ryougi Shiki!"
"I heard Miss Ryougi Shiki has been doing good deeds lately, so I wanted to come and see," someone else said.
Tia now had even more question marks in her head.
She heard that Ryougi Shiki has been doing good deeds lately, but it hasn't been long since the world became like this. What does "lately" mean? How did she become famous from far and wide?
Why does Tia feel like her sense of time is all messed up?
Just then, Lancelot came back.
Lancelot didn't show himself, but his voice went right into Tia's ear: "Master, Asagami Fujino's house has been found. Should we go now?"
"Yeah, let's go. The people here are all strange, and you can't get anything out of them," Tia said, "Drive over here."
"Okay."
Tia didn't pay any more attention to the people there, and just left.
They didn't seem to want to talk to Tia either, and just wandered around on their own.
Soon Tia went out the front gate of Ryougi Shiki's house and saw Ryougi Shiki still standing by the gate.
"Shiki, I'm going out," Tia waved casually.
"Tia, be careful," Ryougi Shiki advised, like a family member.
Tia looked back at Ryougi Shiki and instantly thought of her Mom, the one whose Origin was Return. She was always so kind to Tia, never blamed him for anything, and always told Tia to be careful and come back early.
But ever since Tia found out who they were, she couldn't get past that distance in her heart.
Now, looking at Ryougi Shiki, Tia smiled slightly.
"Okay, I will," Tia answered and then got into the Hummer that Lancelot drove over.
"Master, Asagami Fujino's house is in a village in the mountains, far from here and very remote," Lancelot said, "But because of Asagami Fujino, that village seems to have become famous, so I was able to find out where it is."
Tia nodded: "Let's go and see."
In the movie version, Kiritou Kanaya also went to a very remote place to find Asagami Fujino's former home and people who knew her.
Soon, Lancelot started the car, and they drove off into the distance.
After driving for who knows how long, Tia felt like she had even taken a nap in the car before she heard Lancelot say they arrived.
When Tia woke up and looked outside, it was already dark.
But the dark night sky couldn't stop people's excitement.
The whole village had turned into a busy market, and the crowds made this usually quiet and remote place very noisy.
And the liveliest place of all was the village center, where the most people were gathered.
Tia could even hear the sound of something breaking.
Lancelot, as usual, looked for a place to park, but this time he couldn't find a quiet spot, so he just left the car in a random place.
Tia went to take a look first, but the crowd had completely blocked off the village center, and Tia couldn't get in or see anything.
Tia looked around and saw a tall tree nearby that she could use to see inside.
Tia didn't hesitate and started climbing the tree.
Even though she had little arms and legs, Tia had magic that allowed her to stick to the tree and climb up quickly.
As for the other people around, they all gathered around after seeing Tia climb the tree. Do you know why they gathered around? They were all worried that Tia would fall and hurt herself, so they came to help catch Tia. They had no plans to climb the tree after her, and wouldn't just ignore Tia, and no one blamed Tia.
They were all just worried: "Kid, be careful not to fall." "Kid! Don't worry, I'm here to catch you!" "Kid! Go ahead and climb up! Someone's here to catch you!" "Kid! Be careful! I'm here to catch you!" "Kid! Climb higher! You can see far!" "Yeah! Climb higher and you can see inside!"
This made Tia speechless as she climbed the tree.
If they knew that climbing up would let them see inside, how come no one had climbed up?
Tia was too lazy to argue about it.
Soon Tia climbed to the top of the tree and clearly saw the crowd in the center, where a middle school girl was smiling as she looked at something in front of her.
The girl had long purple hair, but it didn't seem as long as Tia remembered.
Her eyes shone with a red light in the dark night, making them very noticeable from far away.
She was wearing a very fancy shrine maiden robe that was mostly red with black trim. This robe used to belong to Asagami Fujino's family and was a shrine maiden outfit worn when Asagami Fujino's main family, the Asagami family, was doing well.
"Master, Asagami Fujino is even more messed up than Miss Ryougi Shiki," Lancelot's voice came into Tia's ear, but he didn't show himself.
Tia understood, of course. Magic is a secret, and magic eyes are also a secret. You can't let normal people know about things related to the secret world, because the more normal people know, the weaker the secret power becomes.
Asagami Fujino's magic eyes were once exposed to the villagers. If they hadn't done anything about it then, Asagami Fujino's magic eyes probably wouldn't have been able to develop at all. In fact, as more and more people in the village found out about them, the magic eyes would only have gotten weaker. At least Tia thought that was how it should have developed, according to the rules of the secret world.
But Asagami Fujino's adoptive father forced her to take a lot of painkillers, and her magic eyes were forced to disappear from people's sight. This caused the secret power to come back, and as time passed, the power only grew stronger.
(End of this chapter)
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