Because her father had married Kujo Arika's mother, who was a witch, Kujo Arika's father also passed away not long after her mother's death.
Perhaps because of this, or perhaps due to disputes over inheritance, the current Kujo Zaibatsu has a very poor relationship with Kujo Arika. After all, Kujo Arika legally holds a portion of the Kujo Zaibatsu's inheritance rights.
Currently, these shares are managed by one of Kujo Arika's good-for-nothing uncles. Kujo Arika, disliking worldly trivialities, has not gone to claim them.
In reality, Kujo Arika's facial features do not resemble the purely Asian appearance drawn by Koyama Hirokazu in the game's character art. Her mother was a descendant of Yumina, a Magician and witch from Britain. Tracing her ancestry, it can be said that Alice's bloodline contains a significant Celtic component.
So, even though Alice has pure black short hair, appearing completely smooth and soft like high-grade silk, her facial structure is much more three-dimensional compared to a pure Eastern Islander.
In this regard, Aoko and Alice are somewhat similar. She once asked her nominal father about this, and he said that the Old Magician's wife (Aoko's grandmother) might have some European Magician blood… but she passed away too early for specific details, and he had never met his own mother.
The Aozaki Sisters' appearances can be said to combine the best features of Europeans and East Asians. Not only is their skin fair and delicate, but their facial features are also not as flat as those of Eastern Islanders. Aoko is quite satisfied with this; even standing beside a beautiful girl like Alice, they each have their unique charm and look quite well-matched.
Aoko believes that the reason her appearance, figure, and Magical talent are superior to the Aoko of the original timeline is not due to any European component in her bloodline, but rather some other reasons. The 'transmigrator' factor might play a part, but it's not the complete picture. However, she is not in a hurry about this matter; she believes that one day she will uncover all the secrets about herself.
Aoko values Alice, her roommate, greatly. She secretly plans that once her powers are perfected, she will find an opportunity to personally confront this 'uncle' and reclaim Alice's shares. Otherwise, how could such a delicate 'fairy tale princess' worry about her livelihood every day?
In daily life, Aoko stubbornly refers to Kujo Arika as 'Alice' instead of 'Arika'. This is because Aoko strongly dislikes the Japanese pronunciation of Arika, and Alice is not offended by this behavior. After all, she was born in Britain, not Japan, and from a standpoint of identity, Alice likely feels a deeper connection to Britain.
On her first day at Kujonji Mansion, Aoko conquered Alice's palate with an exquisite and elegant afternoon tea. She spent a fortune buying the most authentic Lapsang Souchong tea, paired with carefully baked savory finger sandwiches, classic English scones with clotted cream and jam, and finally, a portion of shortcrust pastry as a dessert cake, providing Alice with the most authentic 'Low Tea' of old Britain.
Such thoughtful service even made Alice, the landlady, feel a little embarrassed towards her new apprentice. And at the time, as she savored the afternoon tea, she inwardly wondered who among her and Aoko was actually born in Britain.
Before Aoko arrived at Kujonji Mansion, Alice's daily meals were basically resolved by high-end restaurant takeout. Because she herself was completely clueless about cooking, her refrigerator usually only contained fruits and drinks. Since she had no servants, most of the housework was handled by the PLOY her mother left her.
Aside from the PLOY purely designed for combat, Alice possesses many PLOY that combine special functions with the ability to help her with housework. Sometimes when she's bored, Robin would even chat with her to pass the time, truly a model among Familiars.
In the process of teaching Arcane, Alice is undoubtedly a stricter teacher than the Old Magician of the Aozaki Family.
Aoko's grandfather was like a university professor; regardless of whether students learned or not, he would only maintain his own pace and advance the teaching schedule. Alice, on the other hand, is like the strictest high school teacher. She monitors every step of Aoko's learning progress, then meticulously sets various goals that exceed Aoko's current Arcane level to force her to improve.
Aoko is not a novice in the path of Arcane, but because her energy is not entirely focused on it, Alice believes there are many areas where her Arcane strength needs improvement.
Compared to the original Aozaki Aoko, the current Aoko, as a 'plus' version, has much higher quality and quantity of Magic Circuits. This allows the current Aoko to perform and use various particularly complex Arcane rituals.
However, like the original Aoko, her extremely high mana operation efficiency allows her Magic Bullet Arcane to achieve the highest level of rotation and output speed within her circuits, achieving destructive effects similar to a 'light cannon' or 'Gatling gun'.
Touko and Alice are quite dismissive of Aoko's crude method of using mana, but they have to admit Aoko's talent in destruction and marvel at her destructive efficiency.
Aoko herself is not conceited about her destructive talent, but she also doesn't belittle herself. Because she clearly understands that it is precisely the structure and characteristics of her Magic Circuits, as well as her unique understanding of this destructive tendency, that allowed her to successfully stand out in the competition for the sisters' inheritance.
Sometimes life is like this. Aoko's unparalleled talent in efficiency and destruction did not make her indulge in it. On the contrary, Aoko believes that these are merely the basic hardware conditions for her to master the Fifth Magic. The parts that truly require her to devote all her efforts to learning and practicing are the otherworldly knowledge bestowed by the fragment hidden deep within her soul.
It is for this reason that Aoko diligently completed the study tasks Alice assigned her in daily life, but she did not do anything extra beyond that. When learning and practicing Magic Web Arcane, she did not deliberately avoid Alice's gaze, nor did she offer any superfluous explanations about it, as Magic Web Arcane does not need to adhere to the principle of non-proliferation of mysteries.
Both Aoko and Alice are very satisfied with each other. The two live a cohabiting life in Kujonji Mansion that is both intimate and slightly distant. They spent two years in this comfortable interpersonal relationship, during which Aoko occasionally wrote many letters to Touko, who was at Clock Tower.
Whether due to shyness or stubbornness, Touko did not send many replies. But from the content of her replies, it seems she intends to make a move against one of the two people Aoko had warned her about.
The reason for her action is that she is about to leave Clock Tower, because Touko's recent research results are somewhat dangerous, and those people in Clock Tower seem to want to propose a Sealing Designation for her, led by her teacher, Lord Barthomeloi.
Thinking that she was about to flee, Touko decided to strike first, taking out an easy target, and then return to Japan to launch a frontal assault, beat up her annoying younger sister, and rightfully reclaim the family inheritance.