Chapter 32: Marisa: Are you guys trying to talk to me about the Lifespan Theory?
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Marisa never expected that her late-night sneak attack to drink some special milk would lead to her getting busted under Kihara's bed just because she oversllept a little. Though she did not know who these two girls were, the fact that they were lounging in Kihara's house in casual clothes meant they had to be very close to him.
To avoid looking like a scary witch from a fairy tale who drags unsuspecting victims under the bed to eat them, she quickly crawled out and offered a cheerful greeting.
"The name's Marisa! I'm Kihara-bro's online buddy and a fellow magic enthusiast!"
Nana's eyebrows knitted together like a tangled ball of yarn played with by a cat. She cast a sharp, probing gaze over Marisa's outfit. "Why on earth were you hiding under his bed?"
"Ahahaha... well, you see, I came over to hang out with him, but he wasn't home. I thought I'd wait under there to give him a little scare when he walked in, but then I ran into you two instead! Ahahaha~"
"Miss Marisa, how old are you?" Momo asked gently.
"Hmm? Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden? Don't tell me you two want to start debating the Lifespan Theory with me?"
Marisa replied, a bit defensively. She knew Kihara had attained an immortal, ageless body just like Kaguya from Eientei, but that was no reason for these newcomers to start talking about lifespans with her.
She was fully prepared to defeat any depressing talk of lifespans with the sheer power of her magic!
"Lifespan Theory?" Momo blinked, her head filled with question marks. She simply wanted to know the actual age of this girl, who looked even younger than herself.
The two stared at each other, realizing they had completely misunderstood each other's words, and burst into polite, slightly awkward laughter at the same time.
"Don't worry, don't worry. I am definitely old enough to drink alcohol legally! As for the exact number, that's a lady's secret."
"My apologies for being impolite, Miss Marisa," Momo said with a gentle smile. "My name is Momo, and this is Nana. Mr. Kihara is our brother-in-law."
"Oh... so you are his little... uh... what was that word again..."
'Why does this girl seem a bit slow on the uptake? She doesn't even know such a basic term...'
Momo offered a kind reminder, "The word is 'sisters-in-law'."
"Right, right, sisters-in-law!" Marisa laughed heartily, scratching her head. Her eyes darted around for a brief second before she reached behind her back and pulled out several mushrooms with exceptionally vibrant, bright colors. "Meeting like this is fate! I came over in such a rush that I didn't bring any gifts, so how about we grill some mushrooms together?"
"The colors are so bright... are you sure they aren't poisonous?" Nana asked, highly suspicious.
"Don't worry, don't worry! I've been eating these for ages, and look at me—I'm perfectly fine!"
Nana refused to take Marisa's word for it. She shot a quick glance at Momo out of the corner of her eye. Only when Momo gave her a subtle, reassuring nod of "safe" did she believe the mushrooms were actually edible.
Marisa quickly led them out to the open space in the yard. She set up a basic grilling rack right on top of her circular Mini-Hakkero, then stuffed a handful of red fire-starting mushrooms inside. In an instant, a warm flame crackled up from the center.
"What an amazing tool... Miss Marisa, are you perhaps an alien too?"
"Huh? What's an alien?"
Her dumbfounded expression did not look fake at all. Left with no other conclusion, Momo simply assumed Marisa was an Earthling who, much like her big sister Lala, simply enjoyed making bizarre little gadgets in her spare time. After all, she had never seen a tool that used mushrooms to spark a fire before.
Before long, the mushrooms skewered on the wooden sticks began to give off the rich, savory aroma unique to wild fungi. Seeing this, Marisa sprinkled a handful of seasoning mixed with chopped green leaves over them, making the rich aroma even denser while adding a subtle hint of savory meatiness.
"And... finished! Marisa's Special Super Mys... Mystery Mushrooms!"
Though Momo caught the weird little stumble in Marisa's speech—as if she had almost blurted out the real name of the mushroom but corrected herself mid-word—the fragrance wafting from the skewers was simply too mouth-watering to resist. Besides, as a plant expert, Momo had already verified there were no immediate toxins.
Nana took a skewer and devoured the grilled mushrooms in a couple of quick bites, eagerly licking the corners of her mouth when she was done.
"These are actually really delicious! Where on earth did you harvest them?"
"Hehehe, trade secret!"
Seeing that Nana, the "guinea pig" of the group, showed absolutely no strange symptoms after eating, Momo finally felt safe enough to taste the grilled mushrooms herself. It wasn't that she wanted to trick her sister; rather, she was worried that the specific seasoning combined with the mushrooms might trigger a hidden chemical reaction or toxic side effect.
Throughout the galaxy, there were plenty of alien factions who wanted the three Deviluke princesses dead. When they were younger, assassination attempts via poisoned palace food were a common occurrence. It was only after Gid waged war across the galaxy again and wiped out the vast majority of their enemies that their lives finally became peaceful.
Still, there was no guarantee that his enemies were completely gone. That was why Momo was always so cautious when tasting food from strangers. Fortunately, even if Nana did get poisoned on the spot, Momo kept specialized plants in her garden that could neutralize almost any toxin in the universe.
Compared to those highly precious medicinal plants, the Camouflage Grass was basically a common weed.
As Momo took a small bite of the
mushroom, the cap—which she expected to be slightly firm—was amazingly soft, stretching out like melted cheese.
With every chew, a savory flavor too delicious to put into words danced across her tongue. Before she knew it, she had swallowed the entire skewer.
Momo gasped softly, covering her mouth in surprise. "I have never tasted a texture like this before! Miss Marisa, do you have any raw, uncooked mushrooms left? I would love to buy some to plant in my garden."
"I've grilled and eaten all of these, but I can give you a few other kinds! No need for money, these wild mushrooms aren't worth anything anyway."
With that, Marisa reached behind her back and pulled out a few fresh mushrooms that still had bits of dirt clinging to them, handing them over to Momo.
"In that case... thank you very much."
Taking the mushrooms, Momo immediately used her Teleportation Phone to send them to her personal garden. She had a race of plant-beings called the Mushroom Queens over there, who would automatically tend to any fungi she sent back.
The three of them chatted and ate, quickly polishing off the small pile of mushrooms.
Marisa packed up the grilling rack and her Mini-Hakkero, dusting off her hands as she popped her pointed witch hat back onto her head. "Since Kihara-bro is at school, I think I'll head back and look for him another day. Thanks for the heads-up, you two! I'm off!"
"There's no need to rush off so quickly. You can sit down and have a cup of tea. You are our guest, after all," Momo offered politely.
"Yeah, Momo and I are quite bored at home anyway. Having someone else to talk to is pretty nice," Nana added.
"No can do!" Marisa flashed a cheerful, sunny grin, finally revealing her "evil plot." "If I count the time correctly, the mushrooms should be kicking in right about... now. If I don't leave now, things are going to get super troublesome."
Momo and Nana's faces paled. Before they could even reach for their phones, the world in front of them blurred violently, and they collapsed onto the grass together with a soft thud.
"The one that actually had the knock-out effect was the fire-starter mushroom I stuffed inside the Hakkero," Marisa muttered, shaking her head. "Did they not notice I was standing upwind the entire time? Such naive young girls. If it were Kihara-bro, he would have spotted the trick in a second."
Shaking her head in amusement, Marisa carried the two back to Kihara's bedroom and tucked them neatly into his bed. These specific mushrooms would only wipe about an hour of their recent memories.
She did not want to leave any clues in this world that might expose her secret milk-drinking escapades, which was why she had resorted to this trick.
...
When Kihara returned home from school later that afternoon, he walked into his bedroom only to find his two younger sisters-in-law sleeping in his bed with their clothes in total disarray.
He stood at the door, locked in a long, profound silence.
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Thank you for reading.