Although no lights were on, the light and shadow in the hallway flickered abruptly twice, then returned to normal. The lingering glow of the setting sun outside the window still cast its last warmth into the hallway, and the chirping of cicadas and the clamor of the sports club on the field poured in through the gaps in the glass along with the hot summer evening, as if all the chilling scenes just witnessed were merely illusions.
But Chihaya Anon still felt cold all over, and her whole body seemed unable to move.
"Come with me."
Asakura pulled her out of the teaching building without explanation and headed to the old school building, which was the club building.
Then, as Chihaya Anon, who had finally come to her senses and, having attended an all-girls school, had almost no contact with boys her age, showed a somewhat shy expression, the two went straight to the Clubroom.
Upon entering the Clubroom, Chihaya Anon temporarily forgot her shyness and simply widened her eyes at the cabin's furnishings—it was clear that neither the structure nor the interior decoration looked anything like an empty classroom should.
"Sit."
Asakura pointed to the sofa beside them.
Chihaya Anon, whose worldview had been shaken, appearing somewhat dull and naive unlike her usual sharp self, sat awkwardly on the sofa, not daring to move.
Her gaze, however, couldn't help but drift towards the cauldron not far away. The cauldron, more than half a person tall, was filled with strange liquid, occasionally bubbling, looking subtly eerie.
"That's Essence of Dittany… it's almost done, I guess."
Asakura said, "There might be some differences from the original, but it shouldn't be too significant… Would you like something to drink?"
Before the girl could respond, she saw a large python, five or six meters long, the kind she had only seen in the reptile house at the zoo, crawl out from some corner of the room. After delivering a mug to her, it quickly slithered away and disappeared into the corner of the wall.
"Hot cocoa, perhaps? Oh, the weather isn't quite suitable for hot drinks right now… How about iced pumpkin juice or pumpkin soda? If you're feeling adventurous and want to try something new, I also have Gordygan Tea…"
Asakura asked while taking out several saucers.
The girl opened her mouth, but felt her throat was very dry and didn't know what to say.
Asakura nodded understandingly and snapped his fingers at the cup in her hand, which then filled with orange pumpkin juice.
Chihaya Anon nervously took a small sip and was surprisingly pleased with the taste.
Immediately after, many small snacks appeared out of thin air on the small saucers placed in front of her one by one: shell-shaped cakes, almond shortbread, cookies, and a lump that looked like an ice cream scoop.
Regardless of how these snacks tasted, the mere fact of their 'appearing out of thin air' was enough to astound Chihaya Anon.
This was definitely not Magic; even the pumpkin juice had appeared out of thin air in the cup she was holding. For her, only Magic could explain all of this.
The girl couldn't help but mutter to herself: Who would have thought that a high school club would actually be the real deal…
"Alright, I presume you've calmed down enough. Let's have a good talk about those oddities you've been seeing."
Asakura sat across from the girl. A murky purple liquid appeared out of thin air in his cup, inexplicably reminding Chihaya Anon of the Every Flavor Beans Asakura had tried to trick her into eating earlier. This was probably what he had just called Gordygan Tea.
"Wh-what should I say?"
Chihaya Anon asked nervously.
"When did you start being able to see those things?"
Asakura sipped his tea and asked softly.
"Not long ago…"
The girl hesitated for a moment, but finally gave up and said, "When I had just returned from England."
To her relief, Asakura did not ask about the specifics of her return from England.
"Was there a trigger?"
He raised an eyebrow and continued to ask, without any hint of annoyance in his tone; the girl thought he was probably just bothered by the taste of the tea.
"I'm not quite sure… but if I had to say, I feel it might be related to a Mirror."
Chihaya Anon tried hard to recall, but at first, many of the things she saw were just fleeting glimpses, too unclear to make out, and she hadn't paid much attention, making it impossible to trace them back further.
The only thing she could be sure of was that the strange 'hallucinations' she first saw only appeared in mirrors and flashed by, and even if she looked back, she couldn't see anything.
"Mirror…"
Asakura stroked his chin, lost in thought.
He immediately thought that his current system quest was to find a Magic Mirror.
Considering that the system usually doesn't shoot blanks (although it occasionally fails to complete a quest due to not finding the target, leading to it being refreshed), it's possible that Chihaya Anon was affected by the power of a certain Magic Mirror.
However, if that's the case, would he need to check every Mirror the girl has encountered since returning to Japan? That sounds like a bit too much work.
"Um… what's going to happen to me?"
Chihaya Anon asked somewhat anxiously.
"Theoretically, there won't be any major problems."
Asakura said, "Like I said, don't worry. I'm the Magic Club president… this level of problem isn't tricky."
Not to mention that if he could find the Magic Mirror, everything would basically be fine. Even if he couldn't find the Magic Mirror at all, Asakura could try using the Magic [Snake] to turn Chihaya Anon into a Snake, then un-curse her back into a human to refresh the girl's state and see if it could get rid of the Magic Mirror's influence.
If that trick didn't work, then he could only temporarily apply a layer of [Scale] to her, which would be a temporary fix at best.
Of course, if she could endure some pain, burning off the supernatural elements on her body with [Candle] might also help avoid the Magic Mirror's effect.
Just as Asakura said, there are countless methods to try, but it's not the time for that yet. The best approach is to find the Mirror and solve the problem fundamentally, and incidentally, complete his own task and get a reward.
"In short, let me state the conclusion first."
So Asakura propped his chin, and said with a serious expression, "There isn't no solution, but the root of everything should lie in a certain Mirror that caused this situation. Let's trace it back to its source and find that thing."
"I see!"
Chihaya Anon nodded: "I'll leave everything to Asakura!"
"However, I might not have much free time these two days. Let's talk about it on the weekend."
"Eh eh eh—?!"