Not long after the meal ended, the others gradually said their goodbybyes and went home.
After all, it was quite late now. Even Asagumo Chihaya reluctantly left the club room under Gokou Ruri's strange gaze.
"What's wrong?"
Asakura, while making all the plates disappear (actually sending them to the Elf Kitchen), asked Yanami, who was in charge of the overnight stay and was sitting blankly at the table.
"Hmm, how should I put it...?"
Yanami Anna mumbled, uncharacteristically hesitant, "It's just that I feel a bit restless inside."
Many people experience a strange sense of emptiness after holidays, which is the so-called post-holiday syndrome.
Although there wasn't a specific holiday, the activity room, which had been so lively just moments ago, now became much quieter with only two people left, and that subtle feeling seemed to entwine the girl's heart.
"It's better to maintain a normal mindset."
Asakura suggested.
"Is it because that way I won't be so anxious?"
The girl asked.
"It's because the usual you has a emptier brain."
"Even though I'm already feeling down, you still mercilessly strike me down, which is very much in the style of the usual Asakura."
"Thank you."
"I wasn't complimenting you!"
The girl lay on the table, hitting it hard, a sight that made Asakura involuntarily think of a flounder stranded on the shore.
He didn't pay much attention to her, simply ran to the Clubroom and retrieved the sleeping bag he had used for his previous overnight stays.
"There's even a sleeping bag... Asakura's level of preparedness is almost chilling..."
Yanami rubbed her arms and mumbled.
"Don't flatter yourself, this sleeping bag was already here."
Asakura spread out the sleeping bag expressionlessly: "Don't you know about that ghost story that circulated around the club building a while ago, around Golden Week?"
"Oh, oh..." When Asakura mentioned it, Yanami remembered: "The stench of the club building! The legend says a perverted murderer dismembered bodies and hid the body parts in the building..."
As the girl spoke, her tone gradually became off, and by the end, even her articulation became somewhat difficult, and her gaze towards Asakura changed from initial disgust for a perverted lecher to terror for a perverted murderer.
"Unfortunately, there were no body parts..." Asakura spread his hands and said: "At that time, I was staying overnight at school, brewing a magic potion, and it went wrong."
"Ma-magic potion?"
The girl was startled.
"I'm a mage, so it's normal for me to brew magic potions, right?"
Asakura said as if it were obvious.
"Um..."
After a long period of contemplation, the girl propped her chin with both hands and asked in a serious tone: "Is it tasty?"
Asakura, who had been expecting some profound insight from her, fell silent for a moment, then took a bottle of Essence of Dittany from the safe and placed it on the table: "Here you go."
Anyway, after understanding the brewing method, Essence of Dittany was no longer a precious item for him. The cost of the raw materials was not a constraint at all. If it weren't for the fact that magic power had to be added during the brewing process, even mass production wouldn't be impossible.
The Essence of Dittany looked quite appealing. Although the materials in this world didn't contain magic power, requiring manual addition of magic power during brewing, which resulted in the final product differing from the authentic one Asakura directly received from the system, its misty white appearance with a subtle hazy glow still gave a first impression of "this is a good thing" at first glance.
"I'm not holding back!"
Yanami's eyes lit up, and she picked up the bottle and took a big gulp.
Immediately after, her cheeks puffed out, and she looked at Asakura with teary eyes, her expression filled with an indescribable mix of confusion and reproach.
"Oh..." It was only then that Asakura leisurely took the bottle from the girl's hand, capped it, and lightly said: "This stuff is for external application."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
So Yanami couldn't help but cough out the potion, looking at Asakura indignantly: "Darn it, the lingering mood of the party was completely ruined!"
"Consider it a lesson for you. Don't always think about eating. Pay a little more attention."
"Snacks? Where are the snacks?"
"Don't use such an old joke!"
After a period of noise, Asakura had almost finished preparing for the overnight stay.
There was only one sleeping bag, and he naturally left it for Yanami, even placing a cushion taken from the Clubroom's sofa underneath the sleeping bag.
This made Yanami feel a little guilty: "Then where will Asakura-kun sleep tonight?"
Asakura arranged chairs to form a bed, but as he lay down, the fluffy back of what seemed like a giant creature emerged from his shadow.
Asakura adjusted his posture in the soft fur, looking down at Yanami arrogantly. He looked much more comfortable than the girl who could only sleep on the floor.
Darn it, I worried for nothing! The girl thought to herself, her face full of black lines.
After doing all this, Asakura turned off the lights in the activity room, plunging the entire room into darkness.
"Ugh, I feel a bit uncomfortable. I wish I could take a shower..."
Yanami said softly.
"Although the track and field club does have showers, teachers patrol at this time. I suggest you go later... preferably in the middle of the night."
Asakura, as someone with experience, advised.
"Showering at school in the middle of the night... what a new way to test one's courage."
The girl mumbled.
"What's there to be afraid of? There are no strange existences in this school. If anything, you're the strangest one right now."
Asakura said: "Don't worry, I'm here."
"...That's strange."
The girl suddenly said.
"What?"
Asakura felt his thought process hadn't kept up with the girl's at all.
"Everything is strange. This world has supernatural things, my classmate is actually a mage, and even I myself have become two... The situation didn't feel real before, but now that I've calmed down, I keep feeling like something quite extraordinary has happened."
Yanami said.
"Are you only just realizing something's off now? Is your reaction time a bit too long?"
Asakura complained helplessly.
"Ugh, what's going to happen next...? Once I calm down, I start to worry."
The girl sighed.
"Don't worry, at worst I'll turn one of you two into a snake, and the other can live a normal life. Doesn't that solve the problem?"
Asakura said.
"Rather than solving the problem, for the 'me' who gets turned into a snake, it's more like being cursed, hey!"
"Frogs and mice are also delicious... probably."
"Do you think I'll agree to anything as long as you say it's tasty?! And what's with that 'probably' at the end?! That's completely uncertain!"
"But don't you think turning into a snake is cool? You even shed your skin~"
"In your understanding, shedding skin is considered an advantage?!"
At that moment, the faint light of a flashlight flickered outside the door.
The two of them simultaneously and tacitly fell silent.
A moment later, the footsteps of the patrolling teacher disappeared down the hallway.
"Whoa, now that feeling of immorality from breaking school rules has instantly surfaced."
Yanami whispered.
"Just to clarify, theoretically, bringing a mobile phone to school is also against school rules."
Asakura, a member of the Shadow Student Council, said.
"Huh, are those two things actually on the same level?!"
"Bringing a mobile phone to school is more serious."
"That one is more serious?!"
"Well, after all, the school rules haven't changed for a long time. In the past, things like mobile phones were considered valuables, and the need for communication wasn't as high as it is now."
Asakura said: "It's precisely because there are many outdated parts in the school rules that Amakusa has always wanted to revise them after becoming the Student Council President."
"I see..."
"Yes, once the revision is complete, going to school with Yanami won't be against school rules."
"Am I some kind of contraband?!"
"After all, you'll be a snake by then, right? You see, you can't bring pets to school now."
"It's based on the premise that I'll turn into a snake? What about my personal wishes?"
"Such things only exist on the lips of politicians during election periods."
"I don't know what's going on, but it must all be the fault of the previous administration!"
"Very good, you have mastered Japan politics. You can run for election when you come of age."
After chatting about this and that for a while, Yanami's voice fell silent for a long time, perhaps because she was getting sleepy.
Just as Asakura was about to fall asleep, he heard the girl's voice again.
"Asakura-kun, are you still awake?"
"More or less."
"...Although I don't know if it's a bit late, but..."
The girl paused, then said softly: "Thank you, Asakura-kun."
"What?"
Asakura yawned and asked.
"If I think about it carefully, there's actually a lot to be thankful for. But for now, I guess I should still thank you for being by my side like this..." Yanami's voice sounded somewhat ethereal, as if she was confiding, yet also as if she was talking to herself: "If it weren't for you and Yukinoshita, if I had encountered something like this alone, I would definitely be very flustered and scared, but I wouldn't know what to do, and I would just suffer and worry by myself."
"..."
"Even those somewhat extreme jokes just now, they were actually just to keep me from overthinking, to make me feel at ease, so you deliberately made them, right? Although I didn't notice it at first, after chatting so much foolishness with Asakura, I feel so much better."
"..."
"Asakura-kun, are you still awake?"
"Already asleep."
Asakura's somewhat muffled voice came from the darkness.
The girl let out a soft laugh. Her eyes in the dark room shone like stars in the night, gazing at Asakura: "That's your problem, Asakura."
"Say what you want."
"Thank you, Asakura-kun."
"...Hmph."