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"What is this?"
Yui Yuigahama asked, looking at the small Snake.
She felt as if she had become a bit strange. She was clearly afraid of Snakes, but when she saw the small Snake in Asakura's hand, she didn't feel that particular fear. Instead, she had an inexplicable sense of closeness.
"It's a Snake," Asakura said, looking at her with a shocked expression. "You don't even recognize this?"
"No, I wasn't asking about its species..."
Yui Yuigahama helplessly rubbed her forehead.
She tried to compose herself: "Asakura-kun, are you a psychic?"
"The world generally refers to beings like me as Magicians."
Asakura, holding the still struggling small Snake, said proudly, "Remember to use an honorific when you call me from now on."
"Okay, Asakura-sama!" The pink-haired girl said respectfully.
Asakura puffed up his nose: "Call me Master."
"M-Master..." Yui Yuigahama stammered, her cherry lips trembling.
Asakura showed a joyful expression.
Yui Yuigahama lowered her eyes: "I feel like there's already a tragically thick barrier between me and Asakura-kun..."
"Let's stop this meaningless comedy routine."
Yukino Yukinoshita, who had been observing coldly for a long time and saw no progress in the main topic, couldn't help but say, "Asakura-kun, can you explain what exactly happened?"
"Simply put, the culprit is this fellow~"
Asakura shook the small Snake in his hand.
The latter struggled desperately but was completely unable to resist Asakura, who possessed the power of the Magic Snake.
In fact, it wasn't just Snake; the small Snake's outer layer was also embedded with the Scale Magic. As mentioned before, Scale could isolate the outside world and be self-contained, and this characteristic happened to serve as a substitute for 'sealing,' like a thick layer of plastic wrap enveloping the Golem, preventing it from continuously drawing large amounts of Magic from Yui Yuigahama and causing another anomaly.
"This thing is a type of Golem... It's a being similar to an alchemical life form. For some reason, it was activated by Yuigahama, and it ultimately responded to Yuigahama's inner self, leading to everything that happened before."
"...Unbelievable." Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the seemingly harmless small Snake and sighed.
If she hadn't experienced all of it herself, she probably wouldn't have been able to believe such words.
"Wait a minute, what does 'responding to my inner self' mean?"
Yui Yuigahama asked nervously.
Asakura pondered for a moment, then showed a smile to Yui Yuigahama, making the latter shiver involuntarily.
He suddenly pointed at the girl and said in a slightly excited tone—
"Why did that barrier manifest as a world of desserts—with cookies as the main ingredient?"
"Why, during this time, even though other people came, only Yukino Yukinoshita was pulled into the barrier?"
"Why did the barrier that reflected your inner self, in turn, envelop you in cookies and candy shells?"
Yukino Yukinoshita seemed to realize something, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "Yamero!"
But Asakura continued: "There's only one answer! That is, Yuigahama, you lack confidence in your own baked cookies, so you escape reality, subconsciously still viewing Yukino, who helps you, as your only savior!"
Yui Yuigahama was shocked, standing dazed in place: "Did I... hurt Yukino?"
"It's not your fault, Yuigahama," Yukino Yukinoshita comforted her.
"No, it is Yuigahama's fault. As the master of the barrier, and with magic power within her, she could survive in that space for a long time, but Yukino, you are just an ordinary person. Even if you could fill your stomach with sweets, you would at most last five days without water."
But Asakura cruelly laid the facts before them: "If I hadn't happened to know about this, specifically rushed over to check, and just happened to have the ability to solve the problem, then the final outcome for both of you would most likely have been 'spiriting away,' turning into a new urban legend."
"I-I'm sorry, Yukino... I..." Yui Yuigahama bit her cherry lips, flustered and self-reproaching, her eyes shimmering, almost ready to shed tears.
Yukino could only comfortingly pat her back.
She was also a bit scared, but knowing that Yui Yuigahama didn't do it on purpose, and that everything seemed more like an accident, she had no intention of blaming her. She just looked at Asakura again: "Then, Asakura-kun, do you have a way to prevent this from happening to Yuigahama again?"
"Don't worry, since things have come to this, there's no way I'd just wash my hands of it."
Asakura said quite casually, "Yuigahama, you should also join the Chiba Magic Society."
"...Ah."
It was only then that Yukino Yukinoshita understood what Asakura's seemingly silly club name actually meant when she first heard it.
"If I join Asakura-kun's society, will my condition be treated?" The pink-haired Mochi-headed girl looked at Asakura expectantly.
"Call me Master."
"M-Master..." Yui Yuigahama sniffled, feeling that compared to the previous time, which had a slight sense of reverence, calling him this way now had a subtle, almost coquettish feeling, making her blush shyly.
Asakura nodded with satisfaction: "No, it's just that if you join, our club will have three people, which will allow us to be upgraded to a regular club and receive a budget from the school."
Yui Yuigahama: "..."
At this moment, Yukino Yukinoshita thought of something else: "Then does that mean Yanami also..."
"No, she's just an ordinary person," Asakura said bluntly, "I tricked her into joining with 'providing snacks.'"
Yukino Yukinoshita: "..."
Don't say "tricked" so righteously!
"Anyway, hold onto this first."
Asakura tossed the small snake in his hand to Yui Yuigahama. The latter, who was still immersed in self-reproach and shyness, instinctively wanted to throw away the snake she had suddenly received, but then that feeling as if she was connected by blood forced her to stop.
"But isn't this the culprit that almost harmed Yukino..."
"A Golem is ultimately just an alchemical life form. I've placed something similar to a seal on it. It's now your familiar," Asakura explained. "And rather than doing nothing and letting you accumulate a large amount of magic power with nowhere to release it, it's better to have an outlet to keep it within a safe range."
To increase his persuasiveness, Asakura even gave an example: "I have a friend who, after going berserk due to excessive magic accumulation, ran naked through Chiba for an entire afternoon."
Yui Yuigahama gasped, tightly clutching the snake's cold body, not daring to let go, causing the latter to look like a dead dog about to be squeezed to death.
Meanwhile, Yukino Yukinoshita subtly glanced at Asakura.
That friend you mentioned, wasn't it yourself?
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