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Everything calmed down; apart from a patch of the originally overgrown clearing being bald, it was as if nothing had happened.
"Is it over...?"
Asagumo Chihaya murmured.
"How could it be? Debts don't disappear. It's just that without the pocket watch as a collection platform, the Magic itself will collect Magic from you at a slower rate. Consider it installment payments, slowly repaying it." Asakura said: "And you also said before that the pocket watch 'suddenly and inexplicably' appeared by your side one day, right?"
"Asakura-kun, do you mean...?" The girl's eyes widened.
The pocket watch's wreckage had been swallowed by the black hole, but that 'black hole' was clearly not a true black hole, but rather a manifestation of a Magic rampage, similar to what occurred when the pocket watch was shattered. Essentially, it was still the effect of 'time rewind,' just in a more aggressive and violent form.
So where would the discarded pocket watch wreckage go? If it merely fell into a temporal fault, then without the support of the Magic itself, the pocket watch, as a derivative of Magic, should surely disappear completely.
But this would contradict Asakura's action of 'completely eliminating the pocket watch at this point in time.'
Then the answer is obvious: the pocket watch sent to the past would be attracted by the Magic itself, falling to the side of Asagumo Chihaya in the past, before her Magic awakened, and be re-completed into the form of the Moon Clock by the Magic within the girl.
And the girl would, by obtaining the pocket watch, lose the opportunity to directly awaken her own Magic like Gokou Ruri, becoming a constitution that requires a medium like the pocket watch to activate Magic.
Then time would flow again—
In a sense, this could be considered a temporal loop.
Asagumo Chihaya evidently also thought of this, but then her expression softened: "Perhaps this is what you call fate... And if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have been able to meet Asakura-kun, would I? Thinking about it this way, it doesn't feel so bad after all."
"As long as you're happy..."
Asakura said, then lay down on his back on the grass. Although the process of resisting the Moon Clock's collection lasted only a few minutes, the heavy mental burden inevitably made him feel tired, not to mention the sharp pain from his severed arm after the adrenaline wore off.
"Asakura-kun!" Asagumo Chihaya was startled at the sight and quickly went to support Asakura. However, when she saw his severed arm, sorrow and heartache still appeared in the girl's eyes: "Are you alright? I'm sorry, if it weren't for me... Anyway, I'll take responsibility!"
"Don't be so sad. Which one makes you feel more comforted: 'Ah, my king's power' or 'I gambled it on a new era'?"
...I'm sorry.
"You've almost apologized for half your life today." Asakura didn't seem to mind much; he tried to sit up: "As for taking responsibility... help me hold my hand steady."
The girl immediately stepped forward and supported Asakura's right arm.
"No, this one, this side." Asakura gestured to his severed left arm, which he held in his right hand.
"Oh, oh..."
The girl timidly took the severed arm and held it as Asakura requested.
Then she saw Asakura press the wound on his arm directly against the severed end of the arm, then pull out what looked like a bottle of floral water from somewhere and pour it on the wound.
Under the girl's astonished gaze, Asakura's severed arm quickly grew flesh and skin, reattaching the broken arm.
The entire process was smooth and fluid, without any delay.
A moment later, Asakura's right arm, apart from a distinct white ring on his upper arm, showed no trace of having been broken.
"Incredible..." Asagumo Chihaya murmured.
If it weren't for the bloodstains on her clothes, which were already oxidizing and turning black, the girl would have almost believed that everything that had just happened was merely a dream of her own.
"Don't be so surprised," Asakura said, showing off by waving his arm at her: "Didn't I tell you before? I'm super amazing."
Essence of Dittany was a Magic potion Asakura had brewed earlier. This stuff wasn't as easy to use as red potions in games, but it often had miraculous effects when treating cut wounds. In the original Harry Potter novel, Essence of Dittany was a miraculous medicine used to treat body parts separated due to failed Apparition. Now, Asakura using it to treat a severed hand was also a targeted remedy.
Of course, because Asakura's craftsmanship was relatively new, the quality of the brewed Magic potion wasn't excellent, so his arm's severed section still felt a bit stiff and occasionally painful. However, once he returned to Soubu High School's Association Clubroom and spent half a day basking in the Great Blessing to recover, it should be mostly fine.
However, the significant blood loss from the severed arm inevitably led to Asakura becoming anemic. After speaking a few words with the girl, he lay back down on the ground due to dizziness.
"Although it's not much of a thank you gift..."
The girl knelt on the ground, gently lifted Asakura's head, and let him rest it on her lap: "This should be more comfortable than the hard ground, right?"
"Hmph, barely acceptable."
Asakura felt the softness behind his head and said stubbornly: "I can only offer a maximum of 30,000 yen!"
"It's not some strange shop, Miss Chihaya's services can't be bought with money, you know." The girl said with a smile in her eyes.
"Speaking of which, Asagumo-san, aren't you going to the lakeside? The time we spent solving the problem was unexpectedly short. If we go now, we might even catch Lemon's confession." Asakura reminded her.
"Go there to watch Yakishio-san and Ayano-kun being lovey-dovey? Even if I have a strong emotional tolerance, seeing too much of that kind of scene still makes me uncomfortable."
The girl smiled faintly, massaging Asakura's temples as she spoke clearly, "Also, Asakura-kun, you can just call me Chihaya, since you're my savior."
"Although it feels like a lot has happened, we've actually only known each other for less than four hours in total, you know?" Her massage was just right, and feeling the cool touch of the girl's fingertips, Asakura, whose spirits had lifted considerably, reminded her: "And aren't you still calling me 'Asakura-kun'?"
"Then... Takuma-kun?"
"What is it, Asagumo-san?"
"You're so mean."
"I'm still an injured person; please don't touch me inappropriately."
"Takuma-kun."
"What is it, Chihaya?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to call you that."
"That's a pretty great reason, then."
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