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The reason Napoleon was now growing fur was actually because Asakura was intentionally relaxing his control over Napoleon.
The Scale, as an important safety mechanism, was one thing, but at least the Snake part didn't need to be so strictly limited.
"To put it in simpler terms, as its owner, Napoleon's appearance will now change according to your subconscious," Asakura summarized concisely.
"Then what's going on with it now? Is Napoleon supposed to have fur in my subconscious?" Yuigahama Yui asked, puzzled.
"Because you first encountered Napoleon in the form of a small Snake, your first impression of Napoleon was a Snake, and this is difficult to change in a short period of time," Asakura said. "Yuigahama, you have a dog at home, right?"
"Mhm." The girl nodded.
"I remember it was called Sa... Sa... Sarilang?"
"That's not some weird name, it's Sable!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes," Asakura nodded vigorously. "Napoleon should be getting along quite well with it, right?"
"Yeah, although Sable was quite scared of Napoleon at first, they've been able to play together recently," Yuigahama Yui said happily, even taking out her phone to show everyone the photos she took: "Aren't they cute?"
Inside, Napoleon had coiled a small dachshund upside down, its tongue hanging out and touching the ground.
Asakura, Asagumo Chihaya, and Gokou exchanged glances: rather than playing together, it looked more like Napoleon was hunting.
It was a miracle that the small dachshund named Sable was still alive...
"Perhaps because they've been playing together so much, hasn't Napoleon been acting a bit like a dog lately?" Asakura coughed lightly, no longer dwelling on the fate of that poor little dog. He continued, "So, you've been influenced by your family's small dog and Napoleon's behavior patterns, mixing dog elements into your impression of Napoleon. That's why Napoleon started growing fur."
"Will there be any danger if this continues?" Yuigahama Yui asked worriedly.
"If we leave it alone…" Asakura's tone was heavy.
"What will happen?" The girl swallowed, so nervous that she didn't even notice the small Snake in her hand had been tied into a knot.
"It will transform from an ordinary small Snake into a furry little dog-Snake or Snake-dog," Asakura said gravely.
"…Both sound quite subtle," Gokou said.
"I think it would be really cute," Yuigahama Yui, however, was quite carefree and looked forward to a furry Napoleon—the latter was currently trying to untie the knot on its body.
"Speaking of which, is it just my imagination? The four performances don't necessarily have to be performed by you. If you can find other participants, shouldn't that fill up your performance time?" Asagumo Chihaya rationally steered the conversation away from pets and spoke to Asakura.
"That's true, but it's hard to find such people, isn't it? We can find quite a few rock musicians… but rock music, well…" Asakura narrowed his eyes, clearly unimpressed by Asagumo Chihaya's suggestion.
It wasn't that he had any prejudice against rock music, but mentioning rock bands almost immediately brought to mind smoking, drinking, and womanizing. This made it impossible for him to go against his conscience and invite rock bands to the Founders' Festival.
While there were certainly some high-quality bands, Asakura had no intention of wasting his time in places like live houses for such a trivial possibility.
"No, what I mean is, aren't those all-girl bands, composed solely of high school or college girls, just perfect for the criteria?" Asagumo Chihaya said, counting on her fingers. "They're all girls, so there's no need to worry about misbehavior. They'll have enough time to prepare and practice, and it's easier for them to take time off to participate in the Founders' Festival. Also, their appearance won't raise suspicion for joining the Founders' Festival, and there shouldn't be too much of a hostile atmosphere within the band… a guitarist or keyboardist couldn't possibly run away, could they?"
"It sounds simple, but almost all the bands in the school have applied to participate in the school festival, but some were rejected. Among them, some have also agreed to perform at the Founders' Festival for Amakusa-senpai. The remaining ones either look down on the Founders' Festival, or they're disheartened and on the verge of disbanding, so we can hardly count on those guys," Asakura had previously discussed this with Amakusa Shino, and the results were quite disheartening.
"If the school ones don't work, then why not use external ones?" Asagumo Chihaya said. "Because school idols were very popular two years ago, there have been quite a few student bands formed, and even groups debuting as idols, in the past two years. If you look, you'll definitely find some."
"Even if you say that, I don't have time to spend going to live houses... Ah..." Because he had focused all his attention on talking with Asagumo Chihaya, Asakura failed to pay attention to the order, and threw a half-piece of dried African tree frog skin, which was actually unnecessary, into the cauldron.
Immediately, the cauldron splattered with a crackling sound.
"Not good, everyone, run!" Asakura, who had a premonition... or rather, had experienced similar situations before, immediately shouted for everyone else to escape the Clubroom with him.
The next moment, the Clubroom was filled with a green glow emanating from the cauldron, and a mushroom cloud, slightly larger than a basketball, slowly rose from within the cauldron…
—Two Hours Later—
Asakura walked home, carrying a pile of things.
Thankfully, this time the accident wasn't as severe as the last. Although the entire Clubroom was filled with the smell of rotten cabbage, compared to the last time when it was so pungent it stung the eyes, this time it was fine as long as one held their breath slightly.
However, feeling that leaving things in the Clubroom might cause them to absorb the smell, Asakura still stuffed a pile of miscellaneous items into his bag to take home, and carried some that didn't fit directly in his arms.
"Girl band… how could something like that be so easy to come across?"
Perhaps it was better to perform the empty-handed car transformation. All he needed was a cloth as a prop to mislead the audience; it was simple and effective. The only problem was whether the car would suddenly go berserk in the auditorium and start crashing into students.
Just as Asakura silently walked past a small park, he suddenly spotted a pink-haired girl wearing a Shuka High School uniform, similar to those near Soubu High School, sitting alone on a swing.
If it weren't for her overly gloomy expression and being in the wrong location, Asakura might have even thought he was seeing Nadeshiko.
However, besides the pink hair, what caught Asakura's attention most was the large black Guitar Hero bag on the girl's back…
Asakura's eyes immediately lit up: "Ah! Guitar—!"
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