"So~ bo~ ring~!"
Yanami, who was waiting in the clubroom, immediately raised her hands and complained upon seeing Asakura.
"Didn't Yukinoshita leave early to accompany you?"
Asakura said.
After all, Yanami's sudden split was too bizarre this time. To prevent the Yanami in the clubroom from entering a Schrödinger's split state due to lack of observation, Asakura had a brief discussion with Yukinoshita Yukino during the break. He would keep an eye on the Yanami in the classroom, while Yukinoshita Yukino would temporarily look after the Yanami in the clubroom.
Although Yukinoshita Yukino had lost her top spot in the grade for various reasons, she was still among the top ten, and could still be considered an honor student. She still had honor student privileges. Not to mention leaving early by telling the teacher she was 'unwell,' even if she skipped half a day of class without saying anything, at most she would just be called into the office for a few casual words from the teacher, and it wouldn't be blown out of proportion.
"Although that's true, Yukinoshita is either too serious or her good student aura is too strong. Anyway, when I'm alone with her, I always feel restless, and it makes me even more mentally exhausted..."
Yanami said in a low voice.
"I can hear you."
Yukinoshita Yukino closed her paperback novel and said.
"Gulp..."
Yanami made a sound like a mouse being stared at by a cobra.
"That's truly a shame—" Yanami 2, who walked into the clubroom with Asakura, had a calm, victorious expression on her face, "In contrast, I have pork cutlet rice to eat over here."
"What?! This is differential treatment! We're both me, so why is the treatment so different?!"
Yanami 1, who hadn't eaten anything all afternoon except for a few snacks, felt her uncooperative tears about to stream from the corners of her mouth.
"Wow... There really are two Yanami-senpais!"
Chihaya Anon poked her head out from behind the door, looking at the scene in the room, and couldn't help but exclaim softly.
Meanwhile, Asakura had the two Yanami Anna stand together. After his careful study and comparison, he nodded only when the two girls, who looked exactly like twins, were blushing and quite uncomfortable.
"It's not a left-right inverted Mirror image; even the hair is completely identical."
"Hair?!"
"What hair?" the two Yanami exclaimed in unison, surprised.
"Based on what I know about Asakura's personality, which tends to make slightly malicious jokes with unclear meanings, he's probably just referring to your hair."
Yukinoshita Yukino said calmly.
"If it's not a Mirror image, then my Curse won't work, right?"
Chihaya Anon said: "Rather, even if it were a Mirror image, assuming it has nothing to do with me, the Curse [Mirror] doesn't seem to be of much use, since it can only replicate for now..."
"Curse is not such a simple thing. To give a relatively simple and easy-to-understand example..."
Asakura thought for a moment, picked up a pencil from the table that someone had left behind: [Snake]"
The next moment, the pencil instantly transformed into a small Snake with vibrant patterns, slithering between Asakura's fingers.
"Wahh!"
The two Yanami looked at the small Snake in Asakura's hand in surprise: "It turned into a Snake! Is this some kind of magic trick? So wonderful!"
Generally speaking, most girls are quite afraid of Snakes, but the Snake in Asakura's hand, because of its overly vivid colors, looked more like an artificial craft than a normal Snake. It didn't have as strong a biological feel, and combined with its small size, it actually gave off a subtly cute impression, so it didn't make Yanami and Chihaya Anon feel any discomfort towards the Snake.
As for Yukinoshita Yukino... after spending so much time with Yuigahama Yui, who always carried Napoleon, she had already grown somewhat accustomed to Snakes.
"It's a Curse."
Asakura corrected.
Then he looked at Chihaya Anon, who was also curiously watching the small Snake in his hand: "Theoretically, to turn a Snake back into a pencil, one would need to master a Curse like [Pencil]', but in reality, that's not the case."
Saying this, Asakura lightly pinched the small Snake's tail. The small Snake, which had been moving flexibly, suddenly stiffened and turned back into the original pencil.
As he handed the pencil back to Chihaya Anon, he said, "I don't know the Curse [Pencil], but I can still turn the small Snake back into a pencil. This is 'Disarming Charm'."
Theoretically, all Curse has a Disarming Charm, but whether a Disarming Charm can still be used after being affected by Curse is another matter...
The pink-haired girl took the pencil Asakura handed her, revealing a thoughtful expression.
"Asakura, do you think using a 'Disarming Charm' on them might work?"
"Yes, that's exactly it."
Asakura nodded.
"Alright, I'll give it a try…"
Chihaya Anon said, tugging at the necklace around her neck and pulling out the pendant, which carried a faint milky scent, from beneath her clothes.
The moment he saw the Mirror pendant, Asakura suddenly felt a jolt of inspiration, as if he'd been struck by lightning: if he drank the Felix Felicis now and studied this pendant, he might be able to strip the Curse [Mirror] from it and complete it into a true Curse.
He found it hard to explain why he suddenly had such a thought. Could it be that the Felix Felicis was the kind of item that took effect even if it wasn't equipped, merely by being in the inventory, just with a weaker effect than if it were consumed?
Asakura thought it over repeatedly and still concluded it was just a coincidence.
Moreover, the Curse [Mirror] was incompatible with him, so even if it were stripped from the pendant and successfully completed, where to assign it in the end would still be a big problem.
So he forcefully ignored that feeling of inspiration and began watching Chihaya Anon attempt to dispel the Curse on Yanami.
However, because she had never dispelled Curse before, Chihaya Anon was merely relying on her instincts to try and dispel it, resulting in a performance that looked like a strange dance, unexpectedly comical.
After fiddling for a while, Chihaya Anon, her forehead covered in fine sweat, looked at Yanami, who still had two of herself, and said, "It doesn't seem to be working…"
"I can see that."
Asakura also nodded, looking a bit troubled. Among all the abilities he possessed, there truly seemed to be none that could handle this situation particularly well.
"How about we just see how things go for now?"
Yanami… now he didn't know if it was Number 1 or Number 2… timidly suggested, "Anyway, it seems like having an extra me isn't a big deal for now. If you think about it positively, even homework can be split in half! It feels like it's okay even if we don't solve the problem."
"Then, if you think about it negatively..." Asakura said, "Your allowance, bento, and snacks will all be cut in half."
"...Hmm, to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions..." The two Yanami immediately sparked at each other with their gazes, saying righteously, "We definitely need to return to being one person!"