The next day, in the classroom.
"How was yesterday?"
Asakura, who still hadn't figured out how to solve the shop problem after an entire night, yawned and poked Yanami Anna, who also looked a little sleepy, asking.
"It was terrible."
The girl replied.
"Huh, why do I have a strange sense of déjà vu…"
Asakura stroked his chin and mumbled.
"Because we had a similar conversation yesterday."
Yanami Anna, with half-closed eyes, probably infected by Asakura's sleepiness, covered her mouth with her hand and let out a small yawn: "No, rather than similar, it was exactly the same."
"So in the end, Yukinoshita was still defeated in argument by that Togawa, who is a year younger than her?"
Asakura's spirits lifted upon hearing this.
"Defeated… it didn't quite reach that level."
Yanami propped her cheek and recalled: "It's just… how to put it… compared to Togawa's aggressive feeling, Yukinoshita's argument was more… um, grand and empty? In short, the momentum of the two sides was not on the same level at all."
"Even though that Yukino always acts so arrogant at school, she was so easily overwhelmed in terms of momentum by a junior outside of school. Is this what they call being a big fish in a small pond?"
Asakura said gleefully, clearly quite pleased to see Yukino frustrated: "What a weakling~ I'll go play Uno with her later."
"Why Uno… No, that's not the point. I don't think it's a matter of being a big fish in a small pond…"
Yanami Anna furrowed her brows, seemingly a bit conflicted: "That Togawa, I'm afraid Yui was right. She probably had some unspoken difficulties that led her to take a higher-paying night shift job…"
Hearing her say that, Asakura could guess what yesterday's scene was like.
If that Togawa, like his past self, urgently needed money from a part-time job to supplement his life, and suddenly some inexplicable person popped out and said, 'You're violating school rules,' 'Before working, you must do things more befitting a student,' 'Don't talk about difficulties, there must be better ways to solve it,' and other such righteous words, he would definitely be furious.
I'm practically starving, and you're talking to me about this?
One side was for survival, while the other was merely fulfilling a teacher's request to realize a vision that perhaps even she didn't believe in. The levels of internal drive were completely different, so it was understandable that Yukinoshita Yukino would be overwhelmed by the other party's momentum.
"Takkun, there's a cute junior looking for you outside the classroom~"
At this moment, Yui Yuigahama called out to Asakura from the doorway.
For some reason, Asakura felt that her expression seemed subtly powerful.
Asakura looked over and saw a sneaky pink-haired girl loitering at the classroom door.
It was Chihaya Anon.
She seemed a little shy but also a bit proud because a stranger senior called her cute.
Asakura immediately understood.
Speaking of which, he had indeed asked her to find some time to come over yesterday, as besides her, Asakura also wanted to see if other members of the association would react to the Mirror pendant.
However, he had originally planned for her to go to the Clubroom during lunch break or after school. Now, during a class break, it was a bit too rushed…
Asakura frowned slightly: He had only known Chihaya Anon for two days. In his impression, she was always boisterous, but her mind seemed quite good, so there was no way she could have misunderstood his hint from yesterday.
In other words, did she have something important that made her specifically come to find him at this time?
Thinking of this, Asakura didn't delay any longer. He gave Yui Yuigahama an apologetic smile, and without saying anything, he walked out of the classroom first, heading to the corner by the stairs with Chihaya Anon, who looked a little uneasy.
Yui Yuigahama seemed to want to say something, but she couldn't get it out until Asakura left the classroom. In the end, she could only return to her seat dejectedly.
The space under the stairs was generally used to store extra desks and chairs. Few people would come here specifically, making it a good place for private conversations.
Asakura looked at Chihaya Anon, whose expression was a bit strange but not yet panicked, and asked, "What happened?"
"Um, actually…"
The girl hesitated, then pulled out a student ID from her pocket. Judging from the photo, it should be her own student ID.
Asakura didn't notice anything wrong at first glance, but then he seemed to realize something and looked closely, only to find that the position of the student ID photo was different from a normal student ID, having moved from the upper left to the upper right.
Besides that, a bigger difference was the text on the ID, which was all reversed horizontally.
It was just like a reflection in a Mirror…
Asakura looked at the girl in surprise: "Is this the product of Curse?"
"I don't know if it counts, but I was curious when I was looking in the Mirror, and then this extra one appeared…"
The girl said sheepishly.
Asakura chopped the girl on the forehead with a hand-knife.
"Ow?! What did you do?!"
Chihaya Anon said indignantly, clutching her red forehead.
"I remember saying that when I'm not around, you're not allowed to use Curse unless absolutely necessary, right?"
Asakura looked at her coldly: "You got a new toy and couldn't wait to play with it. Are you a preschooler with an excessive curiosity?"
"Even if not preschool, there are still people like that…"
The girl mumbled.
Asakura raised his hand-knife again, and the girl immediately made a move as if to catch it bare-handed.
But Asakura still chopped her on the forehead.
"W-why couldn't I catch it?!"
Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as she cried out in pain.
Because my reaction time is seven times faster than yours.
"Because you violated the agreement, you felt guilty, which is why you couldn't catch my hand-knife."
Asakura said earnestly: "This is a very dangerous act. I thought you would be very clear about this after what you went through."
"Um… S-sorry, actually, I don't know why, but at that moment, I suddenly really wanted to use Curse…"
Chihaya Anon heard the seriousness in Asakura's tone and apologized involuntarily.
"Anyway, just to be safe…"
Asakura reached out and patted the girl on the chest. Before the girl could realize if she had been molested, he continued: "For now, I'll freeze your permission to use it. As for that student ID…"
After a brief inspection, Asakura concluded: "No big problem, just dispose of it. If you're afraid of others seeing it, I can burn it for you."