After the embrace, both of them, with reason returned, felt inexplicably awkward.
So Asakura simply led the girl into his newly acquired shop.
Although the shop had never been open for business, there were signs of renovation inside. It looked somewhat like a combination of a bar and a cafe.
"Is Takuma-kun planning to open a shop?" Asagumo Chihaya wiped the tabletop with her finger and found only a faint trace of dust on her fingertip, indicating that there wasn't much dust inside.
"Hmm… I'm tentatively planning that—" the mission said to earn a certain profit. Such vague mission conditions had appeared before, and based on Asakura's experience, these types of missions actually had a hidden 'passing line.' Once that line was reached, the mission would be considered complete.
"Then what kind of shop are you planning to open?" Asagumo Chihaya continued to ask.
"A family restaurant—" Asakura replied without hesitation. "Mainly for convenience."
As he spoke, he walked into the bar, rummaging around for a while, but couldn't find any plates. In the end, he could only use a coffee cup saucer as a plate and place it on the table.
Then he lightly tapped the edge of the saucer with his fingertip, and an apple pie with a thick layer of maple syrup suddenly appeared in the saucer.
"The food is simple and quick to prepare, and the taste is guaranteed, except for certain specific dishes and desserts that are slightly too sweet. As a family restaurant, it's already flawless, isn't it?"
"But aren't you the only one who can conjure food, Takuma-kun? That means this shop won't be open except during lunch breaks, after school, and on holidays?" Asagumo Chihaya calmly raised the question.
"As expected of Chihaya, you immediately found the flaw! As expected of the strategist I sought, you're amazing!" Asakura praised her profusely.
"Takuma-kun, you're just joking with me, right?" Asagumo Chihaya sighed.
"Well, actually, I really don't have much of a clue—" Asakura scratched his head. "And this shop also has some other special features, so I'm not really comfortable leaving it to others to manage…"
"What special features?" The girl tilted her head and asked.
"Come with me." Asakura was about to lead the girl to see, but Asagumo Chihaya took his hand first.
Asakura's steps paused for a moment, then he also squeezed the girl's soft hand slightly harder, leading her around the bar, through the back kitchen, and to what should have been the back door.
The shop, from the entrance all the way to the back kitchen, was decorated in a very modern style, but only the back door was an old-looking wooden door. If one looked closely, one might even feel, 'Doesn't this kind of door only appear in European castles?'
"Here, if you just open the door normally, you'll come out behind the shop, but if you twist the doorknob three times to the right before opening it—" Asakura said as he pulled open the wooden door, and what appeared before them was a huge, windowless stone chamber.
Asagumo Chihaya recognized this room, the large round table in the center of the room, and the broken golden light pillar on the table.
"Is this the round table room behind the Clubroom?" she asked in surprise.
"That's right."
Asakura continued to hold the girl's hand, leading her around the Round Table and to the wall on the other side.
A door squeezed out from between the bricks. Asakura opened the door, and what appeared before them was the familiar Clubroom.
"Oh? Isn't that Asakura and Asagumo-chan?"
Hoshino Ai, from the poster on the wall, rubbed her eyes, looked at the two who had suddenly appeared, and asked with a yawn, "When did you arrive?"
"None of your business, go back to sleep."
Asakura made a shooing gesture.
Hoshino Ai mumbled something indistinctly and then disappeared from the poster. Asakura figured she had probably gone to Gotō Hitori's photo to scare her and seek comfort.
Thinking of this, Asakura couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
"Can we go directly back to the Clubroom from that shop?"
Asagumo Chihaya, who still hadn't let go of his hand, looked at the door behind him with great interest, her eyes full of curiosity and surprise.
"Theoretically, you can go back to the Round Table Hall. From the Round Table Hall to the Clubroom, an authentication is still required…"
That being said, even in the system authentication, the Clubroom and that shop seemed to be regarded as one. The proof was that the ability to summon food from the Spirit Kitchen, which could originally only be used in the Clubroom and within a certain distance around it, could also be successfully activated in that shop.
Asakura thought about it and decided that since the Clubroom was basically completely open to the other members of the association, there was no need to block the path from the Round Table Hall to the Clubroom in the future.
This way, with the shop as another entrance, middle school students like Gokou and others, or non-Soubu High School students like Gotō Hitori, would be able to directly use the back door when they wanted to come to the Clubroom.
However, to maintain the prestige of the Curse Association, some sense of ritual was still necessary.
For example, 'count three bricks from this chair, then two more to the side, tap it with chopsticks, and the door will appear' or something similar. Anyway, with his authority as the keeper, he could indeed do such things…
"This really makes things a lot more convenient… But what kind of shop to open there is a problem."
The girl pondered for a moment but ultimately couldn't think of any particularly good ideas.
After all, currently, all members of the association were students, and their schedules were basically identical, so it was impossible for anyone to specifically staff the shop to prevent guests from mistakenly entering the Round Table Hall.
"No need to rush. Anyway, even if we open, it will take some time to clean and reorganize the shop. There's plenty of time."
Asakura comforted the girl, who looked a little troubled.
"Speaking of which—" The girl suddenly asked curiously, "Are all people with Curse generally young, like us, not older?"
"Not necessarily."
Asakura shook his head.
Although he wasn't sure if the cultist on Mount Kumotori had Curse, from the situation on their side, it seemed that there were indeed some mysterious powers existing in this world.
Although his side currently only had 'Magical Girls' and 'Magical Lolis' (Gokou was only 14, still broadly considered a loli), if he tried hard enough to look, he might even find Magical MILFs or Magical Aunties…
Reminded by the girl, Asakura also somewhat thought of this line of reasoning.
If he could find adults who were troubled by supernatural powers like Asagumo Chihaya and others, and who were also unemployed because of it, then wouldn't his shop have a very stable and hardworking ox… a worker?