"By the way, what would happen if we used Mirror to duplicate things that don't mind being reversed—like gems or gold ingots?"
Chihaya Anon asked curiously.
Asakura replied with a serious expression.
"You'd become very rich."
"Huh, is that really okay?"
The girl looked at Asakura in surprise: "I thought you'd say something like 'the gifts of fate are already marked with a price in the dark,' telling me not to abuse the Curse."
"That was just a joke. Not abusing Curses is the most basic rule."
Asakura nodded, affirming the girl's words.
After all, with Asagumo Chihaya as a living example, Asakura naturally knew how serious the consequences of abusing Curse were.
"However, on the premise of 'not abusing it,' seeking some legitimate benefits for oneself is not an excessive thing."
After all, a Curse is not public power; it is essentially something closer to personal talent. It's like, for a person who is naturally tall, you can't demand that he break his leg before playing basketball, can you…
"But if you say that, then there's no need to restrict the use of a Curse to only when Asakura is present, is there?"
The girl asked in confusion.
"Because a Curse is very dangerous, beginners can easily make some misoperations, so it's better to have an experienced person like me watching before you get used to it."
Asakura pointed to the reversed student ID in the girl's hand: "Take this as an example. If something more troublesome appeared from the Mirror at that time instead of this, what would you do?"
"What do you mean by 'more troublesome things'?"
The girl asked subconsciously.
Then she saw Asakura staring at her without blinking.
Immediately, a chill crawled up Chihaya Anon's back, rushing straight up her spine to her crown: the memories of those fake 'selves' she saw after being dragged into the Mirror by the oddity last night resurfaced in her mind, making her break out in goosebumps.
Asakura saw the girl's horrified expression, understood that she had realized what he meant, and then continued: "Although it's not certain that it's malicious, in many horror films and thrillers, there are scenes where 'a monster identical to oneself crawls out of the Mirror and tries to replace oneself.' So, don't have overly optimistic expectations for such situations."
"No, no, no, I'm not expecting it, whether optimistic or not!"
The girl shook her head desperately: "By the way, why use horror films and thrillers as arguments…"
"Many times, oddities only suddenly appear after ghost stories begin to circulate. Do you know why that is?"
Asakura asked meaningfully.
"...Can people's impressions affect oddities?"
The girl carefully guessed, observing Asakura's expression.
"Add another order of magnitude, and the answer is that the collective thoughts of many people can influence and even give birth to oddities."
Asakura said, "So, after a supernatural event occurs, the best way is to resolve it as quickly as possible and try not to let its influence expand. If it's like various criminal cases, widely reported, and then sensationalized and fabricated by a few gossip tabloids, allowing panic to spread among the populace, even a resolved oddity might rekindle, directly resurrecting on the spot and entering its second phase."
"I understand. I will absolutely never use a Curse without Asakura present in the future!"
Chihaya Anon immediately said with determination.
"Additionally, although it seems fine for now, I still think it's better not to let duplicated items circulate freely."
Asakura then suggested to the girl.
"I wouldn't do that. I'm already thinking of returning the pendant to you... But didn't you just say it was fine?"
Chihaya Anon mumbled before asking.
"This is a bit troublesome to explain..."
Asakura rubbed his chin, trying to explain in a way she could understand: "Anon-san, do you know what atoms are made of?"
"What atoms?"
The girl blinked, failing to react.
"I mean atoms, like in molecules and atoms, the basic particles of matter."
Asakura said, "Is Anon-san's physics grade really bad?"
"...We were just talking about Curse and spells, and suddenly you're talking about such a scientific topic. It's normal not to react, isn't it?"
Chihaya Anon protested indignantly, seemingly displeased that Asakura underestimated her academic ability.
After all, she was the Student Council President in junior high. While her academic performance wasn't top-notch, it certainly wasn't too bad. Otherwise, she wouldn't have passed the entrance exam for a high school like Soubu High School, which has a high average deviation and focuses primarily on college admissions, when she transferred.
"So, continuing from the previous question, do you know the composition of an atom?"
Asakura ignored the girl's adorable pouting, only asking again, as if he truly didn't trust her knowledge level.
"I remember it's the nucleus and electrons revolving around the nucleus, right?"
Chihaya Anon immediately answered.
"Exactly."
Asakura nodded: "Then have you ever thought that the items duplicated by the Curse [Mirror] might not only have their patterns and structures reversed horizontally on a macroscopic level, but also continue this influence on a microscopic level?"
"Microscopic level... You mean the electrons in the items duplicated by Curse will spin in the opposite direction to real electrons?"
The girl blinked. Although her grades were good, high-level physics clearly didn't involve this aspect yet: "Will this have any impact?"
"I don't know."
Asakura spread his hands: "Judging from your student ID, there doesn't seem to be much impact, but if my guess is correct, then that student ID is probably not a true student ID, but some kind of 'thing that looks very similar to a student ID, but is made of completely different materials.'"
Actually, Asakura initially guessed that things like antimatter would appear, but judging from the student ID the girl took out, which seemed perfectly normal except for the printing, this problem should not have occurred.
"Ugh... My head hurts so much, I completely don't understand this kind of thing."
The girl rubbed her head, her expression looking a bit troubled.
"Although you don't need to understand Curses that thoroughly, just in case, it's better to exercise a little restraint."
Asakura warned meaningfully.
Chihaya Anon probably took his warning to heart. She nodded and then left, looking a bit dispirited.