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"Specifically?"
Asakura paused, asking in confusion.
Although Chiba couldn't compare to tourist attractions like Mount Fuji, it did have some famous scenic spots. It wasn't unusual for foreigners to come here for tourism.
"I heard someone at school talking about similar topics—" Gokou Ruri replied, "They said there were many foreigners wandering the streets of Chiba who were dressed somewhat strangely, often completely wrapped up despite it being summer, and some of them seemed to be wearing cross-like accessories…"
"Just ordinary chuunibyou or Christian believers—" Asakura said calmly.
"Some of my classmates seem to suspect they are spies or foreign mafias selling illegal drugs, and some claim to have seen unnaturally tall foreign men in suits at night."
Gokou Ruri continued, "Definitely not chuunibyou!"
The main reason she didn't have firsthand information was that she simply didn't interact with any classmates other than Nukumizu Kazuhiko; she just idled and listened to gossip.
"Ah, I've heard of that too! It's called the 'Slender Man' urban legend, right!"
Yuigahama Yui immediately became excited.
"Slender Man? Isn't that a foreign urban legend?"
Asakura was even more confused.
Although it wasn't impossible to use a foreign sword to slay a local official, and the oddities born from urban legends weren't restricted to affecting only their place of origin, cross-regional operations required too many trivial conditions. Therefore, most foreign urban legends could basically be ignored.
The software Ryunosuke gave him directly banned 'Slender Man' from the data collection step because it didn't belong to Japanese urban legends, so it wasn't included in Asakura's computer database.
In fact, when Asakura was watching videos on YouTube, he had even seen a debunking video for this urban legend. The video author clearly revealed that Slender Man originated from a simple Photoshop image, so he never took this urban legend seriously.
But now it had inexplicably suddenly appeared.
"Understood, I'll have Snake investigate it thoroughly."
Asakura didn't doubt the girl's source of information, even if it wasn't very reliable. Since it wouldn't take much time or effort, there was no harm in verifying it.
If some oddity truly came knocking, Asakura wouldn't mind dealing with it properly to see if it could drop anything, like that Mirror oddity.
"There's one more thing."
The girl's face was stern.
"What?"
Asakura asked.
"Who is she?"
Gokou Ruri pointed at Chihaya Anon and asked.
"This is Chihaya Anon, a new member of the Chiba Magic Society."
Asakura introduced her, "Although still immature, she also has the qualifications of a witch."
"Oh?"
Gokou Ruri carefully sized up Chihaya Anon, her emotionless wine-red eyes making the pink-haired girl feel a chill.
But she immediately cheered herself up.
Isn't she just a chuunibyou, evil-eyed middle schooler who's even half a head shorter than me? What's there to be afraid of!
"I am the Association's first witch; you can call me Gokou."
As a result, Gokou Ruri spoke directly in an old-fashioned tone.
"Eh, really?"
Chihaya Anon looked at Asakura in surprise, and he nodded silently, acknowledging Gokou Ruri's statement.
"By the way, Chihaya-chan… ah, I mean Asagumo-san usually calls Ruri 'Ruri-chan'."
Yuigahama Yui added from the side.
Chihaya Anon was relieved: Since even Asagumo-san calls her that, it wouldn't be a loss for me to follow suit.
So she also respectfully called out: "Hello, Ruri-chan… By the way, what's Ruri-chan's full name?"
"It's Kuroneko."
Kuroneko said with conviction.
"Where in that name are the words 'Ruri'!"
Chihaya Anon couldn't help but retort loudly.
"There's no ox tongue in ox tongue pastry, and no Vienna sausage in Vienna coffee. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
Asakura chimed in with a chuckle.
"Asakura just finds it fun to tease me, right? I've already seen through you; you're the type of boy who liked to tease girls in elementary school and enjoyed seeing them in a difficult situation!"
Chihaya Anon turned her complaint towards Asakura.
"That's not true."
Asakura waved his hand, a look of feigned shyness on his face: "I'm super introverted."
"Eh?"
Gokou Ruri looked at Asakura in surprise.
"Completely—unbelievable!"
Chihaya Anon said loudly.
Yuigahama Yui, who was nearby, also nodded profusely.
It seemed that on this point, the three girls' opinions were consistent.
"Alright, that's enough of the idle chatter. Let's get to the main topic."
Asakura quickly pulled the conversation back.
After the three girls entered the Round Table Hall, he closed the stone door and then led the three of them around the round table towards the opposite side.
At this moment, the three of them saw a sparkling, inscription-like object on the ground.
"Hidden ahead… Offer a roll?"
Yuigahama Yui squinted her eyes and read the words: "What does this mean?"
"It means this."
Asakura reached out his hand towards the empty wall, as if grasping something in thin air. After twisting it three times to the right, a blue plastic door appeared on the wall, subtly cheap-looking and completely different from the solemn, medieval style of the Round Table Hall.
"Where's the roll?"
Yuigahama Yui asked blankly.
"It was performed in my mind."
Asakura replied seriously.
Then he pushed open the door and made an inviting gesture towards the girls.
Yuigahama Yui and the others entered through the door one by one, arriving at the back kitchen of a shop that looked like it had been sealed for a long time… well, actually not that long.
"What is this place?"
Chihaya Anon asked curiously: "A family restaurant's storage room?"
"Have you seen a similar place?"
Asakura looked at the girl with some surprise.
"I worked part-time at a similar shop during middle school."
The pink-haired fanged girl said this, her face seemingly filled with an expression of 'it was all mistakes made in youth': "But it felt like it took up a lot of my holiday time, so I quit after not too long."
"Alright, though not strictly necessary, your part-time experience might come in handy later."
Asakura said to the girl with a meaningful look.
"What do you mean? Is this really a family restaurant?"
Chihaya Anon was stunned.
"If nothing unexpected happens—" Asakura replied: "We will choose to open as a family restaurant, a cafe, a patisserie, or a detective agency."
"Hey, the last option's style is completely different from the first three!"
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