Sitting on the bench.
Yotsuya Miko: "So… my mom already knows?"
Yurikawa Hana: "What do you think?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Hana…"
Yurikawa Hana: "Treat me next time and I'll tell you."
Yotsuya Miko: "Deal."
Yurikawa Hana: "Anyway, I covered for you, and I also took the 'compensation' for you using me as an excuse."
Yotsuya Miko: "Huh?"
Yurikawa Hana: "Aunty gave me a bag of sweets."
Yotsuya Miko: "That's fine, Hana, just keep it. You're the best!"
Knowing her mom still didn't know, Miko finally let out a breath.
Yurikawa Hana: "Best, huh? As if. I'm gonna milk this secret for life, hmph."
Yotsuya Miko: "Eh (⊙o⊙)…"
Yurikawa Hana: "Miko, you don't want your mom finding out you've been spending the night with a boy, right?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Huh?"
Yurikawa Hana: "Be honest — those nights you said you were staying over at my place… you were with Arthur, right?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Yeah."
At this point there was no point hiding it, so she just laid it out.
…
In Kita Ward, on her way home, Hana blinked at the reply.
Knew it. She finally dropped the act.
After hesitating a second, her cheeks warmed.
Yurikawa Hana: "Then… Miko, did you and Arthur already do that?"
They'd spent the night together several times.
Healthy boy + healthy girl + one room at night — unless there were very special circumstances, it was hard to believe nothing happened.
And even if they didn't go all the way…
They had to have done something.
…
Shinjuku Gyoen, rest area.
"—!!"
Seeing her best friend's question, Miko's eyes went round and a little pink climbed up her face.
She hadn't expected that question.
She'd wanted to say "no."
But with Hana holding a real handle on her, Miko hesitated a bit… then decided to just tell the truth.
She sent one word.
Miko: "Mm…"
"Waaah!!!"
Hana's mouth fell open.
So they really did it!
She thought back — from the time Miko met Arthur to now… it'd been, what, half a month?
That's a speedrun.
"Wait…"
Hana suddenly remembered something.
A while back she'd thought Miko seemed prettier — skin better, whole vibe brighter.
…Could it be because of that?
Does doing that actually make you prettier??
What does it even feel like?
Does it hurt or does it feel good?
"Ahhh what am I thinking!"
She snapped back, face burning.
She shook her head hard and shoved the pictures out of her brain.
Then she suddenly thought of something important and typed again:
Yurikawa Hana: "Oh my god, Miko, you two are moving way too fast. You're using protection, right?? I do not want to see you show up with a belly in a few months."
She'd never even had a boyfriend, zero real-life experience.
But, well… this is modern society. The internet exists.
Safe measures are important.
Miko stared at the message, face getting redder.
Every time she and Arthur did it, it was… direct contact.
At first she'd been worried too.
But Arthur had said, very calmly, "No problem."
And Miko had believed him.
Because Arthur wasn't a normal human.
He was that strong — even if they didn't do "normal human" safe measures, it probably really was fine.
So she typed, cheeks pink:
Miko: "Don't worry. Arthur's taking care of safety."
Hana: "Good."
While Miko and Hana were blowing up LINE, Arthur was chatting with Tohru and the others, and he glanced over.
He could see all of Miko's expressions.
…Yeah, that convo was not pure.
Five minutes later, Miko and Hana wrapped up.
Hana put her phone away and kept walking home, mind spinning.
Her best friend had a boyfriend now.
Maybe she should find one too?
Because if Miko and Arthur were going to be together all the time, she really couldn't just drag Miko out to play whenever.
She couldn't go be the lightbulb every day.
"Boyfriend, huh…"
A figure suddenly popped into her head.
"Eh?! Why is it him?!"
She startled, face red again — a mix of shyness and a little guilt.
…
On Arthur's side.
Seeing Miko put her phone away, Arthur and the rest didn't ask what she and Hana were talking about.
They got up and kept moving.
From Shinjuku they strolled all the way to Shibuya.
Arthur bought everyone something.
Even Shuzen Kokoa got hers.
Taking the bag Arthur handed over, Kokoa's cheeks went a little pink, and she whispered a soft, "Thank you…"
Time slipped by; soon it was afternoon.
Seven people, arms full of shopping bags, headed back to Arthur's place.
Every single girl had a satisfied smile.
They all went to put their stuff away.
Yotsuya Miko, Tohru, Moka Akashiya, and Shuzen Ya'ai went to the third floor.
Akasha Bloodriver to the second.
Shuzen Kokoa to the first.
Every bedroom was taken.
Arthur couldn't help thinking his house was… getting small.
Before, he'd thought it was plenty big.
Somehow, in no time, it was full.
Looked like it was about time to actually build that king's harem palace in the Mirage Realm.
"I'm heading out for a bit," he told Kokoa, who'd been assigned the first-floor guest room.
A Space Card bloomed in front of him.
Arthur vanished.
When he appeared again, he was back on that mountain with the shrine.
With the mountain god dead, the evil spirits that had been hiding nearby started slinking out and drifting toward the shrine.
Arthur took a little while to sweep the whole mountain clean.
Then he walked to the shrine square.
He called out the All-Things Compendium.
Only one entry was worth looking at — the "mountain god" one.
Name: Bronze-Hand Fox Spirit
Grade: Blue
Description: Divinity-touched evil spirit
Reward: Blessing of the Arrow
Arthur claimed everything.
His overall output cap ticked up a little.
The Blessing of the Arrow fused into his soul.
It was from Re:Zero, one of Reinhard van Astrea's absurd pile of blessings.
Effect: all of the user's long-range attacks will always hit.
A fate-type ability.
After fusing it, Arthur could feel the ceiling — blue-grade had its limits.
The gap in strength couldn't be too big.
And even if the attack hit, the target could still block it.
So it was more "better than nothing."
Stuff like "it will hit no matter what" was something Arthur could already do with Universal Phenomena Cards.
The blessing's upside was that it was passive.
No need to activate it — any long-range attack he made would benefit.
Not bad.
Not game-changing, but not bad.
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