After a dizzying spin, Chihaya Anon found herself standing in the familiar entryway.
Beside her was Senior Asakura, who had been supporting her since just now.
At this moment, her senior, who was half a head shorter than her, was staring intently at the shoe cabinet next to them.
On top of the shoe cabinet was the European decorative Mirror that served as an ornament.
This Mirror had been brought back by her father a long time ago when he went on a business trip out of town. It had been placed there since Chihaya Anon was a middle school student, and she never expected it to one day become the host for a strange entity.
At this moment, the scene in the Mirror was completely different from how it used to simply reflect the entryway. The center of the Mirror was a hazy gray, seemingly obscured by smoke or similar things, while near the frame, tiny pale silver sparks, almost imperceptible unless looked at closely, subtly flickered, forming a bright patch.
Although Asagumo Chihaya didn't explicitly say so, Chihaya Anon felt that they had very likely escaped that eerie space through this patch, which looked no bigger than a fingernail.
Just as Chihaya Anon had calmed down a bit and was about to ask something, the decorative Mirror suddenly shattered.
No, saying it shattered wasn't quite right; it was more like pouring boiling water into a freezing cold glass, causing it to completely burst apart.
But before she could worry about the scattered glass shards, they were burned to ashes by pale flames before they even hit the ground.
In the end, all that remained where the decorative Mirror once stood was a small pile of white embers.
"…Um, Asakura, he…"
Chihaya Anon couldn't help but ask quietly, worriedly.
"Takuma-kun will be fine."
Asagumo Chihaya asserted this.
However, Chihaya Anon could feel from her hand, which was being unconsciously squeezed painfully by the other party, that despite what Senior Asakura said, she was still very worried about Asakura.
Just a moment later, a vortex of flames suddenly appeared in the middle of the entryway, and then Asakura distorted and squeezed out from the center of the vortex.
"Asakura!"
"Takuma-kun!"
The girls' surprised voices came.
But Asakura made a 'stop' gesture to them.
"You two wait a moment, let me recover… Ugh…"
He leaned against the doorframe and dry-heaved.
"Takuma-kun, are you alright?"
Asagumo Chihaya, her face full of concern, wanted to step forward to support him, but had to pause there because of Asakura's words.
"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy from spatial teleportation…"
Asakura mumbled with a pale face.
After the collapse of the Mirror Curse Realm, he did indeed survive in the void by relying on the Curse [Scale].
But the problem was, the void had no up, down, left, right, or cardinal directions; in fact, if the Mirror Curse Realm itself hadn't been close to reality, Asakura felt that even the flow of time between the two sides would have been problematic.
All in all, Asakura felt like he had been stuffed into a front-loading washing machine in the void, going through a full cycle of spinning, washing, and drying at maximum speed before he was barely able to pinpoint Asagumo Chihaya… Strictly speaking, it was the aura of the Scale Flash Pattern left on the girl's body when she was protected by the snake pendant.
Only then did he return to reality from the void through the Curse [Scale] and [Candle]. The whole process was like being in a washing machine, sneaking out through the water pipe, as if he had squeezed himself into the narrow pipes of the sewer.
He once read a saying that the difficulty of America's first moon landing was equivalent to crossing the Pacific Ocean in a washing machine.
Now he could confirm that the other party's washing machine was definitely not a front-loading washing machine, otherwise Armstrong would have been drowned by his own vomit before taking that one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
In any case, unless absolutely necessary, Asakura felt that he would never do such a thing again in his life.
"Um, if you don't mind, would you like to come inside and sit for a while first?"
Chihaya Anon tried to invite them.
"Excuse me…"
Asakura said weakly, leaning against the wall.
Just then, footsteps came from inside the house.
Everyone's gaze instinctively turned towards the hallway, and then a woman with seven or eight parts resemblance to Chihaya Anon appeared in their line of sight.
"Anon, are you back?"
Mrs. Chihaya held a long-handled ladle and wore an apron, seemingly preparing dinner: "If you don't mind, help mom buy—"
Her words got stuck in her throat before she could finish, and she looked at the scene before her with a surprised expression.
Her daughter stood at the entrance, her eyes slightly red, seemingly having just cried.
Opposite her daughter was a girl about the same age as her daughter, who at this moment was gently trying to approach the boy at the door with a tender expression.
And that boy's expression looked somewhat troubled and pained, as if he was being forced to make some kind of choice, his face extremely pale, and a little cold sweat could be seen on his forehead.
The three stood in a triangular formation, just like that, in the narrow entrance, creating a strangely composed scene.
Mrs. Chihaya pondered for a moment, supporting her face with one hand, then suddenly spoke.
"Anyway, let's prepare red bean rice first—"
"That's not it at all!"
Chihaya Anon shouted to her mother, her pretty face flushed: "No, rather, what are you even thinking, Mom!"
"Anon, do you want to hear?"
Mrs. Chihaya's expression looked like an obasan at a housewife gathering in a small park, eager to share gossip.
"I feel like it's going to be a very melodramatic soap opera, so let's not."
The girl sighed, and then introduced to her mother: "This is Senior Asakura, and this is Asakura… he's my… um, friend."
"Asakura-chan and Asakura, right? Hello."
Mrs. Chihaya seemed not to have heard her daughter's momentary hesitation, but instead greeted Asakura and Asagumo Chihaya very gently: "I was a bit worried that Anon, transferring to Soubu High School at this time, might not make any friends, but now it seems there's no problem."
"Hello, Auntie."
Asagumo Chihaya greeted the other party politely.
"Hello…"
Asakura said weakly.
Actually, Mrs. Chihaya was initially worried if her daughter was being taken advantage of, but after carefully looking at her daughter's expression, she confirmed that it shouldn't be the case. However, when she saw Asakura's appearance now, she couldn't help but worry if her own daughter was bullying this boy... After all, Anon was quite mischievous when she was little, always acting like a tomboy, and only became more feminine after entering junior high school...
"I always feel like Mom is thinking something very rude…"
Chihaya Anon narrowed her eyes, staring at her mother.
"…Your imagination."
Mrs. Chihaya smiled and avoided her daughter's gaze, turning to say enthusiastically to the two guests: "If you don't mind, please have dinner here."
Asakura: "Ugh—"
Mrs. Chihaya: "…"