Although Asakura and Asagumo Chihaya both tried politely to decline Mrs. Chihaya's dinner invitation, the latter seemed to have had some competitive spirit aroused, and after pestering them for a long time, successfully got Asakura to agree to stay for dinner.
After all, there was no one at his home, and after the Essence of Dittany was boiled, he didn't need to stay in the school's Clubroom eating instant noodles. Even if he didn't eat dinner here, he would probably have to find an izakaya or something to grab a meal after leaving, so thinking about it that way, staying for dinner seemed fine.
And after Asakura agreed, Asagumo Chihaya, who had originally been unmoved by the invitation, immediately made a big U-turn and agreed to stay for dinner.
This made Mrs. Chihaya unable to help but look at her daughter again with a 'Are you two really not in some strange geometric relationship?' kind of gaze.
Chihaya Anon, meanwhile, had already excitedly led the two to the living room, completely oblivious to her mother's gaze.
However, considering that there were still some things about the anomaly to discuss, staying in the living room, which was too close to the kitchen, might lead to Mrs. Chihaya overhearing something strange. So, after sitting on the living room sofa for a while, Chihaya Anon led the two back to her own room—which made Mrs. Chihaya's gaze towards her even stranger.
Chihaya Anon's room looked quite special; although the layout was no different from an ordinary room, there was a sloping curve on the ceiling, and a skylight more commonly found in attics, providing excellent lighting.
Asakura had originally thought her room would be particularly girlish, full of pink everywhere and piled with dolls and plushies, but the overall style was surprisingly simple, even giving a somewhat rigid impression.
"Don't look around…"
Chihaya Anon, who was carefully locking the door, turned around and saw Asakura curiously surveying her room, and said somewhat shyly: "After all, before Asakura, no other boy had ever been in my room."
"Then I'll take the first."
Asakura sat calmly on the fabric sofa: "Thank you for the hospitality."
"No boy has been to my room either, Takuma-kun is welcome anytime."
Asagumo Chihaya said softly, sitting beside him with a perfectly natural, nonchalant expression.
Chihaya Anon, on the other hand, was rather nonchalantly sitting directly on the carpet with her legs crossed.
"Rather than that, let's quickly talk about that anomaly! Has it been exorcised by Asakura? Do I not have to worry about it anymore?"
"Theoretically, yes."
Asakura pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in front of the two.
Chihaya Anon looked closely and found that it was a miniature Mirror, identical to the decorative Mirror on the shoe rack earlier, but it had shrunk from the size of a washbasin to merely a pendant.
"The essence of this anomaly is different from Yui's Golem; it doesn't have a tangible medium, but rather it's a… hmm, it can be seen as an incomplete 'Curse'."
Asakura explained to the two: "Because there is no Curse power in the atmosphere of this world, most of the power that drives Curse comes from people's fear of the unfamiliar 'self' in the Mirror, which is essentially a situation similar to the uncanny valley effect."
"Then why did it target me? Just because this Mirror was in my house?"
The pink-haired girl asked curiously: "But my mom and dad don't seem to have encountered this situation…"
Although the recent encounter still made her feel a bit scared, after calming down and thinking about it carefully, she felt that if it wasn't her who encountered such a thing, but her father or mother, then the problem would become even more serious. After all, her father and mother didn't seem like the kind of people who could find a 'true expert' like Asakura who could solve the problem.
Rather, until yesterday, they, like her, all thought it was just an illusion caused by too much stress…
And without Asakura's help, what would happen to her if she encountered such a thing alone was imaginable.
"Regarding this question, I'm actually just guessing…"
Asakura stroked his chin: "Although I didn't bring the Sorting Hat, the fact that you can see the Clubroom proves that there is Curse power within you. And Curse power is purer and stronger than the energy entangled by many people's emotions, which is why that anomaly targeted you. As for why it still didn't give up attacking you after I intervened, even though it knew it wasn't my opponent, it's probably due to some rules of the anomaly itself that we don't understand."
Asakura explained: "Some anomalies themselves follow certain rules. As far as I know (from the Nameless Magic Book), many anomalies that pose a threat to humans will kill targets one by one according to the order in which their attack conditions are triggered. If the previous person is not killed by the anomaly, then the anomaly will not attack the next person. If the Mirror anomaly gave up attacking Chihaya-kun, then it would likely be bound by the anomaly's rules and unable to attack other people with Curse power, so in the end, it could only target you."
"So it seems I became the insurance…"
Chihaya Anon couldn't help but mutter.
"What is this small Mirror then?"
Asagumo Chihaya asked curiously.
"This is the incomplete Curse [Mirror] I just mentioned."
Asakura replied: "I incinerated parts of the anomaly in that Curse realm, and what remained was almost the Curse itself."
Currently, only another Curse can resist the effect of a Curse.
So when Asakura discovered that the anomaly didn't instantly disappear after being burned by the Curse [Candle], but instead its fragments continued to burn for a long time, he felt that something was wrong. After all, before this, the only thing that could resist the Curse [Candle] was the Curse [Scale].
That's why he took some time to carefully burn away the other impurities, extracting and condensing the remaining parts together, which naturally formed this small Mirror in the end.
This item was somewhat similar to Asagumo Chihaya's Moon Clock back then, but as an incomplete Curse, its rank was definitely inferior to the Moon Clock.
"However, Curse itself has its own preferences. I don't seem to get along well with the Curse [Mirror]—" Asakura held the small Mirror and pointed it at the ground. The carpet under Chihaya Anon's butt turned into a smooth Mirror surface, even reflecting the girl's panties in full detail. "Although I can forcefully activate it, at most I can only achieve this much."
Then, amidst Chihaya Anon's angry and embarrassed shouts of 'What are you doing?!', Asakura very sincerely held the small Mirror: "So, would you two like to try it?"