Chihaya Anon and Asagumo Chihaya exchanged glances, then Asagumo Chihaya was the first to reach out and take the Mirror pendant from Asakura's hand: "I'll give it a try."
Because of the Moon Clock incident, the girl actually had some psychological trauma regarding such mystical items. However, after the fire on Mount Kumotori, Asagumo Chihaya felt deep regret for her helplessness, for being unable to offer assistance when Asakura needed help the most.
"Note that what you need to recall is not the on'yomi, but the kun'yomi; the latter has a higher mystical meaning."
Asakura instructed.
So even though she had been tricked by a mystical item once, she still tried to concentrate her attention on the pendant, recalling her past experience with the Moon Clock, and whispered, "Mirror!"
But nothing happened.
No, it wasn't that nothing happened; Asakura and Chihaya Anon's gazes both fell upon the pendant in Asagumo Chihaya's hand.
The Mirror part of the pendant suddenly emitted a faint glow.
Immediately after, an icon similar to 'battery drained' appeared, then quickly dimmed again…
"Excuse me, Dr. Asakura, what's going on here?"
Chihaya Anon rolled the fashion magazine on the desk into a tube, and like a reporter holding a microphone, held it to Asakura's lips.
"As far as I know—" Asakura pushed up his glasses, speaking in a serious, official tone: "It should be that the mystical item, upon activation, was forcibly shut down because it didn't have enough energy to 'operate'."
"Then how can this problem be solved?"
The girl continued to act like a reporter conducting an interview.
"Good question—" Asakura replied righteously, "The quality answer is I don't know."
"Hey!"
"Anyway, first, relax and keep a good mood, that's the most important thing…"
"Alright, you two."
Asagumo Chihaya skillfully hid the hint of disappointment on her face, and said with a smile, blaming them: "You don't have to comfort me that much, I didn't have much hope to begin with."
"It's not entirely comfort either."
Asakura shook his head: "The fact that this thing responds to your use means that its compatibility with you is actually pretty good, it's just that your Curse power… well, it's not quite sufficient for now."
After all, the Moon Clock's installment plan back then was indeed quite severe, and the girl's normal Curse power had always been at a very low level. Asakura could barely get any wool from her—this pendant's ability to suck Curse power was clearly inferior to Asakura's, so it was naturally even harder to extract Curse power from the girl.
What's more, although the Curse on the girl was in a cold war state with her, it hadn't completely abandoned the girl. Before Asagumo Chihaya's installment plan was paid off, it clearly wouldn't easily allow an external third-party Curse to take advantage.
"When your Curse power is no longer depleted, and you can better control your own Curse—" Asakura added after explaining his guess: "You should then be able to use this mystical item more freely."
"In that case, let Anon-san try it next."
Asagumo Chihaya handed the pendant in her hand to Chihaya Anon, then her gaze turned to Asakura. Although she didn't explicitly say it, Asakura could tell from her gaze that the girl was seeking his opinion.
"It's fine—" Asakura smiled and nodded: "Let her try."
After all, Chihaya Anon's training... ahem, education was already in place. Presumably, after seeing his methods displayed in the Clubroom, this pink-haired young lady would also be sensible enough to keep the supernatural power of Curse a good secret.
"Huh, can I really…?"
Instead, Chihaya Anon herself looked a bit timid, and even her movements when taking the pendant seemed hesitant.
After all, she had almost been killed by a Mirror-related anomaly before, so it was understandable that she would be somewhat resistant.
"No problem, no problem, I promise it's no longer dangerous at all…"
Asakura paused, then, maintaining his professional, formulaic smile, he corrected himself, "Under my watch, there won't be any life-threatening situations."
"Your correction just makes me even more scared!"
Chihaya Anon cautiously held the pendant by its chain, looking pitifully at Asakura, "That… it seems like nothing happened?"
"Your resistance is too strong; that won't do. First, hold it in your hand… No, wear it directly as a necklace—" Asakura said sternly, "The pendant must be buried in the cleavage!"
"Why?!"
The girl cried out, blushing and somewhat losing her composure.
"Because it's closer to the heart. From a mystical perspective, the heart is the source of human energy, and this physical closeness can also represent your greater openness to the Curse itself."
Asakura continued to speak sternly.
"I always feel like you're bullying me because I don't understand these things…"
The girl had a 'I'm uneducated, don't lie to me' expression, but after a moment of hesitation, she still found a necklace in her drawer, removed its original pendant, and put the Mirror pendant on her neck.
After slightly adjusting the length of the necklace, the pendant hung as Asakura had requested, resting properly on the girl's chest, deeply buried in the valley.
Although she had just transitioned from a middle schooler to a high schooler, Chihaya Anon's development was clearly quite good. If it were a certain Miss Hirashinoshita, who preferred to remain anonymous, that Mirror pendant would only be able to lie on barren wasteland.
"So, what should I do next?"
Perhaps feeling that she had already put in so much effort, Chihaya Anon was no longer as perfunctory as before, wanting to finish quickly. Instead, she became a bit more proactive, asking Asakura.
"Continuously recall various 'mirrors' in your mind. If it goes well, it will react."
Asakura said.
So the girl closed her eyes and tried hard to do as he said.
The atmosphere in the room fell silent.
A moment later, Asakura, who had been yawning, suddenly had his normally calm eyes—which could be described as 'languid' or 'dead fish eyes'—sharpen, as he looked at the motionless Chihaya Anon.
Although ordinary people might not notice it at all, and even a witch like Asagumo Chihaya was relatively slow to perceive magical power, Asakura could clearly feel it.
Just now, a wave of magical power had risen from Chihaya Anon.
"Hmm—" He said with some surprise, "The flow has changed?"
And at this moment, Chihaya Anon suddenly opened her eyes, uttering a strange language: "Mirror!"