"Actually, I'm already seeing someone."
Asakura looked at the girl in front of him, speaking with a rare seriousness.
"Oh, who is it?"
To Asakura's surprise, Asagumo Chihaya didn't seem surprised; not only did her expression show no discomposure, but she even calmly asked, "Is it Yui? Or Yukinoshita? Making a move on Ruri-chan would be a bit criminal, you know."
Although he felt a subtle urge to comment on how she seemed to naturally exclude a certain foodie from the club, Asakura suppressed his urge to retort because they were discussing serious matters.
"It's Hitori… You should have seen her, the one who performed the guitar solo at the Founders' Festival." Asakura said.
"Oh, her, she's indeed quite a cute child—" Asagumo Chihaya realized.
"Um… aren't you surprised?" Asakura couldn't help but ask.
"Hmm, how should I put it…"
The girl stood with her hands behind her back under the streetlamp, her fair face bathed in the warm, orange light of the old-fashioned streetlamp: "I don't think Takuma-kun would experience 'love at first sight.' Although I don't know much about that child's situation, I can guess a little, after all, Takuma-kun is occasionally an overly kind person who gets emotional. Something must have happened then, right?"
Asakura nodded and explained the situation to Asagumo Chihaya.
"Mana deterioration… If it had been left unchecked then, in the worst-case scenario, would Miss Hitori have been in mortal danger?"
"No, the worst-case scenario is Hitori being swallowed by the deteriorating mana, her life essence transforming, being pulled from the surface layer representing common sense into the inner layer of the mysterious world, which is 'mystification' into a witch—if you in the Chiba Magic Society are called witches merely as a term for women who have mastered mana, then a mystified witch simply refers to a mythical creature that is not human. From a biological classification standpoint, such witches are actually closer to sprites or evil spirits than humans." Asakura explained.
"I see…" Asagumo Chihaya nodded understandingly. "Although there are still some points worth commenting on regarding Takuma-kun's handling method, I can generally understand the situation; it was simply a matter of acting expediently."
"Even so, I didn't intend to pretend it didn't happen—" Asakura said seriously.
"Is that so~" The girl pressed her finger to her lips, seeming troubled for a moment, then showed a faint smile: "But this is just 'dating,' after all. It's said that among couples who start dating in school, fewer than one in ten actually end up getting married. During this period, isn't it quite natural for some bad girl to intervene?"
"But Chihaya, you're not a bad girl—" Asakura shook his head. "Smart, excellent, and understanding, even among everyone I know, no one fits the 'good girl' label better than you, right?"
"That's not certain. Maybe in places Takuma-kun doesn't know about, I'm actually a very, very bad girl~" The girl showed a playful smile.
Then, she also became a little serious and earnestly asked Asakura, "Takuma-kun, in your heart, have you truly prepared to live with Miss Hitori for the rest of your life?"
"…I will work hard for that—" Asakura answered sincerely.
"But I'm already prepared—" the girl gazed at Asakura, saying with particular seriousness, "For a lifetime."
"While I don't want to question your resolve, Chihaya, it's too early to say that at your age—" Asakura slowly shook his head. "The future holds infinite possibilities… just like I told Anon, maybe the world will end tomorrow?"
"But at that time, Takuma-kun will definitely step forward and fight to save everyone, to save me, right?" The girl said without hesitation.
The fact that she didn't say "save the world" made Asakura somewhat concerned, making him feel that the girl might understand him more than he had anticipated.
"At that time, if I am the one standing by your side, I will be very happy—" she continued.
"…I'm sorry—" Asakura said softly.
"I understand." Asagumo Chihaya nodded knowingly. Asakura seemed to see a hint of sadness in her expression, but this feeling was only fleeting. Immediately, Asagumo Chihaya put her hands on her hips and said energetically, "Good girl Asagumo is dead! From now on, the one standing before Takuma-kun is bad girl Chihaya!"
She looked at Asakura nervously, like a condemned prisoner awaiting the final judgment.
"Please let me stay by your side." Her petite figure seemed to be desperately conveying this heartfelt plea.
After a moment of silence, Asakura said in a deep voice again, "I'm sorry…"
The girl lowered her face, her eyes began to become hollow, and the smile she had struggled to maintain faltered.
"I might be a bit greedier than I thought—" Asakura continued.
The girl looked up in surprise.
"I just imagined it. If, when I'm saving the world, there's no one to shout about friendship and bonds with, it would be too lonely." Asakura looked at her, and a smile returned to his face.
"Just friendship is too thin—" the girl wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes, sniffled, and said in a joking tone.
"Then we'll just spend more time cultivating something deeper. Chihaya and I have only known each other for two months. There will definitely be more memories in the future, whether it's friendship or something else, it will all become richer with time…" Asakura looked up at the night sky, but his gaze seemed to be looking at something beyond the night, his voice somewhat ethereal: "Perhaps by then, I will also have changed…"
For some reason, the girl suddenly felt a panic that the person in front of her might melt into the night at any moment.
So she directly hugged him. In Asakura's stunned expression, she whispered, "Mmm, I think so too. So, even for my sake, Takuma-kun, you can't suddenly disappear!"
"Ah, ah—" Asakura's lips curved into a gentle smile, "I promise."
"Thank you…" The girl's face was buried in Asakura's chest, her voice muffled. The thin summer clothes could not only not block the girl's body temperature and heartbeat, but Asakura also felt a slight dampness from his chest.
So, he also said softly.
"No, rather, I should be thanking you…" Thank you for accepting me.
Under the increasingly dense moonlight, their figures overlapped. Illuminated by the streetlamp, their shadow continuously stretched, stretched…