After all, it was a topic related to whether she could live a normal life in the future, so Yanami sat there obediently, waiting for Asakura to continue.
Then Asakura extended his palm and folded his thumb into his palm.
"Four meals."
"What?"
Yanami's eyes were confused: "Do you want me to treat you to four meals? Is somen okay?"
"Didn't you already finish that...?"
Asakura first retorted, then shook his head: "Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, afternoon tea, supper... anything is fine. In short, 'eating four meals a day' is the content of the ritual I've set."
"That's great, it's not some weird ritual."
Yuigahama Yui breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to congratulate Yanami, she found the latter's face incredibly pale: "Anna?"
"Are you saying I can only choose four meals from those to eat in a day?"
Yanami asked Asakura, her face pale, confirming.
"That's right."
Asakura nodded: "Only four meals."
"If, if I exceed it..."
The girl asked Asakura as if holding onto a last sliver of hope.
"It doubles, you know."
Asakura replied with a smile, crushing the girl's fantasy: "Including your weight."
"Guh, kill me..."
"That joke has already been used."
Yanami slammed her head onto the table in despair, letting out a wail like a house-elf who had been fired.
Seeing this, Chihaya Anon looked at Yukinoshita Yukino, somewhat confused, and asked, "Um... is there something wrong with my common sense? Although 'having' to eat four meals a day is a bit troublesome, mainly because of the calories and such, it's not enough to make one despair like Yanami-senpai, is it? Compared to other rituals that might be very troublesome, isn't this quite easy?"
"That's for normal people."
Yukinoshita Yukino said succinctly.
"So, Yanami-senpai isn't a normal person?"
Chihaya Anon tilted her head, pondering.
"By the way, Yanami, you've had breakfast today, right?"
Asakura asked abruptly.
"Hmm, what's wrong?"
Yanami asked with a disheartened voice.
Asakura didn't speak, he just cast his gaze towards the plate of fries by the girl's hand, which she didn't know where it came from.
Yanami immediately seemed to realize something, her expression became even more terrified, and her face turned pale with fright: "So, so..."
"Until 12 o'clock tonight, besides lunch and dinner, you can't eat anything else."
Asakura said.
"Oh God—!"
Yanami was so sad that she was almost shedding tears of blood.
"What's up?"
Asakura asked with a smile.
"I wasn't calling you!"
"I know."
"Damn it..."
The girl gnashed her teeth angrily, but she was helpless against Asakura.
Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly stood up.
Everyone was startled by her abrupt movement.
"Since the problem has been resolved, there's no need to stay here any longer."
She gathered her belongings and quickly walked towards the door: "I'm going to class."
"Ah! Wait for me, Yukinon…"
Yuigahama Yui quickly followed.
"Oh no, the first-year classroom is the furthest. I need to hurry…"
Chihaya Anon, hearing this, also frantically grabbed her school bag and ran out: "See you after school!"
Suddenly, the previously lively clubroom was left with only Asakura and Yanami.
Asakura looked at Yanami, who just hung her head, as if she hadn't yet pulled herself out of her chaotic thoughts, her expression looking a bit blank.
So he didn't speak again, just quietly accompanied her.
Taking this opportunity, Asakura casually pulled up his system page.
When the magic [Crowd] was completed, he seemed to hear a 'ding' from the system, but at that time, the newborn magic was too critical, and he didn't dare to be distracted at all, so he only had time to open the page now to take a look.
Sure enough, the original task 'Complete the Trial' had been marked as achieved, and the new task text had changed to 'Grow Bigger'.
It seems that the incident Yanami encountered was the so-called trial.
Wait a minute, does that mean the tentacle monster hidden in the crevices of the incident was originally targeting him, and Yanami was just an innocent bystander?
Asakura frowned, temporarily pushed the guilt in his heart aside, and re-examined the task page.
What does 'Grow Bigger' mean? Make what bigger?
Why does this broken system feel more and more abstract?
Before Asakura could check the system rewards, he felt a tremor from the Nameless Magic Book.
So he temporarily closed the system page and focused his attention on the Magic book in his mind.
Sure enough, another emblem on the page with the emblem lit up.
However, before Asakura could carefully examine the details of the new emblem, the preparatory bell for the first class echoed across the campus.
He snapped out of his thoughts about the Magic book and found Yanami still with her head bowed.
"If you still haven't calmed down, it's fine to skip a class and rest here for a bit."
Asakura then spoke, saying to the gloomy girl.
"Asakura."
"What is it?"
"If I start eating from the opening of the school festival and keep eating until it closes, can it still count as just one meal?"
"So you've been hanging your head and not speaking because you were thinking about 'that kind of thing'?! Give me back my emotions!"
"What do you mean 'that kind of thing'? This is very important to me!"
The girl loudly retorted: "If I can only choose one stall to eat at the school festival, that would be too painful!"
"Actually, you don't need to worry so much. Eating makes you heavier, isn't that an eternal truth?"
"Whose family's weight doubles just from eating one more meal?!"
The two began to bicker.
However, Asakura saw that the girl wasn't truly devastated by her physical changes, well, actually, she was a little, but at least Yanami seemed relatively cheerful, and couldn't help but feel a bit relieved.
"If you have so much energy, go to class. You don't want your grades to drop too much and have to receive my tutoring again, do you?"
"After experiencing such incredible things, I still have to obediently go to school. There's a strange sense of absurdity…"
Yanami mumbled softly.
"To still be able to love everyday life after experiencing everything, that is true heroism."
"Romain Rolland…"
"Exactly."
Asakura had just taken two steps when he found the girl still standing in place: "What's wrong?"
"Although I already said it yesterday, please allow me to say it again."
The girl looked at Asakura, the wind from outside the window gently stirring her dark blue bangs. With a gentle expression, she softly said: "Thank you, Asakura."
☰