Walking down the school hallway, one could already see some rudimentary forms of the school festival.
Some more impatient classes had even already made their signboards and placed them outside their classrooms.
Asakura walked through the hallway, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not go to the Service Club activity room or the Clubroom, but actually turned towards the infirmary.
Although not necessary, his mind was actually somewhat fatigued.
Transforming 'nature' into 'supernatural', constructing magic, pretending to be a god and establishing a connection with Yanami…
Every single one of those actions was like walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss.
If it weren't for the Felix Felicis being effective enough, allowing Asakura to achieve continuous success in an almost miraculous way, he would have already suffered a magic rampage or similar severe consequences due to failure.
But even with the Felix Felicis leading to his eventual success, the continuous mental tension, high concentration, and the high-risk process where failure could occur at any moment, still made Asakura feel an unprecedented exhaustion.
And that bizarre Future Vision earlier, which was like demonic sounds pouring into his ears, was the final straw on his already fragile mind—admittedly, interrupting the teacher's lecture earlier was mainly to verify whether the future seen by Future Vision could be changed, but being truly unable to hold on and wanting to sleep was also one of the reasons.
Neither the Service Club nor the Clubroom were good places to sleep; at best, they had a sleeping bag. In comparison, the infirmary actually had a bed where one could get proper sleep.
When Asakura arrived at the infirmary, he didn't see the infirmary teacher, but that was fine, as Soubu High School didn't have a dedicated school nurse. The infirmary teacher, in addition to working in the infirmary, also taught a few health and physical education classes, so it was normal for her not to be in the infirmary.
Asakura randomly found an empty bed, pulled the curtain, and lay down directly. The moment his head touched the pillow, he fell asleep.
Asakura didn't know how long had passed until he felt his consciousness resurface from a pitch-black void.
Before his eyes opened, his olfactory cells had already begun to work. The unique medical alcohol scent of the infirmary, along with a faint, elegant floral fragrance, wafted into his nostrils. That scent made Asakura feel subtly familiar and reassuring.
He opened his eyes and saw Yanami Anna sitting by the bed.
"Yanami? Why are you here?"
Asakura asked.
As soon as he spoke, he felt his throat was a bit hoarse, and the joints in his body had a subtle ache.
"Because I saw you hadn't come back for so long, I was a little worried, you know."
Yanami said, propping up her chin: "The infirmary teacher just came, took your temperature, and said you had a low fever."
"Is that so…"
Asakura mused.
Was it from not sleeping well yesterday, or from over-expending magic today?
But no matter the reason, at least now that he had a good sleep, his head felt much clearer than that groggy state he was in earlier.
"Yanami, is it okay for you not to go to class?"
Asakura glanced out the window through the gap in the curtain. The infirmary was on the third floor, and from its window, he could clearly see the school courtyard.
There were no students there at the moment, indicating that it was neither recess nor lunch break. Judging by the position of the sun outside the window, it should be around the first class of the afternoon.
"I am in class~"
Yanami inexplicably showed a triumphant expression.
Asakura immediately understood.
"You used magic?"
"Yes."
The girl nodded, saying with some excitement, "It feels quite incredible!"
"What's your weight now?"
Asakura asked.
"...Since Asakura is so curious, then I won't hold back."
Yanami began to try and climb onto the bed.
"What are you doing?"
Asakura guarded against her.
"Of course, I'm going to crush you with three times my weight!"
The girl gritted her teeth, saying with a forced smile.
"I'm still a patient!"
"There's a saying that if you pass a cold to someone else, you'll get better, so this is my treatment plan!"
"But I feel like Yanami, you have the kind of constitution that doesn't catch colds..."
"Are you subtly calling me an idiot?"
"Of course not."
Asakura said righteously.
"Really?"
The girl looked at him suspiciously.
"Not subtly at all."
"Yanami Hell Drop!"
"Ouch?! Since it's really heavy, don't use such impactful moves, hey!"
After a while of childish roughhousing on the bed with Yanami, who completely disregarded that he was a patient (the bed groaned under the strain), Asakura felt a gaze.
He immediately looked in the direction the gaze came from and saw a long-haired female teacher in a white coat slowly retracting half her body behind the door.
"Don't mind me, you can continue."
She showed no panic at being caught peeking, her tone as calm as if she had just been observing apes in a zoo.
Asakura didn't remember everyone's names in the school like Yukinoshita Yukino did; having no interest in interpersonal relationships, he actually remembered very few people. However, because health teachers were a rare resource, he at least knew her.
"I think you might have misunderstood something, Amanatsu-sensei."
He tried to clarify the situation to her: "Also, I'd be very happy if you could hand over the DV you're hiding."
"It's fine, no need to explain. As long as you don't cause any particularly serious problems, I actually don't care much."
Health teacher Amanatsu Konami nonchalantly hid the DV even more securely, saying, "For now, I'm still on humanity's side."
"Generally, no one would specifically stand on the other side, right?"
Asakura retorted.
He glanced at Yanami, finding that the girl, too shocked, had failed her will save and fallen into a daze.
"Birth rate... is a great enemy!"
The health teacher said.
"So that's what 'humanity's side' means, hey!"
"Don't Mind!"
The strange health teacher gave a thumbs-up, then closed the door, seemingly leaving.
"She looks like a beauty, so why is her personality so strange...? Speaking of which, Hiratsuka-sensei too. Is Soubu High School some kind of gathering place for eccentric teachers?"
Asakura sighed helplessly.
A small snake quietly coiled around his finger. Asakura gently tapped the snake's head, and the snake transformed into a black memory card, clearly the DV memory card of that strange health teacher from earlier.
It was only then that Yanami, who had been out of it, finally came to her senses, saying flusteredly, "No, it's not like that!"
"Your reaction time is way too long! That teacher already left, hey!"
☰