"I just feel like Asakura suddenly has that 'magician' vibe."
Yanami said sincerely, "Before, it didn't feel real at all…"
In front of her, Asakura was stirring a cauldron with a long-handled ladle—don't ask where the original stirring tool went, potion research always has some unexpected losses…
"Don't be silly, hand that to me."
Asakura instructed.
"What? This?"
The girl rummaged through a pile of bottles and jars, pulling out the item Asakura was pointing at with the ladle.
"No, it's the one next to it."
"There are so many things next to it, how would I know which one…"
Yanami picked up a lump of mineral that looked like coal, looking at the label on it, which was either English or Latin: "Is this it? What is this? A gem?"
"Oh, trust me."
Asakura glanced at the description helpfully displayed by the system next to him.
Dragon dung.
"You don't want to know."
He said, "Also, it's not this one, it's the one next to it, next to it."
"You're only making me more curious!"
Yanami grumbled, "Which side is 'next to it'?"
"It should be this bottle."
At this moment, Asagumo Chihaya, unable to bear it any longer, leaned over and handed Asakura the potion ingredient he needed.
"That's it, thank you, Chihaya."
Asakura said, opening the jar and scooping out a spoonful of sparkling powder. If one looked closely, they would find that the so-called powder was actually very tiny beads.
"What is this now?"
Yanami asked.
"Beetle eyeballs."
"Do those things really have eyeballs?!"
"Good question, but that's a biologist's concern. More importantly, Yanami, can't you be more useful?"
Asakura said with dissatisfaction, "As an assistant, your performance isn't even up to par."
"Then why didn't you just let Asagumo help from the start…"
Yanami complained unhappily.
"Actually, I'm also very curious why Takuma-kun would choose Ms. Yanami as his assistant."
Asagumo Chihaya asked with a smile.
"Because what we're making this time might be a bit dangerous…"
Asakura explained, "Chihaya, if you participate without protection, you might be exposed to danger, and that's not good."
"Wait a minute, is it okay if I'm exposed to danger?!"
Yanami loudly accused Asakura of his blatant favoritism.
"It's fine, your defense and recovery are both four times that of a normal person."
Asakura held up a finger to the girl, "And I am your God, so isn't it quite reasonable for a miko to assist her God?"
"That's too much! Even if my body is already different from a normal person's, my heart is still that of a normal girl, and my heart's defenses haven't quadrupled! Please treat me more gently!"
"I'm already taking great care of you, Yanami—" Asakura argued earnestly, "Otherwise, the first thing you should do every day when you see me is worship."
"A god like that would have been overthrown by humans in the past!"
"Alright, Takuma-kun, don't take advantage of Yanami too much—" Asagumo Chihaya said with a gentle smile, "It's fine for me to help with such small matters, because I believe Takuma-kun will definitely protect me."
"I just wanted to be on the safe side… Alright, I understand. I'll ask for your help with the rest of the work too."
Asakura originally wanted to continue arguing, but after seeing the girl's somewhat forlorn gaze, he couldn't help but change his mind.
After all, even if she hadn't shown it in front of him, Asakura still felt that after Asagumo Chihaya disappeared from the Moon Clock, and her magic power was sealed by debt along with it, she felt somewhat inferior in this Clubroom.
After all, in that case, apart from her identity as a witch, she was no different from an ordinary person.
Whether it was the matter of Mount Kumotori or Chiba Port Tower, the girl more or less revealed some frustration that she couldn't help Asakura. The Mount Kumotori incident was fine, as Asakura solved the problem alone, but during the Chiba Port Tower incident, Asagumo Chihaya and Yuigahama Yui both participated, and it even had a bit of a decisive feel to it, which undoubtedly made Asagumo Chihaya feel even worse about her complete inability to help.
Asakura had no good solution for this, so he could only accommodate her as much as possible.
"But speaking of which, what exactly is Asakura doing? Is he boiling sugar?"
Yanami looked at the gradually thickening white substance in the cauldron and asked curiously.
"Although it has other uses, it's essentially a kind of nougat. Would you like to try it?"
Asakura scooped out a small spoonful of the white substance and placed it on a piece of parchment paper that had already been prepared: "Let it cool down a bit, and it'll be ready to eat once it sets."
"But I only have lunch and dinner left for today's quota, is it really okay to eat this?"
Although she always pestered Asakura to let her eat more meals, Yanami, after experiencing the Forbidden Quadruple Existence incident, was still a bit wary of supernatural matters and didn't dare to truly ignore Asakura's 'medical advice' and act recklessly.
"This isn't 'food' but 'potion'—" Asakura waved his hand, "It won't count towards the four meals you have to eat every day."
"Yanami only eats four meals a day now? Is she trying to lose weight?"
Asagumo Chihaya looked at Yanami with some surprise.
"What normal person on a diet eats four meals a day…"
Asakura couldn't help but retort.
"But… this is Yanami."
Asagumo Chihaya said meaningfully.
It seemed that even she, who didn't often go to the Service Club's activity room, had heard about Yanami, who spent half her day foraging.
"See, even Asagumo-san thinks four meals a day is too little!"
Yanami then excitedly told Asakura, "Even if I double it, there's no problem!"
"No, she's being sarcastic. Did you fail your language class?"
Asakura said, looking at her.
"How rude! I got an excellent in home economics!"
"You're not refuting that you're failing language classes…"
"Four meals not enough to eat.
Counting fingers, eating cookies.
Tomorrow, extra meal!"
"Mogami River?"
Asagumo Chihaya asked with a faint smile, brightening up.
"No, it doesn't rhyme at all, it's more like doggerel."
Asakura commented strictly, "However, the fact that you can come up with such a haiku in such a short time just because you want to eat more, that's certainly very Yanami-like."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Yanami tossed her hair and said proudly.
"No, that was also sarcasm. You should be more upset!"
After a flurry of commotion, Yanami's attention was quickly drawn to the nougat on the parchment paper.
"This is my first time seeing such a large piece of nougat, it looks delicious."
The girl said impatiently.
"…By the way, Yanami, do you really want to eat that?"
Asagumo Chihaya's face showed a hesitant expression of 'I don't know whether to say it or not'.
"What's wrong? Does Asagumo-san want to eat it too?"
Yanami turned her head to look at her and asked in confusion.
"No, not at all—" Asagumo Chihaya immediately shook her head, "After all, it has that in it…"
"What?"
Yanami didn't react for a moment.
"Beetle eyeballs."
Asagumo Chihaya prompted.
Asakura glanced at the two of them, saying nothing.
Actually, he had added a little dragon dung, but Asakura intended to keep that secret forever.
"I once saw online that some people in the countryside roast grasshoppers and cicadas to eat—" Yanami thought for a moment and replied, "Although it's neither a grasshopper nor a cicada, I feel like beetles should be pretty similar, and it's just the eyeballs or something…"
It seemed she had no psychological barrier to it at all.
Seeing this, Asagumo Chihaya also had no intention of continuing to persuade her.
Yanami picked up the large piece of nougat and took a big bite.
"It's a bit hard, but it's very sweet and has a milky flavor. It feels pretty good to chew, almost like what they sell in stores… Uh…"
The girl hadn't even finished her evaluation when streams of fresh blood began to flow from her nose, showing no signs of stopping.
"Yanami, are you okay?!"
A startled Asagumo Chihaya quickly grabbed a pack of tissues and rushed over to help her, wiping blood and plugging her nose. The entire Clubroom was in chaos.
"Did it fail?"
Yanami herself didn't seem to feel any problem, happily asking Asakura.
"No, it succeeded."
Asakura shook his head, "Nosebleed Nougat has this effect."
"…"
No, wait a minute.
"What kind of candy?"
The girl confirmed.
"Quick escape candy."
Asakura honestly replied, "The nougat you ate is one of the series."
"Is it really necessary to go to such lengths just to skip class?"
Because her nose was stuffed with tissue, Yanami's voice sounded subtly muffled.
"Don't worry, it won't have any adverse effects on the body, at least."
Asakura guaranteed, "It's mainly about the visual effect; it's so shocking that if you're even a second late in getting someone to the infirmary, the teachers will think they're too hard-hearted."
"At least?"
Yanami looked at Asakura suspiciously, then remembered that he had deliberately not asked Asagumo Chihaya to come help because he was afraid she would get hurt, and her resentment grew even stronger. "Don't you have anything to say?"
"Hmm, I checked, and the side effects are basically within the human tolerance range."
Asakura said proudly, "So it's fine, don't worry."
"The most unsettling words so far today have appeared."
As a result of personally testing the medicine, even Yanami started to become less interested in the other candies in the pot.
Asakura could only put away the remaining types of Quick Escape Candy, planning to find an opportunity to test them again later.
☰