Akira's friends stood speechless as they watched him sprint toward them at full speed. Just a moment ago, he had stealthily conjured a gust of wind to distract the girl, and then ran so fast that, from her perspective, it probably looked like he had vanished right in front of her.
Akira stopped, slightly out of breath, then grinned proudly. "Sigh, I did it! So, what do you think? I'd give myself ten out of ten for that epic performance."
Erika sighed. "You didn't even dispel that curse. All you did was hand her your contact information and then run away. So zero points."
And she didn't even bother commenting on his whole "spirit detective" act. At this point, she had already accepted that this was just…Akira being Akira.
Seichirō crossed his arms. "So why didn't you dispel the curse? Is it that powerful?"
Akira shrugged. "Honestly, it's complicated. It's not exactly a curse; it's more like a natural phenomenon. I haven't seen anything like this before, so I'll need to study it first before I do anything about it. And I can't do that right now since I'm busy."
Erika frowned. "So nothing bad will happen to her, right?"
"Don't worry," Akira said with a wave of his hand. "It's not a deadly one. I could fix it, but right now I have more pressing issues. Can we please just go home?"
Everyone sighed but nodded in agreement. They started walking back, the park fading behind them.
As they walked, Akira spoke to Selena telepathically. "Hey, sister, are you sure you don't know anything about Puberty Syndrome?"
"Nope", Selena replied in his mind. "To be honest, it feels more like a natural anomaly than a curse. I'm not really sure what it is either".
Akira thought for a moment, then asked, "Wait… didn't some time travel and time loop stuff happen in the Bunny Girl Senpai anime? How's that gonna work here?"
"Don't worry about that", Selena said calmly. "That kind of thing is impossible in this world. You can pause, slow, or accelerate time, but you can't reverse it or go back".
"Why's that?" Akira asked.
"It's connected to us and the Nexus Castle. It's complicated", Selena replied. "And it's kinda entering spoiler territory. You don't want spoilers, do you?"
Akira sighed. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say".
Before long, they arrived at Akira's house. The Iori and Togi siblings said their goodbyes at the gate.
"Oh, Erika-chan," Iori said, "you're not coming back to the dorm again today? Shizuko-chan's already really angry, you know."
Erika sighed. "Yeah, I've got some things to do. Just tell her I'm sorry, okay?"
"Sure," Iori replied with a grin. "By the way, don't work too hard, okay? It's too soon for both of you to…"
But before He could finish. Erika punched him square in the face, sending him flying once again.
The Togi siblings sighed, grabbed Iori off the ground, and said their goodbyes before leaving.
And Akira and Erika stepped inside the house, and they were instantly teleported by Selena back to the Nexus Castle.
"Welcome back," Selena greeted. "Did you get everything you needed?"
Akira nodded, releasing "a mountain of supplies he had brought with him. This contains all his materials and also Erika's stuff, which are just essentials and other stuff that he volunteered to carry in his inventory.
Selena frowned. "You really need to clean out your inventory, Brother. It's completely full."
"I would like to," Akira said, "but I don't have anywhere else to put these things. And all of them are important to me!"
"There's a massive storage room inside the castle," Selena replied, waving her hand. "You can keep them there."
She teleported them to what looked like an enormous industrial storage hall.
"You can ask your army to arrange them," she added.
Akira nodded eagerly, then began unloading everything, all his rare materials, finished and unfinished inventions, and random "important" items — until the once-spacious room was filled from wall to wall. He even summoned his stored army to help sort through the piles.
Erika stared at the chaos in disbelief. "No wonder your inventory's always full! You store everything in there."
"These are just extras," Akira said casually. "I still have plenty of essential stuff left."
Both Erika and Selena sighed simultaneously.
After a moment, Akira looked up. "By the way, Sister, is there a place where I can run some experiments? Or do I have to go back to the basement again?"
Selena smiled faintly, then snapped her fingers. In an instant, they were teleported to a large, high-tech laboratory filled with futuristic-looking equipment and glowing panels.
Akira's eyes sparkled with excitement like a kid in Disney World. "Whoa! What is this place? There are so many machines! So much equipment!"
"Most of them don't actually work," Selena reminded him. "So please, don't get distracted, we are already on a time limit."
"Yeah, yeah," Akira said, still excitedly spinning around the lab.
Selena sighed and turned to Erika. "Erika-chan, why don't I teach you how to use your Star System before the mission? We also need to go over the mission details."
"Alright," Erika agreed.
Selena nodded and teleported them away, leaving Akira alone in the lab, laughing like a mad scientist.
"Hehehehe… this is where the fun begins," he said, staring at the mountain of materials and food around him.
Meanwhile, Selena and Erika sat at a tea table on the castle's rooftop garden, and the starry night sky and glowing magical flowers were as beautiful as always.
Selena had already finished teaching Erika how to use the Star System, and now they were relaxing, sipping tea together.
"I didn't know the system had a built-in item box," Erika said, scrolling through her interface curiously. "And it even works like a computer, with internet access?"
Selena smiled. "Well, I based it on my brother's Archive System. He made the base, and I just added a few upgrades."
Taking a sip, Selena suddenly said, "By the way, Erika-chan, it's about time we talked about the thing you've been avoiding."
Erika froze. She knew exactly what Selena meant, but still sighed. "What is it?"
Selena smirked. "Your meal plan for the mission."
Erika groaned. "Can you not say it like that…? This is going to be a long talk, isn't it?"