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"Asakura-kun, do you know?"
Yukinoshita Yukino gazed out the window, her voice sounding a bit ethereal: "I once told myself in my heart that I would live my life to the fullest, so that when my future self looked back on this period of experience, there would be no regrets or remorse."
"Oh, that's certainly a good idea."
Asakura praised, "It feels very much like enjoying youth."
"But now I regret it,"
the girl said, "about lending you the clubroom to make hot pot."
"It can't be helped that you feel that way."
Asakura helplessly looked back.
Yanami, Yuigahama Yui, and Asagumo Chihaya were all sprawled unconscious on the table, only the electric hot pot was still bubbling.
Asakura had originally thought that this dark hot pot wasn't as dark as he had initially expected.
But he quickly realized he had celebrated too soon.
The first to collapse was Asagumo Chihaya.
The girl, who had never encountered Yuigahama Yui's shocking cuisine, had the same tolerance for this dark matter as an ordinary person, with almost zero resistance. After taking a bowl of soup and just one sip, she immediately slammed her forehead onto the table and lost consciousness.
Even now, there was a small red mark on her forehead, and judging by her somewhat distorted sleeping face, she must have been having a nightmare.
Asakura tried calling her, but couldn't wake her up.
The second victim was Yanami Anna, who, having been able to safely eat her baked cookies, had underestimated Yuigahama Yui's deadly cuisine.
With a brilliant smile, she said, "It's not that exaggerated~" and with fearless courage and an optimistic spirit, she took a big bite of beef soaked in soup, then instantly fell into a baby-like sleep, a sight that would forever remain in Asakura's heart.
Finally, it was Yuigahama Yui herself.
After Yanami Anna lost consciousness, under the somewhat surprised gaze of Asakura and Yukinoshita Yukino, she also took a big drink of the dark hot pot soup to clear herself of suspicion of poisoning.
Clearly, just as most venomous snakes are not immune to their own venom, Yuigahama Yui herself could not be exempted from the damage of Yuigahama Yui's destructive cuisine, and she too became a sleeping beauty.
"Do we need to call an ambulance? At least this situation must be a perforated stomach or gastroenteritis, right?"
Yukinoshita Yukino sighed and asked.
"No need, their vital signs are all normal… Rather than saying they fainted, it's more like their brains shut down for self-protection after tasting something unbearable for humans. The impact on the body itself shouldn't be significant."
Asakura concluded after briefly checking the status of the three.
Saying that, he pulled out a glass bottle from somewhere and filled it with a bit of the dark hot pot soup.
"What are you doing?"
Yukino keenly noticed his small action.
"It might be useful for something."
Asakura said vaguely.
He was originally curious about the high damage of this dark hot pot and wanted to see if he could withstand it with his own will, but when he scooped up something like konjac from the pot with a ladle, he decisively gave up on that idea.
—There was no konjac among the ingredients everyone brought; that was a melted plastic food container.
How this got into the pot, Asakura no longer wanted to investigate. Instead, he was more curious about the nature of this soup that could melt a plastic food container without harming the human body.
In a sense, this could perhaps be considered a kind of mystery.
Although it was a bit of a waste of ingredients, Asakura first scooped out all the contents of the hot pot and threw them into the school's incinerator to burn. Then, taking advantage of the ball game tournament, when most people were gathered on the playground, he found an abandoned flower bed in the backyard, dug a deep pit, poured all the remaining hot pot soup into it, and finally filled it with soil and stomped it down. Only then was it completely dealt with.
During the whole process, he was even discovered by patrolling Student Council members due to the hot pot's stench, and a chase ensued.
Fortunately, Asakura reacted quickly and ultimately avoided being caught by the Student Council by relying on the Great Blessing's teleportation ability.
After dealing with the ingredients, Asakura and Yukino together moved Yanami and the others to the school's infirmary, which left the infirmary teacher stunned, thinking there had been a serious food poisoning incident at school…
Evening.
"Oh…"
Asagumo Chihaya opened her eyes and found herself lying in an unfamiliar room.
"Chihaya, are you alright? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Asakura, who was accompanying her, put down his phone and asked with concern.
"I was just…"
The girl frowned beautifully, trying to recall what happened before she lost consciousness.
"Dark hot pot."
Asakura reminded her softly.
"But I only had one sip…"
The girl said in surprise, her gaze falling on the evening glow outside the window: "Is it already this late? It, it's really that terrifying?!"
"Yuigahama wanted to apologize to you personally, but I sent her back."
Asakura said, "She and Yanami woke up not long after. The reason you slept so long isn't because Yuigahama's dark hot pot is terrifying, but rather your own problem."
"My problem?"
Asagumo Chihaya tilted her head, repeating with some confusion.
"Your grades have improved quite rapidly recently, you must have put in a lot of effort, right?"
Asakura said.
In the previous academic test, Chihaya successfully took second place in Soubu High School for her grade. Although it was partly due to Yukino's underperformance, it was clear the girl had put a lot of effort into studying.
"After all, Takuma-kun is the top student in our grade, so I occasionally wanted to try a little harder."
The girl covered half of her face with the blanket, saying shyly.
"Besides that, there's also magic… or rather, supernatural matters, which have put quite a bit of pressure on you, haven't they? Then there's the ball game tournament practice, and you still have to balance studying for previews and reviews. On top of that, I heard you're still attending cram school?"
Asakura enumerated the girl's efforts one by one: "Doing so many things at once, even if you don't realize it normally, fatigue will accumulate unknowingly. The reason you suddenly fainted just now, besides the impact of the dark hot pot, is also related to that fatigue suddenly erupting. How do you feel now?"
"Much better. How to put it… I feel much lighter all of a sudden, and my mind seems much clearer, it's just my forehead hurts a bit."
The girl said softly.
Asakura smiled and reached out to rub her forehead: "You hit it, after all… But looking at it this way, Yuigahama's dark hot pot isn't entirely bad; it let you get a good rest."
"I hope there will be fewer such 'good things' in the future."
The girl sighed softly.
"That depends on whether Yanami can learn her lesson."
Asakura stood up: "Since you're alright, I'll take my leave now."
"Takuma-kun!"
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
The girl gently shook her head: "Thank you for taking care of me."
"When you express gratitude, you should expose your belly!"
Asakura said seriously.
"…Like this?"
The girl lifted the blanket, blushing as she gently raised the hem of her clothes.
"I was just joking."
After secretly glancing at the girl's pale belly, Asakura immediately left, feigning a gentlemanly demeanor.
Watching his somewhat disheveled back, the girl, whose face was flushed crimson, felt shy but also showed a silly, foxy smile.
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