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Near Inagekaigan Station, Chiba Prefecture.
An old Ford car appeared out of thin air on the deserted street, drove a short distance, and then stopped right in front of an apartment building.
"Speaking of which, did you move?"
Asakura looked at the apartment building, somewhat surprised.
Before, the girl's house was a detached home.
"Because Dad said the original house seemed a bit unclean..."
Yuigahama Yui said with a slightly guilty conscience.
Asakura watched the girl's wandering gaze and vaguely guessed that to explain her 'truancy' for those few days, she probably fabricated some chaotic reasons, which led her parents to believe that their daughter was experiencing psychological problems from living in their old home.
To prevent their daughter's mental state from worsening, they decisively moved from a detached house to an apartment building with neighbors, where it would be easier to get help if anything happened.
However, seeing that Yuigahama Yui had no intention of confessing, Asakura did not press for details.
Yuigahama Yui crawled out of the dilapidated Ford—it was then that she realized another advantage of Asakura's beat-up car: even if neighbors or others saw her getting out of 'stranger' Asakura's car, they wouldn't mistake it for prostitution because the car was simply too old.
Asakura also got out of the car, snapped his fingers lightly, and made the magical car vanish abruptly in front of them.
After all, unlike Gotō Hitori's house, which was quite far from Chiba, Yuigahama's house was in Chiba, not far from Asakura's own home; even on foot, it was within a half-hour's reach, and by taxi, it would be even quicker.
As for why he didn't drive the magical car directly back, it was because he initially thought that the magical car, not needing fuel, was quite convenient to drive anywhere.
But after driving for nearly two hours and feeling the consumption of his internal magical power as fuel, Asakura felt that perhaps gasoline cars weren't so bad after all...
However, on the other hand, because Yuigahama Yui was by his side, he could subtly gain some magical power from the girl.
If he also invited the other witches from the Magic Society into the car, although it still wouldn't achieve a balance of income and expenditure, the 'fuel consumption' per kilometer could be suppressed to a very low level.
"Takuma-kun, are you really not coming up?"
Yuigahama Yui asked.
"Forget it..." Asakura hesitated for a moment, then finally waved his hand, rubbing his stomach and saying, "I haven't eaten yet, so I won't bother you."
"Ah, I forgot to ask Mom to prepare more dinner..."
Yuigahama Yui patted her forehead, saying with some regret.
Just then, a somewhat surprised, mature female voice suddenly came from nearby.
"Yui? And this is..."
Asakura looked in the direction of the voice and saw a 'larger version of Yuigahama Yui' standing at the entrance of a nearby apartment building, scrutinizing him with a rather interested gaze: "This must be the 'Asakura-san' Yui always talks about at home, right?"
"Yui never told me she had an older sister..." Asakura greeted the other party kindly, "Hello, I'm Asakura."
"Oh my, oh my, how regrettable that I only have Yui as a daughter."
The other party covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
"Oh, it's Mrs. Yuigahama? How rude of me, but if I may be frank, if you and Yui walked down the street together, everyone would probably think you're a pair of sisters."
Asakura continued.
In truth, Mrs. Yuigahama did show some traces of age, but it was never a bad thing to be sweet-tongued to adults, especially when they were the parents of friends and still possessed their charm.
"Oh dear, oh dear, so sweet-tongued, no wonder Yui always talks about you."
"I don't always talk about him! Honestly, Mom, what are you saying!"
Yuigahama Yui complained shyly to her mother.
"Ah, right, right, she just occasionally mentions him every day (emphasis added) when she comes home."
Mrs. Yuigahama smiled elegantly and appropriately, "Indeed, that can't be considered always talking about him."
"That's probably because I'm rather special..." seeing that the 'Yui-go' was about to sink, Asakura had no choice but to step forward, "After all, I'm the Asakura of Yui's club."
"Then thank you very much, Asakura-san, for specially bringing Yui home."
Mrs. Yuigahama said, then patted Yuigahama Yui's head, "Honestly, how can you let a guest leave like this at a time like this? That would be too rude. At the very least, you should invite him up for a cup of tea, right?"
"Taku... cough, Asakura-san is still hungry, Mom, don't mess around."
The girl said with dissatisfaction.
Not even Takuma-kun, not even Asakura-kun, but directly Asakura-san? It seems Yuigahama doesn't want to appear too close to him in front of her parents.
Asakura understood in his heart.
"That's right, Mrs. Yuigahama, I appreciate your kindness, but for a boy my age, hunger is a big enemy.
Since I've safely brought Yuigahama-san back, I'll take my leave now."
So he said politely.
After he finished speaking, he found Yuigahama Yui looking at him with a subtle, resentful gaze.
So why? Didn't you use that distant form of address first?
"If you're hungry, then why not just come to our house for dinner?"
Mrs. Yuigahama observed her daughter's rich facial expressions with interest, then said very generously.
"Mom, stop it..."
Yuigahama Yui tugged at her mother's sleeve.
It wasn't that her mother's cooking was terrible; in terms of skill alone, Mrs. Yuigahama's cooking was already above the average housewife's standard, and several of her signature dishes could even be called excellent.
But the problem was that Mrs. Yuigahama, like many housewives in Japan, although she didn't deliberately pursue 'healthy living' or anything, the amount of food she cooked each day was probably only enough to fill her family to about 80% capacity.
Now, Mr. Yuigahama was still on a business trip, and neither Mrs. Yuigahama nor Yuigahama Yui were the type with large appetites, so the daily meal portions were not large, and could even be described as 'delicate.'
The girl felt that if Asakura came to her house for dinner, not only would he be constrained at the table, but the food portioned out from herself and her mother might not even be enough to fill him halfway, and that situation would be what would make her feel embarrassed and rude.
But Mrs. Yuigahama seemed to have seen through her daughter's thoughts; she patted Yui's hand to reassure her, adding, "Originally, your father said he'd be back from his business trip today for dinner, but just now he called to say that new tasks had been added at his company, and his return date would be delayed by another two days... I was just wondering what to do with the meal I prepared for your father."
Then she looked at Asakura again: "So it would be wonderful if Asakura-san could come to our house for dinner; it would also be a good chance to thank you for taking care of Yui at school."
Asakura originally wanted to continue declining, but his stomach uncooperatively rumbled, so he could only give a dashing smile: "Then I shall respectfully accept."
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