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Mortgage your entire future life to me.
The words echoed in the girl's ears.
She stared blankly at Asakura.
A moment later, Gotō Hitori stammered, asking in disbelief: "Pr-proposal?"
"No, rather than a proposal."
Asakura stroked his chin, correcting her: "It feels more like an indenture contract or something."
For some reason, Asakura felt that after he said that, not only did the other party not show a troubled expression, but her eyes actually brightened a bit more.
"Um… does it include food and lodging?"
Gotō Hitori asked expectantly: "Then after I graduate, do I just need to stay by Asakura-kun's side and not have to go out and find a job?"
"Don't make a face like, 'Yay, I found an iron rice bowl, awesome!'"
Asakura, who found the girl's thought process somewhat exasperating, thought for a moment, then continued: "While food and lodging are fine, in return, if I ask you to wear a bunny girl outfit or a school swimsuit to perform a guitar solo somewhere in the future, you won't be able to refuse."
"Ugh…"
At Asakura's words, the girl flinched a little.
Seeing this, Asakura finally said with satisfaction: "In that case, you still want me to act…"
"H-how many times a week do I have to perform? C-can I wear an extra scarf in winter?"
Gotō Hitori asked, gritting her teeth as if she had made some kind of decision.
No, sis, are you really planning to cling to me? If your past self was rotten enough, then no matter how bad the future is, it's always an upward trend, right?
Asakura sighed helplessly, rubbing his forehead, the sense of powerlessness in his heart growing stronger.
However, since Gotō Hitori had said that much…
Asakura pondered for a moment, then cleared his throat with a light cough: "Alright, but as you know, we don't keep idlers around, so we'll need a small test."
"What?"
Gotō Hitori sat upright on the stair step.
"Follow me."
Asakura led the girl to the hospital parking lot.
Gotō Hitori immediately spotted Asakura's Magic car in the sea of vehicles in the parking lot—no other reason than its decrepit state.
Compared to the surrounding cars, Asakura's Ford old car indeed had the feel of an antique.
Arriving at the car, Asakura took out his car keys and pressed a button.
The car didn't react at all.
So he kicked a tire, and the Magic car then gave a perfunctory 'beep beep' twice.
For some reason, Gotō Hitori felt that what was in front of her was not an industrial product like a car, but a large, living animal, like a cat, if she had to make a comparison.
Asakura naturally didn't know what the girl was thinking. He just opened the trunk and took out an old, pointed wizard hat from inside.
That was the Sorting Hat Asakura had picked up on his way from Nukumizu Kazuhiko's house.
Because people occasionally passed through the parking lot, Asakura took the girl and got into the back seat of the Magic car.
Due to the Imperturbable Charm solidified inside the car, the interior space was much more spacious than the car's exterior suggested.
Gotō Hitori, following Asakura's instructions, placed the hat on her head.
A moment later, the hat wiggled, and then an unfamiliar voice sounded in the girl's mind.
"Oh wow, look what I found, a fresh little wizard."
"A, another voice in my head!"
Gotō Hitori was so startled that she almost launched herself off the car seat and hit the roof.
"Don't make a fuss, it's just an ordinary Magic item. By the way, why is there a 'another'?"
Asakura said calmly beside her, while also stopping the girl from trying to yank the hat off her head and throw it out the car window: "This is to test whether Hitori has Magic talent."
Actually, no further assessment was needed. When the Sorting Hat started speaking, it indicated that there was indeed Magic power within Gotō Hitori; the only remaining question was the magnitude—Nukumizu Kazuhiko's case on Mount Kumotori was an exception; at that time, the Sorting Hat used Magic power pulled from Napoleon, who hadn't yet turned into a puppy snake.
Asakura nodded in satisfaction.
Of course, he wasn't suddenly inspired to have the girl undergo sorting. It was because before Gotō Hitori, although Asakura occasionally saw some ghosts and spirits on the road, those things themselves were rare, let alone possessing others.
So he felt that Gotō Hitori's constitution itself should be quite special, and perhaps she was also a witch, which was why he brought her to be sorted.
It seemed he hadn't guessed wrong.
"Courage… only a little; Confidence and arrogance… incredibly, none at all; Wisdom… well, let's talk about something lighter; Loyalty… very good, perseverance is also not lacking… then there's no problem."
The Sorting Hat didn't hesitate too long this time. Almost seconds after Gotō Hitori put it on, it loudly declared: "Hufflepuff—! I thought so too."
Asakura raised an eyebrow.
The result wasn't entirely unexpected. Including Yuigahama Yui and Nukumizu Kaju, three people had already received Hufflepuff's blessing.
"Wh-what does this mean? What's the result?"
Gotō Hitori asked Asakura uneasily: "Is it my illusion that a hat called me an idiot?"
But before Asakura could answer, the Sorting Hat continued: "Plenty of courage… rather, it's somewhat excessive, almost to the point of thoughtless recklessness; having something to pursue but mistaking the means and goal due to a lack of sufficient wisdom; not too honest, or rather, lies have become your former bone and blood, fortunately they are all gone now; oh, Merlin… empty-headed little fellows always have more extreme thoughts, if not for such recklessness, they could be considered a little lion, but now… there's not much more to say, Slytherin—!"
Asakura froze.
The same person cannot receive two different blessings.
Although the Sorting Hat's voice sounded a bit old, it was a Magic item and wouldn't become senile.
Given that, the reason for the second sorting blessing was most likely that the Sorting Hat also recognized Hoshino Ai within Gotō Hitori as an individual needing to be sorted.
But do ghosts of dead people also have Magic power? Or is their very existence related to Magic power? No, if I think about it carefully, the Sorting Hat is still on Gotō Hitori's head right now, meaning that when it detected Hoshino Ai's Magic power, it still identified Gotō Hitori's Magic power as her Magic power?
"Um, um… I-I feel like I've been told a lot of unpleasant things…"
Gotō Hitori's expression looked even more anxious, her features almost flying off her face with worry.
"It's okay, this guy is like that, she likes to criticize people."
Asakura took the Sorting Hat off the girl's head. The hat was still chattering in his hand, but Asakura completely ignored it and put it back into the trunk.
After doing all that, he looked back at Gotō Hitori, saying enthusiastically: "Since Hitori, you've passed the assessment, from today onwards, you are a new member of our Magic Society."
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