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On the way back to Chiba, Gotō Hitori sat in the back seat of the flying car, raising her head several times, her eyes peeking through her cherry-colored bangs at Asakura, wanting to say something, but in the end, she couldn't say anything.
Asakura also saw the girl's hesitant expression through the rearview Mirror, so he simply asked, "Hitori, is there anything you want to say?"
"Th-That…"
Gotō Hitori was startled at first, then hesitated, and then stammered, "H-Hoshino-san… has she really ascended to Buddhahood?"
"How could that be? I told you before, if 'meeting Tendoji Sarina' wasn't her true obsession, then the moment the other party woke up, she, unable to eliminate her obsession, would pretty much be done for."
Asakura spoke in a relaxed tone, as if discussing an irrelevant topic like, "Shall we go eat yakiniku tonight?": "Unfortunately, from the final result, Hoshino Ai's obsession was indeed not that. Now, her Spirit Body as a ghost has probably been swallowed and assimilated by Tendoji Sarina's soul. That child might gain some of Hoshino Ai's talents in the future."
"How could this be…"
Gotō Hitori sat blankly in her seat, looking somewhat sad.
Seeing that Gotō Hitori seemed genuinely sad, Asakura stopped teasing her and instead comforted her: "Actually, Hoshino Ai herself probably anticipated this outcome. I guess her obsession was likely something more abstract, such as 'wanting to become human,' 'all normies explode,' 'wanting to know what love is,' rather than a concrete matter. After realizing it was difficult to achieve, she chose this relatively more acceptable ending."
So Gotō Hitori's expression became even more distressed.
"Hoshino-san… really disappeared…"
"That's not entirely true, though."
Asakura suddenly said.
"Huh?"
The girl looked up, her small face gazing at Asakura's mischievous smile in the rearview Mirror.
He held the steering wheel with one hand, while the other pulled out something like a postcard from his pocket, handing it to Gotō Hitori without looking back.
Caught off guard, Gotō Hitori was poked on the forehead by the postcard, letting out a small, sorrowful 'goo' sound, but she quickly took it.
Upon closer inspection, Gotō Hitori realized it was a piece of Hoshino Ai merchandise from her idol days. It looked like a postcard, but it was actually a specially sized autographed photo.
"Th-This is…"
She had some impression of this photo, remembering that Asakura had taken it from Tendoji Sarina's pile of Hoshino Ai merchandise after curing her. Besides this photo, he also seemed to have taken a poster, which was now rolled into a stick shape and placed on the passenger seat.
But this was not what surprised the girl.
What truly astonished Gotō Hitori to the point of gaping was that as she took the photo and examined it closely, Hoshino Ai in the picture suddenly winked at her.
"G-Ghost! It's a supernatural phenomenon!"
She said in shock, almost dropping the photo out of the car window in fright.
"What are you, the one who's been possessed by a ghost for so long, talking about…"
Asakura was amused by her reaction.
"B-But this photo…"
Gotō Hitori nervously clutched both sides of the photo, her eyes tightly shut, but after a moment, she cautiously squinted one eye to look at the photo.
As a result, Hoshino Ai, who was originally posing on stage in the photo, couldn't help but burst into laughter because of Gotō Hitori's comical appearance.
"Do you still remember that ring? Although it wasn't intentional, my Magic still left some remnants of 'Hoshino Ai' on the ring. Originally, that remnant was too faint, not even as good as the lowest-level ghost, so it naturally couldn't interfere with the real world—"
Asakura then continued to explain to Gotō Hitori, "However, I just happened to have a Magic Potion that can make photos and drawings come to life. If those remnants are added to it while the Magic Potion is taking effect—"
"The one who was born in the end is me~"
Hoshino Ai in the photo made a signature idol pose towards Gotō Hitori.
"So, Miss Hoshino has turned into a ghost again?"
Gotō Hitori asked softly.
"I told you she hasn't. She's not even a ghost now, just the remnants of 'Hoshino Ai' after her death. You can call her a torch if you want."
Asakura said, "However, this still provides a possibility."
"A possibility?"
"Yes, the possibility for her to attain transcendence."
Asakura nodded: "That photo is for you, Hitori. After you go back, you can find any photo frame to put her in. Whenever you think of it, put a steamed bun or something in front of the photo as an offering. Maybe after a few years, once her obsession dissipates, she will attain transcendence because of your offerings."
"I see…"
Gotō Hitori showed a foolish smile. She looked at the photo again, and just as she was about to say something to Hoshino Ai, she showed a surprised expression: "Eh? Miss Hoshino in the photo is gone!"
At this moment, there was only an empty stage left in the photo she held, and Hoshino Ai, who was originally there, was nowhere to be found.
"This is normal. You can't expect the person in the photo to stay there forever, can you?"
Asakura said.
Can this be considered normal?
Gotō Hitori then remembered what Asakura had said not long ago, and couldn't help but nod: "Magic, it's amazing…"
At this moment, countless jumbled thoughts couldn't help but pop into the girl's mind.
Asakura-kun seemed to have said before that I was also a witch or something. Can I learn Magic? But my grades are very bad. If Asakura-kun finds out, will he just give up on me? No, no, no, he shouldn't, right? I've already agreed to entrust my latter half of life to him… Asakura-kun doesn't look like someone who would abandon me after having his way…
In fact, at this moment, Asakura was also thinking about how to get Gotō Hitori to engage in some… well, mana replenishment activities with him.
It wasn't that he had any improper thoughts about Gotō Hitori; it was just that compared to visual observation, the moment a connection was established during mana replenishment was when he had the clearest and most intuitive understanding of the quality and quantity of mana within the other party.
At the same time, Asakura could also use the other party's mana volume to infer whether the other party possessed Magic: although it wasn't to say that a witch with low mana volume definitely didn't possess Magic, a witch with high mana volume certainly had a greater possibility of possessing Magic.
"Hitori, are you free later?"
Asakura asked.
"Extremely free! In fact, besides practicing ensemble with Nijika-senpai and the others, I have absolutely nothing else to do!"
The girl sat up straight for some reason and said very nervously.
"In that case, let's go for a ride first."
"Eh?"
Asakura stepped on the accelerator, and the flying car sped through the sky at an almost ballistic speed, causing the girl's skirt to produce a strange Doppler effect in the sky.
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