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Asakura crunched on something, and vaguely, insect-like legs and teeth stained green by a mysterious liquid could be seen in his mouth.
"Listen to me, these are really just candies."
He spread his hands, explaining to the girls after sampling them: "Although the taste is a bit strong, and they're not quite like regular candies—they're rich in juice, crawl around in your mouth, and some even pop seeds… but you have to believe me, they really are just candies."
Yukinoshita Yukino had a clear expression of disgust on her face, and kept a safe distance of about two meters from him.
Yuigahama Yui, though wearing an awkward smile and saying, 'Of course I trust Takuma-kun,' was subtly moving towards the door, looking as if she would immediately make a run for it if things went south (like a cockroach flying towards her face).
Only Asagumo Chihaya remained by Asakura's side, as if she had completely accepted his methods. However, when Asakura, with a hopeful expression, invited her to taste the pile of cockroaches, the girl gently smiled and politely refused, saying, 'Sorry, I don't really like sweets.'
In the end, Asakura could only regretfully enjoy the pile of cockroaches by himself. By the way, they tasted like a mix of licorice candy and gummy candy. Besides the slightly strong licorice flavor, they tasted quite good, just a bit too sweet and needed to be paired with tea—desserts made by house-elves often had this flaw; the sugar content was a bit too much for Asian palates, making them cloyingly sweet.
Fortunately, with the cockroach pile setting a precedent, the macarons with near-lethal sugar content and the very unique fizzy honey candies that Asakura brought out later actually received good reviews from the girls.
Coupled with Asagumo Chihaya's flower tea, their leisurely break eventually turned into a rather sophisticated afternoon tea session by the girls.
After snack time, Asakura and Yukinoshita Yukino once again entered into intense script rehearsal.
This time, with Yuigahama Yui and Asagumo Chihaya as the audience, Asakura and Yukino's stage play rehearsal went much smoother. Many problems they didn't notice themselves were glaringly obvious to outsiders.
Furthermore, since Asagumo Chihaya was originally a supporting character in the stage play, having her there made the rehearsal more fluid and immersive. They wouldn't have to pause halfway through for Asakura and Yukino to act as narrators or supporting characters.
Aside from the occasional minor slip-up where Asagumo Chihaya would forget the scope of her lines and, with a very smooth and natural attitude, say the heroine's lines as well—a small error with a strong undertone of Japanese insubordination—everything else went quite smoothly.
If one were to disregard acting, which requires talent and time to hone, Asakura and the others were now at a stage where they could perform directly on stage without any problems.
"That's amazing… Did Takuma-kun and Yukino really just start rehearsing today?"
Yuigahama Yui couldn't help but exclaim.
"There's nothing to be proud of. It's just memorizing all the lines and actions and then reciting them verbatim."
Yukinoshita Yukino shook her head and said, "It can't compare to a real stage actor, it's like the difference between a craft and a work of art."
"After all, it's a collaboration between the top student in the grade and the tenth-ranked student, so this level is quite easy."
Asakura also said very naturally.
Yukinoshita Yukino's mouth twitched, but she didn't speak.
After all, the grades were right there. No matter what she said now, it would just be the wailing of a loser to Asakura.
The girl secretly made up her mind that she would definitely surpass Asakura in the next academic test. Then she would be able to mock him mercilessly.
"Want to practice one more time?"
Asagumo Chihaya said with a smile, "I think I've found a better entry point."
"Chihaya, are you talking about the narration?"
Yuigahama Yui looked at the eager Asagumo Chihaya with some uncertainty.
"No—"
Asakura took out his phone and checked the time: "It's getting late. Let's call it a day."
"Does Takuma-kun have something else to do?"
Asagumo Chihaya asked curiously.
"Nothing—"
Asakura replied: "I just simply feel that I shouldn't go home too late."
This was a lie.
However, he wasn't doing anything shady either.
His previous task was completed because the semi-permanent enchanted ring given to Gotō Hitori was deemed a mystical item.
At the same time, the system naturally generated a new quest.
[Quest: Find the Mirror]
Since it didn't include a quantifier like 'a Mirror', Asakura guessed that this quest should be similar to the previous 'Find the Cat (Gokou Ruri only)' quest. The Mirror here refers to a specific magic Mirror, not just any Mirror with magic that could pass the test.
When it came to magic mirrors, the first thing Asakura thought of was naturally the Mirror from Snow White that could even answer abstract questions like 'Who is the fairest in the land,' surpassing Baidu by at least three Googles.
However, Asakura vaguely remembered that there was also a magic Mirror in Harry Potter. Considering the system's usual behavior, if he wasn't mistaken, this time he should be looking for that one.
Good news: Like the 'Find the Cat' quest, the system thoughtfully marked the range where the Mirror existed this time.
Bad news: The range was the entire Shimokitazawa.
Asakura had a good mindset, after all, there had been similar abstract quests before that left his senior confused.
For such quests, he usually just tried to do everything he could, and whether he completed it in the end was up to fate. Anyway, even if he didn't complete it, the quest would refresh after a while.
Moreover, in his impression, the magic Mirror in Harry Potter didn't seem to pose much danger. At most, it would make people obsessed with the images within and forget the time. The harm was, at most, on the level of TikTok short videos…
So, he planned to go to Shimokitazawa to try his luck, and at the same time, make a trip to STARRY. After all, no matter how cruel it was, he had to tell Ijichi Nijika and the others that they weren't selected and couldn't perform at the Founders' Festival.
However, during the Founders' Festival, there would be some small stages in the school courtyard—like the one Yukinoshita Yukino set up before—if they didn't mind, they could change into Soubu High School uniforms and pretend to be Soubu High School students to perform there.
By the way, Asakura had previously found a batch of unused spare uniforms in the Student Council's storeroom, probably prepared as emergency supplies in case a student's uniform had issues during distribution. So, Yanami and the others wouldn't need to borrow uniforms.
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