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"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Asakura cleared his throat and said to Asagumo Chihaya.
"Bad news."
The girl said without hesitation.
"Pessimism?"
"Keeping the good news for last, so it's optimism, actually."
The girl replied seriously, "Besides, compared to waiting for good news, I'm better at taking the initiative myself and seizing 'good news' in my own hands."
"Is that so…"
Asakura inexplicably shivered. After feeling that he probably had no weaknesses that could be exploited, he continued, "In short, I failed. Things didn't go as smoothly as planned. But looking on the bright side, at least I still helped you repay a small portion of your Curse…"
He scrutinized the girl's expression, but he didn't see any disappointment on her face. It seemed she truly didn't care much about good news of this extent.
"Then what's the good news?"
The girl asked.
"The good news is that my favorability towards you has increased."
Asakura said earnestly.
"That's truly delightful."
The girl smiled sweetly.
"Cough, just kidding, just kidding…"
Asakura subconsciously wanted to let go, but Asagumo Chihaya's smooth little hand, a step ahead, changed from clasped to palm-to-palm. Before he could react, her fingers slowly slid into his, gently interlocking, fingers intertwined, palms pressed together.
The touch, warmer and softer than before, made Asakura somewhat dazed.
"Because the bad news made me very sad, please stay like this for a while."
The girl said with a smiling face.
You're lying, there's not a single hint of sadness on your face!
"I see, then we really must continue like this for a while."
Asakura enjoyed the feeling of being intertwined with the girl's fingers and said with righteous indignation.
"Then what's the real good news?"
The girl didn't expose Asakura's little thoughts. She just looked down at their intertwined hands, her fingertips gently rubbing his knuckles, as if silently conveying something.
Sunlight filtered through the stained glass, casting a warm halo on their intertwined fingers, as if even the air had become sweet.
"Although there's nothing I can do about your Curse for now, there should be no problem with simply using Curse."
Asakura said, becoming a little more serious.
In the past, he had considered setting up a Scale Flash Pattern for the girl to deal with emergencies.
After all, encountering so many messy things in just half a year made him cautious.
However, due to the girl's Curse debt issues, even if a Flash Pattern like Yukinoshita Yukino's was set up on her, the Curse within it would be absorbed, making it impossible to function normally. After several attempts, Asakura could only give up.
But after the recent ordeal, the 'Limited Infinity' part of his Curse would no longer be absorbed by Asagumo Chihaya, which instead gave Asakura the possibility of setting up a Flash Pattern for the girl.
Of course, also because only the 'Limited Infinity' part was unrestricted, the amount set up each time was quite limited.
After Asakura explained this to the girl, Asagumo Chihaya was not disappointed; instead, she looked quite surprised.
"This way, if Takuma-kun encounters danger again in the future, can I also help?"
She asked with genuine joy.
Looking at the girl's sparkling smile and the expectant light in her eyes, a completely cold statement like 'a mere unit of Curse would probably not be of much help in that situation' naturally wouldn't come out of Asakura's mouth.
He just nodded calmly.
Asagumo Chihaya, having received his affirmation, became even happier.
However, the girl immediately reined in her smile: "But even so, my anger hasn't subsided!"
As she spoke, she carefully observed Asakura's expression, while puffing out her cheeks and feigning an adorable 'I'm so mad, I'm so mad~' expression.
"Alright, then what can I do to make Miss Chihaya forgive me?"
Asakura asked with a chuckle.
"The Founders' Festival is coming soon. Does the Magic Club need to take on Student Council work to help prepare this time?"
Asagumo Chihaya asked.
"No news from them, but even if there was, I wouldn't plan on taking it."
Asakura shook his head, with an expression of unpleasant memories: "The Founders' Festival work has already exhausted me body and soul…"
"In that case, Takuma-kun will be free that day, right?"
The girl looked at Asakura with anticipation mixed with a little apprehension, "Then I wonder if I would be so lucky as to invite the head of the Magic Club to visit the Founders' Festival together~"
"Of course, no problem."
Asakura nodded without the slightest hesitation, agreeing: "But there's at least half a month until the Founders' Festival, isn't there? Isn't it a bit too early to talk about this now?"
"That's true, but isn't it normal practice to pre-order popular items?"
The girl said self-righteously.
"Popular items, huh… Probably only Chihaya would think so."
Asakura was unimpressed.
He had always maintained the persona of a chuunibyou oddball in class, so he couldn't really be called popular. Regarding the girl's evaluation, Asakura could only assume it was due to a favorability filter.
"Takuma-kun truly doesn't understand at all. If I don't act a little earlier this time, who knows, it might just benefit some stray cat that popped out of nowhere."
Looking at the unaware Asakura, the girl couldn't help but sigh, feeling tired.
Indeed, if one had to say, Asakura was not a generally popular character at Soubu High School; at least in terms of popularity alone, he certainly couldn't compare to Hayama Hayato, a well-known warm and handsome man throughout the school.
But that was only under normal circumstances.
Rather, if Asakura were someone like Hayama Hayato, Asagumo Chihaya would actually feel more at ease, because then most of those who liked Asakura would only be ordinary girls who admired his appearance.
Not that there's anything wrong with simply liking appearance, but that kind of liking is, after all, superficial, an instinct of humans admiring beautiful things.
Those who would consider it love would mostly be some empty-headed, shallow girls, and they wouldn't be that difficult for Asagumo Chihaya to deal with.
But the girls around Asakura were not like that; they all possessed their own unique beauty, and even from an opponent's perspective in some sense, one couldn't deny that they were all good girls. This was what made Asagumo Chihaya feel most troublesome.
It was precisely because of this that she had to strike first while others were still bothered by boring emotions like shyness!
After all, a girl fighting for love is the strongest!
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