Eriri Spencer Sawamura remembered her mother, Sayuri, once talking about something like 'turning points in life'.
"What turning point? Does it mean I'm going to stop drawing doujinshi?"
"No, it's something more concrete and impactful."
At that time, her mother's answer seemed to be about falling in love or something.
However, ever since her childhood friend, whom she had a slight crush on, broke up with her in elementary school and then got run over by a large truck and turned into a two-dimensional being, Eriri hadn't paid attention to other boys and couldn't imagine what it would be like for her to fall in love.
Until today.
She felt that throughout most people's lives, there was probably no more concrete turning point than experiencing a supernatural event.
"Actually, you don't need to be so tense..." the boy opposite, who was clearly the leader of the group, leisurely tapped the table with his finger. "Would you like some hot cocoa?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a cup of genuinely steaming hot cocoa appeared on the otherwise empty table in front of her. The rich chocolate aroma immediately rushed to her head.
Eriri was certain that there was no room for any trickery on the table, and the other party's hand had nowhere to hide a cup of hot cocoa.
Undoubtedly, this was supernatural power.
"Sorry, I don't have a habit of drinking hot cocoa in the summer."
"It's okay, what do you want to drink then?"
"Anything is fine."
"Oh, then is cola okay?"
"I can't really drink carbonated drinks."
"How about Key brand peach juice?"
"That's too rich, it'll hurt my throat."
"So what do you actually want to drink?"
"Anything."
As soon as the girl answered, she felt the boy's piercing gaze from across the table made her slightly uneasy.
"Alright, let's put that question aside for now."
After replacing the hot cocoa with plain water, the boy continued, "As I just said, either become a subordinate member of our Magic Club, or I'll erase your memory right now. Choose one."
"I choose the former..." Eriri swallowed, saying softly.
"Very good, you can go back now..." the boy waved his hand, "We'll notify you if anything comes up later."
"Is that all?" Eriri asked somewhat surprised.
"What else?" The other party replied as a matter of course.
"Shouldn't there be a contract or something..." Eriri stammered, describing her impression of such a supernatural secret organization. "Aren't you afraid I'll leak your information?"
"You can try it..." the boy said, looking at her with a half-smile.
Eriri immediately extinguished her somewhat eager desire to court death.
"Then, after becoming your subordinate, aren't there any benefits? Like me also awakening superpowers?" She asked, still a bit unwilling.
"That depends on the situation. Currently..." The boy scrutinized Eriri from head to toe with an appraising gaze, then said with an expression of apparent disappointment, "You're not qualified."
"Why are you looking at my chest when you say that?" Eriri's pretty face darkened.
"I'm just stating a fact..." the boy replied cheerfully.
For some reason, Eriri always felt that the girl sitting next to her, called Yukino, showed a strange smile.
It wasn't a mocking smile; it felt more like a sense of shared suffering.
Could it be that she also wasn't qualified to awaken superpowers?
"Although you're not qualified..." the boy continued.
"Can you stop repeating that...?"
Eriri complained discontentedly.
"However, after becoming a subordinate of our Chiba Magic Society, there will still be some benefits."
"Didn't you just call it the Magic Club? It feels like the prestige has dropped so much, from a mysterious national agency to a vibrant civilian organization..."
The blonde girl muttered softly.
"Eriri, if you can't speak, you don't have to."
"You're just calling me by my name?!"
"Haven't we all been calling you by your name from the very beginning? Wouldn't it be strange to change it now?"
"It feels like I suddenly have many close friends, which is a bit troubling."
The blonde girl sighed, "I'm supposedly a high-and-mighty flower at school."
Then she saw the young man in front of her show an expression of disbelief, as if thinking, 'This is the most astonishing news I've heard so far this year!' This made her somewhat mortified and angry, saying, "I'm not exaggerating! Because... um... for some personal reasons, I've maintained a good distance from most of my classmates!"
"It's okay, whether it's true or not, I don't mind."
The young man said with a smile that made Eriri somewhat irritated.
That was completely the expression for coaxing a child!
"So what about you? What's your name?"
So she asked, glancing sideways at the young man.
"Char Aznable."
"I can probably tell what anime you've been watching lately."
"Just kidding..." The young man pointed to himself with his thumb, "Just call me Onii-chan."
Upon hearing him say that, Eriri remembered how, when she was in her child form, she had been half-coaxed, half-tricked into calling him Onii-chan for quite some time, and the blush on her cheeks immediately became even more pronounced.
"Then I'll call you Asakura. They all called you that just now, right?"
"How rude, little Eriri."
The young man said, "At least add 'Mr.' or 'Lord'."
"The guy who asks people to call him 'Lord' right away is even ruder!"
"Then the question is..." The young man raised his finger, and a Heavenly Flame danced at his fingertip, "I know many spells, and I even possess power capable of destroying a planet. If even someone like me isn't worthy of being called 'Mr.', then who is? Those corpulent congressmen?"
Eriri, intimidated by his aura, was speechless.
At this moment, she suddenly realized that although he had always been quite gentle since she was in her child form, he was nonetheless a person who truly possessed supernatural powers.
In a sense, even the Prime Minister would be far inferior to such an existence, wouldn't he?
As soon as she thought of this, the girl couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat over her frivolous words and actions just now.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the entire activity room became heavy.
Only Yuigahama Yui, looking at Asakura striking a pose, then at Eriri breaking out in a cold sweat, suddenly put her hands together and showed a natural smile.
"Everyone gets along so well~"
"No, no, no, where did you get that idea from?!"
The others present all inwardly complained.