Upon returning home, Akane Koizumi hurriedly pushed open the doors to her study.
"I thought you were taking me to see your mother?" Hayashi Shuichi demanded, standing stiffly at the threshold.
"I'll contact her first," Akane said, moving toward the ornate Magic Mirror on the wall. "Maybe the solution is simpler than we think."
"Mistress, you've returned?" The surface of the mirror began to ripple like water.
"Connect me with my mother. I need to speak with her," Akane commanded.
"As you wish!"
The mirror glowed in response, and the reflection shifted to reveal a spacious room. It was far grander than Akane's study, filled with towering shelves of heavy grimoires and an assortment of bizarre magical artifacts. A black cat lay lazily atop a pile of books, its emerald eyes gleaming in the dim light.
"This mirror works like a video call?" Hayashi Shuichi watched the display with curiosity. He reached out a wooden hand to touch the glass, but Akane swatted it away. "It's even got a built-in AI."
"What's an 'AI'?" Akane blinked, looking confused.
"Something similar to this mirror," Shuichi explained dismissively, his gaze fixed on the image within the glass.
Suddenly, the image blurred and stabilized as a woman with disheveled hair appeared on screen. Her silk nightgown was wrinkled, and there were faint ink stains on her cheek, yet she still radiated an aura of refined elegance and effortless grace.
"Akane, didn't I tell you to be independent? Stop running to me for every little thing," the woman muttered, raking a hand through her messy hair. Her voice was heavy with exhaustion.
"Mom, I didn't want to bother you either," Akane laughed nervously. She began to recount the night's events in detail. When she reached the part about the voodoo puppet, her voice grew smaller and smaller until it was little more than a guilty mumble.
Standing nearby, Hayashi Shuichi's expression soured as he listened. Only now did he realize the truth: that little doll was a tool for revenge, crafted by Akane using his own hair to curse him.
"I only thought about it! Even though I made the puppet, I never actually tortured you," Akane explained hurriedly, noticing his dark glare. Her voice trembled with a guilty conscience.
"You tickled me! Does that not count as torture?" Shuichi clenched his wooden fists.
"I was just curious!" Akane squeaked, taking a step back. "I just wanted to see if the puppet still had a connection to you."
"I really want to strangle you right now," Shuichi growled, his face flushed with irritation.
Madame Koizumi sighed from within the mirror. "I told you, Akane—magic is dangerous. You can't just play around with it, but you never listen..."
After finished lecturing her daughter, Madame Koizumi turned her sharp gaze toward the puppet version of Hayashi Shuichi. Her eyes were piercing, as if she could see directly into the depths of his soul. "So, you're the one who has influenced Akane's destiny?"
"I can't answer that," Shuichi said, shaking his head. "But if she says so, I suppose I am."
"It's not a 'suppose.' It's a certainty," Akane interjected quickly.
"Madame, let's set that aside for now," Shuichi said, stepping forward. "Can you actually change me back?"
"Don't worry, returning you to your body is no problem at all," Madame Koizumi replied confidently, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"See? I told you Mom would have a way!" Akane let out a massive sigh of relief, her shoulders finally losing their tension.
"Then please, Madame, do it quickly," Shuichi urged. "I really don't want to be a puppet anymore!"
"Returning you is possible, however..."
Madame Koizumi paused. That single word made Shuichi's heart sink. He instinctively reached out and grabbed Akane's wrist. "However what?"
"Is there a problem, Mom?" Akane asked urgently. Though Shuichi's grip on her wrist was tight enough to hurt, she didn't pull away.
Madame Koizumi fell into thought for a moment. "As you mentioned earlier, his original body is quite peculiar. It possesses the ability to nullify magic."
"The reason you were able to summon his soul into the puppet was likely because the voodoo doll was constructed using his hair. Once hair is detached from the host body, it loses that unique nullification trait. That's why your magic succeeded."
"But," the elder witch continued, her eyes shifting between Shuichi and Akane, "transferring a soul back into its original body requires magic. The moment that magic touches the surface of his body, it will be neutralized. Getting the soul back inside... that's the tricky part."
"That does sound difficult..." Akane scratched her head in frustration, making her hair even more of a mess. "So what do we do? He can't just stay a puppet forever!"
As he listened to the mother and daughter deliberate, a cold sense of despair began to wash over Hayashi Shuichi. He looked down at his inanimate, wooden limbs. After dying in his previous life and managing to reincarnate into this world, was he really doomed to be trapped in a lifeless shell?
Fortunately, before his despair could take root, Madame Koizumi spoke up again. "Actually, there is a way. We just need to deliver the soul directly to the interior of the body without touching the skin's surface. That should bypass the nullification."
"How do we do that?" Shuichi asked desperately.
Madame Koizumi looked at him, then at her daughter. "The method is simple. Akane must first use magic to draw your soul out of the puppet and hold it in her mouth. Then, she must transfer the soul directly into the original body... via the mouth."
"What?!"
Akane's face turned a violent shade of crimson, the heat spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.
"That... that means I have to kiss him?! No way! I won't do it!"
The girl waved her hands frantically, stumbling backward in a panic. She bumped into a bookshelf, causing several heavy grimoires to come crashing down onto her head.
"Ow!" Akane groaned, clutching her head in pain.
"I'm afraid I don't have any other solutions for the time being," Madame Koizumi said, stretching languidly. "Oh, one more thing. If his soul isn't returned to the original body within seven days, he might never be able to go back. Ever."
"What?!"
The news hit them both like a physical blow.
Shuichi felt the world go dark; his puppet legs nearly buckled beneath him. Akane clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening into saucers.
"Well then, I have experiments to get back to," Madame Koizumi said with an impatient wave of her hand. "Since this is a mess of your own making, Akane, you'll have to be the one to fix it."
As she finished speaking, the mirror flickered a few times before the image vanished entirely.
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence, broken only by the ragged breathing of Shuichi and Akane.
"Madame has terminated the connection," the Magic Mirror reported helpfully, shattering the stillness.
"You have to change me back!" Hayashi Shuichi glared at the apprentice witch. "You're the one who turned me into this. You have to take responsibility!"
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