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"Strange… why is it like this?"
Mahiru Shiina frowned slightly, clearly puzzled.
"We can already talk now, and the hugging time has increased too… so why can't your body move?"
"There's another possibility." Blake gave a light cough and said casually, "What if it has something to do with quantitative change leading to qualitative change?"
"Huh?"
Mahiru blinked, her eyes lighting up a little.
If she explained it that way, everything suddenly made sense.
Hugging counted as a quantitative change. It unlocked speech and communication. But movement was clearly far more important than speaking. If they wanted Blake to regain the ability to move, they'd need a qualitative leap in intimacy…
Realizing this, the faint blush on Mahiru's face deepened again. She instinctively took half a step back, flustered.
"More intimate contact… what would that even be?"
"No matter how you look at it, it has to be closer than hugging, right?"
"Could it be… a kiss?"
Mahiru immediately shook her head, forcefully driving that embarrassing image out of her mind.
No way!
Hugging Blake was already her limit!
Kissing… that kind of thing should only happen after they're officially dating!
For the "angel," a kiss was way beyond what she could handle. Completely unacceptable.
"Haa…"
Mahiru closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Calm down."
"Don't panic."
"There has to be another way…"
She bit her lower lip and thought seriously for a moment. Then suddenly, her eyes brightened.
"I've got an idea."
"What is it?"
"We don't have to check the phone during time stop." Mahiru raised a slender finger and explained her plan. "We can check it without the 'demon doctor' noticing, and then secretly put it back."
"The phone has a fingerprint lock and password, but we should be able to register a new fingerprint, right?"
The more she spoke, the more feasible it sounded.
"First, we register a new fingerprint. Then I return the phone, cancel the time stop, and have someone distract the doctor at the pet clinic. After that, I'll sneak the phone out again and unlock it."
Blake clicked his tongue lightly. "That sounds like a hassle…"
"It doesn't matter if it's troublesome, as long as it works." Mahiru shot him a slightly annoyed look. "It's settled."
In short, more intimate contact was absolutely not an option.
After finalizing the plan, Mahiru quickly returned to the pet clinic, put the phone back, then came back to Blake and released the time stop.
"Miss Mahiru, you can move again!" Anna Yanami looked over excitedly, her voice bright. "Let me see how amazing time stop is!"
Blake replied flatly, "It's already over."
"Huh?"
"Mahiru already took the phone out and checked it."
"Huhhhh?!"
Anna's eyes widened in shock. She clutched her chest and took a step back.
"I didn't feel anything at all!"
Well, of course. It's called time stop. Feeling something would be the weird part.
"Good thing Miss Mahiru is gentle… and a girl." Anna covered her chest and muttered, "If a guy had time-stop powers… every girl in school would probably end up pregnant!"
Hey, don't lump all guys together like that. Not every guy only thinks about dirty stuff!
"So it's over already?" Goko Ruri stretched slightly, then looked at Mahiru with curiosity. "Time stop really is incredible."
Even though she felt nothing during it, Kuroneko couldn't help but be amazed.
"Mahiru, was there any footage of cat abuse on that guy's phone?"
Yamada Elf placed her hands on her hips and got straight to the point. She'd experienced time stop several times already. Even though she never felt anything, she'd gotten used to it.
"I'm sorry…" Mahiru's face flushed as she recalled the unpleasant videos she'd just seen. She lowered her gaze to her toes. "I… I only opened the hidden folder. I didn't finish checking everything."
"Huh? Why not?" Anna tilted her head. "You already found the hidden folder, so why not just watch everything?"
"Um…"
Mahiru parted her lips, but the words wouldn't come out. It was too embarrassing to say.
"Anna, you ask too many questions." Blake pulled her aside and explained in a low voice, "We didn't find any cat abuse videos. We found… something else first."
"Something else…" Anna blinked, then raised a hand to cover her mouth. A faint blush spread across her face. "Don't tell me… it was something lewd?"
"You got it." Blake clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "We didn't achieve our goal just now, so we're going to check the phone again."
He explained the plan he and Mahiru had discussed, then continued refining the details with the girls.
"I'll take on the mission of infiltrating the demon's lair!" Yamada Elf crossed her arms proudly. "If anything goes wrong, I can turn invisible and escape anytime."
Since Blake and Kuroneko were already familiar faces at the clinic, going back might raise suspicion. In the end, the task fell to Yamada Elf.
"Alright… Round two begins."
"… "
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yamada Elf strutted into the pet clinic and directly asked the demon doctor to recommend a pet.
With a customer at the door, the doctor naturally didn't refuse and began introducing the animals in the shop.
"Time stop!"
Mahiru activated her ability again, stepped into the clinic, and easily took the doctor's phone.
After returning, she quickly released the time stop, unlocked the phone with the new fingerprint, and handed it to Blake.
"I'll check it."
Blake took the phone and walked toward a corner.
Anna blinked and quietly followed him. "Blake, I'll help."
"No kids allowed."
"What do you mean? I'm not a kid!"
"Doesn't matter. Still no."
"…"
After shooing away the overly curious Anna, Blake opened the hidden folder, muted the volume, and started going through the videos one by one.
As expected… deep down, everyone seems to have a preference for the pale, petite type…
Keeping a straight face, Blake quickly went through everything. He checked the cloud storage, notes, and other places as well, then silently returned to the girls.
"Blake, how was it?" Anna looked at him expectantly. "Did you find any cat abuse videos?"
"No." Blake let out a breath and shook his head. "Aside from lewd stuff and borderline content, there's nothing we're looking for."
"How could this be…"
The girls were immediately disappointed.
"That's normal. He probably didn't keep it on his phone. It's likely hidden somewhere more secure, like a separate hard drive." Blake's tone remained calm. "Checking everything one by one would take too long… so let's move on to the final plan."
"....."