"Strange, why is it like this?"
Mahiru furrowed her delicate eyebrows, confused.
"You can clearly already speak, and the hug duration has been much longer... why can't your body move?"
"There's another possibility." Sora coughed lightly twice, nonchalantly reminding her, "Could it be related to quantitative and qualitative changes?"
"Eh?"
Mahiru blinked, her eyes brightening slightly.
If explained using quantitative and qualitative changes, then everything made sense.
A hug belonged to 'quantitative change' and could only unlock the ability to speak and communicate. Movement was clearly vastly more important than speaking. To restore Sora's ability to move, a 'qualitative change' level of intimate contact must be made...
Thinking of this, the blush that hadn't fully faded from Mahiru's face deepened once more, and she stepped back half a pace in embarrassment:
"More intimate contact... what is that?"
"No matter how you look at it, it must be more intimate than a hug, right?"
"Could it be... a kiss?"
Mahiru quickly shook her head, dispelling the shameful image from her mind.
No way!
Hugging Sora-kun is already the limit!
Things like kissing... can only be allowed after we start dating!
For Angel-sama, kissing had clearly exceeded her limit of endurance, and she was completely unable to accept it.
"Phew..."
Mahiru closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Calm down."
"Don't panic."
"There must be another way..."
Biting her lower lip and thinking seriously for a while, Mahiru's eyes suddenly lit up:
"I thought of a way."
"What?"
"We don't necessarily have to check the phone during Time Stop." Mahiru extended a slender, jade-like finger, expressing her idea. "We can check the phone without that demon doctor knowing, and then secretly return it."
"Although the phone has a fingerprint and a passcode, we should be able to register a new fingerprint, right?"
The more Mahiru spoke, the more viable it felt: "We'll register a new fingerprint now, then I'll return the phone and deactivate Time Stop. Then we'll have someone go into the pet hospital to distract the demon doctor, and I'll secretly take the phone out again to unlock it."
Sora lightly clicked his tongue: "That sounds so troublesome..."
"It doesn't matter if it's troublesome, as long as it works." Mahiru glared affectionately. "Then it's decided."
In short, more intimate contact is absolutely out of the question!
After discussing it, Mahiru quickly returned to the pet hospital, returned the phone, then came back to Sora's side and deactivated Time Stop.
"Mahiru-chan, you can move now." Anna looked over expectantly, her voice crisp. "Quick, let me witness the power of Time Stop."
Sora's tone was deep: "It's already over."
"Eh?"
"Mahiru-san has already taken the phone out and checked its contents."
"Ehhhhh?!"
Anna widened her eyes in shock, covering her chest and taking a half step back.
"Why didn't I feel anything at all?"
Nonsense, it's called Time Stop. It would be weird if you did feel something!
"Thank goodness Mahiru-chan has a gentle personality and is a girl." Anna covered her chest, unable to resist complaining in a small voice. "If a boy mastered the power of Time Stop... all the girls in the school would probably end up pregnant!"
Don't talk nonsense, it's not like every boy's head is filled with nothing but lewdness!
"It's already over?" Ruri curiously moved her body, unable to resist looking at Mahiru. "Time Stop really is super magical."
For Kuroneko, even though she didn't feel anything during the time-stopped state, she still couldn't help but be amazed.
"Mahiru, were there any cat abuse videos on that guy's phone?"
Yamada Elf put her hands on her hips, asking about the main issue in a crisp voice. She had already experienced Time Stop several times. Although she never felt anything each time, she no longer cared.
"I'm sorry..." Mahiru remembered the terrible video she had seen not long ago. Her pretty face burned hot, and she looked down at her toes. "I-I only opened the hidden folder, I didn't finish checking."
"Eh, why?" Anna tilted her head to look, her voice curious. "Since you already found the hidden folder, why didn't you look through everything?"
"Um..."
Mahiru parted her pink lips, truly too embarrassed to speak.
"Anna has too many questions." Sora pulled Inmate Eight aside, explaining in a low voice. "We haven't found the cat abuse videos yet, but we saw some terrible things first."
"Terrible things..." Anna blinked, raising a hand to cover her mouth, her pretty face blushing slightly. "Could it be lewd stuff?"
"As long as you know." Sora clapped his hands, drawing the girls' attention. "Since we didn't successfully achieve our goal just now, we're going to check his phone again..."
Sora explained the plan he had just discussed with Angel-sama, and continued to refine the operational details with the girls.
"Leave the mission of braving the demon's lair to this lady!" Yamada Elf crossed her arms over her chest. "If I encounter danger, I can always turn invisible and escape."
Sora and Kuroneko were both familiar faces. Going to the pet hospital again would likely arouse the cat-abusing fiend's suspicion. So, the task was ultimately given to Yamada Elf.
"Then... let round two begin."
"..."
Under the watchful eyes of Sora and the girls, Yamada Elf proudly swaggered into the pet hospital, calling the demon doctor by name to help recommend a pet.
With a customer walking in, the demon doctor naturally wouldn't refuse and began introducing the pets in the shop.
"Time Stop!"
Mahiru activated Time Stop again, stepped into the pet hospital, and easily took the demon doctor's phone.
Upon returning, Angel-sama quickly deactivated Time Stop, used the fingerprint to unlock the phone, and then quickly handed it to Sora.
"I'll go take a look."
Sora took the phone and walked towards a corner.
Anna blinked and secretly followed: "Sora, I'll help."
"Kids aren't allowed to look."
"What's that supposed to mean, I'm not a kid!"
"Anyway, it's a no."
"..."
Driving away the overly curious Anna, Sora opened the hidden folder, muted the phone's volume, and began to review the hidden videos one by one.
Sure enough, deep down everyone harbors an aesthetic preference for the pale, young, and thin...
Sora expressionlessly and rapidly scrolled through the phone, checked the cloud drive and memos, and finally returned silently to the girls' side.
"Sora, how is it?" Anna looked over expectantly. "Did you find any cat abuse videos?"
"No." Sora exhaled softly, shaking his head helplessly. "Aside from lewdness and borderline content, there's nothing we're looking for."
"How could this be..."
The girls were instantly disappointed.
"It's normal that it's not there. He might not keep them on his phone, but hide them in a more secure place, like a separate external hard drive." Sora's voice was calm. "Investigating them one by one is too troublesome, so... execute the final plan."