Those who can overcome instinct through reason.
A simple and easy-to-understand concept.
Of course, this did not mean Gokou Ruri's curse had no effect at all; after all, Asakura and the witches' spiritual resistance far exceeded that of an ordinary person, making it harder for these soul-bewitching curses to work on them. For an ordinary person, resisting this kind of curse would be much more difficult.
However, the girl's curse was not, after all, directed at "humans..." so the effect on people would certainly be much weaker.
Even though he had explained very seriously, it was clear from the girl's flushed face and her shifty eyes that she was still feeling embarrassed about the joke she had just made and hadn't quite listened to everything.
Seeing the girl's expression, Asakura couldn't help but lose his smile.
"Are you free Sunday night?" he asked Gokou Ruri. "No, to be more precise, it would be from afternoon until dinner time."
"Eh?" The girl showed a look of surprise mixed with a hint of expectation: This... could this be a dat—
"It's an undercover investigation." Asakura said calmly.
The light in the girl's eyes died a subtle death.
However, she was likely used to this level of blow and quickly adjusted her mindset.
"Did you discover some new ghost story?" she asked.
Asakura took out that invitation: "It's more exciting than that; the enemy this time is a cult."
If it were Asagumo Chihaya and the others in front of him, Asakura would not have made this invitation. But Gokou Ruri had already been very accustomed to using curses during the period when she mastered [Cat], and now that her curse had evolved into [Beast], for an ordinary person, to use her own words, she really could be considered "invincible in the world."
After all, for those who pin their souls on so-called gods—things that are illusory and ethereal—and those who follow cult leaders blindly without any personal judgment, their mental worlds are truly hard to call healthy.
"But..." Gokou Ruri murmured in a low voice: "I don't have clothes suitable for attending a banquet..."
"It's fine, those count as infiltration tools. The expenses will naturally be covered by me..."
A flash of inspiration hit Asakura at this moment. He felt that if he said the money was coming out of his own pocket, the girl might refuse, so he changed his tune: "Of course, they will be allocated by the Magic Club. Don't worry, I've already submitted an application to the Student Council for an increase in club funds using the Holy Grail we won. As long as you don't go and buy those incredibly expensive things, there won't be any problem."
The girl seemed to want to say something more, but at this time, the sound of footsteps, not too loud, came from the nearby stairs. It seemed Kawaragi Momoka had already brought the coffee beans down.
So Asakura reached out both hands and swept together the miniature cats, dogs, furry snakes, and their transitional forms on the table, kneading them together.
In the next moment, what appeared in his hand was once again a complete napkin.
While folding the napkin properly, Asakura confirmed once more in his heart that his curse could indeed overwrite the girl's curse—otherwise, what should have appeared in his hand right now would be a white ermine suffering from black tea poisoning.
Gokou Ruri also swallowed back the words of dissent she wanted to raise; it seemed she had tacitly accepted Asakura's proposal.
However, when looking at that flashy invitation, the girl still frowned slightly.
She could roughly guess that this was an invitation to a banquet for high society. After all, many religious groups enjoyed playing this game.
On ordinary days, she could walk down the street in a Lolita dress with a grand air, turning a blind eye to the surprised and strange looks of those around her, but at this moment, she felt inexplicably nervous.
It wasn't that she was afraid of any cult; after all, even if she didn't believe in her own curse level, she believed that Asakura by her side would definitely protect her. Since the Chiba Port incident, her trust in him had increased significantly compared to before.
The problem was that her understanding of high society all came from TV dramas and anime. If she went into it as Asakura's partner and ended up making a fool of herself at the banquet (the girl wouldn't be so naive as to think those banquets in TV and anime could really be used as a reference for a real-life banquet), then what would be lost wouldn't just be her own face.
What she could not tolerate was having others look down on Asakura because of her mistakes.
"Coffee beans are here!" Kawaragi Momoka placed a full bag of coffee beans on the table, looking at Asakura, who was sitting in the booth, with an expressionless face from her superior height.
"Didn't I tell you to put them over by the bar?" Asakura asked.
"Unfortunately, there's no more space under the bar. After all, no one has ordered black tea or coffee these past two days, and the stock down there has all been consumed."
"Miss Manager, why don't you reflect on why the two of them can't sell?"
"Probably because my hands weren't born for brewing tea."
"True, my mistake in decision-making. Sorry." Asakura apologized sincerely.
"Wait a minute, doesn't you saying that make me look like I'm being very petty and shameless? You should be the one to apologize! Kore wa nanda yo!" Kawaragi Momoka said, then stared at him with suspicious eyes, "No, Boss-kun, you wouldn't be thinking about firing me, would you?"
Although she said this, her expression looked like she didn't care much, but in reality, Kawaragi Momoka's heart was a bit uneasy. After all, a job like Rabbit House that included room and board and allowed her to get off work early was quite difficult to find elsewhere.
"That's not it. Except for the moment when all the drink shops on the street didn't react and the drink business of Rabbit House was completely crushed, you've done quite well in other areas. And your guitar playing has attracted many customers. Even Kita came for your guitar. If I fired you, wouldn't I become a 'bare-bones' commander?" Asakura said. "Spare me, I don't have large chunks of time to spend here; I still have to go to school."
"Then Boss-kun, how do you plan to save Rabbit House's drink business?" Kawaragi Momoka asked very humbly for advice.
"Professional matters should be left to professional people. Since you can't brew black tea or coffee, then hire someone who can to be responsible for the bar work. You just focus on the register, service, and being a mascot or something."
"Hiring more people? Won't the expenditure on wages be a bit too large this way?" Kawaragi Momoka couldn't help asking.
Asakura did a mental calculation of Rabbit House's turnover for the past two days and found that hiring someone would not only avoid a loss but would actually leave quite a surplus—after all, the ingredients and the chef were all free, and the rest was profit. Even if the drink department was smashed, the rabbit dango performed quite well, and some other snacks sold reasonably well too.
So he said with full confidence: "No problem. Based on the current situation, hiring two or three more people would be easy."
"Then can I come?" Gokou Ruri, who had been quiet for a long while, suddenly asked.
"Don't you have to take care of your younger sisters after school?" Asakura couldn't help but ask.
"If it's only weekends and holidays, there's no problem." Gokou Ruri didn't want to miss this opportunity and proposed very actively: "I can leave them to my parents to look after."
Asakura thought for a bit. If he arranged all of Kita's shifts to be after school, then weekends and holidays could indeed let Gokou Ruri come to fill the gap.
That being said, the current Rabbit House actually didn't lack ordinary people.
Asakura rubbed his chin and said to the girl: "Then as an entrance exam, you brew a cup of black tea and a cup of coffee for me first. Don't even think about muddling through; I will be tasting them seriously. My tongue is very strong!"
As he spoke, he even poked his tongue out "reoreoreoreo..." indicating that his tongue was very flexible.
"Having a flexible tongue has nothing to do with a sensitive sense of taste, right?"
Gokou Ruri first made a retort, then stood up confidently and walked toward the bar.
"How is this child's cooking?" Kawaragi Momoka asked curiously.
"I don't know." Asakura answered honestly.
"Aren't you friends?" Kawaragi Momoka asked.
"Do you just casually go to a friend's house to freeload food and drinks?"
"Of course I do! Otherwise, how would I have survived the toughest times?" Kawaragi Momoka replied without the slightest hesitation.
Is this a guitarist? It's simply too rock and roll.
Asakura felt deep emotion in his heart.