Rabbit House second floor, Asakura's room.
"Excuse me, is it convenient to come in right now?" At the door, Shiina lightly knocked and asked.
"No problem, come on in," Asakura's voice traveled over.
Thereupon, the young girl carrying a tray with teapots and cups on it nimbly opened the bedroom door, catching sight of the scene inside.
Asakura was sitting upright on a beanbag sofa, looking glowing and radiant as if he had just eaten and drunk his fill.
Meanwhile, Anon was sprawled flat on the carpet—because Shiina had cleaned it thoroughly, it wasn't dirty at all (due to the restrictions of the house-elf kitchen, the house-elves could only clean the kitchen area under most circumstances)—the young girl's appearance at this exact moment still looked as though she had been completely and utterly hollowed out.
As if she had been completely squeezed dry, to the point that not even a single drop remained.
"..."
Shiina stood at the doorway, her entire body freezing up.
This isn't right, is it?
Generally speaking, shouldn't it be the other way around?
Even though she had almost zero practical combat experience in this regard, she had at least listened attentively during health and physical education class.
She still possessed a tiny bit of theoretical knowledge.
"Ku... Kurushi..."
The pink-haired young girl sprawled on the floor budged weakly.
"Is being squeezed dry of (magical energy) actually such an agonizing thing..."
Her voice was as thin as a gossamer thread, resembling the mournful wail of a defeated underdog.
"..." Shiina fell silent.
Just what on earth are you two doing?
"It's simply that you're not used to it, Chihaya..." Asakura looked down at Anon on the floor, his tone carrying an entirely unmasked tease, "...I mean Asagumo, she has always maintained this exact squeezed-dry state, you know."
Having finished speaking, he even revealed a high-and-mighty, condescending smile.
"...Asagumo-senpai..." Anon managed to raise her face with a vacant gaze, "Too strong... in every single sense of the word..."
Her tone was utterly filled with a sigh of admiration straight from the bottom of her heart.
"..." Shiina fell silent once again.
Just what kind of game are you two playing...
She was completely incapable of understanding it.
She merely felt that her worldview was currently undergoing a violent impact.
The young girl silently placed the tray onto the table, her facial expression entirely written over with "I don't understand, but I am deeply shaken."
☆
A certain high-end apartment, the Kasumigaoka residence.
"Gloomy woman, did you specifically call me over for something?" At the doorway, Sawamura Spencer Eriri hammered heavily on the door: "Can't you just say it over the phone? Acting all mysterious and secretive..."
Then the door unlocked and opened on its own accord.
Eriri was stunned for a moment, looking into the pitch-black interior of the apartment—clearly all the windows had their curtains tightly drawn—making her involuntarily swallow her saliva with a somewhat faint heart.
Could it be that the gloomy woman has run into some terrible mess again?
Should I perhaps retreat first, go look for that Mr. Asakura, and then come back over?
Although her heart felt cowardly and anxious, aside from being a bit of a tsundere, the blonde young girl, who was a good child at core, did not back down. She merely tiptoed, stepping with extreme caution and an utterly stealthy vibe as she walked into the apartment.
"...Kasumigaoka?" she called out in a tiny voice, trembling with fear.
The very next instant.
"What is it." A face emerged out of the darkness.
"Eee-yeee————?!"
Startled out of her wits by the sudden surprise, the young girl's twin-tails looked as though they were about to flare up and stand on end.
But immediately following that, she discovered that it was Utaha's face, only then letting out a sigh of relief.
"What are you doing acting all supernatural and spooky! There's no need to scare people like this, is there!" she complained to the other party in a fit of shame-induced rage.
"It's just that a small problem occurred," Utaha said.
At this moment, Eriri finally discovered that the other party had covered herself up with an air-conditioning blanket, exposing only a single face, which was why she was able to perfectly blend into the darkness just now and hadn't been noticed by her immediately.
"What's wrong with you?" Eriri couldn't help but ask with a trace of worry.
"...To put it simply," Utaha hesitated for a good while, seemingly engaging in some sort of intense psychological struggle, but in the end, she still let out a sigh, lifted the air-conditioning blanket, and displayed her situation to Eriri: "I have turned into this look."
Utaha was currently wearing pajamas—different from Eriri's usual impression of her being inwardly passionate and outwardly reserved, these were not the translucent style that looked like erotic attire, but rather a very plain type of pajamas—her expression also didn't look too good, her countenance was somewhat haggard, her face showed a slight exhaustion, and there were faint shadows beneath her eyes.
However, the thing that attracted Eriri's attention the most was still her head.
"Why on earth are you wearing a garland headband inside the house?" Eriri asked in astonishment, her eyes widening.
"The headband underneath is the real cover-up," Utaha untied the headband.
That string of flower buds was still on her head, looking like a crown, matching the young girl's temperament in a subtle way, but considering the time and location, it felt completely filled with a sense of violation.
In short, it was strange, exceptionally strange...
"So... what exactly is going on here?"
Eriri folded her arms across her chest, tilting her head as she looked at Utaha, her face entirely written over with perplexity and curiosity.
"The matter occurred two days ago."
Utaha said softly, her tone recovering that calm and restrained state of her usual self.
She slowly sat up straight, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders a bit.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Eriri immediately nodded in cooperation, putting on a posture of listening intently to a story.
"That morning, when I looked in the mirror—"
Utaha paused.
"I suddenly discovered that I had sprouted."
"...Huh?"
Eriri's expression froze instantly.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"Sprouted," Utaha repeated once, her tone flat.
"What I'm asking is what on earth do you mean by sprouted!"
Eriri abruptly raised her volume, unable to resist slapping the door panel beside her.
"Sprouting refers to the growth phenomenon where seeds, tubers, or plant bodies shift from a dormant state into a growth state under suitable conditions, with the radicle and plumule breaking through the outer shell and exposing themselves."
Utaha fluently recited a long string of explanations.
Her speech rate was stable, and her pronunciation was clear.
As if she were reading an encyclopedia entry aloud.
No, in reality, she was indeed reading it; Eriri could already see the glow of her phone screen hidden beneath the blanket.
"There's no need to explain it that clearly!"
The blonde girl instantly bristled.
"I am not a three-year-old child!"
"Didn't you ask?"
Utaha retorted flatly.
"...Is teasing me like this very amusing?"
Eriri puffed out her cheeks, glaring at her with dissatisfaction.
"Eriri," Utaha's tone suddenly became a bit more serious.
"Actually, up until just now, my heart was completely flustered and difficult to calm down." Eriri was slightly taken aback.
"Kasumigaoka..." Her voice softened down unconsciously.
"But seeing you reveal this kind of stupid expression," Utaha shifted the trend of her words, "after venting my stress onto your body, my mood is a whole lot better."
"Kasumigaoka ah-ah-ah-ah—!" Eriri instantly went berserk, "You are not cute at all!"
"Well then, returning to the main topic," Utaha brought the subject back as if nothing had happened.
"You should at least give me an opportunity to vent my stress too!" Eriri protested huffily.
"Perish the thought," Utaha responded calmly.
"What does that mean?" Eriri looked completely blank.
"No way."
"Isn't that 'No way'?" Eriri counter-argued subconsciously.
"..." Utaha fell silent for a second.
"W-What on earth!"
Eriri bristled from being stared at.
"What's with that gaze looking at a useless piece of trash!"
"Are you worthy of your own head of blonde hair, and your own translator old man?" Utaha let out a sigh.
"I'm truly sorry for having a head of blonde hair but being a born-and-raised native Japanese person!"
Eriri counter-attacked immediately, "And besides, my old man is a diplomat, not a translator!"
"Well then, returning to the main topic."
Utaha repeated calmly once more.
"It feels like the topic has subtly repeated itself?!"
Eriri couldn't help but complain and criticize.
"Initially it just grew a single tender leaf."
Utaha raised her hand and gently touched the top of her own head, her fingertips pausing for a moment beside the flower buds, her tone low and slow.
"But subsequently... it started to have flower buds."
She lowered her gaze slightly, her eyelashes trembling gently.
"Because it felt a bit bad to let things continue like this."
"That's why I deliberately cut off sunlight, and rarely even drank water."
Speaking up to this point, she gave a bitter smile.
"But the flower buds still kept getting more and more..."
"Mhm—"
After listening, Eriri tilted her head and thought about it.
"Well, though it's a bit strange."
She said while rubbing her chin, "But I remember that Asakura from before could also see you sprouting on your head... it should still be the same kind of situation."
The blonde girl's tone appeared completely casual, "Wouldn't it be fine to invite him over to help out one more time?"
"It won't do to keep going on like this!"
Utaha interrupted her almost instantly.
Her tone carried an obvious excitement that was rare for her.
She raised her head, a trace of seriousness flashing across her purple eyes, "How long has it even been since Summer Comic for it to relapse?"
"If it always remains like this in the future—" She paused for a moment, "Then wouldn't Takkun have no choice but to stay by my side forever?"
"..."
Eriri was stunned first, and only then complained and criticized helplessly, "So who on earth is Takkun... do you hate that kind of situation?"
"I don't hate it, you know."
Utaha replied without the slightest hesitation.
The corners of her lips even curled up slightly, "Rather than that, I like it."
"...How truly bold and direct."
Eriri couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
"After all, I am different from a blonde blonde-loser." Utaha's tone was calm, yet carried a precision-striking force, "Whatever I like, I will manifest it directly."
"You fellow, can't you speak properly without mocking me..." Veins popped up on Eriri's forehead.
"For me, this kind of situation is exactly the state of 'speaking properly'." Utaha replied elegantly.
"...I am already able to understand just how vile your personality truly is."
"Thank you."
"I wasn't praising you!"
Eriri immediately roared back.
"Well then, returning to the main topic."
Utaha pulled the subject back as if nothing had happened.
"Three times, ah, three times!"
Eriri held her head with both hands, collapsing mentally.
"Although I don't hate the situation where Takkun can only guard by my side forever."
Utaha said slowly, her tone becoming a bit softer.
"After all, princesses all hope that their prince can constantly accompany them by their side."
"Pfft—!"
Eriri couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.
"Princess, my foot! Kasumigaoka, do you actually have such an innocent and romantic personality?"
"Retaining a yearning for beautiful things," Utaha raised her chin, her expression calm, "is a privilege reserved only for the strong."
"As for the minds of certain people who have been worn down by reality—" She glanced at Eriri, "I'm afraid they've already rotted to the point where only Ryona-genre scripts and scenarios are left."
"Tsk..." Eriri turned her face away, muttering in a low voice, "As expected, I really shouldn't have let you see it back then..."
Although her identity as Kashiwagi Eri had already been exposed, Eriri still trusted, for the time being, that Utaha had her own integrity and wouldn't make her secret public.
Just as traditionally, when Utaha ran into trouble, the first person she thought of was her as well.
"Well then, aside from growing flower buds, do you have any other uncomfortable symptoms?"
Eriri straightened her expression slightly and asked Utaha, "Like a headache or something?"
Utaha shook her head.
Although she didn't say it out loud, the reality was that before looking for Eriri, she had already gone to the hospital once and even gotten a CT scan, but nothing was found.
"Speaking of which, the current Kasumigaoka should still be Kasumigaoka, right?" Eriri confirmed as if suddenly remembering something, "It couldn't be another Kasumigaoka pretending to be Kasumigaoka, could it?"
"That child is incapable of pretending to be like me."
"True, that child looks a whole lot more pure and kind-hearted than Kasumigaoka."
"..."
"You actually don't deny it?" Eriri said with some surprise.
"Anyway, no matter which one, I am still me; there's no necessity to deny it." Utaha was completely composed and at ease.
"Hmph! And here I thought I could win back a round..."
Eriri curled her lips in boredom.
Immediately following that, she looked curiously at the flower buds on Utaha's head, "Are these really living plants?"
"I watched them grow out with my own eyes," Utaha replied.
"Thinking about it like that is actually quite terrifying. Living plants all have root systems, right? Then haven't their roots dug straight into your head?" Eriri rubbed her own arms, looking as if she couldn't stand the thought.
"It shouldn't be that bad," Utaha shook her head.
If these plants truly absorbed her head—or worse, maybe even her brain would be affected—then when she got the CT scan at the hospital, the doctor definitely should have been able to notice something abnormal with her brain.
But the fact of the matter was that absolutely nothing had happened, and she didn't have any symptoms like a headache or fever at all. Aside from growing flower buds on her head that couldn't be pulled off, no particular changes had appeared.
"I think they should still lean toward being products of the supernatural side," Utaha judged.
"As expected, you still have to go find Mr. Asakura."
Eriri reached out her hand attempting to touch them, but her perverted hand was instantly smacked away by a vigilant Utaha.
"I already said I don't intend to trouble Takkun for the time being." Utaha knit her brows.
"Although that's what you say, in reality you want to deep down in your heart, don't you?" Eriri revealed a wicked smile.
"What foolish words are you saying," Utaha said with dissatisfaction.
"Although you might not have noticed it yourself," Eriri stared at the young girl's head, stating a matter of fact, "but actually, every single time you mention Mr. Asakura, the petals of the flower buds on your head open up slightly. As for right now..."
She pulled out her phone to take a photo of Utaha, and then displayed the screen to an utterly caught-off-guard Utaha, "It's already turned into this, you know."
One could see that right in the very center of the flower garland (if it could be considered one), the largest, most brilliantly colored flower bud that looked somewhat like a rose had completely bloomed at this moment. It was stretching its petals to its heart's content toward everyone outside the screen, displaying its own magnificent and wondrous beauty.