"Shirou, you asked me earlier what that thing was, right?
All right. It's time for big sister Aoko's lesson."
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Aoko Aozaki's cheek as she carefully pushed herself up from the floor and spoke.
"That mist is one of Alice's [PLOY Kickshaw]."
...A Ploy Kickshaw.
Shirou asked, "What's a Ploy Kickshaw?"
"...Do I seriously have to start there?!"
Aoko had never imagined Shirou wouldn't even know what a Ploy Kickshaw was.
Had you really been spending all this time around Alice without knowing even that?
"I do know about Fairy Tale Magecraft."
"That's it exactly!"
Aoko Aozaki explained, sounding a little tense.
"It's one application of Fairy Tale Magecraft. Familiars and Mystic Codes created by witches using 'stories' as a foundation and 'fairy tales' as a model.
Compared to normal familiars, they're a Mystery fused with fantasy itself. Their very premise is something impossible, so they don't fit within ordinary physical laws.
Fantasy and reality are opposites to begin with, right? Anyway, just think of them as monsters that stand above the existing system of Magecraft."
"So that white fog is one of them?"
Shirou had definitely sensed danger from the mist creeping into the room. Otherwise, he would never have warned Aoko.
"Yeah... and that one is the most special out of all the Ploy Kickshaw Alice has."
The Magician could not help recalling that unforgettable white night.
It had been her second year living in the Kuonji mansion.
Back then, Aoko Aozaki's understanding of fairy tale monsters had been limited to cute Mystic Codes that could produce mysterious phenomena.
Alice Kuonji's strength came from her most exalted witch lineage, the Meinster, while the fairy tale monsters themselves gained great power because their master was so powerful.
It was only when Aoko saw the White Rose Hound emerge from the dense fog.
That was when she truly understood that monsters were real.
Aoko strode over and grabbed Shirou by the wrist, never once taking her eyes off the mass of mist in the corner of the room.
"Shirou, get ready to run."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Bad doesn't even begin to cover it. That's one of the three greatest Ploy Kickshaw Alice possesses."
Commonly known as the Great Three, they were the three strongest relics among the Ploy Kickshaw Alice Kuonji had inherited from her mother.
Because they could lay the fabric of the Age of Gods over the modern world, the Mage's Association referred to them as "an existence more expensive, precious, and immense than a kingdom."
"And even among the Great Three, this one is the biggest and strongest.
You can't fight it, and you can't resist it. The instant a human touches that fog, they vanish without a trace.
A man-eating fog that bites to death anyone who wanders into it, friend or foe, without exception.
Its name is [Wandersnatch], a Ploy Kickshaw no one has ever managed to break.
It's the nastiest killing barrier Alice Kuonji brings out only when she's truly serious."
Without giving Shirou any chance to object, Aoko dragged him out of the sitting room.
Since [Wandersnatch] had come in straight through the sitting room door, it was safe to assume the hallway was already occupied, so they escaped through the central courtyard instead.
Once outside, Aoko shut the glass door behind them.
In the mansion, lights were never turned on in empty rooms. The only bright places were the sitting room and the bedrooms.
The entire estate, garden included, was wrapped in darkness, with only the moonlight spilling down from the night sky.
"Let's go, Shirou-kun. Though... huh? Why are all the weeds in the garden gone?"
Aoko stared in surprise at how neat the garden was.
When she had lived in the mansion, the weeds around here had practically reached a person's knees.
"I see. So this was all your handiwork, Shirou... Alice really does know how to put you to work."
"No, I did it because I wanted to. It had nothing to do with Alice-san. More importantly..."
Shirou asked, "Why would Alice-san release something as dangerous as that Ploy Kickshaw? Was she trying to kill both of us?"
"Our lives... no, I don't think she meant to go that far. She probably wanted to use [Wandersnatch] to trap us.
Honestly... what in the world is she thinking?!"
Aoko Aozaki let out a sigh, then gathered herself.
"Anyway, from here on out, we need to avoid the fog as much as possible and find Alice herself, wherever she's hiding in the mansion.
Now that it's come to this, don't even think about trying to talk things out with her peacefully.
She looks quiet and well-behaved, but deep down she's more stubborn than anyone. Once she decides something is a rule, she'll follow it to the bitter end.
So the moment we find Alice, we hit her with a surprise attack. It's fine to get a little rough. First we take away her ability to fight, then we worry about cleaning up afterward."
As Aoko explained all this to Shirou, irritation at herself welled up inside her.
Why hadn't I noticed something was off with Alice back at the café?
At that point, she must have only pretended to go along with Shirou's and my plan. In the end, she really couldn't accept time travel.
Still, even Alice probably wouldn't use a Ploy Kickshaw in full view of everyone.
For all that she looks like that, she's actually quite conscious of a witch's duty to preserve Mystery in public.
So she chose to pretend to comply, brought Shirou and me back from outside to the mansion, and only now has she finally shown her true hand.
Hmph. How sly.
You really are becoming more and more like a witch, Alice.
A slight smile tugged at the corner of Aoko's lips.
Then she noticed Shirou frowning, deep in thought.
Sensing that the boy might do something reckless, Aoko spoke up to warn him.
"Did you understand what I just said, Shirou-kun?
If you go easy on Alice, we're the ones who'll pay for it."
"...Aoko."
Shirou looked up and asked seriously, "Do you really think Alice was the one behind the attack on us?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't think Alice would ever try to hurt me or you."
"Can I hear why?" Aoko asked.
"...Just a feeling," Shirou replied, his voice utterly firm.
He had only spent a single week with Alice, but for Shirou, that time had still become an important memory he would never forget.
When he had first returned to Fuyuki, there had been a long stretch where he simply could not adjust to the fast pace of life in a modern city.
Feeling like he did not belong, he would often stand near the park and stare at the homeless camp there.
It was only later, with the help of the Fujimura Group and the Matou siblings, that Shirou finally found a place of his own to stay, the Amamiya residence.
The Kuonji mansion was not truly Shirou's home, and yet it gave him a different kind of feeling of coming home.
Whenever he was there, Shirou felt as though he had returned to Orkney.
It was peaceful and warm, and time seemed to flow there more slowly and more quietly than anywhere else in the universe.
"If I have to give a reason..."
Shirou said it plainly.
He simply could not believe that Alice-san would turn the mansion she treasured into a battlefield just to attack him and Aoko.
"Alice-san is not that kind of person."
"I'd love to record you saying that and play it on loop for Alice. She'd probably be so ashamed she'd want the ground to swallow her up."
Aoko smiled like a doting mother.
She still sounded unconvinced, but the Magician had been persuaded by Shirou and accepted his view.
That was right. This mansion was an important keepsake Alice had inherited from her parents, something she valued even more than her own life.
How could Alice possibly launch an attack inside the mansion?
"Yeah, so there's probably some kind of misunderstanding here...
Maybe [Wandersnatch] went out of control? Like the time I ran into it in the mansion before?"
The more powerful a Ploy Kickshaw was, the harder it was to control.
Take [Thames Troll], for example, another one of the Great Three Ploys.
Modeled after London Bridge, it was the most precious fairy tale monster in the world. Its true form was a divine-age Golem with over two thousand years of Mystery, a giant as large as an entire city, London itself.
But when Alice was seventeen, she could only manifest [Thames Troll] in a form a little over ten meters tall, not even one-tenth of its original size.
But Alice was no longer a seventeen-year-old girl.
She was the last Meinster, a great witch who stood above the existing system of Magecraft.
Compared to the immense Mystery hidden within that small body, even the Grand rank acknowledged by the Clock Tower, the pinnacle of the world of Magecraft, seemed dull by comparison.
So Alice should not still be making mistakes like letting [Wandersnatch] run wild.
Aoko still had her doubts, but after meeting Shirou's sincere gaze, she could only scratch at her hair in resignation.
"Ahhh, all right, I get it! We save Alice, okay? We're changing the objective from 'defeat Alice' to 'rescue Alice'!"
The Magician crossed her arms beneath her full, proud chest and grumbled in a sourly sarcastic tone,
"It must be nice being a frail-looking witch. No matter what bad thing you do, boys still treat you gently."
"If Aoko-nee-san were in trouble, I'd help you too," Shirou said.
"......"
Aoko Aozaki's voice cut off on the spot, and her whole face went red like an overripe tomato.
"I-I idiot! What are you saying all of a sudden, you brat?!"
Mortified and furious, the Magician swung a punch at him.
...
...
Shirou and Aoko re-entered the mansion through the kitchen vent.
It would have made things easier if Alice's room had still been lit, but unfortunately the entire mansion was dark except for the sitting room.
They had no choice but to search room by room, starting from the first floor.
Worried about giving away their position, they could neither turn on the lights nor use any illumination Magecraft.
Shirou and Aoko reinforced their night vision with Mana so they could spot [Wandersnatch] in the dark before it found them.
"By the way... Aoko-nee-san, you're a Magician, right?"
"Yeah. So?"
"If you're a Magician, shouldn't you have some kind of magic that can break this situation?"
Before meeting Aoko Aozaki, Shirou had always imagined a Magician as a modern-day Morgan.
A genius girl who could do anything and knew everything.
The kind of person who, the moment trouble came up, could pull out some never-before-mentioned trump card to turn things around, like that blue robot cat from cartoons.
But Aoko Aozaki was not like that at all. Right now, she was crawling awkwardly across the floor with Shirou, trying to stay hidden.
"Well, magic isn't omnipotent, you know? And in my case, I'm the type that's better at 'breaking rules' than 'making rules.'"
Aoko Aozaki frowned.
"Don't tell me you're disappointed."
"No."
"Hmph. One of these days I'll show you what I can really do."
Before long, they had checked most of the rooms on the first floor. Only one remained.
They went past the back of the entrance hall and around behind the staircase.
Even though they both thought she was probably not hiding there, they still made their way to the bathroom door.
To their surprise, though, light was spilling through the crack beneath it.
That really was a blind spot.
Since the bathroom could not be seen from the central courtyard, Shirou and Aoko had naturally assumed that every room in the mansion was dark.
Aoko Aozaki took a deep breath and put her hand on the doorknob.
The moment Shirou saw that, a strange sense of déjà vu hit him.
A very bad premonition followed.
"Wait, Aoko-nee-san... maybe you really shouldn't..."
"Shh!!!"
Aoko motioned for him to be quiet so they would not alert the enemy.
But Shirou had a feeling that whatever was behind the door was not an enemy at all.
Aoko twisted the knob, shoved the door open, and charged inside.
"Alice! You're surrounded. Give up and surrender quietly!"
"......"
Alice Kuonji stood in front of the mirror, wearing nothing at all.
Her pale skin was flushed pink from just having finished her bath.
She was not exactly voluptuous, but her body still had a lovely, graceful shape.
The witch's limbs gave off a unique charm, both mysterious and noble.
"Aoko... what are you doing...?"
Alice stared in stunned disbelief at the aggressively charging Aoko, then asked in displeasure, "Why did you barge in? I'm not done using the bathroom yet."
"Huh...?"
Aoko was left speechless by the unexpected question.
There was no battle, no argument, nothing she had expected. It was as though Alice knew nothing about [Wandersnatch].
"No... that's what I should be asking... Alice, what are you doing?"
Alice knit her brows slightly and said, a little irritated, "Isn't it obvious? I'm using the bathroom."
In Aoko's memory, Alice treated bathing like splashing around in water and usually finished in ten minutes.
For a witch, bathing was not an indulgence, just routine bodily upkeep.
Even the hot spring trip Aoko had always dreamed of had gotten nothing more than an "it sounds like a hassle" from Alice, which made Aoko deeply pity her inability to understand the joys of hot springs.
"Uh... don't you usually finish in ten minutes?"
"That has nothing to do with you."
Then Aoko suddenly noticed Alice hurriedly hiding something behind her back.
Was that... a red lipstick?
Looking more closely, she saw that all sorts of cosmetics were spread out by the sink in front of her too.
So... Alice had actually stayed behind after her bath to put on makeup?
But why would she do that?
Aoko was baffled. Had Alice ever had a habit of wearing makeup before? She had not been wearing any earlier in the day, had she?
"Clack."
The odd sound of something falling to the floor snapped Aoko back to reality.
She saw Alice Kuonji look toward the doorway, where Shirou was standing in complete helpless confusion.
"Why is Amamiya-kun here too..." Alice's voice trembled.
"I'm sorry, Alice-san. I did try to stop Aoko-nee-san..."
"Wait, Shirou! Are you seriously trying to dodge responsibility? We're partners, aren't we?!"
"————Aaaahhhhh...!!!"
Alice let out a scream and crouched down, clutching her completely exposed chest.
"..."
So that was what the déjà vu had been, Shirou thought despairingly.
Fortunately, he ran into situations like this often enough that he was able to stay calm even now.
With practiced ease, Shirou took off his jacket and gently draped it over Alice.
"Amamiya-kun..."
The black-haired girl met Shirou's eyes with a blush on her face, then turned toward Aoko in the bathroom.
"That's too far, even for a joke, Aoko."
"W-wait, Alice... listen to me! Shirou-kun! Hurry up and plead my case with Alice!"
Aoko Aozaki kept backing away, but it was already too late.
Dense white fog materialized inside the cramped bathroom.
This time it was the real [Wandersnatch], the fiercest, cruelest, strongest Ploy Kickshaw of them all.
Alice lowered her eyes and gave a cold, merciless order.
"Go eat Aoko's clothes. Don't leave even her underwear."
"Let's play a game!"
Obeying its master's command, the white fog lunged straight at Aoko Aozaki.
In a single instant, the countless gaping mouths opening within the fog devoured every last piece of the Magician's clothing and left nothing behind.
"..."
Aoko Aozaki dropped to her knees in the same state as when a human being first enters the world.
Unlike Alice, whose beauty carried a slender, innocent grace, Aoko had a lush, shapely figure that radiated the sensual charm of a mature woman.
"Shirou-kun... lend me some clothes..."
The Magician spoke through tears, her voice breaking, as her two full, heavy breasts hung naturally and swayed alluringly.
"Sorry. I already lent them to Alice-san."
"Uwaaaaaah, I'll never be able to get married now!"
With a miserable wail, Aoko fled naked back to her room.