"Hehehe, welcome here. You have finally glimpsed one of the disguises known as the truth."
The girl stood with her hands on her hips, looking utterly smug.
"What kind of disguise could it be? Could it be that you aren't actually Sakura, but an AI named BB?"
"Knowing so much makes you very hard to tease. That's not good; playing along with a lady's jokes is a duty humans should fulfill, you know."
"Speaking of which, you were the one who called me here, right? After all, no matter how much mana is transferred, if a link hasn't been formed, how could I see memories so clearly?"
"That is, of course, because I saw how much you care about her. Children who can shine with their own light in the darkness are always so endearing, aren't they?"
"Indeed, Sakura is great." Jean Stardust nodded. Although Sakura always seemed displeased with her, her own favorability towards Sakura was quite high.
"Right? Right? She is a gem that BB discovered while observing humanity. So, BB-chan is asking you here—don't let her leave this place. Otherwise, who knows what BB-chan might do."
"I never intended to take her away, but even if I were truly faced with that choice, it would depend on her opinion, not yours."
Jean Stardust didn't care about the threat from the trashy AI in front of her; the conversation so far had been completely nonsensical.
"Oh my, time is running out. Remember my words, bye~"
Then, suddenly, BB's figure vanished. After waiting a moment and finding nothing else unusual, Jean Stardust also left the Matou residence.
Just after Jean Stardust's figure disappeared, BB's image reappeared in the mirror, looking at the direction Jean Stardust had left with an expression of pure delight.
"As expected, just as that person said, it's completely impossible to influence her. Isn't that just fascinating?"
"A super liar."
After leaving the Matou residence, Jean Stardust gave the trashy AI this assessment.
Throughout the entire conversation, in Jean Stardust's Synesthesia, the trashy AI had been the color of deceit; nine times out of ten, not a single word was the truth.
At the same time, the mental interference resistance provided by the Stardust Wind was constantly active, yet her head still ached.
Moreover, this wasn't an ordinary BB, but Swimsuit BB. In other words, she possessed the Noble Phantasm: [Faceless Moon].
BB, who saw Nyarlathotep while looking at the stars and became kindred spirits because they were birds of a feather, had obtained a portion of Nyarlathotep's power—or at least, that was how it was introduced.
Is it troublesome? Very. Is it hard to deal with? Not really.
After all, there was still the contract with Cthugha. As the ultimate weapon against Nyarlathotep, whenever something related to Nyarlathotep appeared, she could just pull Cthugha in to save the day, and even earn her gratitude.
Putting that aside for now, it was impossible to tell what the situation was with BB and Sakura, but Jean Stardust understood one thing: following the path laid out by someone like that would surely lead to being fleeced completely.
So, she decided to set it aside for the moment and go check on Ai-chan.
Next, she took out as many sweets as she had on her and found a gift shop to wrap them up.
When she left, Rin had specially stuffed quite a bit of activity funding into her hands. Although she complained about being poor every day, this was the kind of poverty where one could barely afford gems, which was quite different from the average person.
She then went to a supermarket to restock on some snacks as emergency food. Although they didn't look as delicious as those in the Reincarnation World, there were still some nostalgic products, like Pocky.
She remembered the first time she ate one was after seeing it in the Ga-Rei manga, where Kagura had just appeared, biting on a Pocky stick while taking out a B-rank evil spirit in a single slash—it was incredibly cool.
And the jet-burst sword-drawing technique that Jean Stardust had originally developed was also inspired by this manga.
She bought a whole pile to stock up, finished paying, took out a stick to imitate Kagura, and walked towards Ai-chan's house with it in her mouth.
When Jean Stardust arrived, Ai-chan happened to be at home. This type of outdoor sales part-time job usually started during the time students got out of school and ended after the peak rush hour when companies got off work.
Seeing the gift box in Jean Stardust's hand, Ai-chan's entire being began to glow.
She even used the Force to unwrap the packaging and then started eating it on the spot, wearing an expression of pure enjoyment.
Only after she finished eating did she realize the two of them were still in the entryway, so she hurriedly invited Jean Stardust inside.
"Ai-chan, you fought with Gilgamesh yesterday, didn't you?" Jean Stardust asked directly.
"That's right. That guy's eyesight isn't very good; he mistook me for Saber."
That wasn't necessarily his fault, Jean Stardust thought to herself.
"Then can you tell what his state is? Is there anything different from the original work?"
"It was fine. He realized he mistook the person, took a slight injury, and then ran off. As for differences, he didn't have that corruption of evil on him; he should be a freshly summoned Servant. Also, he's very serious, which is quite troublesome."
"Serious Gilgamesh—I thought that was just a concept."
"Oh right, there is one more difference." Ai-chan looked Jean Stardust over carefully. "This might be a good thing for you."
"What good thing?"
"You'll understand once you see him. It wouldn't be any fun if I told you in advance."
Seeing Ai-chan looking all mysterious, Jean Stardust didn't continue asking.
Suddenly, as if she had discovered something, Ai-chan sniffed the air and said to Jean Stardust, "Where have you been? There's a twisted aura, like the seafood I've seen before."
So, Jean Stardust told her about the matter with BB.
"Nyarlathotep, huh? Nothing good ever comes from Cthulhu-related things, and it's even more troublesome when it involves her." Ai-chan then paused for a moment. "So that's how it is?"
"Thanks to you, another mystery has been solved. Don't worry, if a real Evil God appears, I will help." Ai-chan patted Jean Stardust on the shoulder, looking very reliable.
There was nothing major after that, so Ai-chan started focusing on eating the sweets.
However, there was absolutely nothing to drink in her rented, run-down house, so Jean Stardust dug out two bottles of green tea and asked:
"Speaking of which, it's a bit too lawful for you to still be insisting on working a part-time job."
"That's not it. Usually, I just rob some yakuza or the like, but the yakuza in Fuyuki are under the jurisdiction of the Taiga family. I feel like if I did that, it would only lead to more trouble in the end." Ai-chan looked like she couldn't be bothered.
"That's true. Fuyuki isn't a very big place, and the Taiga family has deep roots. If anything related to superpowers happens, the Church would know about it immediately."
At this moment, Jean Stardust suddenly thought of an idea:
"In that case, let's go fleecing the rich. Are you interested in hitting up some Middle Eastern oil tycoons?"
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