Anime Crossover: The Losing Heroines Have Become Witches

Chapter 569 564: Reassembling

That being said, Asakura didn't have any particularly good solutions for the time being.

After all, there was absolutely no magic power on that tender sprout—otherwise, Asakura wouldn't have failed to notice something was wrong with the thing until just now; he would have simply thought it didn't look very good.

This meant that the sprout had nothing to do with magic spells; it was a pure supernatural entity.

Considering that Eriri, who clearly possessed powerful magic power, was completely unable to see the sprout, this supernatural entity likely possessed a high degree of "mystery" that only Asakura and Ruri, who also carried mysteries (spells), could see.

"[Candle]"

Asakura lightly flicked his finger.

However, there was no change at all on Utaha.

"Takuma-senpai?" Ruri looked at Asakura with concern, seemingly worried that Asakura's spell had failed.

"It seems it's not a 'parasite,' but something closely related to her herself." Asakura shook his head.

The target of the spell [Candle] Asakura just released was "parasitic things on Kasumigaoka Utaha." The lack of reaction meant there were no parasitic organisms on her.

Well, not even a parasite; in a country where everyone eats sashimi, she could be considered quite healthy.

Although he could probably treat the sprout directly as the target of a spell and use [Candle] to forcibly burn it away, Asakura couldn't bring himself to be that direct. What if this sprout represented the girl's life or soul? What would be the difference between burning it and killing her?

Taking a step back, even if it only represented her personality, memories, or character, burning it would likely cause significant problems.

"What a pain..."

Asakura originally wanted to directly summon the Fox Monstrosity and use a wish to try and solve this trouble. After all, he had squeezed quite a bit of magic power out of Hitori—mucous membrane contact has its levels, and clearly, the contact in a love hotel was the most efficient kind—but he was hindered by the fact that there were simply too many people here. If there were a few people inside who could use "Spirit Vision" like Miko, seeing the Fox Monstrosity might cause some sort of riot.

One had to realize that the number of tourists Comic Market received every day already exceeded one hundred thousand. Although they didn't all pour in at once (after all, it was impossible for the venue to hold that many people), just looking around now, one could see nothing but human heads. If a riot were to happen in such a place and trigger a panic, it would likely turn into a disastrous stampede in minutes, which would be an absolutely terrible situation.

"So what do we do now?" Eriri looked a bit nervous.

After all, the last time she encountered the supernatural was in her loli form, which belonged to the category of very vague memories. This was her first time truly facing such a thing head-on in the proper sense, and her tone actually sounded subtly excited.

In fact, Asakura could understand the girl's feelings.

Not everyone has a yearning for the supernatural from childhood, but almost everyone, at some stage of adolescence, has had that kind of dream—a dream about being "The chosen one." Hoping to be different from the crowd, hoping that behind the mundane daily life, there is a secret that only they know, and that only they are unique.

So when a person crosses that dividing line—stepping from the mundane daily life into an extraordinary world—aside from unease, they also feel an unprecedented throb of excitement (provided, of course, that there is no danger).

One could only say that a "chunibyo" version of themselves lives in everyone's heart.

"There are too many people here; it's inconvenient to do anything. Let's find a way to take her to the cosplay area later. That's outside the venue, at least it's more spacious than here," Asakura said after a moment of thought.

"Then I'll go kidnap her right now!"

Eriri bit her lip, putting on an expression as if she were about to sell out her own charms.

Is that Kasumigaoka some kind of masochist?

"No need to rush, I still have things to do," Asakura said, waving his hand.

"What things?" Eriri asked immediately.

"Browse the convention." Asakura spread his hands.

"..." Eriri looked at Asakura with a look of disbelief mixed with a hint of "are you an idiot?"

"I didn't come alone... Don't look at Ruri. Besides us, there are other friends who have absolutely nothing to do with 'this side.' We're just separated for a bit; we have to regroup later."

Asakura explained: "Although Kasumigaoka's situation is a bit tricky, judging by the symptoms, it should be in the early stages." After all, what was on her head was just a tiny sprout that looked like it had just germinated; it would be a different story if a tree had grown. He continued, "We'll end up going to the cosplay area anyway. If we go now, it won't be easy to squeeze back against the flow of people. Not to mention, if we did that, all the popular dōjinshi would definitely be sold out and impossible to buy."

"Then what about me?" Eriri made a sound like a "loser dog" (bakui-inu).

"As for you, you can stay here with Kasumigaoka..."

Before Asakura could finish his sentence, Eriri's head shook like a rattle.

"I am absolutely not staying here!" Eriri said through gritted teeth, putting heavy emphasis on the word "here."

Asakura looked at the super popular Kashiwagi Eri booth nearby and could more or less understand her feelings: the worry of her identity being exposed, and the praise for her work from Kashiwagi Eri's fans that she would hear even if she didn't listen—most of the vocabulary used would have to be censored on TV—in a sense, it was simply a public execution for Eriri.

"Alright, if you don't mind, you can move with us," Asakura thought for a bit and then said. "However, try your best not to mention supernatural things in front of others. When it's time to head to the cosplay area, you can go pull Kasumigaoka over."

"Don't worry, how many years do you think I've been playing the part of the pure young lady of the Spencer family in front of others!"

Eriri said with full confidence, while simultaneously revealing a perfect, intellectual smile that was completely different from her true nature.

"Before that, the fact that you appeared here already makes the term 'pure young lady' irrelevant to you." Asakura pointed out the girl's flaw.

And so, a crack appeared in Eriri's perfect smile.

"Ri... Right... People at school, except for that Kasumigaoka girl, don't know I'm a geek..." The girl suddenly became a bit flustered.

"It's okay, relax. Our companions are also geeks," Asakura said. "Just deal with them using your acting (?) and your high-level skills as Kashiwagi-sensei."

"I... I see..." Eriri took a deep breath, appearing to relax quite a bit.

"Exactly, that's it," Asakura nodded and said. "Head forward with the relaxed mindset of an elven saint about to go on a crusade against a goblin nest."

"That makes it completely impossible to relax! If anything, that's a crisis flag! The 'major crisis' kind!"

☆

At the vending machine by the escalator.

"Oh, Asakura-shi and Kuroneko-shi are finally here... Eh, who is this?" Saori saw Asakura and the others, first waving happily at the two of them, then noticing Eriri standing beside them—judging by the distance, the other person was clearly not a stranger just passing by.

"She's my friend; I ran into her over at Kashiwagi Eri's booth. You can call her, um," Asakura thought for a moment, then continued, "Tanaka Churchill Ringogogo."

"Are you seriously still using that gag?" Eriri retorted instinctively.

"Very well, Miss Roosevelt," Saori said happily, her mouth curling into a cat-like shape.

"Who is that?! My surname is Sawamura; just call me Sawamura!" Eriri said decisively.

"Understood, Sawamura-shi."

Saori followed her lead and introduced the two people beside her to Eriri: "This is Kiririn-shi, this is Kitagawa-shi, and I am Saori Bageena."

"...Is that name for real?"

"I occasionally think Kiririn-shi's name is a bit strange, too, but it doesn't matter because it's interesting~"

Eriri's face was a map of 'No, I was talking about your name!' expressions.

However, she didn't actually say it out loud; after all, she had to maintain her persona as a refined young lady...

"Is Miss Sawamura's hair dyed? May I ask where you can get such a natural shade of blonde?"

Kitagawa Marin grabbed Eriri's hand and shook it up and down like an enthusiastic big dog, asking happily, "I've dyed my hair too, but the resulting color always looks a bit strange. It can't compare to how beautiful Miss Sawamura's blonde is at all!"

Hearing her say that, Asakura recalled that Kitagawa Marin did indeed have dyed blonde hair, but in terms of appearance, it was indeed much duller than Eriri's. However, Kitagawa Marin had gradient red highlights at the tips, which gave it a unique flair of its own.

"Ahaha, what a shame. My hair color is natural," Eriri said, struggling to maintain a facade of friendliness while being pestered.

"Natural? Are you really a foreigner? Churchill!" Kitagawa Marin said in surprise, her already large eyes widening further in astonishment.

"Who is Churchill?! I told you it's Sawamura! Sawamura Spencer Eriri!"

Finally unable to hold it in, Eriri shouted.

But as soon as she finished, she immediately fell into a state of self-loathing for having exposed her full name on an impulse.

"What a cute name. Can I call you Eriri?" The incredibly over-familiar Kitagawa Marin completely ignored Eriri's dejected expression and the lack of personal space, continuing to press closer.

Eriri used her hand to hold the other girl's face at bay, shooting a pleading look toward Asakura.

But Asakura turned a blind eye to it, even starting to chat with Saori as if nothing were happening.

"I brought you Kashiwagi Eri-sensei's new publication, Saori."

"Really? Thank you very much, Asakura-shi. The wingman in charge of that area earlier was saying that the stock for Kashiwagi Eri-sensei's new work was low this year. I was a bit despondent thinking I might not be able to get it."

"No need for thanks, I'm just glad I could help you out, Saori..."

"Asakura-shi is truly a good person."

"A lot of people say that."

"Then come and save me already!!!" Eriri wailed.

On the other side, Ruri watched Eriri's suffering with a cold eye for a moment before shifting her gaze to Kosaka Kirino.

The girl, who usually looked like she was ready to pick a fight with the world and was all 'tsun' with no 'dere', was currently clutching a paper bag with a sunny smile that seemed to say, 'Completely satisfied.'

It seemed she had scoured the booths of the authors Saori had introduced and found some good things that were very much to her liking.

Kosaka Kirino gave a start, then noticed Ruri's indifferent gaze.

She hugged her paper bag tightly and stared at Ruri warily: "What are you looking at, you black thing! Even if you beg me, I'm not going to share my treasures with you!"

"I have no interest in your treasures," Ruri snorted coldly, unconcerned.

"Really? So you don't care about this dōjinshi at all?" Kosaka Kirino showed a little devilish smile and pulled a thin dōjinshi out of her paper bag.

"Th-that's..." Ruri's expression turned to one of disbelief.

"That's right. I asked around; it's a super-limited Maschera dōjinshi It's ultra-rare~" Seeing Ruri's rare look of shock, Kosaka Kirino's smile moved from 'little devil' toward 'mesugaki' territory. "If you want this dōjinshi, then..."

"That's the 'Untouchable Object' that is hailed in the Maschera dōjin circle as having nothing but good art, clearly drawn by an outsider who just slapped a character skin on it! It's super OOC, caused public outrage among Maschera fans, and is something no enthusiast wants to be tainted by!"

"A-ah-re?" Kosaka Kirino's triumphant smile froze.

Why did things seem to be going differently than she had imagined? She had originally wanted to use the dōjinshi as bait to make the other person yield to her for the sake of the book, but why did it look like something had gone wrong?

"To actually bring such a thing out before me, the Queen of Nightmares—this can no longer be considered a simple provocation! You truly are an enemy; I must strike back with full force!" Ruri said with great solemnity.

Kosaka Kirino was frozen for several seconds before she snapped out of it.

She said in a fit of pique, "That's right, I did it on purpose! I accept your declaration of war! Take this as a challenge letter, then!"

As she spoke, she tossed the dōjinshi to Ruri.

The latter caught the dōjinshi with lightning speed, then gave a haughty snort: "Since things have come to this, I will no longer show mercy in our next online battle of True Sister Ultimatum!"

"Who wants you to show mercy?! Bring it on!" Kosaka Kirino said with full fighting spirit. "Actually, there's a booth for True Sister Ultimatum in the game hall later; we can settle it there!"

"Hehe..."

"Hmph..."

The two were at loggerheads, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

Asakura and Saori, standing nearby, watched the whole scene.

Saori said softly, "Actually, Kuroneko-shi really wanted that dōjinshi, didn't she?"

Asakura made a shushing sound and said seriously, "Some things are better left unsaid, even if you see through them."