Shopping

Aoko and Arisu carefully discussed countermeasures in the cafe to lure Touko out in person.

Aoko's plan was for her to take the lead, to break down all of Touko's obstacles head-on. Then, Touko would surely be enraged and come out to confront Aoko herself.

Arisu disagreed with this plan because it involved her property. Therefore, Arisu wanted to otherworldly-ize the entire amusement park. This way, if Touko was hiding somewhere in the park, Arisu would immediately find her and capture her.

Isn't this just like me being a loner?

Aoko thought with a headache. She had forgotten that Arisu, like herself, was a loner. In the initial version of the plan to deal with Touko's trap, they had intended to fight separately, with no signs of cooperation at all.

However, after thinking about it carefully, it wasn't impossible. As long as Touko wasn't provoked, she was generally a very calm person. Their goal was to provoke Touko into jumping out herself, so it was perfectly reasonable for Arisu to go alone while Aoko ambushed "on the side."

To this end, Aoko took out a teleportation scroll that she had previously created using a 5th-tier spell slot. As soon as Touko appeared, or if Arisu was in danger, she would immediately intervene on the scene for a holy beatdown.

After the general plan was settled, Aoko briefly explained it to Arisu. Arisu was silent for a moment, then expressed shock that Aoko could cast a space transfer technique. She then asked if it was part of the Fifth Magic.

"No, it's not," Aoko explained. "Although the Fifth Magic can do similar things, the cost is too different overall, there's no cost-effectiveness."

After receiving Aoko's answer, Arisu indicated her acceptance.

The time was set for tonight. KistyLand was relatively close to "Akatsuki" and Misaki High School, which was why Arisu had uncharacteristically come to Aoko's school today.

However, Aoko guessed that it might also be because Arisu was curious about Aoko's high school. After all, she had told Arisu some interesting things about Misaki High School, which had piqued the girl's curiosity.

The specific time for the operation was set for after 11 PM tonight.

Well, there was still a considerable amount of time to pass before then, and Aoko wouldn't waste today's spell slots by copying new scrolls.

So, she decided to go shopping with Arisu.

After parking her motorcycle in the parking lot, Aoko voluntarily linked her arm with Arisu's and walked onto the street.

As the two passed by, the surrounding pedestrians couldn't help but stop and stare, because both Arisu and Aoko were undoubtedly top beauties rarely seen in everyday life.

What was even rarer was that the two had completely different styles, yet walking hand-in-hand, they appeared remarkably harmonious, like a painting by a master artist.

It was a beauty that transcended gender, attracting both men and women.

At first, Aoko found this sort of thing to be good, giving her a feeling of being the center of attention. After all, when she went out alone, she usually didn't attract this much attention. However, after she showed signs of intimacy with Arisu, the people around them seemed to become abnormal.

Aoko glanced at Arisu's face. Although she maintained an expressionless demeanor, Aoko could still sense that Arisu was becoming unhappy.

After all, she was accustomed to quiet atmospheres. If it were just a little shopping, it would be fine, but being noticed by so many people like this would only make her feel uncomfortable.

Aoko reached out, circulated a bit of magic, and then snapped her fingers with a "pop." An invisible wave spread out. The surrounding people suddenly remembered something important they had forgotten to do and hurriedly left the scene.

"Is that suggestion magecraft?" Arisu asked. "You did it quite skillfully."

"Well... actually, it's a type of barrier magecraft," Aoko said. "In my grandfather's inheritance, there's a book about continental thought crest magecraft. Among its contents is a type of barrier for 'avoiding people.' I referenced some of its principles to develop this simplified barrier magecraft, which is activated by a certain sound."

"Of course, since I can't link to a thought crest, my magecraft is just a crude imitation, only effective against ordinary people," Aoko spread her hands, expressing her helplessness.

Arisu nodded slightly, satisfied with Aoko, who was following her to learn magecraft. She believed that the convenience of this person-repelling magecraft far surpassed normal suggestion magecraft and large-scale person-repelling barriers, so Aoko's magecraft could be acknowledged by her.

"Ah, right," Aoko said as if she suddenly remembered something. "I found a pretty good shop earlier, want to go check it out together?"

To preemptively eliminate obstacles around her sister, Touko, after "careful consideration," chose a magic testing ground of an old friend. Touko had sent a familiar to scout and found that important magic tools were still left there. If she openly took that item, her friend would personally come to investigate.

The spiritual vein node that had been destroyed earlier had been repaired by her sister, and the puppet guarding it had been easily defeated. However, this was not unexpected for Touko. She merely wanted to use that opportunity to test her sister's combat power.

If observed "on the surface," her sister's magecraft was undoubtedly unable to deal with Beo. But Touko didn't know if she had already mastered the Aozaki family's Magic. That was the biggest uncertainty for Touko. She had to find a way to force out the truth of her sister's "Magic" beforehand, which meant removing her allies in advance was a necessary step.

Thinking of this, Touko couldn't help but speed up her actions. To be safe, she not only needed to deploy Beo tonight but also prepare some special items to ensure that Juonji Arisu couldn't interfere with her actions before she defeated Aozaki Aoko.

However, just as she was halfway through her work, she saw the bird-shaped puppet familiar she had sent to scout fly in.

Touko removed the data storage device from the familiar and installed it into an old projector-like device, observing the recorded images.

When she saw her sister and Juonji Arisu walking hand-in-hand on the commercial street, seemingly happy, Touko accidentally crushed her reconnaissance familiar.

At the dead of night, Juonji Arisu arrived at the entrance of KistyLand wearing her classic attire.

She raised her wrist, and several chirping starlings landed on her fingertips, seemingly reporting something.

"...Is that so?" Arisu's expression turned slightly colder. "The storyboard for the Mirror of Slumber has been destroyed..."