Celebration

The bathroom in the Kuonji Residence was a rather ornate room with a distinctly European style.

The floor was inlaid with warm-colored marble, carved with elegant patterns.

A large, rectangular mirror, framed by a carved wooden border that had been waterproofed, was mounted on the wall above the sink.

In the corners of the bathroom, various shaped vases held ornamental plants that were kept alive through Magecraft.

These plants included European-style flowers and pruned plum branches from the East, all arranged by a true expert, making them look incredibly natural and blending seamlessly with the overall ambiance of the bathroom.

In the center of the bathroom was a massive, bowl-shaped bathtub resembling a circular opening, surrounded by wooden steps for footing and placing items.

Beside the bathtub were brass pipes and spouts, all thematically exposed on the ceiling and walls rather than hidden away. Aoko had thought the design was quite avant-garde and steampunk-ish when she first saw it, and had since replaced all the plumbing in her and Touko's Western-style house with similar fixtures.

She heard that Alice's father had designed this Western-style house, which made Aoko admire his taste and artistic cultivation. It was no wonder that an ordinary person like him could marry a witch like Alice's mother.

Aoko hummed a tune as she walked into the bathroom, wrapped in a pure white bath towel.

She went to the bathtub and bent down to turn on the faucet to fill it. The magnificent peaks of her chest displayed deep ravines under the pull of gravity, and her slender waist bore a weight that shouldn't belong at her age, making one worry if it would break at first glance.

While waiting for the bathtub to fill, Aoko rummaged through the storage cabinet next to it. While a simple bath would suffice, additional ingredients were necessary for a better fatigue-relief effect.

She first took out a bag of Epsom salts and poured the entire bag into the tub with a rustle, then picked up a bottle of lemon essential oil, her personal favorite scent.

Aoko found a glass dropper and drew enough essential oil from the bottle. After dripping about eight drops into the bathtub, she screwed the small bottle of essential oil back on and put it away.

She dipped her hand into the water to test the temperature and found it satisfactory.

"Alice, the hot water's ready!" Aoko called out a little louder to the person outside the bathroom, "You can come in~"

A moment later, Aoko heard a rustling sound, like someone undressing at the bathroom door. Then the bathroom door was pulled open, and Alice, wrapped in a towel, walked in.

Alice's body was quite slender. Compared to the voluptuous Aoko, Alice appeared younger and more endearing.

Her shoulders were narrower than Aoko's, but the fairness and delicacy of her skin were in no way inferior to Aoko's. However, compared to Aoko's healthy pinkish glow, Alice's skin had a pale, delicate appearance, as if from a lack of sun exposure.

The steam in the bathroom had grown thicker as time passed. Aoko casually unwrapped her towel, placed it aside, and then naturally stepped into the bathtub and sat down, her long, beautiful legs crossed, her silhouette alluring through the steam.

"Come in quickly?" Aoko invited Alice, "If you don't get into the hot water soon, you might catch a cold later?"

Hearing Aoko's invitation, Alice Kuonji slowly walked towards the bathtub.

In Alice's more than ten years of life, this was the first time she had bathed with someone else. In her hazy childhood memories, her mother had bathed her while holding her, but that was a very long time ago, so distant that even she could hardly recall it.

The person she lived with now was clearly different. Her perfect figure was incredibly attractive even to Alice, who was also a woman, and the misty atmosphere created by the steam made Alice's cheeks flush.

She suppressed the shyness in her heart and sat directly into the bathtub, then carefully hugged her knees and curled up to the side.

"Oh?" Aoko scanned Alice from head to toe with a teasing gaze, then slowly shuffled closer to her. Before Alice could react, Aoko snatched the towel wrapped around her from behind.

The usually cold and assertive Fairy Tale Witch let out an adorable cry that didn't match her image. Aoko chuckled, hung Alice's towel aside, and leaned in to tease her shy cohabitant.

"Who bathes while still wrapped in a towel?" Aoko said casually, "We're both girls, so it's not a problem if I see you~"

Alice hugged her chest protectively with her arms, glaring fiercely at the grinning Aoko. Then, her gaze involuntarily drifted down, and she saw Aoko's ample cleavage, her face turning even redder.

Aoko didn't push it too far, feeling that if she teased any further, her good roommate might faint from embarrassment.

"Let's have something to drink," Aoko said after thinking for a moment, "How about some red wine? It helps with sleep."

Seeing Alice didn't object, Aoko snapped her fingers, summoning an invisible servant to bring the wine bottle and two goblets from outside the bathroom.

She uncorked the bottle and poured a small glass of Bacchus for herself and Alice. This time, they were drinking from the Mage's old man's collection, and its quality was clearly superior to her cheap dad's...

She handed the glass to Alice and then struck a toasting pose, inviting her.

Alice hesitated for a moment before taking the goblet Aoko offered and clinking it lightly against hers.

"Aha, here's to us successfully defeating Touko's dog."

Meanwhile, Miss Touko Aozaki, who had been defeated in the first round of engagement due to insufficient information, was hiding alone in her temporary workshop in the old school building, smoking a cheap cigarette someone had given her and sinking into a melancholic mood.

She had lost a large number of dolls, her thirty-thousand-word Rune trap hadn't worked as expected, and even her greatest trump card, the Phantasmal Species Ruge Beowulf, had been inexplicably killed. Did she have any chance of turning the tables?

Should she surrender...? Touko thought hazily, then quickly dismissed the idea because she was unwilling to give up. She wanted to try again...

But Aoko's Magecraft talent was not inferior to her own, and she had also inherited the Aozaki family's Magic. Regardless of whether she could fully unleash the power of Magic, it was still a trump card not to be underestimated. Moreover, that girl had many strange moves that were inexplicable and difficult to explain with conventional Magecraft theory...

Touko stubbed out her cigarette, rubbed her forehead, and then took off her jacket, lying down on a single bed.

She involuntarily recalled the laughter and scolding they shared when they were children, the bits and pieces of them learning Magecraft together, and then how her Grandfather had suddenly named Aoko as the heir. A bitter emotion welled up, making Touko unable to control herself.

"I'm not like that girl," Touko muttered to herself as she turned over, "I won't be weak."