Alger glanced instinctively at Mr. Fool, hidden in the gray fog, whose voice was always calm.
He wanted to ask what Alice meant, but suddenly he wasn't sure he should. If he asked, would he leave the Tarot Club alive today?
Alger looked at Alice, who said whatever came to mind. He couldn't shake the fear that one day, while chatting with Miss Fate, he would fail to cover his ears in time, hear something he shouldn't, and be struck dead by lightning.
As Alger hesitated, at a loss for words, Alice lost patience. "Aren't you going to ask me what the secret code is?"
"...What is it?" Alger asked, playing along.
Satisfied that he had taken the bait, Alice leaned back in her chair and pronounced the next words in crisp Mandarin: "Odd changes, even stays; the sign depends on the quadrant."
"Qi, ji, uh... Miss Fate, sorry for the trouble, but could you say that again?" Alger struggled with the unfamiliar sounds.
After Alice had taught Alger the pronunciation of the code word by word and they had agreed on a time and place, Klein lifted the barrier, convinced that Alice was anything but a good teacher.
Little Sun spoke next. Following Audrey and Alice's example, he raised a hand. "Mr. World, that Extraordinary Weapon you gave me was better than I expected. I've earned enough merit to exchange for the materials and advance to Sequence 8. In the next couple of days, I'll use my remaining merit to hire help and obtain the True Root and sap of the Mist Treant. I'll be able to complete our trade soon."
*Looks like Little Sun really likes that portable axe... Huh, I wonder if that Fortune Accessory has sold? Will I see the man selling it at the