Because Arisu Kyōnoji was the last witch in the world, unable to keep up with the times, she was destined to remain unrelated to "love."
But Aoko was different. As a human girl, she was naturally impervious to anything like "love."
"What kind of monster do you imagine me as? Even I can have romantic feelings, you know!"
Aoko complained loudly, her face flushed red.
There was no mistaking it. It had to be something like this...
"Shirou is both my familiar and my lover—
In that moment, I felt a certain destiny."
Arisu said coldly, "To openly declare that a twelve-year-old boy is the lover destined for you.
Aoko, in a sense, you're already invincible."
After blurting out all the thoughts she had kept bottled up for so long, Aoko herself was unbearably embarrassed.
It was nothing more than a one-sided delusion, yet in her heart, she seemed to have already decided that Shirou was the lover of "the future Aoko," and she firmly believed it.
Overcome with shame, she hurriedly changed the subject.
"N-no, but now that I think about it, your relationship with Shirou seems to have improved quite a bit, Arisu.
Just last night, you looked like you were planning to secretly deal with him while I was away, but today, that feeling is completely gone.
Even the atmosphere seemed pretty good when we had dinner together."
"I merely accepted it because I had no choice. Besides..."
"Besides?"
Arisu said, "He promised me he wouldn't interfere with me."
"You're so cold... Getting along with someone isn't going to cost you anything."
The sitting room fell silent, and the two of them did not speak again for a while.
"What's wrong, Arisu? Are you in a bad mood?"
Aoko spoke up after noticing the subtle change in