Hayate Yagami: Elysia, Could I Touch Your... Hair? / Chu Chen Has Some Other Ideas

Alicia immediately realized she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly spoke up.

"It's okay..." Hayate swept away her previous gloom, replacing it with an optimistic smile.

"How about this? Brother Chu Chen and I will take you home and mooch a meal off you while we're at it."

Alicia hurried to Hayate's side and grabbed the handles of her wheelchair.

"Hayate, you're not allowed to refuse. You said it yourself just now—we're friends! Hayate has always been alone, right? Now that I know where your home is, I can come here often to eat. And Hayate can think of us as your family too..."

Hayate did not refuse. She simply listened quietly to Alicia.

Rather than finding the ramblings of this friend she had just met annoying, Hayate found them especially warm.

Chu Chen followed behind them with a soft laugh, unable to stop himself from inwardly complaining that friendships between girls were truly kind of inexplicable.

They had clearly only just met, yet somehow they had chatted their way right into each other's homes. That was really...

Yagami Hayate: Alicia, Can I Touch Your... Hair?

On the way to Yagami Hayate's home, Chu Chen silently explained things to Fate and Precia through telepathy.

Chu Chen had basically mastered this kind of mental communication as soon as he learned it. It was not difficult to learn in the first place.

Although Precia might feel a little disappointed that Alicia would not be home for lunch, she was not enough of a daughter-con to keep Alicia locked tightly by her side. After all, they had already said everything that needed to be said last night.

Besides, there was nothing on this Earth that could threaten Alicia. Perhaps because she knew that, Precia was so at ease. Other than the Seeds of the Holy Stone, there was nothing dangerous on this Earth.

And now that Nanoha and Fate were collecting the Seeds of the Holy Stone, there was even less for them to worry about.

Chu Chen and Alicia each grabbed a wheelchair handle and took Hayate home.

Along the way, Chu Chen quietly marked Hayate as well. Once his system was created, everything would be OK!

"Alicia, where are you from? Judging by the style of your name, you don't seem to be from this country."

Hayate asked Alicia curiously, but Alicia's answer was destined to leave her completely baffled.

"Um... I'm from Mid Childa..."

That was not wrong. Precia had originally been a mage from Mid Childa. It was just that after Alicia's death, Precia had kept searching for ancient secret arts in order to revive her. However, those arts were all forbidden spells in this era.

No matter the world, any art that revived the dead was absolutely among the most forbidden of forbidden spells.

The Impure World Reincarnation from the Naruto World was the best example.

Just look at how many graves in the Naruto World had been dug up just to perform one Impure World Reincarnation!

How could such secret arts that disturbed the dead not be forbidden... Though they really were useful.

"Mid Childa? I've never heard of it..." Hayate paused slightly.

There was no country called Mid Childa in her memories. Still, there were so many countries in this world that Hayate could not possibly memorize all several hundred of them, so it was normal for her not to know.

"What about you, Mr. Chu Chen? Your name sounds like it comes from a great country across the sea..."

"Yes... If Hayate wants to hear about my hometown, I'd be happy to tell you..."

Chu Chen liked Hayate as well, but seeing Alicia being so close with her earlier, he had not found a chance to join in.

Along the way, Hayate and Alicia chatted happily while Chu Chen helped push the wheelchair.

Chu Chen was more than happy to be their tool man if it let the two of them have such a good time.

That said, Hayate's home was quite close to Nanoha's. The house was very ordinary—not some lavish mansion—but it did not look poor enough for them to be anxious about money either...

"Would you like something to drink?" After setting down the basket of vegetables in her hands, Hayate looked at the two of them, seeming a little nervous.

"I'm sorry, this is my first time bringing friends to my home. Please forgive me if I don't entertain you properly!"

"It's fine! We're friends, so there's no need to be so polite!"

Alicia put her hands on her hips, looking as if she did not care about anything.

Chu Chen chuckled as well, though his gaze was carefully examining the house around him.

There was something in Hayate's home that caught Chu Chen's attention—the Book of the Night Sky!

Maybe I should use some special means at a time like this...

Although Caster King Solomon's Item Creation was only Rank C, it was specialized for contracts. Chu Chen could use it to transfer the Book of Darkness's contract to himself while leaving Hayate as its apparent owner.

Linus would belong to him, while Xiao Lin and the Four Knights would belong to Hayate. Wasn't that perfect? It was better to let Hayate take care of the children!

As for the Book of Darkness's curse, sorry, but someone who had maxed out Magic Resistance was just that amazing!

After taking a rough look around Hayate's home, Chu Chen, who already knew where the Book of Darkness was, came over to Hayate, who was about to start cooking. Seeing her cooking, Chu Chen frowned slightly. He did not have the habit of making children cook.

"Hayate, go play with Alicia. Leave this to me..."

As he said that, Chu Chen intended to take the kitchen knife from Hayate's hand, but—

"No, I can't let a guest help me cook..." Hayate hurriedly shook her head.

"You little girl, with an adult like me here, how could it be your turn to cook? Or do you think I'll make some dark cuisine and you don't dare eat it?" A teasing smile immediately appeared on Chu Chen's face.

A trace of panic surfaced on Hayate's face, and she subconsciously loosened her grip on the kitchen knife.

"Of course not... How could I dislike Mr. Chu Chen's cooking..."

"Don't call me Mr. Chu Chen anymore. It makes me feel old. Call me Brother Chu Chen instead. Alicia and Alicia's sister both call me that! It's decided, then..."

"Mm... Brother Chu Chen..." Since Chu Chen had said so, Hayate could only answer him that way. Alicia, meanwhile, came over with a silly grin and pushed Hayate's wheelchair.

"Hehe, I knew Brother Chu Chen would make Hayate come down here..."

Alicia chuckled and sat beside Hayate.

Hayate could not help glancing at her before asking Alicia curiously.

"Hey, Alicia, how did you meet Mr. Chu... Brother Chu Chen...?"

Having no older brother, Hayate was still a little unaccustomed to the title of "brother."

"Well... it was because of some special circumstances. Brother saved my life back then, so Mom warmly hosted Brother Chu Chen. That's why Brother Chu Chen took me out to play... Mm! That's how it was!"

Alicia tried her best not to mention the word "system." Since she did not want to hide things from her friend either, she gave Hayate the basic truth of what had happened between her and Chu Chen.

Hayate nodded slightly and did not seem overly interested in probing into the matters between Chu Chen and Alicia.

However, Hayate brought up something else—

"Um... Alicia, could you let me touch your..."

Hayate's gaze first swept over Alicia's chest, seeming a little disappointed, before shifting to her golden hair. Then she continued.

"Could you let me touch your hair?"

Chu Chen: "..."

Chu Chen, who had just walked over, could not help raising an eyebrow when he heard that.

Hayate, you've changed! Shouldn't you have asked if you could touch her chest?

But after glancing at Alicia's flat chest, Chu Chen immediately sighed.

A flat chest really had nothing to touch!

Alicia: "I feel insulted!"

Chu Chen Had Some Other Ideas

At that moment, Chu Chen was half-squatting with his right hand resting on Hayate's legs, making him look as though he was taking advantage of her.

In truth—

Because Alicia was worried about Hayate's legs, she had asked Chu Chen to take a look at what was wrong with them.

Of course, to make herself more convincing, Alicia even performed a little magical trick to prove that she was a mage. What left Chu Chen speechless was that Hayate was only mildly surprised.

Were children in this world all so big-hearted? In the original story, Nanoha's two close friends had also been dragged into the incident, yet they had been unexpectedly calm about it. It seemed that children in anime really did have extraordinary mental resilience.

Now that Hayate believed Alicia and Chu Chen possessed unusual abilities, a faint expectation could not help arising in her heart.

Chu Chen did indeed examine Hayate carefully. In fact, as long as he gave Hayate Magic Resistance EX, her legs would basically recover. After all, her legs had become like this because of the Book of Darkness.

Of course, Chu Chen could also use Rule Breaker to directly sever Hayate's connection to the Book of Darkness, allowing her legs to slowly recover, but...

The reason Chu Chen had chosen to leave the Book of Darkness's apparent contract with Hayate and let the Four Knights stay by her side was mainly because they were not suited to staying with him. Hayate's personality was better suited to giving the Four Knights a sense of home.

What he wanted was merely the power of the Book of Night Sky. Just as every mage had the heart of a warrior, the reverse was also true. Every warrior had a heart that wanted to become a mage...

However, seeing Hayate as she was now, Chu Chen had some other ideas...

Why can't I resolve this matter in advance? I can take the Book of Night Sky now, then leave the Four Knights with Hayate to protect her. I don't need to worry about Hayate's power either. I've already prepared a Check-in System for her, so there's basically no need to worry about her lacking strength in the future... But I still need to ask Hayate what she thinks...

Of course, the main reason for doing this was that Chu Chen did not have much time to stay here. He did not want to spend too much effort on these matters.

After all, the reason so many conflicts happened in the original story was mainly because of the information gap...

If Nanoha and Fate had gotten to know Hayate earlier, become close to her sooner, and told her about the Book of Night Sky, making everything clear, there would not have been so much trouble...

"Hayate, the reason your legs became like this is mainly because a massive amount of cursed magic has invaded your body, taking away your body's originally healthy functions. This world's medical standards cannot treat your legs. As long as we sever the connection between you and that cursed magic... it's that book in your room!"

"That book? Is there something wrong with it?" As she spoke, Hayate looked confused as she took the Book of Darkness down from her room. She truly could not imagine that a book could have such an effect on her.

"Among the endless dimensions, there are countless dangerous objects. Can you imagine that something as small as a stone could possess terrifying magic capable of destroying an entire world? You can't underestimate it just because it's only a book! This book is called the Book of the Night Sky. Of course, its other name is much more famous—the Book of Darkness!"

As he spoke, Chu Chen looked toward Alicia.

"If you ask Alicia's mother—Auntie Precia—about that name, she might know quite a bit about it!"

"The Book of Darkness?" Alicia and Hayate both tilted their heads, clearly not understanding at all.

Chu Chen silently gave the two of them an explanation.

"The Book of the Night Sky was originally a Grimoire created for people to collect and study the techniques of great mages from various worlds, accompanying its owner as they traveled through worlds. However, after one of its owners modified its magical programming, it became the Book of Darkness, which now carried such a dreadful reputation."

"Because of the changes to its magical programming, its ability to travel worlds and automatically repair damaged data lost control. It then evolved into 'reincarnation' and 'infinite regeneration.' The Book of Darkness has a total of six hundred and sixty-six pages. Its pages are filled by taking the magic and magical aptitude of mages or other creatures. Once the final page is filled, the Book of Darkness's collection will be complete. It can then use the absorbed magic as a medium, and all the collected magic can be used by the Book of Darkness to unleash its true power—a tremendous force capable of causing dimensional interference."

"But the most terrifying part is the change in its nature toward its owner. If it does not collect anything for a certain period, it begins to erode the owner's own magic and magical aptitude. Once the Book of Darkness is completed, it drains all of its owner's magic and uses it for wanton destruction. Once the destruction begins, the Book of Darkness's rampaging power erodes the owner's strength and devours the owner's existence. That is why none of its previous owners met a good end."

Alicia could not help drawing in a sharp breath, but Hayate revealed a sympathetic expression.

A book that had once accompanied its owner on journeys had ended up like this...

And faintly, a silver-haired girl appeared in Hayate's mind.

Whenever Hayate fell asleep, that girl would always watch her. She had such a beautiful face, so why did she always look so sad? Why... was she always crying?

Hayate understood, more or less... Subconsciously, she hugged the book in her arms tighter...

"Since Brother Chu Chen brought it up, you must have a solution, right...?"

Although they had only met for the first time, even Hayate was surprised by how much she trusted him.

But she did not dislike that feeling. Once she recognized someone as a friend, she would definitely trust them.

Chu Chen took out his Rule Breaker, then—

"This little knife in my hand can sever all magic, even magical contracts. As long as I cut the Book of the Night Sky with it, I can directly sever the contract between you and it. That way, your connection with the Book of the Night Sky will be completely cut off! It will no longer erode your body either... What do you think?"

Upon hearing that, Alicia hurriedly nodded. She did not want her friend to end up this way because of this Magi Device.

But Hayate hesitated for a moment before slowly asking Chu Chen.

"Then what will happen to this book? Will this child... repeat that same tragedy?"

Chu Chen could not help smiling bitterly. This girl really was something, still thinking about that at a time like this.

"The contract will be transferred to me. My Magic Resistance is maxed out, so the Book of Darkness's erosion is completely useless against me. You can rest assured about that. Now it depends on whether Hayate is willing to let it go..."

Chu Chen did not hide his purpose. He definitely had designs on the Book of the Night Sky.

All at once, Hayate fell silent, her gaze lingering on the Book of Darkness in her arms.

Chu Chen did not say anything more. He simply waited silently for Hayate's answer.

Alicia also knew that this was not the time for her to say much and merely stood to the side.

After a long while, Hayate looked at Chu Chen.

Then, she nodded.

Chu Chen immediately let out a sigh of relief. Under Hayate's gaze, he plunged Rule Breaker in his hand into the Book of Darkness.