CHAPTER 366: CHAPTER 366: AMAZING!

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"Ah!!!!!!!!"

A sharp, piercing soprano cut through the soundproof walls, reaching the room deep within the second floor.

The sound was mournful, like a wail of resentment and longing, of weeping and accusation, its echo lingering.

In truth, all Haru and Alice heard was the endless sorrow and panic, the kind of terror one would feel stumbling upon a real ghost in the middle of a late-night horror movie.

"Aoko," Alice’s pupils constricted, her voice a shocked whisper. Though the high-pitched scream was hoarse from its sheer volume, she couldn’t mistake the unique charm of Aoko Aozaki’s voice.

Alice instinctively thought an enemy had attacked.

But then she reconsidered. Even if an enemy had attacked, Aoko, with her nascent magus’s resolve, wouldn’t have let out such a desperate wail. She would have met them with a cold smile and a barrage of magic bullets.

That was her style.

This was the kind of scream a little girl would let out upon seeing a caterpillar or a big rat. It was completely out of character for Aoko.

Unless, something had happened to her, something that had filled her with an immense terror.

Alice, her hands still covering her face, slowly lowered them, her gaze filled with a probing curiosity as she looked at the barely-suppressed, wicked smile on Haru’s face across from her. Seeing his smile, like that of a cat who had just successfully stolen the cream, a hint of understanding dawned in her eyes.

"Haru, can you explain what you just did?" Alice asked, her voice a low whisper.

In her view, the only one with the motive and the ability to prank Aoko without killing her was this audacious True Magic User.

"...Just teaching that child, Aoko, the proper way to sleep," Haru said, his expression calm, shamelessly cloaking his actions in a lofty, educational light.

"Mm, Aoko is so distraught, something major must have happened. I’ll go check on her," Alice said, pushing herself up with her slender, pale arms, and slipping on the slippers Haru had placed on the floor. She then walked briskly out of the room.

Haru watched the briskly-walking Alice, a dazed look on his face. Though the witch’s face was still a mask of impassivity, devoid of joy or sorrow, Haru could see the exceptionally obvious schadenfreude in her deep eyes.

It was clear that the black-hearted witch was not rushing to the scene to help her friend, but rather, with the malicious intent of watching the show.

Haru’s lip twitched.

To have such a good sister, Aoko was truly... blessed. He silently took out a grimoire for recording images, straightened his collar, and, like a reporter from the magical world, rushed to the scene.

He was also very curious to see what kind of ’big reaction’ the pranked Aoko would have.

————

Five minutes earlier.

Aoko Aozaki, who was sound asleep on the sofa, her face a picture of childish innocence, her long eyelashes trembled slightly.

"So comfortable!" Aoko’s lips curved into a smile, like that of a cat. Her body twisted unnaturally, rubbing against the smooth bedsheet.

Anyone who has tried sleeping naked knows the irresistible comfort of skin against a soft bedsheet. At least, Aoko was currently indulging in the pleasure of rubbing.

Even though she was already awake, the bone-chilling cold of winter and the warm comfort of her bed had led her to make what she considered an exceptionally wise choice. And since she had already taken a day off from school yesterday, she had no worries about being late for class, so...

She wanted to sleep for another five hundred years!!

"Hm~" Aoko hummed softly, burrowing her small, squirrel-like head under the covers, savoring the irresistible warmth.

"..."

Time seemed to stop.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of her heart beating and the feeling of blood rushing to her head echoed in Aoko’s mind.

"Who covered me with a blanket?" Aoko thought, a bewildered expression on her face.

Though she had been exhausted from last night’s pursuit of the outside magus, so much so that she had fallen asleep the moment she returned to the Kuonji mansion, it didn’t mean she had amnesia.

She remembered clearly, she had collapsed on the living room sofa and fallen asleep. And the softness of the sofa beneath her now confirmed her memory.

"Alice?" Aoko said tentatively. But the next second, she dismissed the idea.

Last night’s chase had covered more than half of Misaki City. Compared to the more athletic Aoko, Alice, a frail young woman, had forced herself to run the entire way. She should be even more exhausted than Aoko.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Aoko’s heart.

With a faint unease, Aoko opened her eyes. Before her was a sea of white. She knew it was the color of the blanket covering her.

"I should get up and see what’s going on." The unease in her heart drove Aoko to sit up. The moment she did, she saw the countless ’strawberries’ on her youthful, vibrant, wheat-colored skin.

As if the victim of a mischievous child’s prank, bright red ’strawberries’ covered her entire body, with the exception of her neck and above.

Aoko didn’t know the modern term ’hickey,’ which would only become widely known in a decade. But one look at the shape of the strawberries, and she knew what kind of devastation her eighteen-year-old, pure body had endured.

In that moment, Aoko forgot her status as a True Magic User, forgot her magic. Relying solely on a young woman’s instinct, she let out a deafening scream.

"...." Heavy breaths came from the young woman’s tantalizing lips. The piercing scream had left her ears ringing.

But Aoko completely ignored the ringing in her ears, her azure eyes wide with terror as she stared at the strawberries on her body.

Suddenly, Aoko’s pupils constricted. With unease, with anxiety, or perhaps, with panic, she reached her slender, pale, soft hand down.

"...Thank god, the membrane is still intact!!" Her tense muscles relaxed, and Aoko sighed with relief.

"..." Aoko’s body trembled. Through her skin, she felt two strange gazes. Like an old, rusty clockwork, she slowly and laboriously turned her head.

At the living room entrance, she saw the shocked Alice and the admiring Haru, who was giving her a thumbs-up.

"whistle~" Haru whistled, a look of admiration on his face.

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