CHAPTER 369: CHAPTER 369: A WICKED SENSE OF HUMOR

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"Last night..."

Alice’s cherry lips parted slightly. She was about to say something, but was silenced by a sharp, eagle-like glare from the side. She sat silently on the sofa.

Aoko frowned, her face clearly displeased as she glared at Alice, as if to say, ’if you say it, we’re through.’

"Hmph!" With Alice’s silence, Aoko’s beautiful face relaxed. She glanced at Haru and snorted with disappointment.

Haru looked at Aoko with a teasing expression, gently lifted his hand, and snapped his fingers. With the sound of the snap, a milky-white crystal ball slowly materialized in the air before him.

Then, a clear image gradually appeared within the ball.

"Hey, can’t a person have some privacy!!!" Aoko clicked her tongue, her eyelid twitching as she looked at the crystal ball, which was displaying the battle from last night. She turned her head, faced Haru, and gritted her teeth in frustration.

"I’m peeping with my own abilities. Why can’t I? If you have a problem, you can bite me," Haru said, pursing his lips, a wicked grin on his face as he met Aoko’s gaze.

Then, he turned his head slightly, looked at the teeth marks on his shoulder, and added, "Oh, you already did."

"You!!!"

Aoko slammed her hand on the table, ignoring the wooden tea table’s mournful cry, and bared her teeth at Haru like a young lioness—as if she were about to sink another row of teeth into his shoulder at any moment.

’Calm down, calm down, I can’t fall for his tricks again.’ Aoko panted, forcibly calming her frantic heart, and slowly sat back down on the sofa.

Suddenly, the crystal ball began to show the enemy’s appearance. Aoko raised an eyebrow, her lips curving into a malicious grin.

"Since you want to watch, then watch. Watch closely!!"

Hearing this, Haru looked at Aoko with surprise. Seeing her teasing and mocking gaze, he hesitantly shifted his gaze to the crystal ball.

What he saw... was all Aoko.

Haru knew that the attackers from last night were all puppets created by Touko Aozaki, about fifty of them.

Their models... were all based on Aoko’s face.

Spiders, mantises, dung beetles... puppets with all sorts of bodies, all with Aoko’s head.

"...Curiosity killed the cat." Haru suddenly crushed the crystal ball, his lip twitching. He’d forgotten. With Touko’s wicked sense of humor, to make her familiars in Aoko’s image, and then pair them with alien bodies to disgust her younger sister, was perfectly normal.

And with Haru’s unlimited supply of magical materials, the now-wealthy Touko had actually created fifty of these bad Aoko puppets’ in one go, sending them to their deaths just to disgust her sister.

"A truly superhumanly wicked sense of humor!!" Haru said, his face stiff, his eyelid twitching.

With Touko’s craftsmanship and her ’deep love’ for her sister, the puppets’ heads were a ’divine restoration.’

But the bodies...

"If you want to puke, go ahead." Alice, beside him, had, from somewhere, gotten a book and was now covering the lower half of her face with it, her dark eyes filled with a ’joyful’ smile.

Haru had a feeling that the witch had been thoroughly disgusted last night. The reason she had deliberately brought it up was to pique his interest. With a True Magic User’s abilities, he could naturally investigate last night’s situation. She had used this as a premise to set him up.

A classic example of ’misery loves company.’

"Hey, how was it?" Aoko gathered her deep brown hair, her expression cheerful as she leaned back against the sofa. Her youthful, beautiful face was filled with an unshakeable malice.

Last night’s puppets were, to her, a ’black history.’ That was why she had been so displeased when Alice had brought it up earlier.

But now, seeing Haru’s ’I just ate shit’ disgusted expression, Miss Aoko’s azure eyes were filled with the joy of ’revenge.’

Haru lifted his head, rubbed his chin, and silently stared at Aoko, a strange glint flashing in his deep gray pupils from time to time.

"What?" Aoko’s hair-gathering motion froze. A deeply unnatural discomfort spread through her, as if she were naked before him.

"Washing my eyes," Haru replied nonchalantly, his gaze fixed on Aoko.

"Huh?" Aoko grinned, a look of surprise on her face.

Thwack—!

The sound of a book being slammed shut suddenly rang out.

Aoko looked at Alice with a puzzled expression. "What’s wrong, Alice?"

Alice shot a cold glance at Haru, who was staring at Aoko, and said, her voice a low whisper, "Mystic Eyes of Clairvoyance."

Aoko froze.

"Washing complete. As I thought, Aoko’s own figure is more in line with my aesthetic than a puppet’s," Haru nodded, silently adding another blow.

"...Well, thank you, for the compliment," Aoko said, her hands clasped, cracking her knuckles, her voice exceptionally cold.

"You are not to use those Mystic Eyes," a voice like a winter solstice wind came from Alice. "At least, not on me without my permission."

"Huh?" Aoko blinked. What had she just heard? Not on her without her permission? With permission, it was okay?

Aoko looked at Alice with suspicion. "Alice, are you and him for real?"

Aoko had originally thought that Alice’s ’dirty deal’ with Haru was to obtain magical knowledge. After all, such behavior was extremely normal in the eyes of a ’heretical’ magus.

But now, the feeling Alice was giving her... was it real feelings? Aoko looked at Alice with surprise.

"..." Alice was silent, subconsciously avoiding Aoko’s gaze. This evasive behavior only strengthened the young True Magic User’s suspicions.

"For real? Of course we’re for real." Haru, who had at some point moved to Alice’s side, grabbed her soft hand and said with a grin.

Alice only struggled symbolically for a moment, then acquiesced to his actions.

"Ha, I don’t know what kind of love potion he gave you," Aoko muttered. She really didn’t see any good points in Haru, besides the fact that he was stronger than her.

She thought about it. In the end, it was Alice’s own choice. She had no right to think for the witch. So, she decided to drop the subject.

Aoko, her eyes half-closed, said with a nonchalant expression,

"Well, let’s put that aside for now. Alice, let’s make a battle plan!"

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