Asakura opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling.

He subconsciously checked his phone and found it was still early. Relieved that he didn’t have to worry about being late, he felt a wave of peace and instinctively wanted to go back to sleep for a bit.

"Ah..."

But then he suddenly remembered that summer vacation started today. He didn’t need to care about being late at all. Perhaps because he suddenly thought of too many things at once, Asakura, who had been ready to drift back to sleep, immediately woke up. Furthermore, the moment he realized it was the holidays and he could sleep as long as he wanted, that blissful feeling of "Great, it’s early enough for a ten-minute nap" vanished by half.

He sat up in bed, helplessly scratched his messy hair, and let out a long yawn. Originally, his "National Ghost Story Tour" was supposed to start today, but it had been pushed back two days due to the design work for the Magic Club’s uniforms. Consequently, Asakura fell into a daze: "What should I do for these two days?"

How dazed was he? He was actually seriously considering whether or not to do his summer homework...

"Breakfast... Ah, I didn’t buy groceries yesterday..."

Opening the fridge and seeing the empty crisper drawer, Asakura’s motivation drained away as his stomach began to growl.

"Delivery... ordering ramen or pizza in the morning just feels wrong, doesn’t it?"

He wondered if it was because of this parallel world, but food delivery hadn’t really taken off here yet. It was roughly at the level of the early 2000s on Earth; almost all delivery was handled by the shops themselves, and the places that did it were almost exclusively pizza or ramen joints—hardly things one eats in the morning. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Should I just summon the Fox Monstrosity and make a wish... No, making a wish for something like this is a bit... Damn it, hunger is making my thoughts go weird."

Should he just teleport back to the Round Table Hold and head to the Club Hut to have the House-elves make him breakfast? But House-elf breakfasts were usually Western-style. Usually, that was fine, but today Asakura just felt like a Western breakfast wouldn’t hit the spot.

Steaming hot soy milk and deep-fried dough sticks, golden-crispy small fried fish, and a bowl of preserved egg and lean pork porridge with a drop of sesame oil—that kind of Chinese style...

No, taking a step back, even a Japanese breakfast with miso soup over rice, side dishes of mackerel simmered until soft and delicious, or even just a can of sea pike seasoned with a bit of soy sauce would do.

Toast and the like simply couldn’t satisfy the stomach and taste buds of an East Asian man. Asakura grumbled to himself while holding his toothbrush in his mouth.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock came from the door.

"Who is it?" After spitting out the toothpaste foam and rinsing his mouth, Asakura went to the entryway and asked as he opened the door.

Then he saw Shiina Mahiru standing outside, as elegant and poised as a peony bud ready to bloom.

"Miss Shiina, can I help you?" Asakura asked.

"Asakura-san, you came back quite late yesterday." The girl’s opening remark confused Asakura.

"I thought it was okay... Did I wake you up?"

"Rather, you came back so quietly that it actually troubled me a bit."

"...Are you the type of masochist who can’t sleep unless it’s noisy?"

"Asakura-san is very good at jumping to strange conclusions."

"Didn’t you start with the riddles first, Miss Shiina? On my end, ’Riddle-men’ come with an automatic -20 debuff to their Favorability."

"Doesn’t that make us immediate enemies then?"

"It’s fine because your Favorability was already quite high since you helped me tidy my room before."

"Then I truly thank you for that."

The girl, who never played games, didn’t know that "Favorability" usually leads to certain "R-rated" interactions in the end. Taking it literally, she replied quite sincerely, leaving Asakura at a loss for words. Thus, he decided to play it straight: No more riddles, starting with me!

"This land..."

"Has the topic suddenly become a bit too grand?"

"Cough, sumimasen, for some reason it just slipped out..." Asakura coughed dryly and continued: "I mean, Miss Shiina, why exactly did you come here? Was it just to complain that I came back late?"

"Not exactly... anyway, if Asakura-san is free, please come to my house for a moment," the girl said softly.

Asakura’s movements paused.

"Um, Miss Shiina, you live alone, right?"

"Yes, my parents... had a bit of an accident, so I live by myself," the girl said with a slightly lonely tone.

Though it’s not like they looked after her much even when their limbs were perfectly intact, Asakura thought.

"Then do you know what it means when a girl living alone asks a boy living alone into her room?"

"Eh?" The girl tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then, a bright crimson flush instantly flooded her cheeks and neck. "I-It’s not what you think!"

"Miss Shiina, you look so pure, but you’re so experienced in your actions... Could you be a ’Virgin Killer’?"

"I said it’s not like that!" the girl said in a huff. "Anyway, Asakura-san, you’ll know when you see it. I can’t handle it on my own anymore..."

With that, she quickly left the doorway. Asakura followed curiously.

That said, he could probably guess the situation. Shiina Mahiru didn’t look like a loose girl at all. For a girl living alone to specifically seek a boy’s help, there was usually only one answer. There was likely some "filth" in the house—like a cockroach or a rat—that she loathed but couldn’t bring herself to drive out.

To think he had just discussed this with Momoka yesterday, and today a real-life case appeared. Considering what the girl said, she probably found the "filth" yesterday and wanted to ask Asakura for help, but he wasn’t home. When he did return, he was so quiet that she didn’t notice. In the end, she had to spend a restless, anxious night with the "filth," which is why she came looking for him so early this morning.

Fortunately, whether it was a cockroach or a rat, it didn’t matter to Asakura. Even more extremely, if a snake or something appeared, it would be like a homecoming for him.

However, the moment the girl opened the door and he saw the "filth" in the room, Asakura instinctively leaned back with an expression of disgust.

"Yo-ho~~~" Hiroi Kikuri, already drunk so early in the morning, held a large bottle of premium Japanese sake. She sat slumped on the floor, waving at Asakura. "Long time no see, Asakura~"

Asakura silently closed the door.