"Sorry, I’m a bit late because there were too many classmates wanting to add my contact info..."

Chihaya Anon arrived late at the activity room.

"Very well, now that everyone from Sobu High is here, let’s start moving."

Only then did Asakura put away his phone, leading the members of the Magic Club to the Club House, then transitioning through the Round Table Hall to arrive inside the Rabbit House.

Momoka was completely stunned to see a crowd of people suddenly pouring in from the back door.

However, after seeing that the person leading them was Asakura, she felt at ease.

"Yo, Boss-lad." She greeted Asakura, then glanced at the Magic Club members behind him, unable to help but reveal a look of amazement.

Though she wasn’t sure what was going on, her own boss had actually managed to mingle with a group of such high-quality girls, and from the current situation, it seemed these girls looked to him as their leader.

This was just too rock ’n’ roll.

"Did you come over here suddenly for something?" she followed up.

"Nah, I just made plans with the club members to gather here, since summer break starts tomorrow anyway..." Asakura waved his hand. "Just keep doing your own thing, don’t mind us."

"Since you’ve put it that way, Boss..."

Momoka didn’t have any intention of meddling in others’ business upon hearing this.

However, she had only walked a couple of steps when Asakura called out to her.

"By the way, are there other guests in the booths right now?"

"There are two kids who look like middle schoolers..."

Momoka answered subconsciously at first, then suddenly showed a surprised expression: "Could it be that they are also...?"

"We’ll know after looking."

After entering the shop, Asakura immediately saw the two little ones in a booth.

"Asakura-senpai, over here." Because of the way the seats were facing, Kaju was the first to see Asakura’s group, and she waved her hand toward them.

Consequently, Ruri, who was sitting opposite her, also turned her head to look at Asakura.

Asakura keenly noticed a teapot sitting by the girl’s hand "growing legs" and slipping away, and he couldn’t help but give the girl a helpless smile.

Ruri tilted her head, seemingly feeling a bit embarrassed for being caught red-handed using a magic spell casually in public.

After meeting up with the two middle school preparatory members, Ruri and Kaju, Asakura discovered a new problem.

Because there were many people in the Magic Club now, and the booths at Rabbit House were the small and exquisite type, they absolutely couldn’t fit everyone.

If they split up into several booths, it would be inconvenient to communicate together, which conflicted with the prerequisite of Asakura specifically gathering everyone today—it felt like putting the cart before the horse.

After thinking it over, Asakura simply called everyone to the second floor.

His room was quite large and was carpeted, so there was no problem even if they sat on the floor.

Although there was the option of returning to the Club House, Asakura felt that having just passed through the Club House to run over here, only to scurry back now, would give off a strange feeling of wasted effort, so he ultimately chose the second floor of Rabbit House.

"Help us prepare a pot of black tea..."

Asakura instructed Momoka.

Before the words left his mouth, he saw Kaju’s expression suddenly turn sour, and the color drained from her small face, making her look as pale as a frightened little rabbit.

It seemed that the reason this child had greeted him so warmly just now was entirely because she didn’t want to continue sitting there drinking the tea (brewed by Momoka). No wonder this child, who usually acted quite restrained and distant, was so enthusiastic and proactive today.

Thus, Asakura let out a sigh: "Forget it, just give us the tea leaves and hot water, we’ll brew it ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Kaju’s expression immediately relaxed a great deal.

"Suit yourself, you’re the boss anyway." Momoka said crossly, "It was a waste of time practicing with Kita for so long."

"I can tell there’s progress."

Asakura praised her.

"Save those sweet words for your club members." Momoka gave a light snort.

Asakura felt a bit wronged; he truly believed Momoka’s tea-brewing skills had improved—in the past, Ruri and Kaju would already be slumped over the table in critical condition by now.

That said, Momoka still quite honestly prepared the hot water and tea leaves for them, even bringing out the tea snacks (though they were all Rabbit House products).

If one didn’t consider her disastrous unsuitability regarding beverages, looking strictly at the service, Momoka was quite competent as a shop manager.

"Takuma-senpai, regarding that wanted criminal in the rumors from before..."

Ruri purposely walked at the very back, and as she brushed past Asakura, she asked him in a low voice.

"I lent a little bit of a hand." Asakura responded softly.

The girl’s eyes widened slightly, but then she seemed to feel everything was only natural and regained her composure.

After all, this was the ’Takuma-senpai’ she knew.

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Asakura felt like he heard his favorability rating with the girl rise again.

He glanced at the cups and saucers lying topsy-turvy on the table and asked curiously: "What happened to those cups?"

"Those..." the girl’s gaze went vacant as she looked out the window toward the distance, "they were poisoned to death."

Asakura: "..."

Retracting his previous statement, it seemed Momoka’s tea-brewing technique was still disastrously bad.

Once everyone arrived in Asakura’s room, Yuigahama Yui and Yanami seemed very interested in searching for something—of course, hindered by Asakura’s intimidation, they weren’t bold enough to rummage through everything like braves entering a private residence to find treasure chests; they only used probing eyes to carefully observe places like under the bed.

Everyone else was much better behaved, simply finding a spot to sit down.

"So, Takuma-kun, is there something you called everyone out for?" Asagumo Chihaya asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.

"Ah, actually, I plan to discuss this with everyone."

Asakura pulled a sheet of sketch paper from his schoolbag and handed it to everyone to view.

"...Is this some kind of crime notice for a murder and dismemberment?" Asagumo Chihaya squinted her eyes for a long time before asking uncertainty.

"Waaa, this looks quite tragic, what a ferocious criminal!" Chihaya Anon, who had put on glasses at some point, also spoke up in agreement while looking at the sketch paper.

"It’s the Magic Club uniform I drew." Asakura said expressionlessly.

The Chihayas: "..."

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.