Chapter 60: Chapter 59: The Problem of the Three Girls.

Ancient World History was second period, and Takeshi spent most of it not listening to the teacher.

Not because the topic was irrelevant. It was because he had a more immediate problem to solve.

That morning, when he left the apartment to head to the shrine and pick up Ophélia, he found Aoi waiting for him at the building entrance. No warning, no message beforehand. She was simply there, backpack on, wearing an expression that didn’t allow for discussion.

"I’m coming with you."

Aoi said.

Takeshi didn’t have time to respond because at that exact moment his phone vibrated.

[Nyx] I’m already on my way to the shrine. See you there.

The result was that all three of them arrived together to pick up Ophélia, and during the entire trip to school, Takeshi couldn’t get more than two sentences out in a row because either Aoi or Nyx always inserted themselves into the conversation.

Every time Takeshi opened his mouth to return to the subject of Tot, the conversation veered elsewhere.

Aoi asked Ophélia about the structure of the shrine. Nyx asked a technical question about healing magic. Aoi responded to something Nyx had said earlier, and that started an exchange between the two of them that lasted until they reached the school.

Ophélia answered everything with her usual calm, without noticing that Takeshi had been completely shut out of the conversation.

Now he sat in class trying to calculate how to solve that.

The problem wasn’t that Aoi and Nyx consciously wanted to keep him away from Ophélia, but that he needed time alone with Ophélia without interruptions. Just enough to ask the remaining questions he had.

The issue was that he couldn’t ask Aoi and Nyx not to come. Any version of that conversation ended badly, and technically, they were also part of the student council assigned to protect Ophélia, so they had valid reasons to be there.

Takeshi wrote something in his notebook that had absolutely nothing to do with class.

Options: arrive before them. Stay afterward. Find a moment at school.

All three had the same problem: Aoi and Nyx had adapted quickly. If he arrived early at the shrine, one of the two would probably already be there. If he stayed behind after dropping Ophélia off, they’d follow him, and during school hours, every time he approached Ophélia, one of them appeared within less than five minutes.

Suddenly, he heard the classic confetti cannons that signaled donations.

[You have received a donation from Ismail_Elmaski: Looks like Takeshi won’t be getting past this obstacle]

[You have received a donation from Suuvo_Dass: I agree with the stranger]

[You have received a donation from ArkNPingu: at least this is gonna be entertaining]

[You have received a donation from Saga_Yoichiro: He’ll have to improve his stats as soon as possible]

Takeshi looked at what the teacher wrote on the board and copied the line down without reading it. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

During break, he tried approaching Ophélia, who was in the courtyard with an open book on the table. He sat across from her and went straight to the point.

"Yesterday I was left with a question about Tot."

Ophélia closed the book.

"Which one?"

"The texts you mentioned. The ones describing the descent. Do they say anything about how she communicated with people afterward? Whether there were more appearances after the first one?"

Ophélia opened her mouth to answer.

"Takeshi."

It was Nyx, arriving from the side carrying two cups of water, casually sitting beside him.

"I brought these for us."

She looked at Ophélia.

"Sorry, I didn’t know you two were talking. What are you talking about?"

"Tot."

Ophélia answered.

"Oh."

Nyx rested her elbow on the table.

"The shrine goddess? I read something about her in a history text a while ago. The post-war period is pretty interesting from the perspective of social stabilization."

And just like that, the conversation changed direction.

Nyx had opinions about the historical period, and Ophélia responded with information that contradicted some of her points.

The two of them started a technical exchange that Takeshi couldn’t interrupt without it feeling forced, because the subject was still Tot, but it had shifted toward political history and no longer pointed in the direction he needed.

When Aoi arrived five minutes later and sat on Ophélia’s other side, Takeshi internally accepted that this break was useless.

He tried again after magic class, in the hallway. Ophélia walked in the same direction as him for three minutes before their routes split apart.

"Do the shrine texts ever describe Tot directly?"

He asked while they walked.

"Her appearance, voice, anything like that?"

"Yes..."

Ophélia said.

"There’s a text from the third period that—"

"Takeshi."

Aoi appeared from a side doorway and started walking beside him.

"The fencing instructor asked if you’re staying after school this week for extra practice. Should I tell him yes?"

Takeshi looked at Ophélia. She waited a second, then kept walking because her classroom was around the next corner.

"Tell him I’ll confirm later."

Takeshi answered.

Ophélia turned down the hallway and disappeared.

Takeshi kept walking. Aoi said something else about the instructor’s schedule, but he didn’t fully process it.

When classes ended, the four of them headed toward the shrine together. Takeshi walked beside Ophélia from the start, with the clear intention of continuing the conversation.

"The text from the third period you mentioned..."

He began.

"Yes..."

Ophélia replied.

"It’s one of the most detailed ones. It describes Tot as a presence without a fixed form, that—"

"By the way, Ophélia..."

It was Nyx, from the other side.

"Does the shrine have records from the period before Tot?"

Ophélia processed both questions at the same time and decided to answer in order.

"There are some fragments, yes. They’re incomplete because much of the documentation from that era was lost during the wars, but—"

"And are they kept in the original shrine or are copies distributed elsewhere?"

Nyx insisted.

Ophélia started answering that question.

Takeshi waited, and when Ophélia finished responding to Nyx, he tried to pick things back up.

"You were saying the text describes Tot as a presence without a fixed form."

"Correct."

Ophélia said.

"The text says that those who were present during the descent couldn’t agree on a consistent description. Each witness recorded something different. The text interprets that as—"

"What’s it like living in the shrine?"

Aoi asked.

"Like living anywhere else... I suppose..."

Ophélia answered.

"Is there anywhere inside the shrine where you can clear your head?"

"There’s an inner courtyard with benches, and there’s also a reading room if you’d rather stay indoors."

Aoi nodded before making a comment about the weather, which Nyx responded to, and the conversation drifted elsewhere again.

Takeshi looked ahead and counted the remaining steps to the shrine gate.

They arrived without Takeshi managing to finish a single one of the three conversations he’d tried to have.

The worker at the entrance recognized them and opened the gate. Ophélia stopped before entering and looked at the three of them.

"Do you want to come in?"

Aoi hesitated. She looked at the gate, then sideways at Takeshi.

"I’m not sure it’s appropriate to enter without prior notice."

"I’m inviting you."

Ophélia said.

"There’s no problem."

Nyx looked into the courtyard.

"I don’t want to interrupt anything happening inside."

"There are no ceremonies at this hour."

Ophélia replied.

"Only the people who live here are inside."

There was a second of silence. Aoi and Nyx still didn’t move.

’This is my chance.’

Takeshi stepped inside.

He didn’t wait for the other two to decide. He crossed the gate and entered the shrine’s front courtyard. Ophélia walked in beside him without commenting on how quickly he’d made the decision.

Behind him, after a moment, he heard Aoi and Nyx’s footsteps following them.

Takeshi looked toward the inside of the shrine. The reading room Ophélia had mentioned was at the back of the courtyard, its door slightly open. There was light inside.

"The texts you mentioned are in the reading room?"

He asked.

"Most of them are."

Ophélia said.

"The originals are kept in another section, but the translated copies are available."

"Can we see them?"

Ophélia looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Of course."

They started walking toward the room. Takeshi heard Aoi and Nyx following them, but that no longer mattered, because inside a reading room with the texts right in front of him, interruptions to the conversation wouldn’t stop anything.

’I just need to read it.’