Volume 02, Epilogue  

"Oh my, I really thought I was a goner for sure."

Several days later, in a sickroom -- Hisui remarked nonchalantly.

He barely pulled through and survived.

After that, Kirika had apparently performed some sort of ritual for him, but he could not recall what took place.

Oh well, in any case, it's a happy ending -- This type of thinking of his made Rushella mad.

In addition, earlier--

"You insolent fellow… To think you dare steal my… My…… First kiss was……"

"But who knows if it's your first or not. You've lost your earlier memories."

--Thanks to this most foolish retort, Hisui was treated to a sound beating.

Furthermore, Mei and Eruru added fuel to the fire.

"This is all Hi-kun's fault, okay."

"Agreed. As a fellow female, I express my sympathies."

…In the end, the assault continued overwhelmingly.

"I couldn't help it because of the emergency situation, okay!? Besides, isn't it the same for me… Ah, but in my case…"

Hisui's gaze wavered and turned towards Mei, seeking her opinion.

"Sudou-san, kissing family doesn't count, right?"

"Of course it doesn't count. If it did, things would truly be a mess."

Hearing Mei's reply, Hisui nodded hard and announced to Rushella.

"Then it's my first kiss too!"

"Jerk!!"

Pummeled by a series of punches, Hisui survived to this day but in a foul mood.

Although they were finally authorized to use the classroom, the club still had yet to make an official application. Neither did it have a name decided.

Hisui was sitting down staring at empty space when Kirika opened the door and walked in.

Eruru had interrogated her extensively, but in order to respect the wishes of the main victim, Hisui, Kirika was released without charges in the end.

Naturally, Rushella and the girls were not going to let her off so easily.

"What business do you have coming here?"

"If you dare harm Hi-kun again, I will be really mad, okay?"

Ignoring the two girls, Kirika handed a paper box over to Hisui.

"This is… Umm…… To express my apologies to you."

"What?"

Opening it, he found a freshly baked apple pie. It was clearly hand made.

"Oh, thank you. I was starting to feel a bit hungry actually."

Hisui stuffed a piece into his mouth without any wariness.

Naturally, the onslaught of criticisms began.

"Hey, show me some alertness, okay!?"

"What if it were poisoned again!?"

"What would be the point of poisoning me again? It's quite delicious, actually. Or are you girls talking about a witch's poison apple? It's not like I'm Princess Snow White."

After Hisui started eating, Kirika refused to leave and took a seat by his side.

Then opening her books and documents, she started working on her own tasks in a most natural manner.

"Umm…"

"What is it? Choosing my work location to complete tasks for the student council is my freedom, is it not? The desk in the student council office is not very convenient and the chair is not comfortable either…"

"But why do you have to sit beside me?"

"W-What does it matter!? And don't you go leaning against her so casually, okay!?"

Seeing Kirika's face turn red, Rushella and Mei had a bad premonition.

Could it be that this girl…

Speaking of which, Hisui did indeed risk his own life to save her.

"You are all allowed to use this room. I will explain to the teachers."

"Ah, thanks. By the way, did you find out who the person playing around with magic was?"

"…I am not too sure. Besides, it is not even clear if it is one person or many… And who knows how many people have read the digest already… Perhaps there might be more than one remaining in the school. M-Maybe… You can come and help? Although it might be a bit dangerous…… From the student council's standpoint… Umm……"

Although her tone of voice was a bit haughty, Hisui did not mind and replied.

"Oh sure, it's not like I'm busy after all."

"This does overlap with the activities of the Supernatural Investigations Section. This school apparently still has many secrets. The club should be run unofficially, or simply under the name of the 'Supernatural Investigations Section,' and unravel the remaining mysteries as quickly as possible."

Eruru calmly decided their direction.

Stomping her feet in fury, Rushella pointed at Hisui and yelled:

"Don't get taken in so easily! Don't tell me that there's some kind of love potion mixed in that apple pie!?"

"What would be the point of using that kind of potion!? Right, Senpai?"

Hisui remained relaxed but Kirika clicked her tongue.

"Oh yeah, there is also such a method…!"

Then Rushella and Mei exchanged glances once more.

Just as they thought, this girl was…

"Give that to me!"

"Hey, what are you doing? It's my apple pie!"

"Shut up! Just in case, I will eat this together with her. This drink is good enough for you!"

Saying that, Rushella shoved a paper bag towards Hisui.

"What's this? By the way, you were holding this that night… What did you end up buying?"

"Grape juice."

"Huh?"

"I asked the class representative to find your… That bottle of wine. But we couldn't find it. When we asked the salesperson, about vintage whatever……"

"That's only to be expected. That bottle was from a year of poor harvest so production should be quite limited. But the few bottles on the market are quite high in quality and their prices keep surging up. If there's no supply, then you can't buy it no matter how much money you have."

"That's why, that's why… This is what I bought. The class rep also said, drinking is not good, that's why, I bought the most expensive juice I could find! Hurry up and… Thank me……"

Saying that, Rushella turned her head away and refused to look at Hisui.

Hisui shrugged and opened the lid of the grape juice.

As the saying goes, there's no point in crying over spilt milk. Likewise with that bottle of wine.

Even if things of the past could not come back, there were new memories waiting to be made.

"Why don't you have some too? It comes with cups."

"…Yes."

"Cheers."

Although the promise with his foster parent for his twentieth birthday could no longer be fulfilled, the bonds of master and servant were engraved thus.

Reaching out and bumping cups lightly with Rushella, Hisui raised his cup and savored the excellent violet-colored wine.