Inside a large shopping mall, Miwa Kasumi and Nishimiya Momo each held a cup of milk tea, trailing far behind An Xora and Makima.
To be honest, neither of them had expected that after becoming Makima's guards, their very first outing with their superior would turn out to be… a date.
This was a date, right? Taking time out on a workday to accompany a member of the opposite sex on a shopping trip—if that wasn't a date, then what was?
They both had some impression of An Xora. He was that man who often appeared together with Lady Seele, seemingly even living with her. In terms of strength, he was said to be around the level of a Grade 1 sorcerer. While he couldn't compare to a special-grade like Lady Makima, he was still very impressive.
However, since An Xora usually appeared as "Seele's accessory," his presence within the jujutsu world wasn't particularly strong. As a result, their understanding of him didn't go much beyond that—though that was already thanks to the fact that he had shown up during the inter-school exchange event, prompting the two girls to specifically ask about him afterward.
Before An Xora arrived, they wouldn't have believed it even if beaten to death—Lady Makima had actually come out today to meet him.
They had always thought that a woman like Lady Makima—who showed no particular interest in men around her, worked with utmost seriousness, and held such a high position—wouldn't have any kind of intimate relationship with a man at all.
Still, this was clearly Makima's private affair. As small fries, they had neither the right nor the standing to interfere. All they could do was silently offer their blessings in their hearts.
With that thought, Miwa Kasumi took a small sip of her milk tea, her face lighting up in bliss.
"Ahhh, milk tea really is delicious… I've never had it before. It really is sweet. My friends weren't lying to me."
It was a little embarrassing to admit, but due to her family's financial situation, Miwa had heard about milk tea—a hugely popular drink among girls—for a long time, yet had never been able to afford trying it. This was her very first cup.
"Kasumi, you're exaggerating."
Nishimiya Momo looked somewhat helpless, though she didn't say much more. She, too, took a sip of her milk tea, clearly in a good mood.
After all, Lady Makima had brought them along even on a date. What did that mean? It meant Makima genuinely valued them—not as disposable underlings, but as her own people.
Even the milk tea in their hands had been bought by Lady Makima herself. She was just too good to them. No wonder everyone in the Headquarters treated Lady Makima with such respect.
What the two girls didn't know, however, was that while they were quietly praising Makima in their hearts and whispering to each other, Makima herself was also whispering to An Xora up ahead.
"What does my master think of those two children behind us?"
Makima asked softly, a faint smile on her face.
"Don't make it sound like you're trafficking people. That aside—how did you even recruit them?"
"Since they were characters who appeared in the original story, and both are quite cute girls, I used a few methods to bring them to my side as guards."
"What? Does my master not like them?"
An Xora shook his head.
"It's not that I dislike them. They're characters I was fond of back when I watched the anime in my previous life—so of course I like them. Just not to the point where I have to make them mine."
Or rather, ever since avatars began to exist, An Xora still liked the various two-dimensional girls he once adored—but that old, fervent, 'call-them-my-wife-at-every-turn' kind of obsession was gone.
Once these characters became real, compared to avatars, those former 2D heroines felt… troublesome.
Leaving aside their complex personalities, just the conflicts arising from interactions between characters with different archetypes was enough to give him a headache.
An Xora was greedy—a universal-love type. If he transmigrated into a 2D world and had the ability, he'd definitely want to build a harem. If he liked them, he wanted them all—he was that kind of scumbag at heart.
But how many original characters could actually accept such an idea?
Even if An Xora were powerful enough to both win them over and somehow make them accept it, he'd still have to balance new relationships while placating old ones. One slip-up could lead to disaster. On top of that were the countless problems caused by conflicts between different characters—just imagining it was enough to make his scalp tingle.
By comparison, avatars manifested by the system could accept his views, wouldn't clash with each other, and—most importantly—were perfectly in sync with his thoughts. Being with them required no careful consideration at all, unlike dealing with outsiders.
Unless it was a relationship that required zero responsibility, no matter how perfect a two-dimensional beauty was, she simply couldn't compare to an avatar in An Xora's eyes.
"To put it bluntly," Makima said calmly, "it's precisely because my master likes them and cares about their feelings—believing that once a relationship begins, responsibility must follow—and because you're convinced that no one other than us avatars could accept your way of thinking… that you've developed resistance toward those characters you once liked."
"From that perspective, at the very least, my master isn't a scumbag."
Makima understood An Xora's thoughts perfectly.
After all, the avatars not only carried the memories of their original characters, but also An Xora's own memories.
In a sense, whether it was Seele or Makima, every avatar An Xora manifested understood him just as well as he understood himself—his preferences, his fetishes, even how he would react or think in different situations.
The reason it was said they understood him mostly was because people change. The avatars only possessed An Xora's memories up to the moment they were created.
Thus, Makima—who could easily see through the essence of things—had known from the very beginning that An Xora didn't dislike the "gifts" she had brought. He was simply worried that they wouldn't be able to accept things, and didn't want to hurt characters he had once liked in his previous life.
"On that front, my master can rest assured. A person's values are something that can be changed quite easily."
"Just because they can't accept it now doesn't mean they won't in the future."
"If my master wishes to maintain his bottom line, then he can simply wait patiently—until the day they're willing to accept him of their own accord."
"Until then, just pretend those two cute children don't exist."
Hearing Makima's suggestion, An Xora nodded.
Indeed—acceptance or rejection ultimately depended on him. Since he didn't have such thoughts right now, he could simply act as if it wasn't a concern.
And so, An Xora and Makima strolled leisurely through the mall, occasionally buying things they liked.
Suddenly, a familiar notification sounded in An Xora's ears.
"Ding! System 72-hour online update complete. New functions have been unlocked. Please check them at your convenience."
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