...After successfully achieving a soft landing in handling the matter with Alice, Aoko was in a pretty good mood. The two of them were currently strolling in the upper garden of the castle, surrounded by magical puppet gardeners trimming the somewhat unruly plants. The large gardening shears made rhythmic clacking sounds.
"…The University of Tokyo called you," Alice, dressed in a white dress that looked light and airy, said, "It seems to be about some research paper, probably your advisor."
"Ah, it's about that time," Aoko scratched her cheek a bit awkwardly, "But it's fine. My advisor is very understanding. A few days delay shouldn't matter—"
Aoko's PhD advisor indeed wouldn't mind her returning the call a few days late, because all the research projects Aoko had participated in before had proven that this beautiful girl with perfect looks, a sexy figure, and a super high IQ was leagues ahead of her peers in research productivity, completely outshining other students of her cohort.
If Aoko hadn't deliberately held back her performance, she suspected that relevant personnel from the Japanese government might have come to take her away for research and dissection—but whether they'd succeed would be another matter.
Precisely because of these achievements, Aoko became the most free-spirited woman in her lab. Disappearing every few days or being a little late with project deadlines were minor issues—her advisor wouldn't hold her accountable, only giving her a friendly reminder call.
As for her male classmates' confessions, that was never an issue from the beginning. Aoko had, by maintaining long-term magic, made some small adjustments to the perceptions of ordinary people around her—one of the results of bounded field magecraft—an idea she got from an article by Souren Araya, which she had originally borrowed from Touko.
"So, does the magic of traveling to another world result in some time axis errors?" Alice asked nonchalantly.
"Mm, I'm not sure yet," Aoko thought for a moment before replying, "From my own experience, the subjective time spent in transit always feels about the same, but these other worlds seem to be at different distances from ours. The further the world, the longer it takes to return. Right now, I can't determine distance just from the observed coordinates."
"Next time—" Alice squatted down, watching a caterpillar crawling on the bush, "I want to go and see it with you."
"That's fine," Aoko looked at Alice with slight surprise, "But what about Yumina? You can't leave the house for too long, right?"
"I'm working on a solution," Alice replied, "For example, this great magic called the Principle Blood Ring can, to some extent, suppress Yumina's erosion, but it's still not enough."
"That is good news," Aoko nodded in agreement, "In that case, the next time I find new coordinates for another world, you can hide here and go with me~"
"Oh right," Aoko suddenly remembered something, "How do you handle the mana supply here?"
"Geographic leyline nodes," Alice replied succinctly, "I connected the mana supply circuit of this sphere to the crooked leyline node of the Aozaki family."
"I see," Aoko thought and didn't see any problem with that, "In a while, let's have Touko borrow a mana furnace from the Clock Tower. I remember the El-Melloi family should have some spares—"
The two chatted idly, mostly about various events that happened during the month Aoko and Touko had been away, both from mundane society and the world of mysteries.
"…By the way, where are Sella and Leysritt? I haven't seen them," Aoko suddenly remembered there were two maids missing and asked.
"They went to your and Touko's old house to clean," Alice answered, "Because no one lived there for a long time, a lot of dust accumulated. Even just cleaning will take a few days."
Aoko scratched her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. The Western-style house she had so enthusiastically chosen, designed, and built, she hardly ever lived in it now—had she become a permanent resident of the Kuonji family instead!
Under Aoko's talk therapy offensive, the previously irritable Alice perked up again. Aoko caught subtle changes in her poker-face, proving that her housemate could even occasionally feel joy and smile from their conversations.
Of course, to anyone who didn't know Kuonji Alice, it would be impossible to tell she was smiling at all.
Aoko used the flying skills to fly back down from the castle roof with Alice. Alice had to carefully hold down the hem of her dress, though the air inside Sky Soar Relam was very stable—Aoko just hadn't told her that out of mischief.
Back in the plaza, they saw Touko taking out a big tub of ice cream to share with everyone. Aoko wanted to warn the kids not to eat too much, but when she saw Artoria already on her fifth cup, she decided to give up.
After all, sometimes firsthand experience is the best teacher.
"Ugh, my head hurts~" Kohaku, imitating Artoria's big bites of ice cream, held a spoon in one hand and her forehead with the other.
"Sis, you're eating too fast!" Hisui, slowly enjoying her small cup of ice cream, said, "Sella already warned us—if you eat too fast, you'll get a headache!"
"But, look, Artoria-sensei already ate so much!" Kohaku said a bit defensively, "I want to learn from sensei, that's the true chivalry!"
Artoria looked a little embarrassed, coughed lightly, and slowed down her eating a bit.
On the other side, another kid, Touko, was relying on her Third Magic User advantage, devouring a basin of ice cream, her mouth covered with white frosting.
Aoko and Touko spent two days with the others in the Principle Blood Ring's Castle. On the second day, Sella and Leysritt returned with newly bought groceries.
Aoko had to roll up her sleeves and do her best, making a huge variety of dishes, so much so that the still-ordinary Hisui and Kohaku gained a little weight. The sisters screamed in horror about this discovery in the bathroom that night.
Happy times always pass quickly. When Aoko returned to the Kuonji residence, she found a letter from the Chaldea Astronomy Department in her mailbox—about the spiritron transfer test experiment. Marisbury had invited Aoko for a visit.
Looking at the letter, Aoko raised her brow. Marisbury, while a failure as a magus, seemed to have gotten more efficient at the Animusphere family after the Aozaki family invested in the Finis Chaldea project.
Might as well go and have a look, Aoko thought. It's just a visit—could Goetia try to incinerate humanity right in front of her?