Chapter 266: Concern ; Small Talk

"You won't forgive me for what?" I ask, despite having a general idea of what she is not fond of.

Natsumi doesn't reply to my inquiry but instead summons her magical broom and sits on it, seemingly intending to leave.

However, the moment I detect the slightest movement, I use Vector Manipulation to cancel every force acting on her body and the broom, which happens to be an unfamiliar one which I assume is her 'magical power'.

Surprisingly, this results in a dazed expression to form on Natsumi's face before her body begins to shine brightly in a golden light.

The next thing I know, everything has returned to normal apart from the fact that the 'disguised' Natsumi is nowhere to be seen.

In her place, there is now an adorable young-looking girl with long unkempt green hair reaching all the way to her hips.

Instead of the provoking outfit from before, she now wears some untidy clothes as if she was in a rush when she was putting them on.

Similar to before, she has a witch-hat on, but now it has several emerald-like gems surrounding the cone.

Leaving that aside, her torso is mostly bare apart from an orange sash that covers her seemingly flat chest.

For her lower half, she's wearing somewhat puffy black shorts with batwings protruding from either side.

"Have you looked enough?" a cold voice reaches my ears, causing me to shift my sight over from Natsumi's body over to her face.

Expectedly, she is frowning with signs of tears welling up within the corner of her eyes.

"It was you who did this, right?" she asks.

"I did not think this would happen," I reply, "Had I known that your magic was just so that you could hide adorableness, I wouldn't have done anything."

Following this, a confused and doubtful look appears on Natsumi's face as she says, "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't that what this is all about?" I say, "You realized that you're too cute, so you resorted to hiding it?"

So, I say, but I don't believe that to be the case at all. Judging from the small duration I have interacted with her, she is very fond of her disguise and seems to abhor the idea of me being able to see through- no, 'past' it.

Logically speaking, this suggests that she either is extremely conservative, or she has a complex regarding her appearance.

Taking into consideration her eagerness to receive compliments, I can conclude that it's the latter. As such, I have to act accordingly now that things have gotten so far.

"You're saying that you find me cute?" she asks.

"Yes," I immediately reply, "To the point that I want to snatch you and take you home with myself."

"Lies! You're lying!" she suddenly bursts as her tone peaks and her body begins to shine in the same golden light from before.

Knowing that she is planning to get away, I swiftly move forth and wrap my arms around her body while she is still 'transforming', which surprisingly results in it being canceled. This reveals a dumbfounded Natsumi who is looking me right in the eyes with trepidation.

"Please let me go," she says after a few seconds of silence in a meek voice completely unlike the previous ones she has used until now.

"But you will run away if I do so," I say.

"Isn't that only to be expected?!" she blurts, "You're scary!"

"Am I now?" I whisper with a smile on my lips.

Instead of responding to me orally, Natsumi's turns to that of slight fear as she uses her power to direct the broom she is sitting on away from me.

"Stay away from me!" she yells before abruptly flying toward the sky.

"Shido!" Kotori's voice reaches my ears at this point, "Witch's favorability for you is currently very low. Don't chase after her."

"How low?" I ask, deciding that she is right this time. There isn't a point to back her into a corner on the very same day that I met her.

"She doesn't hate you or dislike you, but it's more inclined toward that," she responds.

"Alright. I'm going to return home," I say after letting out a small sigh.

---

Stepping into the living room, I find Tohka and Yoshino seated on the sofa, as usual, watching some soap opera.

Although it's more than a little concerning to let someone like Yoshino watch such a show, I can't just opt her out from one of the things she enjoys during her stay here.

Surely, this is better than being chased and hunted down in a large city for simply not being a human.

Shortly after I take a seat beside Yoshino, Kotori appears in the room with a complicated expression on her face as she stares at me.

"Is something wrong?" I question with a small smile on my lips.

"Can we talk?" she asks in a solemn tone.

Knowing that she is most likely going to be questioning my 'extreme' actions, I casually nod my head before patting Yoshino's head and proceeding to get up from the sofa.

As such, the two of us make our way to Kotori's room, after which she shuts the door and locks it.

Following that, the two of us take a seat on her bed as silence ensues with neither of us seeming to know what to say.

Well, that can't be helped, after all, not so long ago, I did more than a little damage to a group of humans. Heck, I'm wondering if they managed to live through.

As if reading my thoughts, Kotori's voice reaches my ears, "Luckily, they all managed to survive."

"That's good," I say as it would be bothersome for them to die out of blood loss, resulting in me potentially losing out on valuable information.

Letting out a small sigh, I proceed to ask, "You're doubtful of my actions, aren't you?"

Kotori doesn't hesitate to nod her head as she says, "Did you need to do all that? Couldn't you have just taken them down or, you know, scare them away like you did while protecting Hermit?"

"That would've been impossible," I reply nonchalantly, "They were aiming for me, so scaring them off was out of the question.

"Along with that matter, I was already planning to bring the matter to an abrupt end without much lethal injuries and whatnot, but upon finding out that they were targeting me, that was no longer an option."

"You used them," Kotori says as her eyes widen, "You used those group of girls as a warning..."

"That's right."

With that said, silence ensues once again for a few minutes before Kotori finally opens her mouth and states, "Actually, the reason I wished to talk to you wasn't that."

Oh? That's intriguing. What could be more interesting than that?

"That power you used in battle," she says, "What was it?"

Right. I should've expected this question. Still, what should I say? Setting all the real answers aside, I believe going for the simplest truthful response would be for the best.

"It was light," I say after a short while, "I can somewhat manipulate light."

Expectedly, an odd expression forms on Kotori's face as she asks, "Light? What are its uses?"

"Illusion and production of extremely effective weaponry made of pure light," I explain, "What I used back in the battle were small blades of light. I didn't know how effective they would be, so I was unable to limit them properly."

With this, Kotori should take it as me 'accidentally' having done what I did.

"I see," Kotori says before a red hue suddenly covers her face.

Knowing that she most likely just thought of something naughty, I grin as I reach my arm out to her face and gently stroke her cheek.

The moment I do so, Kotori's body jerks up from the bed as she fidgets slightly while saying, "We should go downstairs now. It's about time we had dinner."

"Alright," I say after chuckling for a few seconds before getting up from the bed as well.

While I'm at it, I might as well cook an extra portion for tonight's guest...