บท 1184: -1169- The unknown witch
"I say, Nichiyo, what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
When Tokoyogi Yuuma and the girls were in a commotion, Rozen found an opportunity to pull Kojou out and let him complain out loud.
It could be seen that, although Kojou wasn't as excited as Nagisa to see their childhood playmate after such a long time, he still wanted to catch up with Tokoyogi Yuuma.
That's understandable.
But...
"I have something I want to ask you."
Rozen sighed and looked at Kojou.
"Is Tokoyogi Yuuma really your childhood friend?"
After careful consideration of his words, Rozen chose to phrase it this way.
"Huh?" Kojou furrowed his brow. "Why do you ask?"
At these words, Rozen pondered for a moment, then, as if too lazy to come up with an excuse, he spoke directly.
"Actually, I once knew a witch who was a past friend of Natsuki-nee." Rozen said, "Her name was Tokoyogi Aya, and she looks exactly like your childhood playmate."
"What...?" Kojou was astonished.
But at the same time, Kojou also realized.
"No wonder you've been acting strange towards Yuuma since earlier. So, that's the reason?"
Kojou understood this first.
"Otherwise, do you think I'm really interested in your childhood friend?" Rozen was a bit annoyed.
"Well, that's true." Kojou scratched his head.
If others saw Kojou's reaction, they would probably roll their eyes.
After all, Tokoyogi Yuuma, although a bit tomboyish, was undeniably a stunning beauty, tall and curvaceous, with a beautiful face that could charm both men and women. If she appeared at Saikai Academy, she would undoubtedly be second only to Rozen in popularity.
And for a childhood playmate who was so beautiful and charismatic, hearing someone say they weren't interested in her, and Kojou brushing it off with a "well, that's true," was completely clueless to the point of being ridiculous. If he were the protagonist in a typical light novel, he would definitely be the type to get scolded to death by others every day.
However, for Kojou, who had been playing with Tokoyogi Yuuma since childhood, perhaps he was really accustomed to her and didn't think she was so attractive.
So, Kojou immediately understood why Rozen had dragged him out.
"Are you doubting Yuuma's identity?" Kojou's expression seemed somewhat serious.
This was also the reason why Rozen didn't talk to Nagisa but directly dragged Kojou out.
After all, if one's friend doubted their childhood playmate, anyone would feel uncomfortable.
Especially Nagisa, who was kind-hearted, lively, and valued friendship greatly. She also had great trust and even reliance on Rozen. If Rozen directly expressed his doubts about her childhood friend, Nagisa's personality would probably be greatly affected.
"I don't want my suspicions to cause a crisis in the relationship between Nagisa and your childhood friend because I can see that your feelings are genuine." Rozen spoke sincerely, looking directly at Kojou.
"Therefore, I hope you can tell me about Tokoyogi Yuuma and clear up my doubts."
Rozen's words were not false.
Seeing the interaction between the Akatsuki siblings and Tokoyogi Yuuma, Rozen really didn't want his suspicions to ruin their relationship.
But at the same time, if Tokoyogi Yuuma was a witch and had an unusual relationship with Tokoyogi Aya, Rozen needed to find out if she had ulterior motives for approaching the Akatsuki siblings and why she came to this island.
Previously, the anomalies that occurred on Itogami Island were not something Rozen considered worth his full attention.
Although there was a spatial anomaly, it didn't really concern Rozen. Even though he was a formal Attack Mage, he wasn't a government-appointed one.
Even if he was a private Attack Mage and received a formal commission from the government with compensation, he would only resolve the incident for a reward. Otherwise, as a private Attack Mage, he had no obligation to help others without compensation.
Given this, it was a problem for the Artificial Island Management Cooperative to solve. Rozen had no goodwill towards the Management Cooperative, so there was no need to help them solve the incident.
If he hadn't thought that people around him might be involved, if he couldn't contact Natsuki, and if Rozen hadn't felt something was off, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to meet with La Folia to gather information.
Even La Folia treated this matter as merely something interesting, which also indicated that she didn't take it to heart.
It wasn't until Rozen learned that this matter was related to the LCO and to Natsuki that he finally took it seriously. He went to the Keystone Gate and finally learned that this matter was extraordinary.
At the same time, he learned that the opponent was coming after him and was a rather formidable presence.
This made Rozen realize that he had to take action. Even La Folia realized the seriousness of the situation and had gone back to mobilize the Holy Knight Order and the Artificial Island Management Cooperative for negotiations. This showed that the opponent this time was indeed formidable and that the princess couldn't continue playing around.
Since that was the case, Rozen also needed to figure things out.
To understand whether Tokoyogi Yuuma was the instigator of this incident.
Rozen suspected...
"That book, 'No. 539,' is very likely being used by Tokoyogi Yuuma."
For this reason, Rozen needed to understand Tokoyogi Yuuma's background.
I believe even Kojou could sense this sentiment from Rozen's attitude, right?
"...Even if you say that, nothing special has happened between me, Nagisa, and Yuuma."
After sighing helplessly, Kojou said this.
"The reason we know Yuuma is because when we were kids, we used to play in the nearby forest and built a secret base there, and Yuuma lived in that forest. We just happened to meet, and then we played together and stuck together."
This was a childhood experience that everyone had, playing with kids from the neighborhood and growing up together, eventually becoming irreplaceable friends.
"But now that I think about it, we've never been to Yuuma's house. We've only heard from Yuuma that her family seems to have strict tutors and servants at home, and they wouldn't allow Yuuma to bring friends over. So we've never been to Yuuma's house."
At this point, Kojou also felt puzzled.
"Could it be that Yuuma is really a witch, and her family has some connection with Natsuki-chan?"
Upon hearing Kojou's words, Rozen also fell silent.
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