Irene, who was often called to help out at the Magic Club, couldn't really be said to have any particular mastery over magic.
On the contrary, her magical talent was actually quite average. Within all of Fusion Academy, she was just slightly above the dian.
But magical expertise and talent weren't the deciding factors when it ca to potion mixing. What mattered more was strong ntal fortitude and intense concentration.
And when it ca to willpower and focus, those were exactly Irene's specialties.
Just how strong was Irene's ntal resilience, for a regular student?
On the day they broke into the rear mountain, soone like Mizuki, another normal student, couldn't last even two rounds in the Shadow Ga before collapsing.
Yet Irene gritted her teeth and held out through several rounds, even managing to duel back and forth with Barrier Mage gan until Miles and Aisha made it back in ti.
As for concentration, another of Irene's strong suits...
Lately, however, Irene had been feeling increasingly out of sorts.
She was struggling to maintain high-level focus.
Every ti she tried to concentrate on sothing, a voice would spring up in her mind, disrupting her ntal clarity.
"Leave it to , Ren."
"This is our victory. You can be a little prouder, Ren."
No matter how hard she tried to avoid thinking about it, the scenes from that night would resurface now and then in Irene's mind.
And every ti they did, her cheeks would flush and burn, making it impossible to focus.
Sure, today's failure in brewing the transformation potion was partly due to the three earthquakes.
But being honest with herself, Irene knew that even if there hadn't been those unavoidable interruptions, she probably still wouldn't have succeeded in her current state.
She had been acting far too strange lately.
At the root of it all was Miles's arrival, which had completely disrupted the rhythm of her daily life.
Only the one who tied the bell can untie it.
So after a night of agonizing indecision, Irene made up her mind.
Tomorrow, the Magic Club would make one final attempt at brewing the transformation potion to enhance card effects. There would be no more chances to ss it up.
Aisha was her best friend.
Miles was Aisha's friend.
A friend's friend would surely help out in a ti of need, right?
For the success of the experint, she had to rely on Miles's unshakable ntal strength—even the Shadow Ga couldn't phase him.
And for her own sake, so she wouldn't keep being distracted every ti she tried to concentrate, she had to find a way to overco this hurdle.
…
"Huh?"
Hearing Irene's request, Aisha was instantly dumbfounded.
Her bright green eyes blinked in confusion as if wondering if sothing was wrong with her hearing.
"Ren-chan, what did you just ask ?"
"Let borrow Miles for a day."
"No no no, I ant the question before that."
"Aren't we best friends?"
"No."
"Ugh… Even if you're joking, that's so an, Aisha!"
Inside the Soul Room of the Millennium Puzzle, Miles was also surprised and curious about Irene's request at first.
But then, a silvery laugh suddenly ca from beside him, drawing his attention even more.
"Hahahaha, well said!"
Squatting for a while, Dark Aisha suddenly burst into inexplicable laughter, looking unusually adorable.
Combined with Aisha's devilish quip from earlier...
Sure enough, now that she had accepted her darker half, Aisha Carlos had changed a little. At the very least, she wasn't that overly accommodating girl anymore, the one who used to agree to everything too easily.
"Ren-chan, you're the one being outrageous. What do you an, borrow Miles? Miles-san isn't an object!"
"Ah... sorry, I was just in a rush and didn't explain it properly."
Irene tapped her red-haired head and imdiately defaulted to cute mode to dodge punishnt, then explained in full her plan to borrow Miles's imnse willpower to help mix the test potion.
"Really? You really just want to ask Miles-san to help out at the Magic Club?"
Aisha was skeptical. She had half a mind to say that if it was just about using ntal strength to mix potions via physical control, she could do that herself.
Albeit, then she rembered her nearly magic-less talent level, and figured even if she volunteered, she'd probably just be a burden.
"It's true, Aisha. If we fail again tomorrow, everyone might lose faith and give up on the experint."
Irene clasped her hands together in a sincere plea, without a trace of ulterior motive.
"To change card effects through magical potions—if this experint works, it could mark a whole new chapter in Fusion Academy's history!"
"...I didn't really get all that, but it sounds impressive."
Since Irene had gone this far, all the pressure now shifted to Aisha.
On a small scale, Irene's three failed experints today were partly Aisha's fault.
On a larger scale, if her possessiveness toward Miles caused a potentially history-making experint to fail, wouldn't that make her a villain for the ages?
"No way, I can't decide this on my own. I have to ask Miles-san for his opinion."
In the end, Aisha handed the choice over to Miles.
"Using magic to print card effects, huh? Sounds interesting. I'm in!"
Of course, when it ca to anything card-related, Aisha had long since foreseen that Miles would never refuse.
Still, even knowing that in advance, she couldn't help feeling a bit sour inside.
Just like that night, when she had to cast away the Millennium Puzzle to save Irene—a pang of loss all over again.
"Alright then, since Miles-san agreed too. Tomorrow for the Magic Club's eting, I'll go with you."
...
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