Miko was not someone easily shaken.

  Having faced her fair share of supernatural events, she had developed a sharp sense for distinguishing the strange from the mundane.

  At first, she did feel something was off about Tomie Kawakami.

  But after multiple observations and attempts to firm her suspis, she came to the clusion that Tomie was, in fact, human.

  "Tomie is a special kind of anomaly. She's both human and... not," Ryuji expined without much .

  He hadn't expected to enter someone like Tomie. Still, it didn't particurly surprise him.

  If anything, he suspected there would be more bizarre anomalies appearing iure.

  With that thought, Ryuji began to expin.

  "Tomie has two unique abilities. The first one is the charm you mentioned. It's an inexplicable allure that subtly influence people. The result? People bee obsessed with her—so much so that they eventually want to kill her."

  To be ho, Ryuji thought this charm ability was a strange sort of paradox.

  Even if someone knew about it, resisting its effects was almost impossible.

  "Kill her?"

  The girls in the Service Club looked fused.

  "Isn't a charm ability supposed to make people like her? Why would they want to kill her instead?"

  After all, what use is a charm ability if the e is getting murdered? It didn't make much sense.

  "That brings us to Tomie's sed ability," Ryuji said with a small smile, enjoying the girls' puzzled expressions.

  "In addition to her charm, Tomie has the ability of immortality. No matter how she dies, even if there's only a single cell or drop of blood left, she regee into a pletely omie."

  The room fell silent as they processed his words.

  "But this ability has its downside," Ryuji added.

  "Every omie that's created is an indepe individual. They won't work together. In fact, they see each other as rivals. The moment two Tomies meet, they'll try to kill each other, each wanting to be the 'real' Tomie."

  And because of their immortality, the more Tomies there were, the more flicts arose.

  "That's why some people say that entering oomie is the same as entering aire group of them."

  "Hiss…"

  The expnatio everyone, except for the ever-clueless Hana, visibly uled.

  The irls quickly realized just how dangerous and problematiie's abilities could be.

  "Does that mean Tomie ever truly die? That she'll just keep multiplying endlessly?"

  The thought was chilling. If this process tinued unchecked, the world could one day be overrun by Tomies.

  "Hahaha!"

  Ryuji ughed softly, his rexed demeanor easing the tension in the room.

  "For normal people, Tomie is nearly impossible to deal with. But for a sorcerer, she's nothing to worry about."

  While her abilities were undoubtedly straomie had no real bat capabilities. She was, at her core, just an ordinary high school girl physically.

  Take Ryuji as an example. With his multiple domains and teiques, dealing with Tomie would be as easy as flig a switch.

  "Oh, I see!"

  Hearing Ryuji's fidehe girls felt reassured.

  They didn't o fully uand Tomie's abilities. As long as Ryuji could handle her, there was o panic.

  "What about the Tomie in our css?" Miko asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

  After all, there was still a Tomie sitting among her cssmates.

  "Don't worry," Ryuji said, waving his hand dismissively.

  "There's no point in eliminating this particur Tomie. After all, we 't be certain if she's the 'inal.' But…" His eyes gleamed with i. "We bring her here. I'd like to see her for myself."

  He wasn't just curious about Tomie's abilities.

  Whether it was her regeive power or her charm, Ryuji couldn't help but wonder if there was something unique he could learn from her.

  "Well, that's settled then," Miko said, nodding in uanding.

  She didn't mind bringing Tomie to the Service Club. If Ryuji thought it was worth iigating, she trusted his judgment.

  "Alright, alright," Ryuji said with a smile, brushing the matter aside.

  For him, Tomie was just a minor curiosity, nothing worth stressing over.

  "Let's not dwell on Tomie anymore. I'm here, so there's o worry. Let's get back to discussing our hot spring trip!"

  He could sehat the atmosphere had grown a little teer all the talk about Tomie. It was time to lighten the mood.

  Hearing Ryuji's casual tohe girls couldn't help but ugh.

  "You're so reliable, Ryuji-kun!"

  "As long as you're around, nothing feels scary anymore!"

  "Hehe!"

  Listening to their cheerful chatter, Ryuji leaned ba his chair, a satisfied smile on his face.

  In the end, wasn't this why he sought to bee stroo proteents like these?

  He didn't bother joining the girls' discussion, tent to let them prip among themselves.

  ---

  Later that night.

  "Hot springs?"

  Mei Mei raised her eyebrows as she listeo Ryuji over the phone, her tone ced with intrigue.

  There was something pyful in her voice as she added, "Ryuji-kun, are you inviting me on a date?"

  As a fellow sorcerer, Mei Mei was often busy exorg cursed spirits. Free time was rare, and she didn't get to spend much of it with Ryuji.

  The idea of going to a hot spring together felt like a rare treat.

  "Well, if you think of it that way, then sure," Ryuji replied, his voice light and teasing.

  "But don't get the wrong idea. It's not just the two of us. It's going to be a crowd."

  "A crowd?" Mei Mei blinked, her tone shifting to surprise.

  She had been uhe impression that this would be a private outing, just the two of them.

  "Wait… who else is ing?"