Ch.220220. This is annoying.

“Want to put it on?”

“This… now?”

I questioned it, but since it’s a gift from Blanc, I can’t refuse to try it on.

The jewel covering the pendant glows with a pink light.

Click. When I insert it into the empty part of the necklace, it feels slightly heavier, and I can sense magic enveloping my body.

“How is it?”

“The feel isn’t bad. Not heavy either. But there’s something strange about the magical sensation, how should I put it?”

“It’s because our magic is flowing into your body, just a little bit. More precisely, it’s flowing, right? The magic emanating from the crystal slightly courses through your body.”

“Well… how should I say it. It’s strange.”

“That’s a shame. It would have been nice if you were dyed a bit more with my color.”

…That remark about being a shame.

Does she mean she wants to put her magic into my body?

“There are other ways to inject magic besides… that. It’s fine for now though.”

“What do you mean ‘fine’? What are you thinking to come up with such thoughts?”

“Nothing much. Ah, this makes it feel like you’ve become a bit more Yuri’s sister’s possession.”

“It doesn’t matter since you’ve given me more. And… Yuri is also…”

“Well, that’s true. It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m not upset. I actually like it. I envy big sister.”

The way Blanc speaks while looking at Yuri really conveys that she’s genuinely okay with it.

It seems fine for now, but…

“Hey.”

“Huh? Ellie…?”

“Come to think of it, this is ridiculous. I’m also Blanc’s slave in a way, right?”

“…Huh?”

“I know you haven’t forgotten. The contract magic.”

“…Ah.”

Blanc looks at Ellie beside me with a questioning expression.

Beside me, Ellie fiddles with my hair, playing with it like a cat with yarn, never leaving it alone for a moment. She is indeed contractually subordinate to Blanc.

“Come to think of it, my magic has already been completely tainted by Yunseul, making it impure…”

Hearing Ellie’s statement.

“What are you talking about…”

“Why? I just thought that my magic has already been tainted by Ms. Yunseul, who criticized Bine’s magic.”

“Huh…? Then, am I… Yunseul’s…?”

“What are you saying, sister…?”

When Yunseul’s trembling voice is directed at Blanc, Blanc asks back.

“Well… I belong to Ellie…?”

“That’s different from what you said…”

“But still, I’m truly Ellie’s…? Since Ellie and Bine… have me.”

“…Sister?”

I call out to Yuri, seemingly disgusted by her sincere voice, but.

“Mmm. Then, would Yunseul like to be my master too?”

“What are you saying…”

Unable to handle Yuri’s sincerity, she looks at me instead of Yuri.

“Anyway. This should be enough to cover it. If it’s heavy, I can make it fit other accessories too. No, a chain… would you prefer a necklace?”

“What?”

“Or I’ll get you a box… I’ll bring one from somewhere. You can put it in there and… yes, carry it around.”

“Well… I understand for now…?”

Her mind seems jumbled from Yuri’s earlier statement. Looking at Ellie unnecessarily.

“Because you said such things, Yuri sister…”

“Well, it’s true.”

“What is?”

“That Yuri is mine. I won’t give her to anyone except Bine.”

“…Are you serious? Oh, you are serious…?”

“Of course. Naturally. She came to me begging me to take her. How could I refuse? And I don’t let go of what’s in my hands.”

“…I wasn’t planning to take her away?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, do as you please…”

The expression of disgust now extends even to Ellie.

“Let’s end the examination here. Oh, right. The analysis of your tail components is almost complete.”

Blanc brings up a different topic, perhaps thinking it’s pointless to continue this line of conversation.

“The tail… You said there was a risk of brainwashing again.”

“The input interface on Bine’s side and those parts are fine. Ellie took care of everything… But, the tail has volume, you know?”

“Well… it’s important since it’s a device that connects to the spine.”

“Right. So we analyzed it thoroughly too. You brought other tails as well, right?”

“…Ah.”

“Well… After analyzing those, fortunately, Ellie just needs to adjust a few communication devices.”

“Wait… by adjust, you don’t mean disable, right?”

“No. It’s more like… Ellie has taken control of them.”

Ellie, finding Blanc’s explanation too vague:

“Why are you being so evasive? We’ve deleted some safety measures the doctor installed in the tail, and we’re completely controlling the authority from our side because it could be dangerous for Bine otherwise.”

“…Huh?”

“Now Bine is destined to be brainwashed by us.”

Ellie…? What do you mean by brainwashing?

“Well. We’re going to make you a girl who only looks at us and can never do anything else.”

“…Wasn’t that work already in progress?”

Looking at these women around me…

“Is that so?”

“Do you really need to brainwash with the tail…”

“…Hypnosis play. Isn’t it nice?”

“What are you really talking about?”

“Have you ever thought about changing common sense? Things like that.”

“No, what have you been… Are you watching strange things on the internet?”

“Come on. It’s not strange.”

“It’s definitely strange, Ellie… Hypnosis and brainwashing…”

“You’ve been brainwashed before, right? And had your common sense altered. If we use this well…”

“Don’t even think about using it. I’ll really get angry if you do.”

“Would I do it? Of course not. Though I could if you wanted me to, Bine. Hehehe.”

“No. I’m firmly saying no.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Really.

It’s not like I can block her from using the internet.

What am I…

What I read during my school days, what my friends were looking at…

Is that what she’s thinking about?

“And I’m going to banish the doctor.”

“…What?”

“I’ll blast him away with my own hands. At least I can’t kill him. I’ll banish him to the outer dimensional world.”

“…You don’t need to dirty your hands.”

“Well, what can I do? You don’t have the technology to open doors, right?”

“…More importantly, what if the doctor escapes?”

“With that weak body, he’ll probably be torn apart by the monsters in there before he can do anything.”

“He’s a monster in his own way. We don’t know what might happen. He might do something in his final struggle before death, or what if he escapes from that dimension and comes back?”

“That won’t happen if we randomize the dimensional coordinates…”

“…What if he meets someone like Baal again?”

“That doctor?”

I asked Ellie with a voice full of concern.

“Well… I can’t prevent that.”

“…What?”

“Actually, throwing him into the dimensional gap is to prevent him from coming back here.”

“…What about just killing him?”

“Do you think we can kill him? Hanging, beheading, shooting. You know none of those will work.”

“If a magical girl…”

“…You know that too. You’ve been hurt by Blanc, but you’ve never been annihilated, right?”

“A small-fry monster would be annihilated… isn’t the doctor at that level?”

“He’s lived a long time, in his own way.”

“…He’s not small-fry level.”

“Still, he’s not executive level. He’s so weak.”

“Thinking he’s not is a mistake. How ambitious is that person? Someone who doesn’t see people as people, but as tools.”

“He’s like Baal.”

“He might be even more vicious and cruel. Baal moved only for his own power, but this one moved to survive. With that brain of his.”

“…So it’s more troublesome and difficult?”

“Well, that’s why we can’t say there’s absolutely no possibility of him surviving. That’s all the more reason to blast him beyond the dimensional gap.”

“The low possibility of return…”

“We don’t need to keep the risk on our Earth. At the very least, we’ll probably disable his limbs before sending him. We could also discard him in core state.”

“What about Baal?”

“…That’s…”

Here, Ellie’s words trailed off.

Baal.

Yes, Baal… from Ellie’s perspective, he was truly a lord she served for a very long time.

Anyway, unlike me who was brainwashed for over ten years, Ellie at least…

Well, not all of that brainwashing was applied to me either; it infiltrated me weakly, little by little.

In the end, it’s my fault.

For Ellie, at least…

It’s a difficult issue.

“We decided to store just the core separately.”

“…That’s completely different from the doctor?”

The one who answered was Blanc.

Indeed, Blanc is the one with the decision-making power now.

“This side’s risk can be considered lower. Maybe the other world can solve the problem for us.”

“…You’re an annoying white cat, aren’t you?”

“Still, that’s not how you should talk about someone who’s going to be your lover now.”

“What does it matter? Just a useless fur-shedding nuisance… Ack?!”

A small animal’s paw that has quietly approached behind me taps the back of my head.

“Better a useless fur-shedding nuisance than a bad villain who needlessly dirties the floor!”

“Now the mascot is hitting people!!”

“I got permission.”

“What…?”

“It’s a condition for me to return to my original world whenever you do strange things, so it’s good for both of us, isn’t it?”

“Strange things…?”

“Well. Should I spell it out?”

“…No, I think it’s better not to.”

“You’re making one big misunderstanding. I’ve got leverage over you now.”

“…Blanc. Can’t we do something about this annoying cat?”

All I can do is talk to Blanc.

It’s true that this annoying cat has leverage over me.

“Stop fighting, you two.”

“No, that cat openly started it first!”

“What? Well, who told you to do things that give others leverage?”

“You!”

“Gabriel, that’s enough. You know you’re insulting me too, right?”

“…Ah.”

“If you know, be quiet.”

“…Yes.”

With just one word from Blanc, the cat quietly lies down by the window.

…How annoying.