Chapter 338: Chapter 338: A Setup?

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Seeing the small, dazed figure sprawled on the landing, a flicker of surprise crossed Haru’s face.

His attention had been entirely focused on Kohaku and Hisui’s soft assets… and the girl’s approach had been completely devoid of malice. That was the only reason he’d been caught so off guard.

Realizing he’d collided with someone—and an adorable loli at that—Haru immediately descended the stairs, rushing to her side.

“What happened? How did that child fall down the stairs?”

“That young man stopped, and the little girl wasn’t paying attention and ran right into him.”

“Where are her parents?? Why aren’t they watching their child?”

The parents on the landing crowded around, a murmur of discussion rippling through them.

Haru reached the girl, slid his hands under her neck and waist, and scooped her into his arms. Simultaneously, his perception swept over her small frame, checking for injuries.

“…Eh? Ah!” The little loli, realizing she’d been lifted, a dazed expression on her face, seemed to recall what had just happened.

She tilted her small head and asked, a hint of confusion in her voice, “Pain?”

Ignoring the girl’s strange behavior, Haru, through his perception, located the injury. His gaze sharpened. He brushed aside her shoulder-length, deep blue hair and felt the back of her head. Finding a small, swelling bump, his expression relaxed into one of relief.

Thanks to the fact that he’d only been on the third step, the girl behind him had only fallen from the second step to the landing. The back of her head had only bumped slightly; there was no concussion or any other serious injury.

Unseen by anyone, a healing spell was cast on the back of the girl’s head.

Under the blessing of his high-mystery magical power, the small bump instantly subsided, the area returning to a healthy state.

“It hurts…!!” A tearful, childish voice came from the girl in his arms. Her tear-streaked face, the sudden, pained cry—she was the very picture of a weak, injured little girl. A flawless performance.

Haru was instantly bewildered.

Did he mess up? Impossible!

Even a novice magus could quickly heal such an external injury—were the healing spells from countless worlds stored in his mind all fakes?

“What are you just standing there for? The little girl’s crying in pain!”

“Yeah, yeah, take her to the infirmary!!”

“Have you no common decency? The child is in pain!”

The onlooking parents, their faces filled with indignation, began to loudly berate Haru. Several of them rolled up their sleeves, and if not for their concern for the girl in his arms, fearing they might injure her, they probably would have already tried to snatch her away.

Haru scanned the girl dozens of times in an instant, confirming that the blue-haired loli in his arms had no external injuries. His lip twitched.

The accusations of the crowd, coupled with the loli’s exquisite pain-acting—Haru had the sudden urge to curse.

According to the usual script, someone should be rushing out right now, shouting, “You bumped into my daughter? Pay up! You’re not leaving without forking over a hundred grand!”

Yes, Haru suspected he was being set up. And by a ten-year-old loli, in a prestigious all-girls school, no less. Had the extortion racket gone international and started recruiting child members?

“Make way!” A bewitching voice suddenly came from above. The crowd surrounding Haru immediately parted, and Akiha Tohno pushed through, rushing to his side. She grabbed his hand and addressed the parents. “I’ll take them to the infirmary!”

Haru’s lip twitched, but he allowed Akiha to pull him up to the second floor.

As they passed Kohaku and Hisui, the two girls matched Haru’s pace, their faces filled with apology as they looked at the little loli in his arms.

“Does it still hurt? Where does it hurt? Can you tell us?”

“It hurts~!!!” The tearful voice continued to come from the little girl’s mouth.

Akiha, at the front, pushed open the door on the right, released Haru’s hand, and walked towards the back of the infirmary. “We’re here. I’ll get the medicine. Papa, you can put her on the bed.”

Haru walked to the left side of the room and, as he placed the little girl on the bed with its clean white sheets, said to Akiha, his tone strange, “Don’t bother with the medicine. I healed her the moment I touched her.”

“Huh?” Akiha, who had been rummaging through cabinets for medicine, froze on the spot. She trusted Haru implicitly. If he said so, then the girl’s injuries were indeed healed.

Then why… was she still crying in pain? Akiha turned, a bewildered look on her face as she stared at the crying little girl on the bed.

Kohaku and Hisui, who had been comforting the girl, their faces filled with surprise, both placed their hands on the girl’s, their perception flowing. The next second, they looked at each other and said in unison,

“No external injuries?” X2

“It hurts!!!!” the little loli wailed, her tear-streaked face a perfect picture of misery.

The expressions on everyone’s faces turned—strange.

Haru’s lip twitched as he carefully examined the little loli before him.

About eleven or twelve years old, with shoulder-length, deep blue hair. From her earlier embrace and cries, Haru could tell her voice was clear and her body soft.

Though her expression was somewhat contorted by her crying, it didn’t detract from her exquisitely cute face, the kind that would inspire a protective instinct in any red-blooded gentleman.

In fact, her tear-streaked appearance was enough to evoke a feeling of pity and tenderness in anyone, regardless of age.

“Such a pretty little thing, and already a thief of hearts!” Haru muttered, pressing a hand to his forehead with a soft sigh.

Pat! Pat!

“Alright, alright, stop crying. You’re not in pain at all, are you?” Haru walked up to the little loli, his hands clapping softly, his tone flat.

The crying stopped abruptly.

The little loli instantly ceased her tears, replaced by an endearingly blank expression.

“How did you know I wasn’t in pain?” she asked, her voice a clear, childish chime.

“Huh?” Haru’s face contorted in a strange expression of disbelief. “You knew you weren’t in pain, and you were still crying?”

“…Because when you fall, it’s supposed to hurt, right? And when it hurts, you’re supposed to cry?” the little loli asked, a puzzled look on her face.

“You felt like it should hurt? So you cried?” Haru’s expression grew even stranger as he looked at the blue-haired loli.

’Wait, blue hair? Pain?’ Haru’s pupils contracted. He narrowed his eyes and, with the kind expression of a creepy uncle, asked, “Little one, what’s your name?”

The little loli tilted her head, looking at the suddenly-changed Haru with confusion. After a moment, she said, her voice crisp and clear,

“Asagami… Asagami Fujino.”

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