The Water Mirror, having finished accumulating divine power, was first decided to be tested by Peach.
While Silvia’s child-rearing days were mostly over, for Peach, it was just beginning.
Therefore, since she didn’t know when she would be able to come to the management layer next, Peach was prioritized.
Silvia, having raised two children, understood this well.
She easily allowed Peach to be prioritized and returned to her private room in the management layer, saying she would do something else.
Then, Kousuke, who had been watching Peach start using the Water Mirror, judged that his presence here wouldn’t be of any help and headed to the laboratory to do his own work, just like Silvia.
As Kousuke was engrossed in reading books related to magic in the laboratory, Silvia entered the room.
“Huh? What’s up? That’s rare.”
Except for Kouhi, Mitsuki, and Isunani, most of the women, including Silvia, rarely entered the laboratory.
It wasn’t that their entry was forbidden, but rather that the laboratory was considered separate from Kousuke’s workspace.
However, it’s just that they rarely entered; the entrance wasn’t locked, and they could come and go freely.
Even now, Silvia had entered the room after knocking on the door.
…Kouhi was the one who responded, and Kousuke himself was so absorbed in his book that he didn’t notice.
Silvia cut to the chase after confirming that Kousuke had looked up from his book and was looking at her.
“Peach seems to have found a new way to use it immediately. If you have time…”
“I’m going.”
Kousuke stood up immediately without letting Silvia finish speaking.
It was partly because it was a good point to interrupt the conversation, but more than that, he was interested in the divine tool.
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Upon entering the room where Peach was, Kousuke immediately noticed a change in the Water Mirror.
After all, the Water Mirror was faintly glowing. There was no way he wouldn’t notice.
The light wasn’t harsh enough to sting his eyes; it somehow reminded Kousuke of the light emitted by spirits.
“It’s glowing wonderfully. Or is it only me who can see it?”
To Kousuke’s tentative question, both Peach and Silvia shook their heads.
“As soon as I started consciously using divine power, it became like this~. The light itself didn’t cause anything in particular, so I didn’t report it, but was that bad?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
Kousuke shook his head in response to Peach’s words.
There was nothing special happening, and if she reported just the glow, there was nothing Kousuke could do about it.
It wasn’t that reporting it was wrong, but rather that the response would likely end with just “Understood.”
Peach, looking relieved by his words, shifted her gaze from Kousuke to the Water Mirror.
“So, one confirmation needed, Mr. Kousuke, can you see what’s reflected in the Water Mirror’s water~?”
To Peach’s question, Kousuke blinked his eyes twice, then looked at the water in the Water Mirror.
There, he could see a landscape reflected, like a photograph or a painting.
“…Huh? Is this the temple? Ah, perhaps, this daughter is Silvia!?”
Kousuke exclaimed involuntarily with a loud voice, and Peach nodded vigorously.
“So you can see it after all, Mr. Kousuke. As you imagined, it seems to be Silvia~.”
“So that’s how it was. By the way, what do you mean by ‘after all’?”
Kousuke tilted his head at Peach’s remark, which implied that others couldn’t see it.
Regarding Kousuke, Silvia provided an answer.
“Um, Peach told me to look, but I don’t see anything in particular.”
“Eh, really?”
Since Kousuke could clearly see the scenery reflected in the Water Mirror’s water, he assumed everyone could see it.
Kouhi, who had accompanied Kousuke, was immediately asked to confirm as well, but she replied that like Silvia, she couldn’t see anything.
“Hmm. Is it only Peach and I who can see it? I have a vague idea why, but what’s the meaning of that?”
It was speculated that Peach could see it because she was the one who projected the scene into the Water Mirror, and Kousuke could see it because he was an Avatar connected to the Water Mirror.
However, Kousuke was more concerned about why it was deliberately made visible only to a limited number of people.
“Isn’t it more likely that you’re mistaken to think there’s a meaning to it?”
“You mean?”
Kousuke tilted his head at Silvia’s words.
“Currently, it seems to be an ordinary scene, but if it were an important place, there might be a reason to hide it.”
“Ah, I see. Come to think of it, I haven’t asked what kind of place it is that’s being shown right now.”
“This is probably a scene from Silvia’s past~.”
Kousuke responded with “Oh” to Peach’s answer.
From Silvia’s small figure reflected, he had imagined it was an old scene, but now it was confirmed.
“Still…”
“?”
“As expected, or rather, I don’t know how to put it, but Silvia, you were cute when you were little.”
“Eh!? Ah! W-wait a moment!”
To Kousuke’s heartfelt words, Silvia flushed and tried to cover the Water Mirror with her palm, but of course, hiding it like that was meaningless due to its size.
“You think so too, don’t you~?”
As Silvia flustered, Peach nodded broadly with a smirk.
Kousuke and Peach, who had the rare opportunity to see a teary-eyed Silvia, began to discuss the continuation as if nothing had happened.
“You’ve checked other scenes besides this one, right?”
“Of course~. I’ve confirmed that they project properly.”
“Oh. Scenes from when Peach was little? I bet she was cute too.”
“Hmm. I wonder? In the past, I tried not to show my emotions~.”
Peach, who was trying not to outwardly express her charm, had also restricted herself from outwardly expressing her emotions.
Therefore, Peach had a self-awareness of having a very expressionless face and didn’t think she was as cute as Silvia.
“Well, if I can see it, I’d like to see it. You can project it, right?”
“Of course I can, but I don’t think it’s very interesting~?”
“No! It is interesting. Let’s see it right away!”
Silvia, who couldn’t see it herself, inexplicably joined Kousuke and Peach’s conversation.
It seemed she was embarrassed that Kousuke had seen her past appearance alone.
Ultimately, overwhelmed by Silvia’s enthusiasm, Peach projected her own past appearance in the Water Mirror.
“This is when Peach was little. What? You’re cute, aren’t you?”
“Cute, you say? That’s harsh~.”
Peach replied with a subtle expression to Kousuke’s comment.
“No, because you yourself said you had a lack of expression. You don’t look like that at all?”
“Thank you~.”
Unlike Silvia, Peach showed no particular signs of embarrassment, which made Silvia look unconvinced.
“Silvia, what’s wrong?”
“…Nothing. More importantly, what was Mr. Kousuke like when he was little?”
“Me? Well, I don’t mind projecting it, but I don’t know if it will show up in the first place?”
In Kousuke’s case, while his soul was from his previous world, his body was prepared by Asura.
If the condition for reflection in the Water Mirror depended on the body rather than the soul, there was a higher possibility that it wouldn’t show up.
In the end, Kousuke’s past was successfully projected in the Water Mirror.
Peach looked at the unseen scenery reflected with great interest.
However, it was only much later that everyone realized the conversation had significantly deviated from the original topic of Peach discovering a new way to use the Water Mirror.
I ended up writing this even though I wondered if there was any demand for such a story. Please forgive this occasional glimpse into daily life.
