Something's wrong with how I'm watching anime.

Seeing Kazama return home, Cerberus closed the picture book in his hand, flapped his wings, and floated in mid-air.

"Ah."

Kazama nodded slightly, changed his shoes in the entryway, sat down on the sofa, and threw the plastic lunchbox into the trash can next to him.

Now, of course, we'll continue with the topics we didn't finish this morning.

With a wave of his hand, Kazama neatly arranged the fifty-two cards on the coffee table.

Seeing Kazama's stance, Cerberus spoke up:

"Shall we do today's divination?"

If you lack technical skills, make up for it with inspiration.

As Cerberus said, inspiration needs time to develop. Yesterday, for his dream divination last night, Kazama only tentatively used the Clow Cards twice.

My inspiration is at its peak today, so the first divination can certainly be used for more detailed predictions.

"Question: Are there still beings out there who have manifested their powers after going out of control?"

Kazama silently pondered the question in his mind, then closed his eyes.

The familiar feeling returned once again, and Kazama drew out the three Clow Cards that resonated strongly with him.

They are '击', '迷', and '锭' respectively.

The three cards represent the following imagery:

"Does it represent a target, chaos, and a realization of reality?"

Cerberus flew to Kazama's side, his expression grave as he looked at the three Clow Cards in Kazama's hand.

"These three cards..."

"Um...."

Kazama nodded.

"It seems that the situation has spiraled out of control once again."

Having already prepared himself mentally, he was not surprised by the result at all.

"However, we just finished searching for anime series yesterday, and everything is normal..."

"Cerberus spoke up."

But then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he changed the subject:

"Speaking of which... this morning you told me that there are things that exist in the main storyline, but whose manifestation in reality does not affect the existence of the story. Such things do exist."

"Yes..."

Kazama nodded.

"Substitutability".

"Even if an entity with substitutable properties in the story is manifested, we cannot observe it by whether the storyline changes."

"For example, an out-of-control object has the ability to almost create clones."

"Even if one clone is manifested, another clone will immediately take its place."

"A creature with this property does exist on my watchlist."

"Moreover, based on this possibility..."

Kazama let out a long breath.

"Considering the revelation from yesterday's dream, the images of 'sowing' and 'hatching' almost confirm what will emerge out of control after the parasite."

Kazama looked at Cerberus:

"Speaking of which, they are your kind."

"My kind?" Cerberus was taken aback and blurted out instinctively:

"Is it also a sealing beast that guards the magic seal?"

“No.” Kazama shook his head.

"What I mean is, it's a great partner for magical girls, just like you."

"Of course, the word 'good' should be removed."

"Magical girl...."

Kerberos shut his mouth.

Besides Cardcaptor Sakura, Kazama only has one other magical girl anime on his watchlist.

"Puella Magi Madoka Magica".

"The Incubator, Cupid".

Kazama revealed the answer.

"A shameless old thief who lures naive young girls into making contracts with them."

In the anime, Kyubey has been killed by Homura Akemi countless times, but as soon as one is killed, a new one will immediately take its place.

This race seems to have abandoned their physical bodies; their outward appearance is like 'clothes' to them, which they can change at will.

As he spoke, Kazama rubbed his temples.

If it is confirmed that the out-of-control entity is the incubator, then yesterday's dream can be interpreted in another way.

The seeds have been sown and have grown into white eggs—

This most likely means that the shameless old thief has now formed a contract with a young girl in the real world.

............

A red electric scooter for senior citizens was parked in front of a courtyard.

The rusty gate of the courtyard was half open, and a plaque hung on the pillar next to the gate—Xinghai City Lantian Children's Welfare Institute.

"Darling, we're home."

Li Yinghong pulled out the key, took off her glasses and put them into the box she carried with her, then turned to look at the back seat.

The not-so-spacious back seat was filled with some household items brought back from the hospital.

Chen Nan sat in the middle.

The fourteen-year-old girl had changed out of her hospital gown and into a pure white dress.

She held the bouquet of carnations given to her by Yunshan Wu in one hand and a black robot toy in the other.

When Li Yinghong spoke, Chen Nan was looking down at a spot on the footrest under the seat, seemingly muttering something to herself.

"Nanny?"

Upon seeing this, Li Yinghong couldn't help but speak again:

"Did something fall down there?"

Chen Nan snapped out of her daze, looked up, and flashed a bright, cheerful smile:

"No."

After saying that, she looked out the window again.

Because Li Yinghong honked the horn before parking, the people at the welfare home knew they had returned.

Led by a middle-aged woman, several teenagers ran out of the yard.

Seeing this, Chen Nan smiled and immediately got out of the car to greet him.

Upon seeing this, Li Yinghong shook her head and revealed a loving smile.

But remembering Chen Nan's appearance before, she couldn't help but lean out to look at the footrest of the back seat.

However, there was nothing there.

"Aunt Li."

As Chen Nan and the children returned to the yard, the middle-aged woman who had brought the children out also walked to the car.

"What's wrong?" the middle-aged woman asked when she saw Li Yinghong leaning towards the back seat.

"It's nothing," Li Yinghong shook her head.

"Ah Yue, help me move the things from the back seat inside."

................

Inside the welfare home, Chen Nan was surrounded by a group of children.

"Sister Nannan, are you alright now? Do you not need to go to that white place anymore?" asked the boy, who looked only eight or nine years old and was wearing a yellow vest.

“No need to go anymore,” Chen Nan replied with a smile.

"By the way, when Grandma Dean and I went out, were you all well-behaved? Did you make Aunt Yue angry?"

"No."

All the children shook their heads, but everyone's eyes were fixed on Chen Nan's left hand, on the black robot toy.

“That’s a good child.”

"You must be a good child..."

Chen Nan smiled and placed the toy in her hand into the boy's hand.

"This was given to me by a very beautiful and kind older sister. You can take it and play with it."

"Yay..."

The children cheered and started chasing each other around the yard, toys in hand.

Chen Nan went to a corner of the yard and sat on a swing hanging from the branches of a large banyan tree.

She lowered her head and looked at the amber-like, pale gold gemstone in her hand.

"Thank you, Cupid."

"You're welcome," a soft voice came from behind the banyan tree.