Chapter 241: Hiyori: That's a bit mean...!

"Two weeks without exams… and the next one is straight to the finals?"

Hearing Ichinose's last words, Chris was secretly delighted, but he still knit his brows slightly and played dumb.

Beside him, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's eyes flickered with surprise.

"When we left the Black Sphere Space, the Black Sphere never gave us so much as a hint about suspending exams."

"And now it suddenly changes the setup… Could there be some hidden reason behind this?"

Faced with their questions, Honami Ichinose shook her head lightly.

"Actually, Student Council President Nagumo just told me all of this. I'm only passing it along."

Ichinose sighed. "If it's really as President Nagumo says, then I think… the school or the Black Sphere will send us an official written notice before long."

Amasawa Ichika leaned against a nearby equipment rack, idly twirling one of her wine-red twin tails around a finger.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke.

"Sure, no Black Sphere exams means everyone can stop living in fear every day… but when you really think about it, that's hardly a good thing, is it?"

"Exactly."

Suzune Horikita rubbed her chin with one hand and picked up the thread.

"We already know our time is limited, and we have the earlier midterm Uninhabited Island exam as a cautionary example."

"Not just us. Most people won't be able to take part in the regular Black Sphere exams, so we can't steadily earn S Points in the exam grounds to upgrade our gear and strength. That's basically boiling the frog slowly."

Suzune swept her gaze over the group, her tone cold. "I don't believe the monsters we face in the final exam will still top out at a hundred or two hundred points like they do now."

"By then we might be up against the God of War, or even… Zetton!"

The moment she said it, the mood grew even heavier.

Honami Ichinose saw this and hurried to explain.

"About earning points, please don't be too pessimistic yet."

"President Nagumo and the others have already confirmed it with the presiding god."

"The presiding god's answer was that during these two weeks, as long as we successfully hunt monsters, the kill data will be counted in real time toward the S Points system on our Black Sphere Watches, even if it isn't in an official exam ground."

"But to hunt monsters…" Nanase Tsubasa frowned. "There aren't any monsters for us to kill in the real world."

"Which means the only option is to find a way into the Backrooms, right?"

"Honestly, if you look on the bright side, being allowed to use Black Sphere items inside the Backrooms is already a kind of privilege."

Amikura Mako let out a soft sigh. As Ichinose's right-hand woman, she always looked at problems from a practical angle.

"Think about it. At the very least, the presiding god didn't pin us down in school, leaving us to slowly raise the strength of only a handful of people through whatever extra classes the school adds and the limited number of Hyperbolic Time Chamber slots. Now we at least have the option of going on the offensive."

As the discussion gradually found its footing,

Chris spoke up at the right moment to steer the topic.

"Hunting monsters for points is important, sure."

"But what I think we should care about more right now is confirming whether the S Points earned in the Backrooms can actually be used right away once the system credits them to our accounts."

Chris's gaze swept over Ichinose and Horikita.

"Otherwise, even if the presiding god gives everyone this chance to get stronger in the Backrooms, there's no way we can roll this out across the whole year."

"Without real-time feedback that boosts our combat power, nobody can survive in a despairing place like that on empty promises alone. Pie in the sky doesn't keep people going."

Honami Ichinose nodded firmly.

"Kiryuuin-senpai considered that too."

"The presiding god explained that during these two weeks we can look for the Mysterious Merchant and buy items freely, and that spending and earning S Points both refresh in real time."

Ichinose's face showed a wry smile.

"But when Kiryuuin-senpai pushed further and asked how exactly to find the Mysterious Merchant in the Backrooms, the presiding god had no intention of explaining anything more."

"When their time ran out, it just sent them straight out of the Presiding God's Space."

Once she finished, everyone traded blank looks.

That was like handing over a shop system while hiding the shop's address.

Or like giving you a model kit and leaving you to hunt down the pieces and put it together yourself.

Kouenji Rokusuke casually flicked his golden bangs, seemingly unbothered.

"Hahaha… Isn't that just telling us outright that if we want to buy things, we have to go find the Mysterious Merchant in the Backrooms ourselves?"

"I only wonder whether the item list in that Lady of Clockwork's shop will change over the two weeks…"

Chris rubbed his chin, pretended to ponder for a moment, then settled it.

"No amount of guessing here will get us an answer."

"Tell you what. Tomorrow, when Koro Sensei and Gojo-sensei arrive, we'll ask them about the details."

"They're special beings the Black Sphere reached out to directly and made an exception to hire as our teachers. They might know some inside information we can't get at."

Honami Ichinose picked it up.

"Then I'll use tonight to compile everything we learned today and post it in each class's group chat."

"I want the students and teachers to all know about this ahead of time."

"That way nothing unexpected will waste our time when we actually go into the Backrooms."

"After all, if we can't use items, the only ways we can get into the Backrooms are to ask the school for help, or rather… to ask the people behind the school."

"You needn't worry about that."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at Ichinose, his face expressionless.

"Most of the world's higher-ups and politicians are shortsighted maggots."

"But under pressure this widespread, where failure means the entire world goes down with them and no one can truly escape it… the survival instinct they'll show will exceed your imagination."

Kouenji Rokusuke burst into delighted laughter, generous with his agreement.

"Hahaha! Ayanokōji boy's words are a tiny bit blunt and harsh on the ears."

"But it can't be denied that a living creature's instincts don't change with social standing."

"Before death, tycoons and commoners are equally ugly and equally desperate."

Ryūji Kanzaki: …

He had the strange feeling he'd just been called out.

…

After compiling the intel they'd bought with S Points from the Black Sphere and the presiding god, the group had no more reason to linger in the gym.

Only Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Kouenji Rokusuke, who seemed to have other plans, stayed behind to wait and talk with Ryuuen.

Everyone else said their goodbyes with tacit understanding and headed home.

The sheer volume of information they'd just taken in, plus the pressure of the next two weeks sitting on their hearts like a mountain, had an effect.

Even Kei Karuizawa, who usually clung to Chris more than anyone, and Suzune Horikita, who always tried to find him after class to "discuss" swordsmanship, were too heavy-hearted to chat with him this time.

Both girls left the gym early, their faces openly weary.

In the end, the only one walking with Chris down the tree-lined path back to the dorms was Hiyori Shiina.

She'd had a short rest in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, so her spirits were relatively good, but the bigger reason was obvious: she had only just shared an honest heart-to-heart with Chris.

Once a girl's defenses come down, the instinct to move closer is hard to suppress.

The evening wind brushed through the leaves along the road, rustling softly.

True, the presiding god had just used Miyabi Nagumo's mouth to deliver everyone a terrible piece of news.

But from another angle, this suffocating feeling of the whole world being driven into a corner, in the eyes of a literary girl like Hiyori Shiina…

carried a certain tint of destiny.

"A girl's sentiments always run to poetry."

Hiyori Shiina walked half a step behind Chris, gazing softly at the broad back of the boy ahead of her.

Somewhat dreamily, she thought to herself:

What if, just what if, the world truly couldn't be saved in the end and fell into total silence…

Then, as souls after death, would they break through every rule binding earthbound spirits at the moment the world collapsed, find each other again amid the ruins of the starry sea, and huddle close together?

"Perhaps… when everything has returned to nothing, Chris-kun will belong completely, entirely to me alone…"

As for the sudden tragic-filter thought bubbling up in the girl beside him,

honestly, Chris didn't get it.

"Wait… why does she always daydream about tragic endings?"

"Is my dominance not strong enough day to day? She doesn't trust me at all!"

But after running through Neon's literary environment in his head, Chris chose to let it go and didn't break the girl's fantasy.

Isn't it normal for a literary girl's head to be full of strange ideas?

Especially in Neon, a place that has treated mono no aware as beauty since ancient times.

When the future becomes impossible to define, the subconscious easily drifts toward this kind of pessimistic, romantic vision of the apocalypse.

Still, it was a bit too eerie to be fantasizing about the pure beauty of love one moment and then planning out the poetic manner of two deaths and the afterlife down to the last detail the next.

If he hadn't spent day and night with her before and learned Hiyori's nature inside out,

he really might have believed she was a clingy girl at heart, ready to pull out a knife and sail off with him into a murder-suicide.

Chris shook his head inwardly.

…

Unfortunately, Hiyori Shiina was still quite reserved.

Even though she'd already hinted at her feelings to Chris during their chat,

barring accidents, with her personality she would never lightly do anything out of line.

Of course, all of that rested on one premise: barring accidents.

The two walked back to the student dorms in a silence that wasn't awkward at all.

With a crisp "ding," the elevator stopped smoothly on Chris's floor.

The metal doors slid slowly apart.

Hiyori Shiina took a deep breath and was about to raise her hand, put on a serene smile, and say good night to Chris.

But in reality, her pale little hand, raised only halfway, stiffly and awkwardly retreated to her side again.

The reason was that the moment the elevator doors opened,

she came face to face with someone she hadn't expected at this time and place.

Amasawa Ichika stood prettily in front of Chris's door, a kraft paper bag in one hand.

Hearing the elevator, the red-haired girl turned and gave Chris a smile.

Then she noticed Hiyori Shiina standing shoulder to shoulder with Chris in the elevator car.

Amasawa Ichika froze for a moment, then, far from panicking, curled her lips in a half-smile and said in a teasing tone:

"I never expected Hiyori to come back with Senpai…"

She shook the paper bag and tilted her head at the two of them.

"Looks like I'm interrupting your alone time?"

"Should I come back some other time?"

Faced with Amasawa Ichika's full-on tea-brewing act, Chris rolled his eyes.

"Enough."

"Anyone who's made a bit of progress in Ki cultivation can hide their own presence and still read other people's auras."

"I don't believe your skill in that area has surpassed mine. You noticed Hiyori before the elevator even stopped, didn't you?"

Called out to her face, Amasawa Ichika showed no embarrassment at all. She puffed out her cheeks and complained, a little troubled.

"Well… you're right, Senpai, but the truth hurts the most. Don't you know that?"

"Couldn't you pretend you didn't notice and guess I was just so smitten that I'd been tailing you all this time?"

Then she seemed to recall some unbearable past and irritably rubbed her temples.

"Come to think of it, I really did spend quite a while secretly stalking you from the shadows…"

"Ugh, who would've guessed that dealing with someone like you didn't need any twisty schemes at all? All it took was charging in headfirst! So what was all the hardship I swallowed in the dark for?!"

Chris couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

"It means you're good material for enduring hardship."

"And isn't the way you put that even more suspicious?"

"If the school weren't just a way station for the Special Exam under the Black Sphere's interference, with rules not as rigid as before… given how recklessly you probed me earlier, you'd really be in for some hardship."

"Hehe~ I like the world as it is now better."

Amasawa Ichika laughed without a care.

After all, before the Black Sphere descended, as an orphan taken in and raised by the White House, she had come to this school under orders.

If she failed to make Ayanokoji Kiyotaka withdraw, she'd be branded a "failure," and she'd probably have ended up discarded and destroyed like trash.

And now.

As a regular participant in the Black Sphere exams, she had a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, facing a terrifying future of the world's destruction and a grave in a monster's maw at any moment.

But this calamity was fair.

It wasn't aimed at Amasawa alone. It was a natural disaster everyone faced together.

In Amasawa Ichika's view, no longer being controlled by others and being able to hold her fate entirely in her own hands… there had never been a time when she felt freer than now.

Chris watched her and shook his head helplessly.

He turned to Hiyori Shiina, who had stayed silent in the elevator, and comforted her.

"Hiyori, it's getting late. Go back and get some rest."

Chris glanced at Amasawa Ichika, meaning something by it. "With Amasawa here, I doubt I'll get any peace tonight. Let's talk tomorrow."

With that, Chris slipped past Amasawa Ichika, walked straight to his own door, pulled out his keycard, and swiped it with a beep to unlock it.

Inside the elevator car,

Hiyori Shiina stood rooted in place, mouth opening, not knowing what to say.

Reason told her that going along with Chris's arrangement, saying a polite good night and riding down, was the proper thing to do.

But…

Her eyes met Amasawa Ichika's outside the door. Amasawa lifted her chin with a victor's smile and waved her goodbye.

A sourness she couldn't name spread through Hiyori Shiina's heart at once.

"If I leave now, won't Chris-kun really be alone in a room with Amasawa tonight?"

In the end,

just as the elevator doors were about to close, in the very last second,

Hiyori Shiina, her heart thoroughly unsettled, stretched out a hand as if possessed and blocked the sensor door.

By then Chris had already pushed open his dorm door.

Amasawa Ichika stood at the entrance, a flicker of surprise in her eyes at seeing Hiyori Shiina return.

Then she looked at her with a beaming smile.

"Looks like my instincts were right."

"Sure enough… somewhere out of our sight just now, something huge must have happened between Chris-kun and Hiyori-senpai, right?"

Amasawa Ichika leaned half a step closer and lowered her voice.

"Otherwise… how could someone who's always been so quiet suddenly get so brave, little Hiyori~"

Having her thoughts so nakedly exposed, and even being teased with the honorific dropped, Hiyori Shiina pressed her lips together slightly, and a trace of anger rose on her fair cheeks.

"Amasawa, if I remember correctly, you skipped a grade to get here, but you're a first-year the school specially recruited."

"In substance, you're still my junior."

"Is it really alright to use such a frivolous attitude and form of address toward a senpai?!"

Watching Hiyori Shiina act like an angry kitten, utterly unintimidating yet earnestly straining to keep up a senpai's dignity,

Amasawa Ichika couldn't help bursting into a giggle.

"Hiyori-senpai…"

She drew out the ending. "As much as I'd love to follow your lead and apologize obediently…"

"But now, all those so-called formalities have lost any real meaning, haven't they?"

Amasawa Ichika stopped smiling and looked straight at Hiyori Shiina.

"Or do you think that in a situation like this, where we can't even be sure we'll survive tomorrow… worldly rules and senior-junior hierarchy still have any value?"

"No way, no way. Senpai couldn't really be that naive, could she?"

"…"

Hiyori Shiina was left speechless by the barrage of questions.

She was angry, her chest rising and falling slightly.

But at the same time she realized, sadly, that she couldn't refute Amasawa Ichika.

Because she was right. In fact, it was the very thought hidden deep in her own heart.

Otherwise, with her usual mild temperament, no matter how much she liked Chris, she would never have thickened her skin enough to force her way in when a girl was clearly paying a nighttime visit to a boy's dorm.

Tonight's behavior was, at its core, a kind of "last-moment madness" that abandoned worldly convention.

But thinking about it that way,

hadn't she been completely hit in her weak spot by Amasawa Ichika, and didn't it look rather ridiculous?

"How annoying!"

Hiyori Shiina pouted, her clear eyes fixed on Amasawa Ichika, trying to put mental pressure on her and make her feel a flicker of guilt.

Sadly,

Amasawa Ichika was someone who'd fought her way out of the "White House."

Though she didn't lack the ability to express emotions the way Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did,

at her core she was still the extremely self-centered type.

Once she decided on something, the world's gaze, the shackles of morality, other people's expectations… were all like drifting clouds to her.

So, facing Hiyori Shiina's stare, Amasawa Ichika naturally felt not a shred of guilt.

Not only did she not back down, she burst out laughing without restraint.

"Hahaha… Senpai, the look on your face just now was so cute~"

"I think I understand a little why Senpai likes you."

With that, Amasawa Ichika ignored Hiyori Shiina's cheeks turning instantly red and strolled right into Chris's dorm.

Left in the hallway, Hiyori Shiina's head buzzed.

She didn't quite understand what that last remark had meant.

Mockery? Or some roundabout acceptance?

But it had come to this. She had already followed all the way to the door.

If she backed out now, wouldn't her earlier protest look like mere posturing… That would never do!

So the girl gritted her teeth and resolutely stepped in after her.

Just then,

a draft of wind came from somewhere.

With a soft thud,

Chris's dorm door closed and locked behind the two of them.

The girl, for no reason, shuddered uncontrollably at the sound of the door closing.

She hunched her shoulders, her hands pinching her skirt hem with nowhere to go, looking so timid…

like a little girl who'd psyched herself up to steal candy and, the instant the candy jar lid clicked shut, feared her parents would find out.

Chris turned around from behind the island counter of the open kitchen and took in the whole scene.

He couldn't help a soft laugh as he handed over the black tea he'd just poured.

"Why'd you close the door? Don't tell me you two actually plan to stay the night?"

Hiyori Shiina took the glass without thinking, her heart skipping a beat.

To hide her nerves, she hurriedly took a small sip of the iced black tea.

The cold liquid slid down her throat and cleared her tension-fogged mind a little.

Then she paused, blinking slowly as realization dawned.

"Huh?"

Hiyori Shiina turned and looked at Amasawa Ichika, who was sprawled on the sofa without a shred of decorum.

Then she looked at Chris, calm and unsurprised.

So Amasawa wasn't here to stay the night…?

As if she'd seen Hiyori Shiina's awkwardness, Amasawa Ichika thrust out her chest with perfect confidence and added:

"Do you really think I'm such a shameless woman, Senpai?"

"To think Senpai would imagine that of me. How sad!"

Hiyori Shiina took a deep breath, but in the end her strength drained away.

She glanced aside, raised the glass to half-hide her little face, and mumbled unconvincingly:

"I didn't…"

Chris sat down on the edge of the bed.

With his superb senses, he could pick up a faint rustling from under the bed.

Chin propped in one hand, expressionless, Chris looked at Amasawa Ichika.

"Alright, quit teasing Hiyori. As if I don't know you."

"Out with it. You've been working for over forty hours without rest. Why come find me now?"

"I probably wouldn't turn you down, but you know I don't like being ambushed like this."

Amasawa Ichika dropped her playful act and answered seriously.

"Of course."

"I'm not an untiring superman like you. Even I get tired from continuous high-intensity work."

"But I figured there's a better way to recover at Senpai's place."

"Also, there's something I wanted to ask you privately, so I came straight over."

Hiyori Shiina pressed her lips together, fidgeting.

Mostly because she seemed to have misread Amasawa Ichika's intentions in her own head, and she felt deeply ashamed.

Chris gestured for Amasawa to go on.

Amasawa Ichika spoke frankly.

"If I remember right, your Enma Blade can cut open floors in the Backrooms and travel across space at will, can't it?"

Chris answered, "Ordinary floors are no problem, but not a world like the one we're in now. I'd guess the Backrooms have special floors as well."

Amasawa Ichika waved it off, unbothered.

"That's enough."

"As long as you remember where the door back to our reality is."

"We won't have to blindly adventure through the Backrooms' unknown floors. We can cut open space at fixed points and go to worlds we've been to before… like the worlds of Chainsaw Man or Gojo-sensei, to farm points!"

"So?"

Chris tilted his face, puzzled.

In fact, by ordinary logic that was a perfectly natural idea, and Chris was indeed considering it.

After all, a single day of exam time was just too short.

If they wanted to fight a Holy Grail War in Snowfield from Fate/strange Fake, then against heavyweights like Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and even Gugalanna and the Demon Sea, the speed at which everyone was leveling through exams clearly wasn't enough.

That was why Chris had improvised the new "Backrooms exam pause" rule, giving everyone a breather to level up freely and gather resources.

There was no helping it. The Black Sphere exams originally existed to amuse him, and to see how this merged world was changing.

Now that he knew why the world had changed, Chris would naturally do whatever was fun and made for the best show from here on.

Thinking this, Chris came back to himself and carried on with the topic.

"What does that have to do with you coming to find me tonight?"

A sharp gleam flashed in Amasawa Ichika's eyes, and she snapped her fingers.

"Back in the Black Sphere Space, I overheard Horikita-senpai mention that your Contract Monster Goldphoenix came looking for you!"

Chris raised an eyebrow without confirming or denying.

Amasawa Ichika simply leaned closer, her purple-gold eyes locked on his.

"When we go to the Backrooms later, if Goldphoenix takes you to some hidden, special place, let me come along!"

Chris looked at her and asked back, "Why?"

Amasawa Ichika blinked and answered as if it were obvious:

"I want to share your hardships with you, Senpai. Is that okay?"

"…" Chris was silent for a moment. "Fine."

Amasawa Ichika smiled and added:

"Well, that's not the whole reason."

"I'm also curious what kind of matter would make the strongest Contract Monster come to you in person."

"The Black Sphere said it foresaw danger, but I think… the truth goes beyond that."

Chris thought for a moment, then changed the subject.

"Alright, that's the business side done."

"So what did you mean by 'recovering and relaxing' just now?"

Before he even finished speaking, Amasawa Ichika moved, flipping over to lie comfortably on the bed behind him.

"Tell me, for someone abandoned by the White House with no home to go back to, is there anywhere that feels safer than your place, Senpai?"

She stretched, her lips curling. "See? I even brought pajamas and a change of clothes…"

Amasawa Ichika propped herself half up and draped herself across Chris's solid back, lifting her slender white neck to point at the kraft paper bag she'd left in the entryway.

And Hiyori Shiina, who'd just been deeply remorseful for misjudging Amasawa Ichika, and was even demanding of herself whether she'd turned into one of those brainless "lovesick girls"…

heard this and froze as if struck by lightning.

She stared blankly at Amasawa Ichika sprawled suggestively over Chris.

Only after Amasawa Ichika slowly slid off him, drew near, and waved a pale little hand in front of her face did she react.

Then Amasawa Ichika turned, took out a rather revealing silk pajama set from the paper bag, and headed to the bathroom as if she owned the place.

With a click, the bathroom door closed.

Only then did Hiyori Shiina snap out of it, murmuring thoughtfully:

"Did I… miss something?"

"I feel like my head isn't keeping up."

Seeing Hiyori Shiina kneading her temples with a face that questioned life itself, Chris sighed and spoke.

"No need to doubt it. It's pretty much what you saw with your own eyes."

Hearing Chris's utterly unabashed explanation, Hiyori Shiina fell silent.

After a moment she raised her head, her eyes filled with a touch of bewilderment, and asked softly:

"…Then what should I do, Chris-kun?"

Chris stood, walked up to her, and looked at her earnestly.

"Just do what you want to do, Hiyori."

"I don't think you need to do anything you don't want to right now, and nobody has the right to force or blame you."

"Don't forget, you're a savior now. You slayed monsters and saved countless people."

"Whatever you want to do, do it!"

Hearing Chris's encouragement, Hiyori Shiina seemed to suddenly make up her mind.

She looked up sharply, her fair face so red it looked ready to drip blood, and said in a voice thin as a mosquito's whine:

"Then… may I borrow one of Chris-kun's shirts? I didn't bring any clothes either…"

Chris blinked, then raised a hand and pointed at the wardrobe behind him.

By the time Amasawa Ichika finished washing up and came out in her spaghetti-strap pajamas, drying her hair and looking for Chris to help with it,

Hiyori Shiina was already hugging a big white shirt she'd found in the wardrobe, head lowered, hurrying into the bathroom.

Seeing this, Amasawa Ichika sat naturally on the carpet between Chris's legs.

She tilted her head back, her wet red hair draped over her shoulder, and looked up at Chris like a kitten begging for a reward, saying softly:

"How was that, Senpai? My play of retreating to advance and goading her was pretty good, right?"

Chris didn't answer, only put a hand on her head.

As his internal Ki circulated, he wrapped her hair in Ki and made the moisture evaporate quickly.

Feeling the silky texture between his fingers, Chris spoke, a little helplessly.

"It's fine for me. I don't lose anything either way."

"You, though. You already don't get along with Sakayanagi, and now you pull this. Aren't you afraid she'll form an alliance and isolate you completely?"

Amasawa Ichika squinted contentedly, leaned her head back against Chris's stomach, and answered as though it were obvious:

"What's there to fear? You're the one who really took me in, Senpai. Of course I'll help you and push those indecisive senpai onto the stage for you!"

"The basic question of where I stand, what matters and what doesn't, I'd never get wrong."

"Besides, I came out of the White House. I can accept the cruelty of reality far better than those pampered young ladies who still have to worry about saving face."

As she spoke, she extended a slender finger and made an extremely suggestive gesture before Chris, teasing him with her eyes.

"Senpai, would you like me to help 'guide' Hiyori-senpai a bit more?"

Chris pushed her restless head away with a palm on her forehead, none too gently.

"I'm in no rush."

"Both you and Hiyori are exhausted today, so just rest properly… Don't think about all that nonsense."

With her forehead held, Amasawa Ichika didn't resist, only gave a soft "mm."

Feeling her hair completely dried and refreshed by Chris's airflow, she asked, as if casually, the question that had been circling in her heart.

"Senpai, say if one day all of us died in an exam ground… and only you were left. What would you do?"

Chris's hands paused slightly.

After a moment's thought, he answered calmly.

"Me? I'd probably go searching through different worlds and see if I could recover the power Goldphoenix lost."

"After all, if there's any chance of reviving you all, I'd have to try."

"Of course…"

Chris lowered his gaze to the girl in his lap. "I don't think we'll end up with an ending that bad."

"I'm not fond of tragedies."

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Amasawa Ichika nodded.

She said nothing more.

She just turned her head, greedily groped Chris's abs, then slithered up like a slippery loach and rolled to the innermost side of the bed.

She patted the spot beside her and shot Chris a wink.

"Then later… Senpai, how about you sleep in the middle?"

Faced with Amasawa Ichika's lingering gaze,

Chris raised an eyebrow and shot back without mercy.

"If you really can't hold back, I'll open the permissions right now and take you into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a minute. I guarantee you'll come out free of all desire."

Hearing this, the seductive smile froze on Amasawa Ichika's face. She immediately beat a retreat and wrapped herself up in the blanket.

"Never mind, then…"

"A whole day of high intensity in there can really kill a person!"

Soon, the bathroom door opened.

Wearing Chris's white shirt, clearly a size too big, its hem barely covering the tops of her thighs, Hiyori Shiina came out blushing.

When she saw Amasawa Ichika already tucked obediently into the blankets, looking timid and not daring to make trouble,

the literary girl couldn't help wondering.

Could the battle have already ended while she was washing up?

So fast…? Was Amasawa too tired, or… had Chris-kun not been able to hold back and taken her into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to settle it quickly?

Hiyori Shiina stood by the bed, her fingers nervously twisting the oversized cuffs, unsure what to do.

After all, if she really had to endure the same level of "special training" as Amasawa Ichika, she was certain she'd never hold up.

Seeing this, Chris pointed helplessly at the outer side of the bed.

"Stop imagining things and go to sleep. We'll talk about anything else tomorrow."

"With the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, time is the one thing we never lack, right?"

Hiyori Shiina nodded obediently.

She was about to lift the blanket and lie down when she suddenly stiffened, realizing what Chris had just implied.

The girl's eyes went wide with shock, and she looked at Chris in alarm.

"…R-really using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?"

"I know Chris-kun has superhuman blessings and bottomless stamina."

"But this… isn't this a bit too much…"

____