"Hehe, it's nothing really, I just missed you a bit, Yu-Yu."
Chihaya Anon laughed lightly twice.
She sounded to be in a pretty good mood.
"Oh right, Yu-Yu, why didn't you come yesterday? I remember you didn't say anything in advance the day before either."
Her voice settled down a little, losing some of its bounce.
"I forgot to remind you. I just happened to have something to deal with yesterday, so I didn't come."
Asai Yu replied.
"Something to deal with?"
Chihaya Anon fell silent for a moment, then said, "You didn't go into someone else's body, did you?"
Hearing that, Asai Yu's heart skipped a beat.
That intuition was sharp to an unreasonable degree.
Of course, he had no intention of hiding it. "Yes."
"Was it a guy or a girl?" Chihaya Anon pressed on.
"Why are you even asking that?"
Asai Yu was a bit speechless.
"Because I'm curious. Hurry up, answer, answer," Chihaya Anon urged.
"A girl."
Asai Yu didn't hesitate and told the truth outright.
"I knew it was a girl…"
Chihaya Anon's voice dropped noticeably. "Will you go to her again after this?"
"I will." Asai Yu nodded.
"As expected… Yu-Yu, you're already not interested in my body anymore…"
Chihaya Anon dropped that bomb casually.
???
No—do you even know what you're saying?
"N-no, you've got it wrong," Asai Yu said quickly.
Hearing that, Chihaya Anon's mood revived instantly, like a sudden defibrillator shock—an emotional roller coaster. "Then does that mean…?"
"I've never had any interest in your body to begin with."
That single sentence shattered the pink-haired girl's last remaining fantasy.
"Then… does that mean you won't come anymore in the future?"
Chihaya Anon swallowed nervously.
"I'll still come. Don't worry."
As long as there was wool to be fleeced, there was no way he wouldn't.
"Mmm, then you have to come a lot! I have lots of money here, you can spend as much as you want!"
Chihaya Anon realized that this was basically the only card she had left to play.
Asai Yu didn't answer.
Money?
The pink-haired girl was still too naive. Over on Wakaba Mutsumi's side, that was a genuine little rich lady.
Of course, Asai Yu considered himself not that vulgar.
There was still plenty of time, so he spent an hour grinding his guitar experience to the cap.
[Guitar Bonus Lv3 (660/2000)]
With the multiplier buff, leveling the bonus was absurdly easy.
[Guitar Level Lv2]
[Lv2 → Lv3]
[Guitar Level Lv3]
The moment he hit Lv3, Asai Yu felt his understanding of the guitar jump to an entirely different dimension.
At this point, his guitar skills were already roughly on par with Wakaba Mutsumi's.
Asai Yu casually strummed a few strings.
"So amazing…"
Chihaya Anon, who had still been confident she could catch up, instantly realized the gulf between them after hearing that short guitar passage.
Yu-Yu is really incredible…
No wonder he doesn't look at her that way at all.
Even though she felt a little down, Chihaya Anon was also genuinely happy.
Because she could see Yu getting stronger.
After that, Asai Yu checked on Chihaya Anon's academic progress.
Mm, all her homework was done properly.
She had been memorizing vocabulary and grammar too.
As for guitar, judging from the practice videos she recorded, she was probably close to the system-planned Lv2 already.
Honestly, Anon seemed to have talent in just about everything—if she was willing to put in the time, she could surpass 98% of people with ease.
Arriving at school, Asai Yu entered the classroom and glanced around.
Only that blond guy was missing. He was probably going to be lying in a hospital bed for a year or two.
He had just sat down when a classmate walked over enthusiastically to greet him.
Right after that came several more classmates who had previously barely acknowledged his existence.
"They kept coming to me all day yesterday, trying to befriend me, but I really don't like them at all."
Chihaya Anon said angrily.
"News about what happened the day before yesterday probably leaked a bit. Just maintain surface-level relationships and that's enough."
Asai Yu said.
"Yeah, I know that already."
Chihaya Anon replied.
Asai Yu dealt with them all using a polite smile. After grinding the Affinity Bonus experience to the cap, he put the smile away.
At that moment, a girl who had already returned to her own little clique sighed with emotion:
"Anon really looks cute, and she doesn't seem like the type who'd hit people at all… who would've thought she was that strong, taking down ten people by herself without a scratch!"
"The version I heard said twenty."
"Thank god we never messed with her before…"
"I heard Anon practiced taekwondo."
"Why did I hear that she was just born freakishly strong?"
"Isn't it actually a superpower?"
She won't turn into the Chihaya Kahao of the next class over, right?
Asai Yu couldn't help thinking as he overheard them.
"Did any teachers or school administrators come looking for you yesterday?"
"Nope, not at all."
Chihaya Anon answered.
"Then that's fine."
Everything was basically resolved. There shouldn't be any major problems afterward.
Time quickly passed to after school. Back at the apartment, Asai Yu asked, "Have you thought about moving into the dorms?"
At the mention of that, Chihaya Anon immediately perked up. "About that—someone came to talk to me about it yesterday."
"It was a girl who used to get bullied by others. She wants to room with me in the school dorms. I think she's a pretty nice person."
Chihaya Anon felt she was usually good at judging people.
"Then live at school. It's at least much safer than outside."
Asai Yu didn't trust London's public safety at all.
"Huh? Is that really okay? If you live in the dorms, how will you practice guitar, Yu-Yu? Won't it get really inconvenient?"
Chihaya Anon looked confused.
"You don't need to worry about that. I have a way."
He could just go practice over at Wakaba Mutsumi's place anyway—the skills were shared.
Chihaya Anon immediately sensed something. "Yu-Yu… are you planning to stop coming altogether?"
That intuition again…
Asai Yu replied, "It's not that heartless. I just have some things to deal with these next few days, so I won't come for now."
"Is it because you're going into other girls' bodies?"
Chihaya Anon continued pressing.
"That's right. You guessed it."
Asai Yu nodded.
Hearing that, Chihaya Anon fell silent for a long time before slowly speaking:
"Can you… only come into my body?"
???
How did Anon manage to be neither saintly nor sweet right now?
"No."
Asai Yu cut off that fantasy cleanly.
"Are you… abandoning me?"
Chihaya Anon's voice sank to an extreme low.
"What do you mean 'abandoning' you? If you think about it, I've been helping you ever since I came into your body, right? And now your studying abroad plans are finally on track too."
Asai Yu felt a bit helpless.
Half a minute later, Chihaya Anon finally calmed down.
"I understand…"
Good. As long as she understood.
At that moment, the possession time ended. After Asai Yu left, Chihaya Anon returned to her own body.
She let out a deep sigh, then lay down on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
A few minutes later, she turned onto her side, curled up slightly, and picked up her phone.
Without even realizing it, she started scrolling through flights from London to Tokyo.