"So that's the situation. Are you coming?"
Chris had originally planned to just fire off a message and leave it at that. He hadn't even had the text out for two minutes when Sakayanagi Arisu happened to stroll up right beside him.
Faced with the Class A princess, cane in hand, smiling like she already knew something he didn't, Chris didn't bother checking whether she'd read the message or not. He just laid out Kushida Kikyo's proposal in full.
She tilted her head slightly, pretty brow furrowing as if she were genuinely weighing it. Chris shrugged and offered her an out:
"You're probably not interested in this kind of social obligation anyway. I can just tell her you're passing."
"Hold on."
Sakayanagi lifted her cane and tapped the toe of his shoe lightly — stopping him.
"When did I say I wasn't willing?"
She raised her chin just slightly, a knowing gleam dancing in her eyes.
"It's true that this sort of little playdate council sounds terribly dull. But if Chris-kun is accompanying me..." She let the pause breathe. "...I don't mind showing up to lend you some moral support."
"When did I say I was going?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
"I don't care." Sakayanagi's expression shifted into something entirely too satisfied. "If you go, I go. If you don't go, I don't go. And I'll make sure Kushida-san knows exactly why — because Chris-kun didn't want to come, so naturally I didn't want to either."
"..."
Chris looked at her for a moment. Then he let it go without another word.
If Sakayanagi was handing him an opening like this, he might as well use it. This was a fine opportunity to slip that Ghoul into the mix.
And while he was at it... it would give the upperclassmen a little something fresh to experience.
After all — letting Nagumo Miyabi keep cozying up to Ichinose Honami, fishing for Black Sphere intel and skipping class whenever he felt like it, was getting old fast. That couldn't stand.
Leaving aside everything else — for the sake of the upperclassmen's dignity alone, someone had to raise the difficulty on that guy.
And besides...
Chris's gaze drifted idly across the campus, snagging briefly on one of the security cameras mounted overhead.
Since he was already planning to throw some chaos into the next exam, it'd look a little too deliberate if he didn't give Ayanokoji Kiyotaka a proper stage to perform on at the same time.
The finest product the White Room ever produced — he couldn't keep riding the bench forever.
Speaking of which — Tsukishiro Tsunenari, who had come at the behest of Ayanokoji's father, apparently hadn't made the trip alone this time.
He'd brought... Amase Kazuna along?
A fifth-generation White Room student who hadn't even graduated yet. Someone was in a real hurry to stuff people in here.
While Chris was still turning this over in his head, Sakayanagi Arisu had already slipped her arm through his, as naturally as breathing.
"So then — now that we've dealt with other people's business, what are you planning to do next?"
She was practically leaning into him, the faint warmth of her presence brushing close, a delicate scent drifting past.
"Are you going to seize this chance to go check on Ichinose-san — play the knight in shining armor, build up some goodwill — or are you heading to find Shiina-san from Class C and unlock a new side quest?"
Chris pressed his lips together, acutely aware of the soft and faintly inconvenient pressure against his arm.
"...By your logic, I can't take a walk without having a target lined up first?"
God as his witness.
He'd come outside to wander, honestly hoping to find a good spot to try out whatever item had refreshed today. Then the refresh had given him the Heart of Steel.
He'd gone very quiet upon seeing it.
Good item. Genuinely solid. But with the Black Sphere exam still in the queue, he could hardly start stacking offensive buffs on himself like some kind of tryhard. As for picking a fight with someone just to test it — he wasn't that guy. That would be embarrassing.
He changed the subject.
"The way you talk about all this — you really think you've got me all figured out, huh?"
"Hmph." Sakayanagi lifted her chin with entirely unearned pride. "Do you know who you're talking to? A genius is defined by the ability to think deeply and see clearly."
"Guys like you — always brooding, bad at socializing, acting like you're too cool for everything — I've seen the type. You're all closet otaku underneath. Once you understand the formula, the rest is obvious, isn't it?"
She tugged him forward, already moving.
"Come on. Since you're clearly too shy to make a move yourself, I'll do you the grand favor of leading you to your own side quest. Witness my expertise in action."
"..."
Chris was mildly surprised — but he didn't resist. He fell into step beside Sakayanagi Arisu without complaint.
They arrived at the school library in short order.
The moment they stepped into the borrowing section, he spotted her — a girl with long, pale blue hair, stretched up on her tiptoes, straining with visible effort to reach a book on the upper shelf.
Chris paused mid-step. He looked down at Sakayanagi with an expression that said everything and nothing.
"You added her as a friend, didn't you? Used the school's location feature again?"
Sakayanagi said nothing. Chris pressed on, his tone drier:
"...Is this really okay? Every time I see you do this it feels more and more like a lawsuit waiting to happen."
Sakayanagi Arisu replied without a flicker of shame:
"It's a feature the school provides. Using it appropriately is hardly a crime."
"Oh, stop making excuses and go already. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opening! Go talk to her!"
She reached over and pinched him in the side — not hard enough to hurt, but with enough intent to be unmistakable.
Chris shook his head and said nothing.
Given who Sakayanagi Arisu was, there was no guessing required — she'd gotten obsessed with watching again, same as always.
Not that it mattered. She thought she was being clever.
What you think you know isn't necessarily what's actually there.
He walked up behind Shiina Hiyori.
At the exact moment her fingertips grazed the spine of the book and then slipped away, Chris reached up and lifted it down without effort.
"Is this the one?"
"Ah — thank you."
Shiina Hiyori replied on reflex. Then she turned and actually looked at him — a flash of surprise crossing her eyes — before her gaze dropped to the book in his hand.
Chris glanced at the cover as well.
The Magic Cube Building?
He passed it over. "Didn't expect to find a Zheng Yuanjie book here."
"Have you read it, Chris-kun?" Shiina Hiyori hugged the book to her chest, her eyes lighting up slightly.
"Of course. He's the King of Fairy Tales back home."
Chris added, offhand: "Though it's a pretty old book. What made you look for it?"
"It really is old." Shiina Hiyori nodded. She explained quietly:
"In this story, every square of the magic cube is its own independent country. The protagonist, Leike, has to adventure through these strange and absurd lands — each one more bizarre than the last — in order to find his way back to the real world."
"Lately I've been thinking... doesn't the Black Sphere work a little like that?"
"Trapped inside an enclosed space. Facing impossible creatures. The only way out is to clear it." She paused. "I thought maybe I'd find something useful in here — some kind of insight."
Something shifted quietly inside Chris.
In his original world, there had been people who said Infinite Terror drew from Battle Royale, and others who said Battle Royale's early concepts shared DNA with The Magic Cube Building. He'd never dug into the specifics himself.
But sometimes, people really did end up arriving at the same ideas independently.
He thought for a moment, then said:
"The way the Black Sphere exams work right now — it's a pretty straightforward loop. Monster appears. Exam. Monster appears again. Finding a deeper pattern in that... is going to be a tough ask."
"How do you know until you try?"
Shiina Hiyori didn't seem discouraged in the slightest — if anything, her smile had gotten warmer.
"By the way — were you looking for a book too, Chris-kun?"
She stepped to the side to make room.
Chris cast a glance at the shelf — stacked wall to wall with fairy tales — then turned his head to look at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was lurking behind a bookcase not far away, wearing the expression of someone watching a drama she'd personally produced.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"No. My taste runs more toward locked-room mysteries — The Three Coffins, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, that kind of thing. As for why I ended up over here..."
Shiina Hiyori followed his gaze.
A beat of silence. Then:
"Sakayanagi-san?!"
Caught in the open, Sakayanagi Arisu stopped pretending. She emerged from behind the shelf with unhurried grace, cane clicking against the floor — and shot Chris a look sharp enough to draw blood as she passed him.
"I had the whole 'fated encounter around the corner' sequence completely scripted out, and you just went and torpedoed it!"
"You exposed me without even blinking!"
Shiina Hiyori glanced between them, visibly confused.
Chris spread his hands with a perfectly innocent expression. "Don't mind her. She's an otaku. Otaku brains are wired differently."
"What goes on in your head?!"
Sakayanagi Arisu puffed up with indignation — and then, with impressive audacity, flipped it back on him:
"I was doing you a kindness, you know. I arranged this whole thing so you'd run into Shiina-san and have a natural opening to bring up the inter-class cooperation proposal!"
"Sure you were," Chris said flatly. "I don't buy it for a second."
Watching the two of them bicker like no one else was in the room, Shiina Hiyori blinked — then, quietly, pieced together what was actually going on.
She covered a small laugh with her hand and stepped in gently:
"Is this about Kushida-san's invitation?"
"It's alright — you can just say so directly."
Sakayanagi tilted her head, genuinely surprised. "You already knew?"
"Not exactly. I just tend to notice things." Shiina Hiyori hugged The Magic Cube Building a little closer and said softly:
"Horikita-san and Chris-kun are both slow to warm up to people — neither of them would be the type to organize this kind of social event. So the only person it could realistically be is the one who calls herself a little angel, who also happens to be a Black Sphere veteran — Kushida-san."
"And I heard that Ichinose-san from Class B also received an invitation."
"Sharp as ever." Chris gave a small, genuine nod of appreciation. Then he said it plainly:
"Kushida's idea is to get the class representatives together and talk through some kind of cooperation framework. Honest answer though? I'm not sure it matters whether you come or not."
"Class C runs on whatever Ryuuen Kakeru decides. Even if you agree, the moment he says no, the whole thing falls apart at the foundation."
It wasn't a dig. Just the truth.
"Actually — no."
To his mild surprise, Shiina Hiyori shook her head.
"I think Kushida-san's idea has real merit. When it comes to the Black Sphere, we can't keep fighting in silos anymore. At the very least — when facing unknown threats — we should be working together."
She gave a small bow, quiet and certain:
"I'll be there. And I'll take responsibility for convincing Ryuuen-kun."
Sakayanagi watched the girl's retreating figure with open curiosity.
"Well. Didn't expect Class C to have someone like her. I thought the whole class was just a collection of people who solve every problem with their fists — the kind of group that only improves once enough of them get cycled out and replaced."
Chris put on a puzzled look. "Replaced by whom, exactly?"
Sakayanagi smiled faintly. "The Advanced Nurturing High School is the center of the world's attention right now. Ambitious people don't give up that easily."
"Not that I think any of them are better than me."
"But..." Her gaze settled on him, and something shifted in it — lighter, warmer, oddly sincere. "Do your best, Chris-kun. I'm rooting for you. I'd hate to see you get outshone too easily."
"Is that so."
Chris turned his gaze away, and left it there.
____
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