She handed the Dragon Ball "Ki" cultivation document over to Yamamura Miki, who was coming toward her.
Horikita Suzune gave a slight nod, counting it as a greeting. Even now, she honestly still didn't quite understand what running errands like this had to do with so-called high school life. But since Chris had personally invited her, there had to be a reason behind it.
What's more… just as Chris had said, this was something her brother, Horikita Manabu, had once taken care of himself. She actually didn't mind it at all. Only this time, she wasn't doing it out of a blind chase after her brother's shadow—she was acting purely so that everyone could survive a little better.
No longer sinking into her own stubborn self-obsession, she had learned to turn her gaze toward the broader collective…
'In a certain sense, I suppose this counts as progress for me too.'
The girl murmured to herself in her heart.
Not far from her side, Nanase Tsubasa was also handing a stack of files to Katsuragi Kohei.
As a girl who took "justice" as the baseline for her actions, she naturally had no reason to refuse a task like this. Besides, since the underclassmen were all comrades sharing the same exam venue, these materials had already been passed around in every class group chat yesterday.
So at this point, it was really just a matter of going through the offline motions—showing a familiar face in front of each class.
Just as Horikita and Nanase Tsubasa were making their handoffs,
Chris, bringing Ichinose Honami along, walked right up to Sakayanagi Arisu of his own accord.
Watching Chris adopt this all-business posture,
even though she had long since guessed his intentions, Sakayanagi Arisu still feigned a surprised expression:
"I didn't expect that after just one night apart, Chris-kun would already have wormed his way onto the student council's roster."
"What's this, then—is it inspection time, abusing power for personal gain? Should I play along and call you 'my lord'?"
Hearing that, Chris broke into a laugh:
"Sure. It's no loss to me anyway. Forget 'my lord'—even if you called me something a bit more provocative, I'd happily accept it."
Sakayanagi Arisu let out a soft, ambiguous hum:
"Heh~ So Chris-kun really does have a taste for this sort of thing. What a pity…"
"The thing I love most is keeping people dangling." The girl tapped the desktop lightly with a fingertip, drawing out her words. "After all, slowly making someone yearn for something they can never quite have—isn't that far more interesting?"
"So, no can do~"
Watching the two of them slip into their habitual verbal tug-of-war the moment they met, Ichinose Honami pressed a hand to her forehead, looking a little helpless.
"Senpai, Sakayanagi-san, right now is the time for serious business—could we please not start with this kind of joking…"
Ichinose gave a soft sigh. "Our time today is actually pretty tight."
Seeing that the good girl Ichinose had spoken up,
Sakayanagi Arisu finally raised a hand, gracefully cupping her delicate chin.
She looked at Chris with a pointed gaze, as though waiting for him to continue. Chris paused, then cut straight to the point:
"To put it simply, I want to use the newly released 'Instance Card' mechanism to give the test personnel an overall boost in strength."
"By the rules, besides myself, I can bring in four extra people. That works out perfectly—one pick from each class."
"That said, it'd be best to have enough points saved up by the next exam. Drag it out too long and it won't be of much use."
Hearing this,
Sakayanagi Arisu tapped the desktop lightly with her fingertips, mulling it over for a moment before saying:
"In our class, the ones with the inclination—and the nerve—to regularly join the advance tests… are probably just Katsuragi and Hayasaka. We'll see who to send depending on the situation. I have no objections."
Ichinose Honami pursed her lips and pondered along as well:
"On my end, Amanatsu-san and Amikura-san should both be fine. As for funding, I can front the cost of the card boxes for them."
Chris nodded.
"Alright, once the picks are settled, just let me know."
In truth, in Chris's mind, he'd already planned out the instance content itself. The [Mirror World] could serve as the inner-world for an accidental linked instance.
For the outer layer, he intended to pair it with the upperclassmen's extra instance, then bring in Kanzaki Ryuuji, Shiranami Chihiro, and the others to fight the revival match. As for the instance's setting—a cabin in the woods, naturally!
An evil-god ritual, a sacrificial ceremony…
Doesn't that pair perfectly at a glance with a revival match's whole "facing death to find life" theme?
As long as they could take the place of the existences meant to be sacrifices, surviving would count as revival.
As a bonus, he could also secretly observe the reactions of those relatively marginal girls—Shiina Hiyori, Morishita Ai, and the rest—as they searched for clues in a desperate situation and discovered the truth of the world.
'Only, when you really work out the details, if I deliberately wait for the upperclassmen's exam to pull them into the instance, the timeline gets a bit unreasonable… And if I forcibly shift the upperclassmen's exam time forward, the manipulation behind it would look way too obvious.'
Chris calculated quietly in his heart.
'In that case, I might as well just move this week's upperclassmen exam up a little.'
As for an excuse, it wasn't hard to find.
Just have the Black Sphere send out a notice saying, 'Some unfortunate classmates have stumbled into another world and are about to die—are you willing to start your exam early to go save them?'
A classic harsh-mouth, soft-heart play—moral pressure cranked to the max.
Given the kind of people Tachibana Akane and the others were, he trusted that not many would refuse this open scheme. After all, it was only a matter of sooner or later.
Thinking this, Chris reined in his thoughts, his face wearing an aptly regretful expression:
"It's just a shame that, for now, only the [Blank Card Box] can produce a linkage with the [Instance Card]."
"At the end of the day, it's only a basic piece of gear worth 30 S-points. Even counting the instance yields, by the later stages it's bound to fall behind the curve."
To this, Sakayanagi Arisu remained noncommittal:
"Actually, I'd argue that the so-called Instance Card and its corresponding items are a kind of compensation mechanism the Black Sphere is offering on the side."
"For those who got unlucky and dropped into an extra low-magic instance, who lack point-grinding opportunities, or who couldn't grind points in the first place—it's a chance to obtain a powerful item on top of everything else."
Chris picked up the thread:
"The logic checks out, sure. But the problem is, for this extra instance… I'm the only one holding an Instance Card."
Sakayanagi Arisu lifted her delicate little face, speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"Chris-kun, aren't you being a bit too soft-hearted?"
"In the Black Sphere exams, only true strong ones are qualified to enjoy the final fruits of victory. Those who can only cower and tremble in the back, the protected ones—just making it back alive is already a stroke of luck. What right do they have to come freeload a rare item like this?"
"Survival of the fittest. The presiding god doesn't feed idlers."
"Besides, they aren't even Black Sphere examinees who take up a slot."
Having heard her out, Chris didn't bother arguing with this young capitalist lady.
But before he could speak, Ichinose Honami seemed to suddenly remember something and cut in:
"Actually… last night, when I was checking the feasibility of equipment upgrades in the presiding god's space, I discovered something."
"My [Ruby Staff], it seems, can not only be upgraded by directly spending points, but can also be paired with an [Instance Card] for an extra special-trial upgrade?"
Chris raised an eyebrow:
"It can be paired with an Instance Card too?"
Sakayanagi Arisu also looked surprised:
"Looks like Ichinose-san's luck is really quite good."
"I've got it rough—my only path is spending points to upgrade, and the very expensive kind at that."
She turned to look at Ichinose and suggested, "Since that's the case, why not let Chris-kun try doing the upgrade for you first?"
Ichinose Honami waved her hands again and again, shaking her head in refusal:
"No need, no need.
"My items are enough for now. By comparison, it's more important to first raise the survival rate of the classmates taking the test."
"And besides, my point count isn't exactly small at the moment…"
"The upgrade can wait until there's a chance later."
As she spoke, Ichinose glanced at the wall clock and shifted the topic:
"Alright, Senpai, looks like Horikita-san and the others over there are just about done…"
"It's getting late, and we still have to make a trip over to the upperclassmen's side. Let's aim to get the technique fully spread to everyone before noon!"
Chris nodded, turning his head to glance at Sakayanagi Arisu:
"See you at this afternoon's special training, then."
Sakayanagi Arisu nodded with a smile, watching the backs of the two of them as they turned and strode off briskly.
Only once the two figures had vanished at the classroom doorway did Kamuro Masumi finally sidle over, unable to hold back her gossip:
"Hey, Sakayanagi."
"Is there something important going on?"
Sakayanagi Arisu pressed her lips together and answered ambiguously:
"It's important if you call it important, and not important if you call it not important.
"Depends on how things go."
Kamuro Masumi tilted her head, her face a mass of question marks:
"Huh?"
Playing the riddle-master again, huh!
Honestly—riddle-masters, get out of Koudo Ikusei already!
…
After leaving Class A.
Although there were still quite a few classes left, Chris naturally wasn't about to actually make Horikita Suzune and Nanase Tsubasa run around handing out flyers one by one.
It would be a hassle, and completely unnecessary.
The reason he'd lingered a bit longer at Sakayanagi's class was purely to discuss the subsequent allocation of slots.
For the remaining classes, aside from a few exceptions, Chris simply called out each class's representative and had them go back and distribute the materials within their own class.
After all, in the current situation, failing to obtain the Ki cultivation technique was itself a sign of an ability deficiency. This was already as good as spoon-feeding them their meal by hand.
If they wouldn't even open their mouths for that, yet still presumptuously expected one-on-one service… well, that would be a bit too ungrateful.
On top of that, since the midterm Uninhabited Island exam had genuinely dragged the entire school into it,
and since the student council already wielded enormous authority before the Black Sphere exam descended,
Chris and the others had a surprisingly smooth time of it all along the way—not a single short-sighted troublemaker popped out to question their decisions.
Except for that one and only exception…
Honestly, it didn't really amount to much.
It was simply that he got called over by Kiryuuin Fuka, who was leaning against a hallway window enjoying the breeze.
"Little junior, if what you told me over Line last night was accurate…"
Kiryuuin Fuka had her arms folded, her long silver-white hair fluttering lightly in the wind.
She turned her head to look at Chris, her brow slightly furrowed:
"The monsters we upperclassmen have to face this time—the increase in their kill-scores shouldn't have any wildly absurd jumps."
"But if the presiding god isn't raising the difficulty because of your point-grinding, and it's purely a phased, natural escalation causing this kind of leap-style change…"
Kiryuuin Fuka fell silent for a moment.
Chris naturally understood what she was worried about, and spoke up to reassure her:
"Senpai, there's no need to be so pessimistic."
"The presiding god's aim is to cultivate, not to slaughter."
"Think back—at least up to now, the monsters we've encountered in the special exams, whether it was the two-hundred-point Darkness Devil or the special-grade cursed spirit, none of them were the absolutely unsolvable type, were they?"
At this moment, Ichinose Honami suddenly stopped in her tracks.
She seemed to recall something important; her eyes lit up and she hurriedly spoke:
"Oh, right… Senpai!
"Our exam and your exam—there's a time gap in the scheduling, isn't there?"
Ichinose suggested, "Since that's the case, then if we lend our items to you, so you can use them during your exam… that should be workable too, right?"
It was indeed a very bold idea.
But Kiryuuin Fuka decisively shook her head:
"It's not that simple, Ichinose."
"Even just grinding points in an exam venue that doesn't belong to your own grade could get you penalized by the system… I don't think borrowing powerful items that don't belong to us during a formal exam would count as anything but cheating. In a certain sense, you could even say it's an act of truancy worse than cross-venue point-grinding."
Kiryuuin let out a sigh.
Hearing this, Chris feigned confusion:
"But earlier, didn't you come and borrow the Stand disc for [Crazy Diamond] from me?"
Kiryuuin Fuka shot him a sidelong glance.
"The situation's different. That was temporary support from you, as an intruder, after the exam had already begun. That can be counted as 'resource reallocation within the venue.'"
"But now we're talking about bringing in gear that doesn't belong to us before the exam even starts… these two are absolutely different concepts."
Chris stroked his chin and thought it over, reasoning along her line of logic:
"If that's how it is, then it most likely still comes down to the 'value of the lent gear itself.'
"There's no way lending you some mass-produced armor worth a mere 20 S-points would trigger a stress response from the presiding god."
"And besides… after Ayanokoji withdrew from school, he left his equipment behind, but only permitted Ryuuen Kakeru and me to use it."
Chris glanced at Ichinose: "I've been wondering—could this kind of 'lent-out' item have some hidden restriction? For instance… if the borrower loses the item, or dies in the exam venue, the item gets confiscated by the Black Sphere, with all ownership forfeited, something like that?"
Kiryuuin Fuka raised an eyebrow:
"If there really is such a harsh price as 'lose it and it's confiscated,' that would indeed explain why the presiding god left this loophole open."
"But to verify it, the question becomes what item to use for the experiment… Too cheap and you can't probe the limits; too expensive and if something really goes wrong, that's a bloody loss."
Hearing this, Ichinose Honami volunteered:
"I can lend my [Leo Cavalry] armor to Senpai for the experiment."
"The armor's defense isn't bad, but its ceiling isn't very high. Even if it really does get lost in the exam, I honestly wouldn't be all that heartbroken over it."
After a moment's thought, Chris spoke up:
"I'll lend you [The World], Senpai."
"Time-stop is good, but with only two or three seconds, it's hard to make it work against enemies whose stats are several times your own. Its current use is really still for assist-control, or for escaping."
"It should still be over at Kouenji Rokusuke's place right now—I'll get it to you when your exam's coming up," Chris explained.
Hearing this,
and before Kiryuuin could even speak,
Horikita Suzune, following behind, suddenly stepped forward two paces.
She held out her hand, and resting quietly in her palm were two dim, all-purpose capsules.
Under Chris's faintly puzzled gaze, Horikita Suzune explained softly:
"Yesterday afternoon, when we returned to the Black Sphere Space after the test ended… Kouenji handed [The World] back to me and asked me to return it to you on the side."
She pointed to the other capsule: "This one beside it is the [Crazy Diamond] I was using… Should I lend that to Kiryuuin-senpai together as well?"
"No." Chris shook his head decisively. "If [The World] is lost, I can just barely accept it. But [Crazy Diamond] won't do—it's currently our team's only support item."
"Hmm… how about taking out your [Black Key] to use as the test subject instead?
"It's cheap anyway, and even more useless now. If it's lost, then it's lost."
Horikita Suzune thought it over.
Then she nodded very obediently and handed the Black Key over.
Taking this whole scene in, Kiryuuin Fuka shot Chris a somewhat helpless look.
She brushed back her silver hair and grumbled with mock exasperation:
"I'm telling you two… can't you be a little more tactful and speak nicely?"
"The way you put it, it's like the moment I, your senpai, head in this time, I'm definitely not coming back and I'm fated to lose your item."
"At least give me a little confidence here!"
Chris chuckled, unbothered:
"Can't be helped. So far, apart from Crazy Diamond, the healing items in the mysterious merchant's hands are really limited. Either the conditions for using them are inconvenient, or they're outrageously expensive. Crazy Diamond's strategic standing is just too high."
Chris looked at her and said earnestly:
"And besides, with you using [The World], Senpai… honestly, I'm not too comfortable handing our team's lifeline over to someone else."
Hearing this veiled acknowledgment,
Kiryuuin Fuka's expression softened considerably.
Even though she knew full well that Chris was merely speaking to the matter at hand, with even a few notes of polite formality mixed in,
she had to admit that this "candor" really had lifted her mood quite a bit. Only… even she found it a little baffling—why would she be so easily swayed in her emotions by a perfectly normal tactical arrangement?
'I just feel like… I've been getting a little strange lately. My emotions seem to be led around by the nose, not the least bit free.'
Kiryuuin secretly mocked herself in her heart.
'This anxious, clinging feeling… it's rather like that idiot Nagumo Miyabi—I've become one of those people who turn blind and foolish in love.'
She bit down lightly on the tip of her tongue, using the slight pain to forcibly suppress this peculiar and dangerous thought.
Kiryuuin Fuka recovered her usual sharp briskness and reached out to take the capsule.
She gave a faint smile, the arrogance returning to the depths of her eyes:
"Then I'll thank my junior and junior-miss for their generosity."
"Rest assured, I'll come back alive and well, and tell you the answer with my own mouth."
"However…" She shifted her tone. "Before we wait for Friday's special exam, could you let me see… just what level you all have reached now, you who killed a two-hundred-point BOSS with your own hands?"
"It'd also give me a clear, intuitive concept of it."
Chris corrected her:
"To be precise, the reason we could beat the Darkness Devil was thanks to a targeted solution. In reality, it's hard to directly benchmark that against a 200-point monster."
"But judging by our current setup—even without Ryuuen's [Soul-Release Blade] as a safety net, having us go clear the midterm exam's Jikku again… should be more than enough."
Chris arched an eyebrow and accepted the challenge graciously:
"Since you're interested, Senpai, you're welcome to come try it yourself during this afternoon's special training."
Kiryuuin Fuka folded one arm across her chest:
"Then I'll be looking forward to it."
____
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