"Slacking off at work will get your pay docked~ I caught you red-handed~"
The pink-haired girl outside the window blinked at Takakai, playfully pointing at him with a finger-gun gesture.
"Chika?"
Takakai hadn't expected her to return to school at this time. He quickly stood up.
The two other security guards in the booth showed no reaction, as if they couldn't see Takakai or Chika, remaining perfectly still at their posts. Seeing this, Takakai said nothing more, simply pocketed his phone and stepped out of the security booth.
"Are you really okay now?"
Takakai walked out of the booth and looked at Fujiwara Chika, who still seemed somewhat pale, standing not far away. He couldn't help but ask.
"Walking isn't really a problem anymore. It seems the physical enhancements from the A-rank evaluation made my recovery much faster than before."
Fujiwara Chika nodded in response, very naturally walking beside Takakai as they moved forward together.
The two walked a short distance to a small pavilion on campus and sat down inside. Since classes were still in session, the area around the pavilion was quiet, with only Takakai and Chika sitting there.
During the walk and while sitting down, Takakai had tried to hold Chika's hand, but the girl firmly refused. She said daytime hours should be reserved for Maki, and that they shouldn't be too intimate in easily visible places like school to avoid gossip. Seeing her resolute attitude, Takakai had no choice but to give up.
"How's little Maki doing?"
The moment they sat down in the pavilion, Chika looked at Takakai with curiosity.
"She's fine, seems like there's no problem. But are you really okay? You shouldn't push yourself too hard."
As he spoke, Takakai carefully observed Chika's reactions. He knew he had been somewhat excessive yesterday and had thought she would need about a day to recover. Unexpectedly, she had only rested through the morning before coming back to school in the afternoon.
He had heard that girls' walking posture changes subtly after becoming adults—would others notice?
At this thought, Takakai's gaze involuntarily shifted to Chika's legs. He hadn't paid much attention to her walking posture earlier, but now it seemed there were indeed slight differences compared to yesterday.
"I said I'm fine, so I'm really fine. Don't underestimate me. Well, anyway, I still feel a little sorry for little Maki, so let's leave the daytime to her for now. It's better if I don't show up and risk upsetting her."
The pink-haired girl frowned, thought for a moment, then shook her head.
At least for now, she needed to give the other girl more time.
As for what would happen later, Chika hadn't thought too far ahead, though she did have tentative plans for a two-day hot spring trip next weekend. If things went smoothly, it might help improve the dynamic between the three of them.
Come to think of it, shouldn't this kind of thing be the guy's responsibility? Takakai really is hopeless.
With these thoughts, Chika looked up at Takakai with a somewhat resentful expression—only to be suddenly pulled into his arms as he wrapped one around her waist.
"Don't worry, I know what to do. You don't need to overthink it."
He lowered his head, burying his face in her soft pink hair.
Takakai took a deep breath, inhaling the faint fragrance of her hair, then released her as her face turned bright red.
"Stupid Takakai, that's cheating..."
The girl muttered softly, pinching his arm.
Just then, the bell signaling the end of class rang from the school building. Chika said goodbye to Takakai and headed toward the classrooms. She walked with a spirited, almost triumphant air—probably because she wasn't going to class but to the Tabletop Game Club she was part of.
This time, Takakai carefully observed Chika's walking posture and confirmed that her steps were indeed slightly uncoordinated, with noticeable stiffness around her thighs and hips.
She ended up like this because of me... Transported to a crossover anime world, forced into a death game, winning over beauties and building a harem. This kind of web novel protagonist storyline was something he had basically completed, with only the final step remaining: ending the [Sacrificial Game] and finding a way to return to the real world with these supernatural powers.
But did such a method even exist?
Takakai had looked into various rumors among players, including those about how to escape this terrifying world.
Most of this information had no reliable sources, since players themselves didn't know how to truly escape this monthly death trap. Among all the theories, the one considered most plausible was obtaining A-rank evaluations in two Crimson moon-class dungeons, which would grant qualification to participate in a dungeon of even higher difficulty beyond the Crimson moon level.
Many players believed that this legendary dungeon contained the real way to escape this hell.
However, in the two years since the [Sacrificial Game] began, no player had ever met this condition. Even the top-tier Crimson-level players had never achieved two A-rank clears.
With these thoughts in mind, Takakai returned to the security booth, took out his phone, and logged back into the player forum.
Currently, many people on the forum were still discussing the mysterious players who had cleared and destroyed the Nutty Putty Cave dungeon. Although Ed had leaked some information about Takakai, most players refused to believe that a single person could have accomplished this feat alone—they were convinced he must have had a powerful team backing him. Some even speculated that it was a top-tier team preparing to challenge the Crimson Moon level that had orchestrated the dungeon's destruction.
Some players' guesses were surprisingly accurate, but Takakai had no interest in paying attention to these scattered opinions. Instead, he focused on several pinned posts curated by the forum moderators, specifically the section on [School Mystery Tales].
Rather than worrying about the possibility of being dragged into this high-difficulty dungeon, it was better to gather information in advance. That way, even if the worst-case scenario he imagined came true, he wouldn't be completely clueless and forced to start investigating from scratch.
After opening the section, Takakai quickly found five pinned threads at the top.
The first four threads were titled [Shirasawa Elementary School], [Fujika Middle School], [Yoruyama High School], and [Bedos Academy]—four different schools discovered within the [School Mystery Tales] dungeon, as summarized by surviving players.
Shirasawa Elementary was, as the name suggested, a horrifying elementary school. Fujizakura Middle School was an abandoned junior high, Yomiyama High was a high school, and Pythos Academy was a university.
According to players, these four schools existed independently yet were interconnected within the dungeon. Players could freely travel between them. The dungeon operated under two types of rules: [Universal Rules] and [Area-Specific Rules], which varied depending on the environment. The specifics were extremely complex and impossible to summarize in just a few words.
Among these schools, Yoruyama High was believed to contain three different Core Obsessions, making it the area with the most known Cores. Two of these had already been retrieved by players, causing Yoruyama High to enter a semi-locked state where entry was nearly impossible.
Fujika Middle School was the only location in a state of ruin, its interior reduced to rubble with spatial distortions. Rumor had it that some players who entered were still lost inside, unable to escape.
Shirasawa Elementary was an enigma, with almost no reliable intel. Survivors from this location were either unwilling to share information or exhibited severe self-destructive tendencies. The sole team that provided any details only said, ["No matter what, do not enter this place."]
Bedos Academy stood out among the four. While the others appeared to be Japanese schools, Bedos was distinctly Western in style—a massive university with dense clusters of buildings. The academy seemed to suffer from temporal and spatial distortions. According to the Crimson Moon-level team that retrieved one of its Cores, the academy had existed across three major eras, two of which functioned as normal schools. The third era, however, was during wartime, when it served as an execution ground.
That team estimated that over 1.6 million people had been transported there and killed before the academy vanished into the world of mysteries. Among all areas in [School Mystery Tales], Bedos Academy was the only one overflowing with near-infinite horrors—a place where survival was nearly impossible even if players followed all rules.
After one Core was retrieved, no player who entered Bedos Academy ever escaped alive again. What was once a perilous but survivable zone had become a 100% mortality death trap.
And then there was the fifth school—one that existed only in rumors.
Many players exploring the dungeon claimed to have glimpsed it: a school shrouded in mist, its lights glowing faintly in the darkness, the sound of bells and classroom chatter echoing from within.
Yet no one had ever found it.
Or rather, no one who found it ever returned to tell the tale.
Takakai casually opened the thread on [Fujika Middle School], carefully reviewing its contents.
The post listed twelve different game prompts that players starting in Fujika had encountered. Unlike Twilight-class or Midnight-class dungeons, Crimson Moon-class dungeons (even degraded ones like this) provided different prompts depending on the starting location.
Additionally, Fujika Middle School was divided into four distinct zones: [School Building], [Dormitory Area], [Athletic Field], and [Swimming Pool]—each with its own independent set of rules.
"Alice's Game? Sounds like some kind of model kit assembly challenge..."
Takakai couldn't help but scoff at the naming convention used for the rule sets.