Chapter 286 — The Foolish Yet Best Way to Fill In the Outer Moat with Explosives (Points: Self-Destruction)

Probably twenty-four hours have passed, so here's today's update.

Rakuro: "See you."

Rei: "Y-Yes! Let's do our best today too!"

Since they're in different classes, it's only natural that they split up once they reach school.

Even so, Rei is incredibly happy that they get to walk together every morning.

Lately she's even managed to talk without stuttering. This year, the tide is coming in! Pororoca!!

And so Rei is once again radiating happiness from head to toe today when she suddenly remembers something.

That she triggered the Unique Scenario "Invitation from Rabituza"? She's already reported that.

The quest proposed by the NPC Eristella, the Saint of Love? He brought that up himself while they were walking to school.

No. Not that.

Until very recently, Rei—Psyger-0—had regarded it as a kind of event that was already over.

But there was the Ruler of the Abyss's mention of it, the future foretold by that warning... and the words of a wise rabbit of Rabituza. Put all of that together, and even Rei, who doesn't understand games nearly as deeply as Rakuro does, can grasp what it means.

When Ctarnidd told her about it, she was too busy fleeing from "Blue" to deal with anything else. After that, the mess within her own family made her forget about it completely.

But she has to tell him. She has to ask him about it. Because most likely...

...it is almost certainly connected to the fourth stage of the World Quest.

Friend: "What's wrong, Rei? You're spacing out."

Rei: "Ah, no... I just remembered a little mistake I made."

Friend: "Huh... that's rare for you, Rei. You've never even forgotten an assignment."

Rei tells her friend it isn't anything major while wondering when she should bring it up.

The surest way would be while he is logged into Shangri-La Frontier. But Rakuro Hizutome does not play SLF and nothing else, nor does he log in every single day.

Social media would be the next-best option. As Rei walks down the hallway during lunch break thinking that over, she suddenly sees the person in question coming toward her while chatting with friends.

Ah, perfect timing.

No one can carefully think through every single action they take.

It is difficult to control a sudden yawn or sneeze completely. In the same way, attention tends to slip when the brain has judged an action to be low priority.

Rei: "Oh, Hizutome...-kun."

Rakuro: "Hm?"

And so Rei is not particularly nervous. Her attention is fixed on her highest-priority objective—letting Rakuro know that she has something important to discuss about SLF. Glad that she can save herself the trouble of using her phone, she stops him with an utterly natural motion...

Rei: "There's something important (about SLF) I'd like to talk to you about later, so could I have some of your time (after we log in)...?"

...and drops a bomb that, to absolutely anyone other than the person who shares that connection with her, can only sound like something else entirely.

Silence.

Complete silence, as though everyone nearby has stopped breathing at once.

The noise of the people too far away to hear the bomb Rei just dropped sounds distant. Rei herself spends a moment wondering why the air suddenly froze...

Rakuro: "...? Ah... you mean SLF—"

Rei: "B-BWUH!!?!?!?"

Rakuro—Sunraku—has correctly understood what she means, but Rei's emotional gauge spins around three and a half times when she realizes what she has just done: suddenly stopped someone she passed in the hallway and said something that sounded exactly like a warning that a confession was coming.

With a sharp movement obviously beyond anything an amateur could manage, Rei thrusts one palm out to stop Rakuro and covers her face with the other hand. Her face is so hot it feels ready to ignite.

Rei: "N-No! I don't mean the normal kind of... thing!"

Rakuro: "Huh? Oh, yeah. You mean that thing, right?"

Rei: "Yes! Not the normal kind of thing!"

Rakuro: "Ah. Right."

Rei: "I... I-I-I...!"

The blood and heat rushing to her head reach critical mass.

Her thoughts churn as if a tornado has suddenly formed inside her skull.

Stares. Stares. Stares rain down on her. Even the friend beside her, staring open-mouthed in shock, disappears from her awareness...

Rei: "I SAID I DON'T MEAN THE NORMAL KIND OF THIIIIING!!"

She runs.

Rakuro: "...Wait, so it was about SLF after all?"

Left behind are the most important person—still completely unaware of the future consequences of the bomb that just went off—and his friends.

Rakuro's Friend: "Hey, Hizutome. Lunch is on me today."

Rakuro: "Huh, seriously?"

Rakuro's Friend: "Yeah. But you're getting katsudon. No choice."

Rakuro: "Why?"

Rakuro's Friend: "Come on... an interrogation means katsudon. It's tradition, right?"

Rakuro: "Interrogation? For what...?"

After thinking for a moment, Rakuro realizes that he has no allies in any direction.

Rakuro: "...Hahaha."

Rakuro's Friend: "Hahahaha."

Rakuro and Friends: "HAHAHAHAHA."

A friend claps a hand onto his shoulder. Rakuro shakes it off while they all laugh...

Rakuro: "A friend called me, so I'm leaving the room ^^"

Rakuro's Friend: "CATCH HIM!!"

And the chase begins.

Saiga Rei—a completely serious act of self-sabotage.

If their relationship won't progress with just the two of them, then move the whole environment around them!

That phenomenon where you try to do something else while watching TV and make some unbelievable mistake.

Like when I was about to pour hot water into cup noodles, got distracted by the PC screen, and dumped the water over my hand instead. (True story.) (The water hadn't even boiled yet.) (I screamed because I misunderstood what had happened.)