Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

But this woman.

This girl, for some unknown reason, appeared in the same shower room as Gao Hai.

That expression looks like he's in heat, doesn't it?

Shijou Maki's pupils were now filled with dark emotions.

That expression definitely screams "I'm in heat!"

If this were a two-dimensional world, black energy would probably be emanating from the girl's body at this point.

She turned back again, secretly looking back at Haijun.

She even twists and turns her body and deliberately covers her eyes with her hands. Who is she putting on this show for?

You must be thinking about something lewd, your heart racing as you fantasize about a love story, or even something unspeakable and erotic, right?

Even though he's still in a terrifying ghost story game where one wrong move could mean certain death, his mind is far from anything else. His head is filled with desires, and maybe, due to some kind of "suspension bridge effect," he's already tempted to offer himself up and can't resist pushing the other person down. Such a shameless guy, I absolutely won't let him get away with it—

Drip!

Accompanied by a crisp sound.

It was only then that the two girls noticed that their shower time was over, and the two girls in the bathroom were already dressed in clean yellow and white striped uniforms, walking out of the shower room together towards the staff rest room.

"what……"

Taking a deep breath, Shijo Maki instinctively reached out of the room to find Takami.

But before that, Kaguya had already reached out and grabbed the other person.

"It's time for us to go to the research area. We can't go now, we can only wait for the next round of operations."

After the overly stimulating scene of bathing together ended, Kaguya Shinomiya quickly regained her senses and pulled Maki aside to persuade her.

Kaguya was able to change her identity and leave the personnel rest area because Shijou Maki seized the opportunity when the security personnel left after the explorers returned to sneak in and put the researcher's uniform and rule sheet in the room. However, that opportunity is now gone. Takami and Fujiwara Chika appeared suddenly and inexplicably took over the role of explorer C3 previously played by another player. As researchers, Kaguya and Maki can only observe the shower area at most, but can no longer enter the personnel rest area guarded by soldiers.

Knowing all this as well, Maki remained silent, offering no reply to Kaguya, but simply stopped walking.

"What? I was so worried..."

The girl's voice had a strange quality to it.

"Maki-kun, are you... crying?"

Sensing something amiss in the other person's voice, Kaguya couldn't help but show a shocked expression, then took a few steps closer.

"Who's crying? I'm just a little upset."

The girl looked up, her eyes clearly brimming with tears, yet she still spoke through gritted teeth, walking angrily to the door and opening it with her hand.

Then I saw the blood-red rag doll lying outside the door.

Startled, Maki immediately realized that this was the object of Takahashi's obsession with the invisible doll that he had brought over. She squatted down, picked up the doll, and then saw a note that looked like it had been hastily written under the doll.

I'm sorry it took me so long to find you. How are you doing?

I will do my best to find a way to reunite with them and figure out how to clear this dungeon. Hang in there!

The handwriting was crooked and messy, and a few words were even written incorrectly. It's unclear when he wrote these notes.

"What do you mean? Do you think this makes you seem considerate?"

Maki muttered under her breath, glared at the doll in her hand, and then carefully put the note away.

I still feel very upset.

However, it seems to have improved slightly.

The girl, clutching the doll, walked towards another area of ​​the base.

In another cramped room with only a single bed, Fujiwara Chika and Takami sat on the bed and stood against the wall, both looking somewhat embarrassed.

According to the next instructions, the two must spend twelve hours in this small room until the next round of exploration begins, at which point they can temporarily leave.

In other words, it's about a man and a woman alone in a room together.

The girl sitting on the single bed curled up slightly, her thin clothes unable to conceal her beautiful figure.

Gao Hai tried his best to remain calm, but inwardly he couldn't help but feel that this test seemed a little too severe.

Chapter Twenty: The Two People Sharing a Bed and Their Thoughts

They bathe together, then share a room, and next, will they share a bed?

The thought swirled in Fujiwara Chika's mind, and she couldn't calm it down.

It has only been less than a day since then.

In just one day, they first struggled through a complex cavern, having to communicate with extremely terrifying-looking creatures. Then, they were thrown into a bizarre security booth, where they were nearly scared to death by a man who had been crushed to death. With Gao Hai's help, they used rescue team uniforms to reach a new area and finally arrived at this strange research institute, becoming a so-called explorer.

So far, my experiences can still be considered an adventure story.

But what followed was quite wrong in every sense.

The two of them were taking a bath together in the same room, something that only couples or married couples should do. Yet, he had done it with someone of the opposite sex whom he had only known for a short time.

Even if it was out of necessity, a helpless move forced by circumstances.

But this kind of thing is definitely wrong, isn't it?!

Even now, Fujiwara Chika still recalls the scene of her secretly watching Takami not long ago, and the blush on her face just won't go away.

Speaking of which, Gao Jun is really a very assertive person.

Chika's legs began to sway slightly.

He adopted a cold attitude from the start, demanding that she not hold him back, or he might abandon her. But later, when problems actually arose—when the explorer's clothes began to corrode them—he saved himself without hesitation, even tearing his own clothes off in the process…

The subsequent changes—from changing her security guard uniform to him managing to contact her for an investigation, and helping her change into her rescue team uniform and yellow and white striped uniform—all demonstrate that he has a very strong personality, is very opinionated, but also cares about others. Hmm, like a survival expert in a horror game—powerful, assertive, with a serious and ruthless side as well as a gentle one. No, not just like; he is indeed a veteran who has completed this ghost story game. Without his help, she certainly wouldn't have survived this long.

How should I put it? She seems to be quite my type, if only she could be a little more assertive...

No, no, what am I thinking? This is not the time to be thinking about this kind of thing.

Fujiwara Chika shook her head a few times, breaking free from her reverie.

Only then did she realize that Gao Hai had already lay down by the wall, facing away from her and sleeping with his back to her.

Sleeping directly on the floor? That doesn't seem right.

"Gao Jun, it's easy to catch a cold if you sleep like this."

Chika hesitated for a moment, then whispered something to Gao Hai.

"Don't worry about it, I'm in great physical condition. I can lie on the floor for more than ten hours without any problem."

Gao Hai, who was still awake, answered calmly, waving his hand at Qianhua.

"...Even if you say that, it's not really appropriate. There's a bed in the room, why don't you come up and rest?"

Gao Hai's answer surprised the girl for a moment, but after a brief moment of thought, she mustered up the courage to continue persuading him.

"That's just a single bed, barely big enough for one person. I can't exactly make you sleep on the floor, can I? My body is stronger than the average person's, so sleeping on it for a bit won't hurt me, but your body definitely can't handle it, right?"

Gao Hai hadn't expected Qian Hua to be so persistent, and he had to admit that he was somewhat tempted, but in the end he decisively chose to refuse.

The previous bathing together was stimulating enough, so it's best to avoid physical contact with each other now.

While he wasn't quite driven to lust in this bizarre game, the repeated stimulation of his mind and body by such a beautiful girl was still quite unpleasant. He didn't want to leave a bad impression on Chika, and considering Maki, Takahashi felt somewhat guilty, thinking that what he was doing was rather inappropriate.

"It's okay, it shouldn't be a problem if you both sleep on your sides. No problem, Gao Jun has helped me a lot along the way, I can't let you sleep on the floor. Come on, it's okay, I trust Gao Jun."

But Chika was clearly not the type to give up easily. After taking a deep breath, the girl finally put aside her shame and extended a solemn invitation to Takahashi.

Inviting a boy to sleep in the same bed with her... Ugh, at least no one she knows will see this.

The girl felt her ears starting to burn.

"Uh, that's not really a good idea, considering you're quite pretty too."

Gao Hai was tempted, but after some hesitation, he chose to decline.

"No problem, Gao Jun didn't do anything in the shower just now, did he?"

Having mustered her courage, the girl naturally wouldn't back down easily and earnestly persisted in her stance.

"Ahaha, that's true..."

Gao Hai's laughter sounded somewhat dry.

"Hey, Gao Jun, you didn't do anything in the shower just now, did you?"

Senka, who quickly noticed Takami's attitude based on her intuition, frowned and immediately asked him a question.

“I didn’t look back, I can guarantee that. I didn’t break our promise.”

Then, Gao Hai said very seriously, his solemn attitude making Chika stunned again.

"This, this is it..."

The girl felt a little guilty.

Although she and Gao Hai had agreed that neither of them should turn back, she couldn't help but turn back several times. Throughout the entire shower, she didn't notice that Gao Hai had any intention of turning back to peep at her. He was a complete gentleman.

Although there were some points in Gao Hai's answer that warranted further examination, Chika herself had broken the agreement dishonestly, so she felt guilty and didn't think carefully about his answer, quickly letting the matter drop.

This finally calmed Gao Hai down, who was also feeling guilty.

There was no peeking back; that's the truth.

But the fact that he released the invisible blood doll and, on his way to find Kaguya Maki, also stole a few glances at Chika is undeniable.

Of course, I didn't dare to get close and take a closer look. I just glanced at the outline of her body from a distance. The curves of her body were so beautiful that even Kaguya Shinomiya and Maki Shijou combined couldn't match them. It was truly amazing in every sense.

Perhaps only the monstrous worldview of Azur Lane can overwhelm the character of Fujiwara Chika?

More than ten minutes ago, Gao Hai, who had openly admired Chika's figure through the invisibility doll, had already sighed in his heart.

Incidentally, the doll actually carried more than one note. Takahashi had anticipated various scenarios and prepared notes for Kaguya and Maki in advance. He noticed the conversation between Maki and Kaguya in a certain room while manipulating the invisible doll, and noticed Maki's emotional state. Therefore, he discarded the other notes, kept the one for Maki, and then deliberately let the doll lie at the door with the note under it.

Being honest during a shared bath was definitely the right choice. I never expected that Maki and Kaguya would be here as researchers, and I never expected that they would actually watch him and Chika's shared bath through surveillance cameras.

It was quite awkward, to be honest.

But now, there's no need to worry about that.