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

"Yes, that's right. We need to think about where we'll be staying for the next while."

Gao Hai nodded solemnly, only then remembering that his house had been blown up.

"So, is Ah Hai going to come stay at my house?"

Chika blinked, leaned her head closer, and asked with a hint of excitement.

"No way!"

Maki objected almost immediately. Although a balance had been reached among the three, and she was accepting of the current situation, she absolutely could not accept the idea of ​​Fujiwara Chika having more time with Takami.

"If that doesn't work, then let Ahai stay at Maki's house?"

Chika smiled, showing no surprise at Maki's opposition, and offered her suggestions again.

"This... Ugh, my family might not be able to handle it..."

Startled by these words, Consort Zhen hesitated for a long time but couldn't come up with a coherent answer. In the end, she could only mutter to herself in a low voice.

"Alright, alright, I'll be staying at the security guard's quarters at Shuchiin Academy for a while and won't be going anywhere else. By the way, Maki, Chika, try to find a way to get a girl named Yotsuya Miko to transfer to Shuchiin Academy, preferably into your class. She's the only survivor among the ordinary people caught in the dungeon, and now almost all of her classmates are gone, plus she has a stronger sensory talent than me. Well, of course, she has to be willing, so let's go talk to her about it tomorrow."

Gao Hai decisively interrupted the conversation and gave his decision directly.

After a slight hesitation, he decided to tell Miko about it and ask his two lovely girlfriends for help. Although he felt a little guilty doing so, he could sense Miko's vague feelings for him, and he himself did have those kinds of feelings for her.

"Yotsuya Miko? Hmph, Akai is indeed very dishonest."

As expected, Chika's lips twitched slightly, revealing a knowing smile.

"……snort."

Empress Zhenfei snorted coldly, her displeasure becoming quite evident on her face.

It seems I need to tell the whole story of what happened in the instance and explain everything related to Miko.

Looking at the expressions of the two men, Gao Hai sighed inwardly, already prepared to be interrogated by them.

At the same time that the two girls on this side revealed sinister expressions, in the Shinomiya residence, Kaguya, whose expression was slightly vacant, reached out and rubbed her forehead, then turned to look at a servant who appeared at the door.

"what's the result?"

Kaguya asked in a cold voice, making no attempt to hide her anxiety and impatience.

"...I'm sorry, Kaguya-sama, we still haven't found Hayasaka-san."

The servant bowed and apologized, but Kaguya felt even more irritated upon hearing this.

"go out."

She tried her best to suppress her emotions and casually spoke to the servant.

Hayasaka, where have you gone?

From childhood to adulthood, this personal maid who had been with her for many years was practically the only close friend Kaguya could trust. Even Fujiwara Chika, even Takami, couldn't compare to Hayasaka Ai in Kaguya's heart now.

But now, she's gone.

Without any warning, it just suddenly disappeared...

"Lord Kaguya."

The servant's voice rang out again, interrupting Kaguya's thoughts.

"What else do you want to say?"

Seeing that the servant left without listening to her, Kaguya's mood worsened, and her tone became much colder.

"Although we haven't found Ms. Hayasaka, we have confirmed the last place where her cell phone signal was lost. You should remember that place."

As he spoke, the attendant took out his phone, pulled up a map, and stepped closer to show Kaguya a map of the area.

"here it is……"

Despite not understanding the phone map, Kaguya remained unfazed, merely glancing at the map before looking directly at her attendant.

"This is Mr. Gao Hai's residence, right in his backyard."

The next moment, the servant's words caused Kaguya's pupils to constrict.

Interlude 3-03: People Returning to Normal Life and People Discovering the Anomaly

The day after I came out of the dungeon was a sunny and beautiful day.

Stepping out of the security guard dormitory, I stretched in the sunshine.

Before he could do anything, a can of milk was thrown at him, which Gao Hai instinctively caught. Only then did he see Shijo Maki walking over from not far away.

"You can really sleep! It's already 12 o'clock."

With a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice, Maki walked up to Takahashi while carrying a lunchbox.

Maki had deliberately arrived at school early, hoping to have breakfast with Takahashi, but he slept until noon. She wondered why he could sleep so much. She had been looking forward to it for a while before coming to school, but she couldn't even see him.

As for why she didn't just go into the dormitory building to wake Takahashi, it was mainly because there were other security guards inside. Although, given her status as the daughter of the Shijo family, generally no one would dare to gossip, Maki would still feel ashamed if others saw her specifically coming to find Takahashi, which is why she waited until noon to come and find him again.

If Gao Hai knew about Zhenfei's little schemes, he would probably say there was absolutely no need to worry, because the matter had already been exposed. After all, the other security guards had witnessed her and Qianhua coming to see him from time to time more than once. Because of this, some people privately speculated that Gao Hai might be the son of some powerful figure with a terrifying background, here to experience life and perhaps get intimate with various young ladies. Of course, being security guards at a prestigious school, these people would at most exchange a few words in private and never actually leak any information. In this respect, these security guards' professional ethics were quite reliable.

"After all, she's been through two tough battles, so it's understandable that she wants to rest a bit more. By the way, what's going on with Kaguya? She hasn't posted anything on the messaging channel since yesterday. Is something wrong?"

Takami, who had casually answered Maki, reached out and took the lunchbox from her hand, then asked.

"Who knows? If Auntie doesn't want to talk about it, I won't ask. But Fujiwara might know something. If you're curious, just ask her. By the way, the new one you found, she's already settled the paperwork with her friend."

Maki, standing beside Takahashi, spoke calmly. Although she seemed indifferent to Kaguya's situation, Takahashi immediately noticed the worry in her eyes.

As for the sentence that followed, it naturally concerned the matter of Yotsuya Miko's arrival. To be honest, the fact that the matter was resolved by noon the next day was quite impressive, and Gao Hai admired that efficiency. However, the hint of dissatisfaction and jealousy in Maki's tone made Gao Hai feel somewhat guilty.

"Thank you, Zhenfei. It's really reassuring to have you here."

Of course, despite all that, the other party had helped me so much, so I still had to express my sincere gratitude.

"You're welcome, my harem lord."

It's just that this little jealous person doesn't quite accept it.

"Ahem, so I'm saying that nothing really happened between her and me, at least nothing has happened yet. Right now, we're just teammates, a pure comradeship. And to be honest, I had a legitimate reason for recruiting her into our team. Her perception abilities are too strong, which can greatly compensate for our team's lack of reconnaissance capabilities. Also, only our team is suitable to accept a player with such an extremely dangerous talent as her."

Gao Hai tried his best to appear serious and solemnly defended himself.

To be honest, nothing really happened between him and Miko this time. At most, they hugged a few times (the literal meaning of "hug" is not what it seems), and there was no ambiguity. They didn't do anything like kissing or confessing to each other like Maki and Chika did.

Of course, Gao Hai was well aware that Miko harbored some vague feelings for him, and he admitted that he was indeed quite attracted to this beautiful girl with both a great figure and stunning looks. However, because of Maki and Chika, he didn't flirt with her at all during this trip to Fujika Middle School, remaining polite and courteous to Miko throughout. Of course, this was also related to the fact that Fujika Middle School was so incredibly difficult that he simply didn't have time to do anything like that, but he certainly wouldn't say that.

"Hmph... I don't believe you!"

Princess Zhenfei frowned, tilted her head, and muttered something unpleasant, but she didn't storm off in anger.

After all, she had investigated Yotsuya Miko overnight and contacted Kumami. She spent a lot of time carefully confirming the matter before finally settling down after confirming that nothing had actually happened between Miko and Takami.

This guy actually behaved himself for a while and didn't make a move on the pretty girl. Hmm... the environment must be too dangerous and urgent, which made him not in the mood for it!

As Zhenfei pondered this in her heart, the scene from last night involuntarily replayed in her mind.

Last night, before going home to get his toiletries and laptop, Gao Hai made a special trip to Jianzi's house. After confirming that Jianzi's condition wasn't too bad, he comforted her and suggested that she transfer to Shuchiin Academy. Gao Hai's reasoning was that all the members of his player team were at the school, and having Jianzi transfer would make it easier for everyone to get to know each other and cooperate on missions later.

At first, Miko was not very willing to accept this. Firstly, Shuchiin, the legendary aristocratic high school, was too far away for the girl, and she had an instinctive resistance to this unfamiliar environment. Secondly, because of her only good friend, Yurikawa Hana, she did not want to move to a new environment and be away from her only remaining friend.

Upon learning of her thoughts, Gao Hai made a phone call and successfully arranged for Jianzi's friend to transfer schools with her.

"The extraordinary power that players possess means that we are superior to ordinary people. Things that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve can be easily accomplished by people like us. This can be considered as a reward for the once-a-month life-or-death crisis. So you don't really need to worry about trade-offs in many things. You can choose both. At least when it comes to things related to money and power, we have the right to be capricious."

At that time, Takami said this to Miko very seriously, and said that if she had any thoughts in her heart, she should tell him and not keep them to herself.

While Miko was quite shocked to see Takami accomplish such a feat with such ease, she still didn't quite grasp the idea that being a player meant she was superior to ordinary people. After resolving that issue, Miko began to develop a considerable interest in the player team Takami had mentioned.

To be able to form a team with such a powerful player as a senior and fight together, you must be a very strong person, right?

Could it be a particularly reliable player like Ms. Xiongmi?

"What kind of people were the senior's teammates?"

Seeing this, he asked curiously.

"They are all very nice people. A few may seem a little difficult to get along with, but once you get to know each other and spend some time with them, you will find that they are all good people."

Gao Hai simply replied that he felt it was better for Miko to get to know girls with strong personalities like Chika Maki personally, and that it was completely unnecessary for him to introduce them first, as it might even cause some trouble in their interactions.

"Okay, alright, I... I'll do my best. See you later, senior."

After chatting for a while, Gao Hai saw Zi yawn unconsciously, so he said goodbye to her.

But before leaving, he noticed that Miko was still somewhat uneasy, so he came back, reached out and hugged her gently for a while before letting go and saying goodbye to Miko, whose face was flushed.

It was precisely because she saw Takami's actions from afar and observed the expressions on their faces that Maki was able to be certain in her heart that while Takami herself might not have a particularly clear idea, Yotsuya Miko was definitely already moved.

Tsk... He got together with me at Shirakawa Apartment, then he got together with that fat woman Fujiwara at Red Nut Gray Hole, and now he's involved with that fat woman Yotsuya with equally large breasts after getting involved at Fujihana Middle School. How come Kai-kun gets together with someone every time he enters a dungeon? Is this some kind of curse?!

Princess Zhenfei was very unhappy, extremely unhappy.

However, she no longer cares about such things as much as she used to, and now she just grumbles a little in her heart.

What are your plans for the next few days?

Zhenfei, who had moved a little closer, secretly glanced at Gao Hai and asked in a low voice.

"Well, we need to teach Jianzi all the common knowledge about being a player, and also make sure everyone is familiar with her abilities so that we can cooperate well. Hmm, we also need to ask how to solve Chika's problem. In the records of the sacrifice game, she has only participated in the [Twilight Level] game once, while the rest of us have already obtained the [Dark Night Level] qualification, which is also a troublesome matter."

After a moment's thought, Gao Hai quickly answered.

These are indeed things that need to be considered, so Princess Maki nodded without saying anything more.

"Of course, spending more time with you is also very important. I'm not the kind of workaholic who only thinks about serious matters all day long. So, would you do me the honor of going on a few dates with me, my lovely little Zhenfei?"

But then Gao Hai's tone took on a deliberately teasing tone, and Zhen Fei blushed slightly upon hearing this.

"Why...why are you using such a disgusting tone? As for dates, um...well, we'll see when we're available..."

Although she really wanted to agree, given Maki's personality, that was all she could say in the end.

"Well, then I'll look forward to my date with Maki."

"Expectations... wait a minute, are you deliberately teasing me like this? You know perfectly well I can't honestly agree... you idiot!"

Unbeknownst to the two playfully bickering, in the backyard of Takahashi's house, which was under renovation, Kaguya Shinomiya, dressed casually and having skipped school, was frowning as she stared at the seemingly ordinary little courtyard before her.

According to their subordinates' investigation, their personal maid, Hayasaka Ai, disappeared in this very place.