Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

After the phantom thief—that is, Xia Yunli—disappeared, the sky in the other world jumped to daytime, as if the night had simply vanished.

However, in places like this, which are associated with anomalies, nothing is surprising.

Bai Ze returned to the Western-style dormitory and almost bumped into Xia Xingzhi, who was yawning, when he opened the door.

"Aze, you haven't come back all night."

She circled around Bai Ze like a puppy wagging its tail. "I thought something had happened and wanted to come find you, but just as I was about to leave the dorm... I suddenly felt very sleepy."

It was probably influenced by another world, but Bai Ze was more concerned about something else.

"You mean the whole night?"

Based on his physical experience, although encountering and capturing the phantom thief, and the subsequent interrogation took a considerable amount of time, it definitely didn't last the entire night.

After asking Xia Xingzhi, the answer she received was that she had slept in the mansion for one night and had a very good sleep.

"Never mind the details, let's go help the president and the others rehearse the play."

Xia Xingzhi enthusiastically pulled him toward a separate building of the mansion, an attitude that felt rather incongruous.

"Aren't you afraid of crowded places?"

Bai Ze questioned, "And why don't you ask me what I discovered first?"

"ah."

As if just realizing something, she exclaimed, "We came here to catch the phantom thief, but we were having so much fun with everyone that we almost forgot we were in another world."

This is not something that can be easily forgotten.

"I have encountered the phantom thief and reached an agreement; she has promised to abandon the planned theft."

Bai Ze deliberately downplayed it.

"That's great! We can focus our attention on rehearsals now!"

...Something definitely wasn't right.

This is the detective girl!

Putting aside the fact that this is a dangerous otherworld, even if she were in a peaceful girls' school in reality, if she could find joy in interacting with girls her own age, and even say things like, "I'm going to focus my energy on rehearsals," "I'll perform plays with everyone for the rest of my life," or "I'm so happy performing in operas," like a heroine from a shonen anime—

Bai Ze believed that it was a sign that the end of the world was coming.

"This other world is probably gradually assimilating you as well," he concluded.

As for himself, he was hardly affected, which may be related to his failure to follow school rules and stay in the dormitory, instead running out of the Western-style building.

The phantom thief's case has been partially resolved; the next step is to dismantle the otherworld itself.

After yesterday's exploration and Xia Yunli's hints, Bai Ze has made some progress.

Humming along to a cheerful tune, Bai Ze, whose entire demeanor seemed to shift from dark gray to bright yellow, stepped into the sunroom that served as a rehearsal room.

All the girls were present, just like yesterday, playing and laughing energetically, embodying the essence of adolescence.

Katsura Mai was still carrying her wooden sword and patrolling with great spirit; she looked more like a security captain than a student council president.

When she saw Bai Ze come in, she whistled.

"The male leads are all here, let's begin today's rehearsal!"

"Okay—" "I haven't rested enough yet—"

A flurry of responses followed.

"Instead of rehearsing, how about we have the actual performance today?"

The next moment, Bai Ze's calm suggestion silenced the girls' commotion.

Katsura Mai looked at him and said with a wry smile, "It seems our level isn't quite up to a formal performance..."

"No problem, anyway, I haven't seen anyone else at school besides you guys, so how can any audience member judge the performance's quality?"

Bai Ze shrugged, the student council president stood frozen in place, and the other girls also fell silent, at a loss for what to do.

"How long did you rehearse before we arrived? A month? A year? Or an immeasurable amount of time? And to what extent do you plan to prepare before taking the stage?"

He walked toward the girl in front of him, and Xia Xingzhi, who seemed to have temporarily regained consciousness from the influence of the other world, helped to block the girls who wanted to stop him.

"If you're just repeating the same dramatic exercise every day, it's practically like an endless cycle, isn't it? Because you're just doing the exact same thing."

"This is none of your business."

Katsura Mai raised her wooden sword, her tone icy, "Aren't you two here to arrest the thief who stole the Silver Star Sword?"

"Our detectives believe it was the fox spirit who did it."

Bai Ze casually shifted the blame, saying, "Actually, I broke school rules last night and went for a stroll outside the mansion. What I saw reminded me of the script we're all going to perform."

Xia Yunli confirmed that the one who made the fox spirit mask was the Lord of the Otherworld, and reminded him to pay attention to the script.

In this clichéd story of a hero slaying a monster, an important setting involving the fox spirit is that both the hero and the monster are two aspects of it.

The other world inevitably reflects the will of its master, just as the mysterious created a land with flowing Yellow Springs and blooming spider lilies, and the Minotaur created a labyrinth.

Why is there such a big difference between the daytime and nighttime scenes in this other world modeled after Qingqiu Girls' High School?

By day, it's a sunny campus brimming with youthful energy; by night, it's a demonic realm overrun by evil spirits.

If the master of the other world is still in a state of conflict between good and evil, as mentioned in the script, then all of this can be explained.

The school is haunted by evil spirits at night, but who is it that creates the daytime scene and almost attracts Xia Xingzhi as well?

"President, is your definition of beauty simply endlessly rehearsing opera with your companions?"

Bai Ze grasped the wooden knife the girl pointed to with one hand and pushed it aside.

You have the potential to be the strongest student in the 99th class of Seisho Academy!

Katsura Mai lowered her head and sighed softly, "Even knowing it's an irreversible problem, you still have to ask?"

The girls that Xia Xingzhi had tried so hard to stop lost their expressions, just like they had at dinner yesterday, as if they had suddenly become puppets without any control.

The next moment, their figures gradually blurred and faded away in the sunlight.

Only Katsura Mai was left.

She reluctantly threw away the wooden knife.

"You've woken me from my dream; shouldn't we be prepared to deal with it?"

The entire mansion... and even the Qingqiu Girls' High School in the other world, began to tremble violently as if struck by an earthquake.

The ground beneath their feet cracked open, and the three people present fell into a winding tunnel resembling an industrial pipeline. Around them came sounds like heavy metal smelting and the roar of a blast furnace, as if they could see the illusion of steel being reproduced.

After sliding out of the pipe, you are greeted by a vast underground stage, which is about the same size as the entire Qingqiu Girls' High School!

A giraffe chewed on the grass in its trough, looking up innocently at the three people who had fallen there.

Then it was struck down and torn apart by sharp claws that emerged from the darkness, blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Then, the lights along the side of the stage lit up one by one.

It illuminated the enormous silhouette of the fox.