I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

After taking a bath for an hour, she dried her hair as she walked to her desk, picked up her phone, and turned on the screen.

An unread message appeared at the top of the notification bar, bearing a familiar name.

Yu: "I suddenly thought of you for no reason, and I couldn't figure it out at all. In the end, I could only think of one possibility: Yukino, are you secretly thinking about me?"

"Humph……"

The first smile that appeared on my face after I got home came naturally.

"That idiot, his attitude changed really fast."

She couldn't help but smile and sigh, pulled out a chair, sat down, and gently pressed the characters to respond.

I've thought about whether I should start now, hold back my feelings, and stop liking him more and more, to avoid letting my mood get heavier and heavier over time, until the moment I fear most arrives.

That's right, let's keep the commission separate from the love affair.

It doesn't matter if I'm accused of running away. Even that perfect and strong older sister cried so miserably. It's understandable that I back down a bit, right?

However, what I couldn't do in the past, I still can't do now.

She could only helplessly accept one fact—

Yukino Yukinoshita, who was made happy by a message, will only grow to like Yuu Tenkuji more and more from now on.

"I brought this on myself. Who told me to fall for such a troublesome guy?"

He shook his head self-deprecatingly, as if giving up the struggle, and his mood became lighter.

She clicked send message and returned to the desktop.

Looking at the group photo on the screen that had been set as the desktop wallpaper, Yukino rested her cheek on her hand, ignoring the side hair that was lightly touching the corner of her mouth.

She gazed at him for a long time, her eyes softening and her smile growing gentler. She lightly poked the boy's grinning face with her finger and whispered to him:

"Tenkuji-kun, I'll probably love you until the very last day, won't I?"

"So before that, you have to be happier than anyone else, more joyful than ever before."

"Because it is I who am with you."

"Even though it's my first love, I'll do my best."

—We must save him.

Even if the road ahead is like an abyss, even if you are filled with fear for the future.

Even so, Yukino Yukinoshita remained determined.

……

Yukino: "Stop being narcissistic. You just like me too much, to the point of thinking about me day and night."

Yu: "Okay, I like you this much, so what about you?"

Yukino: "Time to sleep, goodnight."

Yu: "He actually escaped by sleeping?! What time is it?!"

Yukino: "You're so annoying. When you text me, please be serious and stop bothering me with those cheesy pick-up lines."

Yu: "Tsk, Xiaoxue is really strict."

Yu: "Then goodnight."

Yukino: "Goodnight."

Yukino: "...It's probably the feeling of wanting to be the first to say good morning to you every morning."

Yuu: "???"

Yukino: "Just answering the previous question. Okay, I'm going to sleep now."

Yu: "Wait a minute, is this how artsy girls confess their feelings?! Don't do this sudden attack, I'm blushing even through the screen!"

Yuu: "Hello? Yukino, are you there?"

Yu: "So, the first thing I should do when I wake up is send you a good morning message? Or should I call you?"

Yu: "Honey, say something!"

Yu: "Tsk, he flirted with someone and then ran away. No sportsmanship at all..."

……

Chapter 133 Kasumigaoka Utaha's Astonishment

Perhaps that night, they all changed because of the so-called 'truth'.

Having overcome the loneliness she carried alone, Yuu Tenkuji resolved to move forward together with them.

Facing a future destined to vanish, Yukino Yukinoshita vows to save him from his helplessness.

By making the final gamble with her heart, Yukinoshita Haruno gained the confidence to feel at ease.

Lacking only memories as the final key, Natsukawa Masuzu writes down things she absolutely cannot forget in her notebook and tries to find all the illogical parts of her experiences.

Life has no fixed path; everyone moves forward in their own way.

They racked their brains, thinking and choosing, trying to find a way to get closer to their goal, even if the process might hurt others, they could only apologize.

After all, all these efforts will be meaningless if one does not first achieve happiness.

The intense longing that arose from the bottom of their hearts, and the rich emotions that it catalyzed, became the driving force that kept them pursuing their goals in these distorted realities.

Even Asuna Yuuki, who hasn't entered the venue yet, is looking forward to meeting someone at the cultural festival, hoping to resolve the confusion and excitement that has been lingering in her heart for so long, and to understand why he is attracting her in some mysterious way.

Fates that were once intertwined will, even if time were reversed and cause and effect were altered, still entangle each other again at some point in the future.

—And so, in a world where "there is nothing."

The desolate ruins covered the earth, and that old LCD screen still stood out starkly buried in the soil.

It appears undamaged on the surface, yet it looks rather disheveled now.

Sun exposure.

Wind and rain.

The summer night was sweltering.

It is unclear when it began, but the luminous orbs on the dome have united, abandoning their foolish infighting, and launched a full-scale attack on the 'culprit'. They have been relentlessly unleashing the derivative phenomena of their own characteristics in an attempt to destroy the LCD screen that seems to control this world.

Although their actions were more like children venting their anger at the incompetence of adults than a gang attack—after all, the light jade, which represents hope and gentleness, does not contain any aggression.

Even if they can influence the reality of this world through the evolution of anomalies, who can actually harm them based on their own abilities...?

Unfortunately, it will probably last for several decades or even centuries.

Moreover, as the embodiment of the system and the temporary regulator of the ruined world, the LCD screen cannot be affected by the anomalies of these outsiders. Even if they increase their aggression and endure wind and rain for thousands or tens of thousands of years, it will not cause even the slightest decay to its body.

So it just stayed quietly in the soil until one moment, the pitch-black scene suddenly lit up, the chaotic snowflakes flashed by, and finally settled in a room where the lights were not on.

"Warning: The target's mindset has changed. The mission will not be completed for at least 583 days."

"Warning: System energy will not last until the end. Initiating the selection of response procedures - end selected, initiating event alteration."

The scene shifts from the girl's sleeping, delicate face to a messy study bathed in dim light.

As if she had just finished a work session, the black-haired girl in the study took her hands off the keyboard, stretched vigorously with a flushed face, and revealed her mature and beautiful figure.

"Hmm, ahhh~ My observations over this period have been quite useful; at least I've come up with a few good ideas..."

She murmured lazily to herself, yawned at the ceiling, rubbed her teary eyes, and lowered her gaze back to the table.

Then, the black leather notebook, which had been sealed deep inside the bookshelf and which she had been careful not to touch, suddenly appeared on her keyboard, exuding a strong presence.

"..."

Time seemed to freeze in the study. She sat motionless in her chair, not even daring to blink, staring silently at the black leather notebook with a look of horror and fear on her face.

After about two or three minutes, and confirming that apart from its frightening entrance, the black notebook had no intention of harming her, the long-haired, big-breasted beauty slowly relaxed her body and took several deep breaths while pressing her chest.

"I need to get used to it, I need to get used to it. This world isn't as scientific as I imagined... If I don't get used to it, I'll be scared to death before I write a book that will be remembered for ages..."

Reassuring herself in this way, she carefully picked up a corner of the black leather notebook, but did not let her curiosity lead her to immediately open it.

Instead, as if he were holding a dead cockroach, he stretched out his arm, led it to the window, and opened it.

A cool breeze swept over her. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and suddenly mustered all her strength to throw it fiercely towards the other side of the vast night sky!

"I don't want your supernatural gadgets that keep bothering me all the time. Get the hell out of my mind!"

Afraid of disturbing her parents, Kasumigaoka Utaha gritted her teeth and whispered.

—They scare me with these weird entrances every now and then. If I weren't braver than most people, this wouldn't be something that can be resolved by just a few drops leaking out!

Complaining bitterly, Kasumigaoka Utaha stood by the window with her eyes still closed, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down.

Once her wildly beating heart calmed down, she opened her eyes, turned around, cupped her large breasts in her hands, and pouted helplessly.

As she expected, the laptop remained quietly on the keyboard, and there was no sound of anything falling outside the window.

"Horror stories are entertaining, but when they happen to you, the deep-seated fear is beyond what can be described as mere 'love of dragons'..."

With a deep sense of agreement, she slowly walked back to her desk, her fingers gently touching the uniquely textured black cover. Her expression gradually darkened, and she seemed lost in thought.

"It didn't immediately emerge after being 'sealed,' but only suddenly appeared before me now... Is it because it wants to tell me something? Or does it want me to do something? Or has it finally come to its rightful place?"

As a novelist, rich imagination and extensive extension are instinctive. Just by looking at the cover, seven or eight possibilities burst out in her mind almost instantly, and each possibility could be written into an interesting story.

Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't help but smile smugly—unfortunately, she was a pure romance author and had no interest in supernatural or superpower stories; even if they were popular, she wouldn't want to spend the time writing them.

After a brief hesitation, she sat back down in her chair, swept her long hair behind her head, and carefully and earnestly turned to the first page.

"I've already struggled. Since it insists on appearing before me, even if I continue to seal it away to avoid any danger, who knows if this act of avoidance will bring even greater danger... So, I have no choice but to go for it!"

She was just explaining to herself and trying to muster her courage, but as she spoke, her tone gradually became fanatical and childish.

"That's right, what we need to do is not to be cowards, but to understand it and coexist with it!"

"Make it your own personal tool to defuse the dangers, and then use it to find the possibility of a breakthrough—ha, who knows, you might even become a superhuman!"

She let out two low, arrogant laughs, her eyes flashing with an alarming light. Suddenly, her movements changed, like a writer boldly and confidently flipping through the pages of her notebook.

No matter where they came from or what their purpose was, why did they have to appear in front of me?