I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"I didn't do anything, so why are you attacking me?"

Ignoring his feigned pitiful voice, Yuuki Asuna withdrew her hand and examined the stirring rod, which had not undergone any abnormality, with some regret.

"So it really doesn't work... Perhaps this ability can only function between the virtual and the conscious..."

Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but retort, "If it could be used in real life, that would be incredible. I wouldn't even be able to beat you then."

Recalling the experience of almost having his chest pierced by her during the ring match, he subconsciously rubbed his arms, feeling worried about his fighting ability for the first time.

After all, he's gone further and further down the path of being a scumbag, and a scumbag is someone who, if he makes a careless mistake, will get his head chopped off by a girl with a machete...

As for why the special skill that the "Heartfelt Wishes" system once rewarded her with ended up on Yuuki Asuna, and even helped her restore the memories rewritten by the system, Tenkuji Yu was too lazy to investigate, and didn't even want to think about it.

Since we already assumed the system was at fault, it's perfectly fine to pin all the blame on that guy. It won't be wrong, and it saves us effort.

Chapter Twenty: It's important to distinguish between dating simultaneously and cheating.

"We've strayed a bit from the topic, let's get back to the main point."

With her expression turning serious, Yuu Tenkuji put down her empty coffee cup and looked directly at Asuna Yuuki.

"Remember? The thing you asked me during the arena."

Asuna Yuuki nodded, took a deep breath, suppressed her inexplicable emotions deep in her eyes, and her calm gaze was almost tangible.

"We've never met in the game, so why do you know so much about my moves and techniques?"

Yuu Tenkuji replied, "Because we teamed up for a while and had several matches. Of course, you lost every time."

Her brow twitched suddenly, and Yuuki Asuna instinctively wanted to say something, but she tightened her face and tried her best to hold back.

"Why do you say that continuing to guess is not a good thing for me?"

"Because at that time, I didn't intend to take responsibility for anything I had done in the past, so I had to use 'this is for your own good' as an excuse to escape everything," Tenkuji Yu said frankly, also prepared to be scolded and despised by her.

Yuuki Asuna, however, had no such intention; she simply blinked in surprise and confusion.

"Then now..."

"Now, because of Yui, because of Yukino... because of everyone, I can make up my mind to restore everything to its proper state, and then let us decide where the future should go based on our own will."

"Hmm... I don't quite understand, but it means you've come to terms with it and want to take responsibility for the past, right?"

After pondering for a while, before she could ask any further questions, Yuuki Asuna suddenly paused, her mental radar beeping as she realized something strange about his words.

"Yukino? Does this have anything to do with Yukinoshita-san? And I've been wanting to ask you this for a while now, what's your relationship with Yukinoshita-san...?"

“I’ll tell you about those things later.” Just then, she remembered something else and asked, “You said before that Sister Martha, the ring, and the online records were the three clues that made you certain that some strange feeling was related to me, right? That’s why you decided to transfer to Soubu High School to find me.”

"Well, that's right..."

The problem she was concerned about wasn't resolved immediately. Yuuki Asuna grumbled in dissatisfaction, biting the coffee-stained stirrer stick, and then sighed softly as if she couldn't do anything about it.

Yuu Tenkuji continued, "I don't care about the rest, but that ring... I've looked here, is it really in your inventory?"

"Yes, I have no reason to lie to you."

The chestnut-haired girl who was using the ring to play tricks on Yuuki Tenkuji back then is now blinking her big eyes with a slightly innocent look.

"Although it shows as destroyed, it can't be screenshotted, moved, or discarded; it just occupies one inventory slot like a bugged layer... But when the power of 'heart' restored my character, you must have seen it, right? Both of us have that destroyed ring on our fingers."

"I'm not trying to doubt you, I just can't quite accept it." Frowning as if in pain, Tenkuji Yu sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. "Even though I already knew, the feeling of being betrayed by that guy no matter how much I try to be careful or confirm things is really unpleasant..."

"That guy?"

Before Asuna Yuuki could press for answers, Yuu Tenkuji steered the conversation back on track: "I'm hosting a Christmas party at home tonight. I'll invite everyone involved in this matter and reveal the whole truth at once, answering all your questions as best I can."

"If you have time, I hope you can come and participate... I can find someone to help you with your mother's affairs, as long as you don't go back too late, it should be fine."

“If there are no problems with my mother, of course I want to go…” At this point, Yuuki Asuna suddenly hesitated, “But what you’re talking about is probably related to my memories, right? Including the memories I can’t recall about when we first met.”

"Of course, although I don't know if I can talk about the process, the information I can reveal at the moment should help you recall some things without too much pain."

Yuu Tenkuji wasn't sure either, but she had to give it a try. Even if it didn't work out, exchanging information wouldn't be a bad deal.

Besides, do you think he's not afraid of having all these girls gathered in one room?

Of course afraid.

He couldn't figure out how to comfort Yui after explaining, how to help his girlfriends recover their memories without feeling pain, or how to win back his own feelings.

The road ahead is full of unknowns and anxieties, and it takes immense courage to take each step forward. However, Yu's mental state is not as superhuman as his physical abilities. Just confirming the extent to which Asuna's memories have been restored made him so nervous that he had to be mentally prepared before he dared to listen.

Even so, that is not a reason for him to back down or run away.

Because someone has already shared with him the courage needed to face everything.

"Never mind then, I won't go."

"Hmm?" This sentence interrupted Yu's thoughts, causing him to open his eyes wide and look at Asuna's seemingly helpless expression with surprise.

"May I ask why?"

"Well, saying this might make you think I'm a hassle..."

Asuna Yuuki scratched her cheek with a wry smile, but her eyes were fixed firmly on Yuu Tenkuji, her gaze gleaming with the steely luster of a sword.

"I want to recall everything on my own, just like I did before, without any prompting!"

Her resounding words echoed through the surrounding air.

"Rely on yourself..."

For a moment, Tenkuji Yu was in a daze, and then she couldn't help but recall the words she had said to her during her injury break.

Even if I forget you, no matter how many times, I will always remember you.

—I'll be waiting for you in the future.

My gaze was irresistibly drawn to her eyes, and the two people, similar yet different, gradually overlapped in front of me.

Different gentleness, same determination—no matter when, Yuuki Asuna's stubbornness always deeply touched Tenkuji Yu.

He gently pressed his left chest, silently savoring the bittersweet emotions—a mixture of gratitude and admiration—that were fermenting in his heart.

Yuuki Asuna didn't notice his little gesture. Instead, she pinched her chin, frowned, and fell into deep thought.

"Come to think of it, I feel like I managed to remember it once before, which is why I'm so obsessed with recalling things on my own now, and I sometimes accidentally call out your name... Was it the time I used my heart? But why can't I remember..."

"Don't force yourself if you can't remember. There's still plenty of time, you can think about it slowly."

Exhaling a breath, Tenkuji Yu gave her a relaxed smile.

"Let's leave the serious stuff here. Since you don't want to attend the Christmas party, I'll tell you some information that I can say now, and that has nothing to do with your past memories. That should be fine, right?"

"Ah, of course. Thank you for your help." Hearing his voice, Asuna, who was deep in thought, subconsciously lowered her head to reply, displaying the elegant demeanor of a young lady.

However, he quickly gave an awkward laugh, straightened up, coughed twice, picked up the cup with not much latte left, and regained his natural and cheerful demeanor when facing his friends.

"Come on, I'm all ears!"

“So first of all…” Tapping his finger lightly on the table, Yuu Tenkuji quickly thought of what he should tell her.

While discreetly observing her expression, he calmly uttered the following words:

"Factually speaking, until yesterday, I was dating Yukino Yui at the same time, and I had the consent of both our parents... Today, I am dating both Yukino's older sister and Yui at the same time, but Yui and their mothers do not know about this."

Taking a sip of her latte, Asuna Yuuki calmly nodded as well.

"Hmm, I see. No wonder I felt something was off between you two. Yukinoshita's crush on you was practically written all over her face. Now that you mention it, it all makes sense..."

What the hell?!

Pong!

The cup slammed down on the table, and the voice suddenly rose and changed pitch.

"Um, just in case I misheard, I'll ask again..."

She took a deep breath, and her lips twitched as if she were trying to suppress the shock and overwhelming questions in her heart. Her beautiful face, which was both smiling and not smiling, became extremely distorted and looked exceptionally terrifying.

It seemed to take a great deal of effort for Asuna Yuuki to manage to keep her tone steady. With a slightly dark expression, she confirmed with him, word by word:

"Did you just say that yesterday you were dating both Yukinoshita and Yui, and today you cheated on her with both Yukinoshita's sister and Yui?"

Yuu Tenkuji clapped his hands and smiled: "That's a good summary! And you clearly distinguished between dating simultaneously and cheating. As expected of Asuna."

Yuuki Asuna: "..."

Please take a day off.

To put it bluntly, the reason I've been updating later and later lately is because I'm experiencing increasingly severe writer's block...

It's not that I don't know what to write, but I feel that what I've been writing lately is just like a diary, simply explaining things without much interest—or rather, there's been too much internal monologue in the characters, making the scenes feel less vivid; if I just follow the outline, it's easy for the plot to become dragging and boring.

This is, after all, the last volume... or rather, the penultimate volume, which means we've reached the later stages. I still want to maintain my reputation for having a good beginning, a bad middle, and a decent ending, and at the same time, to give this book the best possible ending.

So give me a day to revise the outline. I've been reading a lot lately and trying to think about how to make the plot I originally planned more fun. I also want to give you a refreshing and exciting feeling, instead of just glancing at it and then being too lazy to even comment.

That's right, the author isn't going to stop! This book will take at least another two months to write, let's go!

Chapter Twenty-One: Kasumigaoka Utaha is on her way.

Meanwhile, a desolate, lifeless world lies scattered with ruins.

"The host's current behavior has been detected as causing the fifth mission to fail. The fifth mission is canceled, and the final trial will begin ahead of schedule."

Under the sky, which was cut into four pieces, a sound suddenly came from the messy and broken black screen.

Even after being fiercely attacked by four light orbs, the system's electronic voice remained cold and stable, unaffected by any external objects.

It simply and calmly announced the upcoming changes as if they were already established facts:

"Full energy utilization, world line loading, completion conditions set—"

"A change in the task process due to a program error has been detected. The difficulty level for clearing the level has been increased to the highest level."

"Set as—Find System".

"Until the final trial is passed, the system functions will be sealed, and the Light Jade and system space will be sealed."

next moment.