I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

Gradually, the lingering unease was completely compressed into an unwavering resolve, allowing her to muster the courage to meet everyone's gaze head-on and declare resolutely:

"No matter the risks, getting my philandering boyfriend who disappeared without permission to come back and take responsibility is what I need to do now!"

After saying that, she blushed a little embarrassedly and coughed twice in a serious manner.

"Well, confirming your determination now would be pointless... Anyway, I already know very well how good Yu is at seducing girls."

With annoyed, Kasugano Sora waved her hand dismissively, ignoring Natsukawa Masuzu who was about to speak, and urged with a tense face, "We're not even sure if this is the gate mentioned in the notebook. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if it failed? Let's try it first."

"Okay, let's go then?"

Asuna Yuuki looked at the Yukinoshita sisters, and after confirming that they were both ready, she put on the blindfold-type AmuSphere and then gave the orders:

"Are you done?"

"Wait a minute... I'm all set." "Oh? These are quite comfortable to wear. I'll have Yuuki Koichiro send me one later too."

Asuna Yuuki sighed helplessly, "Please talk about that later... Let's log in together after the countdown."

"Three, two, one—"

LINK START!

As the crisp, sweet shouts faded, the three women simultaneously uttered the keywords for starting the program.

The machine then emitted a barely perceptible operating sound. As the green light flashed wildly, the women sitting on the sofa gradually relaxed, and their consciousness traveled along the data stream to another world that was both illusory and real.

Kasugano Sora, Natsukawa Masuzu, and Kasumigaoka Utaha, still in reality, nervously watched the girls as they seemed to be asleep, counting down the seconds in their minds.

Kasumigaoka Utaha frequently glanced down at her notebook to check if the contents had changed at that moment.

However, this heavy and oppressive atmosphere lasted for thirty seconds.

First, their fingers twitched slightly, then the three of them raised their arms and removed the machines from their heads in almost simultaneous motions. They then stood there silently, staring at each other in bewilderment.

"How is it?" With a slight frown, Natsukawa Masuzu broke the frozen atmosphere first.

Although their punctual logout time, strange expressions, and the disappointed look on Kasumigaoka Utaha's face when looking at her notebook suggested that things were not looking too good.

But perhaps some unexpected development has occurred, and because they are unsure of what to do, they want to return to reality first and then make further plans...

"It failed."

Before Natsukawa Masaki could guess a few more options, Yuuki Asuna shook her head, her obvious disappointment negating any other possibilities.

She sighed and said, "We couldn't even get into the game. We were in the maintenance area for thirty seconds before we were forcibly kicked out."

Natsukawa Masuzu's tone turned slightly somber: "So... it's GAME OVER?"

Yukino Yukinoshita didn't seem to mind much, calmly analyzing the situation as she said indifferently, "This is nothing. If one method doesn't work, try another. Let's think about whether there are any other clues in the notebook that we can explore."

"and many more."

At that moment, Yukino suddenly spoke up: "Although there's no basis for it... I have a feeling that something's not right..."

She examined the mechanical helmet in her hand, her eyebrows furrowed, revealing a look of deep unease.

"You've already said there's no basis for your claim..."

Yang was about to say something to her sister when she saw Yuuki Asuna turn her gaze in surprise, as if she had found a like-minded companion, and exclaim to Yukino, "Me too... Thinking about it carefully, there are indeed a few things that are very strange!"

Why didn't you say so sooner?

With a slight twitch of his lips, Yang Nai slumped onto the sofa and said helplessly, "I'm all ears. We're not as familiar with this machine and game as you are."

"Yes, the first thing is to maintain the space."

Without wasting any words, Yuuki Asuna began to explain her doubts.

"I don't know if this is a newly added feature, but before, whether it was scheduled maintenance or emergency maintenance, it was just to pause the game time and force players to log off... At this time, you can't even log in to your account, let alone maintain any space."

Yukino's eyes widened as if she suddenly realized something, and she immediately picked up where she left off: "It's also strange that it took thirty seconds to kick us offline. There was clearly nothing in that space, so why didn't they just let us log out directly? Why make us wait for those extra thirty seconds? It makes no sense."

A guess suddenly popped into her mind, and she subconsciously swallowed, her eyes trembling slightly, her tone unconsciously becoming cautious—

"It's as if they knew we agreed to log out in thirty seconds and deliberately designed this..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone present understood what she meant—it wasn't a coincidence, but rather something deliberately orchestrated by some being.

But the reality was so terrifying, like being in the Amazon rainforest surrounded by venomous snakes, that it sent chills down one's spine.

So much so that in that instant, no one spoke, but their faces darkened as they tried to suppress their growing suspicions and steady their taut nerves.

After an unknown amount of time, Asuna Yuuki silently exhaled, then suddenly stretched and gave everyone a wry smile.

"Nothing is confirmed yet, so it's better not to think too much... Hmm, to make sure everyone gets the same result, Kasumigaoka-senpai and Natsukawa-san, why don't you log in and try it too? If Sora wants, you can use my personal machine."

"Need not."

Kasugano Sora shook her head, her fingers already tying Tenkuji Yu's short hair into small braids to pass the time.

"My name isn't on the notebook, so trying it would be pointless. I'll just take care of You in real life."

“I understand. Those two…” She turned her questioning gaze to the two people who hadn’t logged into the game yet.

Without hesitation, Natsukawa Masuzu took the helmet from Yukino Yukinoshita and casually said, "Don't be discouraged so soon. Maybe a miracle will happen~"

"Forget it, nothing has changed on the notebook, so it's probably hopeless."

With a shrug devoid of any hope, Kasumigaoka Utaha took the blindfold-like device from Hinata's hand and awkwardly put it on her head. Then she adjusted her posture on the sofa to relax her body comfortably.

Since it was just a test, she didn't wait for Natsukawa Masuzu to put on the rather cumbersome helmet. After confirming that the LCD screen in front of her displayed the words "Activation Possible," she directly imitated the people from before and gave a soft shout:

“LINK START!”

As soon as the command was given, a dazzling display of light suddenly appeared before her eyes, transitioning from 2D to 3D, from 3D to holographic virtual reality, and finally transforming into an irresistible, colorful wave that completely engulfed her consciousness.

The left-behind Natsukawa Masuzu didn't bother to complain. A few seconds later, she put on her NerveGear and logged into the game while chanting the slogan.

Thirty seconds later, she took off her helmet with a bored expression and put it on the table.

"What kind of boring game is this that makes people lock themselves in for thirty seconds? It'll definitely get one-star reviews every time it's released... Huh? What's wrong with you guys?"

Before he could finish speaking, he looked up and noticed that the expressions on the faces of the people around him were gradually changing, revealing subtle expressions that were so complex that they were hard to decipher.

Tilting her head in confusion, Natsukawa Masaki simply followed their gaze and looked at the sofa to the side.

After understanding the current situation in her mind, she couldn't help but slightly open her rosy lips, standing there stunned with a look of astonishment.

"Why...?"

Meanwhile, Asuna Yuuki's increasingly hoarse voice echoed in the now completely silent living room, receiving no response.

"Kasumigaoka-senpai...didn't log out?"

Chapter 44 Utaha Kasumigaoka's Strange Journey (To be continued)

Unaware of what was happening outside, Kasumigaoka Utaha pondered the contents of her notebook while waiting for the confinement-like maintenance space to descend.

According to Asuna Yuuki, after the connection is established, a login prompt for the guest account will appear first. Then, consciousness will flow through the white channel like a data stream, and the area in front of you will become brightly lit.

Once you are on solid ground and can clearly see the scenery around you, it means you have arrived in the virtual world of the game.

Although the situation has changed, what awaits her now is no longer the virtual reality game called "Sword World", but a dark space that is said to be so dark that it can cause claustrophobia sufferers to go into shock on the spot.

But it didn't matter, Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't care about that - anyway, she was out in thirty seconds, and with such a short and quick experience, she basically wouldn't feel anything as long as she closed her eyes.

Moreover, at this moment, the only thing she should care about is "how to complete the series of tasks given by the notebook".

"We finally found the key, but now we can't get in..."

Frowning and pondering the problem she encountered before logging in, Kasumigaoka Utaha thought for a long time amidst the data stream. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her, and she couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly, muttering as if in realization, "Or perhaps we have actually found the door, but we just don't have the key to open it, which is why we are being kept out?"

That's very possible!

The idea of ​​using a virtual infiltration device as a gateway to cross the boundaries of reality is highly credible. Besides, they can't think of any other options to try right now, so they might as well go all the way down this path—first confirm that this is the 'gate' to the trial, and then consider whether they opened the door incorrectly, thus ignoring other more important details.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt she had found the right direction. Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't help but smile, suppressing the excitement and thrill of sudden enlightenment, and eagerly waiting for her consciousness to stop in the passage and enter that empty maintenance space.

Then, after being put in solitary confinement for thirty seconds and kicked back to reality, quickly tell those people what you've discovered!

"Hmph, so in the end it still came down to me..."

She shook her head helplessly, talking to herself to pass the time in a virtual space where no one else existed.

As the owner of the notebook, Kasumigaoka Utaha was naturally more concerned about this matter than the others, and wanted to wake up Tenkuji Yu as soon as possible.

The longer things dragged on, the stronger her sense of foreboding became—it was as if she had finally stepped onto the stairs to heaven, and a wonderful and happy life was waiting for her ahead, but when she looked back, she found that heaven was on the left and hell was on the right, and she was already deeply mired in the quagmire on the right, drifting further and further away from the direction of heaven.

How could she allow such a thing to happen! She had to avoid that kind of future no matter what!

"Tsk... If this continues, I'm afraid even I will have my memories inexplicably erased by the 'God'?"

Even though she was in a virtual space where she couldn't feel her body, Kasumigaoka Utaha bit her thumb and thought about things with some irritation.

"Then, without realizing it, I was won over by that guy who's like the male protagonist in a light novel. Just when I fell completely in love with him, I regained my current memories. By then, I was already completely captivated by him, both physically and mentally. In the end, I could only end up like those two people, scheming against each other, fighting for a mere man, and making a fool of myself..."

Novelists have incredible imaginations.

She could imagine the plot of several volumes from the very beginning, and it would be as heart-wrenching as possible—although the details were slightly different, she had seen enough of this kind of clichéd romance story where you fall in love only to find out that the other person is your enemy, so she had no interest in it at all.

The thought of possibly becoming the heroine in that kind of story made Kasumigaoka Utaha shudder, feeling a deep-seated resistance and disgust.

"Fortunately, the task isn't completely hopeless... To have made this progress in less than an hour, that should be considered fast, right?"

She was so relieved and full of hope, thinking, "As long as I go out and give them this clue, those people aren't stupid, they'll definitely be able to find a solution to the problem immediately, and then we can solve it smoothly all the way through...maybe we can get it done before dinner!"

That's the optimistic view. As for the pessimistic view... forget it, Kasumigaoka Utaha has no interest in dampening her own morale.

But then again—

"Thirty seconds have passed, right? Why haven't we reached that maintenance space yet?"

Asuna Yuuki clearly said that the login time wouldn't be too long, could it be that there's a network delay?

With a slight frown, Kasumigaoka Utaha temporarily set aside her other thoughts and carefully examined her current location.

It was neither a dark maintenance space nor a virtual game world filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, but a white ribbon of light that seemed to be constantly surging forward, carrying her digitized body to a distant place with no end in sight.

Is it still logged in? What's going on? Hopefully, something unexpected hasn't happened again...

The unease in her heart was gradually growing. Kasumigaoka Utaha subconsciously lowered her head and raised her hand. Not only could she not see her own body, but even the feeling of moving was as unreal as a dream. She was just floating in mid-air like a ghost, with only her vision able to function.

Time passed by second by second, and the current situation continued calmly, just like the band of light under my feet, without end, until forever.

Let alone thirty seconds, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt like thirty minutes had passed, yet she was still floating around like a piglet about to be sent to the slaughterhouse.