I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

The confused murmurs quickly disappeared into the empty second-floor corridor.

Not long after, Kasugano Sora came up empty-handed and glanced at her brother's door with a complicated expression.

"As expected of Yu, her observation skills are still amazing... but she is too confident in herself and not very guarded, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to hide it for so long."

She sighed silently, her slender, white hand gently resting on her chin, lost in thought for a few seconds.

"I still need to minimize my presence, otherwise it will be troublesome if he gets curious and finds a chance to barge into the room..."

Without stopping, she arrived at her room and, after confirming that her brother hadn't yet gone downstairs to make dinner, went inside.

The room was dark, with only the desk lamp illuminating a corner. Most things were shrouded in a hazy, gray shadow, making them difficult to see clearly.

"I wonder how long it will take him to get past the first hurdle."

Muttering to herself, Kasugano Sora pushed up her glasses expressionlessly, and the door locked itself as it closed.

In the darkness, a white lab coat was silently draped over her shoulders, and faint glows emanated from the places where her bare feet had stepped, like splashing water, creating a magical yet technologically advanced effect.

The table lamp cast long shadows, sometimes near, sometimes far, and the originally petite and slender shadow seemed to have grown a little taller without anyone noticing.

With her hands in her pockets, Kasugano Sora walked towards her bed, her indifferent gray eyes looking down at the protruding object under the blankets, like a butcher contemplating how to chop up a fat pig on a chopping board, devoid of any warmth or emotion.

"So, before the time is right, how should I deal with this 'uninvited guest'..."

Feeling the other person's eyelids flutter, the stiff body under the blanket began to quickly come to life, showing signs of consciousness preparing to awaken.

Kasugano Sora suddenly let out a cold laugh, her glasses reflecting a chilling light that seemed to come from nowhere. Her mature face, hidden in deep shadows, exuded an indifferent and contemptuous aura.

"Oh, finally awake?"

Then, she spoke slowly to the person who reflexively sat up in bed, briefly stunned, then shrank back towards the headboard with a look of panic and astonishment, glancing at her warily:

"Don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you for now."

Hmm... should I say "long time no see" now? Ever since those things happened...

"Fine, whatever. Our relationship wasn't great to begin with anyway, so let's skip the pointless greetings and just get straight to the point."

After saying this to herself, Kasugano Sora slowly narrowed her eyes, her gaze piercing through the darkness as she stared intently at the figure.

"Answer me, how did you come into this world? And what is your purpose?"

A voice as sharp and cold as an ice blade called out the other person's name in a chilling tone—

"Kasumigaoka Utaha!"

Chapter 47 But I refuse! (23/55)

One person's breathing was steady, while the other's breathing was suppressed and rapid.

In the spacious girl's room, the air seemed to be tightly gripped by the dark hand, making even breathing extremely difficult.

Even though the air conditioning wasn't on, the indoor temperature was so low that it chilled you to the bone, like walking around a freezer shirtless in winter; the cold penetrated to the bone.

Unlike Kasugano Sora, who seemed completely unaffected, Kasumigaoka Utaha would probably be trembling with fear if she weren't wrapped in a blanket.

It wasn't just because of the cold, but also because after being attacked by that white light, in the instant I opened and closed my eyes, I found myself lying on an unfamiliar bed, surrounded by complete darkness.

Let alone ordinary women, anyone would subconsciously feel scared, right?

He was terrified that he had stumbled into some kind of hellhole, with a dozen burly men in black standing beside his bed, ready to attack him menacingly.

"Who...who are you? And where is this place?"

Ignoring Kasugano Sora's question, Kasumigaoka Utaha asked in a slightly trembling voice.

Despite her inner panic, pride and dignity allowed her to maintain basic composure and calmness. Her hands, hidden under the blanket, darted around, searching for anything that could protect her.

"A classic question right off the bat... Oh well, I was too hasty."

Kasugano Sora lightly scratched her cheek, sighed, and snapped her fingers.

Snapped!

The lights came on immediately, and Kasumigaoka Utaha reflexively raised her hand to shield her eyes from the light. She squinted uncomfortably, but dared not close them completely. She could only endure the stinging in her eyes and try to get used to the transition from darkness to light.

Once I could see the surrounding scenery more clearly, my unease receded like the tide with the darkness.

She took a deep breath, and before the other party could press her for answers, she quickly looked around at her current location and recalled what had happened not long ago.

—In order to test whether the virtual infiltration device could serve as a gateway to dreams, she put on the blindfold-like machine like everyone else, and successfully transformed her consciousness into a data stream, preparing to enter the virtual world.

However, what happened next was completely different from what she had expected.

Not only did they not enter the "maintenance space" those people mentioned, but they didn't even receive a login prompt. They simply floated in the boundless white passage like an electronic ghost for a while before being swallowed by a mysterious white light, and their consciousness disappeared for a moment.

Then, upon waking, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar large bed. The futuristic virtual passageway was gone, replaced by…

A girl's room?

Kasumigaoka Utaha was taken aback. Before she could react, her gaze fell on the person standing by the bed who had just asked her a strange question in a cold tone.

Her long silver hair reached her calves, her skin was fair, her figure was slender, and her face was as innocent and cute as an elf's, yet it also exuded an aura of indifference and maturity.

Most importantly, although she looked much older, she recognized the face; she had even seen it not long ago…

"Kasugano Sora?! What are you doing...?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha exclaimed in disbelief, to which Kasugano Sora simply curled her lip indifferently.

"How did I get here? Don't ask me that question, I'm not going to answer you anyway."

She pulled a chair from her desk to the bedside and sat down, then crossed her long, straight legs and gave the beautiful girl with long black hair and casual clothes a very impolite look.

Kasugano Sora rested her chin on her fingers, frowned thoughtfully, and murmured, "In the real world, you shouldn't have established a good relationship with him yet, and the Light Orb couldn't possibly be on you... So, why are you the one appearing in the trial?"

Although she didn't understand what she was saying, Kasumigaoka Utaha sneered as she wrote it down for the time being, and retorted, "Isn't it basic polite to answer other people's questions before asking them?"

Judging from the decor and the familiar room layout, she shouldn't have left the Sky Temple family yet. She just didn't know why she woke up in Kasugano Sora's room; she also didn't know why the girl who was originally fourteen or fifteen years old looked so much more mature now, as if she had changed her ID card and become an adult overnight.

Nevertheless, when faced with familiar places and people, Kasumigaoka Utaha regained a lot of courage, and was able to stand up straight and ask her to answer her questions with a firm voice.

"Could you explain what you just said? Also, tell me what the situation is now?"

They quickly entered negotiation mode. Seeing the other party's slightly stunned expression, Kasumigaoka Utaha pondered for a while, then lowered her tone and added, "This is an exchange of information. You and I both have things we want to know, right? Although I don't understand why you suddenly have a prejudice against me, the situation is urgent now. For the sake of your brother, it's best if we make the information we have transparent to each other so that we can solve the problem better and faster."

Not liking to use social niceties doesn't mean she doesn't know how to speak—in urgent situations, Kasumigaoka Utaha isn't so brainless as to put on a cold and aloof attitude and confront the other party at a time like this.

That last sentence was just because I was annoyed by Kasugano Sora's attitude and look. As long as she's not that petty, we can still talk.

"Exchanging intelligence..."

Fortunately, the persuasion seemed to have an effect; Kasugano Sora stroked her chin, lowered her head, and fell into deep thought once again.

"Indeed, I have a lot of questions for you... like, I kept everyone else out, so which door did you squeeze through?"

"For example, you're clearly not Yu's girlfriend, so why can you interfere with the system's power and exist in this trial..."

"For example, your purpose in entering the trial... I can roughly guess that. It's the same as Yukinoshita and the others—to awaken Yu, who is still asleep, right?"

Kasugano Sora sighed helplessly.

"Oh no, I have so many questions I want to ask, but I don't know where to begin."

"Then..."

"But I refuse."

Before she could finish speaking, Kasumigaoka Utaha, whose face had just begun to light up with hope, was silenced by the next sentence, leaving her face frozen.

"Why...why..."

Kasugano Sora composed herself, crossed her arms, and looked down at her indifferently: "The thing I, Kasugano Sora, like to do most is to say no to those who think they are smart... Kasumigaoka Utaha, where do you get the confidence that your information is so important that I'm willing to share my secrets with you?"

With a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, Kasumigaoka Utaha took a deep breath and glared back defiantly.

"Isn't that right? Let me make this clear beforehand, I came here to save your brother! Although I don't know why you look like you've grown ten years older, please understand that only I can help him right now!"

Towards the end, her tone became much sharper: "Or are you planning to just stand by and watch your brother encounter danger in that so-called trial?"

puff!

Kasugano Sora suddenly burst out laughing, covering her mouth as if she couldn't help but chuckle, and shook her head with a wry smile.

"You still don't understand... or rather, you haven't found any clues in the information I deliberately revealed."

"What do you mean?" Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned.

Kasugano Sora kindly explained to her, "What I mean is, Yu won't encounter any danger in this trial, and I won't let him get hurt in any way. How about it, are you relieved now?"

"What makes you so certain..."

The question had barely left her lips when Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly remembered the words she had murmured to herself not long ago.

"I've already kept everyone else out, so how did you manage to squeeze in through that crack?" — Why can she refuse entry to others into her dream?

"You're clearly not Yu's girlfriend, so why can you interfere with the system's power and exist in this trial?" — What is the system? Why does it seem like she knows everything?

"I can roughly guess that, just like Yukinoshita and the others, she wants to wake up Yu who is still asleep." — Since she is speaking in a guessing tone, isn't she Kasugano Sora from the real world?

A host of doubts arose in my mind, all pointing to the only seemingly bizarre yet most likely answer.

After all, Sherlock Holmes once said... (the rest is omitted).

"Haruhi Suzumiya, could it be that you—"

Her fingers trembled involuntarily. Kasumigaoka Utaha slowly opened her eyes wide, staring in disbelief at the silver-haired woman in front of her, who was dressed like some kind of researcher and was leisurely admiring her astonished expression.

No one ran to stop her, so the exclamation echoed smoothly throughout the room.

"—Are you the mastermind behind things escalating to this point!?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Kasugano Sora raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a very eerie smile.

Perhaps only at this moment could she genuinely smile at anyone other than her brother.

"Hello, no, that's not it."

And he said it in a mischievous way—

"The real 'culprit' is someone else; I'm just a manager. It's really strange that you've imagined things the wrong way."

She clapped her hands, her smile more mocking than admiring.

"...Did I guess wrong?"