I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

She wasn't the kind of person who was ungrateful or judged by their intentions rather than their actions. Her thoughts and actions changed as she got to know him better—it wasn't until she completely accepted Tenkuji Yu's existence and regarded him as her partner that Kasumigaoka Utaha truly realized why he was so popular with so many girls.

It's not just because he's handsome, but because of his manner of speaking and personality. There's a dangerous complexity in him that makes you want to get to know him better, but in the end, you just get more and more deeply involved.

No matter how many flaws he has, they are all overshadowed by those few advantages that are more than enough to fool young girls. This leads to even his counterparts in other worlds being so infatuated with him that they lose their appetite and even almost give up their lives for him.

Fortunately, I won't repeat the same mistakes in this world.

I don't know whether to feel fortunate or to keep reminding myself of this.

Kasumigaoka Utaha slowly stopped pacing around the room, casually walked behind him, crossed her arms, and looked down at the top of his thick head of hair.

"Leaving aside what exactly that black dragon that appeared at the end was, did 'that me' really disappear completely before telling us the truth?"

Tenkuji Yuu turned his head, a hint of reminiscence flashing in his eyes.

“I could tell that there was no false emotion in her words, ‘Farewell, may your future be bright and free from sorrow.’”

"Even if she's really acting to the point where I can't tell the difference, we've already gotten the information we wanted from her. There's no need to worry about such trivial matters that don't affect the big picture, is there?"

"Hmph..." He unconsciously let out a soft hum.

Kasumigaoka Utaha took the notebook from his hand, her eyelids slightly lowered, her gaze sweeping erratically over the handwriting, as if she were still somewhat unsettled, muttering to herself:

"That's true, but I feel like she's still hiding something from me, like she's holding back... I hate the feeling of being kept in the dark by others, especially when the person is 'myself'."

“I understand, after all, riddle makers should get out of this country.”

Tenkuji Yu shrugged, stood up from the ground, pulled over the ergonomic chair in front of her desk, and sat down leisurely.

Kasumigaoka Utaha quietly rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed facing him, elegantly raising her long, slender legs wrapped in black stockings, her playfully curled toes revealing her skin tone through the thin silk threads.

Ignoring his subconsciously descending gaze, Kasumigaoka Utaha patted the notebook cover, her expression turning serious as she spoke in a rather solemn tone:

"Then, let's sort out the situation first."

"According to my other self... tsk, this kind of explanation feels like a card game master from the underworld, which doesn't really suit a beautiful young girl like me..."

"If what 'she' said is entirely true, we don't have much time left, and we must start acting now."

“Neither you nor I are reckless people, which is why we need to discuss an action plan first, and then decide whether to split up or work together—thankfully, this is not the real world, so we can completely ignore everyone’s perceptions, rules, and moral laws, and wantonly declare war on the ‘system’ that constructs this world.”

"The worst-case scenario is that the 'system' ignores the rules of the game it set for itself, manipulates us at will, and makes us realize the gap in absolute strength... If it really comes to that, we can start to slack off even more comfortably."

She tucked her loose black hair behind her ear, her deep red, bright eyes, like jewels, stared straight at him, her soft, small lips slightly pursed.

Quiet and beautiful, dignified and awe-inspiring, when Kasumigaoka Utaha discusses serious matters, her face is still youthful and innocent, yet she possesses a more mature and charming allure than ever before.

Just like her insistence on the woman-on-top position, she didn't care what Tenkuji Yu thought and took control of the conversation.

"What do you think?"

“I’m fine.” Tenkuji Yuya said naturally, his expression slightly serious, just like hers. “Let’s talk about the contents of the notebook first.”

"It is now confirmed that [Yukinoshita Haruno] and [Yukinoshita Yukino], who have disappeared, were my girlfriends in the real world. They tried their best to enter the trial in order to save me, but were intercepted by the system and suffered the same amnesia as you."

Kasumigaoka Utaha added, "Not only that, assuming your guess is correct, they can also turn into animals for a certain period of time and retain their memories of you in that state, which is why strange things like black cats coming to the infirmary to talk to you happen."

Tapping his fingers on the armrest, Yuu Tenkuji frowned in thought: "And then there are the two girls, [Natsukawa Masuzu] and [Yuuki Asuna], who haven't shown their faces yet... If we consider the worst-case scenario, all four of them might have disappeared from this world for no apparent reason by now."

Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded in agreement: "So we can only pray that they will reappear in the next cycle, so that we will have a chance to solve their problems and, incidentally, increase our help in conquering the world."

Tenkuji Yu let out a soft breath: "The fastest way for me to regain my memories is through them."

In the voice message left by the senior from another world, there are two very important things.

The first thing to do is figure out how to restore their memories.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's situation is both simple and complex, leaving one unsure where to begin.

—The emotions were greatly stimulated.

To put it another way, she probably regained her memories in the same way that the Uchiha children awakened and evolved their Sharingan.

Of course, because "The Voice of Heaven" had given them a huge spoiler, even using the fabricated memories, Kasumigaoka Utaha knew what she had done before, which made her feel much more at ease, and she wasn't in a hurry to find a way to stimulate her emotions.

Besides, regardless of whether her parents in this world were created NPCs, they were incredibly important family members to her, not tools to solve puzzles that could be discarded at any time.

Therefore, Kasumigaoka Utaha is not attached to her memories in the real world. As long as they don't prevent her from leaving this place, she'll be fine with it anyway, since she can recover them sooner or later.

The most crucial point is still Yuu Tenkuji's side.

His memories involve many things and are very likely the key to their faster departure from this world. 'Voice of Heaven' doesn't have time to tell them all his experiences after obtaining the system.

Therefore, it's best to recover as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen complications.

However, the process was not as simple as that of Kasumigaoka Utaha.

First, due to the system's deliberate blocking, "Voice of Heaven" could not find the real way to restore his memories from the background. It could only rely on the interconnection of other information to make what seemed to be the most likely guess.

—If we gather all four girlfriends scattered around the world, we might be able to find fragments of Yuu Tenkuji's memories from them.

The one who tied the knot must untie it. Since most of the missing memories are related to them, the safest approach is to find them all and study them.

Next, go directly to the system, beat it up, and make it vomit up all its memories.

Since its feasibility was not very high at the moment, it was quickly listed as an alternative by Yuu Tenkuji. The reason why it was not abandoned directly was that he would not hesitate to implement it if there was a moment when it was possible to do so.

This is a classic case of "the one who tied the knot must untie it," right? If you can't solve the problem, then get rid of the person who created it.

Finally, the goal is to find things that are closely related to the real-life figures, such as tokens of love, to stimulate Yuu Tenkuji's deepest memories.

Unfortunately, "Voice of Heaven" didn't explain much about this point—according to her, if he were told what those things looked like in advance and made to deliberately search for similar tokens of love to recover his memory, it might have the opposite effect of insufficient stimulation.

Just as she couldn't deliberately bring him and Kasumigaoka Utaha together, but could only let them gradually get to know each other through various events and accidents, some things ultimately depend on the parties involved themselves. It's already good enough if outsiders can provide a few assists.

In summary, the key to Yuu Tenkuji regaining his memories actually lies with his girlfriends who are currently nowhere to be found.

Both the women themselves and their tokens of love are currently in a state of complete confusion, leaving people wondering where to even begin their search.

But ironically, the methods for conquering the world are inextricably linked to them.

"The trial space takes up most of the system's energy. As long as Qiong is there, the system cannot divert too much energy to construct a vast and realistic independent world... It's like the misappropriated public funds are now being divided between two people. One person takes the lion's share in advance, so the other person naturally can't spend it recklessly."

"That's why the world cycles every seven days... We're not even halfway through yet."

Tenkuji Yuu touched his forehead, his gaze heavy and almost tangible, and spoke in a low, slow voice:

"Time will never move forward to the next week; it will only start again from the moment I wake up."

"However, we don't know if we will be affected in the cycle of reincarnation, we don't know if those girlfriends who disappeared for unknown reasons will come back, and we don't know if any strange changes will occur if this drags on for too long."

"In this completely unknown situation, we need to find a hidden door somewhere in this world that leads back to reality, and then take everyone with us."

"You may encounter various accidents along the way, or you may be targeted by the system... If the door is found but the people are not all found, the person who was abandoned may very well become unconscious and turn into a vegetable in reality."

"Therefore, we must do everything well, and do it quickly and perfectly."

"This is the method she was talking about for conquering this world."

Chapter 122 Are you getting ready to live together?

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. Without any clues, we need to find a breakthrough point before we can start taking action, otherwise we'll just be like headless flies."

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked at Tenkuji Yuu and suddenly felt as if two smart people were teaming up to save a doomsday world from collapse.

The key is that they are intelligent people, and they must be a man and a woman. They support each other and grow slowly without holding each other back. Finally, they fall down together in the ruins bathed in twilight, their voices trembling with tears as they express their vision for the future, until one of them slowly falls silent...

Oh no, inspiration struck! This is something I can write about!

Kasumigaoka Utaha, who loves writing tragic love stories, became fervent, but looking at the boy in front of her who seemed to be turning his head and pondering with his chin in hand, she managed to suppress the urge to move her computer over and start writing, and took a deep breath.

"If the Yukinoshita sisters are both connected to Toyonosaki, we should be able to start our investigation from the school."

"...That makes sense."

Tenkuji Yu nodded, but Kasumigaoka Utaha could see a hesitant expression on his face, as if he still had something to say.

She swayed her legs, which were outlined by black stockings, and said nonchalantly, "Just tell me what you've discovered. Since we've decided to explore this world together, I think we should start by being honest with each other and seeing each other clearly... Of course, I don't mean anything by it."

"I have no intention of misunderstanding either." With a casual remark, Tenkuji Yu unconsciously tapped the back of the chair with his fingers, considering where to begin telling her.

His first thought was of the canary he had seen during his morning run.

"If all the humans who have been turned into animals in this world are my girlfriends... the third one should have already come into contact with me, but I don't know who her human form is."

“A canary…” Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned slightly, her fingers gently sliding from the bridge of her nose to the tip, finally pressing her fingertips to her soft lips as she pondered, “It represents nobility and elegance… Hmm, if the animal she transforms into is related to that person’s original image or temperament, then perhaps she is a young lady.”

“Whether she is a young lady or not is not important. Anyway, I can go back and check her household registration by her name. Her identity will be clear.” Tenkuji Yu lowered her voice and put her hands together on her knees. “The premise is that she still exists in this world.”

"and many more!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly thought of something and opened her eyes wide to look at Tenkuji Yuu.

"You said before that you encountered that black cat on the first day after you woke up, right?"

“Yes.” Yuu Tenkuji tilted his head in surprise and recounted the encounter again. “It called me out of the infirmary and we agreed to meet after school, but it stood me up. The next day after school, I met Yukino Yukinoshita at the apartment. She had the same red ribbon tied in her hair as it.”

"What about Yukinoshita?"

"I met a cat with the same eye color as her in front of the apartment on the first night, and exchanged contact information with her in the infirmary yesterday morning, but I didn't receive a reply from her last night." Tenkuji paused for a moment, then lowered his head and murmured thoughtfully, "It feels like the opposite of Yukino's situation..."

He pronounced that name so naturally; perhaps the 'muscle memory' of her being his girlfriend hadn't completely disappeared from his body yet...

Recalling their conversation in the elevator yesterday, for some reason, Yuu Tenkuji smiled wryly, feeling a deep sense of nostalgia.

Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't notice the change in his expression and continued to immerse herself in the deduction of gradually discovering clues: "Then, the two of them disappeared at the same time today... Canary is the one you met during your morning run yesterday."

"If all of this happens according to the pattern, then tonight you might meet the human form of the canary, and she will disappear from this world the next morning."

“I’ve thought that too.” Yuu Tenkuji nodded, then raised a question, “But if that’s really the case, shouldn’t I have encountered my fourth girlfriend in animal form last night?”

The quiet expression of deep thought suddenly vanished, and Kasumigaoka Utaha raised her small face, looking at her with a half-smile and a disdainful glint in her eyes.

"You talk about your fourth girlfriend so casually... It seems you've already accepted the fact that you're a jerk, huh?"

"...No, I also think it's quite exaggerated for someone to be able to split their legs like that. They're not some feudal landlord or an oil prince." Tenkuji Yu pressed her temples as if she had a headache, looking helpless. "But even so, isn't that something we should be discussing right now? Don't get jealous at a time like this, senpai."

"Please don't confuse condemning a jerk with being jealous, you overly self-conscious guy." Kasumigaoka Utaha rolled her eyes and turned her head away as if she couldn't be bothered with him. "The only thing you haven't seen is probably because it's hiding from you?"

"Is this necessary?" Tenkuji Yu asked, puzzled.

Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed, as if she felt sorry for someone.

"According to your logic, they should still retain their memories from reality and their original humanity when they are in animal form, which is why they would actively approach you and try to exchange information with you, right?"

After all, the conversations left in the notebook showed that these four girls were genuinely worried about him and insisted on entering the trial space to check on his safety, despite the danger.