I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

Having long been accustomed to his tone and manner of dealing with things, Kasumigaoka crossed her arms and said casually, "Where am I naive and easily fooled?"

"Didn't I just easily trick you into bed?"

"Pfft!" Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't help but laugh, her eyes curving into a pair of beautiful crescent moons, but she glanced at him with undisguised contempt. "You wouldn't dare do anything to me, so what if I slept with you? I not only slept with you, I even dared to sleep with you."

After saying that, she lay down without any warning, spread her arms wide facing the ceiling, closed her eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“This isn’t naivety, it’s trust—the day I willingly let you trick me into bed and exercise, then trust becomes love, and it has nothing to do with being naive or easily fooled.”

"is it?"

If Yuu Tenkuji were to slide down to the bedside, chair and all, she might be able to see the mysterious scenery beneath the long skirts of the Black Lily Academy uniforms, encased in tight black stockings.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the kind of guy who would betray a girl's trust.

"I never expected that you would start imagining what it would be like to fall in love with me."

Yuu Tenkuji said with a hint of amusement, crossing his legs and not taking it seriously.

With her long hair scattered on the bed, Kasumigaoka Utaha lazily chuckled in response: "It was just an analogy. You're still a long way from conquering me, junior."

"Likewise, I'm not sexually interested in every woman either."

After a few casual words, it's time to get down to business.

Yuu Tenkuji leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped together on his knees, his expression gradually becoming serious.

"I just invited Itoko to become our partner. If nothing unexpected happens, we don't need to worry about her."

"……What's the meaning?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha paused for a moment, then sat up, supporting herself on the bed with both hands, and looked at him in surprise.

Her disheveled hair and unguarded appearance made her resemble a beauty in a warm bed in an old-fashioned room, adding a touch of delicate charm.

Yuu Tenkuji switched the position of her legs, purely for appreciation.

"It's a long story, so I'll keep it short—she could be considered the mastermind herself, but one is the main system entity, and the other is an avatar with its own consciousness. With these two identities, what she told us before wasn't exactly a lie; at most, she concealed part of the truth."

Looking at the handsome and gentle young man in front of her, Kasumigaoka Utaha seemed to realize something and nodded in sudden understanding: "Just like you, you say you don't like to lie, but you haven't told many truths, right?"

Tenkuji Yu's cheek twitched slightly, but his faint smile remained as if he hadn't heard a thing. He continued as if he hadn't heard a thing, "I took the liberty of distinguishing between the mastermind behind the scenes and Itoko, who is right beside us. I made her truly abandon her original form as a system and move forward with us in her current form until she finally becomes a human in the real world. This also coincides with her goal. The only difference is that she doesn't have to go to great lengths to set up the stage and direct the script. As long as she sincerely cooperates with us, she can achieve a happy ending that satisfies everyone."

"So, you're just being completely frank with me now...?"

With her long hair cascading down, Kasumigaoka Utaha pursed her lips and frowned thoughtfully.

When she heard that the silver-haired girl was the mastermind behind it all, she wasn't surprised at all—this development was just too logical, so much so that even though she realized she had indeed been tricked by a self-inflicted injury, no disappointment or anger welled up in her heart.

According to Yuu Tenkuji, Itoko did not lie to them, but only concealed some of the facts.

She genuinely wanted to become human and escape her fate of disappearing, which is why she appeared in his life in this way, trying to build a good relationship with them.

If it weren't for those two unexpected troublemakers, perhaps they really would have gradually become like the characters in the script, dancing under her arrangement—either her plan would have been exposed, leading to a falling out between them, or she would have successfully deceived everyone, earning the two the honor of being the best tool.

Fortunately, before that, Yuu Tenkuji had already flipped the table and refused to act anymore.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he forced her to confess, using the most naive yet efficient method to openly and frankly reveal his bargaining chips, and ultimately reached a win-win deal with her, denying the possibility of the two becoming enemies.

Kasumigaoka Utaha thought about it carefully, and indeed, apart from the unpleasantness of being suddenly imprisoned in a parallel world and having her memories altered, there was no irreconcilable conflict between them and the system.

Unless, after the system becomes human, it begins to invade their real world, or directly targets them.

But these are all uncertain futures.

Based on the information they currently have and what they can do, he has already come up with the most perfect and reassuring option. It's really not fair to demand an even more perfect result—mainly because Kasumigaoka Utaha, who hasn't accomplished anything, doesn't have the audacity to nitpick.

After a long silence, she simply asked, as if to confirm:

"Let's get this straight, your girlfriends seem to distrust her a lot... Are you really going to trust her?"

"Regardless of which timeline it is, the system has never intentionally harmed the host. This is irrefutable proof earned through countless deaths—why can't I choose to believe her this time?"

Yuu Tenkuji spread his hands with a wry smile: "To put it bluntly, the system is a tool that depends on me. Even if you kill me now, it won't help. In other timelines, it will still have to continue to be my tool until we liberate each other. In that case, I might as well try to turn enemies into friends and see if I can solve both the symptoms and the root cause, and clean up all this mess in one go."

As soon as he said that, Kasumigaoka Utaha understood immediately.

"You two are bound by a common destiny. If you don't find a chance to reconcile, no one will have a good ending, right?"

"Yes, so this time, I will truly consider her one of my own, and I will not consider the possibility of betrayal at all."

Tenkuji Yu's eyes were very serious, without any attempt to hide it; it was indeed a determined expression that indicated he was prepared to go all in.

"If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them...?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head, sighed as if she couldn't do anything about him, and with a flick of her arm, fell back onto the bed.

"Since you've put it that way, I'll give up thinking about it and leave everything to you~"

Her languid tone carried a lightness of relief, as if she had completely let go of her burdens and worries, and she closed her eyes as if dozing off on Tenkuji Yu's bed.

"Don't start the fair so soon," Yuu Tenkuji said helplessly.

"So, this is called trust~" Kasumigaoka Utaha weakly raised her hand and waved it, not even bothering to open her eyes. "A beautiful girl trusts you so unconditionally, how can you not cherish it and instead complain?"

She didn't even consider how much courage she mustered to venture into the den of dragons and tigers that was Black Lily Academy; even after her earphones were taken by Jin Sique and she walked alone into the fencing club to face the unknown, she was always thinking about him, and as soon as she came out, she was eager to contact him.

Trust is not something that comes from nowhere. If they hadn't gone through many twists and turns together, Kasumigaoka Utaha wouldn't be so naive as to be so unguarded with a man she'd only known for a few days.

She wasn't forced to believe him because of her circumstances, but simply because he was someone she could entrust with her trust. So at this moment, she completely relaxed her tense mind and body, feeling as comfortable as if she were sinking into a perfectly warm hot spring, and lay limply on the bed with his scent.

Even though I've just woken up, I feel so relaxed that I want to sleep some more—it feels like I haven't felt this way in a long time.

"Hey, I didn't bring you in here to watch you sleep." Completely unmoved, Tenkuji Yu kicked her leg that was dangling over the edge of the bed in an annoyed tone. "You still haven't told me about Yuuki Asuna. After you've told me, you can go back to the guest room. No one will bother you if you sleep until midnight."

As if she intended to stay in his bed forever, Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't move an inch, only lazily lifting her lips to say, "First of all, I'm not calling you 'hey'."

Tenkuji Yu's brow twitched: "...Kasumigaoka-senpai?"

"Is this how you treat your closest friends?"

I don't remember ever opening my heart to you!

Suppressing her urge to complain, Tenkuji Yu said with a fake smile, "Dear Kasumigaoka-kun, are you going to tell me or not?"

"So hypocritical and cheesy, I'm not going to say it!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly turned her head away, her tone icy, her long hair partially obscuring the smile on her lips.

Yuu Tenkuji couldn't understand why this guy was so inconsiderate of the occasion, arguing with her when they were discussing serious matters.

Why is she acting so awkwardly, like a little girlfriend?

Is it the kind of story where someone claims to be their older brother, but ends up dating him?

That doesn't make sense either. He wasn't planning on winning her over, so it's impossible for her to complete her imagined conquest without him doing anything...

Tenkuji Yu sighed, "Senpai, let's stop this tiff."

Without turning her head, she said, "Do I look like the kind of person who would throw a tantrum?"

"Then what are you doing, Ms. Kasumigaoka Utaha?"

"I'm resting. You're disturbing my rest. Can you please get out of here?"

"This is my room, Miss Kasumigaoka."

"Now it's mine."

"How about I let you sleep here for half a day? Not many people would make me back down like that, Lady Kasumigaoka."

"..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly stopped replying.

For some reason, even though I couldn't see her expression, her beautiful figure lying on the bed seemed to exude a gradually intensifying anger.

Yuu Tenkuji, who was still planning to tease her, blinked innocently.

—Were you joking just now? Are you really angry now?

Putting aside his mischievous thoughts, Yuu Tenkuji was just about to say a few words to comfort her and steer the conversation back to the main topic when...

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly sat up in bed.

Before he could even feel relieved that the girl had finally stopped causing trouble, he saw her suddenly start unbuttoning the buttons in front of her collarbone. The upper part of her dress was quickly freed, revealing a breathtakingly white landscape that would make anyone's nose bleed.

Yuu Tenkuji shifted her gaze from the black spaghetti straps and certain indescribable areas, her face filled with a puzzled expression that seemed to have been born with three question marks above its head, and asked:

Why did you suddenly take off your clothes?

Kasumigaoka Utaha began to take off her stockings without any expression, completely ignoring him like a block of wood.

"As you said, sleeping is just something I'm used to doing naked."

She reached her hand out from under her skirt, tossed the still-warm stockings aside, and began to move her hand toward the fabric on her fair, delicate shoulders, but her movements inexplicably slowed down, as if waiting for him to speak up and stop her.

"You actually want to sleep naked in my room? You really are..."

With a twitch at the corner of her mouth, Tenkuji Yu didn't know where to begin her吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).

—To be honest, he really wanted to see just how far Kasumigaoka Utaha would go to spite him.

However, considering that we still have to spend some time with her, the price for getting this benefit now is that our relationship will drop to a freezing point, and the next few days will definitely be both awkward and uncomfortable.

No matter how you look at it, there's really no need to cause trouble for yourself and ruin the otherwise decent "comradeship" between the two of you for the sake of that kind of perverse pleasure.

Yuya Tenkuji could only sigh in defeat, obediently following her wishes, and reluctantly said:

"Shiyu, put your clothes on properly. There are still people waiting for us downstairs after we finish our business."

"……snort."

Only after she finished speaking did Ms. Kasumigaoka, whose expression was gloomy, stop what she was doing, letting out a soft hum, whether out of dissatisfaction or relief.

With her hair covering her face, Tenkuji Yu couldn't see the blush creeping up her ears, nor could she hear the slightly faster heartbeat in her chest.

With a smug, light movement, Kasumigaoka Utaha buttoned her clothes back up, a smirk playing on her lips. She slowly commented, "Why didn't you just say that earlier? Why did you have to deliberately tease the girl and force her to take off her clothes to show her intentions... You really are a scumbag and a sadist, Yuu-kun."

Yuu Tenkuji rolled his eyes; he had never seen such an unreasonable girl.

"I just don't understand why you suddenly made me change how you address me."

After getting dressed, Kasumigaoka Utaha, swinging her smooth, bare legs, smiled and tilted her head: "Because I like people to call me by my name, do you have a problem with that?"

"It didn't exist before, so naturally it won't exist now."

"Tsk, you can't even be so quick to call someone by their name. No wonder the emotional debts you owe are going to cost you your life."