I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

Yuu Tenkuji naturally couldn't possibly ignore that obviously excessive change.

Why did you get a haircut?

He was surprised not only by the fact that this woman went to the hair salon on her own, but also by her motivation for cutting her hair short to neck length.

This is so sudden.

“When you’re not around, I go online to pass the time, and one of my blog posts says this.”

The petite girl, who had once been closest to him but had now decided to break free from her system identity, placed the items on the sofa and explained in a cool and indifferent tone: "Humans distinguish others by their unique characteristics. Those who lack distinctive features or whose characteristics overlap with those of others are easily overlooked, becoming what we call 'background figures'."

Kasumigaoka Utaha raised an eyebrow slightly, casually tossing her stockings onto the back of the sofa as if she were at home: "So, you decided to change your appearance so that you wouldn't overlap with anyone else's features?"

"Yes."

Itoko nodded slightly, her short, soft hair brushing against her slender shoulders and neck. Her collarbone was faintly visible beneath her oversized white shirt, and her clear, bright eyes, like black jade, reflected the figures of the two of them.

"This body was created by the system after analyzing the host... Yu-ge's XP, with the aim of seducing Yu-ge and making him unable to resist releasing his desires to himself. It also largely referenced his sister's appearance. But as it turns out, this approach had very little effect and instead had many negative consequences."

“Indeed…” Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at Tenkuji Yu, her expression somewhat subtle. She didn’t know whether to praise his amazing self-control or express her disdain for lolicon when it came to her sexual preferences.

Before this afternoon, she would definitely start with the latter part—after all, the two of them would find an opportunity to attack each other and bicker, which seemed to have become a natural part of their daily lives.

Unfortunately, that's the case.

The moment she accidentally met his gaze, the sudden increase in her heart rate and body temperature made Kasumigaoka Utaha unable to muster a mocking smile, and she fell into a strange, awkward mood.

I didn't just despise him, I even wanted to speak up for him.

That's not the attitude Kasumigaoka Utaha wants to have towards Tenkuji Yu—she doesn't want to be a pitiful girl in love, but an emotional master who completely controls her feelings!

So she crossed her arms and said casually, "He may be a pervert, but he's not the kind of scumbag who's just lustful. The system still doesn't understand people's hearts."

Itoko nodded again, but as if to defend herself, she looked at her seriously and said, "System Girl, evolving daily. In order to correct past mistakes, I started making changes to my hair."

Kasumigaoka Utaha showed a slight surprise, glanced at the silver-haired girl a few times, then gradually put away her casual expression and chuckled with some admiration.

"You've really changed a lot... you're practically like a 'human' now."

"You dare to talk about others like that?" Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but retort.

Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at her sideways, a sharp, warning glint in her eyes: "What did I do now?"

"It's nothing." Tenkuji Yu turned her face away, looking completely innocent.

He was now terrified that if he angered Kasumigaoka Utaha, she would take off her clothes and come to ambush him at night—and coincidentally, she had just bought new underwear.

He didn't want to face such a dilemma: to act would be beastly, and not to act would be even worse than beastly.

Ignoring Kasumigaoka Utaha's disapproving gaze ("Just say what you want to say, what kind of man dawdles like this?"), Tenkuji Yuu looked at the short, neatly styled, and even more adorable silver-haired girl, scrutinized her for a few seconds, and then spoke:

"Aside from choosing side dishes, I don't actually have a particular type of girl I like... It's just that I like that person, so I like every part of her as well."

A system that doesn't understand human nature is misunderstanding this very thing.

It wasn't that long, straight silver hair was his type; rather, it was because his most important family member happened to be long, straight silver hair that he was drawn to this type of girl.

If all his memories returned, then the XP section would probably need to add more options like "a beautiful black-haired older sister with a great figure", "a gentle chestnut-haired young lady", "a silver-haired mixed-race woman with a nymphomaniac heart", and "a woman with flat chests and long, straight black hair", right?

So, Yuzai Tenkuji smiled and said to her, "I think this suits you better. Keep searching for your own 'uniqueness,' Itoko."

"..."

The silver-haired girl looked at him, her face expressionless, and remained silent for a long time.

Suddenly, her finger poked her soft, jade-like cheek. She pressed her dimples and lifted her lips, pulling them into a strange, almost smiling arc. Then she mumbled something:

"Thank you, I'm very happy."

"Is this how you express happiness? Well, it is cute, I guess." Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but laugh out loud, and naturally rubbed her small head. "Continuing to maintain your cuteness as a emotionless person seems like a good way to go."

“Agreed. Unless there’s a situation where we have to use a lot of facial expressions to communicate, there’s no need to change that, especially in front of Brother You.”

She nodded in agreement, put down her fingers, and her face returned to its usual indifferent expression.

"However, I still want to be able to naturally use facial expressions to express my inner changes at certain times."

"For example?" Tenkuji Yu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Like now."

A small, soft, boneless hand rose up and gently pressed against the back of his hand, allowing that hand to press closely against his head.

It felt like being melted by the warmth of my palm, or like something had quietly changed.

The silver-haired girl gazed at him, a barely perceptible smile playing on her lips, her eyes sparkling like the night sky.

"An overwhelming sense of exhilaration from the bottom of my heart, a warm feeling spreading throughout my body, and an urge to hold you tight right now... It would be a bit cumbersome to describe it in words, so now, I hope I can tell you my feelings with my expressions."

Tenkuji Yu looked deeply into her eyes, and after a few seconds, smiled and nodded: "The message has been delivered."

"That's good." She released her hand, the smile on her lips returning to its usual calm, and asked softly, "...Although I don't know your name, as a 'human,' this feeling must be something very precious, right?"

Tenkuji Yu patted her head again, chuckling mysteriously, "Yes. So once you understand its name, you will no longer be an android created by the system, but a real human being just like us."

Itoko didn't reply, but lowered her head thoughtfully, unusually lost in her own world.

Kasumigaoka Utaha stood to the side, watching the two interact warmly and harmoniously with the loving gaze of a mother, her expression unconsciously softening.

She suddenly had the feeling that they were a family of three, and this was their small but warm home.

—This shouldn't be a bad thing, right?

Although their daughter looks a bit older, it makes it seem like they got married and had children when they were only twelve or thirteen.

However, since there are no outsiders here, perhaps it's really possible to let Itoko change her way of addressing him, first calling him "Dad" and then calling herself "Mom"?

The scene flashed through her mind, and Kasumigaoka Utaha was deeply moved. Her cheeks flushed involuntarily, and her breathing became rapid with excitement.

Heaven knows, she stopped playing house before even graduating from kindergarten, and now she actually longs to 'play the role of a mother'!

Besides, isn't there a type of play called "baby play"...?

Although it's a bit distorted, in this world where everything will eventually start over, we should do exciting things that we wouldn't normally do!

If you're after excitement, then go all the way!

Before she could even muster the courage to ask a couple of tentative questions, Tenkuji Yu was already chatting with the silver-haired girl as they walked toward the dining table.

"On another note, where did you get your hair cut?"

“You cut it yourself. You have expert-level haircutting skills, you just haven’t used them before.”

"Really... After all, you gave me so much that I became too lazy to pay attention to these little skills that I don't usually use."

"Because I... because the system exists to bring happiness to its host."

"I wish that were true~"

Seeing that the two were about to sit down side by side as they had at breakfast, Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly banished all her chaotic thoughts, took a step forward, and casually suggested:

How about we switch seats today?

The two people who had just pulled out the chairs immediately turned to look at her in confusion.

"You want to sit next to me?" Looking at her slightly guilty, flushed face, Tenkuji Yu almost reflexively came up with the answer and blurted it out.

Itoko, standing to the side, also spoke up calmly: "I know that your relationship has progressed further at the bookstore. Kasumigaoka Utaha has clearly shown that her feelings for you have deepened, and she even has the desire to have sex with you..."

"Stop it! There's a limit to how much you can talk nonsense! It's not what you think!"

Even Kasumigaoka Utaha, being exposed and analyzed to this extent, would still feel unbearable shame.

Her suddenly heightened defense echoed in the living room. She gritted her teeth and stopped the two idiots from continuing, then took a deep breath, tightened her face, and put on her most serious expression.

"I just didn't want to watch two people eat together."

"Then you sit with Itoko."

As soon as Tenkuji Yuu finished speaking, she received a chilling green gaze from Kasumigaoka Utaha. Her deep resentment made her resemble a female ghost with her hair flying in the wind, and her slightly parted lips seemed to be saying—

Just you wait, if you dare to do this on purpose, I'll keep you up all night!

His eyes twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh deeply, his heart filled with helplessness.

"What exactly are you trying to do, Miss Shiyu...?"

In the end, Kasumigaoka Utaha managed to secure the seat next to Tenkuji Yu.

Itoko, of course, had no complaints. Having returned to her original intentions, she felt no jealousy and readily sat down opposite him.

During dinner, Kasumigaoka Utaha leaned against his shoulder, occasionally serving him food and letting him serve her food, naturally shortening the distance between them without making any more overtly intimate gestures.

It's like I'm gradually testing his defenses... or maybe I'm figuring out what kind of distance I should maintain with him?

Yuu Tenkuji really couldn't figure out Kasumigaoka Utaha's thoughts. He wondered if it was because Utaha, being an author, always had complex, bizarre, and unusual ideas.

Fortunately, dinner was finished without incident.

Two beautiful girls, one older and one younger, went into the kitchen to wash the dishes, while Yuuki Tenkuji went straight upstairs to her room, placed the books she had bought from the bookstore that day in the corner, and pulled out her computer chair to sit down.

Normally, after buying a book, he would wrap it in a book cover and put it directly into the bookshelf to preserve it as well as possible—but he was too lazy to go through all that trouble for something that would disappear in two days.

Now, Yuu Tenkuji is preparing to use the hypnosis methods she has learned to awaken, rather than change, the true memories that are dormant in the deepest part of her consciousness.

There are more than twenty different techniques from various schools, and there are big differences between using props and not using props... He doesn't know if they will work, but he plans to try them all once, which is better than waiting for the cycle to start before figuring out a solution.

In addition, Yuu Tenkuji will also try to build a "memory library" to categorize and organize her memories, perhaps in order to find the system's flaws.

"So, the first one will definitely be the most classic coin hypnosis."

Taking out a five-yen coin with a cotton thread hanging from it, Tenkuji Yu shook his head self-deprecatingly, dimmed the lights in the room, looked at his blurry reflection in the mirror, and let the coin swing like a pendulum, his gaze gradually becoming deep and focused.

—And so, two hours later.

The sky outside was already completely dark, and the starless and moonless night stretched to the edge of the city, which seemed to be shrouded in white mist and could not be seen clearly.

Yuu Tenkuji removed his blindfold, sat up, and the reclining chair back straightened as he did so.

He turned on the light, pressed his forehead, and, unsurprisingly, sighed with a hint of disappointment.

"So, it all failed after all..."

I don't know if it's because my willpower is too strong, or if hypnosis techniques without any skill enhancements are simply impossible to learn just by reading books.

Anyway, he spent two hours working on it, but couldn't recall anything useful. Instead, he ended up feeling drowsy and weak. From this perspective, perhaps it could be considered a successful experiment.

As for the Memory Library, the feeling was even more inexplicable. It was as if there were invisible restrictions preventing him from doing so. It should have been a very simple thing for him, but no matter how many times he tried, he could only end up failing.