I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"She has no choice; this is a host-limited solution. But don't worry, memory overwriting is not deletion, and it won't be difficult to retrieve her memories in the second playthrough."

"...You're not lying to me?"

"The system will not deceive the host, whether it is the main body or the clone."

"You don't just want to kiss me, do you?"

Yuu Tenkuji was too lazy to probe her anymore, so he directly asked about the most suspicious motive.

"..." After a suspicious pause, the silver-haired girl turned her head away and said expressionlessly, "Nothing of the sort."

"You promised you wouldn't lie to me?! You even learned the lying module, huh?"

“That’s not the case.” Itoko turned her gaze back and said seriously, “Kissing is just a secondary purpose. The most important thing is to allow the host to retain his memories and move on to the next cycle.”

"So what you're denying is the word 'only'... Even your excuses are just like mine, you rascal."

Looking at the girl's small, pink lips, which seemed like they could be filled with a single finger, and then at her determined gaze that wouldn't give up until she achieved her goal, Tenkuji Yu rubbed his temples helplessly, feeling somewhat conflicted.

Honestly, he had no interest in kissing any girl other than his girlfriend, and he had no romantic feelings for Itoko. Even simple mucous membrane contact was unacceptable to him.

Realistically speaking, if Itoko insists that a kiss is the only way to retain memories, he really doesn't have a good way to refuse—Yuu Tenkuji isn't that stupid to give up his memories for a kiss.

After thinking it over, I realized that I was kissing a beautiful young girl, not a stinky fat otaku. Why not grant her a little wish?

Tenkuji Yu quickly made a decision, and casually waved to her: "I understand. Come on, give me a kiss."

Her eyes seemed to light up, and the silver-haired girl immediately sat on the edge of the bed, leaned her head closer, and gently pouted her cherry-blossom-like lips.

Tenkuji Yu pointed to her forehead and asked patiently, "First of all, a light kiss will do, right?"

"It's not that simple. The method involves transmitting pheromones that protect memory through mucosal contact..."

As soon as Itoko started, Tenkuji Yu already knew her plan.

It's nothing more than spouting a bunch of complicated and difficult-to-understand terms, then trying to mislead people in a roundabout way, never giving a straight answer to the question.

Achieving his goals without lying is his usual tactic.

So before she could finish speaking, Yuu Tenkuji interrupted her directly: "Just answer me, if you touch your lips together, will it be successful?"

Itoko stared at him silently, her slightly pouting cherry lips gradually returning to a flat, straight line. She seemed to be somewhat sulking and didn't want to speak, but seeing that Tenkuji Yu showed no sign of backing down, she still uttered a single word with a silent sigh, unwilling to give up.

"……Yes."

"That's good."

Just like playing around with a little girl from a relative's house, Tenkuji Yu leaned down and kissed her soft little mouth, then patted her head with a smile, without blushing or feeling flustered at all.

"Okay, that's enough kissing. If you have nothing else to do, go back to sleep. Kids who stay up this late won't grow up properly."

Itoko didn't say anything, but just pursed her lips and turned away, looking somewhat dissatisfied, yet also as if she was comforting herself that she had still gained something.

She walked to the door, opened it, and said to Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had been hiding behind the door for some time, "You and I both know that failure was inevitable, but at least I achieved a breakthrough."

Kasumigaoka Utaha curled her lip in disdain: "It was just forcing him to kiss you, that's all. What's so groundbreaking about that? Does making money by robbing a bank mean you're good at making money?"

She emphasized, "At least I have achieved a stage of success. Without these conditions, you will ultimately achieve nothing."

"You underestimate my charm, and that's the real reason why that guy can juggle four relationships at once."

Kasumigaoka Utaha hummed confidently twice, then walked into the room with her head held high and chest puffed out, closing the door behind her and leaving the expressionless silver-haired girl outside.

Tenkuji Yu glanced at the laptop in her hand, then looked at her face, which seemed to be lightly made up, and rolled her eyes as she asked, "What are you guys up to now?"

"How would I know?" Kasumigaoka Utaha said indifferently, withdrawing her somewhat smug attitude, "She came to find me right after I finished typing, saying that she wanted to kiss you for your memories, and that she came to tell me so I wouldn't misunderstand... I was also very confused. What does a kiss have to do with me? Anyway, I just finished writing the book, so I followed her to find you."

After saying that, she looked Tenkuji Yu up and down a few times, and a satisfied smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

"I'm sorry for calling you a Lolita fan before, but your bottom line and morals are much higher than I imagined... I'm really impressed with you, Yoyo-kun."

Despite the praise, Tenkuji Yu was not happy at all.

"So what are you comparing yourself to her for? Are you betting on who will give me a French kiss first?"

"Of course not! Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Kasumigaoka Utaha threw the laptop on his lap in a huff, looking down at him on the bed. "Forget about such trivial matters, hurry up and read the novel! I've tried my best to reduce typos, but I can't guarantee there won't be any omissions. If there are any, just pretend you didn't see them."

"clear."

Yuu Tenkuji turns on his computer, his gaze casually sweeping over her outfit.

For some reason, this girl changed out of her pajamas, put on light makeup, and wore the uniform of Toyonosaki Academy, looking like a fashionable female student getting ready to go to school, with her signature black stockings revealing a bit of her fleshy thighs.

The night was deep outside the window, and snowflakes drifted quietly. Inside the room where only the two of them were, you could hear a pin drop. The black-haired girl stood by the bed, her wine-red eyes looking at him with a half-smile, half-scolding gaze, their gentle, watery light shimmering within them.

The eerie atmosphere suddenly gave Yuu Tenkuji the feeling that he had hired a female college student dressed as a high school girl to provide "in-home services".

He shook his head, clearing his mind of the impure thoughts, and looked at the document he had prepared beforehand on the screen, his expression gradually settling down.

Seeing that he had started reading his novel, Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't intend to stand there for an hour. After looking around, she walked towards the window.

She drew back the curtains and looked at the desolate scene outside, covered in snow, and couldn't help but marvel.

"Is this what the end of the world looks like? Even an early ice age couldn't be worse than this. It's terrifying..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly opened the window and reached out to catch the continuously falling black snowflakes.

"I advise you not to do that. Unless you want to lose consciousness like everyone else before you even hear my thoughts."

Tenkuji Yu didn't look up, but simply gave this instruction, his attention seemingly entirely focused on the story before him.

Kasumigaoka Utaha turned around, blinked, and couldn't help but smile as she raised the corners of her mouth. She then withdrew her hand and closed the window tightly.

"Itoko said that I will lose my memory in the next playthrough."

Tenkuji Yu didn't reply, but she knew he heard everything.

He slowly walked around the bed to the empty space on the other side of the double bed—heaven knows why there was a double bed in his room where he slept alone, big enough for two fat men to sleep together without feeling cramped.

Kasumigaoka Utaha sat on the edge of the bed, her hands behind her back, swinging her dangling legs as she looked at the ceiling, softly reciting poetry: "In another hour, I'll be back in that state of knowing nothing, all that is known will become unknown, and I can only wait for you to save me~"

"This kind of development is really annoying."

Tenkuji Yu blinked lightly, lines of characters flashing through his eyes like a stream, pausing occasionally, but at a speed much faster than a normal person reading.

But at the same time, he was able to focus on answering Kasumigaoka Utaha's questions.

"Don't worry, after you wake up from a good night's sleep, everything will be perfectly resolved."

"Of course, I have never doubted your abilities."

Kasumigaoka Utaha shrugged, lazily turning her gaze away, her long hair falling to the side, her wine-red eyes gazing intently at his profile.

"But don't you think that's the scariest thing?"

"It's as if all of this has nothing to do with me, as if my presence or absence doesn't matter, as if I've completely disappeared from your life."

You can live a good life too...

"I can imagine that after the dust settles and I regain my memory, I will feel incredibly lost because of this outcome."

She moved her legs, hugged her knees on the bed, buried her face in her arms, and let out a deep, desolate sigh.

"So... this is not a satisfactory ending for me at all."

Chapter 146 A 100,000-Word Love Letter to You

For a while, the continuously scrolling document remained still. Yuu Tenkuji quietly looked at the screen, but his attention was entirely on the girl beside him.

But he didn't look back at the past directly. Instead, he slid down the touchpad again and continued reading the 100,000-word story that seemed to have a sense of déjà vu everywhere.

"To see things through to the end, right?"

"What?" Kasumigaoka Utaha looked up at him, who seemed to be just saying it casually, and blinked in surprise.

The room wasn't brightly lit, and the boy's profile was illuminated by the screen's cold light. He was fair-skinned and handsome, with a somewhat frail, scholarly air about him, yet his eyes revealed a cold, sharp edge.

His slightly pursed thin lips were almost perfect, the curve of which was so beautiful that one couldn't help but want to reach out and touch them, or even savor the taste with one's own lips.

The fingers pressing the touchpad were slender, fair, and with distinct knuckles; the faint blue veins on the back of the hand were more sexy than any male model in a magazine.

When personal charm reaches its peak, those attracted to it will not be limited to men or women.

At the same time, Yu's voice broke her reverie.

"You're overthinking it. Even if we haven't shared joys and sorrows, we've still been through thick and thin together. It would be too heartless to abandon you halfway through."

The words flowed through his bright black eyes. His face seemed expressionless, but a faint smile could be seen at the corner of his mouth.

The voice that reached my ears was as gentle and bright as the moonlight on a summer night.

"Don't worry—when it's time to save the world, I'll take you with me."

"..."

This is not a love confession, but a simple and sincere promise.

During the silence, Kasumigaoka Utaha stopped looking at him, simply straightened her legs, and leaned against the headboard as lazily as he did.

Then she slowly closed her eyes, as if she were about to fall asleep.

A soft chuckle crept onto her lips, and her upper body gradually leaned forward, like autumn leaves returning to the embrace of the earth, her head resting lightly on his shoulder.

"What 'saving the world' nonsense? Are you just suffering from chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)?"

"Ha, I wish everything I've experienced was just a fantasy of a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) patient."

"Is this what they mean by reality being more exaggerated than fantasy?" She shook her head with a laugh, as if she couldn't bring herself to complain. "I don't intend to save the world, I just hope you can give me a promise."

"What promise?" Tenkuji Yuu asked. "I'll decide what to give."

Kasumigaoka Utaha was already used to this guy always having to completely shatter the romantic atmosphere in order to show off his pathetic pride that "woman, I'm not smitten with you yet."

She curled her lip in disdain, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder casually as she muttered dreamily, "...After the next cycle begins, you have to come find me faster than anyone else, push me hard against the wall, and use every method to help me regain my memories."

The finger on the touchpad paused, and Tenkuji Yu said speechlessly, "Let's forget about pushing it against the wall. I'm not the kind of person who likes to be rough with girls."

Although he prefers being a sadist to a masochist—but only in a room where the two of them are alone, and only to try out more positions.

Her tone carried a hint of regret: "Well, I knew you wouldn't agree... but think about it, either I regain my memories, or you get arrested by the police. Don't you think that's a pretty exciting game?"

The conversation was difficult, and Youyou sighed, "There's something even more exciting waiting for us, there's really no need for this."

"That's true."

Realizing they were still unconscious in reality, Kasumigaoka Utaha had no choice but to put aside these random thoughts, open her eyes again, and stare listlessly at the clock on the wall in front of her.