For that reason, she had been trembling with fear.
During those five days, there had still been some food to replenish their energy in the first three days. But afterward, the little food they had left had somehow been stolen and eaten, plunging the entire team into crisis. She had gone hungry for two whole days.
Hunger gradually robbed people of their judgment and reason.
If not for the tiny bit of food sustaining them, and if the system's mission had not lasted only five days, Fujiwara Chika dared not imagine what would have happened next.
She recalled the final day. The entire team had been like a taut string on the verge of snapping, ready to explode at any moment.
Cold, hunger, monsters, Player Hunters, ever-present danger, and betrayal that could happen anytime, anywhere.
She had never experienced anything like that before.
But fortunately, the Inner World had only been open for five days this time. They had endured it in the end.
Her body had been so weak that she had drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness until she was teleported back at the very last moment.
"The Inner World? Danger?" Shinomiya Kaguya did not understand at all.
"Waaah... You know what? I was just teleported into another world! I almost died in there!"
"We survived in there for five days, and one person even died."
"Over those five days, everyone around us became more and more terrifying, and there was no food!"
"In five days, I only ate two... no, a little over one can of food. Later, I was so hungry I passed out..."
Fujiwara Chika cried for a while. As she recalled those five days, a powerful urge suddenly rose within her.
Her crying stopped abruptly, and she looked toward the exquisite pastries on the table.
"Nom!"
She swallowed an entire plate of cake in one bite.
Then another plate of cake went straight into her stomach.
After that, she set her sights on the black tea in front of Shinomiya Kaguya, picked it up, and drained it in one gulp.
Her speed rivaled that of certain death-defying mukbang streamers.
"Wait... I drank from that..." Shinomiya Kaguya stared in stunned disbelief.
In just a few seconds, Fujiwara Chika had swept every bit of food from the table.
For a moment, Shinomiya Kaguya had no idea whether she had simply gone days without eating or had been possessed by a starving ghost.
"Burp~~~"
Fujiwara Chika let out a satisfied sound.
In truth, Fujiwara Chika had eaten breakfast. If someone returned alive, what happened in the Inner World could not affect the original world.
But the experience in the Inner World had been far too intense. Fujiwara Chika still had not recovered from the lingering effects of hunger alone.
So, she had stuffed herself.
After burping a few times, Fujiwara Chika returned to her usual carefree image as the Student Council secretary.
Now, she only felt a little nauseous. Her stomach churned violently, and it was obvious that her small appetite could not hold so much food.
"Bleurgh..."
She covered her mouth and hurried into the restroom to throw up.
Shinomiya Kaguya watched her best friend's entire performance, yet from beginning to end, she had no idea what was going on.
Suddenly, she remembered something.
"She couldn't be pregnant, could she..."
Shinomiya Kaguya covered her mouth.
Recently, Shinomiya Kaguya had become very curious about sex, so her mind easily went in that direction.
Due to the elite education she had received, Shinomiya Kaguya had rarely been exposed to such things. Now that she had reached that innocent and confused stage of adolescence, she was naturally very interested in them.
"Hmm... From what I understand, humans do indeed show symptoms like this before giving birth."
Hayasaka Ai, Shinomiya Kaguya's maid and bodyguard, thought for a moment. "Of course, she may also have simply eaten too much."
"Then why did she start crying just now?" Shinomiya Kaguya asked.
"This... I do not know."
"There's definitely something suspicious going on!"
The more Shinomiya Kaguya thought about it, the more wrong it felt.
Fujiwara Chika threw up for a while, flushed the toilet, and wiped away her sweat. It was as if she had vomited out all the terror she had experienced in the Inner World, and her entire body felt much lighter.
Looking at the lavish decorations around her, the bright lights, the lush woods outside the window, and the flowerbeds full of blooming flowers, she finally felt that she had returned.
For a moment, she stood in the restroom, squinting into the sunlight streaming through the small window. A breeze brushed past her, lifting the ends of her pink hair, and she could not help spreading her arms.
For a moment, she felt incomparably content.
So this was what being alive felt like...
After standing there for quite some time, she finally returned to the Student Council room with a tired expression and slowly sat down beside Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Chika." Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly took Fujiwara Chika's hand.
"Huh?" Fujiwara Chika blinked.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
"Huh?"
"Don't be afraid. We're friends. If someone hurt you, I'll use my power to have him killed!"
"Uh... No."
Fujiwara Chika said, "I was transported to another world, and I nearly died there."
However, Shinomiya Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai wore expressions of complete disbelief as they listened to her explanation.
"It's true! It sounds absurd, but it really happened to me!" Fujiwara Chika said anxiously.
(This is the sixth update, and also an extra chapter for 50 blades. Please vote and send gifts! There will be more during the day!)
"Chika, you can tell me anything directly. It's okay."
Shinomiya Kaguya gently hugged Fujiwara Chika and comforted her. "I will always stand by your side, no matter what happens to you."
"Uh..."
Fujiwara Chika caught the faint fragrance on Shinomiya Kaguya's body and did not know how to explain herself for a moment.
Shinomiya Kaguya was serious, but she truly had not lied!
"No one hurt me, but I really did run into trouble..."
Yet right afterward, Fujiwara Chika suddenly cried out and jumped away.
"Why are you touching my stomach?" Fujiwara Chika looked at Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Do you have one?!"
Shinomiya Kaguya pointed at her stomach.
"Have what?" Fujiwara Chika froze for a moment, but quickly understood.
Although the Student Council members' knowledge of sex was practically nonexistent, Fujiwara Chika was at least somewhat more knowledgeable and immediately understood what Shinomiya Kaguya meant.
"No, no! How could that be?!"
Fujiwara Chika hurriedly denied it.
"Chika! If some scumbag defiled... hurt you, don't be afraid. We will absolutely help you keep it secret." Shinomiya Kaguya was extremely serious.
"..." Fujiwara Chika did not know what to say.
"Miss Chika, you do not need to worry. Modern medical technology is very advanced."
Hayasaka Ai also said solemnly, "The child can be aborted, and the hymen can be repaired. We can forget this part of the past."
"...I said there isn't anything." Fujiwara Chika said helplessly. "I'll go to the hospital for an examination after school. Then you'll finally believe me, right?"
Only then did Shinomiya Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai calm down.
After dealing with those two, Fujiwara Chika wiped away her sweat and began thinking about the Inner World again.
The Inner World opened at irregular times, but one thing was certain: when it opened again, she would still be drawn into it.
What were her chances of surviving?
Fujiwara Chika imitated those bodybuilding coaches, rolled up her sleeve, flexed her little arm, and tried to examine her muscles.
The result was obvious...
Fujiwara Chika stared at the tiny bit of muscle on her arm and sighed helplessly.
After sitting in the Student Council room for a while longer, the heavy wooden door was suddenly pushed open.
"Senior Chika!"
The person who entered was a girl with medium-length brown hair. She was Iino Miko, who had entered the Inner World together with Fujiwara Chika.
"Ah, I'm here!" Fujiwara Chika jumped in fright.
The other Student Council members also turned back in surprise to look at Iino Miko.
"I'm terribly sorry." Iino Miko realized that she had lost her composure and hurriedly apologized. Then she walked in, grabbed Fujiwara Chika, and dragged her outside.
"I'm stepping out for a moment." Fujiwara Chika hurriedly told the others in the room.
The two came to an empty section of the hallway. Iino Miko leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Did you tell anyone else about this?" she asked.
"I did, but no one believed me." Fujiwara Chika sounded helpless.
"Same here. I told my family, but they only thought I had some mental problem lately and was hallucinating," Iino Miko said.
After a pause, she asked again, "What are you planning to do next? I checked the system description. The Inner World will continue opening, and we will enter it again."
"..." Fujiwara Chika could not think of any good solution either.
"I think we should ask around more and see who has a high level in the Inner World. Then we can ask them for help," Iino Miko said. "As long as we offer enough money and post a bounty, plenty of people should apply."
"Our world's currency and power may be things no one in the Inner World cares about at all..."
Fujiwara Chika shook her head. "You saw it in the chat room too. Wealthy merchants and politicians, even people we know, offered extremely generous terms, yet no one was willing to take them in."
Iino Miko fell silent as well.
The appearance of the Inner World was undoubtedly a massive reshuffling of the real world. The powerful people within it could rely entirely on their own strength to obtain all the wealth, power, and pleasures they wanted.
The status and identities of noble young ladies like them might mean absolutely nothing to others in that world.
"But we can't just sit around and wait to die!"
Iino Miko clenched her fist.
"We need to investigate the people we saw in the Inner World first. At minimum, we need to choose someone whose background we understand and who is suitable. They must be strong enough, and their character cannot be too terrible."
Fujiwara Chika bit her finger. "Although our wealth may not be enough to influence those powerful people in the Inner World, we can still mobilize the resources of our own world."
"As for the Inner World... we may truly need to prepare ourselves to sacrifice some things."
Fujiwara Chika might have been innocent, but she was not stupid. After five days in the Inner World, she had already recognized reality.
In the Inner World, all her status and power were useless. If she wanted to survive, a weak person like her could never emerge unscathed.
"Hey... You can't seriously be thinking of sacrificing that, can you..."
Before you continue