Seeing things had reached this point, Tsukikawa Shu did not go too far. He merely sampled a little and stopped there.
Afterward, Fujiwara Chika looked completely unsatisfied instead, muttering in disappointment:
"It looked pretty comfortable in the manga... I just didn't expect it to hurt this much..."
As of midnight on June 1, this book had received 458 monthly tickets, 15,768 in tips, and 393 blades. The bounty total required 12 extra chapters; 4 had already been released, leaving 8. I'll try to finish them within a week.
The new round of bounty rules for June was:
Every 100 monthly tickets: one extra chapter. Every 10,000 Cat Coins in tips: one extra chapter. Every 100 blades: one extra chapter. Golden Treasure Chest: 25 extra chapters (nine additional chapters included). The deadline was June 7.
Thank you all for your continued support through recommendation tickets and monthly tickets!
And thank you as well to the following bosses for their tips and support since the premium release:
Subaru-san, White-Clothed Hungry Stick, Moonlit White Distant Flowers, Drifting Wood, Uchiha Mirror Heart, Little Ryukyu, Filthy Guest Gentleman, Prosthesis, Misaka Taoli, Pa Yun Zi, Pale Memories, Little Ningling, One One?, Misty Rain Blue Shirt, Please Give the World More Warmth, Westingfang, Full Belly k, Book Guest Jie z, Empty Silver?, Book Guest 31629834835, Sakura Falling While Striving to Grow Stronger, Lonely dark, Lord Xuan, Autumn Breeze Silk Fan, A Bit Long, Book Guest 79997718631, Cute Pingzhi Xia, Cappucci Meow, .Billy Herrington., Broken Sleep, Aqua, Rampaging Jinx, No, Flying Dragon, Chloe, Most Beautiful Elysia, Calamity Youmu, Ink Night Meow, Red Kill Again Red Kill, Me from Leo, One Hundred Thousand Shrine Maidens, Book Guest 69266513929, lug, Jibi, Empty Silver?, World Fragment No. 9.IX, Cappucci Meow
*(≧▽≦*)o
Only after experiencing the pain of losing her virginity did Fujiwara Chika realize that this sort of thing was not like it was drawn in manga.
"It didn't even feel good. All I could feel was pain."
She lay in Tsukikawa Shu's arms and muttered, "This is supposed to feel good, right?"
"It can feel good," Tsukikawa Shu said.
"This is so annoying. We'll try again next time."
She spoke indignantly.
Having shed her shyness, she was still that lively girl.
When he woke up in the morning and saw the girl beside him still fast asleep, Tsukikawa Shu gently nudged her.
Outside, Fujiwara Chika was a proper lady, barely restraining her lively and carefree nature in the face of etiquette. But in private, it was all laid bare.
Not only was her sleeping posture terribly unladylike, she was even drooling.
"Mmm... Is it morning already?"
She rubbed her eyes sleepily, then flopped back down and hugged Tsukikawa Shu around the waist, trying to go back to sleep.
"If you don't get up now, there'll be no dungeon run today," Tsukikawa Shu said, rubbing her head.
"Just one more minute, only one minute... Mmph."
She mumbled, but Tsukikawa Shu pinched both her cheeks and stretched her face into a flat pancake. Fujiwara Chika could no longer sleep, opening her watery eyes and blinking twice.
With no other choice, Tsukikawa Shu could only resort to force.
Fujiwara Chika reluctantly got out of bed, yawned, and began getting dressed.
After their thorough exchange, Fujiwara Chika had completely revealed her true nature. She now even dared to openly provoke the former Great Demon King.
But not long after getting up, she regained her usual lively energy, becoming once again a carefree, guileless girl.
Tsukikawa Shu opened the door.
"Looks like you two got along pretty well."
Hiratsuka Shizuka seemed to have been waiting outside the room for quite some time. As soon as Tsukikawa Shu came out, she slung an arm around his shoulders, casually pulled out a cigarette, put it between her lips, and lit it.
"Why do I get the feeling you're treating me more and more like one of the guys?"
Seeing her increasingly bold manner, Tsukikawa Shu shrugged. "It was a little awkward at first, but feelings grew with time."
"You can fool around however you want. It's none of my business."
Hiratsuka Shizuka took a drag and slowly exhaled a cloud of white smoke. "But..."
She glanced at Fujiwara Chika behind Tsukikawa Shu, who had put away her earlier reluctance to get out of bed and was now acting obedient. Pulling Tsukikawa Shu aside, she leaned close to his ear. "Do you know who this girl is?"
Tsukikawa Shu nodded.
Fujiwara Chika's grandfather was a former Prime Minister, and nearly everyone in her family belonged to the upper echelons. If nothing unexpected happened, Fujiwara Chika would enter politics in the future as well.
"Can you handle it?" Hiratsuka Shizuka asked.
"No problem."
Tsukikawa Shu replied calmly, taking the cigarette from Hiratsuka Shizuka's hand and snuffing it out directly, preventing the secondhand smoke from continuing to pollute him.
"You brat..."
Hiratsuka Shizuka angrily punched Tsukikawa Shu on the shoulder, but did not take it to heart.
She continued:
"As long as you can handle it. At our current rate of development, I think we need to establish an organization."
"We've been grinding levels this whole time, but the Inner World will eventually form a basic order. When that happens, having an organization under our control will make things easier."
Tsukikawa Shu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"So you think we should create an organization and leave Fujiwara Chika in charge?" Tsukikawa Shu said.
"More or less. The pile of weapons and equipment you've farmed is enough to arm a team anyway. Continuing to dismantle all those items into Refined Ore is ultimately too wasteful." Hiratsuka Shizuka naturally lit another cigarette.
Having an organization that followed his orders would be useful. Even if it did not contribute much in battle, it could still handle peripheral manual work. Moreover, the Inner World would need its own intelligence network in the future. Such an organization could help him deal with many trivial matters.
Fujiwara Chika, having been born into a political family, could take on this task as well. Though she was still young and inexperienced, with Tsukikawa Shu backing her and providing enough opportunities and protection, she could grow quickly.
With that quirky girl's intelligence, she should soon be able to manage the organization in perfect order.
"Then why not just take over that collapsed Elite Committee and use it directly?"
After some thought, Tsukikawa Shu said, "Most of them have already been killed anyway, and the people left are all on Fujiwara Chika's side. It's a relatively secure choice."
While Tsukikawa Shu and Hiratsuka Shizuka were discussing things, Fujiwara Chika, who had been left to one side, kicked at the pebbles by her feet. Then she spotted Goto Hitori sitting nearby, fiddling with her guitar.
"You can play the guitar?"
Fujiwara Chika crouched in front of Goto Hitori with a smile.
"Ah... yeah!"
Goto Hitori turned her face away, then nodded emphatically.
"I like music too, but I mainly play the piano," Fujiwara Chika said with a smile.
"Mmm..."
Goto Hitori, who had never been good at social interaction, began to panic at Fujiwara Chika's easy familiarity.
"Do you have any songs you like?" Fujiwara Chika asked.
"Well..."
But before Goto Hitori could answer, Fujiwara Chika eagerly answered for her.
"Do you like Adeline by the Water?"
"Uh..."
"It comes from a Greek myth. It tells the love story of a king who wanted to spend his life with a statue girl, and in the end, they both turned into statues. I often play it at balls."
Fujiwara Chika crouched there, smiling as she asked, "What about you?"
Goto Hitori listened with a completely blank expression.
What song was that? She had never even heard of it!
Piano? Balls? How could an elegant place like that possibly be within reach of trash like her, a parasite on society...
And what did she like listening to? Blue Lonely Planet, which she had written herself?
That sounded so uncool!
Goto Hitori could only silently weep in her heart.
Heh heh heh... What elegant music? I'm trash, and I'm proud of it!
She was only fit to play rock. How could she possibly put herself on the same level as elegant piano music?
Goto Hitori felt that her negative emotions had piled up even more, the corners of her mouth lifting into what she believed was a helpless, chuunibyou-like bitter smile.
But no matter what, she could not reveal her taste.
"Ahaha... I like that song too. I hear it all the time at balls and things like that. You have pretty good taste."
Goto Hitori's gaze wandered uncertainly.
Fujiwara Chika was still smiling brightly.
This girl is so interesting~
In truth, the story of Adeline by the Water was not like what she had described at all. In the original tale, the king eventually moved Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who granted life to the statue. The two then lived happily together instead of turning into statues.
She had made a small alteration, and Goto Hitori had fallen for it so easily~
No wonder Tsukikawa liked her. Keeping her around was pretty fun too.
At that moment, Tsukikawa Shu and Hiratsuka Shizuka finished their discussion and called out toward the two of them:
"Chika."
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Fujiwara Chika stood up and skipped over.
"There's something we'd like to ask your opinion on," Tsukikawa Shu said.
Then Tsukikawa Shu and Hiratsuka Shizuka told Fujiwara Chika about their idea of forming a team.
"Rebuilding the Elite Committee? I don't have a problem with that."
Fujiwara Chika thought for a moment, then moved closer and wrapped her arms around Tsukikawa Shu's arm. "But do I get a reward?"
"I'll reward you again tonight," Tsukikawa Shu said helplessly.
"You said it," Fujiwara Chika said with a smile.
"Oh, right. You can use the things I gave you now. You can use the Experience Card first."
Tsukikawa Shu said, "Also, I'll give you some Fine Grade weapons and items, as well as Class Cards and Skill Cards. They're no use sitting with me, so use them to invest in the Elite Committee."
The Elite Committee now did not refer to the organization formed by elites in the outside world, but an organization that would be made up of top players from the Inner World.
"Of course, you need to use the Experience Card on yourself first and get yourself to level 40. Otherwise, you won't be able to keep up with us when we run dungeons."
Tsukikawa Shu added, "As for screening future members, be strict. Anyone with poor character must be filtered out."
"Huh?! Tsukikawa, you're already above level 40?!" Fujiwara Chika covered her mouth in shock.
"Me, Hiratsuka Shizuka, and Goto Hitori are all level 45 already. But our levels are information only we know right now, so don't let it slip," Tsukikawa Shu said.
"I understand." Fujiwara Chika nodded.
That was roughly everything for the morning. Next came their usual dungeon grinding.
But when they reached the entrance, they ran into several members of DOLLARS again.
This time, all five of them were injured. After days of dungeon grinding, even they were close to their limits.
Yet this time, Ryūgamine Mikado, who led them, wore a gloomy expression.
Before you continue