"Home"

Bai Yuze checked the clock thoroughly, and once he was certain he hadn't missed any information, he walked to room 106, ready to push open the wooden door.

Just as his hand was about to touch the wooden door of 106, the wooden door of 101 opened first.

Yuigahama poked her head out, and upon seeing Bai Yuze, she gestured for him to come over.

Bai Yuze paused, then pulled his hand back, clutched the clock, and walked toward room 101.

The time inside the residence was currently set to daytime, so Bai Yuze wasn't worried about anything terrible happening suddenly.

He walked up to Yuigahama and wore a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?"

Yuigahama looked at Bai Yuze, then asked a question in a stuttering manner.

"Um... may I ask what your name is..."

"Name? My surname is Bai, given name Yuze. And you?"

Because Bai Yuze had known these characters from the books in his previous life, he had subconsciously skipped the self-introduction phase.

"My name is Yuigahama Yui, nice to meet you! Yuze-kun!"

Tuanzi flashed a bright smile. Although the current environment wasn't exactly suitable for smiling, her smile still provided Bai Yuze with a bit of comfort.

"Nice to meet you... but what the heck is 'Yuze-kun'?"

Bai Yuze didn't really mind people addressing him, but why did she have to add the "kun" suffix?

To this question, Tuanzi just gave a silly laugh, then pulled Bai Yuze into room 101.

"Hehe, this is Yukinon! Yukinoshita Yukino. Yukinon, his name is Bai Yuze!"

Tuanzi acted as a social butterfly between Bai Yuze and Yukino, but Bai Yuze wanted to say:

Tuanzi, she arrived here before you!

"Hmm, I've heard of you."

Bai Yuze nodded. Seeing this response, neither Tuanzi nor Yukino thought much of it; after all, the Yukinoshita family was quite well-known in Chiba, so the two girls assumed Bai Yuze also lived in Chiba.

"You mentioned earlier that you have three scratches on your wrist? May I take a look?"

Yukino, standing to the side, asked Bai Yuze, and seeing this, he openly revealed his wrist.

"Ah! Those are such deep marks. Yuze-kun, do you have some kind of self-harming habit?"

"Idiot, I haven't lived enough yet; how could I possibly do something like that?"

Bai Yuze glared at Yuigahama. The phrase "big chest, no brain" was currently manifesting in Bai Yuze's mind.

Seemingly sensing Bai Yuze's gaze, Yuigahama subconsciously covered her chest and took a few steps back.

"Heh, should I say as expected of a lecherous kidnapper? Even at a time like this, you still haven't cleared the trashy thoughts from your brain. Your presence is becoming a bit of a threat to our personal safety."

Yukino's sharp-tongued nature activated, and Bai Yuze retorted without any hesitation.

"Don't worry, if I were to lose control, you would definitely be the safest one. After all, I have no interest in titanium alloy plates."

"You!"

Bai Yuze's words caused Yukino a flicker of anger, but this wasn't the time for arguing. Yuigahama hurriedly tried to mediate from the side.

"Ahaha, Yuze-kun, say less. And you too, Yukinon. We need to work together if we want to escape from here!"

Yuigahama's words silenced both of them. It was true that in the current situation, there was strength in numbers, and there was no reason for them to be fighting.

Yukino felt a bit puzzled. Although she had a sharp tongue, she wasn't someone who lashed out at everyone she met, yet she had just spoken those words uncontrollably.

Bai Yuze also recalled his own abnormality. He believed his emotional self-control was quite good, yet he had been unable to resist retorting just now. The situation was truly bizarre.

Could there be something here affecting their emotions?

"Wait, I have a theory!"

Bai Yuze suddenly shouted, then he recounted what had just happened to the two girls and shared his hypothesis.

Bai Yuze took out Yuigahama's phone, and the time on it still displayed 21:30.

"Etto... are you saying this clock can control time?"

Yuigahama looked curiously at the clock in Bai Yuze's hand.

"That's right. The note on the clock says 'want to stop time.' Therefore, when I adjusted the time on the clock, the time inside the residence changed, but the time outside remained paused.

Right now, the residence is in a safe daytime state, but our biological clocks are based on the outside time, so according to the current outside time, we should be resting.

And the rules also reminded us that even if we don't rest, we must stay in our own rooms. So, we need to go back to the rooms where we first woke up."

"Ah? Really? Can we not go back..."

Yuigahama asked weakly. After all, there was a corpse in her original room, and having a corpse as a roommate was a bit too macabre...

"I'm afraid not." Yukino sighed. "Violating the rules will result in punishment. Just now, our emotions were a bit unstable; who knows what might happen if we stay out too long!"

"O-okay..."

Yuigahama replied dejectedly. She hadn't really held out much hope anyway, just trying to struggle a little...

Seeing this, Bai Yuze shoved his phone into Yuigahama's hands.

"Keep the phone. Once the time changes to morning, come find us immediately. As for what counts as morning..."

Bai Yuze glanced at the clock.

"Just come over at nine in the morning."

The scene shifted, and the three of them returned to their original room. Bai Yuze's deduction was confirmed; the moment he stepped back into 104, his restless heart instantly calmed down.

It felt just like "home."

"You should sleep first; I'll keep watch here."

Bai Yuze said to Yukino, then fell into deep thought as he looked at the lights in the room.

(The lights in the room won't turn off like the ones in the hallway? Heh, this really is starting to feel like home. After all, you can only be this self-willed in your own house!)

"I'm not sleepy yet. Thank you for telling us those rules."

Yukino shook her head and thanked Bai Yuze. The more dangerous and unfamiliar the environment, the more precious such acts of sharing information became.

"It's nothing, just a small favor. Given the current situation, we can only survive if we help each other. One more person means one more source of conviction."

Bai Yuze was actually lying. In certain situations, he didn't believe that an extra person meant extra strength; instead, he viewed it as one more mouth to feed.

The reason he trusted Yukino and Tuanzi was that he knew them from his past life, which allowed him to share intelligence with them without reservation.

"I have scars on my body, too."

Yukino replied indifferently.

"It's just not as severe as your wounds. I have bruises that appeared for no reason."

"What about Yuigahama?"

"Yuigahama-san has large patches of burns, and some other things... I'm not quite sure."

"Not quite sure? Why?"

Bai Yuze was a bit puzzled, but the moment he saw the way Yukino was staring at him, he understood instantly.

"Ahem, that really is strange."

Bai Yuze clumsily changed the subject while taking a glance at his left hand.

(Do I really have that much strength in my left hand?)