"New rules?"
After putting the note away safely, Bai Yuze walked over to Yamauchi Haruki and patted him.
But Yamauchi Haruki merely rolled over and didn't get up.
"With sleep this deep, he probably wouldn't even know what killed him."
Without a hint of mercy, Bai Yuze kicked Yamauchi Haruki.
"Ah! Who was that?!"
Yamauchi Haruki sprang up with a scream, glaring at Bai Yuze in anger.
"Who are you?! Why'd you kick me?!"
"You're still sleeping? You're about to die!"
Yamauchi Haruki looked around. Only then did he notice that his surroundings had changed.
"What's going on? Wasn't I sleeping in my dorm? How'd I get here?"
Yamauchi Haruki shouted and babbled on, and the noise was starting to get on Bai Yuze's nerves.
Just as Bai Yuze was about to stop him, Yuigahama's voice came from behind.
"Yuze, what happened here? And... who's this?"
Bai Yuze was about to explain, but Yamauchi Haruki immediately put on a different face.
In a flash, he appeared in front of Tuanzi and introduced himself, beaming.
"Hello, I'm Yamauchi Haruki, a student at Advanced Nurturing High School. I was a star baseball player in high school, but I had to retire because of an injury. It's nice to meet you."
The Yamauchi of that moment was practically a different person from the one who'd been shouting just before.
Even Tuanzi could tell he was bragging. But with her personality, she forced herself to play along.
"That's amazing! I'm Yuigahama Yui. It's nice to meet you too."
At Yuigahama's reply, Yamauchi acted like an excited little dog. He reached out to grab her hand, pretending he wanted to shake it, but his lecherous intentions were written all over his face.
"Hello, I'm Bai Yuze. We go to the same school. Pleased to meet you."
Bai Yuze caught Yamauchi's wandering hand and looked at him calmly, though his mind was already racing.
"Y-you... hello."
Yamauchi seemed to realize his lewd behavior was inappropriate. It certainly had nothing to do with Bai Yuze's grip being too strong.
"Yamauchi, can you tell me what you were doing before you passed out?"
There shouldn't have been any groups from the same school in this first round. So what role had brought Yamauchi Haruki here?
"Oh! I remember I was working out in the school dorm. Then my head suddenly started feeling all fuzzy, and after that, I saw Bai..."
That was a lie. In reality, Yamauchi Haruki had finally found a documentary and was in the middle of paying tribute when he suddenly passed out.
The flimsy lie was full of holes. Never mind Yamauchi's skinny build; his dark circles and sleazy demeanor alone made his habits and daily routine obvious.
Seeing that Yamauchi Haruki had no useful clues, Bai Yuze turned to ask Tuanzi.
"Did you find any clues over there?"
"Um, we found a few things. Xiaoxue has them now. I'll go get them."
Yuigahama left partly to retrieve the clues, but also because Yamauchi's leering stare made her uncomfortable.
"Hey, buddy, that girl just now was really hot. Is she your girlfriend?"
"No. I've only known her for a few days."
Yamauchi heard the answer he wanted and rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"If she's not your girlfriend, then I'm going after her!"
"You? Do you really think she'd be interested in you?"
"Hah! My looks can charm thousands of women. Didn't you see her run off just now? She must've been too embarrassed to look at me. She was shy!"
As Yamauchi Haruki spoke, he fixed his hair, as if he really were some kind of handsome man.
Bai Yuze was speechless at Yamauchi's baffling self-confidence, but then he remembered that he was dealing with Yamauchi Haruki. Suddenly, it all made sense.
"Don't lose heart, man. From the way you two were talking, there seems to be another girl. I'll let you have that one instead. Yui... heh heh heh... What a lovely name."
Yamauchi spoke freely with Bai Yuze about his lewd plans. Given how good Yamauchi Haruki thought he was and how little was going on in his head, he naturally had no sense of wariness toward others.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so thoroughly deceived by Sakayanagi's few words in the original story.
"By the way, where are we?"
Only now did Yamauchi Haruki remember that he was somewhere unfamiliar. Bai Yuze tried to explain their situation to him as gently as possible.
"So we're trapped here? And that piece of junk school is to blame for all of this?"
Yamauchi froze for a moment, then went right back to shouting like before.
"Quiet down. Don't you still want to hit on someone?"
Bai Yuze fought the urge to hit him and tried to calm Yamauchi Haruki down.
"Are you kidding me?! You need to be alive to chase girls! I don't want to die! I want to go home!"
Yamauchi Haruki broke down sobbing.
"What happened?"
A cool voice tinged with confusion reached the two of them. Yamauchi Haruki turned around and instantly froze.
A stunningly cute, icy beauty in a JK uniform stood outside the door. To Yamauchi Haruki, she was like a white snow lotus blooming high in the mountains—something to admire from afar, never to touch.
But men had two great hobbies: corrupting respectable women and persuading women of the night to go straight. And Yamauchi Haruki, the dark-room masterwork, especially loved seeing a pristine blank page and leaving his mark all over it.
So Yamauchi Haruki stopped crying, dropped his dazed expression, and instantly put on a composed front.
"Did you find any clues? And... who's this lecherous, rutting ape?"
Everyone knew that Yukino was sharp-tongued but didn't insult people for no reason—unless they'd offended her.
"We found new rules and a note. As for him... he's sort of my classmate."
"Your classmate looks so sleazy that I'm starting to wonder whether you actually attend a legitimate school."
"Uh... I don't think it's legitimate."
Bai Yuze thought it over. After all, what legitimate school started its students off with a life-or-death game?
"Hello, beautiful miss. My name is Yamauchi Haruki, and I'm a student at Advanced Nurturing—"
"Could you stay away from me, you rutting ape? Your leering eyes and sleazy expression make me feel harassed. I'm afraid I might lose my temper and hit you."
As she spoke, Yukino stepped back into a defensive stance. Bai Yuze had never seen her look so disgusted!
Meanwhile, Yamauchi Haruki looked completely pleased with himself.
Inside, he was overjoyed. The more a woman was like an iceberg, the more satisfying it would be to conquer her.
Yamauchi Haruki had already made up his mind. Maybe he'd be trapped here and lose his life, but before he died, he'd become a man instead of a boy!
The law didn't apply here, so he could do whatever he wanted to the two women in front of him. As for Bai Yuze, standing off to the side, Yamauchi Haruki didn't take him seriously at all.
Before you continue