Sakayanagi Arisu Wanted to Swear

"What? Huh? Wait?"

Asakusa Toru's eyes widened.

"You can talk???"

"I can." Amasawa Ichika nodded gently.

"...Wait, let me think." Asakusa couldn't help raising a hand to his forehead. Though he couldn't feel pain in here, he still seemed to feel a phantom ache.

The fact that he'd have to fight more than just Amasawa Ichika hadn't really surprised Asakusa. It had taken him a month, but if they were only talking about putting on the headband and forcing himself into the simulation, then with a decent level of physical fitness, he could clear Amasawa in just "one hour"—roughly half a month.

The more he fought Amasawa, the more he realized that a whole year was far too much time if all he had to do was beat her.

Surely they weren't just bringing her in to help him blow off steam after he was done fighting?

That would be a little too depraved.

So Simak Dian's appearance had been expected. It was just that the fact he wasn't a beautiful girl really killed Asakusa's enthusiasm.

But the problem was that Amasawa Ichika, whom he'd thought was just a copy for combat training, had started talking.

She'd actually spoken?!

"The real Amasawa?" Asakusa couldn't help asking aloud.

Was the gym really dragging other people in to spar with him?

"Hm?" Amasawa tilted her head. "The genuine article?"

Asakusa couldn't help sucking in a breath.

"Damn..."

Was this somehow even more exciting?

The only problem was, he wasn't about to get reported for harassment, was he?

"...Why would I report you?" Amasawa blinked at Asakusa's question, looking puzzled. "The victor gets to do whatever they want, and the loser has to obey completely. Isn't that how it's supposed to work in a dream?"

Asakusa: "..."

Great. Now he understood completely.

Amasawa was herself, but not entirely herself.

For Amasawa, the time accelerated by a factor of 365 was just a hazy dream, a memory she'd quickly forget once she returned to reality.

No, maybe it wasn't a dream—or not just a dream. Maybe it also involved a slight distortion of her perception of people she knew.

Even if she thought she was dreaming, she probably wouldn't have been so inclined to give him "instructional sparring" like before, much less answer every one of his questions with such docility.

The two elements combined to create the Amasawa Ichika standing before him now.

But... how exactly did the gym manage to synchronize their time?

He didn't come to the gym at a fixed time every day. If every visit meant dragging Amasawa in to dream, wouldn't she inexplicably develop narcolepsy in the real world?

Amasawa Ichika didn't give him the answer he wanted. Instead, she gave him a quality response:

"I don't know."

A great answer. It shortened my post-nut clarity.

If she didn't know, then let's get it on!

After refreshing his post-nut clarity once more, Asakusa pried quite a bit of information about the White Room Gym out of Amasawa Ichika, getting a proper look at the reward rated "S."

Aside from the information he already knew, most of what she told him was about the two newly revealed doors.

There wasn't much to say about the door that had already opened. It was just a standard advanced boss. Sure, the White Room Gym had made it, but Amasawa's abilities were limited. She was good enough to fight someone like him, who had little combat experience, but after that, she fell off pretty hard.

Unlike Amasawa, though, Simak Dian seemed to be just a standard copy. He wouldn't speak on his own or do anything unnecessary.

He only fought.

The focus was the last door, the one that remained locked.

Apparently, the one inside was the "greatest masterpiece."

That's right—not some Black Room "greatest masterpiece" like Yamauchi Haruki, but the genuine, White Room-produced greatest masterpiece.

The Pseudo-human, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

No wonder they'd left me a whole year to graduate.

Even with the Membership Card buff, it'd be hard to clear him in a year without some talent, wouldn't it?

Did they really think "Pseudo-human" was just a nickname for that guy's personality?

Pseudo-human, not human—only something that wasn't human could be called a Pseudo-human.

Aside from having his emotions erased by the White Room, the reason Asakusa called Ayanokoji Kiyotaka a Pseudo-human instead of the greatest masterpiece was his "talent," which had been built up purely through the setting.

He was a pure urban-warrior protagonist template. If Advanced Nurturing hadn't remembered it was a school and kept firearms out, Asakusa might have suspected that guy could even dodge bullets.

After all, that Pseudo-human had completely crushed a group of adults with nothing but a police baton when he was freaking nine years old.

He wasn't going to challenge that lightly.

Thankfully, he still had plenty of time left on his Membership Card. As long as he didn't waste too many days lazing around and could muster his resolve a little early to put on the Tenacity Headband, Asakusa felt he had a pretty good chance of crushing that Pseudo-human.

If the gym had set him up as the final boss, then it had to give him a chance to win.

They couldn't really expect him to just take his graduation certificate, could they?

...Of course, having a chance and putting in the effort were two different things.

He'd worked hard enough today.

That was enough.

It definitely wasn't because the next enemy was a middle-aged man, so he couldn't get excited about fighting him.

Chapter 71: Sakayanagi Arisu Wanted to Swear

Former Class 1-A.

The atmosphere in the class was exceptionally heavy.

The reason was simple: the results their homeroom teacher had announced the day before.

They—the elite students the school had selected—had suffered a crushing defeat in their first month's exam and dropped to Class B.

Right in front of them, their teacher had taken down the "Class A" sign and replaced it with "Class B."

It was an unbearable humiliation.

According to their homeroom teacher, Mashima Tomoya, there had never been a precedent for Class A falling behind in the very first month.

Just like Class D starting out with zero points, they'd made history too.

Nearly everyone in the class wore an unbearably grave expression. Though over eighty thousand Private Points had been deposited into their accounts the day before, none of them could feel happy.

Whether or not it was humiliating was already a secondary concern.

What mattered most was that they'd casually thrown away the graduation privilege they'd once had safely in their grasp.

"..."

Someone say something.

A number of students were overcome by this thought, their spirits weighed down by the situation.

Someone needed to step forward and say something. And someone also had to take responsibility for the result.

In this class, only two people could shoulder that responsibility.

Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei.

Both were outstanding leaders, with a charisma that made people want to follow them. No matter which side they were on, everyone believed the class could remain at the very top under their leadership.

And so, in just one short month, the entire class had split into two factions.

The Sakayanagi Faction and the Katsuragi Faction.

In this somber atmosphere, the first to seize the initiative and launch an attack was Hashimoto Masayoshi, from the Sakayanagi Faction.

He had his longish hair combed back, making him look more like a delinquent than a serious student—and, in fact, he was one. During the time before class, Hashimoto stood up. "I'm sure everyone reflected on things after going home yesterday."

"No matter who they were, everyone did the best they could and perfectly fulfilled their duties as students." He turned to look around at the rest of the class. "In principle, we shouldn't have lost so many points, let alone fallen to Class B."

"...What are you trying to say?" A man who surprisingly lacked the air of an elite, despite having been selected for their class, immediately jumped in to challenge Hashimoto's words.

Totsuka Yahiko, the most loyal foot soldier of the Katsuragi Faction.

"The school's assessment can't be wrong." The bald man, Katsuragi Kohei, gravely pointed out the implication behind Hashimoto's words. "Are you saying that we're the ones at fault?"

More accurately, that it was the people under Katsuragi who were at fault.

"Then what, was our Little Princess the one at fault?" Hashimoto raised his eyebrows and shot back without hesitation. "You were the one who insisted that caution came first and to play it safe. You were the one who kept backing down whenever the other classes harassed us, weren't you?"

"Our Little Princess didn't do anything. She let you direct everyone."

"And yet, this is the result." Hashimoto shrugged. "Looks like you didn't manage to protect anything after all."

Totsuka Yahiko clenched his fists. "You—!"

Katsuragi Kohei shook his head and held Totsuka back.

"..." He took a deep breath and surveyed the class.

The mood in the class was terrible. If he kept arguing with Hashimoto without giving ground, things would only get worse.

They'd already suffered one defeat. Now, what they needed to do was raise everyone's spirits.

He didn't mind taking responsibility himself, so long as the class could keep moving forward.

So Katsuragi stood up. "I won't deny that we failed this exam. But, Hashimoto, I need to remind you that the gap between us isn't that wide."

There was only a difference of fifty points between 890 and 840.

A gap they could close in the blink of an eye.

"But the fact is, that very gap, however small, turned us from Class A into Class B, isn't it?" Hashimoto scoffed, refusing to let up.

Katsuragi Kohei nodded slightly. "You're right. So until the next exam, we'll follow Sakayanagi's instructions."

"Katsuragi?!" Several students from the Katsuragi Faction, led by Totsuka Yahiko, cried out in alarm.

Even if he was going to take responsibility and give ground, wasn't this too quick?

"I have my reasons." Katsuragi Kohei shook his head.

In this class, he, Katsuragi Kohei, was the conservative foil to the more aggressive Sakayanagi. He stuck to his principles and maintained the class's advantage. As long as they didn't leave themselves open, they wouldn't lose.

Even now, he still believed in that approach.

The more you did, the more mistakes you made; the less you did, the fewer mistakes you made.

As long as they focused on doing their own part, their class—whose students had been recognized by the school from the very start for their conduct—wouldn't lose to anyone.

But now that they'd already taken a wrong first step, it was difficult for him to keep playing it safe.

After all, the foundation of playing it safe was that they were in first place. They had no need to compete with those above them; they only had to face the enemies below. Only then did they need to be as cautious as possible to protect their advantage.

"Prove yourself at the next exam, Sakayanagi," Katsuragi Kohei said.

Only then did Sakayanagi Arisu, who'd remained silent all this time, give a faint smile.

"Ah, just you wait."

Soon, the bell rang, and the teacher walked slowly into the classroom.

Though the class had fallen in the rankings, that didn't mean its students had become any less disciplined. The whole class slipped back into the rhythm of studying.

Before long, the bell rang again.

The very same Hashimoto Masayoshi, who'd been questioning Katsuragi Kohei not long ago, immediately turned around and swung his chair toward Sakayanagi Arisu behind him.

"Little Princess, Little Princess." He put on an ingratiating smile. "You think taking down Katsuragi counts as a great achievement, right?"

"I know it's a little tacky to ask for credit, but considering how hard I worked, I should get some kind of reward, shouldn't I?"