[Shadow Devourer slain. Acquired dropped skill: Intangibility LV1.] [Intangibility LV1 effect: Grants immunity to physical and elemental attacks for 5 seconds (limited to one use per day).]
The system notifications flashed in the corner of his vision.
Under normal circumstances, Greg would have been ecstatic to acquire such a precious lifesaving skill.
Right now, however, he clearly wasn't in the mood.
As soon as the battle ended, he walked straight over to Sylvia without so much as glancing at the three upperclassmen, who were still stunned and bewildered. His gaze seemed fixed firmly on her from behind his mask.
"Sylvia..."
His voice came through the mask, deliberately flat. "You wouldn't happen to be... a bit of an airhead, would you?"
"An a-airhead...?"
Caught off guard by his sudden question, Sylvia blinked her pink eyes in confusion and tilted her head slightly.
"Do you... mean me?"
Seeing her utterly oblivious expression, with its touch of innocent bewilderment, Greg drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the complicated emotions churning in his chest.
Damn it... don't think I'll forgive you that easily just because you're cute!
Do you realize that shouting my name just now might have linked me to that unbelievably troublesome woman?!
He stepped half a pace closer. Even with the mask between them, Sylvia could feel the invisible pressure he exuded.
"Yes, I mean you!"
Greg started speaking faster without realizing it.
"We explicitly agreed beforehand to keep a low profile and conceal our identities! That's a crucial tactical principle! And what did you do? You went and shouted my name right in front of those three strangers! Do you know what that's like? It's like we're robbing a bank together, and I've gone to all the trouble of putting on a ski mask, disguising my voice, and planning our route. Everything's airtight, but the second I pull out my gun, you suddenly yell at the security camera, 'Senior Greg, let's get started!'"
Greg looked utterly grief-stricken. "This isn't just some little mistake anymore! You've practically pasted a photocopy of your accomplice's ID on the vault door, with his home address thrown in for free! What comes next isn't a simple reprimand. It's life behind bars, a guaranteed stint picking up soap, and the full-service social death package, my friend!"
His barrage of vivid accusations finally made Sylvia realize how serious the problem was.
Her little face instantly flushed crimson as shame and unease welled up inside her.
Still, a tiny thought crossed her mind: Robbing a bank is wrong, but Senior Greg was clearly doing something good by saving people...
But Senior Greg always seems so determined to hide who he is. Maybe... there's some really important reason behind it, and that's why he can't let his identity slip?
That thought only deepened her guilt.
She lowered her head and nervously twisted the hem of her clothes between her hands. Her long pink hair fell forward, hiding part of her flushed cheeks. Her voice was barely audible, filled with apology and helplessness.
"I-I'm sorry... Senior Greg... I-I was too careless... I didn't think it through... I'm really, really sorry..."
Greg: "..."
He looked at Sylvia, who resembled a fluffy little pink animal that had done something wrong and curled up to await its owner's punishment. Everything about her radiated a pitiful yet adorable plea: I know I was wrong. Please don't be angry.
He felt as though something had given his heart a squeeze, making it spasm sharply for an instant.
Damn it... does she have absolutely no idea how devastating she looks right now?!
Calm down, Greg. You have to calm down!
You're a man who's cleared eighty-one playthroughs!
You should've developed immunity to this level of cuteness ages ago!
That's right, I'm immune!
So I absolutely can't just forgive her because of a moment of weakness!
This is a matter of principle!
He frantically psyched himself up, trying to put on a stern expression again.
Yet when he looked once more at Sylvia's downcast pink eyes, seemingly veiled with tears, and her faintly trembling eyelashes, like butterfly wings...
"Haha."
A smile of almost boundless warmth and forgiveness appeared on Greg's face. His voice instantly softened, even taking on a soothing note.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it. Just be a little more careful next time. Honestly, it doesn't bother me that much."
...Fuck! Where are my principles?! Where's my resolve?!
Greg, you spineless coward!
He screamed inwardly, despising himself for his pathetic, instantaneous surrender.
When Sylvia heard that he wasn't going to keep blaming her and was instead comforting her so gently, an enormous wave of warmth and gratitude surged through her heart.
Senior Greg... really is so gentle.
I made such a serious mistake, but he isn't angry at all. He's even comforting me...
His consideration and forgiveness sent her affection for Greg climbing another small notch, entirely beyond her control.
"Thank you, Senior Greg!"
She raised her head, a bright, sincere smile blooming on her face again. The unease in her pink eyes had been replaced by heartfelt emotion, and she nodded firmly.
"I'll definitely be more careful next time! I absolutely won't make the same mistake again!"
Greg kept smiling on the outside, but his heart was bleeding.
Ah... no wonder so many guys in my college dorm joined the army of simps, one after another. Some skills really are self-taught, instinctive responses engraved in your DNA!
Still, on second thought, what had happened had happened. There was no undoing it.
Rather than keep putting pressure on Sylvia, one of the heroines, he would be better off finding an opportunity later to give those three background characters a stern warning. He needed to make sure they kept their mouths shut instead of spreading his identity and what had happened today.
That was a much more practical way to salvage the situation.
With that thought, some of his self-loathing over turning into a simp faded.
After all, although this game's heroines were each more troublesome than the last, with their own sinister sides, every last one of them looked exactly like his type.
Otherwise, no matter how good the gameplay was, he could never have found the perseverance in his previous life to complete eighty-one playthroughs and unlock so many endings.
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