The Price of Refusing a Pretty Girl's Lap Pillow Is...

"Ahahaha... hello, teacher!"

Seeing an exasperated Lacerta walking slowly toward him with Lu Hes beside her, struggling to hold back laughter, the handsome Huanglong lad immediately stood at attention.

"At ease..." Lacerta sighed and asked, "Lu Guan, how did you get into the Academy Dark Side?"

"Don't even ask..."

Lu Guan gave a bitter smile and told Lacerta and Lu Hes what he had just been through, leaving out the part about Dania.

After hearing Lu Guan's account, the two fell into thought.

"The... president of the Fractsidus?" Lacerta pondered for a moment, exchanged a glance with Lu Hes, then looked at Lu Guan.

"I've always known the Fractsidus had an undercover agent lurking in the academy, but I never imagined it would be their president herself."

Lacerta looked apologetically at Lu Guan. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess, Lu Guan. But since the Fractsidus is involved, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave Lahai-Roi for a while."

"That's so both the Deep Space Union and the academy can keep an eye on you, but it's also a form of protection."

"Trust me, it won't be for long."

"I don't mind." Lu Guan shook his head. "There's still a long time until the holidays anyway, and I wasn't planning to leave the academy."

By the time he returned to the academy, it was already morning.

Although he had no classes that morning, Lu Guan had no desire to sleep after the night's jumble of events, so he opened the system instead.

This time, he noticed something surprising.

"Why is this thing called a 'World Origin Fragment' only listed among Dania's oath rewards?"

[Beep! Notice: Certain special characters have special rewards that will be key to achieving the perfect ending.]

"The perfect ending?" Lu Guan remembered the earlier message from the future. Could the perfect ending his future self had mentioned be the one the system was talking about?

"Do any other characters have similar rewards?"

[Beep! Please find out for yourself, host. The system is not authorized to disclose that information.]

"All right, then." Having met with a polite refusal, Lu Guan shrugged helplessly. "I'll take things one step at a time. I can't leave Lahai-Roi right now anyway, so I might as well grind up my favorability with the others."

Improving his strength was an urgent matter. Once someone knew about Mahoraga, it was hardly effective, and if Lu Guan ran into the president again, he probably had no other means of fighting her.

Lu Guan estimated that with his current strength, he could probably beat Carlotta. And no, not with his height, but with his raw strength as a Resonator.

If he counted his tricks and a no-holds-barred fighting style, he could probably reach Juno's level, though he likely couldn't hope to compare with Augusta.

In other words, he was below the average Overlord Class level.

"I've got a long way to go..." Lu Guan sighed and got up to head to the bathroom. "Since things have come to this, I'll take a shower and have breakfast."

The academy cafeteria.

"Stayed up late?"

Dania studied Lu Guan with her hands on her hips.

"...How could you tell?"

"How could I tell?" Dania said irritably. "You've got those huge dark circles under your eyes. Do you think I'm blind?"

"Ahahaha... actually, I didn't stay up late." Lu Guan tried to explain himself with a feeble excuse. "I stayed up all night!"

"Then what were you doing all night?"

"I... I went..." Lu Guan was at a loss for words.

I can't exactly tell her I went to the Academy Dark Side and the innately evil Fractsidus president blew herself up on me, can I? It's an indisputable fact, but would Dania think I was lying to her?

"Is there something I'm not allowed to know?" There was a dangerous note in Dania's voice. "Or... did you do something behind my back to wrong me?"

"Of course not!" Lu Guan raised his hands in surrender. "I swear, I absolutely haven't done anything to wrong you so far!"

"That's more like it!" Dania leaned close to Lu Guan and sniffed him, then said with a look of disgust, "Why do you smell so strange? What exactly did you do last night?"

"Well... I accidentally wandered into the academy's dark side and ran into a troublesome enemy."

"Academy Dark Side?" Dania's eyes widened. If she remembered correctly, the president was controlling that Sonoro from behind the scenes.

"She looked like Napomo and said she was the president of the Fractsidus. She also told me some things about you." Lu Guan scratched the back of his head. "In the end, she couldn't beat me, and she couldn't take the humiliation, so she blew herself up on me. She splattered blood all over me. It was disgusting."

"Huh?" Dania stared blankly. "That was the president of the Fractsidus. You're saying you not only beat her, but even made her blow herself up?"

"Mm... to be precise, it was one of the Fractsidus president's clones. She told me what happened to you in the Fractsidus to throw me off balance, and I got so angry that I used some extreme methods."

Dania seemed to recall some unpleasant memories. Looking uneasy, she gripped Lu Guan's shoulders tightly and shook him repeatedly. "Stop... please stop talking about it..."

"All right, all right... let's not talk about unpleasant things." Lu Guan sighed. "If you keep shaking me, I'm going to pass out."

"...You weren't hurt anywhere, were you?" Dania began feeling over Lu Guan's body. "It's all my fault. The president targeted you because of me... otherwise, you wouldn't have had to..."

"Shh..." Lu Guan raised a finger to Dania's lips and said gently, "Don't say that anymore. After all, you're my favorite girl."

"Isn't standing up for the girl you like what a teenage boy should do?"

"Idiot... I'm worried about you..." Tears had welled up in Dania's eyes at some point, and she playfully thumped Lu Guan's chest with her fists. "You're not allowed to go on adventures alone next time!"

After breakfast, the two went to the library together.

Unusually, Dania didn't find a secluded corner and fall asleep as she had before. Instead, she sat down beside Lu Guan and picked up some document to read with apparent interest.

Time ticked by, and far from settling down to study, Lu Guan grew increasingly uneasy.

All because...

[Beep! Dania's Star Desire Points +1]

[Beep! Dania's Star Desire Points +1]

[Beep! Dania's Star Desire Points +1]

The system notifications kept sounding, making it impossible for Lu Guan to focus on the document in his hands.

Left with no choice, he closed it, only to see Dania's gentle smile. But the system notifications couldn't lie: Dania's Star Desire Points had already reached 89!

"Ahaha... um... I'm a little sleepy since I didn't sleep last night." Lu Guan gave an awkward laugh. "I have class this afternoon, so I'll head back to the dorm first."

But Dania reached out and grabbed Lu Guan's sleeve, then patted her smooth, jade-like thigh. "If you want to rest, you can lie down right here, you know."

Clearly, the girl was offering him a lap pillow.

Kids, did you believe that Dania, who could mine three times in one night and now had 89 Star Desire Points, had innocent intentions in offering him a lap pillow?

"Um... I'd better pass. I'm suddenly not sleepy anymore."

"No! You stayed up all night. What if you're not sleepy now but start dozing off in class later?" Dania said self-righteously. "For the sake of your grades, I have to make sure you get a proper rest!"

Although Lu Guan didn't understand how Dania, who slept in class every day herself, could say such a thing with a straight face,

But from the current situation, it was clear that she had no intention of letting Lu Guan leave, and she had stopped hiding the desire in her eyes.

"But I'm not sleepy at all right now. You can't just... wait, what are you doing under the table?"

Dania's voice came from beneath the table.

"Why, helping you fall asleep faster, of course!"

Lu Guan looked around and leaned closer to the table, whispering, "Are you crazy? What if the other students see?"

"It's fine..." Dania poked her head out from under the table and said smugly, "I already used Void Matter to make an illusion bubble. No one else can see what's happening inside."

"That's a little too... w-wait..."

[Beep! Dania special CG 2 unlocked!]