A Way to Break the Vicious Cycle...

The road next to the teaching building of the Stardust Academy.

"Xixi, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have spoken to you that way yesterday morning..."

"It's alright, Yaya," Sigelika responded with a warm smile. "I'm not angry... After all, Senior Lu Guan is really outstanding, so it's normal for you to think that way."

"... Xixi, you're so kind." Looking at Sigelika, who was like a little sun, Dania felt even more guilty. She stepped forward, took Sigelika's hand, and said, "We must be best friends for life, okay?"

"Of course!" Sigelika tilted her head, flashing the typical Rinascita Royan Tribe girl's toothy grin, and hugged Dania. "After all, best friends should be friends for a long, long time..."

"Xixi..." Dania felt the warmth emanating from Sigelika, feeling as if the girl in her arms was a little sun, constantly radiating warmth.

Imagine holding a lively girl, as radiant as a little sun, on a cold winter's day in Lahai-Roi; even the frigid chill of the icy plains would be momentarily forgotten...

However, Dania has no time for anything else right now, because...

"Xixi, you're so strong, you're choking me to death..."

"Ah ๐·°(৹˃ᗝ˂৹)°·๐, I'm sorry, Yaya, I didn't mean to..." Sigelika quickly let go of her arms, put her hands behind her back, and looked apologetically at Dania was frantically breathing in fresh air.

"It's nothing..." Dania shook her head. Sigelika looks so thin and skinny, how come she has such a strong grip?

"Speaking of which, why haven't I seen Senior Lu Guan?" Sigelika looked around and asked in confusion.

Normally... Dania is always inseparable from that senior, so why is she acting so strangely today?

"Him... he went back to Huanglong, and he's probably on his way back now." Dania reverted to her usual nonchalant expression. "He might just suddenly fall from the sky any second now..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Guan landed gracefully like Yondaime from the Ninja World War, supporting himself with one hand on the ground and raising the other to assume a fighting stance.

Am I too late?

"Look~ like this..." Dania the bear shrugged.

"Senior..." Sigelika wanted to say something, but the words caught in her throat, and after a long while she could only manage to utter a single sentence.

"Senior Lu Guan, doesn't your hand hurt when you land like that?"

"Does it hurt? I don't think so..." Lu Guan remained in that position. "Instead of thinking I'm in pain, Sigelika, don't you think my entrance was cool enough?"

Sigelika: "(｡í ˰ ì｡)... Isn't he handsome...?"

"What's so handsome about him!" Dania nudged Lu Guan with her foot, annoyed. "Alright, alright, class is about to start, stop posing here."

Lu Guan then stood up, straightened his clothes, and said hurtfully, "Yaya, you've disappointed me so much. Even Sigelika came to support me, and you actually turned around and sabotaged me!"

"... I'm ashamed," Dania sighed. "Xixi is just shy and doesn't want to talk about you... but I don't have that problem."

"Actually... I think it's alright." Sigelika shook her head, blushing. "Although your appearance was a bit sudden and your posture was a little strange, you still look pretty cool like this, senpai..."

"Huh?" Dania turned around abruptly. Why did Sigelika's words seem so strange now?

Then she felt somewhat relieved. She had just apologized to Sigelika for mistakenly suspecting her; how could she so quickly misunderstand her naive best friend again?

It must be my imagination...

Thinking of this, Dania shook her head and suppressed her newly aroused suspicion.

"I didn't realize you had such good taste, Sigelika!" Lu Guan patted Dania on the shoulder and laughed smugly, "See? See? There are people who know their stuff!"

"Hmph~ Let you be smug for a while!"

Dania glared at him, uttered a harmless remark, and turned to walk towards the teaching building in her little leather shoes.

"Uh..." Lu Guan's expression froze, and a sudden, phantom pain shot through his kidneys. He quickly chased after her, "Yaya... that's not what I meant..."

The morning classes passed quickly, and after lunch, Dania thought about finding a place to take a nap...

"What... we're going for a walk... but walking is so tiring... can I ask not to go...?"

"Okay then." Lu Guan shrugged. He knew that all of Dania's athletic ability was focused on her masseter muscles.

It's a normal masseter muscle, don't get the wrong idea.

"Um... if you're going for a walk, senior..." Sigelika suggested, "I'm also going to collect biological samples outdoors, why don't we keep each other company?"

"I really envy you, Xixi... You're so energetic all day long..." Dania waved her hand dismissively. "Then you guys go ahead... I'm going to the library to find Nastassja anyway..."

Regardless of whether Sigelika has any such intentions, I've already made my name known to Lu Guan's parents. Based on that alone, there's no way I could end up as a loser!

Since things have come to this, why not go chat with Nastassja for a while, and then find a quiet corner to get a good night's sleep...

As the two walked side by side, Sigelika suddenly asked Lu Guan, "When did you and Dania meet, senior?"

"It was probably not long after I arrived at the academy..." Lu Guan replied, "At that time, I hadn't mastered the resonance ability yet, which caused quite a bit of trouble for my classmates..."

"Dania and I met because of an accident."

Sigelika said thoughtfully, "So... Yaya has actually known you for less than a year?"

"Hmm... that makes sense." Lu Guan nodded, seemingly unaware of the flash of understanding in Sigelika's eyes.

"Um... senior, could you accompany me out of the academy?" Sigelika asked, mustering her courage. "I heard from my classmates that a new type of rune has recently appeared in the area near the Gullet of the Hidden Maw in the Etching Plain."

"I want to try to make a rubbing of it and bring it back to interpret."

Lu Guan naturally wouldn't say anything tactless like, "Why does it have to be me?" or "Can't anyone else?" Seeing the expectant look on Sigelika's face, he smiled.

"Of course you can... after all, you and Yaya are best friends."

Upon hearing this, a hint of disappointment flashed across Sigelika's face, but it quickly turned into a sweet smile, "Thank you, senior, you're so kind!"

Lu Guan found Sigelika's appearance somewhat troublesome.

He was well aware that the favorability display was somewhat unpredictable; Sigelika's favorability rating was 40 because it had reached the upper limit for that stage.

However, each time "Bond: Peerless Best Friends" is triggered, it will increase Sigelika's affection level. This is not affected by the 40 affection level cap. Once the breakthrough mission is completed, it will most likely unlock the next breakthrough mission with 80 affection level directly...

So now it's a vicious cycle: the more Dania bombs, the faster Sigelika's favorability increases; the faster Sigelika's favorability increases, the more Dania bombs after seeing her actions.

There are actually many ways to break this cycle...

For example, you could directly win over Sigelika, but that could potentially lead to even worse consequences...

First, there's Dania. She probably doesn't have much resistance to her best friend Sigelika joining the game. That being said, she could use this as an excuse to find a way to start another game after completing her daily tasks.

Then there's Sigelika. She's Rinascita people, with an innately strong physique. Plus, Sigelika is exceptionally talented, her physique far surpassing that of her fellow Roys. If she could put aside her sense of shame, she might be even more explosive Dania.

If the two of them join forces...

Children, will I be able to see the sun rise tomorrow?

Or you could successfully trigger Dania's defeat cutscene, but the value of the Threnodian Resonator is self-evident.

Unless... we weaken her in some way.

Another solution is to stop them being best friends; this could also break the vicious cycle...

However, Lu Guan would never do such a thing; it wouldn't be right to sow discord between two beautiful girls out of fear of being bombed...

That behavior was absolutely outrageous!

Or, perhaps, some off-field factors could be added...

Lu Guan noticed the blond-haired ghost fire Jiaxin passing by.

Forget it, I can't bring myself to do anything about it.