As a player, Pei Guang was both a pervert and a gentleman.
When he was being perverted, even he was scared of himself. When he was being gentlemanly, well… not to brag, but no game could design a character more morally restrained than him.
As a player, he'd long since mastered adjusting the camera angle to look under female characters' skirts openly and unashamedly. But honestly?
After countless games, from the more famous ones to every kind of 3D title, he'd grown numb to it. It was all the same anyway: same base model, just different colors.
Even when he did look, he did it brazenly.
Firefly's outfit shifted from teal at the top to pale yellow at the hem, the lightest part right at her lower back.
Normally, her clothes perfectly showed off her youthful figure and charm: small wings and lantern-like ornaments on her back made her look more lively, more adorable.
But again, Pei Guang was a seasoned player—he'd been tested. Besides, it was pitch-black down here; normally, you couldn't see anything anyway.
Except… this time was different.
The little lantern on Firefly's back glowed faintly like a firefly, and that soft light illuminated…
Yes—just enough. Not too bright, not too dim. The pale yellow glow didn't light up the whole tunnel, just enough for the human eye to catch glimpses. It was the perfect kind of glow, like a firefly hovering in the night grass, impossible to look away from.
Everything could be seen clearly… too clearly.
Pei Guang had to admit: he wasn't exactly a saint.
Sure, he'd gotten bored of this kind of thing long ago and rarely looked up-skirt anymore, but that didn't mean he could ignore something served to him on a silver platter.
Right now, Pei Guang couldn't be more satisfied with this "find the key" mission. The quest came with perks!
Sure, his brain controlled his actions, but there were times when certain sights just drew your eyes in on instinct.
He couldn't control what he saw, but at least he could control his hands.
Crawling a bit faster to close the distance between them, Pei Guang finally spoke. "Hold on a second."
"Hm? What's wrong? We're almost there," Firefly said, puzzled as she turned her head. Even though it was dark, the faint light from her little lantern let her roughly make out Pei Guang's movements.
She saw him silently take out a coat, then, in that cramped space, drape it over her and tie the sleeves around her waist.
Just when she'd managed to calm down, that unexpected closeness made her feel that strange warmth again.
The cramped tunnel, the touch, the nearness… under all these overlapping "buffs," Firefly felt her body grow even hotter than before.
Once Pei Guang made sure the coat was secure and that he wouldn't be "tempted" from any angle, he spoke. "I need to tell you something. But promise me first: don't get mad after you hear it. And don't let it lower your affection level toward me!"
Firefly's tone was bright and cheerful. "I won't get mad~ What is it?"
Pei Guang answered plainly, "There's a small lantern on your back. It gives off a soft yellow light, and under that light, I can see your underwear and the smooth, fair skin beneath your skirt. Since you didn't give me permission to look, I covered it with my coat. When you decide you want me to see, I'll look then."
"???"
In that instant, Firefly's body froze.
She instinctively turned her head and saw Pei Guang crawling close behind her, his eyes fixed on her. There was now a coat tied around her waist: under its cover, he really couldn't see anything.
But when she remembered that there hadn't been a coat before, and recalled what Pei Guang had just said, a shiver ran through her body.
For a moment, Firefly fell silent.
She couldn't understand Pei Guang's thinking at all… why did he have to say it out loud? If he looked, then just keep it to himself!
Why tell her?!
Yet after staying quiet for a long while, Firefly didn't know what came over her: maybe her brain short-circuited, but she suddenly asked, "Why did you tell me that?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to slap herself.
Why would she ask something like that?!
But now that it was out, her thoughts became even more tangled, and she had no idea how to face Pei Guang anymore.
In response, Pei Guang, who always answered questions directly, replied honestly: "I don't like sneaking around and peeping. If I want to look or touch, I prefer to do it openly."
Hearing that, Firefly remembered when they'd teamed up to prank Sparkle before.
Back then, Pei Guang had told her, "Wanna touch? Just say so."
And just earlier, he'd asked directly, "Wanna hug?"
They were such embarrassing things to say, yet Pei Guang could speak them so matter-of-factly—it baffled her.
But to Pei Guang, that was normal.
If it were in real life, sure, he'd be a bit more tactful—but he was a player.
Players didn't need to hide what they wanted to do. And when playing eroge, the options were always direct: "Look," "Touch," "Do something else"... very few games ever bothered with subtlety.
Subtlety was for ordinary people. He was a player: if he wanted something, he'd just say it outright!
Honestly, if his affection with March 7th were high enough, Pei Guang would probably just straight-up request to "share a room."
Blunt, honest, and straightforward: that was Pei Guang's way, and precisely because he was always like this, Firefly couldn't even find a way to refute him. Somehow, his words made a strange sort of sense.
She still had things she wanted to say, but didn't know how to start. After a long silence in the darkness, Firefly finally turned her head and forced a change of subject.
"Ahem~ We're almost at the exit… let's move quickly!"
She had no other choice but to awkwardly steer the topic away.
For various reasons, she quickened her crawling pace, and before long, the two of them climbed out of the sewer and onto a wide rooftop.
Just as Firefly was still trying to figure out what to say, Pei Guang spoke first.
"Firefly! Is this the secret hideout you mentioned?"
Hearing his question, Firefly turned to him. "No, this is… the entrance. The hideout's still a bit farther from here."
Pei Guang nodded. "Got it. But I have a question: since we could've just taken a normal route, why'd we crawl through the sewer?"
"?"
Firefly blinked. Then she noticed the direction Pei Guang was looking.
Following his gaze, she saw a floating pathway in the air behind them: the same kind of path Pei Guang had built earlier when he'd taken her and Sparkle toward the border.
From here, it looked a bit distant, but at Pei Guang's building speed, it'd only take a few minutes to extend the floating road all the way to this spot.
The moment she recognized that familiar skyway, Firefly's expression froze completely.