A moment later.
Tenya and Kei slowly exited the game.
"Are you really okay looking like that?" Kei's eyes moved, and a few traces of suppressed laughter appeared on her face.
At this moment, Tenya's clothes were tattered, his hair was messy, and there were a few shallow scratch marks on his face. It was easy to imagine how frantic Kushida's retaliation had been.
"It's fine. I will forgive her." Tenya reached out and patted the dust off his body, saying nonchalantly.
"You are just..."
"I don't know whether to say you're kind or a bad person." Kei expressed that she couldn't evaluate.
"Whether a bad person or a good person, what does it matter? I just need to follow my own heart."
Tenya changed the subject, "Karuizawa, stay tonight."
"What kind of development is this?" Kei panicked, and she retreated to the corner of the wall, looking scared.
"Don't misunderstand, I'm just considering your reputation. It's already past the curfew for the student dormitories. You don't want people to know that you stayed in the boys' dormitory, do you?" Tenya said meaningfully.
"Wh-what? Is it already that late? Why didn't you say so sooner?" Kei immediately became anxious.
"I did it on purpose." Tenya told the truth.
"I..."
This simple and unpretentious truth silenced Kei.
"This kind of thing..."
"This is my first time. You must take responsibility."
After thinking it over and over, Kei chose to accept.
The man in front of her was very reliable. He could protect her from harm. Although he was a bit of a playboy, as long as his ability was great enough, it wasn't impossible.
"Don't worry, Karuizawa. I have always been very generous to my own people." Tenya took out a bracelet and placed it on Kei's wrist.
"This is..."
Kei curiously examined the bracelet, feeling that its material was neither gold nor jade, possessing an indescribable sense of mystery.
"This is a protective talisman in the true sense. With it on, a hundred Mike Tysons wouldn't be able to harm a single hair on you." Tenya explained simply.
"Are you serious? Isn't that too unbelievable?" Kei caressed the bracelet with adoration, feeling a strange sense of security.
"This is just a small matter." Tenya smiled indifferently.
Let alone normal people, even a hundred abnormal creatures wouldn't be able to break through the protection.
"Mmm. I believe you. C-can I call you Tenya-kun?" Kei said shyly.
Her outwardly strong but inwardly fragile personality made her easily become dependent on those who helped her. It even had a bit of a passive feel, with a loyal dog attribute built-in.
"Of course you can. From now on, I will dye you with my color." Tenya reached out and gently stroked her hot, flushed cheek.
[Ding!]
[Detected Kei's favorability: 90%]
[Points +400]
[Ding!]
[Detected Kei's favorability: 100%]
[Points +800]
The next morning.
Knock... Knock...
Someone knocked on Tenya's door early in the morning.
"Who is it? Disturbing my sweet dreams."
"Yo, isn't this Suzune? Good morning." Tenya greeted her with a smile.
"Who allowed you to call me by my name? Move! I want to come in." Suzune rushed into the room aggressively.
Her suspicious eyes darted around.
"Suzune, what are you looking for?" Tenya asked.
"Stop playing dumb. Where is Karuizawa?" Suzune stared at him with sharp eyes.
"How did you know Kei was with me? Did Kikyo tattle on me? What a mischievous fellow." Tenya had a rough idea, but he showed no concern.
"Don't change the subject. What did you do to Karuizawa?!" Suzune said coldly.
"Before you ask that question, I'd like to know, what right does Suzune have to question me?" Tenya countered.
"Leaving aside the class competition at Advanced Nurturing High School, isn't what you're doing against the rules of conduct for high school students?" Suzune gritted her teeth.
There were surveillance cameras all over the dormitory corridor. If the school found out about this, D Class would definitely lose a lot of points.
"According to the law, as long as both parties are willing, it is legally permissible." Tenya retorted with reason and evidence.
"You…!"
"You're already involved with multiple girls, why do you still have eyes on Karuizawa?" Suzune questioned.
"What's wrong? Suzune, are you jealous?" Tenya teased.
"Unless there's something wrong with my brain, that won't happen." Suzune retorted coldly.
"Don't be so absolute about everything. What if there's a day when you genuinely like it?" Tenya chuckled.
"Absolutely impossible.Even if all the men in the world died out, I would never stoop to someone like you." Suzune swore solemnly.
"Alright then. I'll just listen for now."
As the conversation went nowhere, Tenya gestured for her to leave.
"Wait. You still haven't said where you hid Karuizawa?" Suzune almost got sidetracked and quickly returned to the main topic.
"She's tired. I temporarily took her back to her hometown. For the morning class, please ask for leave for Kei, Suzune." Tenya told the truth.
Although he didn't mind, Kei still cared about her reputation. To avoid being caught by the corridor cameras, Tenya had used Kamui to temporarily send her back to her home in Chiba.
"What?! You took her out of school?! How is that possible?!" Suzune's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief.
This was because Advanced Nurturing High School implemented an extremely strict fully enclosed system. No student could leave the school without permission.
"Alright. Don't use your school's rules and regulations to restrict me. Such a small matter is nothing to me." Tenya waved his hand, too lazy to explain much on this topic.
"You…"
Suzune was speechless for a moment.
"Suzune, do you want to experience full dive ahead of time? If you do, come find me tonight." Tenya casually threw out the bait.
"…"
Suzune glanced at the game helmet on the table, then shook her head and said, "I won't fall for your trick."
"Besides, with my talent, even if it's my first time playing, I'll get the hang of it very quickly." With that, Suzune slammed the door and left.
"What a difficult person. The tsundere level is comparable to Yukino." Tenya didn't care about this at all.
Anyway, there were plenty of girls, and he would conquer them one by one, slowly. So, who should be the next target?
Tenya scrolled through his contacts again.
...
The highly anticipated Christmas event finally arrived.
According to the predetermined plan, all students from Advanced Nurturing High School and Sobu High School logged into the game.
"Wow!"
"We really got in."
"So amazing."
"This game is made too realistically, isn't it?!"
Starting Town.
Everyone transformed into players and logged in.
The game scene's layout had many Christmas-themed decorations and arrangements, looking very luxurious and beautiful.
"Celebrating Christmas in a game, this experience is a first. This will be the best memory."
Everyone was chattering excitedly.
"Welcome to Aincrad." Tenya appeared before everyone as the game administrator.
"While you all enjoy the holiday festivities, I must tell you something. At the request of both schools, we will set up multiple arenas in the game for free class battles."
"Of course, the battles are limited to Advanced Nurturing High School. Sobu High School students can join the arena as foreign aid."
Tenya's words made the students of Advanced Nurturing High School nervous, while those from Sobu High School were just curious.
"Class battles?"
"What's that? It sounds so chuunibyou."
"Idiot! Haven't you seen the activity handbook?"
"That's a characteristic of Advanced Nurturing High School."
The Sobu High School crowd discussed animatedly.
"They even brought in foreign aid from Sobu High School, this is troublesome now. Intel is severely lacking."
"I have an idea. We can bribe Yoshida to tell us which Sobu High School students have strong combat power, and then we'll invite them as foreign aid."
"So, the question is, how do we bribe him? He doesn't seem interested in points."
"That's simple. Of course, we use a honey trap."
The various classes of Advanced Nurturing High School quickly came up with a countermeasure, and everyone's gaze, intentionally or unintentionally, focused on Tenya.