I have always believed that I am an upright and principled gentleman, with little interest in women.
What is more, if I were to take advantage of the situation and make a move on Saori while she was vulnerable, I probably would not even deserve to be called a human being.
After testing the bottom line through a bit of intimate behavior, I came to understand Saori's condition. It could be said that she was nothing less than a ticking time bomb.
First, she absolutely could not be kept by my side. Second, she could not simply be left unattended either.
The only option was to place her in a safe, controllable environment, then gradually make contact, deepen trust, and wait until she was willing to confide the truth to me.
I already had a rough plan in mind for the arrangements, but it was too late today, so I decided to let Saori stay the night at Schale and think it through tomorrow.
What I did not expect at the time was that the "surprises" were still to come.
I had Saori go to the bathroom to take a shower, but when she came out, her hair was soaked beyond reason. When I asked, I learned that she had absolutely no idea how to use a hair dryer, and did not even know what it was.
While helping Saori dry her hair, I added another mark to Beatrice's account.
Then the takeout I ordered with Saori in mind arrived. Faced with food that, in my opinion, was only slightly above average, Saori showed an astonishing level of enthusiasm.
I strongly suspected that if I had not been there, she would have completely disregarded her image as a young girl and devoured it like a starving wolf. Even so, her eating speed was already incredibly fast.
Yet when she was nearly halfway through the meal, Saori's pace visibly slowed. After hesitating for a while, she even took the initiative to ask me how long this food could be stored.
After learning that it would spoil in just a few days, Saori seemed a little disappointed.
Even without knowing the exact reason, combined with her earlier reaction to an ordinary bottle of fruit juice, I could guess that Saori probably had not eaten a proper meal in a very long time.
As I handed Saori a drink and told her to eat slowly and not rush, I once again added another mark to Beatrice's account.
Finally, it was time to sleep.
I brought Saori to the guest room. After taking a quick look around, she naturally ignored the soft, large bed in the center of the room and lay down on the cold floor instead.
Pulled up by me, Saori repeatedly confirmed several times that the bed was really for her to sleep in, still wearing a strange expression of disbelief.
Just how terrible must this child's previous living environment have been?
After saying good night to Saori and closing the door, I added yet another mark to Beatrice's account.
At this point, Beatrice had truly earned death beyond any doubt.
Unfortunately, the timing was still not right. At the very least, I needed to gain Saori's trust and clarify her exact situation first.
A night passed.
Morning.
"Ahh, I have been waiting all this time…"
The girl, wearing a gorgeous kimono and removing her fox mask, tightly hugged me, burying her face in my chest and inhaling deeply, her voice intoxicated.
"Waiting for the day when this body could once again be used by my husband-sama∼ heehee∼"
Then came another bout of foolish giggling.
…I kind of wanted to tell her to act more normal, but I was afraid she would burst into tears the moment I scolded her.
I withdrew my hand that had accidentally pressed against the area beneath the base of her tail, a hand that had not even been rubbing for long, and instead gently stroked the fox ears on top of her head.
"Then, I will be leaving it to you, Wakamo."
Reluctantly, Wakamo let go, took half a step back, and nodded with a sweet smile. "Mm∼ I will do my best for you∼ even if it means taking care of a newly joined vixen."
At this point, Wakamo, who showed no awareness that she herself was a vixen, let her tone cool slightly, but quickly returned to normal. "As long as it is for your wish, Wakamo is willing to do anything!"
There was no saving her. Wakamo's affection for me had already reached an incurable level.
It was all my fault. I could only blame this face I was born with for making Wakamo fall in love at first sight…
Sighing inwardly, I felt that as the culprit who turned Wakamo into this, I had no choice but to take responsibility for her.
"Mm, thank you for your hard work." I leaned close to the fox-eared girl's ear and whispered softly. "You will get a reward later."
Hearing this, Wakamo trembled all over with excitement and nearly fainted on the spot.
After ending my affectionate exchange with Wakamo, I turned to Saori, who had been silently waiting, and said,
"For now, you will stay by Wakamo's side. If I need you, I will call you over."
This was the handling method I had come up with for Saori.
Saori was still not trustworthy, and her identity might not be something that could be brought into the open. Leaving her with Wakamo, who had spent years moving through the black market and whose strength was sufficient to handle most situations, was an added layer of insurance.
During this time, I could also use various channels to investigate information related to Saori.
"I understand." Saori had no objections to my arrangement.
Wakamo, once again covering her beautiful face with the fox mask, extended her hand toward Saori, who was wearing a baseball cap and mask, and said calmly,
"For the teacher's sake, let us get along well."
"…Mm."
The two exchanged a glance. Their hands touched briefly, then separated.
After that, Wakamo took Saori and left Schale.
Standing by the window, I watched the two of them depart, hoping that they would truly get along well.
After making preparations, I headed to Millennium Science School.
Since I had already contacted the Game Development Department in advance and confirmed that Momoi had delivered the game console containing the G.Bible to the Veritas Department last night, asking them to help analyze and decrypt it, and that everyone planned to check the progress together this morning, I decided to go straight to the Veritas Department to meet up with them.
When I arrived at the Veritas Department clubroom, everyone from the Game Development Department and the Veritas Department was present except for Himari and Chihiro, and they all greeted me.
Maki waved. "Hey! Sensei, you came at just the right time. We just reached a critical moment."
"The results are already out?" I asked.
As I spoke, when passing by Hare, I casually took a bottle of drink from my bag and handed it to her.
Hare was momentarily confused, but quickly recalled the promise from when we first met. She accepted it with both hands and softly said thank you.
Kodama frowned, sensing that something was off. After thinking it over, she quickly relaxed.
Sitting in a swivel chair by the computer, Maki began to solemnly and proudly announce once I walked closer.
"I have already analyzed it carefully. What is inside Momoi's game console is indeed the legendary god-tier development manual created by the famed game developer… it is the G.Bible."
Midori suppressed her excitement. "S-so it really is!"
Momoi finally relaxed her tense nerves. "Phew! That was close, I was worried we might have been tricked!"
"From the file creation time, the last transmission time, and the file format, it is correct. As for the creator, it matches the IP of that legendary game developer. Moreover, this file has only ever been transmitted once."
After elaborating at length, Maki concluded, "This should be the original G.Bible, without a doubt."
"Th-that is great!"
Ironically, it was Midori who was the most excited.
However, Maki suddenly changed her tone. "But there is a problem…"