Chika Fujiwara had never been this nervous before.
She felt that even during the most dangerous moments inside the caverns of the Red Nut Gray Hole, she hadn't been as tense as she was right now.
Whoosh—
Hot water streamed from the showerhead, making a dull thud as it hit the floor.
The girl slowly stepped forward, standing directly under the spray, letting the warm water drench her body.
Thump-thump—
Her heartbeat became exceptionally clear.
Chika Fujiwara felt her face burning up, so hot that even the warm water now felt cold against her skin.
As for why, it was because right at this moment, a man was standing behind her—a man who had fought alongside her just a short while ago, exploring the rules of the horror story, but who was now sharing a room with her in a state of utter frankness.
Thump-thump—
Such a frantic heartbeat made it impossible to calm down.
Ugh, how did it come to this?
She had finally managed to move to a new area using this yellow-and-white striped uniform, but before she could figure anything out, she was forced to shower in the same stall with a member of the opposite sex. This was just too much, wasn't it?!
"Are you done?"
Gao Hai's voice suddenly came from behind her.
"Eh?!"
Startled, Chika nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Are you done? We only have 15 minutes. Both of us need to finish showering, or we might get attacked."
Gao Hai's voice sounded again, perfectly calm, without a trace of any ulterior motive.
"Um... yeah, I'm d-d-done. You can come over now, Gao-kun..."
Extremely nervous, Chika huddled over and shuffled step-by-step out from under the showerhead's spray.
In her peripheral vision, she could see Gao Hai, his back to her, walk over. They both faced the wall, circling around back-to-back to ensure they wouldn't see each other's bodies and spare Chika any more embarrassment.
Though, the girl was already mortified as it was.
Come to think of it, this guy has a pretty good physique.
Before undressing, they had agreed not to turn around and peek. However, Chika Fujiwara had never been one for keeping promises unless matters of life, death, or important secrets were involved. So, she had actually already snuck several peeks at Gao Hai.
His back muscles weren't like a bodybuilder's, but you could still see their clear, powerful curves.
The contours of his arms were also quite amazing. It seemed like every single muscle had been toned to perfection. It was less like the result of working out and more like some superpower had been directly bestowed upon him, giving him a strength that covered every muscle in his body, maintaining it at an ideal level.
And his butt seems pretty big, too...
Smack!
Realizing where her gaze had unintentionally wandered, Chika slapped her own face.
"What's wrong?"
Gao Hai, who was quickly washing his hair, couldn't help but ask when he heard the sound.
"N-Nothing..."
Chika, already feeling guilty, turned her head away and mumbled, but her mind couldn't help but replay the scene she had just witnessed.
About five minutes of the 15-minute shower time had already passed.
Regardless of the girl's shame in the shower stall, in another location at that very moment, two people were observing everything, their emotions also in turmoil.
Kaguya Shinomiya felt like she had discovered a new world.
A man and a woman bathing together was simply too shameless, but given that this was a special circumstance born of necessity, she wouldn't say anything more.
But... but... could a boy's body really change like that?
Hailing from the extremely traditional and conservative Shinomiya Zaibatsu, which adhered to the male-dominant principles of a feudal era, the beautiful Kaguya Shinomiya had been like a canary in a cage since birth, completely ignorant of many things. She didn't even know about concepts like a "first experience," and her understanding of biology was limited to "so babies aren't brought by storks" and "on the wedding night, just leave everything to the man."
Therefore, the most direct feeling in the girl's heart at this moment was that she was looking at a monster.
What in the world is that thing?!
It's completely different from the little babies and children she'd seen before. This is on the level of a parasite, isn't it? And a prehistoric one at that—the kind of large parasite that's almost impossible to see in modern times.
She raised her hand, covering her face, covering her eyes.
The profoundly shocked girl didn't dare to look anymore.
But she kind of wanted to look again.
So, Kaguya slightly parted the fingers covering her eyes.
"Ugh..."
She was struck by the immense shock once more.
She closed the gaps between her fingers.
But she still wanted another peek.
So she parted her fingers again.
"Ugh..."
And the shock washed over her yet again.
At this moment, Kaguya Shinomiya was utterly unable to maintain her icy composure. She could only do her best to suppress her reaction to avoid attracting the attention of her companion.
Although, even if she did lose her composure, the other person beside her wouldn't have noticed anyway.
Maki Shijo.
The girl who had rushed over with Kaguya to check the monitor had already clenched her fists.
What is she doing?
The wide-eyed girl's gaze was fixed on the monitor, on the full-figured Chika Fujiwara, who was shyly covering her body while occasionally stealing glances at the man behind her.
As for Gao Hai, who hadn't turned around and had been conscientiously keeping his back to Chika, Maki wanted to pay attention to him too, but having also been scared by the "monster," she didn't quite dare to look back at him just yet.
But this woman.
This girl who had somehow appeared in the same shower stall as Gao Hai.
That expression—she's in heat, isn't she?
Maki Shijo's pupils were now filled with a dark emotion.
That expression is definitely one of arousal, right?
If this were a 2D world, a black aura would probably be emanating from her body by now.
She looked back again, sneaking another peek at Hai-kun.
And she's fidgeting, deliberately covering her eyes with her hands. Who is she putting on a show for?
She must be thinking about something lewd, her heart racing as she imagines some love story, or maybe even something unspeakably risqué, right?
Even though they're in a terrifying rules-based horror game where one misstep could mean death, her mind is clearly not on the task at hand. It's just filled with all sorts of desires. Maybe because of the suspension bridge effect, she's already thinking about giving herself to him, unable to resist just pushing him down. Such, such, such a shameless hussy, I will never forgive her—
Beep!
With a crisp sound,
the two girls finally noticed that the shower time was over. The two inside the bathroom had already changed into clean yellow-and-white striped uniforms and were walking out of the shower stall together, heading toward the personnel rest area.
"Hah..."
Taking a deep breath, Maki Shijo was about to instinctively leave the room to find Gao Hai.
But before she could, Kaguya reached out and grabbed her.
"It's time for us to go to the research area. We can't go over there right now; we'll have to wait for the next round of activity."
After the overly stimulating shared bathing scene ended, Kaguya Shinomiya quickly regained her composure and held Maki back to reason with her.
Kaguya had been able to switch identities and leave the personnel rest area because Maki Shijo had seized a window of opportunity when the security personnel left after the exploration personnel returned. She had snuck in and placed a researcher's uniform and a rule sheet in the room. But now, that opportunity was gone. Gao Hai and Chika Fujiwara had appeared suddenly, inexplicably replacing the previous player who had been Exploration Personnel C3. As researchers, Kaguya and Maki could only observe the shower area; they could no longer enter the personnel rest area, which was guarded by soldiers.
Maki, who was also well aware of all this, said nothing in response to Kaguya, simply halting her steps.
"Seriously, and here I was, so worried..."
The girl's voice carried a strange tone.
"Maki-san, are you... crying?"
Hearing the odd tone in her voice, Kaguya couldn't help but look shocked, and she took a few steps closer.
"Who's crying? I'm just a little annoyed."
The girl looked up, her eyes clearly welling with tears, but she still spoke through gritted teeth. With an indignant expression, she walked to the door and yanked it open.
And then she saw the blood-red cloth doll lying on the floor outside.
Surprised for a moment, Maki immediately knew this was the invisible doll Obsession Item that Gao Hai controlled and had sent to find her. She bent down, picked up the doll, and then saw a note tucked underneath it, which looked like it had been written in a hurry.
[Sorry it took so long to find you. Are you okay?]
[I'll do my best to figure out a way for us to meet up and clear this instance. Hang in there.]
The handwriting was crooked and messy, and a few of the characters were even written incorrectly. She had no idea when he could have written this note.
"Seriously, you jerk. Do you think this makes you look thoughtful?"
Maki muttered under her breath, glaring fiercely at the doll in her hand, but she still carefully put the note away.
She still felt awful.
But maybe, just maybe, she felt a tiny bit better.
Clutching the doll, the girl walked toward another area of the base.
Meanwhile, in another narrow room with only a single bed, Chika Fujiwara sat on the bed while Gao Hai stood by the wall, both of them looking rather awkward.
According to their next instructions, the two of them had to spend twelve hours in this small room and could only leave temporarily just before the next round of exploration began.
In other words, a single man and a single woman, sharing a room.
Sitting on the single bed, the girl curled up slightly. Her thin clothes did nothing to hide her fine figure.
Gao Hai did his best to remain calm, but he couldn't help thinking that this trial was perhaps a bit too severe.
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