The room wasn’t large, measuring about twenty square meters by visual estimate.
Overhead was a very ordinary incandescent lamp, lighting up the entire room so brightly that there wasn’t a single blind spot.
Having been inexplicably sent inside, Hiroto Tachibana and Marin Kitagawa stood facing each other, exchanging bewildered glances.
Hiroto’s mind was still racing.
What had he just heard?
XX?
That voice had come out of nowhere, and it had spoken so bluntly.
He lifted his head and looked at Marin Kitagawa across from him, whose eyes carried a hint of panic.
Her long, golden-orange hair faded into pink at the tips, falling smoothly and framing her face in a way that made her look both gentle and vibrant.
Normally, she always dressed like a flashy gyaru, but right now she was wearing a loose, black, off-the-shoulder one-piece dress.
The hemline had an irregular design, draping down just enough to reveal her slender, shapely legs.
The neckline was slightly open, outlining a beautiful collarbone and shoulder line, making her whole silhouette appear even more delicate.
From the looks of it, she was wearing a cosplay outfit.
But there was a small problem: this version of the cosplay outfit seemed a bit too short, with the hem barely covering her waist.
While Hiroto was looking at her, she was looking at Hiroto as well.
Coming back to her senses, Marin looked down at her own appearance.
”Ah—!”
With a sharp cry, she hurriedly clutched her chest and crouched down.
Everything that shouldn’t be seen had been seen.
Cough, cough.
Hiroto consciously turned his body away.
Suddenly being thrown into an unfamiliar environment and sharing a room with a classmate she wasn’t very close with made Marin instinctively tense up.
Having lived two lives and being a transmigrator, Hiroto was actually quite calm.
Based on what that voice meant just now, they had to XX to get out.
He wouldn’t deny that he felt a bit of a physiological urge.
But right now, the most important thing was to figure out the situation first, and the person across from him was clearly in the wrong emotional state.
In any case, they would have to leave eventually.
The room fell silent for a while.
Marin also slowly calmed down, grabbing the sheet from the bed to wrap around herself.
Looking at Hiroto’s back, her mind settled down quite a bit for some reason.
”Um…
what’s going on?
Do you know?” she asked in a small voice.
She didn’t suspect him; when they first looked at each other, she had seen the exact same look of bewilderment in his eyes, and that couldn’t be faked.
Besides, this sort of thing wasn’t something a human could achieve at all.
Hearing her voice, Hiroto turned his head back.
His eyes right now seemed to have a will of their own; even though he couldn’t see anything through the sheet, he still couldn’t control his urge to glance around.
So, he simply sat down on the edge of the bed, resting his elbows on his knees, striking a pensive pose.
”I’m not sure either.
I was walking on the street, had just turned into an alley, and suddenly appeared here.
What about you?”
After hearing him explain his situation, Marin also spoke up, looking a bit embarrassed:
”I…
I was trying on a cosplay outfit I made myself, and when I blinked, I was here.”
Hiroto suppressed that slight physiological restlessness inside him and slowly lifted his head.
After the exchange, the atmosphere lapsed into silence.
Both of them were well aware of the situation—what kind of mess had they been dragged into?
Wrapped in the blanket, Marin curled up into a corner.
Her usual bright, cheerful gyaru persona was completely gone at this moment, truly revealing her vulnerability as a girl.
Hiroto took a deep breath and began to carefully scan the room.
The incandescent lamp overhead had a switch, but it was the only switch on the wall; there was nothing else extra.
This space was sealed—there was no door.
The bed was a double bed, equipped with two pillows and white bedding.
He just didn’t know what that writing desk was meant for.
This sudden turn of events was something Hiroto didn’t know whether to call a blessing or a curse.
After spending a full day at school and writing novels all day, he was already dead tired.
It was only that sudden physiological rush from earlier that had slightly revived his spirits.
The conversation had long since ended.
Hiroto’s eyelids began to grow incredibly heavy.
Ever since she wrapped herself in the blanket, Marin’s gaze had been fixed on him.
She didn’t know much about this guy, only that he would occasionally come to her class; she knew absolutely nothing else.
Recalling that voice from earlier and looking at their current predicament…
she was really a bit worried that he might lose control and unleash his inner beast.
Fortunately, things didn’t develop in the worst direction.
Moreover, he looked…
like he was genuinely exhausted.
After a good while, Marin noticed that Hiroto was still sitting on the bed, propping up his head, completely motionless.
She cautiously crept a little closer, only to realize that this guy had already fallen asleep.
Her heart settled down a lot more, but she still only dared to move around with quiet, light steps, not wanting to wake him up.
When Hiroto opened his eyes again, the incandescent lamp overhead was so piercing that he could barely open them.
He found that he had laid down on the bed at some point, with his legs still hanging off the edge.
How much time had passed?
He didn’t know.
But his restored energy and the faint hunger in his stomach told him that a lot of time had gone by.
Marin was leaning against the chair, still wrapped in the bedding.
She had woken up long ago, but right now her stomach was growling loudly.
To maintain her figure, she hadn’t eaten much at lunch to begin with.
Combined with the initial fright and poor sleep quality, she was now completely listless, which only added to her delicate and fragile look.
Hiroto stood up.
Marin gave a start, shrinking back a bit in fear.
Hiroto ignored her and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.
He had been too tired at first to even notice that his phone was still on him.
Taking it out to check, to no surprise, there was no signal.
Messages couldn’t be sent out at all.
He glanced at the screen: 8:05.
From the time they entered until now, roughly sixteen hours had passed.
He could actually sleep this much?
But because of this, he was only two days away from his final deadline.
He desperately needed this money.
He had already delayed it several times before; if he couldn’t get out now…
He held his phone, discovering that while there was no network, he could still type text.
Thinking about it, there were still two days left, so it wasn’t too tight.
Besides, with this kind of matter, it wasn’t appropriate for him to be the first to bring it up.
He looked at Marin: “You should go rest on the bed for a bit.”
”Ah?” Marin hadn’t fully snapped out of it yet.
She froze for a moment before whispering, “…Thank you.”
Hiroto didn’t care whether she slept well or not.
He sat down on the chair, pulled out his phone, and began typing away.
Looking at his busy back, the tension in Marin’s heart didn’t feel as heavy as it did at the beginning.
To ask her to do that kind of thing with a male classmate she wasn’t close with…
was just too much.
She couldn’t really accept it.
An eye opened, then the other.
Marin was woken up by hunger.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Hiroto still sitting there typing.
When she first came in, she was only wearing her cosplay outfit and hadn’t brought anything with her.
She knew only he had a phone, so she spoke up to ask:
”How much time has passed?”
Hiroto didn’t even lift his head: “If we’re counting from when we got in, it’s been nearly twenty-eight hours.”
”Then…
from that time until now, you haven’t slept at all?”
”I’ve already slept my fill.
Besides, my deadline is coming up.”
”Oh.”
After that, there was no further conversation.
Another five hours passed.
Marin was already starving to the point of being unable to take it.
She started to feel dizzy, and her consciousness was growing a bit hazy.
Hiroto’s condition wasn’t much better either.
Looking at Hiroto, who was still buried in his typing, the threat of death kept ringing alarm bells in Marin’s mind.
She knew that if they didn’t do something soon, both of them might starve to death right here.
Compared to dying, everything else seemed somewhat trivial.
She bit her lip.
”Um…”
”Do…
do you want to?”