The moment the words left her mouth, Marin Kitagawa felt a wave of regret.
She didn’t even know what had come over her; her head was completely fuzzy and dizzy, and those words had just slipped out on their own.
Hearing her take the initiative to speak up, Hiroto Tachibana knew things had reached a point where he no longer needed to hesitate or worry about anything else.
He stood up, his shadow casting down over her.
Marin instinctively clutched the blanket tightly around herself.
She was incredibly resistant to the idea, but the inherent survival instinct buried deep within her genes made it impossible for her to voice a refusal.
She thought of her family and her friends at school; she didn’t want to die in this place.
Furthermore, even if she wanted to resist right now, she simply didn’t have the strength left.
She had eaten very little at lunch, which meant she had been starving for nearly two days by this calculation.
In comparison, Hiroto’s condition was much better than hers—at the very least, he had eaten his fill at lunchtime.
Biting her lip, Marin lay flat on the bed and turned her head to the side.
It seemed she had accepted this reality.
Since the other party had already made such a sacrifice, Hiroto knew there was no reason for him to waver.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them.
Because of her clothing, there wasn’t actually a need for any unnecessary…
It was just that he had allowed too much time to pass, which resulted in him having very little physical stamina left right now.
At this point, he could only take action himself.
Yet, that blanket remained wrapped around Marin, bundling up her upper body securely.
This seemed to be her final line of defense, her stubborn defiance.
She had buried her entire head beneath the blanket.
Hiroto couldn’t see her expression clearly at all right now.
Nor did he have much desire to sit and observe.
Speaking of which, Hiroto’s income from writing web novels had always been a matter of money flowing in and out, and his visits to publishers were frequent.
But with the publishing company pushing him so hard all the time, even he had his limits.
Even a piece of clay has a spark of temper, and he…
Returning to the present.
With her head completely wrapped in the blanket, tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
She was muttering something in English incoherently.
It was so strange.
Just as everything came to an end, the voice resounded once more.
[Conditions met.
Initiating teleportation.]
At this moment, the blanket had shifted aside, revealing her heavily bloodshot eyes.
She struggled to sit up, looking at Hiroto with a deeply complex gaze.
”Everything ends here.
Don’t you dare say a word about this to anyone!”
Her voice carried the distinct hoarseness that followed intense exertion.
”And don’t you dare talk to me either!”
She shrank back slightly, her tone laced with alienation, and a trace of resentment seemed to flicker in her eyes.
The moment she finished saying those words.
With a sharp whoosh, both of them vanished from the spot simultaneously.
[Body has been restored to its initial state!]
Hiroto snapped out of it as this voice echoed in his mind.
When he opened his eyes again, it was pitch-black night before him.
Without taking the time to overanalyze the meaning behind the voice, he whipped out his phone.
The signal was fully back, and the time displayed on the screen was 11:30 PM.
The date was the exact same day he had been pulled into the room.
Could it be that the time progression was different?
It looked to be roughly a four-to-one ratio.
Was this his cheat ability?
Hiroto called out for a “System” a few times in his head, but he received no response whatsoever.
Is it not?
Hiroto felt a bit disappointed.
Right now, he possessed the calm, detached state of a true Zen master.
Free of desires, unbothered by external gains, and unaffected by personal losses.
This state perfectly aligned with the proper decorum of inner peace.
However, thinking back to Marin’s expression and the words she spoke before they left made him feel a bit uncomfortable and a little guilty.
Hiroto shook his head, quickly suppressing the thought.
Thinking like that was purely exhausting himself with mental baggage.
Both of them had been trapped in that place.
Although he was subjectively willing, when it came down to it, they were both forced into the situation.
Besides, what the strange voice said at the very end…
”Body has been restored to its initial state.”
What did that mean?
He checked his physical condition and found no hunger or fatigue whatsoever.
His body felt exactly as it did before he was teleported into the room.
Hiroto returned to his rented apartment first and carefully examined his physical state, finding that it matched his hypothesis.
It was quite difficult to tell if a guy was pure or not, but for a girl, it was a different story.
At the start, he had definitely felt it.
Now that the voice said the body would restore to its initial state before entering…
If that was the case, then she was still a pure maiden.
Meanwhile.
In a bedroom with strange cosplay posters plastered all over the walls.
Marin Kitagawa sat blankly on her bed.
Tears began to stream down her face once more.
Even though she was safely back home, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of joy.
She was heartbroken and terrified.
Why did something this bizarre suddenly happen to her?
Lying face down on the bed, she buried her face into her pillow and wept.
After an unknown amount of time, she finally finished crying.
Yet, her energy levels remained strangely, vibrantly full.
For some reason, her heart felt a bit empty right now.
She began to trace back the events that took place inside the room.
It seemed she had said some rather harsh words right before leaving…
but her emotions had been in such a turbulent uproar at the time that she truly couldn’t control herself.
But maybe it was for the best that it ended like that.
They weren’t close to begin with, and these events were entirely an accident.
Yes, she reasoned with herself.
But that hollow, empty feeling in her chest wouldn’t go away.
She stood up and crept quietly toward the bathroom, not wanting to wake her parents.
She would never tell her parents about this, nor did she even know how to begin explaining it.
The whole ordeal was so surreal; who would even believe her?
Shedding her clothes, she turned on the water.
Splash—
Warm water began to wash over her body.
The warm current brought a considerable amount of peace to her troubled mind.
Subconsciously, she began to check her body.
And then, she realized.
There wasn’t a single trace of blood on her.
Huh?
Marin began to panic.
What was going on?
For the first time…
shouldn’t there be evidence of that?
Back then…
it had clearly hurt a lot.
Staring at her body, her mind went entirely blank.
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing.
Then what on earth…
did that count as?
She stood beneath the showerhead as the hot water kept cascading down.
Marin’s emotions began to surge violently once again.
How could this be?
It was definitely her first time; it shouldn’t be possible!
Her mind was a chaotic mess.
If things were like this, someone might misunderstand…
No, no, no, why do I care so much about what other people think?
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Standing in front of the mirror now, aside from her eyes being a bit red and swollen from crying, no other abnormalities could be seen.
Wrapping herself in a bath towel, she stared at her reflection in the mirror for a long time.
Marin’s hobby was cosplay, and though she was a student, she also had experience working as a model.
Because of this background, she keenly noticed that her skin seemed a lot fairer and smoother than before.
She lifted her hand to touch her cheek.
Hmm?
It really seems to be.
But it wasn’t overly obvious on her face, largely because her face was already practically flawless to begin with, leaving almost no room for improvement.
She lowered her gaze to look at her arms and shoulders.
They had definitely become fairer and more tender.
But what exactly was going on?
Standing before the mirror, she didn’t know whether she should be happy or terrified.
On the other side of town.
Inside the rented apartment.
Hiroto was facing the exact same scenario.
Standing in front of the somewhat tarnished mirror, he froze.
The dark circles under his eyes, left behind by constant late-night writing sessions, were completely gone.
His complexion was no longer as dull as before, having turned noticeably clearer and cleaner.
More importantly, all the acne and acne scars left behind by staying up late or a poor diet had vanished entirely.
He reached out to touch his face.
Smooth.
Clean.
Hiroto stared at his reflection in the mirror, feeling a bit dazed for a moment.
What did this count as?
A reward, or compensation?