Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

Chapter 40: The Pre-arranged Next Return and the Crazy Relief

Ever since I entered Hayate Elementary School, have I been chased by ghosts several times?

Hearing Kaguya's hurried footsteps behind him, Takahashi couldn't help but ponder in his heart.

Hmm, it seems I've lost count, just like I can't remember how many slices of bread I've eaten. Most of the monsters in this dungeon seem to originate from a child's imagination, belonging to the derivative type of monsters, thus often involving a chase in terms of the rules. You see, in previous dungeons, Gao Hai would only engage in chases with those rampaging monsters during the final destruction phase of the dungeon, but at Zaoli Elementary School, he basically has to play a game of cat and mouse with every monster he encounters.

However, this time it was alright, since the bewitched Kaguya didn't seem to be very strong in terms of mobility, so after chasing for a while, she was successfully shaken off by Takami.

Using the Blood Key, Gao Hai casually opened a classroom door marked in yellow. Through the key's connection ability, he returned directly to the classroom where Hayasaka Ai had been hiding and immediately spotted the blonde girl hiding in the corner, who didn't seem to be in good condition.

"Hey, are you still alive?"

After carefully observing Hayasaka Ai for a while, Takami waved and greeted her, then spoke casually to the girl.

"...Mr. Gao? You're back. Um, where's Ms. Kaguya?"

When Hayasaka Ai first saw that Takami didn't speak, she was somewhat hesitant to open her mouth. However, she felt a little more relaxed after seeing Takami greet her in a calm tone. But then she noticed that Takami had returned alone, and the other person who should have been with him was not there.

"We should go; we can't stay in this classroom any longer."

Takami didn't answer Hayasaka's question immediately, but spoke to her seriously.

"..."

Hayasaka Ai realized something from those words, her pupils instantly contracted, and she froze on the spot, completely at a loss.

"Don't look at me like that, Shinomiya. Yes, her condition is indeed not good, but it's not to the point of being truly beyond saving. I have a final plan to save her. However, that plan can only be implemented last, so before that, we need to gather as much information as possible and figure out the situation here."

After hesitating for a moment, Takahashi ultimately decided not to reveal the fact that Kaguya was dead.

And the final solution he mentioned, well, it was naturally suicide to rewind time. For Gao Hai, who had already self-destructed multiple times using the watch, this wasn't something unacceptable, after all, he was trying to save his teammate who had shared hardships and life-and-death situations with him. However, Kaguya's survivability was indeed too weak in the Hayate Elementary School instance; he needed to find a way to enhance her survivability so that she wouldn't be so passive when separated from him.

With the few items I currently possess that I'm obsessed with, there's definitely not much I can do.

However, it is not impossible to retrieve the object of one's obsession that was previously given away and find a way to suppress the evil spirits within it.

Gao Hai knew very well that as long as he decided to revert to the previous save file, and as long as he decided to retrieve those items of obsession after the revert, he could indeed retrieve all the items of obsession that had already been sold to Xiao He Shu. Well, although it wasn't very ethical to do so, the Zao Li Elementary School instance was indeed too difficult, and compared to that, some things could only be put on hold for later.

"Kaguya-san... what... what happened to her?"

The impact on Hayasaka Ai seems to be even deeper than Takami had anticipated.

As a professional maid who had lived for many years in the quagmire-like Shinomiya household, Hayasaka Ai had witnessed many sordid and dark things, and had developed considerable abilities. In addition, Takami's acting skills were not particularly good, and she did not make any deliberate attempts to conceal her true feelings, so Hayasaka still saw the reservations in Takami's words and realized a terrible possibility.

"She'll be alright. The most important thing now is what else we can do."

Gao Hai simply shook his head, turned to look at the classroom door he had closed, and reached out to open it.

Although he was prepared to commit suicide and rewind time, Gao Hai wouldn't easily choose death before truly facing certain doom. He wanted to make the most of his life and do his best in everything he could. Finding a way to complete the game in this playthrough would be ideal. After all, the next playthrough would likely present him with an even more dangerous and difficult situation.

I felt neither sad nor unhappy or displeased.

In fact, Kaguya Shinomiya's death didn't seem to cause much emotional turmoil. If one had to say something, it was that after confirming the faint stitching mark on her neck, Takami had a thought like, "Ah, I can't get past this playthrough. I guess I'll have to prepare for the next one," and felt a little helpless.

Is it because Kaguya and I weren't particularly close that I wasn't too affected? Or is it because this wasn't the first time she had died in front of me, so I've become used to such things happening to her?

Such thoughts and such a tendency of thinking may not be a good thing.

Gao Hai still remembered what Zhenfei had said to him, and the worries Zhenfei had expressed to him before this instance began.

Even though his willpower was indeed incredibly strong, enabling him to persevere and continue fighting without flinching in the face of various torments and pains, with each death, with witnessing others die before his eyes, and with death itself becoming an option to be considered, his emotions and rationality seemed to be changing.

It's really annoying.

Thinking of this, Gao Hai sighed inwardly.

However, I will still be myself, and the things I need to do will not change.

Even if one day I truly develop a sense of indifference towards death, I will not treat the life and death of others lightly. I will clearly remember what I need to do, everything I desire, those who have sacrificed for me, and the responsibilities I am determined to shoulder.

On this point alone, Gao Hai was able to maintain his firm belief.

Speaking of those footsteps...

"She came really fast. Did she know you were hiding here, so she came back immediately after losing sight of her target?"

Gao Hai frowned and said in a low voice, while Kaguya's face was already peering in through the classroom door's window.

"That footsteps are..."

Hayasaka, who was already feeling a bit listless, paused for a moment, then immediately recognized the footsteps.

bang bang bang-

[Taka-kun, Hayasaka, you're inside, right? Taka-kun, why did you suddenly ignore me and run away? Aren't we on the same team?]

A heavy knocking sounded, accompanied by Kaguya's confused voice.

It seemed unable to open the door; it appeared that these doors, marked with a green symbol, possessed some kind of power that prevented the strange creature from entering.

In this case, the classroom marked with green is essentially a safe house where one can take a short rest.

Looking back, Hayasaka was already very close.

Her gaze met Kaguya's, who was watching the classroom from outside the window. Then Kaguya happily called out to Hayasaka, asking her to open the door for her.

"It's not your Kaguya-sama, don't be fooled."

Gao Hai calmly reminded Hayasaka once, then focused his attention on the classroom.

An ordinary classroom possesses the ability to resist the invasion of strange creatures, suggesting the existence of some unknown secret. Finding the reason behind it might help unravel the secrets of Hayate Elementary School.

"Isn't that... Miss Kaguya? Mr. Gao, I'm sorry that my repeated questioning might displease you, but... I really want to know what happened to Miss Kaguya... Is she really alright? Will she really be able to come back safely?"

Hayasaka's unease was not alleviated by Takami's calmness.

"Stop asking. Knowing too much won't do you any good."

Gao Hai didn't want to dwell on this issue any longer, so his tone turned slightly colder.

"me……"

Hayasaka's body trembled involuntarily.

After being left alone in the empty classroom, and discovering that only Gao Hai had returned, she, who was already on the verge of a mental breakdown, felt like she was going crazy. The persona she had managed to maintain was showing signs of collapsing again.

Kaguya-sama is dead and has become one of those monsters.

From Takahashi's refusal to answer questions directly, Hayasaka understood the despairing truth behind it all.

Why... why did this happen...?

Even Mr. Gao couldn't protect the young lady?

If it weren't for me, the young lady would never have entered this dangerous place, and would never have ventured into such perilous territory to save me.

"Young Miss... can she really be saved? Mr. Gao seems very confident, but... if Young Miss is really dead..."

Thump—thump thump thump—

The knocking sounds were like nails piercing through Hayasaka's flesh, nailing into his nerves and marrow.

The distortion and horror of the dungeon world, the torment of being turned into a dog, the mental derangement caused by those eerie voices, and the news of the death of the most important person in her life. For Hayasaka, everything here was simply too agonizing. A strong sense of despair enveloped the girl's mind at this moment, and in a daze, she even had the thought that she should die right now.

[Knock knock knock, open the door! Why won't you open the door for me?]

Kaguya was still knocking on the door.

Gao Hai had already searched the empty, dilapidated classroom, which looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, and found out why the classroom was safe.

It was a small lucky charm hidden deep in a drawer under the podium. It looked very simple and was made entirely from torn and pasted pieces of notebook paper.

Gao Hai found a line of very small characters on the back of this peace blessing, which read "Chiyo".

Is the reason this classroom can become a safe haven, free from the intrusion of those strange creatures, perhaps because of this peace charm?

After some thought, Gao Hai decided it was best not to tamper with the Peace Blessing. Although he had considered whether taking it out would provide protection, considering that many classrooms were marked in red or even purple, Gao Hai suspected that the Peace Blessing's effectiveness was actually quite limited. Therefore, compared to the possibility of damage, it was better to leave it here to ensure the stability of the safe house.

Taking a step, Gao Hai's figure suddenly accelerated, moving to the side of Hayasaka Ai, who was already standing at the classroom door.

He took out the blood vial, grabbed Hayasaka Ai's hair and pulled her into his arms, then forced her to drink a small mouthful of blood.

The blonde girl, who was already on the verge of a mental breakdown, widened her eyes, but she was completely powerless against Gao Hai's ruthless iron hand. She could only swallow the mouthful of blood as he pinched her mouth and neck.

A sharp, stinging sensation spread through my brain.

The near-collapse-like madness was greatly relieved at this moment. Hayasaka even had the illusion that he was in the mansion directing servants, and that he had returned to the normal rhythm of daily life.

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

The knocking outside the door continued.

But Hayasaka, having calmed down, no longer considered opening the door to check on "Miss Kaguya" outside; she had no intention of doing such a foolish thing. She had regained her ability to think normally and recalled Takami's confident and sincere demeanor in their previous conversation, realizing that Takami did indeed possess some kind of power to save her young lady.

"Calm down."

Having already noticed that Hayasaka's will was nearing its limit, Takami deliberately ignored her, intending to use the artifact to completely restore her mental state at the moment she was truly on the verge of madness. This would save a lot of time and energy. In comparison, chatting was not Takami's forte; he didn't possess any psychoanalytic or psychological skills to help a teammate who had temporarily gone insane remove the debuff.

"...Yes, I've recovered. I'm sorry to have troubled you, and thank you for your help, Mr. Gao. Is there...is there anything I can do for you?"

Hayasaka, having regained her footing from Takami's embrace, turned around, bowed deeply to Takami in apology, and then looked up at him with a serious expression.

It seems like the recovery is going quite well; the nervous feeling from before is completely gone.

In this state, having her follow me shouldn't be a big problem. I just hope she can live as long as possible, even though she's already outlived her master. Wait, why does this suddenly feel like a cruel joke?

Looking at Hayasaka Ai standing in front of him, Takami felt a few thoughts flash through his mind. Then, he coughed lightly, maintaining the same serious expression, pointed to the window on the side of the classroom that had been boarded up, and earnestly said to the blonde, blue-eyed girl wearing only a men's T-shirt:

"What we need to do now is simple. The doors in and out are blocked, so we need to find another way out of this place. So, well, we have to be naughty kids and climb out the window, that's it."

Chapter 41: Changes in Action Plan and the Action Process

Reopen the sealed window and go out through it.

Hayasaka paused slightly upon hearing this, then nodded, not seeing anything wrong with the method. After all, when Takami led her through the chaotic space outside the window, she was in a deep, infant-like sleep.

But Gao Hai knew very well that his plan was definitely not a good idea.

The escape outside the window didn't seem too dangerous, but that was based on Gao Hai successfully finding a door and being able to use the Blood Key, his escape artifact. If he couldn't quickly escape the chaotic space outside the window after entering, and if he was trapped inside for a longer period of time, the situation could easily become unpredictable.

However, that's not really a big problem now.