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

As Zhenfei spoke, she reached out and gently patted Gao Hai's chest, her tone sounding like a mother scolding her child.

Well, Gao Hai really wanted to add a sarcastic remark like, "Makoto is the woman who could become my mother," but he was certain that Makoto wouldn't understand the joke and would be so shocked that she would doubt his intelligence. Therefore, Gao Hai had no choice but to give up.

"I'm sure Princess Zhenfei will be a good mother."

Of course, this doesn't mean he couldn't think of suitable ways to flirt.

"What are you saying, you pervert? This kind of thing... cough cough, this kind of thing is still a long way off. Let's talk about it after we figure out a way to get out of the [Sacrifice Game]."

Just as Gao Hai had predicted, Zhen Fei's face immediately turned as red as an apple as soon as he said that. She angrily slapped Gao Hai on the back, muttering under her breath that she was very unhappy, but you could tell from her words that she didn't really mean any refusal.

If they could escape the sacrificial game right now, they could probably fast-forward to marriage and children already.

This fact made Gao Hai sigh with emotion.

Turning his head, he looked at Fujiwara Chika, who wasn't beside him with Maki, not far away. At that moment, the voluptuous pink-haired girl was standing by the railing of the overpass, straining to look ahead, seemingly observing something.

Gao Hai followed her gaze and quickly discovered that Qianhua was looking at a small square not far away. The square was located in a park, surrounded by various kinds of green trees. Many people were walking back and forth in the square, making various preliminary preparations for setting up temporary stalls for the festival celebration a few days later.

Three days later, a fireworks display will be held at this place.

For Takayuki, who had never participated in a Japanese fireworks festival before, it was still quite a novel experience. In fact, he had already made plans to go with all the girls he knew on the day of the fireworks festival. Shijou Maki, Fujiwara Chika, Yotsuya Miko, Hayasaka Ai, and Shinomiya Kaguya—this group of five girls and one boy might seem a bit jarring to passersby.

"I wonder what the fireworks festival here will be like."

Gao Hai couldn't help but sigh.

"Doesn't Haijun's hometown have a fireworks festival? I remember that China loves to set off fireworks during various festivals?"

Zhenfei blinked and looked at Gao Hai with some curiosity, asking him a question.

"Well, I don't have a very strong impression of that,"

Although he really wanted to talk about it, Gao Hai just smiled and brushed off Zhenfei's question with a few casual words.

However, looking back, although life in the orphanage was always boring, the experiences of setting off fireworks and firecrackers had some beautiful aspects. For my younger self, those were probably one of the few times when I felt happy and didn't have to think about anything.

Well, speaking of which, his hobbies back then were probably blowing up cow dung and open-air toilet pits. Once, there was even someone using the toilet there. Gao Hai thought that must have been the fastest he had ever run before he gained superhuman powers, since there was an angry old man with pants full of "Oli Gei" (a type of slang term for spitting out dung) chasing him like crazy. It was impossible for him to slow down.

Unfortunately, after several incidents of children using firecrackers to blow up sewers, the sale of those small firecrackers was banned.

"I hope you have a great time at the fireworks festival."

Gao Hai simply said this in the end, revealing a genuinely expectant expression.

"Yes, it's definitely something to look forward to."

Zhenfei also spoke softly, a gentle smile on her face.

However, she wasn't actually particularly happy. After all, what she really wanted was a date with Gao Hai, just the two of them, hand in hand, strolling around the fireworks festival together. That kind of scene, in Maki's eyes, felt more like romance, and better suited her girlish heart and romantic needs, rather than watching the fireworks festival with five or six other people.

But now that we're a team, let's just bear with it and pretend we don't know.

Thinking this, Princess Zhenfei felt a little sad, but the smile on her face remained unchanged.

"Let's go on a date in X city in five days. I checked, and the fireworks festival there has been postponed because of the rain forecast. We can go together and watch a fireworks display that's just for you and me, how about that?"

But Gao Hai could easily see through the girl's little thoughts, so he quickly lowered his head and whispered to her.

"Huh?! I, I didn't say I wanted the two of us to be alone... Ugh, at least you have some sense."

Almost instinctively wanting to refute, Zhenfei hesitated for a long time looking at Gao Hai's smile. In the end, she just turned her head slightly and spoke with a hint of arrogance. Her voice was as soft as cream that melted in one's mouth.

"Ahai, Maki, let's go over there and take a look. Let's see what kind of booths might be at the fireworks festival so we can plan ahead."

Chika, who had come bounding back at some unknown time, was like an energetic puppy, pulling Takahashi and Maki towards the square.

Night gradually fell.

Meanwhile, Kaguya Shinomiya, who was in a bedroom the size of three living rooms in an ordinary house, was lying on the bed, her eyes fixed on the text message that Takahashi had sent, which had been converted from voice to text.

【I've wanted to go on a date with the beautiful and adorable Kaguya-sama for a long time now~】

Her gaze lingered on the last sentence, remaining fixed for a long time.

“Miss, you’ve read that message over and over again dozens of times.”

Hayasaka, who was standing to the side, sighed softly and couldn't help but remind him.

"Huh? I didn't look for that long. Don't talk nonsense. I was just thinking about what preparations I should make before the date. After all, it's my first date with Gao-kun, and as a member of the Shinomiya family, I should show some respect."

Kaguya Shinomiya shook her head, feigning seriousness as she spoke, though the blush on her cheeks wouldn't fade.

Dating.

What is the best way to handle this situation?

And how will other people view this matter?

Looking back now, the relationships between Kaguya and Takagi, whether it was herself or other girls like Chika Maki, were like a tangled mess of threads, difficult to unravel. However, in terms of the development of their relationships, Kaguya noticed that neither Chika Maki nor Chika seemed to have experienced much trouble; at most, Chika Maki seemed somewhat bewildered at first. Ultimately, these people simply drifted together, a process that Kaguya was completely baffled by.

She had made preparations to go on a date with Taka-kun, and Taka-kun, at Hayasaka's prompting, directly asked her out. Ugh, she hadn't thought much about it when she was planning to woo Taka-kun, but now that she's thinking about it carefully, she has a feeling that Maki-san and Fujiwara-san might have some unpleasant feelings for each other?

Once again, Kaguya began to feel anxious and uncertain.

"Alright, Kaguya-sama, it's time to go to bed. Tomorrow is your date, so you should get plenty of rest and be well-rested so that you won't lose your composure when you see Mr. Suga the next day."

Hayasaka, however, just urged Kaguya to go to sleep with a serious expression, even though there was still about half an hour before Kaguya's usual bedtime.

"Okay, I understand. I'll leave tomorrow's support to you, Hayasaka."

Kaguya didn't notice anything amiss, and simply earnestly asked Hayasaka again.

Although the other party betrayed her in a sense, Kaguya has now forgiven Hayasaka for the time being, after finding an opportunity for Takami to initiate a date and explaining the various unavoidable circumstances afterward. She has decided to continue relying on Hayasaka's help to complete her plan to win over Takami and make her fall in love with her.

Lights out.

Kaguya closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Hayasaka left the bedroom and walked away step by step, but instead of going back to instruct the servants to complete the daily cleaning work, he went to a guest room, the same guest room where Takami had slept the night before.

"Hoo... the scent of my master."

Picking up the pajamas she had secretly changed Gao Hai into the night before, she closed her eyes, lowered her head, and took a deep breath. Two blushes appeared on the girl's face.

Sure enough, such severe aftereffects were impossible to control.

But there was no need to restrain myself, was there? Mr. Gao... no, Master, she had already investigated the location of the hotel he was currently staying at.

There are still about 9 to 10 hours until Kaguya wakes up at dawn, which is enough time for her to get moving.

A moment later, a figure quietly slipped out of the gate of the Shinomiya residence and disappeared into the distance.

Kaguya herself was already fast asleep, deep in a peaceful dream.

Interlude 3-19: The little maid and puppy that visit late at night

The houses damaged by Alice's attack are now undergoing repairs, which are expected to take quite some time to complete.

Because of this matter, Gao Hai had to temporarily stay in a hotel for a while, which was somewhat inconvenient, but considering his and his girls' situation, it was the most suitable course of action at the moment. After all, if he chose to stay at Maki's or Chika's house, it would definitely cause dissatisfaction from the other party and create a rift in their current group. Staying at Kaguya's place was also inappropriate, because both Kaguya and Hayasaka had already shown signs of being interested in him, and if anything happened, Maki and Chika would definitely object.

Besides that, another option was to stay in the security guard dormitory at Shuchiin. This was indeed a solution, but Gao Hai only stayed for one day before the security guards repeatedly begged him to move out. It seemed that the fact that several wealthy young ladies had been visiting him had a very negative impact on the security guards. Even if they wanted to pretend not to see them, seeing different high-profile girls come in repeatedly, and even just seeing their faces, would still put immense pressure on the security guards. Some had even started writing their wills, preparing to be thrown into Tokyo Bay.

Unfortunately, Gao Hai didn't want to make things difficult for the security guards who were paid to work, so he ultimately decided to stay in a hotel. However, this time the hotel room wasn't the small, makeshift room he'd booked before, but one of those five-star rooms he'd only ever heard of before. It has to be said that the room's furnishings were indeed quite luxurious, so much so that he exclaimed in amazement several times after checking in. Well, then he got so caught up in playing games with Zhenfei on the sheets that he forgot all about it.

No one should be looking for me tonight, since both Maki and Chika have been bothering me for quite a while during the day. In that case, I could play some games tonight, or maybe even play all night? No, I'll pass on that, since I have a date with Kaguya tomorrow. Speaking of which, Kaguya is quite obsessed with the fireworks festival in the original work; I should keep an eye on her during the festival.

As I pondered, the night grew deeper.

In his hotel room, Gao Hai stretched, yawned, and then prepared to wash up and go to bed.

The meeting with Xiaoheshu tomorrow morning shouldn't have any major problems. After all, there were unavoidable circumstances on my end, and the other party expressed their understanding. In addition, this time the borrowing didn't result in any issues like [players who purchased the item having it recalled during use]. No one was harmed by Gao Hai, so overall there shouldn't be any major problems.

So... um? Footsteps?

With his enhanced hearing, Gao Hai quickly sensed that someone was walking towards him in the hallway outside the room.

The other party made no attempt to conceal their footsteps; in fact, one could vaguely sense a hint of elation in their movements.

Then, just before Gao Hai reached the door, he heard the other person knocking on the door, and heard the voice of a cute girl that sounded completely different from before, almost unrecognizable to Gao Hai.

"May I come in, Mr. Gao Hai?"

It has to be admitted that although the voice was obviously affected, a cute girl using a cute voice to be affected only made her seem incredibly cute. Perhaps that's just how cruel looks can be; anyway, when Takami opened the door and saw Hayasaka Ai, he didn't find her affected at all.

"Why did you come here? And... what's with that outfit?"

The other person wasn't wearing the maid outfit they usually wore at the Shinomiya residence or the Shuchiin school uniform. Instead, they were wearing a white and blue-black outfit, both the skirt and top of which were noticeably short, making Takahashi wonder if it was a sailor uniform in a sexy lingerie style.

I doubt any school's sailor uniforms are so short that your belly button is exposed when you straighten up slightly, or your buttocks are exposed when you lift your leg slightly. Is this really the kind of uniform a school uniform should have? Or are all schools in Japan this perverted?

"Shh~"

Extending her finger, the long-haired girl smiled and stepped forward, standing on tiptoe, she placed her hand on Gao Hai's lips and whispered to him.

"There are no maids from the Shinomiya family here right now, only a girl who has come looking for her beloved master~ Alright, alright, let's go inside first, Master~"

She reached out and gently pushed Gao Hai.

Hayasaka Ai slipped into the hotel room and closed the door behind her.

It's clear that Hayasaka Ai is in a very high mood right now.

Even after she had just closed the door, before Gao Hai could say anything more or before the two of them could walk back into the room, she couldn't wait to tiptoe up and rush straight into Gao Hai's arms.

Reaching out, the girl wrapped her arms tightly around Gao Hai's neck, almost pressing herself completely against his body.

The fragrance from his hair seeped into Gao Hai's nasal cavity.

Takayuki instinctively reached out and hugged Hayasaka, wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her into his embrace. Of course, his movements were gentle, unlike the girl who was hugging him with almost all her might.

Time passed second by second, and the embrace took even longer than Gao Hai had expected, so long that he began to doubt what Hayasaka really wanted to do.

However, Hayasaka, whose physical abilities had not yet reached the limits of human potential, was the first to give in and slowly released his grip while panting.

"Huh...huha..."

The girl's cheeks were flushed from lack of oxygen and excitement.

Her body was trembling slightly.

The hands and feet surrounding Gao Hai showed no intention of letting go.