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

Because Kaguya hadn't brought her toiletries, she used Hayasaka's set in the washroom. After the three of them brushed their teeth together, Kaguya originally planned for them to shower one after another, but Chika thought that would take too much time, so they simply showered together.

Well, then Chika became even more disliked by Kaguya and Maki. After all, she did take up more space than the other two, and when they were honest with each other, her two advantages over Maki and Kaguya became even more prominent, which made them very unhappy.

I vaguely remembered washing up with them.

Hearing Kaguya and Maki's disdainful voices towards Chika, and Chika's shouts of "I'm not fat!" after being rebuked, Takami had to admit that he was starting to feel a little tempted.

But I can't get up.

Or rather, getting up without waking the people around you is quite difficult.

After all, Gao Hai was now surrounded by two girls, one on one side and the other on the other. Each girl was holding one of his arms, and their heads were pressed against Gao Hai's pillow. The three of them were now completely pressed together.

"call……"

The steady breathing indicated that the two girls were fast asleep.

If she tried to break free by brute force, the perceptive Goto Ichiri would definitely wake up immediately.

If one tries to break free using the power of blessings, such as the power of annihilation, Yotsuya Miko, who possesses special perceptive abilities, will immediately wake up.

In other words, no matter what Gao Hai chooses, he will definitely wake one of the girls. Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Gao Hai ultimately decided with regret to give up the opportunity and continue to sleep with the two girls instead of bathing with all three of them.

Ah, speaking of which, those two girls are hugging really tightly. This softness... Hmm, restrain yourself, restrain yourself. Humans use their brains to control their bodies. Since you've decided to endure it, don't think about it anymore.

Is this what you call self-control?

Kita Ikuyo's voice suddenly reached Takami's ears at that moment, and only then did Takami realize that his thoughts had wandered a little, to the point that some of his shallow ideas had been read by the other person.

{Am I not restrained enough? Two beautiful girls are sleeping with me in their arms, and I don't do anything. That's already a saintly level of self-control, isn't it?}

Takami couldn't see Kita anywhere; she didn't seem to have created any clones to move around outside. However, this didn't stop Takami from refuting Kita, so he immediately began to make a righteous and stern statement in his own defense.

{...If I didn't know what you've been doing all this time, I might still have been fooled by you. How did you manage to win the hearts of so many girls? Wow, even Pochi-chan is so infatuated with you, it's really hard to believe.}

Having spent so many days with Takami, Kita, who was initially quite restrained, has become much more unrestrained and has expressed his views directly and without any politeness.

{What do you mean by "deceive"? This is called genuine friendship. We were all acting voluntarily, so how can you call it "deceiving"? These girls have been through thick and thin with me, forging friendships in the dungeon world. Do you think I'd sleep with just any woman? You're seriously underestimating me. You've been dead for so long, you're completely outdated now. Before you speak next time, you really need to study more.}

Takami, of course, didn't stand on ceremony with Kita and replied with a hint of lecturing.

{W-What?! You're lecturing me like an old man, even though you're not that much older than me. And these past few days you've been pretty promiscuous, everywhere—the stadium, other people's homes, and…and…ah, I don't even know what to say anymore. How did you manage to win over Pochi-chan? Now she wants to sleep with you every day…}

The girl's voice, tinged with a hint of sorrow, kept echoing in his mind. How should he put it? It actually sounded quite nice. Gao Hai had to admit that he felt a little pleasure; it seemed that teasing Kita was bringing him a lot of positive feedback.

Oh no, could I have a sadistic streak? No, that's impossible, absolutely impossible. It must be Chika's fault. It's all because she always makes me play master-servant games that I've become like this. Hmm, that's right, it has nothing to do with me, it's all Chika's fault.

This just proves my personal charm; I'm that handsome and reliable, which is why Xiao Yi is so obedient to me.

With this in mind, Takahashi quickly shed his psychological burden and began to tease Kita even more enthusiastically.

{Ugh... Saying that just doubled the greasy feeling. You... Mr. Gao, how could you be like this...}

Kita let out another mournful cry, and Takami could almost picture the girl covering her face and jumping up and down.

Just then, the alarm on her phone suddenly went off. This startled Yi Li awake first, and then Jian Zi quickly rubbed her eyes and woke up as well. The girl then realized that she was hugging Gao Hai, and her face immediately flushed red.

"Hey, senior..."

Seeing that she was at a loss, Jianzi let go of Gao Hai's arm, her cheeks as red as a ripe peach.

"Good morning."

Gao Hai simply chuckled at her, reached out and pulled Jianzi into his arms again, then gently kissed her forehead, cheek, nose, and finally her small lips.

The girl's body trembled slightly in Gao Hai's arms. At first, she was a little flustered and remained motionless as Gao Hai teased her. Then, she cautiously gave a clumsy response.

The bedroom was dimly lit, making it impossible to see each other's expressions. Combined with their pounding hearts, this gave Jianzi a touch of mystery.

"..."

On the other side, Goto Ichiri, who had just gotten up, turned her head slightly. The scene of Takami and Miko being intimate was still a bit too exciting for the lifelong single Pochi. Although she already knew about Takami's title of "JK killer" before, watching the video up close was still a bit hard to get used to.

"Master, are you awake? Breakfast is ready."

Hayasaka Ai, who had been waiting at the door after preparing breakfast, heard the sounds inside. She patiently waited until Takami released Miko and sat up before pushing the door open and bowing to him earnestly.

At this moment, Hayasaka Ai was naturally wearing a maid outfit. The black and white dress added a touch of elegance to the blonde girl, and coupled with her own aloof demeanor, it exuded a peculiar sense of taboo.

There is no doubt that this was a gesture deliberately made for Takami, and Kaguya herself can be sure of this. Over the past ten years, when Hayasaka served her, his attitude was definitely not as good as it was now when he was facing Takami.

Tsk, so who exactly is your master?

As Kaguya emerged from the bathroom, having just dried her hair, she immediately spotted Hayasaka's affected manner in front of Takami. She was instantly furious and wanted to expose Hayasaka's true colors, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. So, she could only snort and turn away.

"You're up too late, Hai-kun. Don't forget we have important things to do today."

Following behind, Maki came out of the bathroom, drying her still slightly damp hair. Seeing that the bedroom door was open again, she knew that Gao Hai had gotten up, so she called out to him a few times.

Wow, what a lavish breakfast today!

As for Chika, she had already run to the dining room. As a girl raised with strict discipline, Chika's meals, while not affordable for ordinary people, weren't particularly high-end in terms of taste, as she prioritized nutritional balance. Occasionally, she would even deliberately make them less palatable for some kind of training. However, the Shinomiya family, being a conglomerate, was completely different. Including Kaguya Shinomiya, they sometimes deliberately displayed extravagance in their daily expenses. This breakfast, prepared by Hayasaka out of favoritism towards Takami, was naturally exceptionally lavish.

"Looks like I can show you what it's like to live a high-class life today."

Takahashi, who could guess the general situation just by listening to Chika's voice, smiled and teased Miko beside him.

Fifteen minutes later, the small dining room was noisy and felt somewhat crowded.

Hayasaka pushed the dishes towards Takami while quietly explaining what they were, what ingredients were used, and asking how they tasted. Chika, holding her bowl, didn't sit down but wandered around the table, picking up a bite whenever she thought it looked good. Maki and Kaguya discussed their next move, debating how to handle the invitation, and occasionally asked Ichiri, who had been pulled over, for her opinion, even though Ichiri, suffering from social anxiety, couldn't utter a complete sentence.

As for Miko herself, she wasn't thinking that much at the moment. The girl only had one simple thought: "This tastes so good!", "That tastes amazing too!", "They all taste great!"

"Fujiwara-san, stop picking on other people's food. Hayasaka prepared a portion for everyone. Is there any need for this?"

"Hehehe, because Kaguya looks like she's enjoying her food~"

"Um...do you really have to squeeze past me from behind my seat? Can't you just go from the other side?"

"It's faster here, and I'm also very curious about what Maki likes to eat."

"Seeing this one, try this one too."

"Mmm, it's delicious, senpai. And um, could you please prepare breakfast, Hayasaka-san?"

"It was nothing, so what do you think of this dish, Master?"

"...I want to go home."

This seems to be the first time we've seen something like this, right?

Amidst the laughter, chatter, and food, Gao Hai suddenly felt a bit dazed.

The girls gathered around him, making a ruckus. They seemed to be at odds, but in reality, they didn't actually have any real conflict.

It was as if everyone had become one big family, spending their ordinary, everyday days as always, arguing, laughing, sighing, and being happy together.

For Gao Hai, this was something he had never experienced so profoundly since birth.

If there's anything worth protecting, it's probably something like this.

Thinking this to himself, Gao Hai couldn't help but smile again.

A little while later, after breakfast, Takami helped Hayasaka clear the dishes, and Miko came over and offered to wash the dishes with Hayasaka.

Seeing this, Maki thought for a moment and then took a rag to wipe away the oil stains left on the table. Chika put the table and chairs back in their places and then ran back to the living room to tidy up the bed on the floor.

Kaguya, who had been the one being served the whole time, was momentarily stunned and didn't immediately find something to do. As for Goto Ichiri, well, speaking of which, where did Goto-san go? Wasn't she just here a moment ago?

Kaguya, looking around in confusion, failed to notice a large cardboard box in the corner that read "Perfectly Ripe Mango".

"This kind of training camp is quite interesting. How about we do it again sometime?"

After everything was packed up, Chika enthusiastically offered suggestions, and the other girls had similar ideas to varying degrees.

"I'll leave the date this afternoon or tomorrow to you, Master?"

Hayasaka had already made a date while washing the dishes, so she simply whispered something to Takami behind her and then quietly walked to the side.

"Well then, let's head over to the [market] and hopefully find something useful."

Gao Hai finally put the invitation (which couldn't be put into the watch's space) into his pocket, casually said something to the girls beside him, then put on his shoes, opened the door, and walked towards the street.

Interlude 3-69: Xiaohe Tree's Imagination and the Results of Her Probing the Invitation

"So, this invitation appeared after the copy invaded reality...?"

In a dark little room, Xiaoheshu sat in his seat and looked at the old invitation that Gao Hai had taken out across the table. After listening to the other party finish explaining what had happened, he nodded slightly, his expression unchanged, but his heart was already in turmoil.

Recently, many player groups that entered the [Infant Cry Village] dungeon during the unfixed phase have encountered problems. The Dark Night-level dungeon tickets, which should have transformed, are inexplicably remaining unchanged, and players holding these tickets have lost the ability to summon other dungeon tickets or exchange tickets. Conversely, players holding Red Moon-level [Infant Cry Village] dungeon tickets have found their tickets become unrecognizable, with no information readable, turning them into invalid tickets with a status effect of being unrecognizable.

If it were just that, it wouldn't be so bad. But then, the player teams holding tickets to the Dark Night-level dungeon started encountering all sorts of strange things. For example, signs of a second person living in their homes, doors and windows opening and closing inexplicably, and when they turned on their TVs, computers, or phones, they found themselves inexplicably jumping into videos of old operas. This phenomenon resembled a dungeon invading reality, but under normal circumstances, a Red Moon-level dungeon invading reality shouldn't happen repeatedly like this. A normal scenario for a dungeon invading reality is like the gradual influence on the real world from Fujiwara Middle School, followed by a sudden outburst, and then disappearing without a trace.

However, this completely illogical and incomprehensible phenomenon, after persisting for quite some time, was eventually stopped by the players' strategy. The method involved searching for things that didn't exist in the real world before the intrusion progressed and when players began to encounter vague, eerie entities. The vast majority of players found this invitation.

Yes, that's right, it's the invitation that Gao Hai just pulled out at this very moment.

This man actually received this invitation? He has absolutely no connection to that instance, and he shouldn't have used any of its items, right? Why did he get this invitation? And why this extremely unusual, bizarre instance that no player has ever seen before... No, wait, maybe it's because of him that all of this happened?

After all, it was this man, who was practically a miracle, who received the invitation.

"We need a relatively safe setting to conduct some tests. Could you please provide one?"

Gao Hai had no idea what was going through Xiao Heshu's mind; he was simply looking for a safe place. After all, while Gao Hai's player team was already quite powerful, it wasn't as well-equipped as a large-scale player organization like [Market], which could manage to maintain such comprehensive facilities.

According to Goto Ichiri, the Market has long been a place that receives and sells obsession items of various levels. In order to contain some very dangerous obsession items, and also to conduct some tests that are prone to problems, the Market created several large spaces in the basement of this seemingly inconspicuous abandoned shopping mall. It combined various different obsession items to create an environment that is similar to a sealed space, which can minimize the possibility of problems.

Of course, even so, it's impossible to guarantee that there won't be any problems. In fact, since these underground spaces were put into use, something has happened almost every few months. Two sealed spaces were even corrupted by the power of the strange creatures and disappeared directly from the real world, being pulled into the dungeon world.

Regardless, researching this stuff in the [Market] is definitely the most reliable option. At least if something goes wrong, you don't have to worry about harming innocent civilians. As for whether it might harm players in the [Market]... maybe that's possible, but it's still better than doing it in a busy city center. As for going to a deserted place... if something really happens, it'll be hard to find help. Here, at least there are quite a few skilled players present, which is somewhat better.

"No problem, we will prepare the appropriate venue and dispatch guards for you. However, please be as careful as possible when you are probing. The instance from which this thing comes... has undergone very strange changes. Although we at [Market] have collected a lot of relevant information, we still cannot make an accurate judgment. We believe that this instance may have become something completely new, different from the previous Twilight, Dark Night, and Red Moon level three instance classifications. So, please be very careful."

Koga glanced at Goto Ichiri, who was standing behind Takahashi and seemed very uncomfortable in the place. Koga bowed respectfully to Takahashi and immediately got up and left the room to begin making arrangements.

Koga was well aware that Goto Ichiri, who had previously worked alongside Aoyama Nanami and completed numerous missions for the "Market" player organization, and could be considered a key figure in the organization, had recently been spending every day with Takami, but he took no action. In fact, he had never monitored Takami or those around him from the beginning, unless they went to his usual surveillance points (such as the Shinomiya old house during the second volume's intermission). After Takami left Hayate Elementary School, Koga completely abandoned monitoring Takami and his companions. Even if they entered his surveillance area, he would proactively remove the surveillance cameras from the corresponding locations, maintaining a respectful and uncompromising approach.

Aoyama Nanami has basically stopped participating in [Market] activities these days. She's been in contact with several player teams lately, seemingly trying to find a way to reshape Kita Ikuyo's body. Goto Ichiri and Takami are getting closer and closer; considering Takami's current reputation as a "JK killer" among players, it's safe to assume she's been "kidnapped." Hmm… this kind of thing will likely displease many in [Market]'s management, since Aoyama Nanami and Goto Ichiri are two powerful Red Moon-level players; without them, [Market]'s strength will be significantly reduced.

I still need to remind him. If all else fails, I should tell Mr. Gao in advance who the troublemakers might be.

With this in mind, Xiaoheshu completely forgot that she was the person in charge of the "market" and, without hesitation, devised a plan in her mind on how to sell off her management team.