A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

After all, her usual image at school, while not the kind that doesn't communicate with anyone and is aloof and indifferent, isn't the kind that would actively approach other classmates, especially male classmates, to talk to.

Therefore, the upcoming spring exams and the competition for the top spot in the class became the best reason for her to take the initiative to talk to Asagiri.

"So sleepy... Oh, it's Kaguya."

Upon hearing Asagiri's address to her, Kaguya Shinomiya frowned slightly and replied in a flat, emotionless tone.

"Utsunomiya-kun, please call me Shinomiya-kun."

"Look what you said."

Asagiri shook her head and asked in return with a light laugh.

"If I asked you to call me the strongest Asagiri-sama of Shuchiin, would you do so?"

Kaguya Shinomiya frowned even more upon hearing this, her expression showing some displeasure.

"How is that possible..."

"Isn't that okay?"

Asagiri waved her hand dismissively and spoke.

"So if you won't even let me decide how you address me, how can I possibly agree to let you decide how I address you?"

"That's sophistry..."

Before Kaguya Shinomiya could finish speaking, Asagiri suddenly spoke up and uttered a startling statement.

"I stayed up all night playing dungeons last night and didn't sleep at all, so I can only catch up on sleep at school."

Upon hearing the word "copy," Kaguya Shinomiya's pupils constricted slightly in surprise. However, the next second, she immediately raised her right hand and gently placed it on her left cheek, maintaining a calm tone.

"Dungeon...you mean online games? I didn't expect you to be addicted to online games. It seems this contest is mine."

"Your victory?"

Asagiri stood up, shook her head, and walked out with Kotoko Iwanaga, leaving only one sentence for Kaguya Shinomiya.

"You've already lost."

Watching Asagiri and Kotoko Iwanaga depart, Kaguya Shinomiya's beautiful red eyes flickered, her thoughts unreadable.

……

Ten minutes later, in Ashikaga Miwa's office... no, it should now be called the activity room dedicated to Asagiri and the members of the strategy team.

Having just woken up, Yuuki Asuna, whose pretty face showed unconcealable fatigue due to excessive stamina depletion during the dungeon and insufficient rest, still mustered her energy to rush to school. She looked at Asagiri, who was sitting opposite her on the sofa, enjoying an iced cola, and said softly with a complicated expression.

"Confirmed?"

"It has been confirmed."

Asagiri put down the iced cola and said in a calm tone.

"Kaguya Shinomiya has revealed two fatal flaws, so... it's now 100% certain that she is the player."

"The first clue was that when she heard me mention the word 'copy,' she did what she usually does—force herself to calm down through self-suggestion—which shows that she was greatly shaken inside."

"The second flaw was that, in order to cover up the real reason why she suddenly made that move, she pretended to cover it up and change the subject in a hurry, saying that she never expected that someone with my personality would be addicted to online games."

"But how could someone who doesn't even own a smartphone and can't even use a computer properly know about online games? Even if she learned about the existence of online games from other classmates, she shouldn't know the term 'dungeon.' And even if she did know, considering my first point, her reaction to the word 'dungeon' is illogical."

"Therefore, she must be a 'player'."

After Asagiri finished speaking, Kotoko Iwanaga added to the story.

"However, given Kaguya Shinomiya's situation, she doesn't pose a significant threat to us. After all, she lives in an environment where she is constantly monitored and has no freedom whatsoever. Even if she can use the excuse of spending the night at Fujiwara Chika's house to buy herself time to enter the instance, she can't possibly arrange her time as freely as we can and frequently enter the instance."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's expression became somewhat complicated.

"A threat... Could Kaguya Shinomiya be our enemy?"

"Hard to say."

Asagiri shook her head, neither confirming nor denying.

"Kaguya Shinomiya's personality is too twisted. She received a cold-blooded education in imperial thought from a young age. Although she always appears as a well-bred lady and eldest daughter of a noble family at school, who knows what kind of behavior she would have as a 'player'? If she enters the dungeon alone, I think she would not hesitate or waver in the slightest to kill in order to survive and gain the power to break free from the shackles of fate."

Just as Asuna Yuuki was about to reply, Asagiri spoke with a smile.

"Oh right, I forgot, I don't hesitate to kill people."

Kotoko Iwanaga quickly raised her hand, her petite body bouncing on the soft sofa, eager to try.

"Me too! Me too!"

Yuuki Asuna looked speechless and sighed slightly as she complained.

"I'm afraid that if I stay with you guys for too long, my entire moral compass will collapse..."

"Okay, let's get down to business."

Asagiri suppressed her smile and slowly began to speak.

"Sixteen days have passed since the start of the game, and we need to make a decision now."

"Should we waste no time and enter the first-stage difficulty dungeon again next time, or should we wait a little while and directly enter the second-stage difficulty dungeon after the game difficulty increases?"

Upon hearing Asagiri's question, Asuna Yuuki pondered for a moment before replying.

"My suggestion is... wait a few days and then enter the second stage of the difficulty dungeon."

"That's what I thought too."

"Eh?"

Upon hearing that Asagiri agreed with her opinion, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but ask curiously.

"At a time like this, shouldn't you be saying something like, 'Ugh, I'm so bored without dungeons to keep me entertained,' or 'Ugh, I really want to go kill some evil spirits and zombies,' or something like that?"

"That's right."

Asagiri smiled nonchalantly, then said something that surprised Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko.

"But the spring exams are next week."

"what?"

Kotoko Iwanaga and Asuna Yuuki both looked completely bewildered.

"An exam...?"

They really didn't expect that, while they were talking about extraordinary games, Asagiri suddenly said that the spring exams were next week.

This is like the Joker and Harley Quinn, who have been busy committing crimes in Gotham City all day, still having to drag their tired bodies to the supermarket to buy groceries and then go home to cook.

It makes sense, but it's just abstract.

"That's part of the reason, but it's not the main one."

Asagiri began to speak in a very serious tone.

"The main reason is that I have experienced several difficult and dangerous dungeons, and the pressure in my heart has reached its limit. I need to play eroge for a while to ensure my physical and mental health."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki's face instantly turned red.

Originally, she didn't know what butter was, but after Asagiri mentioned "Tail Chasing 3" last time, she went home and searched for it online...

At that moment, a door to a new world opened before Asuna Yuuki's eyes.

And Kotoko Iwanaga's remarks after hearing Asagiri's words were even more outrageous.

"What? You've been under a lot of pressure? Helping the leader relieve pressure is my duty as a team member! Please don't be too lenient with me, I'm perfectly fine with being a little rough!"

82

Chapter 82: The instructor who provides special training in combat skills.

Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly utter such outrageous words, Asuna Yuuki's expression turned slightly displeased.

"You'd better shut up for a bit."

Yuuki Asuna was truly speechless.

An abstract male captain and a cute little girl who occasionally utters shocking dirty jokes.

Fortunately, among the four members of the team, there was also a normal person named Kato Megumi who was studying at the private Toyosaki Academy. Otherwise, Yuuki Asuna was worried that if she stayed with these two for too long, she would also develop abstract symptoms.

Just imagining herself starting to do the same thing made her feel a little overwhelmed.

We absolutely must not get infected!

"Tch, I'm not sleeping with you, mind your own business."

Kotoko Iwanaga remains as aggressive as ever. Of course, she doesn't really hate Asuna; she just enjoys teasing and arguing with her.

"Let me see... If we want to enter the second stage of the dungeon, we need to register on the twenty-eighth day... no, the twenty-ninth day. That way, we can enter the dungeon on the thirty-second day after the game launches. According to the system's rules, the difficulty has definitely increased over the past month."

At this point, Kotoko Iwanaga first turned to look at Asuna Yuuki beside her, and then looked at Asagiri sitting opposite her.

"However... when the one-month time limit ends, the real-world test of this game for the players will officially begin."

Asuna Yuuki understood the meaning behind Kotoko Iwanaga's words, pursed her lips, and said softly.

"Most players don't have the courage to sign up for dungeons on their own initiative, so they are forced into dungeons by the app when the one-month time limit is about to end. They don't even have the courage to face the people in the dungeon... The success rate can't be too high. From a real-world perspective, if a large number of missing persons suddenly occurred within a day or two, it would definitely attract the attention of official agencies such as the Metropolitan Police Department."

At this point, Asuna Yuuki sighed and muttered to herself.

"The difficulty of this game is far too high. Not only do you need to clear dungeons, but you also have to hide your identity as a 'player,' and later on... you might even have to face the Blackwatch's elite soldiers who have been through countless battles... Moreover, the relationships between players are very delicate, and a slight mistake can turn them into enemies... People you can trust, people you can rely on..."

"Just the two of us, right?"

Hearing Asagiri's cheerful voice, Asuna Yuuki's previously dim eyes regained their luster. She looked at Asagiri sitting opposite her on the sofa, and when she met Asagiri's relaxed and smiling eyes, her unease and confusion vanished.

"Yes, we can definitely win."

"Hey Hey hey."

Seeing Asuna Yuuki and Asagiri exchange glances with smiles on their faces, Kotoko Iwanaga keenly sensed that something was amiss. She immediately started rolling around on the sofa, shouting like a wronged little girl as she did so.

"Waaaaah, what kind of people are these... I was first! There's a cow, there's a cow!"

What nonsense are you spouting?

Asuna Yuuki blushed and said angrily.

"Besides, if we're really talking about who came first, it's me who met Asagiri first, right? You're the third in the team, that's true, you're the third one!"

Upon hearing this, Kotoko Iwanaga pursed her lips, suddenly sat up straight, and seamlessly switched to changing the subject.

"I'm hungry, let's go eat!"

Asuna Yuuki rolled her eyes and said irritably.

"Whenever you're in the wrong, you resort to this clumsy way of changing the subject."

After saying this, Asuna Yuuki took out two bento boxes from her handbag, handed one to Asagiri sitting opposite her, and smiled gently.

"I made this bento box before I left. You must be very hungry now after using up so much energy. Eat up, it's still warm."

Asagiri took the bento box and nodded with a smile.

"Thank you."

"Eh?"

Seeing the bento box in Yuuki Asuna's hand, and then the bento box she handed to Asagiri, Iwanaga Kotoko was stunned for a moment before hesitatingly speaking.

"Didn't you sleep at my house?"

Asuna Yuuki nodded without any hesitation and asked in return.

"Yeah, so what's wrong?"

"Then you are...?"

"Oh right, I borrowed your kitchen and ingredients, but I didn't cook for you. You can just buy a bento at the school supermarket."

"What!?"

Kotoko Iwanaga's expression changed, and she immediately hugged the sofa cushions, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"You slept in my bed, used my kitchen and ingredients, and made a bento for Asagiri?! And you didn't even make one for me?! This is outrageous!! This is absolutely outrageous! You've gone too far..."

"Here."