I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

After hearing Shinji Kitahara's words, the pure white horse girl's expression became even more subtle.

She knew who Kitahara Shinji was talking about, but the problem was that because of her birth and the blockade of the other three idiots, the current horse girls on this island were already receiving a certain extra boost.

Not to mention, later on, in order to deal with her, the other three gods added power to this island nation.

The old woman who symbolizes the family enjoys considerable power from Dalí Arab, making her practically half of Dalí Arab's chosen one, and arguably one of the most powerful figures in the world...

Forget it.

"Let me describe it to you like this."

Pure White Horse Girl didn't want to get bogged down in this issue with Kitahara Shinji—mainly because she knew it was pointless to argue—and then spoke up.

"You've probably played games before, right? You know, those online multiplayer games. There's something called a 'numerical designer' who needs to define the range of ability values ​​for a class or race to prevent numerical inconsistencies from affecting the player experience or causing various problems due to data overflow."

"The world we live in now, although it doesn't have numerical controls, has still evolved naturally, resulting in things that resemble numerical ranges. For example, human strength, speed, and lifespan all have relatively common limits..."

"As for horse girls, because of their different life forms, they do not use the same system as humans, so they are not subject to these restrictions. Instead, they must follow a different set of numerical rules—stability."

"Simply put, although the existence of the horse girl is affected by her self-perception, this influence is by no means without limits. The more outrageous the self-perception, the lower the stability and the greater the probability of problems."

"From the most basic cognitive biases and mental illnesses to physical deformities, and even abnormalities and distortions in life forms, these are all situations that may be caused by insufficient stability."

"Otherwise, if it were true that you could become whatever you are just by recognizing yourself, they might as well just recognize themselves as alloy cannon thrusters and turn themselves into space battleships."

"Through the hard work of those diligent 'gardeners,' they have roughly tested out a relatively stable range of horse girls' abilities. Although there will be differences due to individual differences, in general, it can be compatible with the vast majority of horse girls."

"Therefore, in order to stabilize the existence of the horse girls and avoid abnormal situations caused by excessively low stability, they directly rewrote the rules, limiting the range of the horse girls' abilities to the measured range."

"But the existence of the eclipse has far exceeded the limitations of this rule. Its existence itself is a violation of this rule and will also create a cognitive misguidance for other horse girls."

"So much so that she not only needs cognitive biases to cover it up, but also has to constantly restrain her power so as not to affect the operation of the entire rule system."

Hearing this, Shinji Kitahara couldn't help but say, "Then why don't we just have the 'gardeners' temporarily adjust the range?"

"They can't do it."

The pure white horse girl sighed.

"Otherwise, why do you think I said they were unreliable before? Those idiots didn't think about the future at all when they changed the rules, and they didn't leave themselves any room for adjustment."

"As for simply deleting the rule and creating a new one, that's even more impossible, because after that, they've already built several more rules on top of that one, and those rules are the basis for other rules..."

"...A mountain of ancestral crap code that just needs to run?"

The pure white horse girl nodded.

"You can understand that."

Upon hearing the affirmative answer, Shinji Kitahara's lips twitched. After pondering for a moment, he spoke again.

"So you mean, because the eclipse affected the balance of this system, it had to... disappear?"

"Yes, she must disappear, or rather, she cannot exist in this world."

The pure white horse girl nodded.

"But this kind of disappearance does not necessarily require death. It could also be transcending this system and ascending to a higher level of existence. And in my judgment, this is the most likely option."

Hearing that he wouldn't die from the solar eclipse, Shinji Kitahara breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad..."

"you sure?"

The pure white horse looked at him and spoke slowly.

"The 'upgrading' I'm referring to here doesn't mean becoming stronger or having a higher status; it's a transformation in the form of life."

"She will lose her physical form from her time as a horse girl, the remaining part will be integrated into the system as a stable part, while her consciousness will rise beyond the world."

"By then, she will only be able to glimpse your existence through the gaps between layers of rules, never able to touch you again, let alone stay by your side, or even communicate with you."

Are you sure this is what she wants?

After listening to these words, Shinji Kitahara pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion.

This sounds like it's no different from being dead.

"Is there any solution?"

Shinji Kitahara asked.

"The only thing I can think of right now is to stop her from achieving her goal."

"Pure white horse girl said earnestly."

"But this is merely a stopgap measure. After all, her existence is far too extraordinary. Even if she fails to fulfill her mission, her very existence will harm the operation of the rules. Therefore, the outcome is still predetermined, it's just a matter of sooner or later..."

"What if the rules no longer exist?"

Shinji Kitahara suddenly spoke, tapping his index finger lightly on the table, his tone calm.

"If the entire operating system is destroyed and all the rules no longer exist, then does she no longer need to 'upgrade'?"

"...Are you serious?"

The pure white horse was taken aback by his words, and after realizing what he meant, she looked at him with a strange expression.

"Do you know what this means? It's basically like saying we're going to destroy the world..."

"I was just asking."

Shinji Kitahara replied casually, while stopping the tapping of his index finger.

But your behavior just now didn't seem like you were just asking a question...

The pure white horse girl muttered to herself, then raised her head and cast her gaze toward the distant boundary of the domain.

Although she wanted to continue chatting with Shinji Kitahara a little longer, feeling her power dwindling and looking at the distant border where obvious fluctuations were beginning to appear, the pure white horse girl remained silent for a while before slowly speaking.

"The time is almost up."

“I know you still have many questions, and you probably don’t completely believe what I’m saying yet.”

"But it's okay, I'll wait for you here. Once this area stabilizes again, you can come to me anytime you want. If you don't want to, I won't force you to come."

As the words continued, the fluctuations that had originally existed only at the edge of the domain began to spread, and the entire world began to tremble and distort like ripples on a lake, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Shinji Kitahara snapped out of his daze, frowning as he looked at the gradually distorting scene around him.

"How am I supposed to know when this area will stabilize again, and how am I supposed to get here to find you?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Once this area stabilizes again, you'll naturally know what to do without any special methods..."

The collapse began to accelerate, the figure of the pure white horse girl began to blur, and even her voice began to break.

After saying this, the world in front of Shinji Kitahara began to flicker between light and dark, with the night and familiar scenes of Treson appearing before him.

It's clear he's ready to return to reality.

Just then, the pure white horse girl spoke again, her voice muffled and unclear.

"Um... there's something else... I'd like to... ask you... for a favor..."

"I...don't...have a name..."

"I want...you...to...name me..."

"I...you...are important..."

The voice grew increasingly indistinct. Despite Shinji Kitahara's efforts to discern it, he could only vaguely make out that she seemed to be asking him to help her choose a name because she didn't have one.

Since it was just about choosing a name, and it wasn't a complicated matter, Shinji Kitahara thought about it and didn't refuse.

"Okay, but we'll have to wait until next time. After all, names are something that need careful consideration. I can't give you an answer in this rush, and besides, you might not even hear me clearly..."

"Anyway, I'll think about it carefully when I get back. But if possible, I'd like to get more information about you so we can have a better idea when choosing a name..."

"......Thanks."

As soon as he finished speaking, the world in front of Shinji Kitahara shattered completely.

Shinji Kitahara opened his eyes and stood at the door of the chairman's office, holding his phone. The time displayed on the screen showed that only a dozen minutes had passed since he left the student council room.

This relieved Shinji Kitahara.

Thankfully, although it felt like a long time had passed, it seems that the time flow in the two worlds is not the same, so it shouldn't be enough to result in a late pay cut...

Although we've just chatted about a bunch of random things, compared to those grand topics, Shinji Kitahara is more concerned about his salary—after all, that's his job as a trainer.

After gathering his thoughts and regaining his composure, Shinji Kitahara pushed open the door to the chairman's office and went inside.

"Good evening, Chairman, Ms. Junchuan, and Ms. Riko."

Inside the chairman's office, the three-person team from Tracy were all there. Upon seeing Shinji Kitahara arrive, they quickly arranged a seat for him and then chatted with him about the online smear campaign against him.

Since it had already been roughly discussed with Tsuna, there were no surprises in the conversation about this matter. Basically, the chairman asked Shinji Kitahara if he needed any help, while Shinji Kitahara emphasized that he could handle it on his own.

So, it didn't take long for Shinji Kitahara to calm down the still somewhat angry chairman and finalize the next course of action.

But just when he thought the matter was over and was about to get up and leave to go back and talk to Eclipse, the chairman suddenly spoke again and called him back.

"Wait a minute! Trainer Kitahara, I have something else to tell you."

Is there anything else?

Shinji Kitahara stopped and looked up in confusion.

"What's wrong, Chairman? Is there anything else?"

"Crisis! Trainer Kitahara, think carefully, what's the date the day after tomorrow?"

the day after tomorrow?

Shinji Kitahara thought for a moment.

"If I remember correctly, it was February 14th... What's wrong?"

Shinji Kitahara thought for a moment, but couldn't recall anything wrong with the timing; there were no matches or special events taking place.

If I had to name one, there was some kind of festival, but because of his impoverished past, he didn't really care about festivals and basically only remembered the Spring Festival.

What else...?

Seeing Kitahara Shinji's nonchalant expression, still unaware of the seriousness of the situation, Akikawa Yayoi was so anxious that she wanted to smash her fan directly in his face.

"Idiot! February 14th is Valentine's Day!"

"Urgent! I've arranged a business trip for you starting tomorrow, lasting until February 15th. This can help you avoid it for a while, Trainer Kitahara..."

"Ah, thank you for your kindness, Chairman, but this task should be left to those trainers who need it."

Shinji Kitahara shook his head and said casually.

"After all, I'm not like those idiots. It's just Valentine's Day. I don't need to hide from anything. Besides, I have a lot of work to do lately."

"While I appreciate your kindness, Chairman, please leave the business trips to those fools who actually need them. I don't need them..."

After saying that, Shinji Kitahara left the chairman's office with a relaxed expression.

As for the chairman who remained, he watched him leave, and although he was very angry, he could only sigh in the end, turn to look at Sugawa Tesuna beside him, and whisper.

"Jun Chuan! I'm asking you to go with him the day after tomorrow and do your best to protect his personal safety, including your own... You know what I mean."

It must be said that this suggestion perfectly aligned with Surugawa Tessuna's thoughts, making her very interested, but...

"What about the academy? If I'm not watching over them, those kids will cause a huge uproar."

The chairman remained silent for a few seconds, then covered his face with his fan.

"...Let Riko take charge."

"I?"

Riko Kashimoto, who was innocently shot, looked up in surprise.

"No, you all know my physical limitations. This kind of field mission, where I'm responsible for stopping Ma Niang, I can't handle it..."

"It's okay! When the time comes and anyone doesn't listen to you, just lie down on the ground..."

"Is this a staged accident? This is definitely a staged accident! I'm the acting chairman, how could I do something like this..."

"An exception! Things should be prioritized based on their importance and urgency."

"Just consider it a small sacrifice for the sake of the academy."