Tessa's gray eyes and Kana's brown eyes spoke silently to each other.
Originally, only one of them had planned to act, but Kana had woken up too.
That made things easier. If they moved together, at least she would feel a little more "at ease."
It was the difference between doing sothing bad alone and doing sothing bad with another person.
If you were alone, you had to bear all the pressure yourself. If there were two of you, then the pressure could be shared.
And if they were going to carry out the terms of the bet...
Under normal circumstances, if you had to ask soone for that kind of thing while they were fully awake, the odds of success were extrely low.
But if you struck while the other person was asleep and caught him off guard, the chances were much higher.
So the two of them had already taken out the thing capable of producing that substance.
Just looking at it made their breathing nearly stop.
Now all that remained was to wake him up, tell him they were here to collect on the bet, that they wanted that substance from him.
Then, whether he agreed or not, they would not wait for his answer. They would act first.
In that kind of situation, the odds of success were high.
He probably would not resist.
And this thod had been suggested by the very woman who had beaten them.
Granted, using that woman's thod was infuriating.
But how was she supposed to know whether they had really followed through with it?
...
Sothing felt strange, and Kain slowly opened his eyes.
Then, as his gaze drifted downward, he froze.
What was this?
A dream?
It really did feel like one. His consciousness was hazy, soft around the edges, exactly like the sensation of dreaming.
How long had it been since he had last dread?
Maybe he was only dreaming now because the A-Driver had exhausted him too deeply.
And if this was a dream, then it had opened with quite a beautiful one.
Then the two girls said sothing to him that felt exactly like the sort of line that only existed in dreams.
In reality, there was no way things would ever escalate this hard.
More importantly, they had already started acting on it.
No, not just acting on it.
They were clearly trying to repeat the sort of thing Saeko had done before.
...
Ti moved ahead to nearly the thirteenth day since a certain soone had arrived in this world.
At the mont, ti was pressing close.
The place was Jindai Municipal High School.
"See you tomorrow, Kana."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Kyoko."
Kana waved goodbye to her friend Kyoko Tokiwa.
She had been sent back here early that morning, and her day had more or less returned to normal.
But the mont Kyoko disappeared from sight, Kana quickened her pace on the way ho.
She moved at nearly twice her usual speed and made it back in half the usual ti, soon spotting the place where she lived.
The area nearby was sowhat noisy too, as if so kind of construction was suddenly underway.
In less than three minutes, she reached her front door. Before she could even take out her key and slide it into the lock, a commotion ca from inside.
"Mr. Kain, y-you can't go in there. It's really dirty in there. No, stop, don't push your way in!"
The voice was frantic and deeply embarrassed, and Kana's face changed instantly.
Were they seriously doing sothing indecent in her house?
Under normal circumstances, if not for what she and Tessa had done that ridiculous midnight, then maybe she would not have thought this way.
But she and Tessa really had done sothing incredibly stupid under the influence of alcohol while trying to fulfill the forfeit.
They had actually managed to get what they were after.
Then Kain had "woken up" and finally stopped things before they went any further.
It was not because he was putting on so gentlemanly act.
It was because the alarm had gone off, and both of them had heard it.
A North Arican warship had passed nearby, and TDD-1 had needed to move imdiately.
By the ti the sub had reached safe stealth depth, both girls had sobered up a lot.
Enough to want to drill through the hull and bury themselves in the sea from sheer humiliation.
And what made it worse was that Kain was absolutely detestable. He had clearly woken up long before that and just kept quietly enjoying the situation.
That was exactly why Kana now found the scene inside so suspicious.
Bang!
She did not need the key anymore.
She just kicked the door open.
"What shaless thing are you two doing in my house...?!"
Her roar, loud enough to tear her throat raw, abruptly jamd to a stop.
She stared blankly at Tessa, who was desperately trying to use her tiny body to block Kain from forcing his way into the kitchen.
And there was black smoke coming from inside.
So that was it?
W-What was this supposed to be?!
Then suddenly...
Boom!
"Wah! It exploded!"
In the blink of an eye, Kana was left twitching at the sight of a kitchen that looked like it had just survived a battlefield.
So that was the truth.
Tessa had tried to make pastries, and it looked like she had nearly blown the whole kitchen apart.
As for why she had not wanted Kain going in, the answer was obvious. The kitchen was a complete disaster, and she was far too embarrassed to let him see it.
Seriously. The way Tessa had acted at the door had made Kana think sothing much worse was happening.
"Tessa, stop blowing up my kitchen!"
The mont Kana understood a little of what Tessa had been trying to do, she barked out the order.
This idiot captain simply had no talent for this sort of thing, so she needed to stop experinting.
And the reason Tessa had been trying to make pastries, specifically a cake, was because she had asked about his birthday and, by sheer coincidence, it was today.
Tessa had insisted on making it herself, even though Kana had said they should wait until she got ho and make it together.
Instead, Tessa had secretly tried doing it on her own. The kitchen had started smoking, Kain had noticed, rushed back, and then Tessa had tried to keep him from seeing what a catastrophe she had made inside.
"Ugh..."
"But this ti, I'll let you help. You're on support only, and you follow my instructions. No improvising."
"Okay!"
An hour later, a certain soone stared silently at the cake set in front of him.
"Kana, I have a bad feeling about this..."
"Shut up. It just looks bad, that's all. Taste it. It'll definitely be sweet."
"Sweet?"
Kain looked at the cake in front of him. Sweet was inevitable. Just how much sugar and cream had gone into this thing?
"Mgh. That's way too sweet."
Kana tasted a bite herself and nearly recoiled. It was so sugary it felt like a fast track to diabetes.
So why was Tessa still here?
And why was there construction going on nearby?
That was because Kana had made her choice.
She had decided to join Tessa's side.
But that did not an she had to stay aboard TDD-1 all the ti. Mithril would secretly establish a hidden facility near her ho, which would also serve as a lab for her A-Driver research.
In everyday life, she could still continue attending school and maintain the appearance of being an ordinary student.
And it was only after making that choice that she had finally learned who Kain really was.
Then ti caught up to five minutes before departure.
"At last. Now it actually looks decent."
"This was exhausting."
The two girls looked at the genuinely presentable cake in front of them and smiled with clear relief.
It seed they had made it in ti.
So then...
"Say cheese." x2
They were taking a commorative photo.
Proof that he had once co to this world.
Then, in the next instant...
"Tessa, w-what are you doing? Let go of , I... ahhhh!"
Kana had just been about to retaliate with the sa kind of sneak attack Tessa had pulled, but the mont she tried to turn his head toward her side, he vanished, leaving her grabbing at empty air.
And so she saw Tessa wearing an absolutely smug grin, then sticking out her pink tongue in a blatant, taunting lick, as if to imply that what she had stolen was not just an ordinary kiss.
Aaaah! She was furious!!!
That little thief of a cat!
...
"Coordinates locked. Hyperspatial quantum engine entering..."
"Jump preparation complete."
After finishing the last bite of cake, Kain confird the next stop and initiated the jump.
In the next instant, everything beca transparent. His consciousness seed to stretch ti out infinitely, as if he had brushed against the countless phenona of the universe in a single mont.
Then, just as suddenly and without warning, everything returned to normal.
Jump successful.
He had arrived at the location of the next quantum beacon.
That beacon had been deployed long ago. He had not placed it himself. It had originally been set there to test this ship.
Unfortunately, the Iron n rebellion had broken out before the testing could begin.
And then the sight before him shook him to the core.
Had he jumped straight into their ho turf?
"WAAAGH!!!"
The roar crashed over him like a tidal wave.
(End of Chapter)
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