"Oh, right—tomorrow I have something to take care of, so I won't be coming for now. Study on your own according to the plan, and I'll come back at night," Asai Yu reminded her.
"Huh?" Chihaya Anon froze for a moment, then fell silent for over ten seconds.
She was just about to say something, but before she could even react, she realized she had already regained control of her body.
At the same time, the bell rang for the end of class. Listening to the footsteps around her and looking at these unfamiliar classmates, a sudden wave of loneliness washed over Chihaya Anon.
If it's just me tomorrow… will I really be okay…?
Even though Asai Yu had only left for a few dozen seconds, Anon had already started missing him.
When Asai Yu returned to his own body, it was already past midnight. He slept properly this time.
He slept straight through until seven in the morning. Asai Yu tapped open the system screen, selected option No. 1, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived inside Togawa Sakiko's body.
"You're awake?" A cold voice from the blue-haired girl reached his ears.
"Yeah, I'm awake," Asai Yu nodded.
Hearing such a flat response, Togawa Sakiko couldn't suppress the anger rising in her chest. "It's been almost four days already. You're only coming now?"
"During this time, were you secretly watching me but ignoring me?"
Over the past few days, she had often called out to Yu in her mind, trying to see if she could wake him up, but she never received any response.
"There's absolutely no such thing. Don't slander me," Asai Yu replied, catching the accusatory tone in her voice.
Wait a second—what right does Sakiko-sensei have to interrogate him like this?
"So did anything happen while I was gone?" Asai Yu asked casually while washing up.
"Nothing happened," Togawa Sakiko answered.
"Then that's good. As long as you can live your life properly, there's no problem. On my end, everything's fine too—it's just that I might wake up less and less frequently in the future."
Asai Yu spoke while manipulating the system interface.
After thinking it over last night, he had decided to use an Enhancement Lock Card.
He transferred and permanently locked Togawa Sakiko's part-time job bonus onto himself.
Money might not be omnipotent, but without money, nothing works at all.
[Detected that the host already possesses locked enhancements. Enhancement Display Interface formally activated.]
[Current enhancement obtained: Part-Time Job Bonus lv3 (145/2000)]
[This enhancement will remain permanently effective, whether during life experience sessions or in the host's own life.]
Done. That was the main reason he'd come here today.
At that moment, Togawa Sakiko suddenly spoke up. "Waking up less and less… did something happen? Should we see a psychiatrist?"
Her voice was filled with unease and tension.
"No need. You just need to know that," Asai Yu shook his head, clearly not intending to keep focusing on this side.
"You… are you going to die…?" Togawa Sakiko asked slowly, fear seeping into her tone.
Hey, what's with cursing him to die all of a sudden?
Asai Yu felt a bit speechless, but after thinking about it, he realized this might actually be a good opportunity. He went along with it and said, "Probably. I'm not sure either."
Really?
Is Yu going to leave?
Thinking about the past few days of drifting through life in a daze, with no backbone or direction—and then thinking about a future without Yu—an overwhelming sense of powerlessness and despair surged up in Togawa Sakiko's heart.
After several seconds of silence, she clenched her teeth tightly and spoke with determination, her voice slow but firm. "You're not allowed to die—"
Asai Yu replied calmly, "Whether I'm here or not shouldn't affect your current life anymore, right?"
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko immediately shot back, "Didn't we agree back then? That we'd shoulder life together."
"And aren't we a community of shared fate?"
A community of shared fate?
Does Togawa Sakiko have some kind of fixation on that phrase?
Asai Yu didn't argue further on this point. He focused on organizing his schoolbag seriously.
"You… are you really going to die…?"
Seeing that he didn't answer, Togawa Sakiko seemed to realize something. She asked again, her voice carrying a faint sob.
"I lied. Relax—I'm not dying," Asai Yu said helplessly when he heard her crying.
He was genuinely afraid she'd suddenly say something like, "Then I'll go die with you."
Wait—was Sakiko-sensei always this heavy emotionally?
A vague sense that something wasn't quite right crept into Asai Yu's mind.
"Really?!" Togawa Sakiko's mood instantly shot from rock bottom straight into the clouds.
"Really. I was just joking earlier," Asai Yu said.
"You—" Togawa Sakiko felt a burst of anger. How could something that terrifying be used as a joke?
But at this moment, she had no intention of blaming him.
Her tone shifted abruptly. "Don't make jokes like that again next time. I… would worry…"
When she said the latter half of that sentence, her voice was very quiet.
Of course, Asai Yu heard it perfectly clearly—and was startled.
Is this really something Black Sakiko would say at this stage?
"Oh, and also—if possible, you should come and take over the body more often. Being on my own all the time is really exhausting," Togawa Sakiko added, her tone returning to normal.
Asai Yu raised an eyebrow. "Is it really that tiring? Isn't it easier than when you were working customer service before?"
At that, Togawa Sakiko was left speechless. Still, she stubbornly insisted, "Some things are hard to explain. Anyway, you just need to come more often."
Knowing there was no way to reason properly with this stubborn girl, Asai Yu chose not to pursue the topic further.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as agreement," Togawa Sakiko said calmly, suppressing a faint sense of joy.
Just as she finished packing and was about to head out—
Asai Yu's gaze was suddenly drawn to an open notebook on the desk.
Without hesitation, he picked it up. When he saw the string of English letters written on the first page, his brows furrowed slightly.
"Ave Mujica?"
Only then did Togawa Sakiko react. She immediately exclaimed, "That's my diary! Put it down right now—you're not allowed to look!"
Asai Yu weighed the thick notebook in his hand, let out a chuckle, and said, "Are you sure it's not a project draft for the band Ave Mujica?"
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko instantly gave up resisting and complained helplessly, "How do you even know about that too…?"
"So this is what you've been busy with these past few days?" Asai Yu tossed the notebook back onto the desk.
Togawa Sakiko immediately retorted, "No! I just took it out to look at it."
"Just took it out to look at it?"
Asai Yu didn't believe her at all. He set down his shoulder bag, went straight for the laptop, and opened it.
"What are you doing?" Seeing this, Togawa Sakiko felt a surge of guilt.
Asai Yu said nothing, focusing solely on searching the computer for files related to the band.
Among the recently opened documents, there was one—opened just last night. Extremely suspicious.
He double-clicked it.