Ch.7373. An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, Madness for Madness

I clearly warned them.

I explicitly told them they could face an embarrassing situation, that their clothes might even come off completely.

“Then let’s get started quickly. I’ll go first.”

“I don’t care about the order, so it’s fine if I go after Celia.”

But why are they reacting like this?

They were way too nonchalant about it—it was truly mind-boggling.

To make matters worse, they were dressed casually for the holiday. At least Alkine had an outer layer on… but Celia was wearing nothing but a flowy long-sleeved t-shirt.

One layer removed and it would be a disaster, so why were they so calm about it?

No, being calm would have been better. These two went a step further.

“Ah… should I be holding it like this?”

“No, just wear it on your arm, that’s all! Why are you hiding it inside your sleeve?”

She was holding the sword I gave her properly in her right hand, but she had rolled up her sleeve to hide the bracelet I attached to her other arm.

“Hmm. So I should put it in here?”

“No… President. If you put it in that pocket, I won’t be able to touch it…”

She wore the knuckles normally but tucked the brooch into her chest pocket.

While handling the weapons normally, they kept hiding the accessories, making me wonder if they were actually cooperating or not.

Of course, if everything went smoothly, the word “experiment” would lose its meaning.

But that didn’t mean I wanted this kind of challenge… it was troublesome in many ways.

‘They’re really making this difficult.’

Their behavior was obviously strange by any normal standard. At a glance, it almost looked like they wanted their clothes to come off.

But looking at their smiling faces, I could roughly guess what they were thinking.

‘So that’s how you want to play it?’

Ultimately, I’m the one in control here. This is all to test my Inventory ability.

So they probably had confidence that I’d handle it well, while simultaneously harboring mischievous thoughts about teasing me endlessly if I made a mistake.

In other words, their current reactions were the result of both trust and playfulness.

If that’s the case, I should confidently push through and succeed.

“Fine. Let’s do it this way.”

I grabbed Celia’s left wrist while she was grinning. I tried to unfold the sleeve covering the bracelet, but failed because she was holding it in place.

But did she think that would stop me?

First, I tried putting the sword into my inventory.

Honestly, I didn’t think this would work. I was holding Celia’s left wrist, but she was holding the sword in her right hand.

Not only was there distance, but I hadn’t even touched the sword itself, so I thought it wouldn’t meet the storage conditions.

But… surprisingly, the sword Celia was holding disappeared and entered my inventory.

I hadn’t touched the sword directly—I had only grabbed Celia, who was touching the sword.

‘The detection is more generous than I imagined.’

This meant I wouldn’t need to risk putting myself in danger by getting close to weapons being swung at me. I just needed to somehow make contact with the opponent’s body.

This alone was a great discovery. It would be enough to end the experiment right here.

“Now for the bracelet, right?”

But Celia didn’t seem to want to stop there.

Right. Of course not. Then I won’t stop either.

Moving on to the next item.

Come on in! Bracelet!

“…Ah.”

“…Ah.”

“…Ah.”

I failed. I won’t go into details, but… that’s what happened.

Given the disastrous result compared to my confident attempt, it was only natural that all three of us made the same sound simultaneously.

I quickly retrieved Celia’s clothes that had been sucked into my inventory, threw them to her, and turned around.

What am I thinking right now? Nothing special.

‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

That’s the only thought that came to mind.

What’s the point of regretting after doing something? I can only reflect on it.

“Ludion?”

As I was rubbing my face and sighing deeply, I heard Celia calling me.

“Uh, can I turn around now?”

“…Yes.”

“Wait, Celia. What are you saying…?”

“Sigh… That’s why you shouldn’t have wrapped the bracelet so tightly… wait, you said I can turn around?!”

But would you believe it, Celia was just holding her clothes without putting them on?

Her shocking behavior was so bewildering that I forgot to look away.

“I only said you could turn around, not that I had put them on.”

She just said that as if nothing was wrong.

Oh my goodness, Celia. You’ve finally lost your mind.

How can a young woman expose herself like that without any shame!

Of course, she did seem embarrassed. She was gradually lifting her clothes to cover herself bit by bit.

I understand liking to play pranks. Honestly, I didn’t entirely dislike the pranks she played on me.

But this is going too far. Are you trying to make me a real criminal?

“What are you thinking?”

“Um… Celia? Even I think that’s going a bit too far.”

Thankfully, Alkine didn’t take Celia’s side this time.

It was understandable. Celia’s behavior went beyond what could be considered a simple prank.

It’s fortunate that it’s just the two of us here. If there had been even one more person present, this would have been immediately rejected as completely inappropriate.

She seemed to realize this herself, as her clothes had now risen to cover half her face… but that just exposed her lower half, showing her navel. Just put the clothes on already.

“…I’m going to get dressed, so turn around again.”

So she shows herself undressed but doesn’t want me to see her getting dressed?

I couldn’t understand her standards, but I turned around as Celia instructed.

I heard rustling sounds as she put on her clothes.

Soon after, Celia approached from behind and started poking my back.

When I turned around, thankfully, Celia was properly dressed this time.

Her face was red, but her expression was grinning, clearly full of thoughts about teasing me again.

“Ludion. Your thoughts?”

“…What thoughts?”

“You saw, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t.”

“Ms. Alkine. Did Ludion really not see?”

“I clearly saw his eyes widen in surprise. He didn’t even turn his head away until the end.”

See? Accurate, right?

Thanks to Alkine switching back to being my enemy after briefly being on my side, I had no escape.

When fighting one-on-one with Celia, I at least had some openings to exploit, but with the two of them ganging up on me, there was no way to win.

I see. So she does all the embarrassing things herself, then comes at me like this.

Then I have no choice but to fight fire with fire.

“…Hey, Celia.”

“Yes. Are you ready to share your thoughts?”

“I was wrong.”

In an instant, I put my top into my inventory.

A high-level strategy: surprising her while putting myself in the same position as an apology.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, right?

The most efficient way to counter crazy behavior is with equally crazy behavior.

Celia would be shocked by my suddenly exposed upper body…

“…Wow.”

…Wow?

Feeling uneasy, I quickly took out my clothes and put them back on.

You know what? Clothes stored in my inventory can be worn as soon as they’re taken out.

It’s like changing equipment in a game—it doesn’t even take a second.

“Ah, why?!”

When I instantly returned to being fully clothed, Celia let out a disappointed sigh.

…Alkine next to her also seemed disappointed, but that must be my imagination?

The priority now is to end this situation quickly.

“I showed you too, so we’re even?”

“Men and women are different! I think you need to show five times… no, fifteen times more than what I showed to be fair!”

“Celia. I don’t have gender-discriminatory thoughts like you, so I can’t accept that opinion.”

“How is this discrimination?!”

Celia protested desperately, but I rejected it all.

To move past this situation quickly, I designated the next person.

“It’s the President’s turn.”

“Hmm. Right.”

“Are you really going to do this after seeing what just happened?”

“Of course.”

I thought she might have changed her mind after seeing what happened with Celia, but her decision was firm.

We ended up doing the same experiment again… but fortunately, Alkine was wearing an outer layer, so the risk of failure was much lower compared to Celia.

And since I learned from the experiment with Celia that I didn’t need to touch near the item, there was no need to put my hand close to her chest pocket.

The result of the experiment was… successful, except for Alkine’s outer garment briefly entering and exiting my inventory.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I was prepared for it, so it’s fine.”

This isn’t easy. I doubt I’ll need to use this often, but if I do, I’ll need to be careful.

“…I shouldn’t have worn this.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that since it’s a newly acquired ability, your usage seems unskilled.”

I don’t think she said that much?

Well, if she says so, then that must be it.

Now… let’s wrap this up.

Trying to do anything more in this atmosphere would just lead to more torment from them.

Though it seems I spent more energy on things other than the inventory experiment… I did what I needed to do and got some results, so I should be satisfied.

“Are we done?”

“Yes… I’m mentally exhausted and can’t do anything more.”

That’s how the inventory experiment concluded.

Alright then, dismissed! Dismissed!

“Where do you think you’re going? Didn’t I say I was going to write a report?”

“Ah.”

That’s right. She did.

“Go ahead and prepare to write the report. I’ll talk with Celia for a moment before coming.”

“What do you need to talk about?”

“Well… as the student council president, I think I need to lecture her about public decency issues.”

“I see.”

A very understandable reason.

Yes, Celia, you crossed the line this time. Time for you to get scolded.

///

After Ludion left first, Celia and Alkine remained alone, standing and looking at each other.

Alkine spoke first.

“Satisfied?”

“Somewhat. A little embarrassed, though.”

“It’s more impressive that you’re only ‘a little’ embarrassed after doing that.”

“You regretted wearing an outer layer too, so why are you talking?”

“…”

Despite saying she would lecture Celia about public decency issues, Alkine was only having this kind of conversation with her.

And it was… clearly closer to an indecent direction, even if not extremely so.

But since Alkine fell silent after being hit with the truth, the conversation couldn’t continue, and a moment of silence fell.

After some time, Celia was the one to speak again.

“Ms. Alkine. Don’t forget what you promised?”

“As if I would go that far.”

“Just say you understand. Even allowing us to be alone like this is me being very patient.”

“…I understand.”

Was that killing intent she felt? With a chill running down her spine, Alkine unconsciously said exactly what Celia wanted to hear.

That was their final exchange. Alkine left, saying she would go ahead.

Watching Alkine’s back as she followed the direction Ludion had gone, Celia sighed.

“It’s not entirely pleasant.”

While it was certainly joyful that more people were coming to trust Ludion, she felt uneasy.

If it had been someone else, she would have pushed them away somehow, as she usually did.

But perhaps because she had grown fond of Alkine, it wasn’t so easy. Besides, their relationship wouldn’t end just because she pushed her away.

That’s why she had nodded when Alkine said she wanted to spend time alone with Ludion.

There was definitely a strange current flowing between her and Ludion, but it wasn’t firm enough to stop Alkine.

[Current Favorability: 52/100]

[8 remaining until next reward.]

Of course, the uncertainty was on Ludion’s side, while her own feelings were firm… but what did that matter in the current situation?

“Mother would have something to say if she heard about this.”

She had been taught that one should be willing to do anything to get what they want. But she couldn’t do that. Thinking about how to explain this to her mother later gave her a headache.

…She didn’t know. Her complicated feelings made it hard to think clearly.

“Haah…”

She could only sigh as she continued to look up at the gloomy sky, barely visible through the trees.