Chapter 73 : An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, madness for madness

I definitely warned them.

I clearly told them that something unpleasant could happen, that they might even end up getting their clothes taken off.

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

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

But why is this the reaction?

It’s one thing to be nonchalant, but this is just absurd.

They were dressed lightly, as if ready to enjoy the holiday.

At least Alkine had a jacket on… Seria, though, was just wearing a flowing long-sleeve t-shirt.

The moment she gets one layer peeled off, it’s a disaster waiting to happen—so why is she acting so carefree?

No, if they were just carefree, that would have been better. These two went even further.

“Uhh… Is this okay?”

“No, you just need to wear it on your arm. Why are you hiding it inside your clothes?”

The black bracelet I gave her was fine, but the bracelet she wore on her other arm was hidden by rolling up the sleeve.

“Ah, is it supposed to go like this?”

“No. President, if you put it in that pocket, I can’t access it…”

They wore the knuckles normally, but they kept hiding the brooch in the chest pocket.

While the weapons were worn normally, the accessories kept being hidden. Was it a sign of cooperation or a game to confuse me?

Of course, if it goes smoothly, the word “experiment” loses its meaning.

But still, this isn’t the kind of challenge I wanted… It was difficult.

“People really make it hard.”

Their behavior was, of course, logically odd. At first glance, it even seemed like they wanted to lose their clothes.

But looking at their smiling faces, I had a pretty good idea of what they were thinking.

“They’re going to act like this, huh?”

In the end, I was the one in charge of this situation. This was an experiment to test the inventory ability I had.

So in their minds, there was probably a feeling of “I can handle this” mixed with the malicious thought of teasing me if they made a mistake.

In other words, their reactions were the result of trust mixed with a sense of mischief.

In that case, I had to succeed and break through.

“Alright. Let’s do it this way.”

I grabbed Seria’s left wrist, which was smiling mischievously.

I tried to loosen the sleeve covering the bracelet, but Seria held it with her hand, so I failed.

But would I stop there?

I tried putting the sword into my inventory.

Honestly, I didn’t think it would work. I was holding Seria’s left wrist, and she was holding the sword with her right hand.

There was a distance, and I hadn’t made contact with the sword, so I assumed the conditions for storing it wouldn’t be met.

But… to my surprise, the sword Seria had been holding disappeared and entered my inventory.

I hadn’t touched the sword directly; I only grabbed Seria’s wrist, which was holding it.

…It was beyond my expectations.

At this point, I didn’t need to risk getting too close to the weapon. I could just avoid it and make contact with the opponent’s body.

This was a huge success. I could finish the experiment now if I wanted to.

“Now, the bracelet?”

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

Yeah, that’s how it would be. Then I wasn’t going to stop either.

I moved on to the next one.

“Here it comes! Bracelet!”

“…Ah.”

“…Ah.”

“…Ah.”

Failure. I won’t explain the details, but… well, that’s how it happened.

After my bold attempt ended in miserable failure, it was only natural that all three of us muttered the same thing.

In a hurry, I took Seria’s clothes that had been sucked into my inventory and tossed them out, turning around quickly.

What did I think just then? Well, nothing special.

“I shouldn’t have done it.”

That was the only thought in my head.

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

“Rudion?”

As I sighed deeply while washing my face, I heard Seria calling me.

“Uh, can I turn around now?”

“…Yes.”

“Wait a minute, Seria. What are you…?”

“Sigh… why did you wrap the bracelet up like that… Wait, I told you to turn around!”

But, wait, isn’t Seria holding her clothes without wearing them?

I was so stunned and confused by her bold actions that I forgot to even look away.

“I said you could turn around, not that I put it on.”

Looking at me like nothing was strange, she said that.

Oh, Seria. You’ve finally lost it.

A girl showing off her skin like that and not even being embarrassed!

Of course, she did seem embarrassed. She was slowly pulling her clothes up to cover herself.

I understood that she liked to play tricks, but honestly, I didn’t completely dislike her pranks.

Still, this was a bit too much. Was she trying to make me into a criminal?

“What in the world are you thinking?”

“I… I think that’s a bit too much.”

Fortunately, Alkine didn’t side with Seria in this matter.

It was natural. Seria’s actions at this point were something that couldn’t be covered by just the word “prank.”

It was only because the two of us were here that it didn’t immediately become an outright rejection—if there had been just one more person here, it would have definitely been dismissed with a three-strike rule.

She seemed to be aware of it herself, as her clothes had risen to the point where they were partially covering her face… but now, with the bottom exposed, her belly button was visible.

Stop hiding it and just put it on already.

“…I’m going to put it on, so turn around again.”

She showed me she was undressing, but it seemed like she didn’t want to show me putting it back on.

I didn’t understand her standards, but I turned around as Seria told me to.

There was a rustling sound as she put on her clothes.

Soon enough, Seria, fully dressed, came up behind me and started poking me in the back.

When I turned around, fortunately, Seria was fully clothed and looking at me.

Her face was red, but her expression was all smiles, and it was clear she was thinking of teasing me again.

“Rudion, what do you think?”

“…What do you mean, what do I think?”

“You saw it, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t see it.”

“Alkine, did Rudion really not see?”

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

See? I was right.

Alkine, who had been on my side just moments ago, had turned against me, leaving no escape route.

When it was just one-on-one with Seria, there was always some opening to exploit, but now, with the two of them together, I had no chance of winning.

Right. She does something embarrassing and then acts like this.

Well, then I have no choice but to retaliate.

“…Hey, Seria.”

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

“I was wrong.”

In an instant, I put the top I was wearing into my inventory.

It was a surprise move, intended to both shock her and put me in the same position as an apology, a sophisticated strategy.

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

When it comes to crazy behavior, the most efficient way to respond is with even crazier behavior.

Seria was taken aback by the sudden reveal of my upper body…

…?!

Feeling uneasy, I quickly took the clothes out of my inventory and put them on.

Did you know? When you take clothes out of the inventory, you can wear them immediately.

It’s just like changing equipment in a game, and it takes no more than a second to change.

“Ah, why?!”

As soon as I was back in my clothes, Seria let out a sigh, as if disappointed.

…Alkine, too, seemed disappointed, but maybe that was just my imagination?

The priority now was to end this situation quickly.

“I showed you, so we’re even, right?”

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

“Seria, I don’t have sexist views like you, so I can’t accept that opinion.”

“What kind of discrimination is that?!”

Seria desperately protested, but I dismissed it all.

In order to move past the situation as quickly as possible, I quickly pointed to the next turn.

“It’s the chairman’s turn.”

“Mm. Alright.”

“Are you really going to do it after seeing that?”

“Of course.”

I was wondering if she might have changed her mind after seeing Seria’s actions, but her decision was firm.

In the end, I had to do the same experiment one more time…

Fortunately, Alkine was wearing outerwear, so the risk of failure was much lower compared to Seria.

And since I knew I didn’t need to touch anywhere near her chest pocket from the previous experiment with Seria, there was no need to bring my hand close to it.

The result of the experiment… was successful, except for the fact that Alkine’s outerwear went into the inventory and came back out once.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I was prepared for it.”

This isn’t easy. I wonder if I’ll ever need to use this again, but if I do, it seems like I’ll need to be cautious about how to use it.

“…I shouldn’t have worn it.”

“What did you say?”

“I think I was just a bit inexperienced with the new ability.”

I didn’t think I said that much.

Well, if she thinks that way, I guess that’s how it is.

Then… shall we start wrapping things up?

Trying to do something more in this atmosphere would just result in more teasing from them.

It feels like I’ve spent more energy on something other than the inventory experiment, but well, I tried what I could, and there were some results, so I should be satisfied.

“Is it all done?”

“Yeah. I’m too mentally tired to do anything more.”

The inventory experiment ended there.

Alright then, time to disperse.

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

“Ah.”

Right. I forgot.

“I’ll go ahead and prepare the report. I’ll talk to Seria for a bit before I go.”

“What do you need to talk about?”

“Well, as student council president, I think I need to lecture her about her behavior.”

“Ah, I see.”

That was a reasonable explanation.

Right. Seria, you’ve crossed the line this time. You deserve a little scolding.

Rudion left first, and Seria and Alkine were left standing, looking at each other.

Alkine was the first to speak.

“Are you satisfied?”

“Kind of. It’s a bit embarrassing, though.”

“Doing all that and only feeling ‘a little’ embarrassed is impressive.”

“You’re one to talk. You were regretting wearing that outerwear too, weren’t you?”

Despite saying she was going to lecture Seria about her behavior, Alkine just ended up having a conversation with her.

And though the topic wasn’t particularly explicit, it was definitely moving in that direction.

But when Alkine was hit with a sharp remark, she fell silent, and the conversation didn’t continue, creating a brief moment of stillness.

How long had it been? It was Seria who spoke up again.

“Alkine. Don’t forget our promise.”

“Do you think I’d really do that?”

“Just say you understand. Letting us be alone together is already a lot of patience.”

“…Alright.”

Was it malice she felt in that moment? Alkine felt a chill run down her spine and unconsciously spoke the words Seria wanted to hear.

That was the last exchange. Alkine, saying she would leave first, took her leave.

As Seria watched Alkine’s back as she walked in the direction Rudion had gone, she sighed.

“I’m not entirely happy about it.”

It was definitely a good thing that more people were starting to trust Rudion, but her heart still felt uneasy.

If it had been someone else, she would have just brushed them off, as usual.

But was it because she had developed some feelings for him? It wasn’t easy to just brush him off. After all, their relationship wouldn’t just disappear if she rejected him.

That’s why, when she nodded at Rudion’s desire to have some alone time with her, it wasn’t because she was certain of her feelings, but because the strange tension between them wasn’t strong enough to stop her.

[Current Favorability: 52/100]

[8 remaining until next reward.]

Of course, the uncertain one was Rudion, and while she was firm in her own feelings, she wondered how important that was in this situation.

“If Mom heard this, she’d probably have something to say.”

Her mother always said that to get what you want, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. But she hadn’t done that.

She started to get a headache just thinking about how to explain this later.

…She didn’t know. Her mind was too tangled for her thoughts to make sense.

“Sigh…”

With nothing else to say, she just kept sighing, gazing at the cloudy sky, barely visible behind the trees.