"I must admit, I've liked you ever since we first met. I've always thought about how to get closer to youhow to earn your feelings."
He said it plainly.
"Eh?"
Sumika was dumbfounded. Could that mean Rei Ao felt the same way? Mutual feelings! Overjoyed, she opened her mouth to respond, only for Rei Ao to press a finger to her lips.
"But before anything else, there's a truth I need to share with you."
[Ding! You have chosen to grant subgroup access in the Trade Chat to Fujimiya Sumika!]
"???"
Sumika stared, wide-eyed. She thought she'd just heard or glimpsed something bizarre.
"From now on, what you see, what you hear, and what you learn is all real. Take your time to digest it, then tell me what you think."
He placed one fingertip to her smooth forehead. In the next second, Sumika blanked out. Even with a beauty in his arms, Rei Ao didn't do anything untoward; he sat quietly, waiting for her to regain clarity.
After a short while, Sumika finished processing the information in her mind. Her expression was a mix of shock, complexityand a dash of grievance.
She was shocked at Rei Ao's identity: the mysterious group host of a "transaction chat." She felt conflicted about all the relationships he had in that chat. And now she carried a vague sense of lament.
"Rei Ao-kun, don't you think you're being quite unfair?"
"Unfair in what way?"
Rei Ao asked, arms still wrapped around her waist, smiling.
"You knew how I felt. You understood why I arranged all this today. Right when I was about to confess everything, you revealed all of this about yourselfand now what am I supposed to do?"
"Haha."
"Don't you appreciate my honesty?"
""
Yes, honesty. Sumika could see he didn't want to deceive her. Yet her eyes brimmed with suspicion.
"Rei Ao-kun, in that chat group, there are so many women Didn't you trick them all the same way?"
Rei Ao rolled his eyes.
"I'm being perfectly genuine. Where's the trickery?"
"AnywaySumika, you know I'm the type who loves many. Do you still want to be with me?"
""
Sumika fell silent. Several seconds later she posed a straightforward question:
"Rei Ao-kun, would you ever discard me for someone else?"
"Never. Absolutely not,"
he replied firmly, adding:
"I'm far too possessive to let you go."
With that, she arrived at a decision. Letting out a resigned sigh:
"Sighwhat rotten luck for me, to fall for a guy who's so good at winning girls' heartseverything you say just makes mine race."
Her body moved before her mind caught up, leaning forward to kiss Rei Ao's lips. It was a light kiss, like the brush of a feather. But for Rei Ao, it was the starting gun. He wrapped an arm around her waist.
"So that's your answer."
Sumika buried her face in his chest:
"Mm. I like youthere's no denying that."
Then, lifting her head in a shy way, she said:
"I don't want any regrets."
She never finished speaking; Rei Ao kissed her again. This time was nothing like before: passionate, decisive. Sumika closed her eyes, responding to that belated confession. When they finally parted, Sumika's cheeks glowed like ripe apples.
Rei Ao gently stroked her cheek:
"Sumika, may I?"
Sumika instantly grasped what he meant.
"Mm"
She nodded, voice soft.
"But not because of that"
She pointed at the jacket pocket, her tone barely above a whisper.
"It's becauseI like you."
Rei Ao chuckled, hugging her tighter.
"I know. And that was purely an accident. But now, we should probably be grateful to Kominami, right?"
Red-faced, Sumika gave his chest a flustered slap, then quietly asked:
"Rei Ao-kunyou must have a lot of experience, right? Considering"
Considering the many relationshipsand many "transactions"he'd had. She, on the other hand, had zero experience, and a faint concern about "doing it right."
Smiling broadly, Rei Ao assured her softly:
"Don't worry, I'll teach you. Come here."
"!!!"
Meanwhile, in the Restaurant
"Ah-choo!"
Waiting for the rain to stop, unsure if she should grab a taxi or just tough it out, Kominami Asumi rubbed her chilly arms. She glanced at the darkened sky, her thoughts drifting to Rei Ao and Fujimiya Sumika.
"I wonder how far they'll go,"
she murmured, a trace of envy in her tone.
Yes, envy. Because just as she'd told Sumika, Rei Ao was quite a great person. She was genuinely grateful to him for helping her out more than once, leaving a lasting impression.
"Maybe someday I'll find a guy that good, too"
Kominami Asumi thought wistfully.
~~~
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Chapter 626: Marcille! The Newbies Unusual Labyrinth World...
A roar of thunder
A torrential downpour.
Sawae looked through the window, rain drumming violently on the glass, her thoughts drifting.
"Sodid they end up at a hotel?"
Contemplating Sumika's personality:
"Hmm, knowing her, she might've run away halfway."
Worried, she picked up her phone to send a message. The reply came quickly but was short:
Fujimiya Sumika: "Going to bed now. Talk tomorrow!"
"Huh?"
Sawae pursed her lips.
"Looks like Sumika got cold feet."
"Well, at least they held hands, I guess? That's progress."
She'd grill Sumika for the details tomorrow. At the very least, as her good friend, she wanted to strategize together. Sighing, she turned and lay down to rest.
Outside, torrential rain continued to batter the window, accompanied by fierce gusts of windmuch like the storm Fujimiya Sumika was weathering herself
...
Late Night Elsewhere
"Ah!!!"
Waking with a jolt from another nightmare, Marcille sat bolt upright in bed. Cold sweat drenched her thin nightclothes; golden hair clung to her pale cheeks.
Beyond the window, moonlight glinted on the stone paving. From afar came a watchman's dull call, marking 3 AM.
"Falin"
Marcille trembled, hugging her arms. Her fingernails dug deep into her own skin, yet she felt no pain. In her dream, she again saw the instant when the Fire Dragon swallowed FalinFalin's outstretched hand, that hopeless stare, her voice urging them to flee, drowned in flames.
A magical lamp on the desk automatically lit up, its warm glow pushing back some of the bedroom's darkness. Marcille walked barefoot to the window and pushed it open. The night wind swept away some of her lingering cold sweat. This was her first night out of the labyrinthsleep simply wouldn't come.
Tomorrow, they'd return to the dungeon to find that Fire Dragon. They just had to locate it, kill it, then retrieve Falin's undigested remains to use resurrection magic. Death wasn't necessarily final in that labyrinth's rules. Yet Marcille couldn't feel calm.
"If only I'd reacted fasterif my magic had been stronger"
Such self-recrimination gnawed at her mind like a parasite.
At that moment, Marcille noticed a faintly translucent screen materialize in front of her.
"This is"
She'd barely paid attention to the so-called "chat group" earlier because of everything that happened, but here it was againa strange phenomenon, outside the labyrinth no less. It was hard not to think it might be dangerous. She instinctively reached for her wand.
"Is this some new type of curse magic or some monster?" she muttered warily. On the screen, lines of text flashed. The instant she clicked to read them, bizarre knowledge poured into her mind.
"A Trade Chat linking different worlds?"
Her fingers trembled mid-air.
"This isn'tsome form of magic?" she whispered. After a moment's hesitation, she tried tapping out words on the screen.
Marcille: "Whoare you people? What is this?"
Akame: "This is the Trade Chat Group. We're all from different worlds."
Frieren: "It's so late, Akame. You're not sleeping?"
Akame: "No, I have a mission tonight."
Marcille: "Different worldscan that really exist?"
Yatogami Tohka: "Hard to prove, but we can each mention unique things from our world."
Hiiragi Shinoa: "Mine's at war with vampires."
Marcille: "Vampires?! Blood Clan?"
Shinoa: "Oh, so your world has them too?"
Marcille: "I've never met oneonly heard legends."
Shinoa: "Gotcha."
Frieren: "Looks like this newcomer's world is no ordinary place, either. By the way, I'm an elf; do you know about elves?"
Sui: "I'm also an elf."
Marcille: "Eh? You're elves?"
Frieren: "Yesso there are two elves in this chat group now."
Tohru: "Oh, our new friend's talking, huh? Hmph, by the way, I'm a dragon. That's special enough, right?"
Tohru: "[Image]" (a photo of her green dragon form)
Seeing that, Marcille's reaction was anything but calm.
"Dragon!!!"
She clenched her wand, reflexively preparing a spell.
Akame: "Um, she seems really agitated."
Frieren: "Something's off here."
Marcille: "A dragon right here! How can you all be so calm?! Dragons are extremely dangerous!"
Tohru: "Ehhh, I won't deny it. Dragons are formidable."
Frieren: "But Tohru's our friendshe won't hurt anyone. Besides, we're in different worlds."
Shinoa: "Please calm down, Marcille-san."
Marcille: "Calm down? My friend Falin was devoured by a Fire Dragon!"
Sui: "Eh?!"
Frieren: "I get it. Probably that's why she could join the chatthere's something she wants. Then she should talk to the group admin. @Rei Ao, you awake?"
Rei Ao: "I was going to sleep guess not now."
Fujimiya Sumika was already asleep. Having no further interest in "analysis or teasing," Rei Ao found himself intrigued by Marcille's words: Falin was eaten by a Fire Dragon. That likely marked the beginning of it all.
Rei Ao: "@Marcille, first, stay calm. We're indeed from different worlds, so Tohru, though a dragon, can't hurt you."
Rei Ao: "And I'm sorry about your friend Falin's fate."
Frieren: "Rei Ao, you can resurrect the dead, right? Maybe a direct deal will solve it?"
Marcille: "Resurrection"
She showed no special enthusiasm at the idea.
Rei Ao: "Heh, maybe that alone won't settle it."
Rei Ao: "Because in her world's labyrinth, the dead can be revived anyway."
Bibi Dong: "There's a labyrinth that allows for resurrection? That newbie's world is indeed unusual."
Bibi Dong: "But it sounds like her friend hasn't been revived yet, so something's in the way."
Marcille didn't get how a so-called "otherworlder" like Rei Ao knew about her situation. Her expression turned grim.
Marcille: "Becauseto revive Falin, we need her body. But she wasalready devoured by a Fire Dragon!"
~~~
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Chapter 627: Trade with Marcille, Save Falin!
"Using a corpse to resurrect the deceased...makes sense," Shinoa mused.
Sui: "What part of that makes sense? Even the idea of resurrection is weird enough!"
Bibi Dong: "Different worlds, different rules. It can happen."
Bibi Dong: "So, as for this newcomer, if she can just find that Fire Dragon and kill it, that should do the trick."
Marcille: "That's correct in theory, but the labyrinth is a tangled maze, and we have no clue where to look for the Fire Dragon, which is a living creatureor more like a powerful monster."
Marcille: "Worst of all, adventurers can only carry so much food. Usually, you have to exit the labyrinth before your supplies run out. All of this complicates matters."
Marcille: "We're not sure we can find the Fire Dragon in time."
Frieren: "Sounds like everything is uncertain. Your friend's chance of resurrection looks grim."
""
Marcille's face dimmed. She knew how slim the odds were. But some things must be attempted regardless.
Moments later, her eyes widened at Frieren's next words.
Frieren: "Here's a suggestion: if you're really willing to give up anything for your friend, you should trade with Rei Ao."
Akame: "Yes, Rei Ao-kun can grant your wish."
Marcille: "Huh?"
Rei Ao: "If you want to trade, go for it. I believe you know how trades are done."
Marcille: "I"
In her mind was knowledge about how trading worked.
"So it's like this?"
Suspicious, she tried it out:
[Ding! You have requested a trade with Group Host Rei Ao!]
[Trade Content]: Save my friend Falin!
[Ding! Awaiting trade conditions!]
Within seconds, a new prompt appeared:
[Ding! Trade conditions have been set!]
[Trade Conditions]: 'Black Magic,' 'Elven Magic,' 'Body Usage Rights x1'
[Ding! Confirm this trade?]
"???"
For an instant, Marcille felt confused, then more detailed knowledge about these "conditions" flooded her thoughts.
"Magic knowledge can be traded... even a person's body?"
Marcille: "Youyou really can save Falin? You're not tricking me?"
Rei Ao: "I can promise you, everything I've said is true. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."
Yatogami Tohka: "Rei Ao-kun wouldn't lie."
Izawa Shizue: "Basically, Marcille-san, it's your call to make."
""
Marcille hesitated. If sacrificing all that truly could save Falin, she wouldn't hesitate for an instant. After all, in her eyes, Falin died because of heror so her guilt convinced her. But she still couldn't verify if this was real. What if it was some teleportation trap?
She bit her lip, steeled herself.
"I'll risk it!"
She decided to try.
[Ding! Trade begins!]
[Trade Target]: Marcille
[Trade Content]: Save her friend Falin.
[Trade Conditions]: 'Black Magic,' 'Elven Magic,' 'Body Usage Rights x1'
On Rei Ao's end, seeing the trade info brought a slight smile to his lips. He still hadn't gotten out of bed when he met the gaze of Fujimiya Sumika, who was eyeing him curiously with half-lidded eyes.
"Awake?"
He asked with a smile.
"Mmh."
Sumika blushed, ducking her head. She could still recall the chaos of that "storm" not long ago, her body still worn out.
"Did I wake you?"
"N-no, it wasn't that!"
Fearing misunderstanding, Sumika hastily explained:
"It's the chat group. I saw it. Are you really going to another world now?"
"Yes."
Rei Ao nodded. Running a hand through her hair:
"Sorry for leaving right after we didthat. Feels a bit 'scummy' of me."
"It'sit's fine."
"I know you have important things to do."
She assumed cross-world trading must be serious. Her thoughtfulness delighted Rei Ao. A thought struck him:
"Sumika, want to come along to another world for a bit? There's a labyrinth I bet you'll find interesting."
