"Mm, sweet and tangy."
Suou Yuki licked the corner of her lips with her small tongue and nodded in satisfaction.
The girl looked up and was surprised to see the odd expression on Kuzeha Yuu's face.
A slight blush crept across her delicate features, but she still spoke boldly.
"What's wrong, bro? Did you get turned on?"
Kuzeha Yuu promptly flicked her forehead with a scowl.
Well… technically, he did react.
But it was the system.
[Ability Entry Triggered!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained a Purple Entry: Giant Tongue Lash!]
[Giant Tongue Lash]: When attacking with the tongue, it causes violent spasms and loss of strength!
Kuzeha Yuu internally swore.
He wasn't Tahm Kench—how the hell was he supposed to fight using his tongue?
He could only imagine… extremely questionable uses for this entry.
Then he remembered: the trigger mechanism for entries also seemed to involve intense emotional fluctuations from the other party.
He looked down at Suou Yuki, genuinely tempted to ask what exactly she had been thinking about.
Their eyes met.
Yuki felt guilty under his gaze and quickly looked away.
"What? If you want to lick it back, I still have more ketchup, you know…"
Changing the topic with a smirk, she tried to deflect.
Kuzeha Yuu sighed.
The number of students around the infirmary was growing. No way he'd mess around in public like that.
Otherwise, he would've definitely let this little minx feel the full force of that purple entry.
Yuki let out a quiet giggle, proud of herself.
Then she couldn't resist teasing him further.
"Don't worry, big bro. Dr. Shizuka Marikawa is an expert in orthopedics, she could treat your 'bone problem' just fine… ow!"
Before she could finish, Kuzeha Yuu landed a solid flick on her forehead again.
...
Raizen Middle School, opening ceremony.
New students below the stage stared wide-eyed at the third-year student reading the speech up front.
"She's so cute!"
"I think her name is Itsuka Kotori?"
"To be chosen to speak as a student rep, she must be an elite!"
The newly enrolled students looked up to Kotori with admiration and fondness.
Meanwhile, the older students nearby just shook their heads in complex silence.
"They're still too young…"
"Calling Kotori a model student? Seriously?"
"If skipping, being late, and only showing up three times a week makes someone elite, then what are we?"
"Her grades are great, sure. But since when did good grades mean you could do whatever you want?"
"Damn the school board…"
On the stage, Itsuka Kotori lazily read through her speech.
To her, being a student rep meant nothing.
The only reason she studied hard was so she could get into Sobu High.
To be at the same school as Kuzeha Yuu.
At that moment, a voice came through the earpiece hidden in her ear.
"Emergency! A spatial quake just occurred at Sobu High!"
"WHAT?!"
Kotori's lazy expression vanished instantly. She slammed her hands on the podium.
Everyone in the audience jumped in shock.
And before they could even process what was happening, the student rep threw down her speech and leapt off the stage.
"Kotori, wait—!"
A female teacher called out, only to watch her disappear from view.
Meanwhile—
High above, aboard the invisible aerial warship Fraxinus…
A pale-skinned, ever-drowsy older woman listened to the feed and responded slowly through her mic.
"Relax, Commander. Kuzeha Yuu's fine."
"The spatial quake vanished right as it began."
Kotori, having just rushed out of the auditorium, immediately let out a sigh of relief.
But then she slowed down, frowning slightly at what she'd just heard.
"The quake vanished?"
"Reine, has anything like this happened before?"
Murasame Reine narrowed her always-sleepy eyes.
"No."
"I'm coming over."
"What about school—"
"Not important!"
"Pull the footage from Sobu High's surveillance. I want to check on Yuu's condition… also, prioritize analyzing the cause of the spatial quake's disappearance."
...
Sobu High.
Half an hour later, once the all-clear announcement was made, students and teachers in the shelter finally exhaled.
To be safe, the school held everyone in the shelter for another thirty minutes before organizing an orderly return to classrooms.
Back in their rooms, students slowly began recovering from the earlier panic.
"Kuzeha-kun, are you… really that close with Suou-san?"
Alisa hesitated for a moment, then asked with a conflicted look.
"We grew up together… childhood friends, I guess."
Kuzeha Yuu casually replied, echoing the setting Suou Yuki liked to use.
"Childhood friends…"
In school, Suou Yuki was always the perfect, elegant ojou-sama.
But the intimacy she showed Kuzeha Yuu earlier went way beyond that of any normal childhood friends.
Alisa lowered her head slightly, a strong sense of crisis rising in her heart.
Kuzeha Yuu didn't respond to her further. News about the spatial quake had begun to spread.
He was busy replying to all the messages he'd received.
Editors from major light novel labels, housewives from the neighborhood, big sisters who'd left the orphanage, and—of course—his many younger "sisters"…
One by one, he sent out messages to let them know he was safe.
After that, he finally put down his phone.
Suddenly, he recalled something important.
To most people, spatial quakes were inexplicable natural disasters.
But Kuzeha Yuu knew the truth.
Spatial quakes were shockwaves triggered by Spirits moving between dimensions.
Except in very rare cases, spatial quakes always meant a Spirit had appeared.
Yet he hadn't seen any trace of one this time.
"Could it be…"
Kuzeha Yuu raised a brow, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
"Did the Spirit… also get sucked into my Imaginary Space?"