After a long internal struggle, Zhong Yan finally gathered his courage, anxiously stepping out of the room and making his way to the hotel lobby facing the main entrance.
There, Ellen, Anby, and Belle had already been waiting for quite some time.
When he appeared, Belle's first instinct was to greet him, but after glancing at the atmosphere, she quickly lowered the hand she had just raised.
Anby silently looked his way. Ellen gave him a brief glance, then turned her head to the side.
Three people, three different reactions. But the one most clearly on edge was Zhong Yan himself.
He had never dreamed that such a surreal scene would play out in real life.
If he'd managed to handle things properly between the three of them earlier, it wouldn't have turned into this mess.
"Um... did you three need something from me?" After a moment of silence, Zhong Yan asked in a small voice. The twitch at the corner of his mouth said more than enough about how nervous he really was.
Ellen responded blandly, "Nothing much. I just wanted to ask when exactly you got involved with these two sneaky cats. Now that they've come knocking themselves, I don't have to waste time looking for them."
Her tone was casual, almost flippant, and with her arms crossed, the arrogance in her posture was unmistakable.
Hearing the words sneaky cats, Anby didn't immediately react—but Belle flared up right away: "Sneaky cat? That's just rude. My relationship with Zhong Yan grew gradually over time. Unlike you—aren't you still in school? Maybe you should focus on your studies."
Clearly upset by Ellen's comment, Belle didn't hold back. Anby nodded in agreement: "Sneaky cat? Sounds more like you're the sneaky cat. You never even showed your face before. You're straight out of one of those movies—the classic nasty side-character. There's no way you'll win."
Nasty side-character... Hearing that one, which was even more ridiculous than sneaky cat, Ellen tilted her head and said, "Seems like you two are feeling pretty confident. Well then, how about we let him decide?"
Letting him decide… that was the very thing Zhong Yan feared most.
"Fine, let's decide. Who's afraid?" Belle nodded, then she and Anby both turned to face Zhong Yan, whose face had gone ghostly pale.
And then, all three of them spoke in unison:
"Zhong Yan, if you had to choose one of us right now... who would it be?"
Zhong Yan was cornered. With the three of them staring him down, he didn't even dare to breathe.
His brain worked overtime for a few seconds—until he came up with a nearly flawless solution:
Just die on the spot.
It was a suicide question. No matter whom he chose, nothing good would come of it. And if he actually said "I want all of you," it'd be game over anyway.
"Zhong Yan, is this that hard?" Belle asked, unable to hold back as she looked at him, still silent.
Ellen and Anby didn't speak, but they clearly shared the same sentiment. Ellen, staying true to character, turned her head away—but kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
Eventually, after a long silence, Zhong Yan slumped slightly and muttered, "I can't do it."
That answer, clearly avoiding picking any of the three, made his intention unmistakable.
Understanding what he meant, Ellen said coldly, "Fine, then that's that."
She turned around and left, heading back to her room.
"Zhong Yan..." After Ellen left, Anby stepped forward and tugged gently on his sleeve. "What I told you before—please remember it. I mean it."
Then she too walked away.
Only Zhong Yan and Belle remained.
Unlike Ellen and Anby, Belle had met Zhong Yan relatively late, and nothing particularly intimate had happened between them yet. Because of that, her sense of competition wasn't as intense—she knew full well she couldn't compare to Ellen or Anby.
"You're not leaving?" Zhong Yan asked, forcing a very awkward smile as he looked at the lingering Belle.
She didn't answer immediately. After a brief pause, she stepped forward and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nope. This is a rare chance to be alone with you. Let's take a walk."
Zhong Yan was a bit surprised by her response, but he figured—why not? There was no way he'd be able to sleep after all that. A walk sounded better.
So the two of them left the hotel and headed to the beach.
The seaside at night was dimly lit. It wasn't pitch-black to the point of not being able to see your hands, but the vast, dark ocean still gave off a looming sense of dread—like staring into an endless abyss.
Fortunately, their focus wasn't on the ocean.
"I really didn't expect this, Zhong Yan. You come off as such an honest guy, but you've got moves, huh? Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover," Belle teased as they strolled along the water.
Zhong Yan didn't know how to respond. He simply stayed silent.
Belle didn't mind. She just kept talking. "So, you've known those two longer than me, right?"
That lightened the mood a bit. Zhong Yan nodded. "Yeah. I met Ellen at the start of this term. As for Anby... about half a month after that."
When he first arrived in this world, Zhong Yan didn't even have a penny to his name. He couldn't afford to eat. If he hadn't learned about the world through games—and had rock-solid skills to back him up—he'd probably still be wandering the streets.
"And what about me? How do you see me? In your heart, I'm probably nowhere near as important as the other two, huh?" Belle said. Despite the painful implication in her words, she spoke lightly, almost cheerfully.
That made Zhong Yan wonder if she was hiding her real feelings.
Even with the Sharingan activated, he wouldn't be able to read someone's heart. Just like he still didn't know how to navigate the tangled web between the three of them.
"That's... hard to say. Because all three of you—are people I could never let go of... just chalk that up as me being a classic scumbag, I guess." Zhong Yan let out a bitter laugh.
Belle didn't say anything more. She just continued walking beside him, occasionally glancing in his direction.
She, too, had feelings she was quietly sorting through.
Those feelings eventually crystallized into one single thought.
"When will I get to take that next step with you?"