Bai Yuze meticulously inspected the clock, and after ensuring he hadn't missed any information, he walked towards room 106, preparing to push open the wooden door.
Just as his hand was about to touch the door of 106, the wooden door of 101 opened first.
Yui Yuigahama peeked her small head out, and after seeing Bai Yuze, she gestured for him to come over.
Bai Yuze paused, then withdrew his hand, hugged the clock, and walked towards room 101.
Currently, the time in the house was daytime, so Bai Yuze wasn't worried about anything terrible suddenly happening.
He walked in front of Yui Yuigahama, displaying a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong?"
Yui Yuigahama looked at Bai Yuze, then haltingly asked a question.
"Um... May I ask what your name is...?"
"Name? My surname is Bai, my given name is Yuze. And you?"
Because Bai Yuze knew these characters from the books in his previous life, he subconsciously skipped the self-introduction part.
"My name is Yui Yuigahama. Hello, Xiao Ze!"
Tuanzi showed a bright smile; although the current environment wasn't suitable for smiling, Tuanzi's smile still gave Bai Yuze some comfort.
"Hello... But what's with 'Xiao Ze'?"
Bai Yuze didn't particularly mind how others addressed him, but why specifically add a 'Xiao'?
To this question, Tuanzi just gave a silly smile, then pulled Bai Yuze into room 101.
"Ehehe, this is Xiao Xue! Yukinoshita Yukino. Xiao Xue, he's Bai Yuze!"
Tuanzi acted as a social butterfly between Bai Yuze and Yukino, but Bai Yuze wanted to say,
Tuanzi, she arrived before you!
"Yes, I've heard of her."
Bai Yuze nodded, and seeing Bai Yuze's response, Tuanzi and Yukino didn't say much more. After all, the Xuezhixia Family had a bit of a reputation in Chiba, so the two girls assumed Bai Yuze also lived in Chiba.
"You just said you have three scratches on your wrist? Can I see them?"
Yukino, standing by, asked Bai Yuze, and Bai Yuze, seeing this, generously showed his wrist.
"Ah! Such deep marks! Xiao Ze, do you have any self-harming tendencies?"
"Idiot, I haven't lived enough yet. How could I do something like that?"
Bai Yuze glared at Youbihama; 'big chest, no brains' was now concretized in Bai Yuze's mind.
Seemingly sensing Bai Yuze's gaze, Youbihama subconsciously covered her chest and retreated a few steps.
"Heh, can only say, as expected of Mr. Kidnapper, whose audacity knows no bounds? Even at this point, your mind isn't rid of its dirty thoughts. Your existence is somewhat threatening our personal safety."
Yukino's sharp tongue activated, and Bai Yuze retorted without hesitation.
"Don't worry, if I were to go wild, you'd definitely be the safest one, after all, I'm not interested in titanium alloy steel plates."
"You!"
Bai Yuze's words slightly angered Yukino, but now was not the time to argue. Youbihama quickly interjected to smooth things over.
"Ahaha, Xiao Ze, say less. Xiao Xue, you too. We need to unite to escape from here!"
Youbihama's words silenced the two. Indeed, the current situation was that an extra person meant extra strength, and there was no reason for them to argue.
Yukino was a bit puzzled; although she had a sharp tongue, she didn't just spray everyone, but just now, she couldn't help but blurt it out.
Bai Yuze also recalled his own abnormality. He believed his emotional self-control was good, but just now, he couldn't help but retort. The situation was truly bizarre.
Is there something here affecting emotions?
"Wait, I have a theory!"
Bai Yuze suddenly exclaimed, then he told the two girls what had just happened, and also stated his guess.
Bai Yuze pulled out Youbihama's phone, and the time on it still showed 21:30.
"Erm... are you saying this clock can control time?"
Youbihama looked curiously at the clock in Bai Yuze's hand.
"That's right, the note on the clock says 'want to stop time'. So when I adjusted the clock's time, the time inside the house changed, but the outside time remained paused.
Currently, the house is in a safe daytime state, but our routine is based on external time, so according to the current external time, we should rest.
And the rules also reminded us that even if we don't rest, we must stay in our own rooms. So now we need to return to the rooms where we first woke up."
"Ah? Really? Can't we not go back...?"
Youbihama asked weakly, after all, there was a corpse in her original room, and having a corpse as a roommate was a bit too strange...
"I'm afraid not." Yukino sighed. "Violating the rules will result in punishment. Just now, it was just emotional instability; who knows what will happen if it goes on for too long!"
"Okay... okay..."
Youbihama replied dejectedly. She hadn't held much hope anyway, just trying to struggle a bit...
Seeing this, Bai Yuze put the phone into Youbihama's hand.
"You take the phone. When the time changes to morning, you immediately come find us. As for how long until it's morning..."
Bai Yuze glanced at the clock.
"Just come at nine in the morning."
...
The scene shifted, and the three returned to their original rooms. Bai Yuze's deduction was also confirmed; as soon as he returned to 104, he felt his restless heart instantly calm down.
That feeling was like "home."
"You go to sleep first, I'll stand guard here."
Bai Yuze said to Yukino. He looked at the light in the room and fell into thought.
(The lights in the room won't turn off like the hallway outside? Heh, this really does feel a bit like home, after all, only at home can one be so willful!)
"I'm not sleepy yet. Thank you for telling us those rules."
Yukino shook her head and thanked Bai Yuze. The more dangerous and unfamiliar the environment, the more valuable such information sharing was.
"It's nothing, just a small effort. After all, in the current situation, only by helping each other can we survive. An extra person means an extra belief."
Bai Yuze was actually lying. In some situations, he wouldn't think that an extra person meant extra strength; instead, he'd think an extra person meant an extra mouth to feed.
The reason he trusted Yukino and Tuanzi was because he knew them from his previous life, so he could share information with them without reservation.
"I also have scars on my body."
Yukino replied faintly.
"It's just that they're not as severe as your wounds. I have unexplained bruise marks on my body."
"What about Youbihama?"
"Yui Yuigahama has large areas of burn marks on her body, and some... I'm not quite sure."
"Not quite sure? Why?"
Bai Yuze was a bit puzzled, but when he saw Yukino's gaze fixed on him, he instantly understood.
"Ahem, that's really strange."
Bai Yuze clumsily changed the subject, while also glancing at his left hand.
(Do I have that much strength in my left hand?)