He didn't need to look back. The heavy, solid weight settling onto his shoulders told Royomaru exactly who was behind him.
In truth, he'd guessed it was Shizuka Marikawa the moment he heard the footsteps outside the door. Phantom Realm players moved with light, steady, rhythmic steps. Only an ordinary person like her would have such heavy, unsteady footfalls.
That was precisely why he hadn't bothered to dodge the sudden embrace.
"Little Ye…" Shizuka's voice, thick with an unusual, drowsy sweetness unlike her usual tone, murmured close to his ear. Her pale arms, still dotted with water droplets, slid over his shoulders, and she nuzzled her cheek against his hair.
Royomaru started to speak but paused, his nose twitching slightly. "Sensei, have you been drinking?"
"Mmm-hmm…" she breathed, her warm breath tickling his ear, a mix of shampoo and faint hops scenting the air. "Cold beer after a bath… Isn't that just common sense?"
A mature woman's three joys: beer, baths, and young prey. Royomaru thought wryly. Truly an anime trope. A resigned smile touched his lips as he suddenly recalled Ross entering the room earlier:
—"Hey, Ye Yan, want one? This family's fridge didn't have much, but plenty of beer. Kinda light, but packs a punch…"
So that's where this gal-game style flag was planted. Makes perfect sense. Almost as meticulously set up as one of that author Feng Shangren's signature borderline scenes.
"Eek—!" A sudden loss of balance made Shizuka cry out softly as she tipped sideways. Royomaru instinctively shot out a hand to grab her, but missed her arm.
Well, not entirely. His fingers closed on something else—the towel wrapped around her.
There she lay, sprawled across the pearl-gray silk sheets like a Renaissance masterpiece. Her long, damp hair fanned out like a waterfall of spun gold. Her skin, smooth and luminous as polished jade, flushed a delicate, enticing pink. Her lovely face held an expression of startled confusion mixed with shyness, rendered utterly captivating in the flickering glow of the yellow candlelight.
"Mm…" Shizuka blinked slowly, looking down at the twin peaks of Mount Everest now fully exposed before her. She seemed to process the view for a few stunned seconds before hastily covering her strategic assets with both hands. She puffed out her cheeks, her gaze growing hazy. "Little Ye… you're such a pervert…"
Royomaru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He grabbed the nearby comforter and flung it over her, mercifully obscuring the breathtaking view. "Sensei, it's late. You should go back to your own room to sleep."
His calm response wasn't born of some saintly self-control. He simply didn't want to jeopardize his mission over a moment of impulse. In a past life, he'd read an analysis by an Explorer detailing the core personalities of the main characters within the Highschool of the Dead Phantom Realm. Shizuka Marikawa had warranted significant attention.
Her natural airheadedness made her affection points remarkably easy to raise early on. Simply keeping her safe and protected seemed to steadily increase her goodwill. Yet, that same inherent obliviousness acted as a double-edged sword. It made it incredibly difficult for her to develop feelings that went beyond deep friendship.
Under normal circumstances, players could only push Shizuka's affection to around 80 points—the "bosom friend" level. After that, no matter the effort, breaking through that plateau proved nearly impossible. Given the Phantom Realm's rule that no NPC affection was truly capped at less than 100, the Explorer had theorized that breaching Shizuka's 80-point barrier likely required triggering a specific event.
The prime candidate was the scene from the original story: Shizuka getting drunk after bathing in Rika Minami's villa. The lore established her habit of drinking beer, coupled with an extremely low tolerance and notoriously poor behavior when intoxicated—becoming bold, uninhibited, and intensely clingy towards those she favored.
But to interpret this behavior as hidden desire, as an invitation, would be a critical error. Countless players, lured by that assumption, had taken advantage during the drunken scene. While Shizuka might have seemed normal the next day, a subtle coolness would enter her demeanor, her affection visibly plummeting back to "casual acquaintance" levels.
So, trying to "go all the way" to break the barrier was clearly counterproductive. (Those who understood the pun could go stand in the corner now.)
Strangely, however, doing nothing during the drunken episode didn't yield a significant affection boost either. At best, she might become more prone to oblivious displays of "generosity" around the player, but the relationship remained frustratingly stagnant. This paradox had earned Shizuka Marikawa a place on the Explorer Guild's official list of "Hardest Female NPCs to Romance in the Phantom Realms." Even by the time of Royomaru's rebirth, rumors of anyone successfully maxing her affection were non-existent.
Well, I've got time to kill, Royomaru mused. Might as well see if I can actually crack the Shizuka Marikawa code.
"You're so mean, Little Ye…" Shizuka whimpered, clutching the comforter to her chest. Her bare shoulders trembled slightly, and tears welled up instantly in her eyes. "I don't wanna sleep out there… I'm scared… I wanna sleep… right… here…"
Her words trailed off mid-sentence. Her head lolled to one side, and she was asleep—just like that, sitting up. The comforter she held slowly slid down, catching perfectly on the summits of her twin peaks, making the deep valley between them seem even more profoundly alluring.
"Still really tempting to just go for it…" Royomaru muttered with a rueful shake of his head. He gently lowered the sleeping Shizuka onto the bed. Sitting on the edge, he stared into the middle distance, contemplating life, ideals, and the sheer absurdity of the situation. It took a considerable effort of will before he finally managed to stand up.
He descended the stairs quietly. Peeking into the first-floor bedrooms confirmed both Saffi and Ross were also asleep. Only then did he tiptoe to the front entrance, eased the door open, and slipped out into the night.
Darkness was the domain of the dead. The soft click of the apartment door closing echoed with unnatural loudness in the silent street. A dozen or so nearby Ghouls, stirred by the sound, slowly pivoted and began shambling towards the disturbance.
Swish—! Swish-swish—!
Silver blade light flashed like a sudden gale. In the space of a breath, the street was still once more, the silence reclaiming its territory.
"Guess I really am better off alone…" Royomaru murmured to himself. Free from the constraints of companions needing protection, he could finally unleash his full potential, no longer forced to meticulously ration every ounce of stamina.