Fujiwara Chika had never been this nervous before.
She even felt that, compared to the dangerous moments she had experienced inside the caves of Red Nut Grey Cave, she had never been as nervous as she was now.
Splash—
Hot water poured rapidly from the showerhead, striking the floor and producing a dull sound.
The girl slowly stepped forward and stood beneath the showerhead like this, letting the warm stream of water soak her body.
Thump—
The beating of her heart became exceptionally clear.
Fujiwara Chika felt that her face seemed to be heating up, so hot that even the originally warm water began to feel cold.
As for why this was happening, that was, of course, because at this very moment there was a man standing behind her—a man who had fought side by side with her not long ago while exploring the rules of Horror Story, and who was now sharing the same room with her in a state that could be described as frank and unguarded.
Thump—
Such an intense heartbeat really made it impossible to calm down.
Ugh, how did it end up like this?
She had clearly managed, with great difficulty, to successfully move to a new area using that yellow-and-white striped outfit, yet before she could even figure anything out, she was forced to stay in the same stall and take a shower together with a man—wasn't this just too much?!
"Are you done rinsing?"
Takumi's voice suddenly came from behind her.
"Eh?!"
Startled, Chika almost jumped in place.
"Are you done rinsing? We only have 15 minutes. Both of us have to complete the shower step, otherwise we might be attacked."
Takumi's voice rang out once again. It was extremely calm, without the slightest hint of improper intent.
"Mm… mm, I-I'm done rinsing. Takumi-kun, you can come over now…"
Extremely tense, Chika shrank her body and inched step by step out of the range of the showerhead.
From the corner of her vision, she could see Takumi, with his back turned to her, walking over. The two of them faced the wall and circled past each other back to back, using this method to ensure that they would not see each other's bodies, so as to avoid making Chika feel shy and awkward.
Even so, the girl was already feeling very embarrassed.
That said, this guy's physique is actually pretty good.
Before taking off their clothes, the two of them had already agreed that neither would turn around to sneak a look. However, Fujiwara Chika had never been particularly trustworthy when it came to agreements that did not involve life-or-death safety or important secrets, and so in reality she had already stolen several glances at Takumi since earlier.
Although his back muscles could not compare to those of professional bodybuilders, the powerful curves were still very clearly visible.
The contours of his arms were also quite astonishing. It felt as though every single muscle had been trained to exactly the right degree, to the point that it hardly seemed like the result of exercise at all, but rather as if some kind of superpower had been directly applied to his body, granting him strength that covered every muscle from head to toe and maintained it at a perfectly balanced level.
And his butt also seemed to be rather big…
Smack!
Realizing where her gaze had unintentionally drifted, Chika raised her hand and slapped her own face.
"What's wrong?"
Takumi, who was washing his hair quickly, could not help but ask when he heard the sound.
"N-nothing…"
Chika said softly, already guiltily turning her head away, though in her mind she could not help but begin recalling what she had just seen.
Of the fifteen minutes allotted for the shower, about five minutes had already passed.
Setting aside the girl's sense of embarrassment inside the shower room for the moment, at the same time, in another place, there were two people who were watching all of this unfold, and their emotions were also surging violently.
Shinomiya Kaguya felt that she had arrived at a new continent.
A man and a woman bathing together—such a thing was truly shameless. However, given that this was a special situation forced by circumstances, she did not say anything about it.
But… but… could a boy's body actually undergo changes like this?
Born into the extremely traditional and conservative Shinomiya financial conglomerate, which adhered to feudal-era male-dominance principles, the beautiful Shinomiya Kaguya had been like a canary kept in a cage from the moment she was born, completely ignorant of many kinds of knowledge. She did not even know anything about things like a "first experience," and her understanding of physiological matters remained entirely at the level of "children are not brought by storks" and "on the night after marriage, everything is handed over to the man."
Therefore, the most direct feeling in the girl's heart at this moment was that she had seen a monster.
What on earth was that thing?!
It was completely different from the babies or small children she had seen before. This was already something at the level of a parasite, wasn't it? And not just any parasite, but one at the level of a prehistoric organism—a massive parasite that was almost impossible to see in modern times.
She raised her hands, covering her face and covering her eyes.
Having suffered a tremendous shock, the girl did not dare to look again.
But it also seemed like she wanted to look again.
So Kaguya slightly loosened her fingers, opening a small gap.
"Ugh…"
Once again, she suffered a tremendous shock.
She closed the gaps between her fingers.
But she still wanted to take another look.
So the gaps between her fingers opened again.
"Ugh…"
And so another shock came crashing in.
At this moment, Shinomiya Kaguya was unable, no matter what, to maintain her usual cold demeanor. She could only do her utmost to restrain her reactions, to avoid drawing the attention of her companion beside her.
Although, even if she really did show a loss of composure, the other person next to her would not notice anyway.
Shijō Maki.
This girl, who had come together with Kaguya to check the surveillance, had already clenched her fists tightly.
What is this supposed to be?
Eyes widened, the girl stared fixedly at the monitor, watching Fujiwara Chika, whose figure looked full-bodied, shyly covering herself, occasionally turning her head to secretly peek at the man behind her.
As for Takumi, who never turned around and remained honestly facing away from Chika the entire time, although Maki also wanted to pay him some attention, the girl—who had likewise been frightened by the "monster"—still did not quite dare to shift her gaze back.
But this woman.
This girl who, for some unknown reason, was in the same shower room as Takumi.
That expression—she's in heat, right?
Dark emotions had already filled Shijō Maki's pupils.
That expression is definitely being in heat, right?
If this were a 2D world, black streams of aura would probably already be rising from the girl's body at this moment.
She turned back again—she's secretly turning back to look at Takumi again.
And she's even wriggling her body, deliberately raising her hand to cover her eyes. Who is she performing for?
She must be thinking about something obscene in her head, her heart racing as she indulges in some imagined romance, or perhaps even outright unspeakable, lewd things, right?
Even though she is clearly still inside a terrifying Horror Story game where a single misstep could mean death, her mind has already left all serious matters behind, scattering all kinds of desires in her head. Maybe because of some suspension bridge effect or something, she already wants to offer herself up, already can't help wanting to push the other person down directly. Such, such, such a shameless person—I absolutely won't let this go—
Beep, beep!
Accompanied by a crisp sound.
Only then did the two girls notice that this round of shower time had already ended. The two people inside the bathroom had already put on clean yellow-and-white striped uniforms, and were now leaving the shower room together, heading toward the personnel lounge.
"Hah…"
Taking a deep breath, Shijō Maki subconsciously moved to walk out of the room directly to look for Takumi.
However, before that could happen, Kaguya had already reached out and grabbed her.
"It's already time for us to go to the research area. At this point, we can't go over anymore—we can only wait for the next round of actions."
After the overly stimulating scene of shared bathing ended, Shinomiya Kaguya quickly recovered her composure and grabbed Shijō Maki to persuade her.
Kaguya had been able to switch identities and come out from the personnel lounge because Shijō Maki had seized a brief gap after the Explorers returned, when the security personnel left, to infiltrate the area, subdue a researcher, and place the researcher uniform and the rule sheet inside the room. But now there was no longer such an opportunity. Takumi and Fujiwara Chika had appeared suddenly and, inexplicably, the two of them together had replaced the previously played c3 Explorer. As researchers, Kaguya and Maki could at most observe the shower area; they could no longer enter the personnel lounge area guarded by soldiers.
Equally aware of all this, Maki remained silent and did not respond to Kaguya, only slowly coming to a stop.
"What was that… I even worried myself sick…"
The girl's voice carried a hint of something unusual.
"Maki-san, you—are you crying?"
Catching the oddness in her voice, Kaguya could not help but show a shocked expression and stepped a little closer.
"Who's crying? I'm just a bit irritated, that's all."
The girl raised her head. There were clearly tears in her eyes, yet she still spoke through clenched teeth. With an indignant expression, she walked to the door and reached out to pull it open.
And then she saw the blood-colored cloth doll lying outside the door.
Startled for a moment, Maki immediately realized that this was the Blood Puppet, the Obsession Item Takumi had been controlling and had sent to find them. She squatted down and picked up the doll, and then noticed that beneath it was a note that looked as though it had been hastily written.
[Sorry it took me so long to find you. Are you okay right now?]
[I'll do my best to find a way to regroup and to find a way to clear this instance. Hang in there.]
The handwriting was crooked and very ugly, and a few of the words were even written incorrectly. There was no telling when he had written these notes.
"What is this supposed to be? Do you think doing this makes you seem very considerate?"
Maki muttered softly, glaring fiercely at the doll in her hand. Even so, she still carefully put away the note.
Her mood was still very unsettled.
However, it seemed to have improved just a little.
Carrying the doll with her, the girl walked toward another area of the base.
Meanwhile, in another narrow room that contained only a single bed, Fujiwara Chika and Takumi—one sitting on the bed and the other standing by the wall—both wore expressions that looked somewhat awkward.
According to the next set of instructions, the two of them had to spend twelve hours in this small room, and would only be able to temporarily leave once the next round of exploration actions was about to begin.
In other words, a lone man and a lone woman sharing the same room.
The girl sitting on the single bed slightly drew in her body. Her thin clothing was completely unable to conceal her graceful figure.
Takumi did his best to remain calm, yet in his heart he could not help but sigh that this trial seemed, to some extent, excessively harsh.
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