He took off his completely soaked clothes and wiped the water droplets from his body with tissues from the supply box.
Clad only in his boxer shorts, Gao Hai moved around a bit, stretching his waist, hopping in place a couple of times, and doing some basic stretches before drinking a few sips of water.
The clothes, drenched in boiling water by the power of the curse, were now hanging on a makeshift wire rack in the kitchen, with a lit stove underneath. Gao Hai used this method to dry them as quickly as possible, lest he have to move around in soaking wet clothes when it was time for action in a few hours.
Honestly, Gao Hai still felt a bit nervous and uneasy deep down, still filled with worry and anxiety.
The hand on his magical yet eerie black watch had already reached the number 3. He had only 9 resets left—no, considering Maki's presence, he would definitely want her to retain her memories, which meant he had fewer than 5 resets available. And this round of operations had basically made it clear that there was only one chance to clear the game per loop. Therefore, he had to give it his all and end everything in this single attempt.
"Huuuh..."
Gao Hai took several deep breaths in a row, doing his best to calm his emotions and clear his mind, ensuring he could face the upcoming challenges in his best mental state.
All along, Gao Hai had considered himself just an ordinary person.
Although he was handsome and dashing, and his physique, while not on par with a bodybuilding star, was still well-defined. Despite being an orphan who had to support himself right after high school, he had managed to achieve a comfortable life through writing and some other small skills, and now he had even entered a rules-based horror stories death game... Hmm, alright, maybe he was quite un-ordinary after all.
"Maki Shijo, Kaguya Shinomiya, hmm..."
Two beautiful girls from a 2D world with an APP of 92—the kind of beauties that would make players in a tabletop RPG first wonder if they were even human—had become his teammates, working together with him. He even got the former's first kiss.
Recalling the four days he had spent in the Shirakawa Apartments across three loops, Gao Hai couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
It was a pity he was on the verge of death at the time and couldn't properly savor the taste of that kiss.
If possible, I'd really like to do it again.
Wait a minute, why do I feel like I've suddenly become one of those older brother characters who's about to be written out of the story? The type who gets a solo scene to reminisce about their youth right before the final battle—a standard character who's guaranteed to die?
No, no, I can't set this flag. I'm a man who's going to be the harem king of the 2D world! I can't stop here, I absolutely can't stop here!
Thump—
Just as his mind started to run wild because he had nothing to do for the moment, Gao Hai heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
"Hai-kun, are you in the room?"
Accompanied by the creak of a door, Maki Shijo opened the living room door, which had been repaired and sealed by Sun Dajun, and peeked inside. Then she saw Gao Hai, wearing only his boxers, standing in the room with his back to her, turning his head to look over.
"You-you-you—what are you doing? Why aren't you wearing any clothes!?"
Startled, Maki slammed the door shut almost immediately and started shouting from the hallway in a fluster.
"I am wearing clothes, you know. Why do you make it sound like I'm wearing nothing at all?"
Inside the room, Gao Hai scratched his head and spoke in a completely innocent tone.
"What's the difference between that and being naked? I'll report you for harassment, you jerk."
Even without seeing Maki's face, Gao Hai could imagine her exasperated expression as she stood outside the door.
"See, this is what I'm talking about. When a boy sees a girl undressed, the boy is harassing her. When a girl sees a boy undressed, the boy is still harassing her. That's gender discrimination, isn't it? I'm shivering with anger. When will this world ever be kinder to boys?"
Gao Hai crossed his arms and let out a long sigh, which made Maki, outside the room, clench her fists.
"What are you talking about? Saying things like that only proves that Hai-kun is a dummy who doesn't know how to be considerate of girls. Saying that will only lose you points. If my impression score for you was 100, that sentence alone would lose you 40 points, leaving you with just a passing grade of 60. Hmph!"
Maki's annoyed voice quickly came from outside the door.
Adding a 'hmph' at the end of her sentence really hammered home that 2D anime feel.
"So a girl's score fluctuates that easily? In my case, though, my impression score for Maki is quite high, around thirty thousand points or so,"
Gao Hai, while musing on Maki's personality, deliberately dragged out his words. As expected, he then heard the sound of stomping feet from the hallway.
"Wh-who cares about your thirty thousand points, you commoner! I'm the eldest daughter of the Shijo family, you know, destined to stand at the top. Thirty thousand points... hmph, thirty thousand points... f-fine, your impression score with me has gone back up to 80. A 'good' rating, I guess. You're not getting any higher than that."
Just from her voice, he could picture the girl outside stomping her foot while muttering to herself.
Gao Hai had to admit, although people said every year that the tsundere archetype was out of the meta, a genuine, well-developed, and cute tsundere personality—not the trashy, ill-mannered kind used as filler in low-effort harem stories—had never truly left the meta.
Creaak—
While Gao Hai was briefly lost in Maki's tsundere remarks, the girl outside quietly opened the door again and peeked inside. This time, she saw Gao Hai facing her, arms crossed over his sturdy torso, still wearing only his boxers.
"Why haven't you put on your clothes yet..."
The girl instantly shut the door again with a shout.
"Hold on, all my clothes are soaked. I have no choice but to be like this for now, okay?"
Gao Hai sighed, a bit helplessly.
"Soaked? Why? Oh... is that curse still active? Are you okay? Why didn't you say so earlier? I almost thought you were some kind of pervert with a special fetish..."
Realizing the situation wasn't what she had imagined, Maki opened the door almost immediately and walked in, the worried expression on her face completely undisguised.
Only then did she notice that Gao Hai's body was covered in scald marks of various sizes. Although they weren't as severe as in the last loop, they were still quite frightening. Without a moment's hesitation, she turned to the supply box in the room, took out all the disinfectant iodine and bandages, and strode over to Gao Hai.
"Turn around. Sit down."
The girl's aura was surprisingly commanding at that moment, her expression stern.
Gao Hai said nothing, obediently turning around and sitting down, allowing Maki to apply medicine and bandages to his wounds.
The room fell silent.
With a serious expression, the girl carefully disinfected Gao Hai's wounds before wrapping them with bandages.
Gao Hai kept his eyes closed and didn't move, quietly feeling the touch of the girl's fingers and the cotton swab on his skin.
"Why didn't you explain from the start?"
In the end, it was Maki who couldn't bear the silence and broke it, asking in a low voice.
"Telling you would just make you worry, right? It's not a big deal this time, anyway. But you and Shinomiya... you're both starting to feel it now, aren't you?"
Gao Hai let out a low chuckle, but his voice quickly turned serious.
"...Yeah, about that. It's true. Although we haven't actually seen anything yet, we can already feel it."
Maki nodded slightly, not choosing to deny it.
Having explored Room 304, attracted the attention of the anomaly within, and gathered a pile of information and clues, Maki Shijo and Kaguya Shinomiya now knew about the core anomaly of the Shirakawa Apartments to a certain extent. Like Gao Hai, they were beginning to draw its attention.
Even though nothing had truly appeared before her eyes yet, Maki could definitely, faintly feel something watching her.
Because of this, the risks and dangers that Maki and Kaguya would have to face on the third day were now no less than Gao Hai's.
"No, that's not the point. Stop trying to distract me, you."
The next moment, Maki reached out and tapped him on the back.
"If you're hurt, just say so. It's not like we're busy right now; I could have come over to help with the bandages."
"The crucial, final battle is coming up. No matter what, all of us need to be in our best condition."
"Don't you dare hide away by yourself like this again. Can't you discuss things with me? Or do you think I'm not reliable enough?"
The girl's displeased tone, and the concern within her words, made Gao Hai feel a warmth spreading through his heart.
"If you keep caring about me like this, I might confess to you, you know, Miss Maki."
He smiled and joked, turning his head to face Maki directly.
"What? Confessing after knowing someone for just a few days? That's something only a very shallow man would do."
Maki's face flushed at Gao Hai's words, but her composure remained unshaken as she immediately retorted with righteous indignation.
"It may have only been a few days, but we've shared life-and-death situations and gone through many trials together. Other couples couldn't experience this much even if they dated for a year. So in terms of emotional depth, I believe we're already equivalent to having known each other for a year."
The cheerful curve of Gao Hai's lips became more pronounced, and his words grew a little bolder.
In a sense, he was getting a better grasp of the boundaries of his interactions with Maki, and Maki, in turn, was becoming more familiar with Gao Hai's personality. The polite, distant boundaries of ordinary friends were gradually no longer necessary between them.
"That line is so lame. You sound exactly like a playboy trying to pick up girls."
Maki shot him a contemptuous look.
"Ah, do you have to think of it that way? I'm going to be really hurt, you know."
Gao Hai immediately put on a somewhat exaggerated reaction.
"It's just super lame. And who calculates things that way? A couple... Hmph, let's talk about it after we get out of here. For now, let's focus on the present. If we can successfully leave this apartment, maybe I'll actually listen to whatever unreasonable demands you have. O-okay, the bandaging is done. I should go."
Maki muttered, averting her gaze slightly. Her flushed little face looked even cuter in the dim light.
Gao Hai was a bit mesmerized for a moment. He couldn't help but feel that compared to the terrifying and bizarre anomalies, this kind of pure, girlish reaction had a much stronger impact on him.
And so, as Maki stood up to leave, he grabbed her wrist.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Not expecting Gao Hai to do this, Maki asked in a bit of a panic.
"I don't want to wait for 'after we get out.' Situations like 'let's talk about it later' always run into all sorts of problems when it's time to follow through. So, let's talk about it right here."
Taking a deep breath, Gao Hai pulled gently, making Maki sit back down in front of him.
"T-talk about what? Now's not the time to talk about this kind of thing..."
Maki's cheeks turned even redder, and her voice became a few shades softer. She struggled with her hand, yet it seemed she couldn't bring herself to truly pull away from Gao Hai's grasp.
"To me, you are extremely important, Maki. From the first loop when you saved my life, to the second loop when you supported me, and now, being able to see you here with your past memories intact, to see you remember the struggles we went through together. You, like this, are incredibly important to me, so I hope you'll listen carefully to what I have to say."
Gao Hai's expression grew more and more serious.
"Th-this, no, Hai-kun, you..."
Maki's face got redder and redder, her voice trembled more and more, and she found it increasingly difficult to meet Gao Hai's gaze.
Her heart began to pound violently.
And Gao Hai, sitting across from her, wore an unprecedentedly serious expression.
Although he always daydreamed about things like becoming the harem king of the 2D world, Gao Hai had to admit that during his time in this hellish place, everything this lovely girl had done for him had deeply shaken his heart.
If she was willing to acknowledge him here, to believe in him here, to choose him, Gao Hai felt that maybe he would tie his entire life to this girl.
At least in this moment, he seriously had that thought. Because in his eyes, a girl like her was worth protecting for a lifetime.
So, he wanted to tell her. Even if they failed in the end and couldn't make it out of the Shirakawa Apartments, he still wanted to tell her, to let her know his feelings for her, what he wanted to say—
Clatter—
Before Gao Hai could get the words out, Maki suddenly wrenched her hand free, scrambled up from the floor in a panic, and bolted out the door.
"I-I'm going to ask Auntie if she's ready. Hai-kun, you, you-you-you should get some rest too! Okay, that's all!"
After rushing through her sentence, the sound of the main door closing echoed from outside.
Ah...
She just ran off like that?
Gao Hai sat stunned for a good while before finally retracting the hand he had extended, the one that had been holding Maki's.
"Was I too hasty after all? But I really didn't want to set a flag..."
Sighing, Gao Hai lay down on the floor, closed his eyes with a sense of helplessness, and rested for the time being.
________________________________________
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