Inside the pure-white Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Chris looked at the two girls who seemed to have made up their minds about something.
Honestly, when he'd first heard Karuizawa's almost-throwing-herself-at-him remarks, he had been a little caught off guard.
After all, way back when, no matter how intimate things got with anyone, one round of the Time-Wrapping Cloth plus the Memory-Erasing Wand was enough to wipe the slate clean — aside from leaving behind a faint stress response and some sense of déjà vu, there'd be nothing else.
But here and now, the two girls in front of him had genuine, undisguised longing in their eyes.
It was the kind of momentum that had already overpowered reason — growing more intense, refusing to slow down.
Even without Chris cracking out his Omniscient Five Sights to peek into their inner voices, just relying on experience alone, he could see right through them at a glance.
Then again, after thinking it over for a beat, Chris also let it go.
Horikita Suzune had only just been forcibly woken up by him — yanked straight out of the dead end of chasing her brother's phantom.
After her cool-and-aloof shell had been cracked open, she was starting to learn how to accept the real desires inside her own heart.
As for Karuizawa Kei...
Sure, after several exams she really had improved, performing miles better than Kushida Kikyo, who could basically only hug a thigh and be carried.
But at her core, her fear of the Black Sphere exams had never truly dispersed.
On top of that, she herself was a person who worshipped strength and was deeply, painfully insecure.
In that respect, she was, in a certain sense, actually quite similar to Horikita, who'd hide under her covers and secretly practice silent water magic.
In this kind of headspace, when they'd learned that the classmate they were supposed to be protecting had been drained dry by Kars right under their noses—
Even though they hadn't interacted with the girl much normally, it was hard not to feel some 'when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves' kind of dread...
Everything that had played out afterward, then, started to feel pretty much inevitable.
Chris mulled it over, his gaze drifting across both of their faces.
He paused, then spoke in an even tone:
"Honestly, I've never really cared about this kind of thing."
"After all, I'm a guy. In this kind of situation, I'm naturally the one coming out ahead. If you two are willing to throw yourselves at me, I've got no reason to refuse."
"That said..." Chris shifted gears mid-thought, "whatever you decide to do, please think the consequences through clearly first."
Chris looked into both of their eyes, his words pointed:
"Don't go smashing the pot just because it's cracked. The current situation really isn't that bad yet... Actually, everything is still in a state of vibrant vitality, of ten thousand things competing to grow. As long as we put in the effort, the future is right there in front of us."
Faced with this 'Presidential-address-level' attempt at talking them down from the ledge.
Karuizawa Kei didn't shrink back even a little.
She gave a crisp, immediate reply:
"Maybe I really am just smashing the cracked pot right now. I'll even admit it — I'm a coward at heart, the kind of person who likes to lie to herself..."
The girl stared Chris straight in the eyes, her voice not stopping for a beat:
"But about this one thing, at least in this exact minute, this exact second... I am absolutely serious!"
"I don't want some 'future' — I just want to be allowed to stay by your side now!"
Compared to Karuizawa Kei's near-fervent declaration.
Horikita Suzune — who normally liked to cut straight to the point and would dearly love to skip over every shred of useless information — was, of all things, the one who couldn't quite match Karuizawa's directness today.
She pressed her lips together, turned her face away, dodging Chris's gaze, and the words coming out of her mouth were uncharacteristically roundabout:
"Compared to struggling alone in despair... being with you really does make me feel a little more at ease."
"In this exam field where we could die at any moment, the only person I'd be willing to try and trust... is you."
"...I see."
Watching the resolve on both of their faces, Chris gave a slight nod.
He didn't put on any displays of sheltering tenderness, nor any indignant 'why won't you stand up for yourselves' frustration.
He simply looked at them calmly:
"If this is what you both want, I don't mind."
"But let me get the ugly stuff out of the way first. I won't be giving you anything that you could call 'love,' and I won't be playing favorites between the two of you, either."
Chris cut straight to the heart of it:
"As long as you're willing to stay by my side, listen to me, and be useful to me... then in exchange, I won't let either of you die easily."
"Even if it ends up being both of you together, that's fine too."
Chris lifted his head, sweeping a glance around them, and added pointedly:
"But right now, we're inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I don't know why they only opened up this permission to us after the mid-term exam, but this is still under the Black Sphere's surveillance after all..."
"Whatever messy thoughts you've got going on, dial them back a bit."
With that, Chris reached into his pocket, fished out two capsules, and tossed them carelessly:
"Now then — let's get back to the main business first."
"Inside these capsules are Stand discs. Crazy Diamond can restore anything, and The World can stop time. See if you've got what it takes to attune to them."
Hearing that, the self-throwing momentum that Karuizawa and Horikita had still been building up snapped sharply into retreat.
Strictly speaking, in terms of strategic objectives, today's little plan of theirs had basically been a success.
At the very least, they'd gotten themselves on Chris's books and walked away with his verbal promise.
But the way Chris had just casually, almost dismissively, pivoted out of the moment was bound to leave any girl with a subtle sting of defeat in her heart.
Still — this forcibly interrupted moment of ambiguity was, for Horikita Suzune as she stood here right now, actually a pretty good thing.
After all, the reason she'd let her head go hot and chosen to plant herself here alongside Karuizawa Kei...
Aside from the small, hard-to-articulate stirrings she did genuinely have toward Chris—
More than that, it was because she was painfully aware of the limits of her current ability.
She couldn't be by Chris's side every time the way Ichinose was; she was afraid he'd leave her behind, was even worried that the more-successful Ichinose might get territorial...
But what she genuinely hadn't seen coming was that Karuizawa — who usually came across as flighty and loud — would, when the chips were down, actually turn out to be this brave!
She'd straight up hoisted Horikita Suzune up onto the chopping block with her.
If Chris hadn't just barely managed to redirect the conversation, Horikita Suzune really couldn't bring herself to imagine what kinds of mortifying things she'd have had to swallow her pride and go along with next, alone in a sealed room with one guy and two girls...
Sigh... this Karuizawa, in a certain sense, really is a person of frighteningly firm willpower...
Horikita Suzune sighed inwardly.
She probably wasn't going to forget today's experience for the rest of her life.
Even so, while being repeatedly seared by the flames of 'longing,' she also had to admit—
This sensation of completely entrusting herself to someone else was, in a certain sense, actually another kind of indulgence in itself.
At the very least, not having to keep forcing herself to be strong all the time was, in fact, very convenient...
At this point, with her mindset readjusted, Karuizawa Kei crushed one of the capsules.
Cautiously, she slowly lifted the [The World] Stand disc and brought it toward her own forehead.
However.
The very instant the disc was about to make contact with her skin.
It suddenly began to tremble — even letting out an ear-piercing whine.
Clearly, it was rejecting her.
In the moment Karuizawa Kei gritted her teeth, intending to forcibly mash it into the center of her brow—
A surge of intense pain ripped through her!
"Aah!"
Karuizawa Kei cried out in pain, and the disc dropped to the floor.
She rubbed her throbbing temples and let out a helpless sigh: "Looks like... I'm out. It really, really doesn't want me."
Seeing this, Horikita Suzune also snapped back to attention.
She crushed the other capsule and looked at the [Crazy Diamond] disc that materialized in her hand.
Mimicking Karuizawa's earlier motion, she slowly brought it toward the center of her own brow.
Even though, during the approach, she could feel some faint trembling and resistance from the disc—
The moment it actually made contact with her forehead, Horikita didn't suffer the same backlash Karuizawa had.
It sank smoothly straight into the center of her brow.
The next second.
A burly, pink-and-blue Stand silhouette slowly materialized behind Horikita.
Horikita Suzune's dark brows knitted slightly. Looking at the Crazy Diamond manifested before her, she spoke with a hint of uncertainty:
"He doesn't really seem to like the kind of personality I have."
"But for some reason... he seems to be grudgingly willing to lend me his power."
Chris gave a small nod, not at all surprised:
"A Stand is an extension of spiritual energy — essentially, a kind of guardian spirit given form by the soul itself. Naturally, it has its own temperament, its own preferences and choices."
The truth was, in Chris's opinion—
Out of everyone in the Elite, the people best suited to fusing with Crazy Diamond were probably Hirata Yousuke and Nanase Tsubasa.
Hirata Yousuke matched up directly with Josuke Higashikata himself — gentle at his core, with an extremely powerful drive to protect his companions. Sure, when pushed to extreme anger he could display violent tendencies — but his violence was only ever turned on the protection of the weak.
As for Nanase Tsubasa... she was a textbook split-personality type. Normally gentle and healing, but the moment she got triggered and her personality flipped, she'd turn cold and savage.
It mapped perfectly onto Crazy Diamond's dual nature of 'healing and destruction existing side by side.'
'But come to think of it... the Elite actually has a fair number of split-personality characters running around.'
Chris ran the tally quietly in his head.
Of course, it was only a brief mental tangent — he didn't dig any deeper into it.
He turned back to Horikita Suzune and continued:
"What I'm curious about is... for this kind of already-fused Stand disc, is there any way to extract it via manual operation without having to return to school?"
"I also want to see whether Karuizawa has any shot at fusing with [Crazy Diamond]. And whether Horikita can really handle [The World]."
At his words, Horikita Suzune lowered her head toward the Black Sphere wristwatch on her wrist.
She carefully sifted through the menu, and sure enough — inside the personal status submenu, she spotted a freshly added virtual button.
She tentatively reached out and tapped it.
"Bzzt—"
Immediately after, the disc that had just been absorbed into her body resurfaced from her forehead and slowly dropped back down into her palm.
Seeing that, Chris stroked his chin, thoughtful:
"If we can swap it out anywhere, anytime through the Black Sphere wristwatch... that means we can absolutely rotate Crazy Diamond's use during actual combat."
"That way, we can sidestep its 'can't heal the user themselves' weakness and pull off something like an unlimited-stamina effect at the squad level."
While Chris was busy analyzing tactics with a deadpan expression—
Karuizawa and Horikita had finished testing their compatibility with the other Stand disc.
The results were, predictably, unsurprising.
Karuizawa Kei fused successfully with Crazy Diamond.
And Horikita Suzune was likewise unable to wield the power of The World.
All of this was only natural.
After all, Crazy Diamond — just like its original user — was, at its base color, a fundamentally gentle Stand.
Its requirements for the host's mental strength might be high, but it didn't demand you be some kind of selfless saint.
So long as you weren't outright evil, and you still held onto the will to protect the things that mattered to you... you basically wouldn't face too much rejection from it.
Now [The World], on the other hand...
As a product born from the inherited spiritual will of Dio—
Without at least a streak of cold-bloodedness baked into your bones, a willingness to regard all living things as mere weeds, you didn't have a snowball's chance.
Chris took the disc back from Horikita — who was clutching her forehead, frustration written all across her face — and with a casual backhanded slap, drove it straight into the center of his own brow.
Zero resistance whatsoever.
Watching the glittering golden-bodied muscular figure reappear behind Chris, Horikita Suzune couldn't help but let out a frustrated lament:
"As expected, to wield this kind of power, your mental strength really does have to be strong enough..."
"People like Ayanokoji and Kouenji, who have such powerful Ripple — do they have an advantage in this area as well?"
Chris gave a noncommittal reply:
"Strong mental power is one thing. Whether the soul is compatible is a separate matter entirely."
As he said this, Chris raised his hand and pointed at Karuizawa and Horikita Suzune:
"Since the two of you can both wield [Crazy Diamond], for the time we've got left, you can take turns practicing how to operate it."
"As I remember it, a Stand is essentially a spiritual existence — something like a ghost, a guardian spirit..."
"If you can manage to let the Stand 'possess' your own body... given The World and Crazy Diamond's 'double-A power and speed' stat lines..."
"If you run into monsters in another exam, you'll at least have just barely enough combat capacity to protect yourselves."
Horikita Suzune and Karuizawa Kei exchanged a glance.
Both nodded firmly.
While Chris and the others were rapidly burning through an entire day's worth of special training inside the Time Chamber—
Out in the real world.
Together with Ichinose, Yotsuya Miko had just picked up her dorm key from the logistics office.
After parting ways at the intersection with Sakayanagi Arisu and Hayasaka Ai, leaving only the two of them—
Yotsuya Miko finally couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up of her own accord:
"Ichinose-san..."
"Earlier in the admissions office, the Director said that, within the school's rules, it would be possible to arrange for us to leave the school."
"I wanted to ask... where exactly is this so-called 'within-the-rules boundary'? How many points would it take?"
Ichinose Honami's footsteps slowed slightly.
She mulled it over for a moment, then, looking at the hope brimming in Miko's eyes, explained with a touch of helplessness:
"Actually... this is a question we'd never thought about before, either."
"Because when we first enrolled, the school had already told us we couldn't leave campus before graduation..."
Ichinose sighed and went on:
"In fact — during the first few days after the Black Sphere first appeared... quite a few students tried to privately contact their families for help, only to be judged in violation by the Black Sphere system, with one of their precious 'lives' deducted on the spot."
"Yes — this 'life' is what the Black Sphere handed us at the start as compensation, to serve as our insurance."
"Once they're all used up, if you die out in the exam field, then you really are dead."
After hearing this, Yotsuya Miko couldn't help feeling a touch envious.
Extra lives, huh...
It sounded cruel — but looked at from another angle, even knowing that the monsters Ichinose and the others faced out on the exam fields were extremely dangerous—
In reality, the majority of students didn't actually get pulled into every single exam.
Within the school, plenty of people were able to stay snug and safe inside the safe zone, living off the points earned by the test-takers without ever worrying about food or rent.
So long as you didn't get randomly selected, this place was basically heaven.
And then look at herself.
Back in her original world, she lived every single day in fear and trembling.
On the street, in the classroom, even tucked under her own bedcovers... at any moment, any hour, she could be terrified by those grotesquely-shaped evil spirits.
It was the kind of life where a single careless look, getting spotted, meant it was all over.
Compared to that, she found Advanced Nurturing High School to be a far more secure place.
If only she could've found this school sooner — just transferred right in...
Yotsuya Miko quietly shed inner tears.
Still, envy aside, Yotsuya Miko hadn't forgotten that she was still carrying Shiranami Chihiro's entrusted message on her shoulders.
She swallowed once, then quickly pressed on:
"So... by what you're saying, we really have absolutely no way to leave here, to go out and look around?"
Looking at Yotsuya Miko's pitiful little expression, Ichinose Honami couldn't bear it.
She paused briefly, then spoke up to comfort her:
"Don't lose heart. I'll go ask the seniors on the Student Council about it later for you. Maybe they'll know about some kind of loophole in the rules."
Yotsuya Miko nodded over and over, like a baby chick pecking grain:
"Thank you, Ichinose-san!"
"I mean — I sort of feel it deep down already... that this might not be the world I originally came from anymore. But I... I really do want to see it with my own eyes, even just one look would be enough."
Ichinose leaned forward slightly, drawing quietly closer.
She reached out and gently patted Miko's back, her voice as tender as if she were soothing a small child:
"I can understand that, Yotsuya-san."
"But — since we're already here, let's just settle in. Now that you've come to our school, for a long time to come, you probably won't be able to leave here..."
"Especially because after every one of the school's major exams, there'll be a joint Black Sphere exam. So that you can live to make it home... in this time, you really do need to appropriately raise your own survival capabilities."
Ichinose Honami looked at her earnestly:
"As I recall, you were born with spirit-sight, weren't you? In that case, when it comes to mental strength, you should be quite a bit stronger than the average person... you'd probably be very well-suited to practicing Ripple."
As she spoke, Ichinose opened her phone and sent the Ripple training document directly over to Yotsuya Miko.
"This is the training method for Ripple. Take it home and study it carefully."
"As long as you practice it the right way, using it to defend yourself is absolutely no problem. Things like ordinary evil spirits, vampires — that whole darkness-leaning monster category — they all get countered hard the moment Ripple comes into play."
Ichinose thoughtfully tacked on a reason no girl could refuse:
"Worst case, even if you don't think about it in terms of combat use, long-term Ripple practice can also enhance your beauty and slow down aging. There's absolutely no downside for a girl to be practicing it."
Looking at the precious file she'd just received on her phone—
Yotsuya Miko's eyes welled up with warmth, and she bowed gratefully to Ichinose:
"Ichinose-san... thank you so, so much!"
"If only I could've met such kind people like all of you sooner — how wonderful that would've been!"
Ichinose laughed and waved her hand, gesturing that there was no need to be so formal:
"It's fine. Everyone's been groping their way along, stumbling through this same way."
"But Miko — once you've settled in a bit, you can come find me as well. We'll go to a Black Sphere exam together, and get you a Combat Suit of your own."
"A Combat Suit can boost the physical attributes of an ordinary person, and even defend against a certain degree of damage — it's extremely cost-effective. With the points you got from killing vampires and collecting Stone Masks, that should already be enough for an exchange."
Yotsuya Miko gave a firm, hearty "Mn!"
She planted herself at the dorm entrance and, with great reluctance, watched as Ichinose Honami turned and walked away.
As for Ichinose Honami—
After parting from Yotsuya Miko, she didn't head straight back to her own dorm to rest.
Instead, she changed direction, planning to go directly to Chris and discuss the development direction of the [Love-Love Fruit] with him.
Of course, Ichinose was acutely aware in her own heart—
That topics like 'how to give off personal charm' and 'how to make someone's heart flutter' — these embarrassingly intimate subjects...
If she were going to be rational about it, finding a same-sex friend to act as her sounding board would probably be the most appropriate choice.
But the problem was — who, among the people around her, could she find?
Amikura Mako had too earnest a personality, and lacked combat experience — she could really only function as logistical support.
The ones best suited to discussing tactics — Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Suzune, Karuizawa Kei...
After thinking it through, Ichinose silently struck them all off the list in her heart.
She couldn't quite articulate the specific reason herself; she just knew it definitely wasn't because she was jealous.
But either way — finding Chris was definitely the right call!
After all, Chris really was that strong.
And as a member of the opposite sex, having him provide the feedback would probably give her a more intuitive read on this kind of fruit ability that needed an actual 'heart flutter' to activate, right?
However.
Just as Ichinose Honami's little mental abacus was clicking away furiously, before she could even put it into actual practice—
She had the bad luck of running straight into Sakayanagi Arisu, coming the other way.
Watching the silver-haired girl up ahead — walking with deliberately quieted, deliberately slowed footsteps—
Ichinose Honami immediately wiped the look of anticipation off her face and resumed her usual dignified Class-Rep composure.
She gave a light cough and spoke up, cutting through the other girl's attempt at stealth:
"Sakayanagi-san? What a coincidence. What might you be doing here?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's footsteps paused.
She turned to look at Ichinose, her pale-purple eyes flickering slightly, and lobbed the question right back:
"That question... is actually one I'd love to ask you myself, Ichinose-san~"
"It's the dead of night — why aren't you resting in your dorm? Out for a little stroll over here in the boys' dormitory area, are we?"
Caught under that openly skewering gaze, Ichinose Honami felt a small twinge of guilt.
She unnaturally averted her eyes from Sakayanagi's, forcing herself into a composed tone as she explained:
"I came looking for Chris-senpai. I wanted to discuss the specifics of how to develop the Devil Fruit..."
"And what about you, Sakayanagi-san? Coming to see senpai — do you have something urgent?"
Sakayanagi Arisu laughed lightly, lifting up the item catalogue she'd wangled out of Ayanokoji.
"Me? My purpose is very simple~"
"Just curiosity getting the better of me. I figured I'd swing by along the way and see... exactly what kind of good stuff my dear classmate Chris's [Blind Box Card] would crack open."
Ichinose pressed her lips together, looking a bit puzzled:
"But senpai didn't have many S Points left on him at the time..."
"It's probably not going to crack open anything especially good, right?"
Sakayanagi Arisu, however, gave a careless shrug:
"You don't know unless you try, do you? What if he turns out to be a secretly-lucky-as-heck European-style gacha-puller, and hits a jackpot on the first roll?"
"And besides — even if what gets cracked open ends up being a pile of useless junk, just being able to see the look on his face when he gets owned... for me, this trip would already be more than worth the price of admission~"
With that, Sakayanagi Arisu paid no further mind to Ichinose's reaction and strolled straight up to the door of Chris's dorm.
She raised her hand and lightly rapped on the door.
"Knock, knock."
A moment later.
The door was pulled open from the inside.
Chris appeared at the doorway with a yawn.
Looking at the two girls outside his door, his brow quirked up slightly — clearly somewhat surprised.
"It's you two?"
"And here I thought..."
"Thought what?"
Sakayanagi Arisu pressed, with a half-smiling, half-not look on her face.
As the daughter of the school's Director, Sakayanagi Arisu had naturally already known well in advance that Chris had taken Karuizawa Kei, Horikita Suzune, and the others into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and spent a whole day in there.
But as for what unspeakable things had actually happened inside, that was something she had no way of knowing.
Still — judging just from this whole setup, even with her toes she could guess that nothing particularly wholesome had gone down.
Watching Sakayanagi Arisu's gaze growing slowly, dangerously sharper, Chris shook his head.
"Nothing."
He stepped aside and made a 'please come in' gesture:
"Whatever it is, come in first and we'll talk."
"I haven't got any particularly fine tea here, but I can at least manage that much in the way of hospitality."
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Homelander: Founding the Hero Association
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone