Same room, same two stunningly beautiful girls sitting close together, playing a fighting game with controllers in hand.
However, unlike yesterday, another short-haired girl now sat beside them, watching the two eagerly.
After agreeing to bring Mirei Shinohara along, Eriri had taken both of them directly to Wakaba Hiiro's house, acting as though she were the true owner of the place.
Although Wakaba had been utterly crushed in yesterday's fighting game session, after a night of focused training, her fighting spirit reignited. She was confident that she could beat Eriri on the level of an ordinary human.
So, as soon as the computer and game console were booted up, she immediately chose the same fighting game they'd played the day before.
And thus, the next battle began.
However, reality proved far more cruel than her optimistic hopes.
Even with all her confidence, the result after the first match was no different than yesterday.
Watching her character collapse after the health bar hit zero, Wakaba Hiiro fell into silence.
Undoubtedly, even without using her divine powers, she was at the peak of human capability when it came to learning speed, reflexes, and hand coordination.
If she wanted, she could easily become a world champion in any gaming competition.
And yet she simply couldn't fathom how a mere human like Eriri could defeat her in a video game.
But she was no ordinary being. She was "D," ruler of the underworld and one of the highest-ranking gods in the entire universe.
Mere human gaming rules were beneath her notice.
Since she couldn't win through human means, she decided she wouldn't hesitate to use non-human ones.
At that thought, the corners of Wakaba Hiiro's lips lifted ever so slightly. She was genuinely curious to see what kind of expression Eriri would make upon losing.
"Again."
She spoke lightly and pressed the ready button without giving a second thought to Mirei Shinohara, who was practically jumping in place with impatience to play with Eriri.
While Wakaba didn't care about her, Mirei certainly wasn't going to just let it slide.
"Hey, Wakaba-san! Didn't we agree the loser swaps out? Why are you still going?!"
Mirei looked over Eriri with clear dissatisfaction toward Wakaba.
If it were someone else, she probably would've stayed quiet. After all, they were in Wakaba's home.
But just seeing how Eriri favored Wakaba over the past two days stoked her jealousy. She couldn't hold back her frustration and voiced it on impulse.
Wakaba Hiiro didn't respond to her words. She merely turned her head slightly and gave Mirei a cold, expressionless glance.
Yet that one emotionless look was enough to send an inexplicable chill through Mirei's body, causing her to recoil instinctively.
Her face instantly shifted from frustration to shock.
Sitting between them, Eriri immediately understood what had just happened—Wakaba had shown a flicker of malice toward Mirei for interrupting her fun.
Wakaba was clearly taking this game battle seriously, and Mirei's interference had annoyed her.
Even though it was only a minor irritation, it was still enough to leave Mirei speechless for a brief moment.
"Come now, Mirei-san. Remember what I taught you? Don't let small things make you lose your composure. Always stay calm and rational."
Eriri smiled gently at Mirei, her soft voice helping the girl regain her senses.
"If you're that eager to play, I'll step aside."
With that, Eriri handed her controller over to Mirei Shinohara.
Even though she hadn't done anything wrong and was simply following the rules they had agreed upon, Mirei Shinohara still felt an uncontrollable wave of regret as she looked at the controller handed to her.
She felt as if she had made some kind of mistake.
She immediately decided to turn down Eriri's offer. After all, she wasn't really that eager to play the game itself. What she really wanted was to play together with Eriri.
However, before she could say anything, that familiar chilling sensation swept through her body again.
Wakaba Hiiro had once again given her the death stare.
"No need, no need. I'm not really in a rush to play. You and Wakaba-san keep going. I'll just watch from the side," Mirei said hastily, waving her hands.
The moment those words left her mouth, the icy feeling inside her vanished completely, like a tide receding.
She let out a small sigh of relief, only to be overwhelmed by a sense of embarrassment, realizing she had developed an inexplicable fear of Wakaba Hiiro.
Even so, she no longer dared to say anything else to her.
Since Mirei had declined, Eriri didn't press further. After all, she had only offered out of courtesy, knowing full well that Mirei would refuse—a future she had already foreseen.
Shifting her gaze back to the character selection screen, Eriri didn't change her fighter and pressed the ready button.
As the countdown ended, the second match officially began.
...
"WIN!!!"
Seeing the large letters flash across the screen, Wakaba Hiiro allowed a tiny, nearly imperceptible smile to surface.
She then turned her head and stared intently at Eriri's face, eager to see what kind of interesting expression would appear on that beautiful visage.
It was a minuscule form of amusement, but the fact that it involved Eriri made it all the more compelling to her.
However, she was soon disappointed.
"Oh no, I lost! Wakaba-san, how did you suddenly get so much better?"
Eriri turned toward her with cheerful curiosity, showing no signs of frustration or regret.
This reaction clearly did not satisfy Wakaba. Though she had won, Eriri's calm response brought her no sense of triumph.
And she could tell clearly that Eriri's reaction wasn't a facade—it was genuinely heartfelt.
Still, Wakaba didn't question her or respond to her words. Instead, she once again uttered the same line she had said after the previous match.
"Again."
"Very well! Looks like I'll have to get serious this time!"
Wakaba glanced sideways at Eriri but didn't believe she could lose—not now that she was effectively cheating.
What she didn't know, however, was that Eriri's potential to cheat far outstripped hers.
As if to validate Eriri's statement, the third match began with Wakaba's character being completely suppressed on every front.
The gap between them was even wider than in the first match. Even with Wakaba utilizing non-human reaction speed, it was useless.
After all, games had their technical limits. No matter how fast your reactions or inputs were, if they exceeded the game's input response threshold, it was meaningless.
Unless she used her precognitive powers to predict Eriri's next moves and counter them specifically.
And that was exactly what Wakaba did.
Just to suppress Eriri and get a bit of amusement out of it, Wakaba risked getting caught by a certain maid-loving figure and dragged back to work by tapping into a billionth of her divine power.
But to her surprise, even after tapping into her precognitive ability, she couldn't see a single move Eriri would make next.
Normally, she would have begun to suspect Eriri's true identity. But not once did Wakaba Hiiro entertain the idea, as if some invisible force was keeping that thought away.
The outcome was clear: Wakaba Hiiro lost the match cleanly and decisively.
She found the result hard to accept, but there was no better option left for her to secure victory.
Unless she was willing to sacrifice her peaceful lifestyle and use even more of her power—something far too costly.
So she had no choice but to acknowledge the fact: in games, she simply couldn't beat Eriri.
Just like the day before, she lost interest in playing fighting games with Eriri. Without a word, she tossed her controller to Mirei Shinohara and picked up a novel from her bag to begin reading in silence.
Startled by the incoming controller, Mirei fumbled to catch it, looking flustered and unsure of what to do.
"Sawamura-san, is she angry?" Mirei asked quietly, scooting closer to Eriri.
Eriri turned to look at her, an amused smile slowly forming on her face.
She kept that smile for several seconds, until Mirei's cheeks flushed pink. Only then did Eriri finally speak.
"Don't worry. Wakaba-san isn't someone who gets upset that easily."
Hearing this, and recalling Eriri's strange smile, Mirei's expression turned a little awkward.
But before her embarrassment could deepen, Eriri's voice rang out again.
"Alright then, Mirei-san, it's time for our showdown. Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
Suppressing her awkwardness, Mirei answered with enthusiasm.
Just the thought of getting to play a game with Eriri—even if it wasn't co-op—filled her with excitement.
Not wanting to let Eriri down, Mirei straightened her posture and assumed a serious gaming stance.
But that excitement lasted less than ten minutes before it was utterly crushed.
It was replaced by early frustration, followed by clenched teeth, and ultimately an expression of total emotional collapse.
For the next hour, Mirei experienced the darkest period of her gaming life.
She had already known from watching previous matches that Eriri was highly skilled.
But how high exactly? That she couldn't gauge—not until she played against her personally.
And once she did, she realized just how unfathomably skilled Eriri was. Her level was completely out of reach.
Eriri didn't hold back at all. From the start of the match, she never gave Mirei a single opening.
After an hour of nonstop defeat, Mirei finally broke down.
"Ugh! I give up! I'm done! There's no fun in this at all!"
Dropping the controller she had been gripping tightly, Mirei collapsed onto the floor, her lovely face etched with utter despair.
Since Wakaba Hiiro's room only had two beanbags, Mirei had been sitting in a duck-kneeling position on the floor the entire time.
Thankfully, the floor was clean, so her short school skirt and fair thighs remained spotless.
"Giving up already? Looks like you weren't quite ready for this~"
Eriri looked at Mirei with a teasing smile, making no attempt to comfort her.
Mirei rolled her eyes but couldn't help feeling a little delighted inside. After all, Eriri's teasing hinted at a growing closeness between them.
"Sawamura-san, maybe we shouldn't play fighting games anymore. I think co-op games are a lot more fun."
Sitting up straight again, Mirei suggested it earnestly.
Though her mood had improved, there was no way she wanted to play another fighting game—at least not anytime soon.
"Mmm, sounds good."
Eriri nodded in agreement, then turned her gaze to Wakaba Hiiro, who had been buried in her novel the whole time.
Without hesitation, Eriri reached out and plucked the book from her hands.
"Alright, enough reading."
Throughout the match between Eriri and Mirei, Wakaba hadn't looked up even once. She had been completely absorbed in her book.
Now that her reading had been forcibly interrupted, Wakaba instinctively raised her head, her cold gaze shooting toward the culprit.
But when she saw it was Eriri, her eyes returned to normal.
"Wakaba-san, let's play a game together. You, me, and Mirei-san—let's do something co-op. Then around six, we can all go have dinner at my place!"
Wakaba didn't say anything in response. She simply stood up silently and pulled a brand new controller from the drawer beside her desk.
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