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"What... happened?"
Amamiya Natsuki stopped in astonishment.
It was as if he had only blinked, and the world before his eyes had suddenly changed.
A second ago, he had painstakingly found Kaguya and Marin, woken up his companions, and finally discovered Fujiwara in the Cafeteria.
Before he could even go up to talk to her, the next second, he found himself at the inn's entrance.
Amamiya Natsuki looked left and right.
His surroundings were empty, not a single person in sight.
Only the cold night wind gently swayed the bamboo lanterns.
"Strange..."
Amamiya Natsuki quickly calmed down and walked forward without a change in expression.
Behind the counter, the Grandma was wearing reading glasses, listening to the radio while knitting a sweater.
Amamiya Natsuki came to the central courtyard.
A silver moon hung high in the night sky, casting a watery clear glow.
Beneath the moonlit sky, a giant cherry blossom tree bloomed splendidly, its petals falling like ice.
Amamiya Natsuki subconsciously looked at the bench where Kaguya had sat. The bench was empty, and the bunny girl was nowhere to be seen.
Kaguya wasn't there.
Amamiya Natsuki continued to observe calmly and soon found many differences.
"The Grandma who was cleaning the hallway before is gone, and the two old men playing chess by the stream are also gone... And there's one major difference."
Amamiya Natsuki walked to the spot in the hallway where he had previously stood and looked up at the sky.
The moon's position was wrong.
To be precise, the angle between the moon, the hallway, and the cherry blossom tree was problematic.
The scenery he had seen when looking up at the night sky before was quite beautiful, so Amamiya Natsuki remembered it clearly.
At this moment, the moon's position was clearly shifted slightly to the east.
There could only be one reason for this phenomenon: time had been altered.
So...
"Is this what Kaguya meant by a 'reboot'?"
Amamiya Natsuki silently analyzed.
Unlike Kaguya, this was his first time encountering a reboot, so he naturally had to be cautious.
The sudden change in space, the mysteriously vanished Kaguya and Marin, the possibility of a dream reboot was the highest.
"As for why the current reboot isn't in the same location as when I entered the dream..."
Amamiya Natsuki quickly thought of an answer.
The core of this multi-person nightmare was clearly not himself; in the nightmare, he was merely an insignificant character.
The last time he entered the nightmare, it was clearly the latter half of the dream, so he encountered an irresistible reboot mechanism before he could wake Chika.
Fortunately, Miko's 'Advanced Spirit Vision Eye' was still active, so he didn't need to return to his room in a daze and then look in the mirror to see the prompt, like last time.
Amamiya Natsuki quickly thought of something else.
"I can retain my memories, but what about Marin and Kaguya?"
"...I'll know after a simple verification."
Amamiya Natsuki pressed his brow and quietly waited in the hallway.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes...
Three minutes passed in a blink of an eye, and neither Kaguya nor Marin appeared in the hallway.
Clearly, the worst-case scenario had occurred.
After the dream reboot, Kaguya and Marin's memories were also 'rebooted'; otherwise, there was no reason for them not to come and meet him.
Amamiya Natsuki looked again at the empty bench under the cherry blossom tree.
The bunny girl still hadn't appeared.
It was normal.
In this nightmare world, everyone had their own 'lives,' just like in the Matrix, doing their own things.
Without any surprises, Miss Ice Princess would go to read under the cherry blossom tree in the latter half of the cycle.
But at this moment, he truly didn't know where Kaguya was.
Amamiya Natsuki pondered for a moment, then quickly made a decision, walking forward along the hallway.
"I don't know where Kaguya is, but Marin's location was revealed at the start."
Walking to an inconspicuous room door, Amamiya Natsuki looked up at the room number, then raised his right hand and gently knocked.
Thump thump thump.
Footsteps quickly sounded from behind the door.
Immediately after, the door was opened a crack, and a red-haired Succubus Girl peeked out half of her pretty face.
"Marin, good evening."
Amamiya Natsuki smiled.
"Eh?" The Succubus Girl was slightly startled, a bewildered expression on her pretty face, "You're... oh, I remember, Natsuki-kun?"
"That's right, it's me."
The Succubus Girl tilted her head, her eyes bewildered: "Strange, Natsuki-kun is calling me by my given name. He's a Junior high school classmate, but we're not close."
Amidst her confusion, Amamiya Natsuki had already pushed open the door and entered the room.
"Wait, wait a minute!" The Succubus Girl finally reacted, covering her chest with one hand and quickly saying, "How did you get in?"
What was this boy doing!
He didn't invite you, so how did you come in without permission!
Amamiya Natsuki looked at Marin; the girl was surprisingly not wearing a succubus uniform but a white bathrobe. He said in surprise:
"Were you just taking a bath?"
"It's a hot spring bath, of course, you take a hot spring bath when you come to a hot spring inn," Kitagawa Marin corrected, quickly reacting, her eyes wary, "Get out of here quickly!"
Entering a girl's room without permission was no longer just frivolous; it was a crime!
"I also wish I could take my time," Amamiya Natsuki sighed, "but unfortunately, there's no time, I have to hurry."
"Huh?"
The Succubus Girl looked confused, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Amamiya Natsuki looked at Marin, his expression serious:
"There's something I want to ask of you."
"Whatever it is, get out first," the Succubus Girl said warily, clearly not lacking in basic caution.
Amamiya Natsuki continued:
"When we were in junior high, I heard everyone say that Kitagawa Marin was righteous and helpful, willing to go through fire and water for her friends, even if it meant a white knife going in and a green knife coming out."
"A white knife going in should result in a red knife coming out, right?" Kitagawa Marin subconsciously retorted, "What's with the green knife? Is he an alien or something!"
"It's bile," Amamiya Natsuki said without changing his expression, "As everyone knows, bile is green."
"I don't know that kind of strange knowledge at all!"
"In any case, the world is now in peril," Amamiya Natsuki took out a towel from his pocket, "Kitagawa Marin, please help me save the world."
Kitagawa Marin widened her eyes: "...What are you doing with a towel?"
Amamiya Natsuki smiled and said:
"As a hotel staff member, it's perfectly normal for me to carry a towel, isn't it?"
The Succubus Girl's gaze shifted to Amamiya Natsuki's other hand: "What's the meaning of the rope?"
"A rope has many uses, such as restraining the body to prevent guests from running around and kicking, hurting themselves," Amamiya Natsuki continued to smile, "As a hotel employee, it's also reasonable for me to be prepared and nip problems in the bud, isn't it?"
"..."
The Succubus Girl said nothing and turned to run.
Unfortunately, Amamiya Natsuki had previous experience and naturally knew what Marin wanted to do. He gave her no chance, grabbed the Succubus Girl, and then skillfully stuffed the rolled-up towel into the Succubus Girl's mouth.
"Mmph mph—!"
The Succubus Girl widened her eyes, glaring at him with a look of indignant shame.
"Don't worry," Amamiya Natsuki promised, "Even though the towel isn't sanitary, it definitely won't make you sick."
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