[Host, please calm down. Hikigaya Hachiman only kissed Kasumigaoka Utaha once. Is there a need to be so angry?]
"Only kissed once? Is that all?!"
At the System's utterly indifferent and clinical words, Yukinoshita felt her composure, usually as solid as ice, begin to crack. She gritted her teeth, a storm of emotions raging in her sapphire eyes.
"Hikigaya-kun is my boyfriend! Before this, he had never kissed any other woman besides me! Ugh~ I'm a terrible girlfriend... I've... I've tainted my own boyfriend's purity..." Yukinoshita, who had originally intended to be a detached observer, was now overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of depravity and intense self-reproach. She was the architect of her own misery!
[Host, please do not shut down. Objectively speaking, from this single intimate act, the Host gained 500 points. This is comparable to your entire daily haul previously.]
[Not only should you not be sad, Host, you should view this as a positive development. The more points you accumulate each day, the greater the hope of ultimately saving Hikigaya Hachiman's life.]
[Host, you do wish to live happily ever after with Hikigaya Hachiman, do you not?]
"I..."
Guided—or perhaps manipulated—by the System's cold, logical persuasion, Yukinoshita felt a bitter, metallic taste fill her mouth. She knew, on an intellectual level, that the System's words made a twisted kind of sense. But feeling happy about it? That was completely out of the question.
However, she couldn't deny the pragmatic part of her that was... intrigued.
"500 points... just for Hikigaya-kun's first kiss with Kasumigaoka-senpai..." she murmured, watching her system points vault over the 1400 mark. Her mood was profoundly complex, a turbulent mix of jealousy, guilt, and a horrifying spark of avarice.
It was undeniable: the more intimate the interaction, the greater the point reward. The formula was brutally simple.
If Kasumigaoka-senpai and my Hikigaya-kun were to kiss two or three times a day... wouldn't that easily net five or six hundred points? Reaching a thousand points in a single day would be... within reach.
Ugh!
No! Absolutely not!
Yukinoshita violently shook her head, as if trying to physically dislodge the terribly corrupt thought from her mind.
Hikigaya-kun kissing other women... this one time is more than enough! There cannot be a second time!! Even if the points come quickly, even if it's to save Hikigaya, we cannot always resort to such... such depraved methods as kissing! This is the last time!! I will not become that kind of person!
"Yukinoshita-san? What are you... doing?"
Just as Yukinoshita was secretly reforging her resolve, a voice suddenly sounded from directly behind her, startling her so badly she nearly jumped out of her skin. She quickly spun around.
She saw Kawasaki Saki, a girl from Class F with striking blue hair tied in a high ponytail, looking at her with a confused expression.
Yukinoshita swiftly sorted through her jumbled thoughts, slamming a mask of perfect composure over her flustered features. She offered the other girl a polite, practiced smile. "Oh, Kawasaki-kun. My apologies. I was just... pondering a particularly difficult math problem. I'm afraid I got a bit lost in thought out here."
She recalled that Kawasaki was in the same class as Hikigaya-kun—Class F.
"A math problem?" Kawasaki said, a note of admiration in her voice. "As expected of Yukinoshita-san, the top student in our grade. You're always diligently studying, even outside the restroom."
"Not at all, you flatter me," Yukinoshita demurred with a polite smile. She then continued, eager to steer the conversation, "Are you heading to the restroom as well, Kawasaki-kun?"
"Yes. Shall we go in together?" Kawasaki proactively invited, moving toward the entrance of the women's restroom.
"Eh? Uh... okay," Yukinoshita stammered, her heart immediately seizing with panic. She could only nod and follow Kawasaki into the lion's den.
This is a disaster! Hikigaya-kun and Kasumigaoka-senpai are still in there! They haven't come out yet! What in the world are they still doing in there?!
As the two girls entered the restroom, Yukinoshita's eyes darted around furtively, trying to pinpoint which stall contained the two wayward lovebirds.
"Still thinking about that math problem?" Kawasaki asked again, her voice echoing slightly in the tiled room. "A problem that can stump Yukinoshita-san must be incredibly difficult."
No, I'm wondering what a certain shameless couple is going to do next in a public restroom!
"Yes, Kawasaki-kun is right," Yukinoshita replied, forcing a wry smile. "It is... a very difficult problem." To prevent raising any suspicion, she quickly ducked into a random, hopefully empty, stall.
"I see," Kawasaki responded simply, entering a nearby stall herself.
Just like boys, girls sometimes chat in the restroom. And just like that, a conversation began.
"Yukinoshita-san," Kawasaki's voice came from the adjacent stall, "may I ask... how are things progressing between you and Hikigaya-kun?"
Eek!
Wait! Kawasaki-kun! You don't actually think it's just the two of us in here, do you?! Hikigaya-kun and Kasumigaoka-senpai are listening to every word!
Yukinoshita was thrown into utter turmoil. Responding was awkward, but not responding would be even more suspicious.
"W-well, it's... it's okay," she finally managed to stammer out. "Our relationship is progressing fairly well. Just... normal boyfriend-girlfriend development, I suppose."
"Is that so..." Kawasaki's voice held a note that was thoughtful, almost... wistful.
"Hmm?" The clever Yukinoshita naturally picked up on the unusual tone in Kawasaki's voice. A new, subtle alarm bell began ringing in her mind.
She decided to probe further. "What's the matter, Kawasaki-kun? It sounds as though you have something you wish to tell me."
Kawasaki hesitated for a few seconds within her stall, the silence palpable, before she finally spoke up, her voice laced with concern. "It... it might cause a misunderstanding if I say this, but I feel I should remind you... Hikigaya has been getting very close to Kasumigaoka-senpai in our class recently."
"Eh?"
Yukinoshita was taken aback. She never expected Kawasaki, of all people, to be the one to kindly warn her about her own boyfriend's proximity to another girl.
Ugh! I love her, I love her! Kawasaki, you're such a good person! You even came to warn me, afraid my boyfriend would be stolen away. You have no idea how right you are...
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Yukinoshita explained softly, forcing her voice to remain even. "Actually, I was the one who asked Kasumigaoka-senpai to help tutor Hikigaya-kun with his studies. That's the reason they've been spending so much time together."
"You're the one who made them get so close?" Kawasaki replied, her voice filled with surprise. "Ah... this is..."
Yukinoshita pressed, "Is there a problem?"
"Well, tutoring itself certainly isn't a problem, but..." Kawasaki hesitated again, choosing her words carefully. "I feel that Kasumigaoka-senpai seems... a bit too proactive. I'm worried that they might... very likely develop an inappropriate relationship."
She then quickly cleared her throat, backpedaling slightly. "Ahem! Of course, I'm just worried! Just worried! As far as I can tell, nothing excessive has actually happened between them yet."
Ugh... if only you knew. It already happened. Just moments ago. And I'm the one who literally forced it to happen.
"Hehe," Yukinoshita let out a strained, polite laugh. "Thank you for the reminder, Kawasaki-kun. However, I trust Hikigaya-kun implicitly, and I also trust Kasumigaoka-senpai. I am confident they are not that kind of people." She spoke with a calm, measured tone, but inwardly, she was sighing in bitter irony.
Since Yukinoshita wasn't taking the bait, Kawasaki naturally didn't press the issue further. "...Alright then. If you trust them, that's what matters most."
"Well, I still want to thank you again, Kawasaki-san. Thank you," Yukinoshita said, her voice softening with genuine, if complicated, gratitude. "It's truly reassuring to have a thoughtful friend like you looking out for me."
"Yukinoshita-san, you're too kind," Kawasaki replied, her voice slightly flustered. "I just... I just don't want to see Hikigaya do anything that would be disloyal to you."
"Mmm."
As Yukinoshita offered this soft acknowledgment, she inexplicably caught a hint of something amiss in Kawasaki's words. A new suspicion began to bloom in her mind.
Why does it feel like... Kawasaki is unusually concerned about my Hikigaya? Otherwise, how would she have noticed the dynamic between Kasumigaoka and him so keenly? Could it be that Kawasaki is also...?
Just as Yukinoshita was descending into this new line of paranoid inquiry, the System's voice abruptly echoed in her mind, cutting her thoughts short.
[Ding! Hikigaya Hachiman's corruption value has changed.]
[Current Corruption Value: 10 / 100]
"??"
Yukinoshita, who had been pondering the potential connection between Kawasaki and Hikigaya, felt her blood run cold at this prompt. Her expression shifted dramatically, and her legs, which had been bent in a slight squat over the toilet, instantly tensed and locked.
Hikigaya-kun... whose willpower was supposed to be as firm and unyielding as a rock... his corruption value actually increased!
Wait! Did something I just said to Kawasaki trigger this?!
Hikigaya-kun! Please! Don't fall into the abyss of corruption!!