[Blue Vitality Pill.]
[Upon consumption, restores a small amount of stamina and spirit in a short time. Also slightly boosts strength, spirit, attack speed, and sensory acuity.]
[Originally a combat draught.]
[But due to its subtle side effects, it is also very popular in high society.]
[...]
The commercial street near the academy's female dorms.
Su Yuzu sat at a streetside table of the crepe shop, organizing her materials.
While waiting for Saotome Yukina.
From last night's ten-pull, Su Yuzu obtained a total of six Operators and four weapons.
Besides Unohana Chiyo and... Soga Yura, the other Operators and weapons were basically only good for enhancement materials in the game.
Even Unohana Chiyo was just an Operator you'd use as a stopgap in the game.
However... Teacher Unohana Chiyo.
Her status as a teacher might be convenient at times.
Like, say~ getting a key to the school infirmary or something.
Su Yuzu and Saotome Yukina had agreed to meet at 8:30 in the morning.
But Su Yuzu was already sitting here a little after seven.
She had always been a punctual person and didn't like to make girls wait for her.
Of course, the more important point was... she really couldn't sleep.
Su Yuzu looked at the 'Operator Development' interface, at the chibi version of Soga Yura sitting obediently at a desk, approving documents. And at the life-sized body pillow on the bed behind the Soga Yura chibi.
The person drawn on that pillow... couldn't be me, could it?
Short hair and red eyes.
No matter how I look at it, it looks just like me.
But since it was a chibi image, Su Yuzu couldn't be sure.
Honestly... she found it hard to imagine that person—the one who always wore a frosty expression, as aloof as a flower on a high peak; who would even find excuses to refuse eating a meal with her; who would toss aside the birthday present she'd given her without a single glance... would be rubbing herself against a life-sized body pillow of her at night.
The sense of incongruity from that image was just too strong.
But... looking at Soga Yura's favorability score of '99 (Doting)'.
Su Yuzu felt that maybe... the person on that pillow really was her.
It seemed that person's birthday was only a few days away.
I'll just find some random excuse to go see her then.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Su Yuzu caught sight of a little rabbit hurriedly running toward her from the street corner.
Perhaps nervous at the sight of her, the little rabbit bounced along as she jogged over, her steps a bit rushed.
Saotome Yukina's face was slightly flushed, her cheeks glowing with a lovely, faint peach-pink.
The girl's right hand was pressed to her chest, her small hand rising and falling with her breaths. Far from concealing her charms, the gesture... actually served to draw one's gaze.
If big is justice.
Then Saotome Yukina was absolutely the incarnation of worldly justice.
'S-Sorry...'
'Senpai.' The girl's slightly panting voice made Su Yuzu feel like her ears were about to melt.
'Don't rush.' Su Yuzu gestured for the girl to sit down and catch her breath. 'It's still early.'
In truth, the girl was very punctual.
It was just a little past eight now.
In 'Operator Development,' Saotome Yukina's 'Development' cooldown hadn't even finished yet.
The little rabbit, having jogged all the way here, couldn't stop panting even after sitting down. Although she tried to control it, her shoulders still trembled with each breath.
Her aqua-blue eyes shimmered with a watery mist as she looked nervously at Su Yuzu.
The senpai sitting there was beautiful.
Like a green bud freshly sprouted on a citrus tree.
Or an unripe, green citrus fruit.
Not yet bloomed, not yet ripe.
But this green and pure appearance was already enough to captivate the little rabbit's gaze.
A sweet and sour, refreshingly faint fragrance wafted over.
Just like her senpai's name.
'Yuzu.'
The girl bit her lip.
'Senpai... you're up so early.'
'What would you like to eat?' Su Yuzu asked, looking at the girl's blushing ear tips. 'How about a strawberry cream crepe?'
'You seemed to really like it yesterday, Saotome-san.'
In the game, getting a strawberry cream crepe required spending stamina to grind time-wasting favorability gift dungeons.
But in reality... all it took was paying money to have one delivered right in front of the girl.
If she could, Su Yuzu would have loved to bring the girl to the commercial street every single day to order her a strawberry cream crepe.
Shopping?
What's that?
Her only mission was to 'Feed.'
'Wait...' Saotome Yukina blurted out subconsciously.
She looked at the senpai before her, whose gaze was fixed on her, and bit her lip, unable to speak.
Strawberry was clearly her favorite flavor.
But... smelling the sweet and sour scent that slowly drifted over, she suddenly wanted to try something else.
Su Yuzu waited for Saotome Yukina.
As her first Operator, her perpetual motion maiden, her Combat Records production maiden, she would satisfy the girl's small wishes as much as possible.
'I want...'
'to try a different flavor.'
'Yuzu... citrus...' she said in a voice so low it was almost inaudible. 'No...'
'The citrus one, I guess.'
Su Yuzu looked at the little rabbit before her.
Saotome Yukina's head sank lower and lower, until it was nearly buried in her chest.
The 'Yuzu' in her name didn't actually refer to the pomelo in the broad sense.
But rather a type of citrus fruit closer to a fragrant orange.
Its faint, charming fragrance was captivating. More often than not, it was used as a citrus-type seasoning rather than eaten as a fruit.
What the little rabbit had almost blurted out was Yuzu's name.
Seeing Saotome Yukina's small earlobes, peeking out from under her hair and looking as if they were soaked in blood, Su Yuzu pretended she hadn't heard or noticed.
She casually placed the order.
Sitting across from Su Yuzu.
The girl's clenched hands pressed down so hard they were about to sink into the soft flesh of her thighs.
Her cheeks were dyed with a bashful red, but her knuckles were clenched white.
Su Yuzu watched Saotome Yukina with great interest.
Ding ding ding—
Notifications of Saotome Yukina's favorability increasing chimed in her ears one after another.
Along with the successful 'Feed.'
Bzz bzz—
Su Yuzu's phone vibrated.
'Express Pay — 54.00 Yuan.'
'...'
'Deposit to your bank account ending in 8088—'
'108.00 Yuan.'
The citrus-flavored crepe was a bit cheaper than the signature strawberry cream crepe.
'Let me pay this time!'
'Sen...''
'Senpai, you didn't order anything,' Saotome Yukina said, looking nervously at Su Yuzu.
'How could I let you do that?' Su Yuzu gently pressed down on Saotome Yukina's hand.
The girl instantly quieted down, as if a switch had been flipped.
This little rabbit was her money tree, her production maiden.
Any expense she incurred to develop Saotome Yukina and raise the girl's favorability would ultimately be compensated twofold.
If the little rabbit paid for it herself... then there'd be no profit to be made.
A gamer never lets go of any benefit, no matter how small.
'Then...'
'Then...'
As if realizing her senpai wouldn't let her pay.
Hesitantly, Saotome Yukina cut the crepe in front of her.
She looked shyly at her own bite mark on one piece of the crepe.
Inside her heart, a little rabbit was hopping about and war drums were beating.
Finally, Saotome Yukina gently pushed the other half forward.
'Yuzu...'
'Senpai.'
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