Back in his little room, Valerius began tallying up his gains from this round.
The game console earlier had cost 1 point.
The upgraded meals afterward totaled 8 points.
Then came the toys—12 points.
And finally, today's haul—24 points.
It didn't seem like much at first, but once he added it all up, even Valerius was a little surprised.
That was 45 points in total.
Plus the 3 points he'd had left over before—
48 points altogether.
"Not bad," he muttered with satisfaction. "That's enough to draw four ten-point rewards."
Quite pleased with himself, Valerius started imagining what kind of things he could pull with that many points.
He glanced at the time.
Still early.
"Guess I can speed things up a bit."
For a long stretch after that, Valerius made no more trade offers.
He only delivered meals.
By the time Day 40 arrived, everyone's condition had visibly declined.
Room No. 1
Kuki Shinobu was so bored that she'd completely dismantled the old game console—then carefully reassembled it, key by key.
Jean, meanwhile, had cracked open the casing of the Tetris machine and was counting something inside.
"So?" Shinobu asked. "What's the number?"
"Three hundred and seven soldering points," Jean replied.
"Then my estimate was pretty close."
[Silver Wolf]: "…That's a new level of boredom."
[Seele]: "It's only been 40 days! How did it get to counting solder points?"
[Bronya]: "Forty days with nothing to do is genuinely hard."
[Kujou Sara]: "That's strange. Good food, good lodging, no labor—better than prison. And they still can't take it?"
[Yukong]: "At this point, they probably want to go do labor."
[Jing Yuan]: "It's a matter of mindset."
[Dr. Ratio]: "Exactly. If they knew they were serving time, this would be trivial. But this is a game."
Whoosh—
The door opened again.
Both women blankly lifted their heads and looked at Valerius—who had come empty-handed.
"…Another trade?" Jean asked weakly.
They'd finally get to talk to someone again, yet neither of them had any desire to move.
"Uh… am I really that unwelcome?" Valerius asked.
"Just say what you want to say," Shinobu replied listlessly. "We're listening."
Neither of them even bothered to stand up.
At this point, even if Valerius brought food in, they didn't feel like moving.
At first, the upgraded meals had been a delight.
But no matter how good the food was, eating it every single day wore it down.
Right now, nothing interested Jean anymore.
Unless…
Unless you let me go out and run a lap.
"Ahem," Valerius said. "This is the final trade."
That finally got their attention—just a little.
"If you choose to forfeit, you'll receive a consolation prize. How about it?"
"For…feit…"
For a brief instant, Shinobu's eyes lit up.
Then she violently shook her head, as if trying to fling the thought out of her mind.
"No."
They'd endured this long already—how could they possibly quit now?
Each of them still had five points left. As long as they held on, they still had a chance at the final victory.
"We won't forfeit."
"I see."
They were clearly bored out of their minds—but since they refused to quit, Valerius had nothing more to say.
He turned, left quietly, and closed the door behind him.
[Yae Miko]: "Ah… they really missed their chance."
[Thoma]: "Since when is forfeiting considered a chance?"
[Seele]: "Yeah, what kind of opportunity is that?"
[Raiden Ei]: "Hmph. The people of Inazuma would never forfeit."
[Yae Miko]: "Are you serious? They're currently second in points, and that was the last trade. The rankings are basically locked now."
[Raiden Ei]: "What…?"
[Herta]: "Which means—if Kafka and Himeko don't quit, first place is permanently theirs."
[Raiden Ei]: "…I see."
[Jade]: "In that case, taking the consolation prize would've been smarter."
[Kujou Sara]: "But a consolation prize probably isn't anything good."
[Serval]: "Still better than getting nothing."
[Lisa]: "This is bad. Shinobu already got a Noble Phantasm—Jean might end up with absolutely nothing."
[Barbara]: "W–Waaah… I'm sorry, Sister…"
Barbara was genuinely upset now.
Just as everyone said—Jean might walk away with nothing.
And even the meal-upgrade card Barbara had chosen was shared with Shinobu anyway.
So Shinobu had a reward and got to freeload Jean's food.
Every benefit went to her.
[Rosaria]: "There's still plenty of time. What if the other group quits?"
[Silver Wolf]: "Yeah… no."
[March 7th]: "Himeko will never quit."
[Trailblazer]: "No chance. Zero."
Seriously—first place was basically guaranteed now.
For Himeko to forfeit at this point would mean she'd completely lost her mind.
Inside the Space
Valerius knocked on Room No. 2 again.
The moment he entered, he saw a rather amusing scene.
Himeko was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, resting.
Kafka sat in front of the game console, mechanically pressing buttons.
She wasn't even looking at the screen.
And yet—
Her score kept going up.
"…She memorized it?" Valerius muttered.
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