But in the next moment, her tone softened again.
"…Wait. Could it be… you're Little Mutsumi pretending?"
"You can call me Yu."
Asai Yu answered her question in a roundabout way.
At that point, Mortis understood clearly that this was absolutely a newly born personality.
Because Little Mutsumi was still asleep—she had no idea what was happening inside her own body at all!
And this new personality seemed… a bit special. Mortis could tell she wasn't quite able to handle him.
Little Mutsumi!
Wake up already—there's a new personality!
At that moment, Mortis was loudly notifying Wakaba Mutsumi through their mental link.
"Is there somewhere a bit more… normal than this?"
Asai Yu looked at the mountain-and-sea of personality corpses in front of him and asked calmly.
Hearing that, Mortis snapped back to her senses.
Not scared at all?
Was this really a newborn personality that had just come into existence?
Why did he feel even scarier than Little Mutsumi herself…?
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Mortis's back as she hurriedly replied,
"There is—over there. Follow me."
She then led Asai Yu into a pitch-black little room. It looked like a band practice studio.
But the interior was completely different.
There were only a few chairs, several small televisions stacked together in front of them, and a guitar leaning off to the side.
The TV screens were turned off.
"Please, have a seat."
Mortis had completely dropped her earlier teasing attitude and now sounded almost respectful.
"No need, thanks." Asai Yu shook his head.
At that moment, the television suddenly turned on, brilliant white light flooding the room.
The image on the screen showed a warm, girlish bedroom filled with plush dolls.
It was Wakaba Mutsumi's bedroom.
Asai Yu recognized it instantly.
So… this TV could show Wakaba Mutsumi's perspective?
On the other side, seeing this scene, Mortis finally let out a breath of relief.
Little Mutsumi had woken up.
A few seconds later, a third green-haired girl suddenly appeared at the doorway.
It was none other than the true owner of this body—Wakaba Mutsumi herself.
Seeing her, Mortis immediately stepped behind Wakaba Mutsumi.
"Little Mutsumi, she's the new personality that was just born. Her name is Yu," Mortis said.
"Yu?"
Wakaba Mutsumi looked puzzled.
Why was there another new personality?
She didn't need this sort of thing at all anymore…
Still, she was quite curious about this personality that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Yu, what benefit does your existence bring to me?"
Hearing that, Asai Yu immediately felt that Wakaba Mutsumi truly lived up to her nickname—Ancient God Mutsumi.
That sense of ruling over life and death, of cold indifference to existence itself, of looking down from on high—all of it was perfectly conveyed in that single sentence.
Of course, this applied only to the personalities inside her.
Killing her own personalities was probably something Wakaba Mutsumi had done many times before.
After thinking for a moment, Asai Yu answered seriously,
"A lot. I can do pretty much anything."
At that, Wakaba Mutsumi suddenly felt that the personality in front of her seemed… familiar.
As if she'd seen him somewhere before. As if they'd spent some time together.
It felt strange.
Without dwelling on it, she continued asking, "Can you play guitar?"
"A little." Asai Yu nodded.
He walked over to one of the chairs, picked up the guitar leaning against it, and began to play.
Seeing this, Mortis's eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open.
He can actually play guitar?!
And he's this good?!
Asai Yu himself hadn't expected that the guitar skills he'd learned over at Anon's place would come in handy in a situation like this.
Seeing that he was proficient with the guitar, the curiosity in Wakaba Mutsumi's eyes only deepened.
"What else can you do? Painting. Ballet. Acting. Calligraphy. Gardening."
Wakaba Mutsumi listed them one by one.
"Ballet, not really. Painting, calligraphy, gardening—I know a bit of each. Acting depends on the situation,"
Asai Yu answered calmly.
He needed to stall her until the system finished fixing the bug.
Otherwise, if Wakaba Mutsumi decided to kill this personality of his, something unpredictable might happen.
"Really? Why do you know so many things the moment you're born?"
In the past, there had been new personalities who instinctively knew a skill or two—but never this many. At most, one or two.
That was why Wakaba Mutsumi felt both curious and confused.
"I don't know. But I really can do these things."
Asai Yu lied without changing his expression.
Wakaba Mutsumi didn't quite believe him. She quickly walked into another room and brought back tools related to those skills.
"Can you try?"
"Sure."
Asai Yu then demonstrated them one by one.
He wasn't an expert, but he genuinely knew a little of everything.
After seeing the results, Wakaba Mutsumi looked at Yu—then at Mortis.
Yu clearly seemed far more capable, and far more useful, than Mortis.
Mortis, who had followed Wakaba Mutsumi for many years, immediately understood that look.
She rushed forward, grabbed the girl's arm, her eyes full of pleading.
"Little Mutsumi…"
Wakaba Mutsumi ignored her, falling into thought.
A few seconds later, she snapped back.
"It's fine. You can both stay."
Thank goodness.
She wouldn't die.
Mortis wiped the sweat from her forehead, her tightly wound nerves finally relaxing.
At that moment, Wakaba Mutsumi shifted her gaze to Asai Yu.
"Originally, having just Mortis here was enough. I don't need extra personalities."
"But you know many things, so you can stay."
"You'll remain here with Mortis. When I need you, I'll call you out to take control of the body."
Her tone sounded like she was issuing an order.
It made Asai Yu extremely uncomfortable.
System, is the bug fixed yet?
[Repair almost complete!]
[98%]
[99%]
[100%]
[Bug repair complete]
[Primary cause of bug: failure to account for experience target possessing a personality space]
[Correction applied: Host has changed from sub-personality of experience target to primary personality. During experience time, host may choose to control the body or return to the personality space at will]
[Compensation Rewards:]
[1. Initial bonus slots for this experience target expanded to three, replaceable
[2. Ability Level-Up Card (1/1): instantly raises an existing ability by one level]
[3. 3× EXP Cards (30/30): stackable with other EXP cards]
[Beginning selection of target abilities for bonuses]
[Selection complete: Guitar, Acting, Ballet]
[Detected Guitar bonus already present for Experience Target No. 2. Merging in progress]
[Guitar bonuses for Experience Targets No. 2 and No. 3 will synchronize. EXP gain increased to 3×]
[Would you like to replace any bonuses?]
[Replaceable bonuses: Painting, Tea Ceremony, Calligraphy…]
Asai Yu scanned the list quickly.
Replace Ballet with Painting.
The others weren't necessary.
[Ding]
[Ballet bonus replaced with Painting bonus]
[Bonuses acquired: Guitar Bonus lv3 (220/2000), Acting Bonus (0/100), Painting Bonus (0/100)]
[Wishing the host a pleasant experience]