[Aoyama Third Mental Hospital · Discharge Evaluation Report (Highly Confidential)]
Patient: Darius
Diagnosis: Closed Logic Paranoia (Terminal Stage · High Risk)
Notes: This patient firmly believes that the world is a game full of BUGS. Never attempt to debate with him! NEVER ATTEMPT TO DEBATE WITH HIM!
Current Status: Approved for discharge.
(Hospital Director's Note: Let him go. If he doesn't leave now, I'll be the one going insane.)
—
*THWACK!*
A thick medical file was slammed hard onto the table, causing the black tea in the cup to ripple violently.
Hiratsuka Shizuka's hair appeared disheveled, her chest heaving with rapid breaths. Her gaze was vacant as she pointed at the young man behind her, her voice sounding exhausted:
"Yukinoshita, ... this thing, I'm leaving it to you."
The long black-haired girl who was called closed the paperback in her hand. Her eyes glanced at the document stamped in red with "Abandoned Treatment," and her brow furrowed slightly.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, the Service Club accepts consultations for student problems, but we don't accept medical waste disposal."
Her sharp tongue remained as cutting as ever.
But this time, Shizuka didn't argue, much less use her iron fist to teach a lesson. She simply looked at Yukinoshita Yukino with a pitying gaze—like looking at a martyr—and spoke very rapidly:
"This is for your own good, and for world peace. His 'Social Rehabilitation Plan' needs someone to supervise. Anyway, as long as he doesn't die, do whatever you want with him. If he doesn't comply—"
She took a deep breath, as if summoning all the energy in her life to shout:
"—Deduct all his credits until they're gone!!"
Before the sound had even faded, this female teacher who usually always charged forward suddenly displayed extraordinary agility like escaping from a Resident Evil location. She spun, exited, and slammed the door in an instant.
The entire movement was performed in one perfect sequence, taking only 0.5 seconds.
*CLICK!*
Even the sound of the door being locked from outside could be heard.
The classroom instantly fell into an oppressive silence.
Darius stood near the door, silent. He wore red-blue 3D glasses that appeared from who knows where. He was in a very strange position—both feet spread apart, center of gravity lowered, hands clawing at the air—while scanning the room warily.
Yukino took a long breath, trying to maintain her sanity:
"Darius-kun, although Hiratsuka-sensei dumped you here, that doesn't mean I'll tolerate your behavior like an unevolved primate—"
"Ssst—!"
Darius suddenly raised his index finger with a serious expression.
He crouched down, performing special forces-style tactical movements to avoid detection, then slid along the wall toward a chair.
"Don't speak, Yukinoshita. Your voice's frequency wave is currently disrupting the spatial coordinates here."
Very naturally, he jumped onto the chair and squatted with both feet on the seat. He stared at Yukino from above:
"The magnetic field in this room is terribly chaotic, spatial coordinates overlap with sub-space by 0.03%. Based on general relativity theory, your sitting position causes your spine to receive the full vertical attack of Earth's gravity. Your time flow is 0.00000000000001 seconds slower than mine."
Darius pointed to his squatting position hugging his knees, his eyes gleaming with the light of truth:
"Whereas I, by folding my body to reduce the surface area affected by force, am deceiving gravitational waves. In this room, I am the only high-dimensional observer, while you..."
He shook his head with deep pity:
"You're just a pitiful insect bound by gravity."
Yukino froze.
Even after reading the entire library collection, she had never heard nonsense delivered with such utter conviction.
"Ridiculous."
The girl closed her book with a cold tone, "If you want to use this illogical sophistry to attract attention, you've succeeded in making me feel physiologically disgusted."
"Logic?"
Those two words seemed to press a certain button in Darius. He suddenly leaned forward and removed his 3D glasses.
"In this BUG-filled world, you're talking to me about logic?"
Darius pointed at the black tea on the table with an extremely high speaking speed:
"You think that black tea is red? Wrong! Those are water molecules at high temperature bleeding from shame after being violated by tea leaves! That's the truth of this world!"
"..."
Yukino felt like her frontal lobe had just been struck with a sledgehammer.
(This person... he's serious.)
Unconsciously, she raised her teacup to drink and calm down, but she realized her hand was trembling. Staring at the red liquid in the cup, the concept of "bleeding from shame" suddenly appeared in her mind, making her stomach queasy.
*CLANG!*
The teacup was set down hard on the tray.
Yukino suddenly stood up, her eyes flashing with fury, her finger pointing at the door:
"Please... immediately, leave."
"I want to leave too."
Darius shrugged and pointed toward the classroom door, "But unfortunately, that door has been equipped with a 'Plot Barrier'. Unless I trigger the key event, I can't leave this dungeon."
To prove it, Darius walked toward the door. He extended his hand, stopping about ten centimeters from the door handle.
Then, he began an object-less performance worthy of an Oscar.
The young man's palm seemed to press against an invisible wall. His fingertips turned white from the pressure, even the edges of his palm appeared distorted as if truly being pressed by something.
"Zzz... zzt-zzt..."
Darius's mouth produced electric current sound effects. His entire body bounced backward as if electrocuted by high voltage. He staggered back two steps with a serious face:
"See, air wall. My estimate is this is level 5, has a rebound damage effect."
"..."
Another nerve of Yukino's patience snapped.
She strode toward the door, her high heels striking the floor with a rhythm of anger.
"That's just an ordinary sliding door! I'll prove it to you right now!"
She grabbed the door handle and pulled hard.
It didn't move at all.
Yukino was stunned for a moment.
(What's going on? Did Hiratsuka-sensei close it too hard causing the rail to jam? Or is it really locked from outside?)
(No... that's not it. The sensation isn't like jamming from friction, but more like... this door is truly fused with the wall, or more precisely, this door is "refusing" to open.)
Behind her, Darius whistled and said casually:
"Give it up. Your physical attack power is too low, can't penetrate its defense. Unless you can explode 'Fury' that transcends the laws of physics to reach 999 attack points, we'll be trapped forever in this world for two."
"Don't... joke around!"
Shame, anger, and frustration from being surrounded by "crazy talk" reached their peak at this moment.
Yukino gritted her teeth, both hands gripping the door handle very tightly. She channeled all her strength into both arms.
(Open... for me!!!)
*BOOM!*
Accompanied by a pitiful sound of metal tearing, the old sliding door came off its rail.
Dust flew everywhere.
The entire door panel, like a giant Lego block, was forcibly removed by Yukino.
With a loud thud, the door panel fell onto the corridor floor.
The world suddenly went silent.
Yukino froze in her door-pulling position, staring blankly at the door panel lying on the floor.
Outside the door, a girl with pink bun hair was holding a bag of cookies, standing there with a dumbfounded face.
Yuigahama Yui opened her mouth wide. Her eyes moved back and forth between the chaos inside the room and Yukino's figure.
"Um..." Yui's voice trembled, "I heard someone outside shouting about tea leaves... Yukinon? Is this... a new welcoming ceremony?"
Yukino's brain suddenly went blank.
Not like this. This doesn't conform to the laws of physics.
"Amazing, Yukinoshita-san."
Darius's voice sounded at just the right moment, carrying a tone of admiration that begged to be punched. He stepped over the door ruins, standing between the two girls.
"In order to destroy the barrier, you didn't even hesitate to use the 'Forced Demolition' skill. I'm very impressed with you, would you like to join my 'Rebel Army'?"
Yukino suddenly turned around, glaring sharply at Darius.
In the girl's eyes, a fire that had never existed before blazed.
"Da... rius...!!"