I clearly warned them.
I outright said that if they weren’t careful, something embarrassing could happen, or their clothes might even come off.
“Then let’s start quickly. I’ll go first.”
“I’m not greedy about the order, so it’s fine if I go after Seria.”
But why are they reacting like this?
They’re way too nonchalant, it’s honestly baffling.
Even their outfits are light, as if they’re ready for a holiday.
At least Alkiné is wearing an outer layer… but Seria is just in a flimsy long-sleeve shirt.
If even one layer comes off, it’s going to be a disaster. Why are they so calm about this?
No, if they were just calm, it would be fine. But these two took it a step further.
“Ah… is this how we do it?”
“No, you just need to wear it on your arm. Why are you hiding it inside your clothes?”
She’s holding the sword I gave her in her right hand, but the bracelet I gave her on the other side is rolled up and hidden under her sleeve.
“Oh? So I just put it in here?”
“No… Chairman. If you put it in that pocket, I can’t reach it…”
She’s wearing the knuckles normally, but she tucked the brooch into her chest pocket.
Wearing the weapons normally but constantly hiding the accessories—are they trying to cooperate or not? It’s confusing me.
Of course, if everything went smoothly, the meaning of the word “experiment” would fade.
But I didn’t ask for this kind of trial… it’s just troublesome in many ways.
‘They’re really making things difficult.’
Their actions are definitely strange by common sense. At a glance, it looks like they want their clothes to come off.
But looking at their smiling faces, I can roughly guess what they’re thinking.
‘They’re planning to show off, aren’t they?’
After all, I’m the one in charge of this situation. It’s a setup to test my inventory ability.
So, their intentions are probably a mix of “I’ll handle it well” and “if I mess up, I’ll tease them to the end.”
In other words, their current reactions are a result of trust mixed with a lot of playfulness.
Then I should boldly succeed and break through.
“Alright. Let’s just go with this.”
I grab Seria’s left wrist, which she’s smirking with.
I try to loosen the sleeve hiding the bracelet, but Seria holds onto it, so I fail.
But do you think I’ll give up just because of that?
First, I try to put the sword into my inventory.
Honestly, I thought this wouldn’t work. I’m holding Seria’s left wrist, and she’s holding the sword in her right hand.
Not only is there distance, but I didn’t even touch the sword itself, so I thought the storage condition wouldn’t be met.
But… surprisingly, the sword Seria was holding disappeared and went into my inventory.
I didn’t directly touch the sword, I just grabbed Seria, who was holding it.
‘…The judgment is more lenient than I imagined.’
At this point, I don’t need to risk danger by getting close to the weapon the opponent is swinging. I just need to dodge and somehow make contact with their body.
This alone…
What a great harvest. It’s enough to wrap up the experiment at this point.
“Now, the bracelet?”
But Seria didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that.
Yeah, I guess so. Then I won’t stop either.
Moving right on to the next step.
Come on in, bracelet!
“…Ah.”
“…Ah.”
“…Ah.”
It failed. I won’t go into details, but… well, that’s how it turned out.
Considering the bold attempt, the disastrous result was inevitable, and it was only natural that the three of us let out the same sound at the same time.
I quickly pulled out Seria’s clothes from the inventory and threw them to her, then turned around sharply.
What am I thinking now? Nothing much.
‘I shouldn’t have done it.’
That’s the only thing that comes to mind.
What’s the point of regretting after doing it? Just reflect on it.
“Rudion?”
As I was washing my face and letting out a deep sigh, I heard Seria calling me.
“Uh, can I turn around now?”
“…Yes.”
“Wait, Seria. What are you saying now…?”
“Sigh… So why did you tie the bracelet so tightly…? Wait, didn’t I say you can turn around?!”
But, you know, isn’t Seria just holding her clothes instead of wearing them?
Her bold move, which simultaneously delivered shock and absurdity, made me forget to even turn my gaze away.
“I only said you can turn around, I never said I was dressed.”
Looking at me, she just said it as if there was nothing strange about it.
Oh my, Seria. You’ve finally gone crazy.
A girl exposing her skin like that and not even feeling embarrassed!
Of course, she seemed embarrassed. She was slowly lifting her clothes to cover herself bit by bit.
I understand that she likes to play pranks. Honestly, I didn’t entirely dislike the pranks she played on me.
But this is a bit much, isn’t it? Are you trying to make me a real criminal?
“What on earth are you thinking?”
“Uh… Seria? Even I think that’s a bit too much.”
Fortunately, Alkiné didn’t side with Seria this time.
Of course. Seria’s current actions were something that couldn’t be contained by the word ‘prank.’
It’s good that there are only two of us here. If there was even one more person, it would have been an immediate three-strike dismissal.
She must be aware of it too, as her clothes have already risen to cover half her face… but now the lower part is exposed again, showing her belly button. Stop covering and just put it on already.
“…I’ll get dressed, so turn around again.”
She shows me while undressing, but doesn’t want me to see her getting dressed.
I don’t understand her standards, but I turned around as Seria instructed.
There was a rustling sound as she put on her clothes.
Soon, Seria, now fully dressed, came up behind me and started poking my back.
When I turned around, thankfully, Seria was looking at me, fully dressed.
Her face was red, but her expression was all smiles, clearly filled with thoughts of teasing me again.
“Rudion. Any thoughts?”
“…What thoughts?”
“You saw, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t.”
“Miss Alkiné. Did Rudion really not see?”
“Surprised, his eyes widened—”
I saw it clearly, even the fall. She didn’t even turn her head until the end.”
See? Accurate, right?
Just a moment ago, Alkiné, who was on my side, switched back to being an enemy, leaving me with no way out.
When fighting Seria one-on-one, there were still gaps to exploit, but now that they’re teaming up, there’s no way to win.
Right. You’ve done all the embarrassing stuff, and now you’re pulling this.
Guess I have no choice but to fight fire with fire.
“…Hey, Seria.”
“Yes. Are you ready to share your thoughts?”
“I was wrong.”
In an instant, I stuffed the shirt I was wearing into my inventory.
It’s a high-level strategy—surprising her while also putting myself in the same position as an apology.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, right?
The most efficient way to counter madness is with madness.
Seria was flustered by my sudden bare upper body…
“…Wow.”
…Wow?
Feeling uneasy, I quickly pulled the clothes back out and put them on.
You know what? Clothes stored in the inventory can be worn the moment you take them out.
It’s like switching equipment in a game—it takes less than a second to change.
“Huh, why?!”
The moment I put my clothes back on, Seria let out a sigh of disappointment.
…Alkiné beside her also seemed a bit disappointed, but maybe it’s just my imagination?
Anyway, the priority is to wrap this up quickly.
“I showed you too, so we’re even, right?”
“Men and women are different! You’d have to show me five times… no, fifteen times more to make it fair!”
“Seria, I don’t have gender-discriminatory thoughts like you, so I can’t accept that opinion.”
“How is this discrimination?!”
Seria desperately protested, but I dismissed it all.
To move things along, I quickly pointed to the next person.
“Your turn, President.”
“Hmm. Alright.”
“You’re really going to do it after seeing that?”
“Of course.”
I wondered if seeing Seria’s reaction might have changed her mind, but her decision was firm.
In the end, we ended up doing the same experiment again… but thankfully, Alkiné was wearing outerwear, so the risk of failure was much lower compared to Seria.
And since I learned from the experiment with Seria that there’s no need to touch nearby areas, I didn’t have to bring my hand close to her chest pocket.
The result of the experiment… was successful, aside from Alkiné’s outerwear going into and out of the inventory once.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I expected it, so it’s fine.”
This isn’t easy. I doubt I’ll ever need to use this, but if I do, I’ll have to be careful.
“…I shouldn’t have worn it out.”
“What?”
“I said it seems like I’m still inexperienced with this new ability.”
Did I really say that much?
Well, if she says so, then it must be true.
Anyway… let’s wrap this up.
Trying to do anything more in this atmosphere would just lead to more trouble with them.
It feels like I’ve put more effort into this inventory experiment than necessary… but I’ve done what I could, and there were results, so I should be satisfied.
“Is it all over now?”
“Yeah… I’m mentally exhausted, so I can’t do anything more.”
The inventory experiment wrapped up like that.
Alright then, let’s disband. Disband!
“Where are you going? Didn’t I say I was going to write the report?”
“Ah.”
Right. That’s what happened.
“Go ahead and get ready to write the report. I’ll stay and talk with Seria for a bit.”
“What do you need to talk about?”
“Hmm, well… As the Student Council President, I think I need to lecture her about discipline issues.”
“Aha.”
That was a pretty convincing reason.
Yeah, Seria, you crossed the line this time. You deserve a scolding.
—
Rudion left first, leaving Seria and Alkiné alone, standing there looking at each other.
Alkiné was the first to speak.
“Are you satisfied?”
“Sort of. It’s a little embarrassing, though.”
“After what you did, being only ‘a little’ embarrassed is impressive.”
“You regret wearing that coat too, don’t you? Why are you acting like that?”
“….”
Contrary to her earlier statement about lecturing Seria on discipline, Alkiné just had that kind of conversation with her.
And it was… definitely leaning toward a more risqué direction, even if it wasn’t too explicit.
But since Alkiné, who had been hit where it hurt, shut her mouth, the conversation didn’t go further, and a brief silence fell.
After a while, Seria was the one to speak again.
“Alkiné, you won’t forget your promise, right?”
“Of course not. Do you think I’d go that far?”
“Just say you understand. I’ve been patient enough to let us be alone like this.”
“…Fine.”
For a moment, it felt like a murderous intent. A chill ran down Alkiné’s spine, and without realizing it, she blurted out exactly what Seria wanted to hear.
That was the last of their conversation. Alkiné left after saying she’d go ahead.
—
Watching Alkiné’s retreating figure as she walked in the direction Rudion had gone, Seria let out a sigh.
“It’s not all joy.”
It was definitely a happy thing that more people were starting to trust Rudion, but somehow, her heart felt heavy.
If it were anyone else, she would have handled it the way she always did.
But maybe because she had grown somewhat attached to her, it wasn’t so easy. It wasn’t like cutting her off would make the relationship disappear.
That’s why she nodded when Seria said she wanted some alone time with Rudion.
There was definitely a strange atmosphere between her and Rudion, but it wasn’t strong enough to stop her.
[Current Affection Level: 52/100]
[8 more until the next reward.]
Of course, Rudion’s feelings were unclear, but her own feelings were firm… though in this situation, what did that even matter?
“Mom would have a lot to say if she heard about this.”
She always said that to get what you want, you have to be willing to do anything. But she couldn’t do that. Thinking about how to explain this later made her head hurt.
…I don’t know. My mind is so tangled that I can’t think straight.
“Sigh…”
All she could do was let out a sigh and keep staring up at the gloomy sky, barely visible through the trees.
