Akira stared at the mission alert on the screen.
Then he immediately reacted.
"Seriously, sister? Fate / Stay Here?"
Selena answered without hesitation.
"It makes sense, doesn't it?"
She added casually,
"Besides, names need to be iconic. Otherwise they'll be forgotten over time."
Akira rubbed his forehead.
"Well… you're not wrong, I guess."
Then his eyes moved down to the reward section.
"Wait. What's UR rank for rewards anyway?"
Selena replied calmly.
"Those are the highest-tier rewards."
She continued,
"Things like the Death Star… Turn A Gundam… Halo Rings… Or even certain broken godlike abilities that can warp reality. Basically, items that are far too expensive to buy normally from the shop."
Akira frowned.
"What do you mean I can't normally buy them?"
Selena sounded amused.
"Check it yourself."
Akira immediately opened another screen and accessed the store.
A moment later—
He froze.
Then he suddenly shouted.
"What the hell!? Why is it this expensive!? How am I supposed to buy something like this!?"
On the screen, the prices were displayed clearly.
Death Star — 60,000 SC
Death Star II — 70,000 SC
Akira stared in disbelief.
"Why is it this expensive? Is it even possible to gather this many Star Credits?"
Selena answered dryly.
"Those things can destroy entire worlds. So yes… they're expensive."
Akira sighed.
"Fair enough…"
Then another thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"Wait. How much is Qan[T]? That's one of my favorite Gundams."
He searched for it immediately.
The result appeared.
GNT-0000 00 Qan[T] — 30,000 SC
Akira stared at the number.
"How long would I need to save to buy this thing?"
Selena answered casually.
"Why not just build it yourself?"
Akira shook his head.
"I probably could… but the GN Drive is technology I still can't figure out."
He muttered thoughtfully,
"Maybe because it was originally developed in Jupiter's gravitational field… If I could figure that out, maybe…"
Selena interrupted.
"Then why not just buy the GN Drive?"
Akira nodded.
"Good point."
He searched again.
A new item appeared.
True GN Drive — 5,000 SC
Akira leaned back slightly.
"Well… that's not too bad."
Then he sighed.
"But I still can't afford it easily."
He checked his balance.
Star Credits: 1420 SC
"Yeah… I'd have to finish quite a few quests first."
Selena spoke again.
"Or you could just buy the blueprints and build it yourself."
Akira blinked.
"There are blueprints?"
Selena said. "Of course, they're in the Library section with the rest of the books."
Akira muttered.
"Oh… right. I forgot about that."
He quickly opened the Library menu.
A moment later, the blueprint section appeared.
Qan[T] Blueprint — 4,500 SC
GN Drive Blueprint — 1,250 SC
Akira nodded slowly.
"Yeah… these are actually affordable."
He frowned slightly.
"But buying them would use up almost all my Star Credits."
Selena sounded unconcerned.
"Then save up and buy them later."
Akira started to protest.
"But—"
Before he could continue, Erika suddenly interrupted them.
"Can you two stay focused on the actual mission?"
She crossed her arms.
"Seriously. Why do both of you always get distracted like this?"
Akira and Selena both went silent for a moment.
Then they answered at the same time.
"Sorry."
With that, they finally returned their attention to the New Mission Alert window.
Akira looked at the reward section again.
Then he frowned slightly.
"Hey, sister… I think you forgot to add the Star Credits to the rewards."
Selena paused.
"Oh. Sorry about that."
A moment later, the window in front of them updated.
Reward:
×1 UR Rank Gacha Ticket.
20,000 SC.
Selena asked casually,
"What do you think?"
Akira nodded immediately.
"Much better."
Erika slammed the bed and sighed.
"Guys… focus on the mission."
Akira coughed awkwardly.
"…Right. The mission."
He finally turned serious.
"Alright. So what's the plan? How do we even start this mission?"
Selena answered.
"First, we need to find those talented students. Then we help them shine."
She shrugged "You know like Competitions, tournaments, contests… things like that."
Akira scratched his head.
"But how are we supposed to find them?Should I just walk around the school and see if I spot someone talented?"
Erika immediately shook her head.
"No. That's way too inefficient."
She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"I'll do it. I'm the Student Council Vice President, so I can check student profiles and club records. That should help us find the obvious talents."
She paused.
"But the hidden talents are the problem. And even if we find them… what reason do we give everyone? We can't just randomly ask students to attend competitions."
She sighed.
"And even if we did… that alone wouldn't make the school famous."
Akira nodded slowly.
"Yeah… you're right."
He thought for a moment.
"In anime, hidden talents usually only show their skills when something important is at stake."
He snapped his fingers.
"How about we create a fake problem that only they can solve?"
Erika raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of problem?"
Selena immediately offered an idea.
"How about we say the school might be shut down?"
She continued,
"Something like… due to a lack of future enrollment, the school will close within three years. So everyone has to work together to bring attention to the school. What do you think?"
Akira nodded in approval.
"Oh. The school idol anime plot. Yeah, that might bring out some hidden talents. Not a bad idea."
Erika stared at both of them.
"It's a terrible idea."
She continued firmly.
"The school is doing perfectly fine right now. We can't just randomly announce it's closing. Everyone would immediately realize it's fake."
Akira shrugged.
"But we own the school, right? Why can't we just say it anyway?"
Erika shook her head again.
"Because people aren't stupid. Anyone can look at the enrollment statistics and see the school is doing well."
Akira sighed.
"Alright… then what should we do?"
Erika thought for a moment.
"We shouldn't be discussing this by ourselves."
She looked at Akira.
"Why don't we talk to my brother about it? He's the Student Council President, so it'll be easier to coordinate things."
Akira blinked.
"Iori? Sure… but how much does he actually know about all this?"
Erika shrugged slightly.
"I think he knows about Selena and some other things. But I'm not sure how much."
Selena spoke again.
"Then why not just ask him? If he doesn't know much, you can simply explain it to him."
Akira hesitated.
"Is that really okay? I thought you wanted to keep your existence secret."
Selena sounded confused.
"When did I say that?"
She added calmly,
"Sure, keeping me secret is convenient. But I think Iori already knows quite a lot about us anyway. So it should be fine."
Akira nodded.
"Alright. Then we'll talk to him and come up with a proper plan."
Selena sighed.
"Yes… that's probably the best way to handle it."
Erika nodded. "I'll call him tomorrow."
Akira agreed. "Alright."
After that, the room suddenly became quiet.
They had already finished discussing the mission. Now neither of them knew what else to say.
The awkwardness from earlier slowly crept back into the room.
Both Akira and Erika avoided looking directly at each other.
Then Selena's voice echoed in their minds again.
"If you two are finished talking… go back to sleep. It's already late."
Both of them immediately nodded.
Erika stood up first, clearly trying to escape the situation.
"Yes… it's late."
She turned toward the door.
"Good night."
Akira nodded as well.
"Yeah… good night."
But just as she was about to leave, he suddenly hesitated.
For some reason, he wanted to keep talking to her.
Or maybe just stay near her a little longer.
A strange impulse rose in his chest. He wanted to reach out… maybe hug her.
But he quickly suppressed the thought.
He knew he was still in a volatile state.
So instead, he lowered his head and stayed silent.
Then—
Something soft pressed against him.
Akira looked up in surprise.
Erika was hugging him.
She held him tightly for a brief moment.
Before he could even react, she whispered quietly,
"Good night."
Then she immediately let go.
Without waiting for his response, she turned and hurried out of the room, almost like she was running away.
Akira watched her leave.
A small smile appeared on his face.
A genuine, happy smile.
He could probably live on that moment for a while.
Then Selena's voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"...Sigh. I can't believe my brother turned into this much of a hopeless romantic."
She sighed again.
"Seriously… this is beyond anything I expected."
Akira blinked.
Even he was surprised by himself.
Yeah… this was completely unlike him.
It almost felt as if he had become someone else.
Is falling in love really supposed to do this to a person…?
The thought made him uneasy.
Akira frowned.
No.
This was getting out of control.
He was turning into a complete love idiot.
He had to figure out what was happening.
"Hey, sister," he said suddenly. "I'm going to use the castle's medical center to run some tests."
Selena sounded confused.
"Huh? Why do you need that now? I thought you were going to sleep."
Akira shook his head.
"I don't need sleep, I need a brain scan."
He spoke seriously.
"I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
Before Selena could respond.
Akira vanished.
He had already teleported to the castle.
He had already made up his mind.
He wasn't going to sleep until he figured out what was happening to him.
Inside her room, Erika rolled back and forth across the bed, hugging one of her plushies tightly.
Her face was buried in it as she replayed everything that had happened today.
All the shameless things she had done.
She had no idea where she even found the courage to do all that.
"What was I even thinking…"
Well… they were a couple now.
And she did want to be closer to him.
So she had acted selfishly and followed her feelings.
But now that it was over…
She had no idea how she was supposed to face him again.
Right now she just wanted to dig a hole somewhere and hide in it forever.
While she was rolling around the bed, struggling with her embarrassment, Selena's voice suddenly appeared in her mind.
"Calm down a bit. I'm starting to feel bad for all the plushies on your bed."
Erika immediately stopped rolling.
"What do you want?"
Selena answered lightly.
"What? Are you mad that I stopped the two of you earlier?"
Erika looked away.
"No… it's not like that."
Even though she said that, her expression still looked slightly displeased.
Selena sighed.
"I told you not to do overly intimate things with him yet, remember?"
Erika lowered her head.
"I…"
She hesitated before finishing the sentence.
"…But I want to be close to him too."
After all, she was just a girl in love.
Of course she wanted to be close to her boyfriend.
So why couldn't she?
Selena sighed again. "I explained this before. He's not in a stable state right now. He needs a calming presence… not someone who stimulates him even more."
Erika frowned slightly.
"…How is he doing now?"
Selena replied casually.
"Well… right now he's in the castle's medical center. Getting a brain scan."
Erika immediately sat upright.
"What!? What happened? Is something wrong with him? Is he okay?"
Selena quickly answered.
"Calm down. He's perfectly fine."
She sighed. "He just realized he might be a little too in love with you and decided to check if something was wrong with his brain."
Erika stared at the ceiling for a moment.
"…Is he an idiot?"
Selena chuckled.
"Don't worry about him."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Anyway… we need to talk about you."
Erika blinked.
"Me?"
Selena continued calmly.
"You're supposed to calm my brother down. Not join him in losing control. You should bring balance to his mind. Not leave it in even greater confusion."
Erika buried her face in the plushie again.
"I don't know what to do, okay? I want to be close to him and do the things normal couples do. But you keep telling me not to do any of that."
Selena fell silent for a moment.
She knew she had been a little too strict.
But she also knew she couldn't be too lenient either.
If things went too far too quickly… it could become dangerous.
Still…
After thinking about it for a moment, she finally spoke again.
"Fine."
She paused for a moment before adding.
"Actually… there might be a way for the two of you to be close."