"The President is out!"
"And Yukino-chan and Haruno-chan."
"It looks like the task should be completed, right?"
"..."
The girls stood at the entrance, waving happily.
The two groups quickly converged.
"Everyone, thank you for waiting. The main quest has been completed..." Natsuki briefly explained what happened in the church, then said, "There should be a hidden boss, the sleeping priest, inside the church. Do you want to challenge him?"
"No."
"As long as you come out safely, President, don't deliberately do dangerous things."
"That's right, safety first."
The girls all raised objections; it was safer to be cautious in the instance.
"Alright." Natsuki readily agreed, "The minority obeys the majority, you all decide."
Tsubame raised her hand to brush back the strands of hair by her ear and softly said:
"It's so cold outside. Since the task is complete, shall we go home?"
"Eh?" Haruno's eyes shifted, and she walked over to Tsubame, a joyful smile on her pretty face, and whispered, "Tsubame has a home in the instance?"
Soul swapping was a side effect of the body, only triggered with a certain probability, and Yukino and Haruno chose to keep it a secret. So, until now, Tsubame still didn't know the truth about their body swap.
"Cough, cough…"
Tsubame's pretty face flushed, and her gaze drifted, saying:
"It's a house Junior bought to complete the task…"
Haruno's smile grew even more joyful:
"I understand, then it's Natsuki and Tsubame's shared home."
Tsubame's pretty face grew even redder. She couldn't provoke, absolutely couldn't provoke the troublemaker, but she could avoid her:
"I'm not feeling well, so I won't chat with Haruno-nee for now."
With that, she scurried away to Chika's side.
"Eh…"
Haruno sighed helplessly.
There wasn't a single person she could tease.
Natsuki said speechlessly from the side:
"Haruno-nee, that's enough."
"Wahhh…" Haruno's eyes were resentful, and her face showed a wronged expression, "I just said a few words, and Natsuki was mean to me. So biased."
Hey, hey, who was mean to you?
You, the troublemaker, started it first!
"Biased, huh?" Natsuki said with a straight face, "Come to my room tonight."
Haruno didn't know what she thought of, her pretty face flushed slightly, and she shook her head, saying:
"No way."
Natsuki said:
"Then I'll go to Haruno's room tonight."
Haruno covered her chest with both hands and said:
"No, I'm sleeping with Yukino tonight."
"…"
Chatting all the way, everyone passed through the cold and eerie street, casually dealing with a few troublesome evil spirits along the way, and safely returned to Happy Community.
"Ding-a-ling-ling…"
Passing by the guardhouse, the landline with the cut telephone line inside was still ringing incessantly.
"Eh, the phone is ringing." Chika asked curiously, "President, you're in the role of a security guard now, don't you need to answer the phone?"
"My mental energy is over-expended right now, I really don't want to answer. Let it ring." Natsuki said casually, "Security guards also have break times."
"…Alright."
Natsuki, who had already mastered the hidden clear method, indeed didn't need to be on call now and could completely be a security guard out of interest.
Back in the house.
As the girls entered the house one after another, the originally eerie, cold, and deserted house quickly became lively and warm.
"Time to bathe, time to bathe."
"Tonight, I can finally rest well."
"Not enough beds, shall we all sleep on tatami in the living room?"
"It feels a bit like a holiday training camp."
"…"
Natsuki sat on the sofa, pressing his fingers to his temples, closing his eyes to rest.
While Domain Expansion was incredibly useful, the consumption of mental energy was also quite severe. Even with his current high mental energy value, he couldn't maintain it for too long. If it were an ordinary person, they might only last for ten-odd seconds before experiencing a splitting headache and collapsing.
After an unknown amount of time, the girls finished their washing up one after another.
"Natsuki-kun, you can go wash up now."
Tsubame's sweet and pleasant voice sounded in his ear.
Natsuki opened his eyes, looking at Tsubame, who was wearing pajamas and had clearly just washed up, with traces of un-dried water vapor on her pink hair, and suddenly said in a low voice:
"Tsubame-senpai, did you forget something very important…"
"Eh?"
Tsubame blinked her eyes and pursed her lips:
"What thing?"
Then Natsuki said faintly:
"You haven't completed your cleaner task for today, have you?"
Tsubame: "…"
"Ahhhhhh!" Tsubame's beautiful eyes quickly widened, and she raised a hand to slap her forehead, realizing, "I completely forgot about it!"
In a corner not far away, a player who had taken on the same task as Tsubame couldn't help but cast a resentful glance.
To actually forget her main task, she was too carefree!
Natsuki stood up and said:
"Let's go, let's complete today's task now."
Tsubame nodded gently and said:
"It's a good thing Junior remembered, otherwise it would have been troublesome… Should we call everyone to go together?"
Natsuki said:
"Let's first try the effect of hiring others. If it doesn't work, then we'll all act together."
Seeing the two about to leave, the player who had arrived with Tsubame quickly followed:
"Wait for me, I'm coming too."
Tsubame smiled and said:
"We were just about to call Ami along."
Ami could only maintain a polite smile. You just forgot your main task, didn't you!
Stepping out of the house and into the hallway.
Bang.
Natsuki closed the door, then took Tsubame's right hand:
"It's quite cold outside, let's finish up early and go back early."
Tsubame softly said:
"It is a bit cold… Who do you plan to ask for help, Junior?"
Natsuki said:
"That little brat."
"Eh?" Tsubame was startled, then realized, "Junior means that child who was addicted to the internet before?"
Natsuki nodded and said:
"It's that little brat."
Tsubame gave him a slight glare and whispered:
"He's already a junior high student, how can you call him a little brat."
Natsuki said righteously:
"As a high school student, it's normal for me to call a junior high student a little brat, isn't it?"
Tsubame said speechlessly:
"So you're saying there's only a three-year difference between junior high and high school."
"Let me tell Tsubame-senpai a cold fact." Natsuki held up one finger, "Elementary school is actually only six years away from university. If a couple with a six-year age difference gets married, it's very possible that one of them is in university while the other is playing marbles in elementary school."
Tsubame: "…"
It sounded a bit incredible, but upon closer thought, it was indeed true.
A moment later.
Natsuki, with Tsubame and the other player, arrived at Mrs. Takagi's doorstep and politely knocked on the door.
After exchanging polite greetings with Mrs. Takagi, Natsuki went to the internet-addicted brat's room.
"What are you doing here?"
Seeing Natsuki appear, the internet-addicted brat immediately looked furious.
Natsuki took out a stack of banknotes and smiled:
"Don't you want to earn money to upgrade your graphics card?"
The internet-addicted brat's eyes immediately lit up:
"I do."
"…"
In less than a minute, the deal was successfully negotiated.
The internet-addicted brat excitedly followed Natsuki and the two others downstairs, starting to sort and classify the trash in the community.
These trash items were the same as yesterday, with cursed objects occasionally appearing inside. It was quite troublesome for ordinary people to accidentally get infected by curses, but for the internet-addicted brat, who was also a vengeful spirit, there was no problem at all. During the process, he accidentally touched a cursed object, causing his face to turn blue and purple, which made Tsubame and the player worry, but the internet-addicted brat didn't care at all and continued happily cleaning up the trash.
"Finished cleaning." In less than half an hour, the entire community was cleared. The internet-addicted brat extended his right hand and said, "Money."
Natsuki took out a stack of banknotes. To be safe, he divided the banknotes into two, handing them separately to Tsubame and the other player, asking them to pay to establish the employment relationship.
"You worked hard, this is your payment."
Tsubame handed over the banknotes in her hand.
"Here you go, you worked hard."
The other player, Ami, followed suit.
As the employment relationship was established, Tsubame and Ami's faces quickly showed joy, clearly having received a notification from the game.
"Natsuki-kun, the task is complete."
Tsubame quietly blinked.
The amount of money was actually the same, but the internet-addicted brat received two portions of underworld banknotes, clearly more satisfied, and even looked forward to it:
"Are you going to clean up trash tomorrow too?"
Tsubame smiled and said:
"We'll have to trouble you again tomorrow."
"No problem." The internet-addicted brat was even happier, "Be sure to call me tomorrow, I'm determined to clean up the trash in the community!"
"..."
Watching the internet-addicted kid go home, Tsubame let out a sigh of relief, looked up at Natsuki, and said softly, "It's actually possible to hire someone else to help complete the main quest… It's a happy ending for everyone."
Natsuki said faintly, "How is it a happy ending for everyone?"
"Eh?" Tsubame was startled, tilted her head, and said, "We completed the main quest and don't have to worry about being cursed, and that junior high student got pocket money. Isn't that a happy ending for everyone?"
"Senpai forgot one person," Natsuki whispered, "I'm not happy yet. I've been running around with Senpai, spending money and effort, but without a kiss, I can't be happy at all."
Tsubame's pretty face flushed slightly, and she couldn't help but glare at him and say, "I didn't ask Junior to come out with me."
"I don't care," Natsuki acted shamelessly, "In short, without Senpai's kiss, I won't go back."
"You…"
Tsubame's pretty face became even redder, and she couldn't help but reach her small hand to Natsuki's waist.
There are still other people here!
Don't make strange requests!
"You two chat." Ami vaguely heard their conversation and immediately felt the urge to leave, knowing very well that a third wheel would be annoying. She covered her stomach and said, "My stomach hurts, I'm going back to the restroom first."
After speaking, she covered her stomach, turned around, and scurried away, disappearing in a flash.
Natsuki said with satisfaction, "Ami is very sensible."
"Poke—"
Tsubame extended a slender finger and poked Natsuki's waist, "Don't cause trouble for others."
Natsuki grabbed Senpai's soft hand, his gaze burning as he said, "In short, Senpai, hurry up and kiss me."
Tsubame turned her pretty face away and hummed softly, "No kiss. Even if Ami is gone, I won't let Junior do as he pleases."
"Is that so?" He lowered his voice and said, "If we go back too late, everyone will definitely suspect something."
Tsubame: "…"
If anyone should be worried about others' strange looks, it should clearly be you, the harem scumbag!
However…
Thinking of going back too late and the subtle glances everyone would give them, Tsubame bit her lips, her face flushed. She really did care a lot.
Having no choice, Tsubame could only stand on tiptoe, preparing to satisfy Natsuki's unreasonable request. After all, they had already kissed many times, so one more time wouldn't matter.
Their lips were about to touch.
Natsuki could already smell Senpai's sweet fragrance.
However, the next second.
Tsubame suddenly took half a step back, her pretty face taut as she looked over.
"Senpai?"
Natsuki asked in confusion.
Tsubame folded her arms across her chest, her pretty face stern as she said, "Junior, can you explain why there's lipstick on your lips?"
Natsuki subconsciously raised his hand to wipe his mouth, but there was nothing on his hand.
Tsubame pursed her lips and turned to leave.
"Wait." Natsuki stepped forward to catch up, "Senpai, you actually tricked me."
How could such obvious evidence be left behind? After kissing Yukino, he had already wiped it clean!
Tsubame's pretty face was taut as she said, "When Junior lies, it's best to first get rid of the scent on your body, and also that strand of hair on your collar."
Natsuki looked down and indeed found a black strand of hair on his collar. He could only apologize, "Senpai, I was wrong, please forgive me."
"Go away."
It was clear that even a gentle and generous Senpai would still get jealous.
Natsuki had shot himself in the foot and could only follow Senpai back into the house with a bitter expression.
Two days passed in a flash.
Everyone's main quests were basically completed, with only Natsuki's timed survival quest remaining, as well as Yukino's and Ami's unfinished building quest.
During these two days, everyone envisioned various ways to clear the dungeon, such as purchasing various furniture to simply decorate the unfinished building and trying to restore it to its appearance in the illusion, while also searching for Hirata's ex-girlfriend. Unfortunately, nothing worked, and Hirata's wish remained unfulfilled.
Instead, Kaguya and others had reached their maximum stay time in the dungeon and had to leave.
"How exactly should Yukino-chan's main quest be completed?"
"All the methods we could think of have been tested."
"Perhaps it's not as difficult as we imagine, maybe we're overthinking it…"
"…"
The girls brainstormed, but still had no results.
Yukino's expression was calm, still composed, but the bespectacled girl who appeared with Yukino in the unfinished building was clearly getting anxious.
If such a powerful group of experienced players couldn't find a way to complete the dungeon, there would be even less hope of completing the quest after they left.
Unconsciously, the girls had reached the maximum stay limit in the dungeon, and Kaguya, Chika, Marin, and others successively left the dungeon.
"Yukino, I'm leaving soon, here's this for you."
Haruno pulled Yukino into a corner and handed her a card.
"Hmm?"
Yukino curiously reached out to take it, her beautiful eyes narrowing as she said, "Dungeon Exemption Card?"
"That's right," Haruno whispered, "The exemption card Natsuki gave me before entering the dungeon. Now it's yours. If you still can't complete the main quest in the end, use the exemption card to leave the dungeon."