[50000 Points Gained]
[50000 Points Gained]
[57000 Points Gained]
[35000 Points Gained]
It took everything in her power to not accidentally let out a noise of exclamation from joy and the giddy she's feeling.
Her point reserves are expanding!
At this rate, she'd be able to max out Pain Control in no time!
Or maybe she could buy some other things?
Speaking of which, she hadn't scrolled through the shop in a while. Is there a chance that something new might catch her eye?
But she needed to be patient! She can't let Atsuko next to her notice something wrong, so she can't just willy nilly access the blue panel right now.
But that's not everything!
This situation was also an opportunity!
Since she was supposedly 'asleep' right now, what can she do to milk the person listening?
Well, the most obvious trope would be...!
"Hime..."
Sleep talking!
There's nothing more honest than someone who isn't even conscious of what they're saying!
"Hehehe... love... voice.... Zzz...."
[5000 Points Gained]
Of course, there are some downsides to this strategy. First of all, she can't overuse it, otherwise it'll feel lifeless and not genuine. Secondly, it's not really as efficient as she had originally expected...
She had made it a habit to always 'sleep' on time as Kasuka. Due to that, she can't just suddenly change things up, it won't feel natural.
Also, Kasuka had just realized today that she hadn't really tried to build the relationship between her and the other members of the Arius Squad on a personal level!
Remembering that time she had gotten 12,000 points just by being beat up even though her relationship with them isn't that close yet...
Imagine it happening while Azusa was practically obsessed with her?
Wouldn't she just suddenly drop a notification saying she had just gained 500,000 points!?
'Hold your horses, Kasuka. I'm milking them too much when they're not ripe... I need to strengthen our friendship first, otherwise I might miss out on so many other opportunities...'
With a new resolution in mind, Kasuka steeled her heart to be a patient as a monk. The early bird may get the worm, but the patient bird gets the biggest... or something like that.
Anyways, back to pretending to be asleep.
As of now, she had a couple of options in mind.
Wake up and question where the others had gone. Stay asleep and wait for their return. Keep on sleep-talking occasionally. Pretend she's having a nightmare. Exaggerate a dream and suddenly wake up in cold sweat.
...Actually, number 5 might not actually be a bad idea!
A combination of 4 and 5 might be her best bet right now.
Hm...
Alright, with that decided, she just needed to build up some anticipation.
Just so it doesn't feel forced, you know?
After all, she can't just suddenly wake up in a cold sweat after saying she loved Atsuko's voice!
That might lower her impression on Hime instead!
That wouldn't be ideal, never in a million years.
---
"Ah... No...!"
"Kasuka?"
"Please.... please... no...."
"Kasuka!"
Not much time had passed since Saori and Co. left. Atsuko had been awaiting their return for a while. Though she doesn't expect for them to return quite early, she'd still wait the entire duration.
After all, she herself doesn't have anything to do currently other than preventing Kasuka from knowing their plans.
And since Kasuka was deep in her sleep, there's practically nothing she could do other than wait.
Of course, that's not to say that she's bored or anything... hearing Kasuka talk in her sleep was quite entertaining in and of itself.
And surprisingly, it seemed like Kasuka really liked her voice?
Perhaps that's the reason she really insisted on Atsuko to read her the stories, and no one else.
That's quite childish, but that's the thing: They are a child.
Yes, growing up in this environment may have quickened their mental growth, causing their mental age to be more mature compared to their body's age.
But that doesn't change the fact that they are still young, there's many things in this world they still lack the knowledge of.
One of them was the reason why the night sky doesn't contain any stars.
It was written in multiple different books that the night view of the sky would be the most beautiful thing they'd see ever.
Yet, in this place, there's no such thing as bright dots in the sky, merely the empty darkness with the occasional lightning striking down earth.
But at some point, it seemed like Kasuka's dream had taken a turn for the worse...
"Kasuka!"
"No... No....!"
Not thinking of anything else, Atsuko's goal was to quickly wake up the smaller girl from her nightmare. So what if she questioned where the others are?
Atsuko can't just watch as Kasuka's dream was being consumed by nightmares.
"Wake up!" She tried to shake Kasuka's shoulder a couple of times, but most attempts were in vain as Kasuka would inevitably struggle even in her sleep.
Fortunately, Kasuka's a bit weaker than Atsuko, so she quickly got a firm grip on Kasuka to gently shake her awake.
"I'll do anything...!"
"Tsk!" But she's not waking up. She doesn't want to resort to violence, but this situation isn't helping her at all.
With nothing else in mind, Atsuko slapped Kasuka across the face.
Slap!
"Huff... Huff.... Are you awake?" Atsuko heaved, slightly out of breath as the hand that had just met Kasuka's cheek began to throb, her own palm turning red. "I'm sorry. You... looked like you were suffering and weren't waking up. So I had to turn to... Physical resorts..."
"..." No response, but her eyes were wide open and so was her halo. Kasuka's arms slowly made their way to her cheek before a slight moist covering her eyes. "Ah..."
Atsuko panicked at this sight and tried her best to calm Kasuka down. "I'm sorry! I really had no other choice!" Quickly, she hugged Kasuka, the guilt slowly consuming her mind.
"Ugh..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Her hands were rubbing Kasuka's back, constant apologies flooded out for a while until Kasuka's sobbing stopped.
After the shoulder she was laying her head on stopped shivering, Atsuko hesitantly pushed Kasuka away to get a full sight of her face.
But Kasuka had other plans.
Hugs
Her hands pulled Atsuko closer, preventing the princess from distancing herself.
Atsuko hesitated on trying to force Kasuka away, instead accepting the gesture until Kasuka herself let go.
"..."