While Hikari Aoi was still unable to stop his wild thoughts—wondering whether he should start training his body, strengthening his physique, and even "nourishing his kidneys"—time passed bit by bit. After the morning classes ended came a short lunch break, followed by the start of the afternoon lessons.
During the homeroom teacher's class, Hikari Aoi received a notification.
The school intended to give him the one and only internship slot of the year at Massive Electric Corporation.
Massive Electric Corporation was a globally renowned enterprise. As long as one didn't make any major mistakes and performed normally during the weekly weekend internship, this opportunity almost guaranteed future employment within the company. Naturally, it was extremely valuable.
However, as the only male student in this cohort, Tachikawa Academy treated Hikari Aoi with considerable care, assigning the slot to him without much evaluation. The other students, upon hearing the news, raised no objections.
Since long ago, due to an infectious disease known as Honkai infection, the number of males had been rapidly declining.
At first, male newborns died prematurely for various reasons. Then came children and the elderly, whose physical conditions were only slightly better than infants. After that, even strong adult men began to fall.
From one in ten surviving, to one in a hundred, and now to the absurd level of one in a thousand—the surviving males, due to their rarity, received preferential treatment across all industries.
At the same time, countless women, unable to find male partners, began—either helplessly or even enthusiastically—to turn their attention toward the same sex.
With the help of technologies such as in vitro fertilization, humanity had cleverly bypassed the issue of reproduction. Only the prevalence of same-sex relationships had grown stronger.
Of course, none of that mattered much to Hikari Aoi anymore.
The moment he received the notification, all his previous wandering thoughts vanished. His gaze froze on the invitation letter representing the internship slot.
Printed on it was the abbreviation of Massive Electric Corporation—
ME Corp.
Nagazora City. ME Corp.
These two not-so-distinctive terms, when combined, finally triggered Hikari Aoi's memory.
Once upon a time, he had also been a "wise janitor doing aerial splits" on a battleship bridge.
Right now, Hikari Aoi had no time to reminisce about the beautiful Valkyries whose affection levels he had painstakingly raised to maximum in the past.
There was only one thing he wanted to know.
The so-called infectious disease Honkai infection… was actually the Honkai.
And the Third Honkai Eruption—the disaster that would turn the vast Nagazora City into a dead zone—
How long until it happened?
Even though he had once spent countless hours in the game, even though he was familiar with the combat styles of every Valkyrie on the bridge, even though he believed he understood the storyline well—
He still couldn't recall the exact time of the Third Honkai Eruption.
For players, such a detail was never that important. Who would deliberately memorize it?
While the other students in the class cheered for Hikari Aoi obtaining the internship at ME Corp, and while Hikari Aoi himself was overwhelmed by the looming "Sword of Damocles" that could fall at any moment—
Faint lines of text suddenly appeared before his eyes.
"Friendship Supply activated. First ten-pull is free."
…I have a system?
No wonder he had directly gained a student identity upon transmigrating, avoiding many complications.
System power!
So then, in the game, what could the Friendship Supply pool yield?
The best possible items were probably character fragments—and only for relatively weak characters at that. Even an old veteran like Hikari Aoi had nearly forgotten about it, to the point that he couldn't even be bothered to spend the friendship points he had accumulated.
But now, the text before his eyes—and the supply crate behind it—
To Hikari Aoi, it was the most beautiful sight imaginable.
In the Honkai world, those without power were nothing more than background characters.
Hikari Aoi did not believe he could survive a catastrophe relying solely on his identity as a male. On the contrary, in some ways, the Honkai seemed even more hostile toward men—otherwise, there wouldn't be so few of them left in this world.
After confirming that no one else could see the floating text before him, Hikari Aoi didn't rush to press the "Ten Pull" button.
Who knew how the items would manifest once drawn?
For now, all he could do was wait until after school and investigate it in his dormitory.
In fact, worried that his system might be a one-time opportunity, Hikari Aoi didn't even dare to press the "close" button at the top-right corner of the interface, fearing it might disappear forever.
For the rest of the time, his vision was split between reality and the Friendship Supply interface. After staring at it for too long, it made him slightly dizzy.
But he endured it.
If he asked for leave now, rather than being allowed to go home early, Hikari Aoi was more inclined to believe that his overly caring homeroom teacher would personally escort him to the hospital—which would take even more time.
All he could do was calm himself and wait quietly.
During the hour or so of waiting, aside from the dizziness, Hikari Aoi arrived at a conclusion.
His system didn't have any intelligent response function. Otherwise, there would have been some kind of additional prompt during such a long period.
In other words, he would have to figure everything out on his own.
Just like how the Friendship Supply hadn't appeared immediately after his transmigration, but only manifested after he obtained the ME Corp internship and realized he was in the Honkai world—its trigger conditions were still unclear.
Hikari Aoi's student dormitory was located outside Tachikawa Academy.
Almost the moment the final bell rang, he stood up from his seat, politely but firmly refusing the girls' invitations to have dinner together, and quickly headed back to his dorm.
It had taken him more than ten minutes to walk to school earlier.
Now, he returned in just eight.
If not for avoiding attention and concern from others, Hikari Aoi might have run all the way back. The emotional turbulence before drawing the Friendship Supply was far greater than any gacha he had ever done in a game.
After all, one was just entertainment.
This, however, concerned his survival.
Now that he had come to the Honkai world, how could he be willing to remain an ordinary person—completely powerless in the face of the Honkai?
Should he escape Nagazora City before the Third Honkai Eruption and hide in some remote place, relying on his identity as a male to survive?
If Hikari Aoi had no possibility of gaining power at all, he might truly have been forced to make that choice.
But now—
With the appearance of the Friendship Supply, with even this faint glimmer of hope—
He no longer wanted to flee in disgrace.
When the Honkai descends, where in the world can truly be a sanctuary?
Compared to running away—
Hikari Aoi chose to face it.