Once the competition ended and Anby successfully secured a year's supply of hamburgers for two, she immediately approached Wise.
Although her expression remained neutral as always, her entire presence radiated pure joy.
"Wise, these... we should go eat them together later."
"Mm, sounds good."
Wise eyed the two cards now clutched in Anby's hands. They guaranteed free hamburgers at the restaurant for an entire year.
Other people wouldn't understand, but considering Anby's monstrous appetite, he genuinely worried she might bankrupt the poor establishment.
Then again, that probably wasn't possible. Still, Wise seemed to recall something and turned his attention back to Anby.
"Now that I think about it, Anby, why didn't you finish all those hamburgers? You had plenty of time left, right?"
Wise remembered how Anby, with several minutes still remaining on the clock, had reluctantly set down the hamburgers after learning she'd won.
"Because the internet said you shouldn't eat too much before doing 'that.'"
"Huh? Before what?"
Anby answered so seriously that Wise grew even more confused. Then she pointed at a certain place nearby and continued, "When we go to that place to sleep tog—mmph!"
Her words were cut short as Wise covered her mouth. After all, if she said something like that out on the street, it would be far too embarrassing.
Already understanding what Anby meant, Wise glanced toward the place she'd pointed at, and for some reason, it looked incredibly familiar.
Staring at the big flashy neon sign of the love hotel down the street, Wise was pretty sure he'd definitely seen it earlier.
Seeing Wise deep in thought, Anby gently pulled his hand away from her mouth and said, "Mm, that's where we're supposed to go last."
Upon hearing this, Wise immediately remembered where he had seen it. He then looked at the innocent-looking Anby beside him with a strange expression.
"Anby, can I ask where you learned about going to a place like that?"
It could be coincidence, sure, but Ellen had mentioned something remarkably similar. Different girls, same place and identical phrasing.
"From a post on the Inter-Knot."
Anby didn't even try to hide it. She just pulled out her phone and showed him the post right away.
The original poster seemed to be a newly created account asking for advice on proper dating procedures.
But that wasn't even the important part. What really caught his attention was scrolling through the comments and discovering the accounts of Belle, Koleda, Ellen, Rain, and even Nekomata.
Just as Wise began wondering what kind of person had nothing better to do than create this mess, Fairy's voice chimed in.
[|Master, I'm sorry. That post was actually from me when I was asking around for ideas. I totally forgot to delete it.|]
Upon hearing her confession, Wise felt completely speechless.
'Alright, alright, so everyone's working from the same script, huh?'
But whatever, the plan had to keep going. He could just barely juggle six girls right now. As long as nothing went wrong, everything would be fine.
Naturally, his hopes crumbled almost immediately. Shortly after parting ways with Anby, Fairy's urgent warning came through.
She said that Anby had left the original Zone 14 and was heading towards Zone 12.
Wise's heart immediately sank. Although he didn't understand why Anby would suddenly leave and come this way, if she saw him and Ellen together, it would be over.
So he hastily bid farewell to Ellen and ran towards Belle. But halfway there, a sudden voice made him instinctively stop.
"Wise, I didn't expect to see you here too."
Upon hearing that voice, Wise stiffly turned around to find the white-haired girl, Soldier 11, staring at him in surprise, along with several other girls standing nearby.
"Y-Yeah, I'm just here with my sister for the Carnival..."
Wise knew he absolutely couldn't admit to being alone right now, or they'd for sure drag him along with them.
He already had six girls to deal with. If he added more, there was no way he could pull this off.
"I see. Coincidentally, I'm also here with my companions. If you don't mind, would you like to bring your sister along—"
"Sorry, but Belle's pretty shy, and she really wanted to enjoy today on her own, so maybe another time."
Wise's decisive refusal left Soldier 11 visibly disappointed. She had originally wanted to use this opportunity for them to get to know each other.
After giving his excuse, Wise quickly added that Belle would worry if he kept her waiting, then made his escape.
Once he left, one of Soldier 11's companions stepped forward and gently patted her shoulder.
"You scared me, Soldier 11! I thought you'd beat all of us to getting a boyfriend. Guess you're not quite there yet, huh?"
Upon hearing her companion's words, Soldier 11 frowned slightly, seemingly a little displeased, but she responded without hesitation.
"It's not as you imagine. Besides, Wise was just accompanying his sister."
Soldier 11 didn't bother explaining more. The kiss she'd shared with Wise remained a closely guarded secret between them, one she had no intention of sharing.
"Okay, okay, leave her alone already. So where should we head next?" One of the other girls spoke up while munching on a hamburger she'd grabbed from a nearby shop.
The taste was actually pretty good. No wonder there had been an eating contest there earlier. It was just a pity they'd arrived after it ended.
"Hmm... are you still hungry? If not, how about checking out that machinery exhibition over there?"
"A machinery exhibition? Ugh, I see enough military tech at headquarters already. Let's go to the game area instead," another girl suggested.
While they were talking, Anby, who'd somehow ended up in Zone 12, suddenly spotted something.
Meanwhile, somewhere else near where Ellen was waiting for Wise.
"Hey, Lynn, Monna, what do you think Nom Nom Shark's boyfriend is doing? Why hasn't he come back after so long? Should we pretend to run into him and ask?"
Ruby peeked over the park bench where they were 'hiding' and found no sign of Wise returning yet.
"Ruby, are you stupid? If we interfere now, we'll just make things awkward for Nom Nom Shark, right?"
"Lynn's right. Let's just keep watching." Monna agreed with a nod.
"What are you doing?"
The three were chatting when a clear, cold voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
"Of course, we're following the Nom Nom Shark and her boyfriend on their date."
Lynn and Monna immediately turned around to look. But Ruby was way too focused on spying on Ellen through her binoculars and just answered without thinking.
Then she abruptly turned her head to meet the gaze of a white-haired, innocent-looking beautiful girl. This was none other than Anby.
"Y-You... who are you? Wait, no, we're not really following them, we were just..."
"That's not what I'm asking. I wanna know her boyfriend's name. So what is it?"
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