Chinatsu (Koushi Hōoin) finally managed to escape the overly enthusiastic students (especially the trio).
After fielding a detailed interrogation from Master Origami regarding her "older brother's preferences," she felt physically and mentally exhausted.
She sat back down, instinctively glancing at the empty seat beside her, and her body unconsciously relaxed completely. She leaned back against the chair.
One hand rested casually on the edge of the desk, her index and middle fingers unconsciously tapping the surface with a unique, steady rhythm.
(Hmm? Where is Shido? He has been gone for a long time...)
(Wait a minute... At this time... The abandoned physics lab... Could it be...?)
Her memories of her previous life instantly awoke!
She suddenly remembered that this was the exact moment in the original story when Kotori and Reine would storm the school, drag Shido away, and subject him to brutal dating sim training!
Moreover, he would be publicly executed for choosing the wrong option—by having his embarrassing chuunibyou novel read aloud!
(Pfft!)
Chinatsu nearly burst out laughing and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, but her shoulders couldn't help but tremble slightly.
(It is coming! It is coming! The famous scene is about to happen! Ho ho ho, it was worth bringing the 'Dark Flame Master' and 'Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord' to you! Shido-kun, how does social death feel? How do you feel now!)
(No, no, no, I cannot laugh yet. I will wait a bit, wait for Shido to return... I must wait for Shido to return before I laugh.)
She could almost imagine how utterly humiliated, furious, and resigned to life Shido must be in the laboratory right now.
And just then.
By the window on the other side of the classroom, Tobiichi Origami was standing there, having arrived at some unknown point, calmly surveying the room.
Her gaze suddenly fixed on Chinatsu's relaxed posture and the specific rhythm of her tapping fingers, and a faint, almost imperceptible hint of doubt flashed in her ice-blue eyes.
(This rhythm and force of the tapping... are completely identical to Koushi Hōoin when he is thinking.)
[Behavioral habits are highly similar. However, according to records, the target and her brother have been separated for a long time. This high consistency... is questionable. Recording.]
She did not take any action, merely filed this detail away in her mind, and then turned and left naturally.
After lunch break ended.
When Shido floated back into the classroom like a broken doll whose soul had been extracted, his eyes hollow and his steps unsteady, all the classmates looked at him curiously.
He collapsed into his seat, burying his face deep into his arms, emanating a dense, grayish-white aura of despair, as if he had just survived a world war.
The surrounding classmates whispered:
"What is wrong with Classmate Itsuka?"
"He looks like he suffered a tremendous shock..."
"His face is so red. Is he running a fever?"
Chinatsu glanced sideways at the "lump of despair" next to her, suppressing her laughter, and deliberately let a sentence drift over in a cool tone only the two of them could hear, a tone that seemed to accidentally reveal the truth:
"Oh my... What happened to Classmate Itsuka?" "He looks exactly like..."
She paused slightly, as if searching for the right words, then softly delivered the killing blow:
"...like his carefully sealed embarrassing past from his chuunibyou phase was dug up and publicly executed in front of the entire school."
"Puh—ugh—!"
Shido's body stiffened violently, as if his heart had been precisely stabbed.
He let out a painful, barely audible groan, buried his face even deeper, and completely petrified, the last trace of color draining from his body.
(W-why does she know?! Is it intuition?! Or... is this the terrifying insight of a Spirit?!)
(It is over... Everything is over... My image... My life...)
(Super effective!) Chinatsu gloated internally.
Just then, that calm, steady voice sounded beside her.
Tobiichi Origami had arrived next to their seats at some unknown time.
She frowned slightly, looking at Shido, who was practically shrinking into a ball, and asked with a hint of concern (directed at Shido) in her voice:
"Shido, what is wrong? Your condition is highly abnormal."
"..."
Shido only let out a more muffled cry of misery, completely unable to lift his head and face her, especially Origami.
Seeing the inquiry was fruitless, Origami immediately turned her gaze to the only person present who seemed to know something—Chinatsu.
Her eyes were sharp, but her question was direct and logical:
"Classmate Hōōin. He became like this after returning from leaving earlier. You seem to know the reason. What did you mean by the 'carefully sealed embarrassing past' you just mentioned to him?"
(Here it comes!) Chinatsu's heart tightened, but she maintained her composure externally.
She quickly devised a fact-based explanation, displaying an expression of "uncertainty" and "coincidence" on her face:
"Well... it is like this, Classmate Tobiichi. I was just returning from the restroom and happened to pass by the old school building on the west side..."
She frowned slightly, as if recounting something confusing:
"Then I heard what sounded like the school broadcasting system coming from that abandoned physics lab? The sound was quite clear..."
At this point, she deliberately slowed her pace, as if recalling the broadcast content:
"It sounded like someone was reading... a very peculiar passage? I repeatedly heard phrases like 'Dark Flame Master,' 'Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord,' and 'Black Flame Dragon of World Destruction'..."
Having said this, she looked at Shido at exactly the right moment, her tone conveying a hint of "sudden realization":
"I immediately remembered that my older brother once mentioned to me in jest that these were some... er... very 'creative' short stories he and Older Brother Itsuka spontaneously wrote together in middle school. He even laughed and said it was Older Brother Itsuka's 'absolute embarrassing past,' and if the current classmates ever found out, he would be finished..."
She finally looked at Shido, her voice imbued with "sudden realization" and a touch of "sympathy":
"So, seeing Classmate Itsuka return from that direction and look like this, I guessed... perhaps he unfortunately ran into some kind of broadcast test... and then... er..." Chinatsu did not finish, but the meaning was clear.
(Perfect! The explanation is seamless! It explains why I knew the keywords, perfectly shifts the blame onto a nonexistent "recital," and implies Shido is an unlucky, accidental victim!) Chinatsu gave herself a mental thumbs-up for her quick thinking.
Shido's internal roar was subsequently revised:
(A b-broadcast?! That is right! Kotori was reading it over the loudspeakers! It is over! Did other people really hear it?! Wait... she clearly said it was a broadcast sound coming from the physics lab... Isn't that Kotori's doing! But she actually thinks it was some kind of broadcast test?! I... I cannot refute her! Am I supposed to say that was my little sister reading my embarrassing past?!)
Origami listened quietly, her gaze moving between Chinatsu and Shido.
She noticed Chinatsu's extremely subtle, unconscious movement of quickly pushing the bridge of her nose with her finger while "recalling" the story.
(This unconscious action... highly overlaps with Koushi Hōoin's habitual action when narrating events.)
[Suspicion increased. Included in observation items. However, her statement is logically consistent and matches Itsuka Shido's reaction; the scenario has high credibility.]
She did not question Chinatsu's explanation, merely pulled out her small notebook expressionlessly, and while clearly transcribing the conversation into written notes, she unconsciously and calmly read them aloud:
"Record. Subject: Itsuka Shido."
"Status Confirmation: Specific content co-authored with Koushi Hōoin during middle school (involving the titles 'Dark Flame Master' and 'Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord' and related text) was recited by an unidentified person inside the abandoned physics lab in the west school building, leading to an accidental public execution and resulting in a state of acute, severe shame and social avoidance."
"Information Source: Phoenix-in Chinatsu overheard the scene while passing by and relayed it.
Information Verification: Highly consistent with the subject's reaction."
Every time she calmly recorded and read aloud a phrase, especially "co-authored," "was recited," and "public execution," Shido's body trembled violently, making this public execution lesson feel endless.
Having finished recording, Origami closed her notebook, looked at Shido, who was visibly trembling though his face was hidden, and said in her usual flat tone: "The situation has been understood. Suggestion: Time will dilute everything. If necessary, seek conventional psychological support."
After speaking, she turned and left calmly and collectedly, as if she had completed an important mission of intelligence update and status recording, and seemed genuinely considering investigating the "unidentified recital person" at the old school building.
Chinatsu: "..."
Shido: "... (Completely grayed out, and burdened with the heavy task of finding the nonexistent reciter.)"
Chinatsu looked at Origami's retreating back, then looked at the statue beside her, named "Itsuka Shido: Victim of the Embarrassing Past Recital Incident," and cautiously poked him:
"...Um... Classmate Itsuka... Classmate Tobiichi said that time will dilute everything... And, she will go and help you find the person who was reading things aloud..."
Shido did not react at all, as if he had vanished into a rift in space-time along with the fictional "reciter."
And just as Shido suffered a heavy blow and his soul further departed his body, the gaudy system interface cheerfully popped up on Chinatsu's retina.
[Ding! ♪]
[High-Quality 'Amusement' Detected: Precisely salting the wound of the party involved and successfully triggering a deeper level of social death!]
[Evaluation: Elegant! So elegant! This precise retort and impeccable timing perfectly embody the essence of merriment!]
[Reward: 'Transformation Ability Repair Progress' + 5%! Amusement gained since entering the campus settled together, current progress: 17%!]
[Note: Keep it up! When progress reaches 100%, there might be a'surprise'! Aha ha ha ~!]
(A surprise too? I dare not anticipate a surprise from Aha!... Still, getting closer to turning back into a male is always good...)
She kept a poker face, yet the subtle curve of pleasure at the corner of her mouth became slightly more pronounced due to the system's reward. To others (especially Shido), this looked more like "gentle pity," making the damage even greater.
(...Wait, what is that look in her eyes?! That look that seems to see through everything, carrying a hint of sympathy yet also a little... amusement?!)
(No! Do not look at me with that gentle "I understand, I know everything" expression! That is ten thousand times more painful than just mocking me! This is practically a public execution of my very soul! Ah ah ah ah ah—!!!)
Chinatsu, meanwhile, elegantly turned her head back and picked up her textbook, as if she had only just offered a simple word of concern, yet the corner of her mouth held a curve of pleasure—the pleasure of a mischief-maker and a spoiler—that only she understood.
(Fun times always fly by quickly, Shido-kun. This is only the beginning~) (By Aha, this amusement is really good!)