In the light conversation that followed, Chris learned from Yotsuya Miko and Shiraishi Asuka the rosters for their two classes—both for the upcoming advance test and for the Special Exam.
Setting aside Amikura Mako and Hayasaka Ai, who needed to enter the presiding god space to redeem a [Blank Card Box]...
Ichinose's class was fielding: Yotsuya Miko, Amanatsu Kazuha, Housen Kazutomi, and Hamaguchi Tetsuya.
Sakayanagi Arisu's class had: Katsuragi Kohei, Hashimoto Masayoshi, Shiraishi Asuka, and Morishita Ai.
As for Kamuro Masumi choosing not to take part in the test—honestly, Chris wasn't surprised.
After all, while Kamuro was something of a veteran who'd been through plenty of Black Sphere exams...
...for the most part she'd only ever served as backline support and a "tagalong."
The S points she'd actually saved up weren't many.
After buying a basic Combat Suit and some Black Sphere gear for self-defense, her balance naturally fell short of the thirty points a [Blank Card Box] cost.
Otherwise, given how close Kamuro Masumi and Sakayanagi Arisu were now, Sakayanagi had actually considered sending her in as the one to enter the Mirror World dungeon—grabbing a contract beast along the way to boost her survival odds.
Unfortunately, she'd failed to seize the earlier point-farming opportunities, and on top of that she'd accidentally burned through one of her lives last time, facing the Darkness Devil at the mall.
Now that others in the class were willing to volunteer for the test, Kamuro Masumi—never the bold type to begin with—naturally wasn't about to grit her teeth and fight for an advance-test slot.
With her ability, she had almost no chance of placing in the top four for the revival reward anyway, so she might as well go with the flow, hand the spot to someone else, and earn a bit of goodwill in the process.
But this was all just Kamuro Masumi's wishful thinking.
In Chris's eyes...
'Just like how Kushida Kikyo got dragged into the exam grounds as an intruder several times in a row before... Once the presiding god has his eye on you, you think you can run?' 'Kekeke~'
'I wasn't really paying you much mind before, but since you're so keen to dodge it... now I'll just have to slot you in as one of next round's intruders, no matter what.'
The next day.
During the long break after morning classes, Kushida Kikyo sought Chris out, bringing the rosters she'd privately gathered from each class.
"Um, Chris..."
Kushida Kikyo gently laid the list on Chris's desk, pausing in a probing tone. "The slots for the other classes are all confirmed now... so shouldn't our class also..."
She didn't finish the rest of the sentence.
But her meaning was already plain enough.
She was simply fishing for information—asking who exactly he planned to send into the main event, the one who'd redeem the [Blank Card Box].
Though Chris hadn't announced it to the class yet, he'd never meant to keep it hidden.
With Kushida Kikyo's keen social instincts, she'd naturally caught wind of it long ago.
Chris's response was blunt:
"Kouenji's [Ultimate Uniform] apparently can't be layered with the armor from a transformed [Blank Card Box]. Of those with a comparable point balance and the means to buy in, that leaves Horikita and Karuizawa."
"I've got other plans for Horikita, so let's go with Karuizawa."
He settled it offhandedly, in a tone that left no room for negotiation.
Kushida Kikyo nodded obediently. She wasn't foolish enough to ask "why not someone else" and invite a rebuff.
Karuizawa Kei had latched onto Chris's coattails early on, and with that protection she'd successfully borrowed his authority to become the de facto leader of the class's girls.
Whether by reason or by the practical logic of factional interest, Chris giving the spot to Karuizawa posed no problem at all.
Kushida Kikyo simply flipped open the little notebook in her hand and confirmed:
"Then our class's lineup can be finalized now too... Kouenji, junior Nanatsura, Karuizawa, and Hirata?"
Chris wasn't surprised to hear it.
After all, even with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka gone from the former Class D, the remaining talent pool was more than deep enough.
Never mind Nanatsura Tsubasa and Horikita Suzune, who were still willing to volunteer even without any spare-life margin for error.
Even if neither of them went, Kouenji Rokusuke and Hirata Yousuke—who still had lives to spare—could hold the line.
Add in physically capable girls like Matsushita Chiaki and Onodera Kayano, and it was plenty.
So once the roster was locked in.
When Kushida Kikyo realized, to her surprise... that without lifting a finger, she'd once again safely escaped the test's summons!
But given her unlucky constitution—"specially favored" by the Black Sphere—there was a very real chance she'd end up an intruder again.
Kushida Kikyo still felt uneasy, so she'd come to gauge Chris's stance.
As for Chris...
Since Kushida Kikyo was absolutely doomed to the intruder's fate in the next exam anyway, he honestly couldn't care less.
"Fine."
Chris nodded and offhandedly instructed, "In a bit, help notify the other students who still want to take the test."
"Ichinose plans to help the students taking the advance test figure out their gear-upgrade direction in advance. I talked it over with Ryuuen and Sakayanagi, and we think it's a good idea."
"So we've decided to gather everyone before the afternoon special training to sort it out. It's also a good chance to see which items in the presiding god's shop can't be lent out to others."
At that, Kushida Kikyo's eyes brightened, and she instinctively asked, "Then... can I go too?"
Chris raised an eyebrow and looked at her with mock surprise. "Oh? You never intended to take the advance test at all?"
Realizing she'd misspoken, Kushida Kikyo hurriedly waved her hands, putting on an air of noble selflessness as she explained:
"I—I didn't mean it like that!"
"I just meant... counting people like me and Matsushita who aren't on the test roster, if everyone goes, that might be an awful lot of people... wouldn't it waste too many class evaluation points?"
In her eagerness to explain herself, the girl waved her hands a touch too vigorously.
So much so that the proud assets on her chest swayed along, tracing a startling arc.
Chris watched with a blank expression, then replied unhurriedly:
"It's a necessary expense. Otherwise, if we're pressed for time later and have to fumble around figuring it out when we actually need it—that'd be the real hassle."
"Consider it a small reward for everyone bravely facing the exam."
Once she'd confirmed Chris really didn't mean to exclude her, Kushida Kikyo finally let out a relieved breath.
"Phew... then I'll go tell Matsushita and the others right now!"
Chris nodded.
Watching Kushida Kikyo strike a "fleeing in a rout" pose and hurry off, he couldn't help but muse to himself:
Say what you will, but with Kushida Kikyo's acting, if not for the boost of his [All-Seeing Eyes] passive, it'd genuinely be hard to tell whether that just now was deliberate or an honest slip.
It felt like... this perfect "green tea" facade had long since become second nature to her.
She really did have something.
Meanwhile, on Kushida Kikyo's end.
After returning to her seat, without even waiting for her nerves to settle,
she rode that endearing, weary momentum straight over to Matsushita Chiaki's side.
"Matsushita, phew..."
Kushida Kikyo lightly patted her own chest.
"Chris told me to call you—when we head to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for special training this afternoon, come along with us."
"He said it's so everyone can try out their items, to make it easier for us to figure out which upgrade direction to save points for."
Seeing Kushida Kikyo looking so haggard, yet still constantly looking out for everyone,
Matsushita Chiaki—even knowing full well the girl probably wasn't quite as she appeared on the surface—still graciously handed over a bottle of mineral water with the cap already unscrewed, along with a tissue.
"You look worn out—it's fine to catch your breath before you say anything."
Matsushita Chiaki said with concern, "There's still plenty of time, no need to be in such a rush."
Kushida Kikyo nodded gratefully, took a sip of water, made a show of recovering a bit, then continued:
"When the time comes, it won't just be our class—people from Ichinose's, Sakayanagi Arisu's, and Ryuuen's classes will all be there too."
"I imagine there'll be no shortage of items we can try for free."
She blinked and asked probingly, "Chiaki, is there any item you're especially looking forward to?"
Matsushita Chiaki thought it over and gave a slight shake of her head. "It's too early to say... what suits others won't necessarily suit us. Better to see with our own eyes first."
Kushida Kikyo, however, pursed her lips and put on a wistful, girlish look. "I'm a little envious of Ichinose's and Sakayanagi's transformation devices, though... magical girls!"
"I know at our age saying this might seem childish. But if we could really have magic and become genuine magical girls... it'd actually be pretty romantic, wouldn't it?"
As she spoke, Kushida Kikyo seemed to suddenly remember something and turned to call out to Hasebe Haruka, who sat not far away. "Haruka, do you want to come try it out with us this afternoon too?"
Since Kushida Kikyo and Matsushita Chiaki hadn't bothered to lower their voices, Hasebe Haruka had naturally heard the whole exchange.
But out of fear, she'd had no intention of signing up for the advance test from the start, so being suddenly called on caught her off guard.
"Huh? Can I go too?"
Hasebe Haruka pulled off her silent earphones and asked hesitantly.
Kushida Kikyo immediately leaned in closer, affectionately linking arms with her, and whispered temptingly in her ear:
"If I don't say anything, and you don't say anything, who's to know you never wanted to take the test?"
"Like I just said, it's a magical girl's transformation device, you know... even if you never go and risk your life later, using this chance to indulge a little wouldn't hurt, right?"
"And on top of that, you'll leave a good impression on everyone—so if you run into danger later, they'll be willing to lend you a hand."
Hearing this, Hasebe Haruka pressed her lips together and instinctively pouted a little.
After weighing it briefly in her mind, she ultimately couldn't resist the temptation and gave a small nod. "Then... thank you, Kikyo."
Kushida Kikyo instantly broke into a beaming smile. "No need to thank me! We're all classmates, after all!"
Though she'd already exposed her weaker side to Karuizawa Kei and Matsushita Chiaki,
for now, at least in the eyes of most of the ordinary students in the class, she was still that helpful, gentle, kindhearted "little angel Kikyo"!
As long as she maintained her current shining image and kept doing others favors,
once this batch of classmates grew stronger down the line, getting them to lend her a hand in return would be no difficult matter.
Well... assuming they lived long enough to grow, that is.
And watching Kushida Kikyo bustle about, playing the "enthusiastic" type who never let herself have a moment's rest,
Matsushita Chiaki, still seated, exchanged a glance with Karuizawa Kei, who had just walked over.
Karuizawa Kei clicked her tongue and muttered under her breath, "This... should I praise her, or say she's a scheming one?"
Matsushita Chiaki sighed and remarked softly, at a volume only the two of them could hear, "It's not so bad, really. She knows how to use her own strengths to weave a network of connections—investing in the future."
"It's a whole lot better than just waiting to die like before..."
Karuizawa Kei thought about it and nodded in agreement. "True enough."
Time passed, and soon it was afternoon.
In the free periods before then, Kushida Kikyo had—much as she'd done with Hasebe Haruka—used the same tactics to approach select people from Sakayanagi's, Ichinose's, and Ryuuen's classes.
Of course, she didn't make a big show of it, nor did she cast a blind, wide net.
Instead, based on the information she'd gathered over this period, combined with how they'd performed against the creatures in the midterm Uninhabited Island exam, she gave subtle hints to those she'd judged to be "promising prospects."
Throughout these exchanges, Kushida also took great care to keep within bounds.
She didn't put herself on a pedestal to grab credit—she merely offered reminders.
After all, she wasn't a classmate of these people, and Ryuuen and Sakayanagi Arisu were obviously aware of what she was doing.
She only needed to make her presence felt and do them a favor.
She couldn't very well pay the class points to open the Time Chamber for them, and meddling recklessly would only invite suspicion.
When afternoon classes let out, everyone gathered in the indoor gymnasium.
Kushida Kikyo turned her head and saw that the people she'd privately tipped off had indeed all shown up on time.
She couldn't help but let a smile tug at her lips, filled with the satisfaction of a master strategist.
Suppressing her grin, she raised her hand and tapped the party-invite prompt on her Black Sphere wristwatch.
But in truth, as for Kushida Kikyo's little private maneuvers,
both Ryuuen and Sakayanagi Arisu had seen through them clearly long ago.
They didn't stop her—they simply felt there was no need to care.
Class evaluation points, in the present after the Black Sphere's arrival, were really just a monthly bonus for exchanging into living points.
Now, even with the [Hyperbolic Time Chamber] as a way to spend them, holding onto them held little practical value until real talent could be cultivated.
What's more, someone like Kushida Kikyo, who prized her own life above all else—the targets she carefully selected to court mostly fell within Ryuuen's and Sakayanagi Arisu's own watch lists too, being by and large moldable talents above the passing line.
Someone was doing the mobilization work for them free of charge.
Naturally, they had no reason to step in and refuse.
It was a textbook case of mutual exploitation—a win-win collaboration.
A flash of white light.
When the whole crowd arrived, en masse, in the pure white space,
Chris and the others didn't immediately opt to change the terrain, nor did they right away pick this session's mock sparring partner.
Instead, as if by unspoken agreement, they each summoned the high-tier items they possessed from their Black Sphere wristwatches.
[Stand Disc], [Blank Card Box], [Leo Cavalry Armor], [Parasyte], [Devil Fruit]—
an assortment of item capsules appeared before everyone.
Ryuuen even generously contributed his own [Lion God Template], letting everyone pass it around for a look.
Seeing this, Ichinose and Chris were naturally not stingy either.
As the actual owners of the items, they could forcibly recall them through the system at any time, so they weren't the least bit worried about anyone pocketing them.
Ichinose Honami stepped forward and raised her hand to show the items in her palm to everyone:
"Everyone, try mine first."
"Aside from the [Love-Love Fruit], which I upgraded with S points, the rest are the shop's most basic gear. You can check their corresponding values and specific abilities against the catalog I posted in the group chat earlier."
In truth, Ichinose brought out the Devil Fruit purely for them to experience and marvel at.
Ichinose's main goal was really to see whether her magical girl transformation device, the [Ruby Staff], could be lent out for others to use.
If it could,
she could lend the Ruby Staff to Amikura Mako, who'd be taking the advance test later, for self-defense.
Meanwhile, she herself would use her remaining points to redeem a new item that wouldn't clash with it.
Then once the exam began, she'd take it back from Mako.
That way, one piece of gear shared between two people would maximize the return!
Unfortunately, before she could finish laying out her plan and ideas—
Yotsuya Miko and Kushida Kikyo, who had just taken two [Love-Love Fruits] from her hand and, unable to hold back their curiosity, each tried a small bite—
at this moment, both of their faces had turned an ashen, greenish shade.
"Bleurgh—!"
"Ugh... water... water!"
The two girls, usually so mindful of their image, clapped their hands over their mouths and crouched on the pure white floor, retching without a shred of dignity.
Their contorted expressions made it look as though they'd just eaten a mouthful of a sock that had been fermenting for ten years.
Ichinose Honami looked at the two in their sorry state, sighed helplessly, and reached out a hand, caught between laughter and tears. "Wait until I finish talking..."
"Didn't I specifically note it in the group files... Devil Fruits taste absolutely, horribly awful..."
"And besides, even setting the taste aside—once someone takes the first bite of a fruit and gains its ability, whether it still does anything for the next person to eat it is honestly hard to say."
As she spoke, looking at the two of them retching miserably, Ichinose felt—for some reason—a strange little thrill that she was finally no longer the only one who'd had to eat a Devil Fruit...
Of course, the girl quickly shooed the thought away and dutifully reminded them:
"Yotsuya, Kushida—once you're feeling a bit better,"
"try to see if you can use the Devil Fruit's ability."
____
👻🔥P-a-t-r-e-o-n: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Re:Zero: Wait, am I Pandora? — new on The_Mikudayo
📚 40 chapters ahead over at Walnut-chan — your support is what pays for the translations
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all