The morning started without incidents.
Takeshi arrived at school with Aoi at his left side, just like the entire previous day. In class he paid attention to what he could, and the rest of the time he used to quietly check his stats.
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 60%]
[Points: 5]
'I could buy some sanity, at least to get it up to 80% and save the rest just in case.'
Aoi was behind him, same as yesterday. Takeshi didn't need to turn around to know it.
During morning break, Takeshi saw Yuki enter the hallway from the far end, uniform neat and expression neutral. She walked unhurriedly toward no place in particular.
Her stats appeared above her head the moment Takeshi focused on her.
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 75%]
[Trust: 90%]
'I still don't understand what Confidence does. Next time I talk to that god I'm going to ask.'
Suddenly, the sound of a party popper cannon interrupted him.
'What the hell!?'
He saw a highlighted message in the chat.
[You have received a donation from Senpai2: thanks for the stream]
'Who the heck is that!?'
Out of nowhere, the deity's voice answered.
"That's our first donor."
"First donor?"
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you that every donation will be highlighted among the other messages."
"You son of a—!"
Takeshi felt the other students staring at him and decided to keep the rest to himself.
Continuing with Yuki, he watched her advance down the hallway. Takeshi stayed where he was, leaning against the wall, and calculated the distance between them.
Yuki didn't speed up, didn't pull anything out, and didn't speak.
At some point along the way, she turned her head toward where Takeshi was standing and looked at him.
It wasn't a quick glance. It was sustained, direct, barely blinking. She didn't smile or make any gesture; she simply looked at him as if checking to make sure he was still there.
Then she kept walking.
That was all.
Takeshi exhaled slowly.
'Good, I didn't need to spend my points on a quick escape.'
The chat popped up, floating.
[Oh]
[Tension from 0 to 100]
[Wait]
Takeshi frowned at that last message. Before he could process why, he heard quick footsteps to his left.
Aoi walked right past him without looking at him.
Takeshi turned his head and saw Aoi heading straight for Yuki with short, rapid steps, no prior gesture to indicate what she was about to do.
Yuki heard the footsteps and started to turn, but she didn't finish.
Aoi reached her and slapped her across the face with her right hand. It was sharp and without hesitation. The sound was loud enough that three nearby students stopped and looked.
Yuki took a step back, brought her hand to her face, and stared at Aoi.
The hallway fell silent for a moment.
Takeshi didn't move, stunned.
'What just happened?'
He observed the scene from where he stood. Yuki still had her hand on her cheek and was looking at Aoi with an expression that mixed pain with something colder. Aoi stood in front of her, back straight and hands at her sides, as if what she had just done was completely justified.
The chat exploded.
[JAJAJAJAJA NO]
[Aoi didn't even tolerate the look]
[Someone write that down]
[The protagonist didn't even move lol]
[Two yanderes confirmed, the guy's in trouble]
[Minute 1 of the day and there's already violence]
[Takeshi processing in real time]
[That slap was CLEAN]
Takeshi read the messages without reacting.
'Two yanderes…?'
In the hallway, Yuki lowered her hand from her face. The redness was visible even from where Takeshi stood. She glanced at him for a second, then looked back at Aoi.
"That hurt."
Yuki said calmly, without raising her voice.
"That was the point."
Aoi replied, just as calmly.
"For looking at his face."
"For looking at him the way you were looking at him."
Yuki tilted her head slightly to one side.
"And how exactly was I looking at him?"
Aoi didn't answer that.
The students who had stopped to watch the scene started moving again, slowly, as if they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they had been staring. The hallway regained some movement, but the tension between the two girls didn't dissolve.
Yuki looked at Aoi for a few more seconds, then turned around and continued walking toward wherever she was going, as if nothing had interrupted her path.
Aoi followed her with her eyes until she turned the corner. Then she turned and walked back toward Takeshi.
She stopped in front of him.
"Are you okay?"
Takeshi looked at her.
"I was okay before you did that."
"Yuki was looking at you."
"She was just walking down the hallway."
"She was looking specifically at you."
"Aoi…"
Takeshi paused.
"She didn't do anything."
Aoi held his gaze.
"Not yet."
With that, she straightened her uniform, turned, and started walking back to the classroom as if the conversation had ended satisfactorily.
Takeshi didn't move for a moment.
The chat kept going.
['Not yet' said with that face]
[Aoi with the most terrifying arguments in the world]
[The protagonist is right, but Aoi is also right and that's the problem]
Takeshi started walking toward the classroom.
For the rest of the morning, he tried to organize what he knew.
Yuki had already killed him several times, so the danger was known, documented, and had direct precedent.
Aoi had defended him when Yuki was about to attack, had stayed with him the entire previous day, had eaten breakfast at his house, and her sanity was slowly dropping.
'Before I had a problem with Yuki, but now I have two problems. One with daggers and one with a sword, and the one with the sword is starting to lose her mind.'
It wasn't a situation with an obvious solution.
The chat floated one last time before the teacher entered.
[Welcome to level two]
[The game continues, do try to keep things interesting]
Takeshi closed his eyes for a second, then opened his notebook.
Class began.