Monday.
The weekend passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was a school day again.
After waking up in the morning, Sora washed and hung up his clothes to dry. He left the house a bit later than usual, but who knew that upon arriving at the train station, he would see Angel-sama standing quietly in the corner.
"Good morning, Sora-kun."
Mahiru seemingly noticed him, lifted her eyes, and ignored the stares of others as she softly greeted him.
"Good morning." Sora looked over curiously. "Why is Mahiru-san still at the train station... Are you waiting for me?"
Hearing this, Mahiru slightly turned her pretty face away and casually replied:
"Sora-kun is overthinking it. I just left the house a bit late."
"..."
That was a lie.
In fact, Mahiru's biological clock was super accurate; she left the house at almost the exact same time every day. She should have already taken the train to school, but arriving at the station this morning and not seeing Sora, she silently decided to wait in the corner.
"We caught a lot of horse mackerel yesterday, we definitely won't be able to finish them all tonight." Mahiru looked up, quietly changing the subject. "Let's invite Yanami-san over for dinner tonight, okay?"
"Sure, I'll ask Anna."
"And Ruri-san too."
"Anna will definitely come, but Ruri-san might not."
"Regardless of whether she comes or not, ask her first."
"Leave it to me."
"..."
After chatting for a bit, the train slowly pulled in.
The two ended their conversation and boarded the train together.
Looking at Angel-sama standing right in front of him, exuding a sweet fragrance like a small cupcake, Sora felt a little dazed.
Strange, how did Angel-sama naturally end up standing right in front of me?
The journey was silent.
The train quickly arrived at the school.
Sora and Mahiru stepped off the train, then separated by tacit understanding.
Just as he walked into the classroom, the girl's crisp, bright, and energetic shout rang out:
"Sora, good morning~"
"Good morning." Sora walked to his desk and sat down. Looking at the blue-haired girl who had come over to chat with a bright smile, he briefly recounted the events of fishing the previous afternoon.
"...Come over and eat horse mackerel with us tonight."
"Ehh..."
Anna didn't eagerly agree with a face full of joy. Instead, she puffed out her cheeks and muttered quietly:
"Sora actually went fishing at the beach with Mahiru-chan yesterday without inviting me. So biased."
Sora was expressionless. "When I invited you to go fishing at the beach in middle school, you sat for less than ten minutes and said fishing was super boring."
"Ehhhh, Sora actually remembers it that clearly?"
"Of course I wouldn't forget."
Anna coughed lightly twice, stammering a quiet rebuttal. "When three days have passed, one must look at a scholar with new eyes. I'm no longer the me from middle school. I might like fishing now."
Sora said casually:
"Golden Week is coming up soon. I'll invite you to go fishing at the seawall then."
"Okay~"
Anna's smile finally brightened up. She didn't get up and leave; instead, she excitedly began talking about the new content of her story. During their chat, she pulled a bag of small cupcakes from nowhere and started eating them vigorously like a little hamster.
Sora's gaze shifted downwards, involuntarily landing on Anna's lips.
The girl's lips were moist, full, and glossy. He had to admit, they were quite cute.
"Mmm..."
Sensing Sora's stare, Anna's pretty face flushed slightly. She couldn't help but recall the kiss in front of the hot spring inn from a couple of days ago, and hurriedly offered a small cupcake:
"Does Sora want a bite?"
"No thanks." Sora flatly refused. "It has your saliva all over it."
"What's that supposed to mean, it's not like Sora hasn't eaten my saliva when we were kids!"
"..."
Lunch break.
While eating his bento, Sora sent a message to Kuroneko on his phone, briefly mentioning the fishing trip yesterday and asking if Ruri wanted to come over and eat horse mackerel together tonight.
He originally thought she would refuse, but surprisingly, Ruri actually agreed.
"It's inconvenient to chat on the phone. Regarding game production, I happen to have many ideas I want to discuss with Sora-kun."
Sora: "See you at the school gate after school."
"..."
In the blink of an eye, it was time for school to end.
Sora arrived at the school gate and saw a girl with long, straight black hair standing alone in the corner. It was Kuroneko.
"Ruri-san, sorry to keep you waiting."
"I just came out too..." Ruri tilted her pretty face up. Her gaze fell on Sora, and the terrible dream from that night involuntarily surfaced in her mind. Her pretty face flushed hot, and she hurriedly lowered her head in embarrassment to look at her toes. "Where are Anna and the others?"
"Anna has to go shopping with her friends first, she'll come over in the evening." Sora said casually. "We don't need to wait for her, let's go back first."
"Okay..." Ruri pursed her pink lips and said softly, "Um, I think I've gotten stronger."
"What do you mean?"
"When I left home this morning, I heard two dogs talking on the side of the road."
Sora was instantly intrigued. "You can communicate with doggos now?"
"I haven't tried yet, I'm worried about side effects..." Ruri gently shook her head. "But there shouldn't be any problems."
"We can test it out on the way back." Sora said expectantly. "If the verification is successful, Ruri-san will officially be the Witch of Beasts from now on."
Ruri scrunched up her cute nose. "That sounds so weird. I prefer the title Queen of Nightmares."
"..."
The journey was silent.
Sora and Kuroneko quickly returned home.
They did a simple test on the way, and Ruri indeed could now communicate with doggos, officially evolving into the Witch of Beasts. Unfortunately, the reason for her gaining strength remained completely unclear.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Ruri stepped into the entryway, her voice a bit nervous. From birth until now, it was her very first time visiting a boy's house as a guest, so she was inevitably a bit nervous and restrained.
As for feeling afraid... not at all.
Although she hadn't known Sora for very long, they had already experienced many things together. In Ruri's heart, even though Sora was occasionally unreliable, he was actually a very dependable and trustworthy boy.
"Change your slippers." Sora brought out a clean pair of women's slippers and placed them in front of Ruri. "Have a drink and rest for a bit."
"Thank you..."
After drinking a beverage, Sora brought his laptop down and began discussing the details of the game design with Kuroneko.
Ruri was initially a bit restrained, but as the discussion deepened, her attributes as a fanatic ACG lover were finally revealed.
"Aren't the Plant Girls wearing a bit too many clothes?" Ruri put her hands on her hips, offering her opinion. "In the 2D world, the fewer clothes you wear, the harder you hit."
Sora interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them. "Actually, there's a lack of clothing. I've been thinking about it seriously these past few days. For the base game, it's better to use ordinary plants and zombies. The Plant Girls can be treated as a special premium MOD."
"Eh, why?"
"The goal is to make a game that even a three-year-old child can enjoy playing. If we make them Plant Girls, the target audience will naturally be smaller."
"To want so many people to play, Sora-kun is quite greedy." Ruri ruthlessly complained. "Countless small games are made every day in the world, but aside from the creators, the vast majority of games remain completely ignored. Using lewdness to attract people isn't necessarily a bad idea."
"I have confidence." Sora's tone was exceptionally confident. "'Plants vs. Zombies' will definitely be popular."
"To be so confident when you haven't even finished a trial version, Sora-kun is being a bit too arrogant." Once they were truly familiar with each other, Kuroneko's sharp tongue began to quietly show itself. "But do whatever you like. There's no absolutely correct answer in creation anyway. However, if it fails, Sora-kun shouldn't regret it."
"Ruri-san just needs to wait and see." Sora patted the sofa beside him. "Come sit down and let me see the programming skills of Lord Kuroneko."
Hearing this, Ruri proudly lifted her chin. "I am the Black Cat of the Dark Night, traversing the endless digital worlds, bearing an incredibly heavy destiny... I definitely won't disappoint you."
Time quietly slipped by.
During the process of Sora and Kuroneko exchanging ideas, the other girls arrived one after another.
First was Angel-sama, who was in charge of cooking.
Then came Anna, returning from shopping with her friends.
Finally, the blonde loli burst in like a whirlwind:
"Sora, hurry up and help me purify my magic power!"