The instant he saw the other party's face, Jhin's heart gave a violent jolt, and he stared wide-eyed as if beholding something utterly inconceivable. "You... how are you here?"
"Me?" The dorm manager tilted her head in confusion. "Weren't you the one who pressed the call button?"
"Ah... sorry, I've lost my memory. I say strange things now and then."
"Oh my, that really is a big problem. Have you been to the infirmary to get it checked?" The dorm manager rose onto her tiptoes and patted Jhin's head. "Pain, pain, fly away."
"Uh... about that, I didn't actually hit my head."
"Is that so? Then it's fine. Was there something you needed, calling me over like this?" As those words left her lips, Jhin felt the space around his body seem to congeal, as though the very next second he'd be mercilessly torn to shreds if he failed to give a reasonable explanation.
Yet facing this situation, he didn't panic in the slightest. Relying on the sense of familiarity in his heart, he offered the dorm manager a gentle smile. "I wanted to know—if I need to go out after lights-out, what conditions would that require?"
"Oh, so that's what it's about." The dorm manager lightly clapped her palms and told him with a smile, "To go out, you first have to get a consent form from your homeroom teacher. Once you've got it, just hand it to me, and I'll accompany you outside."
"Go out together? Can't I just act on my own?"
"My, my, it seems you really don't remember anything at all. The campus after lights-out is very dangerous—there are ghosts like fog that attack students. Only I, the dorm manager, can protect you."
"I see. Thank you for the warning. I..." Out of politeness, Jhin instinctively prepared to tell the dorm manager his name, but in that instant an alarm bell blared through his mind. A chill that sank into his very spine turned his hands and feet cold, and the moment he came to his senses he immediately changed the subject: "I have no other questions. Goodnight."
"Mm, goodnight. This is actually the first time a student has called for me since I started this job. It's really wonderful that you're so polite." The dorm manager lightly patted her chest, letting out a breath of relief, the iron nameplate on her chest glinting under the moonlight.
Jhin caught sight of the dorm manager's name—"Sachi." Just like Kyaru, it gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity. But her reaction just now had already made it clear to him that Sachi was different from Kyaru: she belonged to the "them" that must not be found, mentioned in the third rule.
After bidding Sachi goodnight once more, he finally closed the door and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
I have no idea just how many of these "them" there are. From now on, I might need to use a fake name for my self-introductions, or just fudge my way through them.
With that thought, Jhin said to Kyaru in a serious tone, "Kyaru, from now on, don't call out my name in front of others. Use 'you' or 'hey' instead."
"What's so precious about your name... that you need to hide it away like this?" Though Kyaru didn't understand, she still agreed. "Fine, got it. But in exchange, you'd better perform well for me in the competition starting tomorrow!"
"No problem."
Since Kyaru knows my name and yet nothing went wrong, could she really be that trustworthy companion written of in the second rule?
And that white-haired little girl who slipped me the note—which side does she count as? Somehow she feels even more like a companion.
After turning it over and over in his mind, Jhin decided he could tentatively trust Kyaru as a companion. Judging just from the fragmented information, she did fit the first half of the second rule: "Please trust the companion given to you at [XXXX]." She was indeed a companion given at the festival. But the latter half—"she is trustworthy"—threw the whole sentence into confusion.
Was she untrustworthy, or absolutely trustworthy? Jhin had no answer in his heart, but he could still extend her a little more trust. After all, the fact that he was still standing here safe and sound was the best evidence of all.
"So, shall I turn off the light?" Kyaru placed her hand at the edge of the bed, where there was a switch controlling the dorm room's lights.
"Mm, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Jhin closed his eyes and quickly drifted into dreamland. He had no plans to go out and scout the situation today. Sachi had also mentioned that there were ghosts attacking students on campus after lights-out; even if he slipped past the dorm manager, he wouldn't be able to handle those ghosts alone. He'd be better off getting a consent form from his homeroom teacher and having Sachi accompany him around the campus.
Sure, he couldn't let her know his real name, but being able to move around with a beautiful-girl bodyguard—wasn't the viewing pleasure and the safety factor instantly maxed out?
The morning air smelled of ham sandwiches and milk. The moment Jhin opened his eyes, he saw food wrapped in transparent bubbles floating in midair. He sat up and tried to reach his hand through a bubble to retrieve the food.
It was a little moist—the sensation of poking through a thin membrane traveled from his fingertips to his brain—and once he'd pulled all the food out from inside, the bubble popped with a crisp "pop" and burst apart.
Kyaru walked out of the bathroom, the strands of hair on her forehead still slightly damp; it seemed she'd just finished washing up. She greeted Jhin, who was clutching his breakfast in a daze: "Good morning. Go brush your teeth—don't just sit on the bed spacing out while holding your breakfast. Any minute now we'll have to gather and hear the principal announce the rules of this competition."
"Alright."
He brushed his teeth and washed his face at lightning speed, then wolfed down the sandwich in three bites and gulped down the milk in one go. Jhin's speed left Kyaru—still chewing slowly and carefully—dumbstruck, and she nearly lost her grip on the food in her hands, almost dropping it to the floor.
Why does it feel like this guy looks uninterested in the festival, but is actually even more eager to compete than I am?
Seeing that her companion had finished breakfast and was waiting for her, Kyaru felt too embarrassed to keep nibbling slowly. She finished the rest of her sandwich in two or three bites, cheeks puffed out like a hamster, and with the help of the milk, finally managed to get the whole breakfast down into her stomach.
The two of them stepped out of the room, and Jhin went back to being unhurried and leisurely, which infuriated Kyaru so much that she raked her gaze over him a couple of harsh times. Had she known, she wouldn't have eaten so fast—she'd nearly choked herself to death.
It was still yesterday's plaza. The Principal seemed to have arrived even earlier than the students, standing on the central stage sizing up the students entering the plaza one by one, occasionally nodding and greeting them.
Seeing Kyaru approach, the Principal gave her a meaningful glance. Although she was certain Kyaru would take part in this Blue Sea Feast, not seeing her enter before the competition began had inevitably caused a bit of worry.
Good that she's here... this way there's no need to worry about the event falling through.
The smile on the Principal's face grew even more pronounced. Seeing that the students were more or less all present, she immediately picked up the microphone: "Dear students, good morning. I'm sure you're all ready to seize the championship. The content of this competition is to earn medals by playing the game stalls at the festival. The team with the most medals will become the champion."
"And now... I declare... the competition officially begins!"
Ceremonial cannons and fireworks rang out in unison, and seven-colored confetti drifted slowly down from the sky like raindrops. The students cheered and surged toward the game stalls, and Kyaru, unable to wait a moment longer, tugged at Jhin's sleeve and dashed toward a spot she'd had her eye on all along.
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🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — read it on The_Mikudayo
📚 Forty chapters of advanced reading at Walnut-chan, and it goes straight into keeping the translations on schedule
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