The first thing that changed after they became boyfriend and girlfriend was the way they addressed each other.
"Kaguya."
"Yeah."
Hearing Ren call her name, Kaguya smiled.
This was the beginning of a change.
It truly made her feel like she and Ren had started dating.
As for what to do after becoming a couple, that was another matter. Some things didn't need to be rushed. They could figure it out together as they went.
"Ren, you don't react as strongly to girls as you did in the beginning."
Kaguya knew everything about Ren, including the fact that he wasn't good at dealing with the opposite sex.
But in just over a month, he had already started to interact normally with girls. Looking down at the hand she was holding, it seemed like things had become much more natural now.
"That was a normal reaction."
Ren still felt the need to justify himself. His strong reactions back then were simply because he had never interacted with girls before.
"In my previous life, I didn't have the chance to get close to girls."
"Even though I had casual contact during school, I never had a real relationship with any girl. Not even a single date."
"I was a virgin, both physically and emotionally, until the day I died."
"Even in the 16 years of my current life, the woman I had the most contact with was probably the boss lady who occasionally showed up where I worked."
Ren didn't know if others were the same, but that's how it had been for him.
He hadn't intended to react so strongly. He just genuinely lacked any experience with girls.
"Eh~"
This was the first time Kaguya had heard that. She had known Ren wasn't good with the opposite sex, but only now did she understand why.
"What's the boldest thing you've done with a girl, Ren?"
"…A kiss?"
"!?"
Kaguya froze, and then suddenly realized when that kiss might have happened.
Suzuki Sonoko again?!
Ren had just said he'd never had any relationship in his previous life, so the kiss had to have happened in this life. And among the girls Ren had contact with, the only one bold enough to kiss someone was Sonoko, who had just started dating him.
"Besides Fujiwara, I think someone else is starting to get on my nerves."
The jealousy was heavy, but Kaguya didn't ask for a kiss directly.
She still kept a relatively reserved attitude about things like that. It just didn't feel right in this atmosphere. It should happen on a more appropriate occasion.
Besides, asking for a kiss right after they started dating would feel like she was just trying to catch up to Sonoko.
That would be putting the cart before the horse.
Her relationship with Ren wasn't about comparing progress with anyone else. It was about the voice in her heart wanting those good feelings to grow and bear fruit.
"Speaking of which, is Fujiwara's condition really that serious?"
Even though she said Fujiwara was annoying, she still cared.
"Yeah. She's on the same power system as me, but her situation's a bit different. Maybe because I obtained a characteristic, while she only used the potion to access the system."
Ren believed the biggest difference between him and Chika was their Wild Card status.
"But as far as I know, the starting potion for a sequence shouldn't cause such a strong reaction."
"I don't know all the details, but something bad definitely happened to her during the awakening."
"She's fine now. The loss of control and corruption have subsided."
"But I'll need to keep an eye on her promotion going forward. Her current reactions are aftereffects, a psychological shadow left behind by the disturbing images she saw during the pollution."
"Because I was the one who suppressed her loss of control, she instinctively sees me as a source of safety. So when I'm not nearby, she has stress responses."
Now Kaguya was sure something serious had happened to Chika.
If Chika was exhibiting symptoms like that, then what she experienced had to be far more serious than what happened back on Tsukikage Island.
But it wasn't just about safety.
She wasn't trying to make assumptions about Chika's behavior. The reason she thought this way was because of what Hayasaka had said.
Chika had openly said Ren met her ideal standards for a partner.
So now, everything Chika did wasn't just because she felt safe around Ren due to the suppression.
It was likely that part of her heart didn't resist Ren at all.
Otherwise, Chika would never have behaved like that subconsciously.
...
Of course, another big factor was that Chika had also gotten the diary and joined them.
"Ren, let's head back to the room."
"Yeah."
The two didn't say they were holding hands, but as they returned to the next room, they subconsciously let go.
Back in the room, Chika sat up again.
Hayasaka was sitting beside her, gently trying to comfort her, though it had little effect.
Chika was still half-asleep and half-awake, and the shock from earlier had left her spirit tense and strained.
Even though Ren had calmed her down earlier and brought her back to a stable state, her body was still showing stress reactions.
"Ah… Amamiya…"
As soon as Ren returned to the room, Chika instinctively reacted to his presence, her spirituality picking it up instantly.
Just like before, she walked barefoot, staggering toward him. She opened her arms and threw herself into his embrace, burying her entire face into his chest.
In response, Ren carefully hugged the mentally unstable Chika.
This time, Kaguya didn't feel jealous. She could clearly see that Chika's mental state was unstable, and her abnormal behavior proved it.
She could tell that Chika was asleep, yet even her sleeping reactions made it seem like she had been pushed to her limits.
(To be continued.)
***
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