Day ??? Month ??? Year ??? ??th Century

  It’s been, umm, how long? I don’t even know what day it's supposed to be. I thought keeping a diary using my thoughtography style would help me keep track of the days, but it didn't help me at all. I don't even know what year this is, nor how much time passed.

  All I know is…

  “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! NO MOOOOOOOOREEEEEE!!!” (Kaori)

  “Unn… Keep going Kaori… I believe you’ll make it!” (Isis)

  “HAJIME-KUUUUUUN!!! SHIZUKU-CHAAAAAN!!! SAVE MEEEEEEEEEE!!!” (Kaori)

  Chaos.

  Utter chaos, it's what I can only describe on what is happening right now.

  Couple of hours(?) earlier, after we’re assigned under different trainers, we all went our separate ways.

  Shia will be teleported to the western region of the Demon Realm while Tio went to the Southern region.

  While me and Kaori thought we would be teleported to Isis-san’s castle after we were handed the magic tool that was capable of blocking Isis-san’s magic aura, apparently she decided to train us here so we can start immediately.

  Kuro-san will be training Hajime and the Hero here at her backyard too. Since the Hero hadn't done his hero representative business yet, they decided to start training early while waiting for the Hero.

  Alice-san, however, decided that she will train them under a special environment so she decided to snatch Shizuku and Endou with her and teleported somewhere.

  The hopeless face Shizuku made as she was forcibly trained with the devilish Alice-san is something I can never forget.

  Also, Endou is back! I think, I don’t remember it well, it’s been way too long since I st saw him.

  All I remember though, is after Hajime knocked his sense into him by electrocuting him, he immediately tried to bite his tongue off and kill himself from shame.

  Naturally, Alice-san tried to stop him, but as soon as she got even a bit closer, Endou immediately tried to escape. He didn’t even look at her and he immediately bolted.

  Of course Alice-san caught him, and just like Shizuku, I can never forget how desperate his face was when Alice-san caught him. He didn't even mutter a word, just a tearful gaze towards us, desperate for help.

  Needless to say, we ignored him, or rather, what the hell are we supposed to do against someone who outcssed us in every aspect?

  Anyway, after that debacle, Isis-san immediately created the rge spatial barrier as our training ground and told us to warm ourselves up while telling us to do a light spar to gauge our strength.

  Fufu, this is my time to shine! I shall prove to Isis-san that I’m the better woman and leave Bakaori to dust!

  …Is what I thought when I was overdoing it in a light spar.

  Of course, Bakaori also thought the same as me so she also overexerted herself.

  Naive.

  Ohh how naive we are.

  By the time we’re done, we’re out of breath for a bit so we decided to stop. Isis-san cpped at us for our performance in our “light spar” while also praising us and healing us, which made us a little bit embarrassed and happy.

  …Then here comes the hellish part.

  As soon as Isis-san stopped cpping, she told us that she finally gauged our strength and we could start our training.

  …And immediately, Isis-san casted magic.

  It’s not complicated magic or anything like that, it’s just normal ice balls, a standard magic that even normal magicians in Tortus are capable of casting. Hell, the size isn’t even that big, only as big as a baseball.

  What matters is the amount of the ice balls.

  There’s a lot, I mean A LOT. It makes my own barrage look like a mere spsh from a water gun. There’s so many they cover the sky and make the temperature drop to abnormal degrees.

  Walls upon walls upon walls of ice balls materialized, surrounding us.

  Then… with an angelic smile, Isis-san gave us our first training exercise.

  “...For now… let’s start slowly… try to dodge these ice balls… using causality intervention… good luck.” (Isis)

  …And then, all hell breaks loose.

  She didn’t just unch a couple of ice balls towards us, nonono. She unched ALL of them at once, to our location, with terrifying speed.

  Naturally, Isis-san didn’t just stop at that, oh no, she immediately created even more ice balls than the previous barrage and unched them towards us, nonstop.

  Of course me and Kaori had a cold sweat at first, but for the first couple of minutes, we were managing it just fine.

  …The main problem is Isis-san kept on doing this… for hours to no end without any breaks.

  There’s no opening, there’s no gap, there’s only an endless wall of ice balls.

  Not only that, when I tried to teleport or when Kaori cast a barrier, she immediately canceled our incantations.

  Yep, not only do we have to dodge an actual endless amount of ice balls, she will ensure there’s no chance for us to escape or block them with a barrier.

  In other words?

  “GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!??” (Yue)

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!??” (Kaori)

  We’re bombarded with billions upon billions upon billions of ice balls.

  It doesn't matter how many ice balls we break, Isis-san can just make more.

  Not to mention… When we are struck by the ice balls, she heals us just enough to prevent us from being knocked out, timing it with precision down to the tiniest fraction of a nanosecond.

  Did I mention that the speed of these ice balls are nonsensical? Like, how the hell are these ice balls faster than Kaori when she’s in Godspeed!?

  The worst of all? When our mental exhaustion keeps up, Isis-san can also heal our mental fatigue.

  Getting bruised? Not anymore! Fatigue? Boom! Not even a speck of tiredness left! Insanity and mental exhaustion? What’s that? Food?

  In other words, we’re stuck in these endless ice balls of hell where we can’t even get knocked out and forced to keep going until we somehow break through Isis-san’s barrage entirely.

  Welp, now that I’ve written all of our activities to those who found this diary…

  Now where was I…

  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

  NO MORE ICE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLSSS!!!

  HAJIMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

  .

  .

  .

  (Switch to third person view)

  In the dining hall of Kuromueina’s castle, the cssmates sat together, whispering among themselves with worried expressions etched across their faces.

  Strangely enough, their concern wasn’t about the absolutely brutal training regimen Zwei had imposed on them—forcing them to run 100 ps around Kuromueina’s castle each day under the crushing weight of 100 times gravity.

  Nor was it about Zwei’s daunting goal to push them to the point where they could individually clear two-star dungeons.

  As they simultaneously looked towards the corner side of the dining hall, they could see them.

  The Nagumo household.

  The atmosphere around them felt so gloomy it was as if the corner of the hall looked darker than usual. With Shia and Tio off training at their respective trainers’ locations and Hajime absent, the mood around the Nagumo household felt even gloomier than usual. Their heads rested limply on the table, faces pressed against its surface, and their limbs hung sck as if they were overworked employees from bck companies, subjected to endless overtime for decades on end.

  The cssmates, aware that the Nagumo household was also undergoing rigorous training, didn’t question the absence of Shia, Tio, or Hajime. Instead, they tried to lighten the mood, though their efforts seemed futile. When their gazes shifted toward the Nagumo household, someone from the group noticed and slowly lifted her head.

  Her eyes, utterly devoid of life, looked as though she had stared into the abyss and returned, shattered and broken. The sheer emptiness in her expression sent a jolt of fear through the cssmates, causing them to break eye contact almost immediately.

  They cannot even begin to describe how they felt when they realized who the owner of those eyes were.

  It was Shizuku’s…

  Suddenly, the door opened.

  “Ah! It’s Onee-chan nano!” (Myuu)

  Myuu came! Alongside Remia and Aiko. While half of the cssmates breathed a sigh of relief after the mood lifter of the Nagumo household came, the other half tried to stop Myuu from getting closer to the Nagumo household.

  In fact, Both Remia and Aiko tried to stop Myuu from advancing towards her beloved Onee-chans after they saw the state they’re in, but she’s too nimble and energetic to stop and finally halted right next to her beloved onee-chan.

  “Yue Onee-chan! Kaori Onee-chan! Shizuku Onee-chan! Good evening nano!” (Myuu)

  “...” (Yue, Kaori and Shizuku)

  Silent, there’s no reply, not even a slight reaction. It was as if Myuu was talking to statues of her onee-chans.

  Slightly pouting from her onee-chans ignoring her, Myuu restarted her greeting with them.

  “Muuuu! Good! Evening! nano!” (Myuu)

  “...” (Yue, Kaori and Shizuku)

  Slightly irritated and sad that there’s still no response after she greeted them, Myuu makes her pouts even bigger and turns around.

  “Muuu Fine! If Onee-chans don’t want to greet me then I will eat all of the scrambled eggs nano!” (Myuu)

  “Egg (Tamago)?” (Yue and Kaori)

  Just as Myuu is about to leave, both Yue and Kaori unexpectedly mutter a word from Myuu.

  Feeling as if her beloved onee-chan responded, Myuu turned back with a delighted face and turned around looking at them.

  “That’s right nano! I will eat allllllll of the scrambled eggs if Onee-chan didn’t talk to me nano!” (Myuu)

  “Egg…” (Yue & Kaori)

  As both Yue and Kaori slowly lifted their heads, the cssmates, Remia, and Aiko jolted for a bit.

  It’s because of the state of their face.

  It’s not like their face was deformed beyond relief, in fact, there’s not even a single scratch.

  What matters is their expression.

  Their expressions are so empty that it looks like they’re no more than a walking corpse, their expressions are even more deadpan than the usual Yue who already has a default deadpan face.

  The Cssmates, Remia and Aiko were feeling aghast because of their conditions. Even Myuu was shocked by how empty their expressions are.

  “O-onee-chan?” (Myuu)

  Myuu shakenly asked both Yue and Kaori. But the only reply she got was a small mutter.

  “Egg… (tamago)” (Yue)

  “Egg… (tamago)” (Kaori)

  “Ball… (tama)” (Yue)

  “Ball… (tama)” (Kaori)

  Ball? The cssmates alongside Remia, Aiko and Myuu were puzzled as to why Yue and Kaori muttered something entirely different than an egg.

  “Ball…” (Yue)

  “Ball…” (Kaori)

  “Scary…” (Yue)

  “Scary…” (Kaori)

  Scary? What happened during the training? The cssmates murmur with each other as they are puzzled with what Yue and Kaori said about scary balls.

  A moment ter.

  “ICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARYICEBALLSCARY—” (Yue & Kaori)

  Pyah! Such is the scream from Myuu and the female cssmates as Yue and Kaori suddenly started to repeatedly chant words like a broken record with ghastly pale faces and empty but fearful gaze.

  “Ah, is it Myuu-chan? Is it really Myuu-chan?” (Shizuku)

  “S-Shizuku Onee-chan nano?” (Myuu)

  This time, it was Shizuku who lifted her head. Just like Kaori and Yue, Shizuku also had an empty deadpan face.

  Except for her eyes.

  Her eyes that gred at the cssmates before, unlike Yue and Kaori’s eyes who are almost gone white, were so dark, one could hallucinate that there’s an unspeakable creature behind such eyes.

  “Fufu, fufufu, it’s not really you is it?” (Shizuku)

  “M-Myu?” (Myuu)

  Myuu was confused why her Onee-chan is questioning her existence when she’s right in front of her.

  “Fufufu, nothing is real is it? I’m still in the abyss isn’t it? Yue and Kaori, and also Hajime, my family, all of those aren’t real are they?” (Shizuku)

  “M-Myu?” (Myuu)

  “Fufufufufufufufu, I haven’t escaped the abyss, haven’t I? I finally understand what Hajime felt now. How dark, unforgiving, and gruesome the abyss is. Fufufufufufufufu…” (Shizuku)

  Uwaaaa… Such are the words muttered from the cssmates, Remia, Aiko, and Myuu on how dark Shizuku had become. Words cannot describe the state the Wifie~s were in besides hopelessness and insanity.

  As they see both Yue and Kaori still mindlessly muttering about scary ice balls and Shizuku still hysterically giggling under her breath, the returnees unanimously think of one thing.

  Just how horrible was their training!?

  Aiko tried to use Soul Repose to calm their minds, however…

  “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” (Kaori)

  “DON’T CALM OUR SOOOUUUUUL!!! LET US GO INSANE PLEAAAAASSEEEEEEE!!!” (Yue)

  “W-what!?” (Aiko)

  The whole venue was shocked at how they rejected Soul Repose, which usually works to calm someone’s mind. It’s even more baffling when the recipient actually wants to go insane rather than calming their mind.

  As the cssmates, Remia, and Aiko began to lose hope, suddenly, a figure showed up at the opened door.

  “Ah? What happened here?” (Hajime)

  It was Hajime!

  “Hajime-kun! You’re right on time! Please heal… them?” (Aiko)

  As Aiko tried to beg Hajime to heal them, Aiko noticed something strange.

  Namely, the unusually rge amount of steam coming out from his body, or rather, his head.

  It’s not as if Hajime just took a bath or anything, in fact, there’s only steam coming out from his head and nowhere else.

  “H-Hajime-kun, are you alright?” (Aiko)

  “Dear, what’s with all this steam?” (Remia)

  “Ah? Ah, it’s from training.” (Hajime)

  Nonono, what do you mean from training, did you train so much you convert your sweat into steam!? Such are the thoughts of those who heard what Hajime said.

  “Anyway, y’all have it tough huh.” (Hajime)

  “It’s not just tough anymore! Both Yue and Kaori didn't even want to be soothed using Soul Magic and Shizuku even sai—” (Aiko)

  “KIEEEEEEEEHHH!!!” (Shizuku)

  All of the sudden, Shizuku lunged towards Hajime with blinding speed while brandishing her bck katana, aiming for his neck.

  Fortunately, Hajime was fast enough to push Aiko away and caught the bde on time.

  “Whoa there!?” (Hajime)

  “W-wha!? Shizuku!?” (Aiko)

  “YOU’RE NOT THE REAL HAJIME AREN’T YOU!? SHOW ME YOUR TRUE FORM!” (Shizuku)

  Tensions are rising, the cssmates are all stepping away from the conflict while Remia grabs a scared Myuu away with Aiko protecting them. Shizuku was looking at Hajime with extreme hatred and sadness while Hajime was blocking all of Shizuku’s flurries of strikes without damaging the surrounding.

  “Calm down, it’s me, see?” (Hajime)

  “You’re not! I’ve fallen for your trick a thousand times! I will not be tricked again!” (Shizuku)

  “I said, settle down!” (Hajime)

  “ABABABABA!?” (Shizuku)

  Annoyed, Hajime sends electrical current towards Shizuku to pacify her. It didn’t work the first time though so Hajime had to do it two more times to completely calm Shizuku down.

  …Incidentally, the light from the electrical shock was so bright, it alerted some of the residents at Kuromueina’s castle for a moment. Once they all realized it’s not an enemy attack though, they all calmed down and went back to their business.

  “Seriously, what the hell did that bastard train you with?” (Hajime)

  Hajime said this as he princess carried the unconscious Shizuku towards the gloomy corner and pced her on his p while also comforting the mindless mumblers, Kaori and Yue.

  A moment ter, after he successfully comforted the gloomy duo.

  “...I’m sorry…” (Shizuku)

  “Don’t be, or rather, what the hell was that damn Phantasmal King giving you as training?” (Hajime)

  “...I don’t want to talk about it.” (Shizuku)

  Shizuku woke up in the middle of Hajime comforting Yue and Kaori. At first she was flustered, then she remembered that she attacked Hajime and did a dogeza. The dogeza was so perfect that Hajime was stunned by such beautifully performed dogeza.

  “Also, both of you, it should be enough right?” (Hajime)

  “...No.” (Yue & Kaori)

  Speaking of Yue and Kaori, after their sanity recovered, they both unanimously hugged Hajime in order to recharge their Hajimenium.

  At first Hajime let it slide, but it’s been 20 minutes and their grip is tightening rather than loosening.

  Sighing, Hajime asked about their training.

  “So, how hard is it to make y’all become like that?” (Hajime)

  Yue, Kaori, and Shizuku jolted from Hajime’s question. With extreme fear and desperation, Yue answered first.

  “...We were bombarded with omni directional ice balls for several years straight.” (Yue)

  “Blugh!? N-No more…” (Kaori)

  “So it was that bad, huh. Isis-san was gentle but she can be unexpectedly harsh.” (Hajime)

  Hajime was exasperated about the sudden switch from such a gentle Isis into something worse than drill sergeant risen from the seventh yer of hell. Yue is expining the harshness of Isis’s training with a frightened expression while Kaori almost puked from remembering how harsh it was.

  “...As the torrent of ice balls were unched, we were fine at first, then it kept coming, and coming, and coming…” (Yue)

  “Y-Yue! Keep yourself together!” (Kaori)

  Hah! Yue gasped as Kaori snapped her out from delving into the state of emotionlessness as she reminisced about their training with Isis.

  “...That was close, thanks Kaori. Anyway, as I was saying, it's just an endless downpour of ice balls. Not to mention, the moment one of the ice balls hit us, It hurts a little at first, then Isis-san immediately heals us. So we’re subjected to constant pain and relief. Then when we’re exhausted, physically and mentally…” (Yue)

  “She healed both of you, didn’t she?” (Hajime)

  Both Yue and Kaori sheepishly nodded to Hajime’s prediction. Hajime can only pinch the bridge of his nose knowing how harsh their training was. It’s effectively Chinese water torture but with ice balls.

  “So, are you comfortable enough to talk about it, Shizuku?” (Hajime)

  “...” (Shizuku)

  Shizuku was making a contempting expression on whether she should share her session with Alice or stay silent. When she tried to recall the event, she immediately wore a horrified expression.

  Some time after, she repeatedly changed expressions between contemption and fear, then she slowly spoke.

  “I… Me and Endou were pced inside a dark forest for our training, she said to elevate our senses or something. But slowly and surely, the scenery changes from a live forest to a dead one, and it slowly gets darker and darker. Not only that, stuff keeps on happening like you were there but turns out it’s just an illusion, and then others like Myuu and Kaori were there but they’re also not real, and I’m slowly losing grip on my time and I can’t count how many times I almost fell asleep only to woke up after hearing some strange noise and move to another location over and over again, slowly even my five sense also disappearing and I’m losing my grip on reality…” (Shizuku)

  “O-okay, that’s more than enough.” (Hajime)

  Hajime hurriedly told Shizuku to not tell her story about her training anymore as her eyes slowly lost their light and almost reverted back to her dark form.

  “...By the way, what about you, Hajime?” (Yue)

  Curiously and while hugging Hajime still, Yue asked about Hajime’s training, since he seemed fine after receiving guidance from Kuro.

  “Well, truth to be told, I’m actually not fine at all.” (Hajime)

  “You’re not?” (Kaori)

  “See those steam? Those are the result of me training under Kuro-san’s guidance. At first, it was pretty chill, like her giving me fighting styles recommendations, but after she heard of what I can do, she decided to give me a lot of magical formus, and told me to memorize all of them.” (Hajime)

  “...I’m sorry but that doesn’t seem too hard right?” (Yue)

  As Yue made her comment, both Kaori and Shizuku nodded in agreement. Compared to Isis' relentless training, which involved an unending barrage of ice balls, and Alice's horrifying abyss-like regimen, memorizing magic formus felt as simple as kindergarten-level exercises to them.

  “I’m not done yet, after I memorized all of them, Kuro-san told me to synthesize them into a device, at first it’s just one by one, then it grows into 2 formus in 2 devices, then it slowly builds up to 1000 formus into 1000 devices—” (Hajime)

  “Umm, that’s indeed a lot but it wasn’t so bad was it—?” (Shizuku)

  “—At once, she wanted me to synthesize 1000 formus into 1000 devices, at once. If I fail, I’ll have to do it all over again.” (Hajime)

  “...” (Yue, Kaori and Shizuku)

  Yue, Kaori and Shizuku immediately went silent as soon as Hajime finished his sentence, what they thought of how easy Hajime had with Kuromueina, they thought wrong.

  “And that’s not all.” (Hajime)

  “T-that’s not all?” (Kaori)

  “After I successfully synthesized them, I’ll have to do it all over again, this time in mid-fight against Kuro-san.” (Hajime)

  Uwaaa… The three of them were left stunned by the intensity of Kuro's training, and they quickly erased any trace of jealousy over the differences in their methods. They all knew just how powerful Kuromueina was—comparable to the God of Creation of Trinia—and they couldn't help but remember how Hajime had to fight against her while simultaneously multitasking to craft weapons.

  “Heh, you all should see my fight against her, whatever vision you guys had about Kuro-san’s power, she’s stronger than that vision by at least a thousand fold, that’s how strong she is. Not only that, she can also synthesize many types of devices and weapons like me, except better, faster, and stronger.” (Hajime)

  “... And this steam?” (Yue)

  “Ah, this came from me overusing my brain a lot, who would’ve thought that I could catch on fire from using my brain too hard? Well, Kuro-san immediately doused me with some water and stopped the training for a while though.” (Hajime)

  Nonono, what do you mean you catched on fire from thinking too much!? Can that even happen to a human being!? Such is the thought of everybody present in this room after hearing Hajime’s outrageous story.

  “Well the training really paid off though.” (Hajime)

  As Hajime said this, he opens his palm, conjures a complex magic circle and makes a familiar gun that he’s been using for the longest.

  “...Is that Donner?” (Yue)

  “Yeah, now I can make my own weapon from scratch without any materials, just with magic power or making it from thin air. Not only is it virtually indestructible, I can add a lot of enchantments to it in the middle of the fight. Right now it’s just Donner and Schg but if I train this ability of mine, I can make all of my weapons and more instantly.” (Hajime)

  Everyone was stunned by Hajime's words. That meant there was no need for further preparation, as Hajime might be capable of crafting all his weapons on the spot.

  “Not only that, see my right eye? Kuro-san enchanted it so I could see more clearly and gather more information from what I observe. She even upgraded it with future sight. I'm still not used to it, so I’ve been covering it with my eyepatch for now. She said it’s my homework to learn how to replicate it myself, though..." (Hajime)

  Everyone was stunned. The training with Kuro had been incredibly intense, but from it, Hajime had gained the ability to summon weapons on the spot and his magic eye had received a massive upgrade, granting him Shia's ability. It was clear that in just one session with Kuromueina, Hajime had become significantly stronger.

  “And I’m guessing you three also got something from your first session, am I right?” (Hajime)

  “...” (Yue, Kaori and Shizuku)

  The three fell silent as Hajime spoke. What he said was true—during the training, both Yue and Kaori had seen their magic proficiency increase several times over. But there was more...

  "...We were starting to understand how to use causality intervention, right Yue?" (Kaori)

  "...Nn, sometimes, when I almost lose my mind, I can trace where the ice balls are aiming. I see a sort of line, and I can even grasp it, but that's about it." (Yue)

  "Unn, for me, I can see multiple paths and even spot the line we need to follow to dodge the ice balls, but I can't fully grasp it yet." (Kaori)

  Causality manipution was tough, not only did the caster need to map out “possibilities” inside a time vacuum, one also must pick the event they desire amongst thousands, if not, endless possibilities.

  Not only does it take an enormous amount of magic power, it also takes a tremendous amount of mental strength to even spread out the “possibilities” of causality, as even the smallest fraction of a second could alter the flow of time, creating entirely different outcomes.

  For Yue and Kaori to already grasp the basics of causality intervention, they each already had the requirements to cast causality intervention magic.

  “... And what about you, Shizuku?” (Yue)

  “I… I can do parallel thinking, about a thousand times better than before, right now I can use more than tens of thousand of sword golem without any issue. Not only that, I Became faster and more agile, and my sense also heightened to a higher level too… ” (Shizuku)

  Shizuku answered while wearing a complicated face, as she's terrified of Alice's training method but also can feel the significant growth of her strength through that training.

  "That's the difference between us and the Six Kings. They possess the strength—both physically and mentally—to do what we cannot. In fact, both Isis-san and the Phantasmal King stopped your training because they're satisfied with your progress, right?" (Hajime)

  That’s another condition of the training that was imposed to Hajime and his parties, that is the trainers have the right to stop the session if their trainers felt they reached their limit, or satisfied by their growth.

  While the time inside the barrier goes extremely slow, in reality, they stayed there for less than what their respective trainers thought.

  In other words, they’re properly getting stronger in the right direction at a rate that satisfies the strongest beings they ever met.

  That fact alone lifted their mood, just slightly though, as they realized they will have another bout with their respective trainer tomorrow.

  “Anyway, it’s a fact that we’re getting stronger, maybe not as fast as we would like but at least we’re on the right track. So the hellish training pays off…” (Hajime)

  Certainly… Yue, Kaori, and Shizuku seem to agree with Hajime’s line of thought. He lifted his mug to drink his tea, then moved his gaze towards the very corner of the dining room with a very pitiful gaze.

  “...Unlike Endou over there who suffered a terrible fate…” (Hajime)

  Yue, Kaori, Shizuku, and the cssmates jolted as Hajime mentioned Kousuke that was hiding at the furthest corner of the dining room that they're desperately trying to ignore.

  That’s right, Kousuke was there the entire time, repeatedly bashing his skull on the wall while muttering something like Why do you reject us? We’re your strength! We’re your power! We are one! And SHUT THE FUCK UP KIEEEEEEEHHHHHHH!!?? As he attempted to kill his chuuni self.

  As a matter of fact, Alice decided to end Kousuke’s training very early as she noticed that his authority-like skill slowly took over Kousuke, while muttering Maybe I should consult with Kuro-san and Shallow Vernal-sama for this while wearing a very worried face.

  The cssmates, and the Nagumo household… decided to ignore Kousuke’s pitiful state and leave him alone fighting his inner demon(chuuni)…

  Endou… Good luck!

  The cssmates and the Nagumo household seem to simultaneously think of that while praying for Kousuke’s victory.

  Remia, Aiko and Myuu, however, didn’t notice his presence, unfortunately or fortunately.

  “M-Myu? Shizuku Onee-chan? Are you okay nano?” (Myuu)

  Myuu sheepishly asked Shizuku who had an episode before but she was still worried about her onee-chan’s mental health. Truly a kind child that thinks of her onee-chan more than herself.

  “Uuuu, Myuu-chaaaaan, I’m so sowweeeee…” (Shizuku)

  “Myu!’ (Myuu)

  Shizuku tightly hugged Myuu while crying and apologizing for her outburst with Myuu accepting her hugs. The mood in the dining room slightly improved from such a warming scene.

  “By the way, Shia and Tio didn’t return huh, I wonder what happened there?” (Hajime)

  “...Shia’s probably having the time of her life right now, not too sure about Tio though…” (Yue)

  Certainly~ the whole cssmates (except for Kousuke) seems to unanimously agree that Shia was having fun fighting and improving against Meggido. She was a bugged rabbit who loves fighting after all…

  Afterword:

  ???: Hmm, I wonder why you let Shizuku-san train under m—Alice-chan?

  Author: That’s because I feel like she’s a bit cking, most of the teammates in Hajime’s party have their own role, while Shizuku is a bit of an odd addition. Looking back, she also didn’t contribute much, despite being the heroine with the most screen time besides Yue and Shia. So, I decided that making her learn her family’s secret ninja art or at least embracing them is good character development.

  ???: Heeee, by the way, where’s Senpai?

  Author: I think she’s out doing something? Maybe visiting other fanfic creators’ fanfics.

  ???: She’s still trying to find the nonexistent seriousness huh~