Starting With The Sefirah Castle In The Anime World

Ding dong!

The door opened within a minute of the doorbell ringing.

Standing there was Ren, dressed casually.

"…"

His eyes landed on Ran, and for a brief moment, he hesitated.

Then he glanced at Sonoko and immediately understood.

"I see."

"I figured you might have gotten the diary too, Ran. I thought you'd find a time after school to talk to me, like Shinomiya and the others did."

"I didn't expect you to come on the weekend… and bring Suzuki along."

"I'm very sorry, Amamiya."

Standing outside the door, Ran bowed deeply in apology.

"I wasn't sure how to approach you alone, so I asked Sonoko to come with me."

"…You don't need to apologize for that."

Ren waved it off.

"Honestly, I was already feeling a bit awkward about being dragged into a sudden date with Suzuki."

"If anything, this actually works out better."

"I don't think there'll be as many awkward silences now."

He was nothing if not pragmatic, and just knowing the atmosphere wouldn't be tense was already a relief.

"Come inside first."

"There are some things we shouldn't be discussing out here."

"Thank you."

Ran felt a little lighter after hearing that.

But just as she stepped forward, Sonoko grabbed Amamiya's wrist.

"Hold it right there, Amamiya—our date isn't ending like this."

"…Huh?"

He looked at her in confusion.

"Suzuki, you still want to go on a date?"

"Of course!"

She flipped her hair dramatically.

"I brought Ran along because she needed backup, not because I was canceling my date."

"I just decided to move the time around a little."

Sonoko was completely confident.

She loved dating, and her reasoning was straightforward, she just liked handsome guys.

Especially the ones with a hidden charm.

"…"

For a moment, Ren was speechless.

"This is the first time I've ever heard a girl talk about dating this confidently."

"Suzuki, I really don't have any experience dating."

"Heh~ Then start building that experience now."

Sonoko grinned.

"To be clear, I wanted to date you because you're seriously good-looking."

"You're a handsome guy with a high hidden score."

"Handsome…?"

Ren's expression became a little stiff.

He had never thought of himself as anything special in the looks department.

This was the first time a girl had said something like that to him.

And Sonoko, who was extremely sharp-eyed, immediately noticed something.

"Whoa! Your ears are turning red."

She gasped in delight.

"You really have no experience dealing with girls, do you?"

"So cute~"

Her teasing only made Ren's embarrassment worse.

His ears were completely red now.

Such a reaction was rare in a guy.

Especially one with his level of looks.

A boy like him—good-looking and totally inexperienced with girls?

If left alone, he'd definitely get snatched up by some random girl with bad intentions.

"…"

Ren couldn't handle this.

He had no idea how to respond.

Or rather, he wasn't used to dealing with girls who were this forward.

"Just… just come inside first."

Breaking free from Sonoko's grasp, he quickly fled inside.

Sonoko, still standing at the entrance, smiled even brighter.

"Hmm~ Such an adorable reaction~"

"Doesn't seem like he's been influenced by any bad women outside."

"A boy this cute and this handsome should be left to me."

"…So you're the bad woman outside, huh?"

Ran couldn't help but comment.

She had overheard Sonoko's mumbling clearly.

To be honest, she really didn't want to hear Sonoko's flirty rambling.

But she had to admit…

Ren's reaction was kind of surprising.

"He really has no experience at all, huh?"

If that was the case, she had to agree with Sonoko.

Ren's reaction was… adorable.

He had no clue how to respond to a girl who was actually flirting with him.

Or maybe…

He just wasn't used to dealing with someone as direct as Sonoko.

The two of them stepped inside, slipping on a pair of indoor slippers from the entrance.

The air conditioning kept the room cool, making it a comfortable temperature.

Once inside, they took off their coats.

Ren, who had regained his composure, walked over with two glasses of water.

"Thanks."

Both girls took a glass and sat down.

"You came today to talk about the diary, right?"

"Yes."

At the mention of the diary, both Ran and Sonoko turned serious.

It was their main reason for coming, and there were a lot of questions they needed to clear up.

"To be honest, I don't know that much about the diary either."

"It appeared a year ago, but at the time, I was more worried about how it might affect my life. So I didn't start using it right away."

"I only started properly recording my daily life recently."

He leaned back slightly.

"Also, the diary has rules."

"But it doesn't tell you what they are, you have to figure them out on your own."

"Of course, the diary also gives certain benefits."

"Ran, you should have noticed that by now."

"Yeah."

Ran nodded.

The title she received—Imperial Sakura Fang—had already made a huge difference.

Her appetite had increased massively, and her digestive abilities had strengthened to match.

Now, she could eat as much as she wanted without any negative effects.

As for the promised boosts to her strength, endurance, and explosive power, those would take longer to manifest.

From what she had gathered, her body needed time to absorb all the extra energy she was consuming.

This wasn't something that could happen overnight.

"The way the diary works, you have to be mindful of its rules."

"If you try to force things offline, it won't reward you."

"In fact, the diary might punish you instead."

"So if you want to get more benefits, you have to understand its rules."

"Then... that means you can't exploit loopholes?"

"Exactly."

"If you try to game the system, you'll get nothing."

***

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