89: Aki Tomoya has been acting strangely lately.

In a classroom with a sign that read 'Game Appreciation Society,' the air felt as heavy as lead.

Aki Tomoya had rarely taken off those iconic black-rimmed glasses—at this moment, his well-defined facial features were revealed without any cover, making people's eyes light up. Those deep eyes, without the obstruction of lenses, appeared exceptionally clear and spirited. Even more surprising was that his entire temperament had undergone a subtle change; every gesture naturally exuded a captivating elegance.

But at this moment, that handsome face was filled with guilt. He was gazing at the two displeased girls before him: one was his childhood friend with blonde twin-tails, Sawamura Spencer Eriri, with whom he had finally managed to repair a relationship broken by childhood misunderstandings; the other was the author he had always admired, Kasumiko-sensei, who was also his senior, Kasumigaoka Utaha.

Eriri pursed her lips tightly, her azure eyes a mix of disappointment and resentment; Shiyu had her arms crossed, her long legs clad in black stockings tapping the floor impatiently. The remnants of their fierce argument from moments ago still seemed to linger in the air.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's voice was like a cold spring in winter, every word carrying a frigid weight: "Rinri-kun, you were the one who vowed to make a game, and you were the one who begged me to join." Her slender fingers lightly tapped the tabletop, the rhythm betraying a suppressed anger, "Now, to simply say 'it ends here'—don't you think that's too much of a joke?"

She leaned forward slightly, her jet-black hair sliding off her shoulders: "Or rather, do I seem that easy to talk to in your eyes?"

The sunlight from the window shone obliquely on her, yet it couldn't melt the frostiness of her presence. Eriri stood to the side, hesitating to speak, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt.

Kasumigaoka Utaha turned her cold gaze toward Eriri, a mocking curve appearing at the corner of her lips: "Sawamura-san, why aren't you continuing?" She deliberately slowed her speech, each word like a meticulously polished ice blade, "Didn't you join this club, which is like a joke, just because you wanted to win back Rinri-kun's heart?"

She elegantly crossed her legs, her black stockings shimmering subtly in the sunlight: "Now that the club is about to disband, you're being surprisingly quiet."

Eriri's face instantly flushed red, her fingers holding the paintbrush trembling slightly. She opened her mouth to retort, but the words caught in her throat when she saw Aki Tomoya's guilty expression.

Aki Tomoya's voice was low and weary; he subconsciously raised a hand to push up his glasses, only to touch the empty bridge of his nose: "Shiha-senpai, things really aren't what you think."

He took a deep breath, his gaze shifting between Shiyu and Eriri before finally landing on the line where light and shadow met on the window frame: "I'm doing this... truly for everyone's sake. Please forgive me for not being able to state the specific reasons."

His fingers unconsciously gripped the seams of his trousers, the fabric bunching up in his palms. He bowed deeply, the lines of his neck appearing particularly fragile in the sunlight: "Everything regarding the club is my fault alone. I won't disturb you anymore after this."

As he stood up, he deliberately avoided their gazes, his voice as soft as if he were talking to himself: "I will continue to follow up on the promotion for Senpai's new book as promised, and regarding Eriri's help... I won't leave it half-finished either."

Eriri raised her hand dejectedly, but until Aki Tomoya's figure disappeared at the end of the hallway, she ultimately couldn't find the words to ask him to stay. She turned to the grim-faced Kasumigaoka Utaha beside her, her voice trembling: "You went too far with what you said. Tomoya... he must have some unavoidable difficulties; we shouldn't have pressured him like that."

Shiyu slowly turned her head, her black hair cutting a sharp arc in the air. A cold smile froze on her lips: "Sawamura-san is as naive as ever. You think that by considerately making excuses for him, you can change the fact that he's deserting us?"

She picked up the scattered original illustrations on the table, her fingertips lightly brushing over the lines Eriri had meticulously drawn: "Should all this effort, so easily discarded, be sacrificed for someone's 'untellable secret'?"

When Aki Tomoya left the classroom, he took one last look at the 'Game Appreciation Society' sign on the door. From today on, he would never set foot here after school again.

Returning to his apartment, he locked the door behind him and pulled all the curtains shut tight. The room instantly fell into gloom, with only a few wisps of light leaking through the gaps, outlining the dust floating in the air.

He walked to his desk, reached toward a hidden gap above the drawer, and took down a pillbox firmly secured with tape. The moment the lid opened, a rich herbal fragrance filled the air, forming a strange contrast with the dim, narrow room. Several ink-jade-like pills lay quietly on the velvet, their surfaces shimmering with a dull luster.

His fingertips paused over the pills for a moment; the occasional sound of a car horn from outside made him frown slightly. Finally, he picked one up and swallowed it with cold water, tilting his head back. As his Adam's apple bobbed, he closed his eyes, waiting for the familiar burning sensation to spread through his Meridians—it was the sign that power was beginning to grow.

He sat cross-legged on the floor in the center of the room, his hands forming a seal on his knees, and began to breathe according to the Cultivation Technique taught by the Special Affairs Department. The stray gray Spiritual Qi in the air seemed to be drawn in, turning into thin streams that merged into his breath.

With the rhythmic breathing, the nascent Qi vortex at his Dantian began to rotate slowly. With each completed Minor Cycle, the vortex solidified a bit more, refining the absorbed gray Spiritual Qi into purer energy. Beads of sweat slid from his temples, glinting in the dim light.

The medicinal power flowed vibrantly through his Meridians, blending with the spiritual power generated from his Cultivation. He could clearly feel that he was breaking through cultivation barriers at a speed far exceeding ordinary people—this was exactly why he had to give up the club activities. In this crisis-ridden world, only power could protect the people who were important.

That was an afternoon two weeks ago.

When Kato Megumi brought Lin Luo, Furuhashi Fumino, and Ogata Rizu to visit the club classroom, although Aki Tomoya was rejected to his face when he invited them to participate in game production, he had secretly made up his mind to polish a project that would make everyone's eyes light up.

He knew his grades were average and his writing was poor, so he had originally planned to ask Furuhashi Fumino, the top student in humanities, to help write the script—after all, this honor student was notoriously bad at saying no to people. As for Kasumigaoka Utaha, he felt too embarrassed to rely on a club member even for the project proposal.

After school, he was walking alone on the small path home carrying reference books, the setting sun stretching his shadow very long. Just as he passed by the abandoned factory near the riverbank, a hand covered in scales suddenly reached out from the shadows.

"How lucky... such a tender-skinned student boy..." a hoarse voice came along with a foul stench.

Aki Tomoya didn't even have time to call for help before he was dragged into the darkness. In the last moment of his fading consciousness, he saw the other party's open mouth filled with serrated fangs.

Does this world... actually hide such monsters?

Aki Tomoya regained consciousness amidst the smell of disinfectant, but what he saw upon opening his eyes was a surreal sight: a translucent ghost was passing through the hospital room wall, a nurse with fox ears was floating down the hallway on her rounds, and winged figures were gliding across the night sky outside the window.

"Am I... in Hell?" he murmured to himself, finding his voice terrifyingly raspy.

The moonlight outside shone palely into the hospital room as Aki Tomoya stared down at his slightly trembling hands. Deep purple bruises remained on his wrists, marks from being gripped by a Ghoul's claws, while several faint silver patterns wound over them—these were special traces left by the Special Affairs Department when they used spiritual arts to mend his wounds, as if liquid moonlight were flowing beneath his skin.

He lightly flexed his fingers, feeling a strange energy flowing through his Meridians. These hands once only knew how to type on a keyboard or flip through manga, but now they had touched the darkness of another world.

"Is this the real world?"

He took a deep breath and looked up at the doctor: "I choose to join." His voice carried an unnoticeable tremor, but his gaze was exceptionally firm.

The doctor showed a satisfied smile and tapped lightly on a tablet: "A wise choice. Your training starts tomorrow."

After the hospital room door closed, Aki Tomoya gazed at the bright moon outside. On this seemingly ordinary night, his life's trajectory had completely changed—the transformation from an ordinary high school student to a member of the Special Affairs Department had thus quietly begun.

The next morning in the teaching building's hallway, Eriri patted Aki Tomoya's shoulder with her usual vigor: "Morning, Tomoya!"

Aki Tomoya merely gave a faint nod: "Morning."

He didn't even stop his pace, his distant attitude leaving Eriri's raised hand frozen in mid-air. "I have something to do," he hurriedly left these words behind, his back quickly disappearing around the corner of the hallway.

Eriri stared blankly in the direction he had disappeared, her fingertips unconsciously tugging at the corner of her skirt. The morning light filtered through the window, dancing on her golden twin-tails, yet it couldn't brighten her suddenly dimmed eyes.

In the following days, even when the two happened to meet on campus, Aki Tomoya's attitude remained consistently distant.

During a certain lunch break, Eriri caught a glimpse of him among the library shelves. Just as she was about to call out a greeting, he had already turned and left, leaving only the slightly swaying bookshelf dividers.

Encountering him again at a staircase landing, she summoned the courage to show a smile, but he merely gave a slight nod and brushed past her while holding his reference books. The sunlight through the staircase window stretched his departing shadow very long; Eriri stood in place, listening to his footsteps growing further away until they finally vanished at the end of the stairs.

Even at dismissal time, when she specifically waited at the classroom door, he always managed to find another path to leave. After several times, Eriri finally understood that this was no longer a coincidence, but clear avoidance.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's situation was exactly the same.

This time, she didn't receive an active apology from Rinri-kun. Even when she lowered herself to send an invitation to meet on the rooftop, it ultimately resulted in nothing but a futile wait. The afternoon wind blew across the empty rooftop, making her solitary figure appear exceptionally lonely.

What has Aki Tomoya been doing lately? What is he trying to avoid? Why has he been so abnormal recently?

In the classroom at dusk, only Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sawamura Eriri remained. The air was thick with the smoke of their argument and a sense of helpless frustration. Eriri's eyes were red as she glared at Shiyu, feeling angry at her final sharp words yet unable to fully refute them.

“He must have his reasons...” Eriri's voice carried a hint of an unnoticeable sob; rather than refuting Shiyu, she seemed to be trying to convince herself.

Kasumigaoka Utaha gave a cold laugh and elegantly picked up her schoolbag, her gaze as sharp as a blade: “Reasons? Perhaps. But avoidance and silence are never the way to solve problems, Sawamura-san. If he thinks he can shut us out like this, then he's dead wrong.”

She paused, looking out the window in the direction Tomoya had left, her eyes deepening in color. “A man who suddenly takes off his iconic glasses, undergoes a massive change in temperament, and yet begins to deliberately distance himself from all his close companions... aren't you curious about the story hidden behind this?”