Before the first rays of sunlight could be seen on the horizon, Akihiko stopped using his technique and “woke up”.

 

“Aki…” – Elizabeth muttered in her sleep while tightening her hold on him, further pressing their bodies closer.

 

Taking in some air, Akihiko with an abnormal level of dexterity twisted his body and grabbed a pillow with his tail. He got out of Elizabeth’s vice grip and put the pillow in his place.

 

‘She should wake up soon.’ – He went toward the bathroom and entered it while some groans could be heard back on the bed.

 

Barely two minutes later, Elizabeth suddenly shot up from the bed and with a scary speed turned her head toward the pillow.

 

When she heard the sound of water falling, her head immediately turned to the bathroom. Only then her hazy gaze seemed to receive some semblance of calmness and she blinked her eyes, regaining the light in them as a confused expression appeared on her face.

 

She yawned and got up from the bed while rubbing her eyes.

 

Groggily walking, she casually entered the bathroom without ceremony.

 

As her vision gradually recovered, she noticed Akihiko washing his feline ears with shampoo under the shower.

 

“Morning, Aki…” – She greeted him while stifling another yawn.

 

*Whistle*

 

As Akihiko had his hands busy, he whistled once to symbolize he heard her and as some greeting back.

 

Now fully awake and aware of her surroundings, Elizabeth instead of going out, took her clothes off, revealing a mature and seductive body that didn’t lack in anything, and went toward Akihiko.

 

Stepping aside, he let her use the shower while he focused on carefully washing his ears and tail, the most sensible parts of his body.

 

“Hey, Aki.” – Elizabeth called out while using the soap to make some foam in her hands – “I think we might get into the same squadron.” – She said out of the blue.

 

“…” – Akihiko nodded, not showing any reaction on his face, as always.

 

“Considering what mom has done for us yesterday… I think we will be sent back as a squadron after we get evaluated as “having high compatibility” or something.” – Her eyes narrowed but her lips curled up.

 

Akihiko nodded again.

 

Except for relationships, Elizabeth has always been smart, and considering what she knew of her mother, she was sure that her mother would milk the higher-ups for everything she could get for both Elizabeth and Akihiko.

 

And it was no secret to her mother that Elizabeth wanted to be with Akihiko.

 

Finishing washing his ears and tail, Akihiko started to wash his body.

 

“…” – While washing her hair, Elizabeth discretely peeked at his body while pretending to not look. Her eyes seemed to glow while looking at him.

 

His well-trained muscles, the tattoos covering most of his body, the several scars hidden by the tattoos, his tail, and the wet long sky-blue hair. Everything gave her a strangely pleasant feeling, she didn’t know why but she loved to see his body.

 

Elizabeth is undoubtedly shameless, either due to her own denseness or due to the nature she inherited from her mother, however, the same couldn’t be said about her master.

 

‘Until when do you intend to look?’ – Her master’s voice echoed in her head – ‘Do you feel no shame? You are almost eating him up with your eyes alone.’ – Her master rebuked.

 

‘Oh, morning, master.’ – Elizabeth completely ignored her master’s complaints.

 

‘Morning my ass.’ – The voice spat back – ‘Why are you pretending to peek when you’re devouring him with your eyes?’ – Her tone was drenched in sarcasm.

 

‘Huh?’ – Elizabeth didn’t understand what her master meant – ‘What do you mean, master?’

 

‘…’ – The voice immediately went silent for a moment before heaving a tired sigh – ‘*Sigh* Nothing Elizabeth, nothing… The day barely started and I’m already having a headache…’ – She grumbled.

 

‘?’ – Elizabeth’s face practically had a question mark in it at the moment.

 

“…” – Ignoring his childhood friend’s stare and confusion, Akihiko finished his bath and dried himself before going out.

 

Elizabeth soon did the same and they both wore their clothes before walking out of the room.

 

When they exited the room, the lights were already on but there was no one in the living room.

 

Seeing the closed doors, Elizabeth only then checked the time and noticed that it wasn’t even 6 am yet – “Why do you always wake up so early?” – She complained and sat down on the sofa.

 

Akihiko answered with some hand signals and noticed that his left arm was already feeling better, albeit it was still far from a complete recovery.

 

“You like it?” – Elizabeth repeated after interpreting the signals – “I’ll never understand you.” – She said but contrary to her words, she started to train by circulating her mana.

 

“…” – Akihiko also sat down and started to meditate.

 

If there was anything that bothered him, it was the fact that he was without his suit and most of his hidden weapons, making him feel out of place.

 

He put the discomfort aside and focused on meditating.

 

A peaceful atmosphere was built with their silence and eventually, both lost themselves in their training.

 

As time passed, the others soon started to wake up and exit their rooms.

 

“*Yawn* Good morning.” – Olivia lazily stretched her body while greeting everyone.

 

“Morning.” – Bianca replied and her answer quickly prompted the others to do the same.

 

Elizabeth stopped her training and stretched her body before turning to the others – “Morning, everyone.” – She greeted them with her usual joyful tone.

 

Akihiko also stopped his meditation and nodded at them.

 

*Beep*

 

As soon as they arrived at the living room, their bio-systems beeped almost immediately, signalizing a new message.

 

“Really?” – Olivia muttered.

 

They checked their bio-systems and noticed that it was specially addressed to them.

 

[Attention group #4545807.

 

Under the higher-ups’ order, you are to be present at the given rendezvous point before the 1000.

 

You are to perform a joint training to assess your current condition and provide our research team with any possible data about the side effects of the malice from the monster identified as a 7-star threat.

 

Coordinates: …]

 

“Seriously….” – Melody felt a headache when she finished reading the message.

 

This was just a fancy way of saying that they would be guinea pigs, and if they weren’t as sick as they appeared to be, they would be sent back to their posts.

 

*Clap*

 

Clapping her hands, Elizabeth got everyone’s attention – “Now, now, I know that it’s a nuisance to go back to our routine after a day off but we have things to do, so let’s eat breakfast and go to the rendezvous point before we get yelled at.” – She said with a bright smile that dissipated some of the heaviness that was silently lurking among them.

 

The others felt a little better after hearing her words and nodded before they all went to the cafeteria.

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“Would you look at it, the greenhorns increased in number.” – A womanly voice echoed in the vast plains.

 

“…” – Everyone silently observed the instructor looking at them while smiling.

 

“I was wondering how I would approach your next training but the answer fell from the sky.” – Evelyn’s smile widened – “How amusing.”

 

*Gulp*

 

Melody gulped. Her pupils were trembling and her legs shaking as she looked at someone she never wanted to see, much less be involved with.

 

‘W-Why is this monster here!?’ – She shouted in her mind while trying to prevent herself from running away.

 

Instructor Evelyn, a famous character belonging to a DLC from Rose Garden at the End of the World.

 

The reason why she was famous among the players wasn’t because of her incredible beauty or her power per se.

 

The reason was her training methods.

 

Any player who played on hardcore had a clear rule: stay away from Evelyn.

 

That is because she is insane, really insane.

 

“Two of you will be paired into a team and the rest form groups of four. You will be hunting dimensional rabbits.” – Evelyn spoke nonchalantly – “Since I was told to not go overboard with you all because the research team needs to do their thing, and to not overexert you until we’re sure of the effects of the malice in your bodies, this will be today’s training. You can stop when you get 100 rabbits.”

 

As soon as she said this, most of the group paled. Melody in particular nearly fainted.

 

This task was beyond absurd.

 

To get a single dimensional rabbit was already hard enough, but they needed to catch not one, but one hundred.

 

Dimensional rabbits have this name exactly because they can supposedly jump between dimensions, thus teleporting, which makes them extremely tricky to get.

 

The only saving grace is that dimensional rabbits are mostly passive and just escape when in danger, thus even when they simply pop up inside military bases, people just scare them away.

 

“Akihiko, you and that stunning young lady will be the pair I mentioned.” – Evelyn stated – “Someone’s orders.” – She added.

 

The mentioned parties turned their faces to each other and already knew who it was.

 

“Understood, instructor.” – Elizabeth spoke and Akihiko nodded.

 

Evelyn then turned to the others – “The rabbits are hopping around here but they might just go away.”

 

As soon as she said it, she snapped her fingers and the surroundings faded away like a mirage, revealing several spectral-like black bunnies with stars on their bodies, vanishing and appearing out of nowhere in several places on the plains.

 

“If any of you want to get back to the base today, I suggest you start.” – Evelyn spoke with a smile.

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Akihiko’s statuses

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Mood: Calm / Mild discomfort (caused by the injure on his arm)

 

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Hope you have enjoyed the chapter!

 

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