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“What’s the layout of the room like?”

Leaving Frecia, who dashed outside, Selian approached and asked.

“Huh? By the way, didn’t our voices carry?”

“Voices? Well, you did suddenly close the door…”

“What’s going on? Why this room?”

Selian and Anne’s casual tone was too nonchalant.

Anne entered the room past Selian at the door, but thankfully, no one got trapped twice once a condition was met.

Looking inside, it was just a gloomy room like any other basement we had been in with Frecia earlier.

“I kept calling while we were stuck earlier?”

“Stuck? It was just the door closing for a moment…”

“No, no. We were in there for ten minutes!”

“Ten minutes? When Elysia and Frecia went in, the door closed for just a moment! Isn’t that right, Anne?”

“Uh? Yes! Right. Ten minutes, Elysia, seriously!”

“That’s impossible…”

Is this the work of an evil spirit? I don’t know if they really twisted time or just messed with our sense of it, but there’s probably not a major problem.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. This room seems empty now, so let’s check somewhere else.”

Instead of wasting time worrying, it’s more important to find Yuli as quickly as possible by checking another room.

While we casually chatted like this, Yuli might be shivering alone somewhere.

Frecia, having just seen the room where the evil spirit played tricks, seemed to judge its power much stronger than expected and began searching harder than before.

“Elysia, Elysia! Come here!”

In the midst of her frantically searching, Anne called me over, having discovered something.

I immediately ran in the direction of Anne’s urgent voice.

“Elysia! Doesn’t this room feel weird? It’s way too tidy!”

…Just to check, I turned back to the door I came in.

I was sure I entered with the door open, but the door leading to the hallway was firmly closed.

“Elysia?”

Click

I turned the doorknob at Anne’s call, but of course, the door wouldn’t budge.

“Selian? Boss?”

Once more, with a slight hope, I knocked on the door, calling out to the two outside, but again, no response came back.

“What’s wrong, Elysia? Why are you suddenly holding the door…”

Click

“Uh?”

While I was doing everything possible at the door, Anne came close and tried turning the doorknob, but it showed no signs of opening either.

“What’s going on here? Why is it like this! Ugh! Ugh!”

Click click bang bang

I twisted and kicked at the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Calm down. There’s probably nothing serious.”

Since I felt like she might pull out a sword if left to her own devices, I hugged Anne to stop her.

While doing that, Anne started kicking the air with her legs, trying to kick the door, so I had to step back.

“Okay, okay. Stop and check the door properly. There’s probably some writing on it.”

I hadn’t checked yet, but there should be some letters on the door similar to the previous room.

If it meant hugging Anne for ten minutes, I didn’t mind. Honestly, she’s even more childlike than Frecia.

“Uh? A room where we have to kiss each other ten times to get out…?”

Huh?

However, the message Anne read was not what I expected.

I set Anne down, who had calmed down, and read the letters that appeared on the door myself.

『You must kiss each other ten times to get out of this room』

Just as Anne mentioned, it was a different phrase from the one in the room with Frecia.

But I had to find it amusing that the number ten remained consistent.

“Uh…”

“Uh… Um… I didn’t expect this…”

I glanced down at Anne, who had a bright red neck.

Of course, I’m a guy, but even among girls, having to kiss—even if it’s not a full-on kiss—ten times would be embarrassing.

With her face flushed, Anne gripped her sword tightly…

“Anne, stop!”

“Let go! I’ll deal with that door…”

I hugged Anne again and pulled her far from the door. This time, she was moving to swing her sword instead of her legs, so I stepped back two more paces.

“Wait…! It could be dangerous if the evil spirits get angry!”

Only then did Anne seem to realize the situation and loosened her grip on the sword.

“So what should we do…?”

“Well… probably just doing what the evil spirits say would be best…”

“So, you and I… really have to do that?”

“Of course it sounds unpleasant, but I think that’s all we have right now.”

“No! It’s not that it’s unpleasant…”

Anne’s voice was crawling, unlike her usual loud self, as she seemed embarrassed.

“Then let me know when you calm down.”

Normally I’d want to hurry to find Yuli, but remembering our previous experience, I figured the flow of time in this room could differ from outside.

Thus, I wanted to give Anne enough time to gather herself.

Of course, it was also a moment for me to calm down.

The hug I had with Frecia was a lower difficulty, but a kiss was obviously harder than that.

No matter how childlike Anne looked due to her behavior and height, she is still an 18-year-old girl. Quite a beauty, to boot.

So I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying my best to relax.

“Hey…”

How much time passed?

Anne called me in a small voice.

She still had a bright red face, slightly bowed as she hesitated to continue speaking.

“Um… about going out… there’s no helping it…”

“Yeah. Just think of it as an accident, okay? Don’t stress too much.”

“Oh geez…!”

Did I speak too indifferently?

But if I didn’t do it like this, my heart, which was finally calming, might start racing again.

“Anyway, hurry up!”

Fortunately, Anne didn’t comment on my attitude. Instead, she just gently closed her eyes.

Standing still, even though we’re both girls, it feels right for me, as a guy, to take the lead here.

I grabbed Anne’s shoulders and leaned slightly closer to her face.

But there was only about 10cm between us? Seeing Anne’s face up close, my heart began racing madly again, despite thinking it had calmed down.

Our breaths were tickling each other’s faces, making the embarrassment levels incomparable to before.

“Ah, seriously!”

How long has it been since I was stuck like this, unable to make a move with just a few centimeters between us?

Waiting for me, Anne eventually got frustrated and grabbed my collar.

Smack!

Then she yanked me forward, crashing into each other as she literally pecked me on the lips first.

Peckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeck

Then without even a second to register embarrassment, Anne bombarded me with kisses at a crazy pace.

As the ninth kiss ended, finally the last one.

Still holding my collar, Anne pulled slightly away, sighed, and took a big breath before charging at me again.

Smack!

And then came the final tenth kiss.

She seemed determined to end it there, so our lips pressed together for a while.

I couldn’t even breathe due to the embarrassment, and it felt like we were stuck like that for several dozens of seconds.

“Phew…”

The strength left Anne’s grip on my collar, and our faces moved apart.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, only glaring at the poor floor instead.

After a moment of holding back my embarrassment, I glanced at Anne, who, equally flushed, couldn’t look at me and was rolling her eyes.

My face must have turned as red as a tomato like hers.

“So, then, shall we go out now?”

Whether it was from calming down or trying to shake off the awkwardness, Anne opened the door first and dashed out halfway.

But her sense of purpose to find Yuli was still strong, as Anne started opening doors even more energetically than before.

“What happened?”

“Oh, nothing…”

Only Selian seemed to notice the awkward tension between me and Anne and asked, but I couldn’t possibly reply.

*

Recognizing that the evil spirits in the basement were far more dangerous, Anne and Frecia searched through the rooms with much more enthusiasm than before.

“Elysia. Can you come here for a moment?”

Was I looking less busy? Although I was also searching diligently, Selian called me over as I seemed more relaxed compared to Anne and Frecia.

“What did you find?”

“Well, that’s not it…”

As I approached Selian, she pulled my hand and led me into a room.

“Look here. Doesn’t the room being too clean seem suspicious?”

…No way, right?

Creeeek clank

But contrary to my wishes, the door closed mercilessly.

“Huh? That door just closed by itself, didn’t it?”

“Haah… Should we take a look above the door?”

It was a situation I was getting too used to.

Rather than explaining to Selian, who looked puzzled, I decided to check what the condition for this room was.

『To each other ㅅ……』

What? Why did the words stop writing mid-sentence? Is it broken?

 

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