Ayanokouji Yumi led Zerozaki Hajime to the restroom. Seeing that it was empty, Yumi let go of her hand, placed her hands on her hips, and said with a hint of annoyance,
"Did Zerozaki-san really not sleep at all last night?"
With that, Zerozaki Hajime watched her pull a flat, pink, delicate-looking cosmetic case and a small brush out of her pocket.
Before Zerozaki Hajime could ask, Yumi grinned and began introducing the items to her on her own accord,
"I secretly bought these cosmetics with my allowance~ But this one is a concealer. I usually use it to cover up acne scars. Zerozaki-san, your dark circles are way too heavy, you really need to cover them up properly."
Zerozaki Hajime was about to refuse, but sensing this, Yumi puffed out her cheeks.
"Zerozaki-san has already skipped walking home together twice. You are not allowed to say no this time~"
In the end, Zerozaki Hajime let her apply the concealer.
Yumi used the lightest shade of concealer, which happened to match Zerozaki Hajime's skin tone quite well.
"This concealer works so well! Zerozaki-san! Your dark circles just vanished instantly! Biubiu~"
Yumi cupped Zerozaki Hajime's face and turned her toward the restroom mirror.
Zerozaki Hajime blinked in surprise; indeed, not a trace of them remained.
She looked at Yumi, who stood there with an excited expression waiting for praise. Zerozaki Hajime curved her eyes into a smile,
"Ayanokouji-san's skills are really not bad."
Pleased by the praise, Yumi happily grabbed her hand and ran out of the restroom.
As the two passed the hallway, the sky suddenly turned overcast, looking as though it was about to rain.
Zerozaki Hajime looked up at the sky outside, remembering that she hadn't brought an umbrella—or rather, she hadn't bought one in the first place.
After school, Zerozaki Hajime hadn't joined Yumi for the Archery Club activities. Since she wasn't a regular member of the Archery Club, she only needed to go once a week to secure her credits.
"What a pity~ Zerozaki-san's archery skills are so amazing. If you weren't the Tennis Club manager, you'd probably be able to participate in the school's women's archery competition right now, wouldn't you?"
Yumi sighed as she tidied up her desk.
Zerozaki Hajime was packing her things as well. Hearing Yumi's words, she turned her face slightly and smiled.
"It's fine, I don't mind that, Ayanokouji-san."
"Zerozaki-san might not mind, but Yumi, who has no one to accompany her, does mind..."
Yumi pouted, lowering her head with a look of disappointment.
"Ayanokouji-san..."
A flicker of guilt crossed Zerozaki Hajime's heart. As a sports committee member, Yumi was lively and cheerful, and compared to her own aloof self, Yumi was actually much more popular among her classmates.
She could also tell that Yumi paid extra attention to her and took good care of her.
"I've just been too busy lately... Ayanokouji-san, how about we find some time to go out together?"
No matter what world one was in, relationships were largely the same and required mutual companionship and nurturing.
Although she had been lonely for a long time, she still understood this basic truth.
"Eh?! Is Zerozaki-san really free? It feels like all of Zerozaki-san's time has been taken up by the tennis regulars!"
Yumi looked at her in disbelief.
That made Zerozaki Hajime feel a bit awkward, because upon second thought, it really was just as Yumi said.
She had to go watch the Tennis Club's match this Saturday, and on Sunday she was going to Genjiyama Park with Yukimura Seiichi to track down monsters.
She really... didn't have time to accompany Yumi.
Zerozaki Hajime massaged her throbbing temples. She had been in this world for over a week without sleeping a wink, and with all these matters piling up, she felt too exhausted to think straight.
Seeing her troubled expression, Yumi blinked playfully.
"It's fine! Zerozaki-san~ We can make plans after you're free!"
Zerozaki Hajime gave Yumi a grateful look.
The two walked downstairs together, and after seeing Yumi off, Zerozaki Hajime turned and hurried toward the Tennis Club.
No sooner had she walked a few steps than a light rain began to fall. Zerozaki Hajime could only lift her schoolbag over her head to fend off the rain a little and broke into a jog.
After running just a few steps, she heard someone calling her from behind. A moment later, a shadow cast over her as Yagyuu Hiroshi held an umbrella over her to block the rain.
"Is Zerozaki-san heading to the Tennis Club?"
Yagyuu Hiroshi looked down at her.
"Yes, is Yagyuu-senpai heading there too?"
Because there were other schoolmates around, Zerozaki Hajime used honorifics with him.
"Yes, let's go together."
"Alright, thank you very much, Yagyuu-senpai."
Along the way, Yagyuu Hiroshi glanced at Zerozaki Hajime from time to time. Feeling puzzled, Zerozaki Hajime touched her face and looked up at him.
"Yagyuu-senpai, is there something on my face?"
Yagyuu Hiroshi paused, remaining silent for a moment before speaking.
"Did Zerozaki-san use cosmetics today?"
"Ah?"
"This morning your dark circles looked quite severe, but now they've faded a lot."
He could even notice that?
Zerozaki Hajime opened her mouth, momentarily unsure of how to reply.
"Um, they were too severe, so I covered them up."
Sticking to utter tautology.
Because of the rain and tomorrow's upcoming match, Yukimura Seiichi had all the regular members train inside the indoor tennis court, while the club activities for the other members were canceled for the day.
"Eh?! Really? Is Zerozaki-san coming to watch our match tomorrow?"
Marui Bunta looked at Yukimura Seiichi in surprise.
Yukimura Seiichi had just mentioned tomorrow's match and casually brought up Zerozaki Hajime.
By now, Zerozaki Hajime had indeed taken on a few duties as the Tennis Club manager, such as handing out towels and bringing water...
As for preparing tactics, designing training regimens, and things of that sort, she wouldn't know how to do them anyway, nor was there any need.
"Yes, I'll be there tomorrow to cheer everyone on."
Zerozaki Hajime curved her eyes and handed out towels one by one to those who had just finished their basic training.
"Rest assured! We at Rikkai will definitely win!"
Kirihara Akaya clutched his towel, lifting his chin with a very confident expression.
"Even if the opponent is weak, you cannot slack off!"
Sanada Genichirou draped his towel around his neck and gave Kirihara Akaya a stern glance.
Frightened, Kirihara Akaya hid behind Yanagi Renji.
"Tomorrow's first three matches have a 99.9% win rate."
Yanagi Renji recorded everyone's data as he spoke.
"Puri, looks like the captain won't need to play again. Zerozaki-san, just watch how we ruthlessly sweep the prefectural tournament~"
Yukimura Seiichi accepted the water handed to him by Zerozaki Hajime, took a sip, and then told the regular members,
"Alright, let's start match practice. Sanada and Kirihara will play singles first, Yanagi and Niou for the second match, Marui and Yagyuu for the third, and Kuwahara and I for the fourth."
Sanada Genichirou and Kirihara Akaya nodded in unison, picked up their rackets, and walked onto the court to begin their match.
Watching Sanada Genichirou's mystical techniques and Kirihara Akaya's demonization, Zerozaki Hajime found herself utterly shocked.
By the second match, seeing Niou Masaharu transform first into Yagyuu and then into Sanada on the court, she was even more stunned.
The third match was relatively normal, and Zerozaki Hajime could accept it.
However, by the fourth match, upon hearing everyone talk about how Yukimura Seiichi used a fraction of his "Loss of Five Senses" against Jack Kuwahara...
...For a moment, Zerozaki Hajime couldn't tell who belonged to another world and who the monsters were.
She felt that if everyone played tennis like this in this world, it would be a miracle if they weren't targeted by monsters; no matter how you looked at it, this setting was even more absurd than her being an Order Officer.
Marui Bunta looked at the petrified Zerozaki Hajime beside him and asked with some confusion,
"Zerozaki-san, what's wrong?"
Zerozaki Hajime snapped back to reality and managed a forced smile.
"Nothing, just a bit surprised. You guys play tennis... quite intensely."
"Of course! Look at what school we're from!"
Kirihara Akaya immediately chimed in.
"If an Order Officer came to play tennis, I bet you wouldn't be bad at it either~"
Niou Masaharu rested his racket on his shoulder and gave her a wink.
"That's right! Zerozaki-san has such great stamina! If you learned tennis, you'd definitely be great at it!"
Marui Bunta blew a bubble with his gum, looking at Zerozaki Hajime with a tone full of encouragement.
Zerozaki Hajime looked at them in a daze, then curved the corners of her mouth, nodded, and said,
"Alright, if I have time, I'll learn how to play tennis properly."
As soon as those words fell, Zerozaki Hajime's eyes widened abruptly as over a dozen monsters suddenly appeared outside the window!
She stood up and opened the system interface. Stuffing the towel she had intended to give Yukimura Seiichi straight into Niou Masaharu's arms, she shouted,
"Lock the doors and windows! Don't come out!"
With that, Zerozaki Hajime froze time, flung open the indoor court's window, and nimbly vaulted outside.
Yukimura Seiichi and Jack Kuwahara, who had still been in the middle of their match, both stopped and watched Zerozaki Hajime outside with deep concern.
Although Zerozaki Hajime could freeze time, she could only freeze human-formed nature and could not control the spontaneous nature of this world.
Therefore, Zerozaki Hajime inevitably ended up thoroughly drenched by the increasingly heavy rain.
"Good grief! Why are there so many monsters? Where on earth did they all come from?!"
Kirihara Akaya stared blankly out the window.
They watched as Zerozaki Hajime eliminated half of the monsters, only to realize afterward that her light beam had run out of energy and could no longer destroy the rest.
She couldn't even release a beam anymore!
Yukimura Seiichi tore off his jacket, tossed it to Kirihara Akaya, opened the window himself, and prepared to climb out.
"Yukimura!"
Sanada Genichirou rushed forward and grabbed Yukimura Seiichi's hand, trying to stop him.
"Sanada, I already said, I will give it my all."
Yukimura Seiichi turned his head and looked at him with utmost seriousness.
Everyone froze.
Sanada Genichirou quietly looked at Yukimura Seiichi for a moment before finally letting go of his hand.
"I understand."
After climbing out the window, Yukimura Seiichi was instantly drenched through as well.
Seeing Yukimura Seiichi emerge, the monsters immediately abandoned Zerozaki Hajime and lunged toward him instead.
Turning her head, Zerozaki Hajime saw that Yukimura Seiichi was outside as well. She hurriedly ran toward him,
"Yukimura! Run over to my side quickly!"
Since Zerozaki Hajime no longer had the energy to maintain the time-freezed state, other students passing by looked at the two of them standing in the rain with extremely strange expressions.
After all, Yukimura Seiichi was an elite athlete with superb physical fitness, and he managed to dodge the attacks of five or six monsters.
Seeing that they couldn't touch him, the monsters seemed to grow annoyed. Noticing that Zerozaki Hajime couldn't eliminate them either, they all bared their fangs and lunged at Zerozaki Hajime.
With the targets suddenly shifting, Zerozaki Hajime had no time to dodge and was on the verge of being bitten.
Yukimura Seiichi dashed toward Zerozaki Hajime and pulled her into his arms, but the ground was too slippery, and the two of them tumbled together into the roadside bushes.
Zerozaki Hajime scrambled up, straddling Yukimura Seiichi's body. One of her hands pressed against his chest, while the other pinned down his arm.
The drenched tennis uniform short-sleeve outlined Yukimura Seiichi's lean physique, and Zerozaki Hajime could feel his rapidly beating chest and tense muscles.
Suddenly, a sharp pain flared in her lower abdomen.