For anyone, Asagami Fujino's loyalty was a deal you couldn't lose.
From a purely profit-driven perspective, refusing her made no sense—didn't it?
The girl bared her heart without any defenses, craving to be shaped by Aratō Sora—wanting him to forge her into whatever she "should" become.
If Sora simply described what he liked, what kind of girl he preferred, what kind of things he wanted…
Fujino would probably throw herself into it completely, recklessly transforming herself into that shape.
Pain is a warning system.
A guardrail against the outside world.
But Fujino—someone who felt no pain—had lost all feedback that would normally alert a person to danger.
She lacked self-awareness and self-protection. Physically, yes. But emotionally, too.
She didn't mind becoming anything.
She never truly cared about herself.
And the reason she felt happy wasn't because Sora didn't want to change her, but because—
"Aratō-san… you were thinking from my point of view."
Someone was willing to stand in her shoes and think on her behalf.
For Asagami Fujino, that alone was another form of happiness.
A girl who didn't value herself… still could feel happiness when someone else valued her.
And from Fujino's perspective, Sora's refusal was also a kind of consideration for her.
"..."
Sora listened to her and stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then he gave an honest evaluation:
"From my perspective… what you're saying is kind of scary."
Looking at her pretty face, Sora saw more clearly the alienness in her mind.
At that moment he realized something:
His refusal hadn't worked.
Not because she failed to understand it—
but because the pain-free girl simply didn't know how to regulate emotional distance.
A normal person extends emotional "feelers" to connect with someone.
When rejected, they retract—like being pricked by a needle.
Even a clingy "simp" feels rejection as pain.
They pull back, then unwillingly reach out again.
But Fujino didn't retract at all.
Even after Sora rejected her, her feelings stayed wrapped around him unchanged.
Knife cuts, axe blows, fire, flooding—nothing stopped her from winding closer.
She wasn't a stereotypical extreme yandere clinging like a vise.
It was simpler and more terrifying:
Because she couldn't feel pain, anything that brought her warmth—she would carefully cradle in her hands.
Sora muttered, half as a joke, half as damage control:
"If you weren't a cute girl… you'd probably be pretty hard to watch."
As if realizing he'd gone too far, he added that quickly.
Fujino stared at him seriously and said:
"We're online friends who will never meet in real life. So even if I have problems, you don't need to worry. You can just discard me in the game. Your dream-game system and mine probably aren't the same, right?"
Becoming a disposable tool—she said—was completely fine.
She wanted to get close because aside from "Aratō-san," she couldn't find anyone in real life she could truly connect with.
The only one left in the world who cared about her was him.
Sora shook his head.
"I don't have the ability to kick you out of the game."
Fujino replied instantly, without hesitation:
"Even if you don't now… you will someday."
She wasn't stupid.
After entering two instances, she had already noticed the difference between her and Sora.
The most obvious point:
When Sora chose to start a game, Fujino couldn't start it on her own.
That line of reasoning naturally led to another possibility:
Compared to her, Sora likely did have the power to remove her from the game.
Even if not now—then later.
Her red eyes fixed on him, more serious than ever.
She was waiting for his answer.
"Fujino, you're too extreme," Sora finally said, exhaling softly.
"But Aratō-san… didn't you say you liked extremes and abnormalities?"
Sora sighed.
"I do like them. But usually I like them… from a safe distance."
In fantasy, plenty of people "like" yandere-types.
But in reality, would anyone truly want that?
Sora felt his situation was something similar.
"Really?" Fujino asked.
She stared straight into his eyes.
The true way to create distance was simple: treat her with cold indifference, truly as irrelevant.
But—
"..."
"Maybe… it's not necessarily true," Sora answered after half a second of silence.
If it were his previous life, he would've avoided anything abnormal.
If he were still dating Aoko, he would've avoided "abnormality," too.
If Fujino were someone he could truly meet in real life, he would still keep his distance.
Chasing abnormality destroys stable living—so you can only admire it from afar, never get close.
But now—
She had already come to him.
He couldn't shake her off.
And rejecting her would only poison their in-game relationship later.
At that point, both the "benefit" argument and the "moral excuse" disappeared.
If he had no restraints…
Wouldn't it be a waste not to witness scenery different from reality?
An extreme, abnormal existence—and a beautiful girl at that—naturally tempted him to approach.
Even more so, the possessiveness in a man's heart wanted to hold it firmly in his palm.
Then Fujino's soft voice rose again.
"I won't stop you. I'll help you explore."
"I'll become the most useful tool you have."
As if her emotions had reached a threshold, she acted on impulse for once.
She reached out, took Sora's hand, and placed it atop her head.
Like a small animal, she nuzzled against his palm.
Sora felt the sensation of her hair against his fingertips—
and couldn't name what he was feeling.
Toward this relationship—so unlike anything normal—
he both resisted and enjoyed it.
A sense of morality told him he shouldn't do this…
yet the taboo thrill of breaking normal boundaries and building something "not normal" pulled him in.
Perhaps, deep down, the reason he paid so much attention to Fujino was because he himself longed for the abnormal.
"Fujino, about—"
"Just call me Fujino," she cut in.
"…Fine. Then about your condition, and how you'll develop in the real world next… what do you want?"
Fujino's eyes stayed locked onto his.
"I'm a tool. Of course I'll follow whatever Aratō-san arranges."
....
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