A small society called school.

In the so-called school caste system, statuses can be broadly divided into two categories.

One is the “shadow caste”… the lower class with non-mainstream attributes.

The lower class who spend their breaks fiddling with smartphones chosen for performance over trends or pretending to sleep.

Their social interactions are mostly limited to their peers within the same tier, and even if they have acquaintances outside of school, they are few in number.

If they are involved in a club, they might have a few friends, but otherwise, their social life is pitiful.

Having a girlfriend is rarer than pulling the highest rarity character in a greedy gacha game.

If you were to compare them to game attributes, they’d undoubtedly be the dark attribute.

They are like dust or sediment, drifting at the bottom of the deep sea, which would disappear in an instant when exposed to light.

At sixteen years old, a second-year high school student with a gaming hobby, I, Kageyama Reiya, belonged to the lower tier. Despite attending a prestigious school, my grades were near the bottom, and belonged to the “go-home” club.

As for the other one… well, there’s no need to even think of an example.

Because the very embodiment of it was sitting right next to me right now.

“Aaah!! I lost!!”

In a one-room apartment, a beautiful girl with medium-short hair shouts while holding a controller.

Asahi Hikari.

The most popular girl in our school was now sitting on my bed, engrossed in a game.

And not some cutesy puzzle game popular with the “in-crowd,” but a hardcore, death-riddled game that probably less than 1% of Shibuya high school girls even know exists.

On the screen, rough-looking men with not a shred of cuteness were engaged in a deadly sword fight.

“Ugh… so frustrating… One more time!! I’ll definitely win next time!!”

Without flinching at the ominous “DEATH” displayed on the screen, she threw herself into the brutal battle again.

She leans forward with enthusiasm, laments when she loses, and raises her hands in joy when she wins.

Forgetting the time, she got absorbed in the virtual world, asking for one more try again and again.

It’s an unimaginable sight from the girl who always shined at the center of the top group in the classroom.

But this was undeniably the same as us gamers.

“I lost again!”

Asahi-san leaned back on the bed, with the word “DEATH” displayed once more.

She was dressed casually, different from her usual school uniform.

Although I didn’t understand girls’ fashion as well as quantum mechanics, I could tell it looked great on her.

She seemed relaxed, probably because it was her private leisure time, showing an unguarded side not usually seen.

In this not-so-spacious room, being alone with such a girl.

It feels like a DoT (Damage over Time) attack, gradually whittling away at my HP gauge.

“If you hesitate, you will be defeated.”

The words spoken by the character on the screen seemed to be directed at me.

On the other hand, she didn’t seem to mind the situation.

“One more time! This time for sure!”

Asahi-san pressed the confirm button on the controller firmly and challenged the boss again.

Her gaze at the monitor was entirely serious.

It’s been two weeks since she started coming over on weekends to play games.

How did we end up in this relationship?

To unravel the history of this battle between light and darkness, we need to rewind the clock a little.

!next

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