The Silk Dress itself was something that could be bought from shops, so losing one of them to get min-maxed equipment like this wasn’t bad at all. We would’ve been in big trouble if it had been Angelic Charm.
Maybe it specifically avoids changing rare gear?
I would have expected it to transform the yukata since she was wearing it, but it was possible that it had chosen the Silk Dress specifically to avoid that.
Man, imagine if the quiz chose me and my Peregrine Damascus Sword became useless after I used my free choice on it. Phew! That would’ve sucked.
“Maybe it’s not that bad? Anyway, let’s try harder on the next one! Okay, Nozomi?”
“Y-Yes. I won’t make such a mistake again.”
When would the next math question come, anyway? It seemed totally unfair that I’d lost out on my turn.
Third question! The topic is... English!
Welp, there’s my worst subject!
I was not the least bit interested. The only English words I knew were gaming terms.
“Akira, Maeda! I’m counting on you!”
“Ahaha... You gave up on thinking really fast, Ren.”
“Very well. We’ll just have to do it.”
“Chirp! I wanna try! I’m good at English!”
Draco flew around in circles.
“Wow! Good boy, Draco! Maybe you’ll succeed where Ren failed.”
“Yes, good boy! Who’s a good widdle boy?”
Akira and Maeda smiled and praised Draco.
Shizuku seemed impressed. “Hmm. So the pet is able to understand its master’s preferences? How well-made.”
Oh no! Draco grew up to be such a potty mouth because I suck at English! Is showing off some improved English skills the only way to clean up his potty mouth?!
“I take that back! Watch this, Draco; I’m gonna nail it!”
“Chirp? Okay, go! Good luck!”
Great! Now, the question was whether I’d get it right!
Explain the meaning of the following sentence: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Uhh...? When in a room...? Do as... romance too? In a room? Like, a room of a house? Romance? Like the dramatic kind, right? Like a drama cannon!
Drama... in a room. What are they doing, analyzing data? A drama cannon can only be built on careful data analysis! In other words, it means to do your due diligence, gather data, and pursue drama. Right?
Hmm, what saying sounds kinda like that? Something like a proverb. You need to test and analyze for drama... Oh, heck! I know just the one!
“Ooh! Me, me, me!”
“Are you sure?!” Akira asked me, worried.
“Yeah, I got this! I’ve conquered my failures at English. Watch this, Draco!”
“Chirp! Ren go!”
“My answer is... If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles!”
You gotta make minute preparations to win, yeah! In other words, the great Sun Tzu was saying that the experimenters will inherit the world!
Bzzzt! Wrong!
“What?! H-How was that wrong?!”
Maeda looked exasperated. “Takashiro, please... It means to follow the conventions of the place that you’re in.”
“Ohhh! They said Romans, not romance?! Gaaah, I was so close!”
“That wasn’t close at all,” Akira replied. “It’s not like you to try to force an answer like that.”
“Well, I had to look good, y’know!”
“Umm...”
It’s time for your punishment! Who’s gonna get it?
Banananananana...
The system was ready to claim yet another victim.
Couldn’t they at least go easy on me?! I was so brave, trying to answer something about my worst subject! Aaargh, it’s almost done picking!
Ding! It’s you!
The spotlight had landed on me.
“Huh? Me?!”
Yano took the opportunity to heckle me again. “It’s your own fault, bub! Get the answer wrong, you get the punishment!”
She was full of hot air now just because she’d gotten hers right.
So, uh, what’s the punishment?
I was a little afraid of the metal suit. I didn’t need my gear getting janky right now.
Your punishment will be... sealed skills! Until you leave the dungeon, some of your skills will be unusable!
“WHAT?! NOOOOO!”
Oh man, this is really bad! I’ll be in big danger if Final Strike or Quickdraw gets sealed! That’s all it would take to ruin me! Please, please, not Final Strike!
Dammit! All I wanted to do was show Draco that Daddy was good at English! I can’t answer any more English questions; it’s way too dangerous! Next time, I’ll just leave it to the brainiacs!
Ren can no longer use Grow Up!
“Oh?! Phew, thank goodness!”
I brought a hand to my heart in relief.
I wasn’t gonna use this anyway, so— Oh. Wait. NOOO!
“Aha! So you did learn Grow Up, didn’t you?! Why’d you lie to us? You’d better show us later!” Akira demanded in a huff.
Argh! Now they know that we learned Grow Up! It doesn’t affect our in-game progress, but this seriously increases the difficulty of my interpersonal relationships! The girls are definitely going to see grown-up Draco now!
“Draco, did you learn how to get bigger? I’m so excited to see you all grown up!”
As I sank deeper into despair, Maeda’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Chirp! I’m gonna grooow!”
Stop being in such a good mood, you little rascal! Grrr...
I couldn’t let these excited girls see the awful truth—the F***ing Dragon that my pure little boy would grow up to be! I was done for, and my mood was ruined.
Yet the terrifying quiz mercilessly continued!
On to the next question...
Akira said, “Ren, you don’t have to force the ones you don’t know. We’ll take care of it.”
“Yeah, I know. My bad!”
At the very least, we probably wouldn’t get another English question for a while. I was hoping we’d finish this before that!
Fourth question! The topic is... music!
Nope, not for me.
I decided to shut up. Speaking out of turn here was bad news. At this point, I could just ignore questions I didn’t know. We still had Maeda and Akira, so they should take care of those just fine!
My silence strategy succeeded. The girls got the fourth, fifth, and sixth questions right! Maeda, Shizuku, and Akira answered their questions with ease. Now Akabane and I were the only ones left.
Seventh question! The topic is... math!
“Ooh!”
This was it! My ultimate chance! I was gonna get this one!
Akira cheered me on. “Good luck, Ren! You can do this.”
“Yeah! I’m gonna get it, just watch.”
“Good luuuck, ’Zomi!” Yano shouted encouragingly.
“Y-Yes, I’ll do my best!”
I couldn’t tell if she was okay with that weird name, or if she just didn’t have it in her to get mad at this crucial moment. Either way, Akabane was fighting a hard battle like me.
Wasn’t she supposed to be like, Akira’s rival before? I thought rivals were supposed to have similar grades. Is that not true?
At that moment, the question appeared before us!
A businessman drove from his home to a neighboring town, and then he drove back. On the way there, he drove 40 mph. On the way back, he drove 60 mph. What was his average speed?
“Me, me, me, me, me!”
I raised my hand lightning fast. This question was too easy!
“The answer is forty-eight mph!”
“Excuse me?! The answer is obviously fif—”
Ping!
Correct!
One heckler tried to stop me, but I was right. Thanks for the comment, but no thanks!
“Huh?! How?” Yano asked. “Like, cool and all, but what? Kotomi, explain.”
“If you go sixty miles per hour, you take less time traveling. Average speed involves dividing by time spent, so if the time is shorter, you can’t just add them together and divide by two.”
“Wow, I get it! Except it actually makes no sense at all.”
Maeda was correct. I would’ve liked to explain it in a more smug fashion myself, but oh well! Now it was time for the final question!
“Good luck on the last one, Akabane,” I told her. “End it on a good note.”
“I-I know! Stop worrying about me!”
Akira shot her a look of concern. “Nozomi, are you okay? Do you feel sick?”
“Stop! I’m not sick; it’s just that my grades have been slipping a bit, and I’m rather worried about them. Even my brother has noticed.”
Hah! Instead of complaining about her grades, Ryuutarou should do something about his personality.
Akabane was such a good sister for respecting him despite his flaws.
“Why are your grades falling, though? In a school like ours, no less!”
I couldn’t help but speak my mind. In this school, where your grades were converted to in-game rewards, how could someone’s grades fall? I used to think Yano wouldn’t touch a textbook with a ten-foot pole, but even her grades were going up.
“That means it has to do with something other than the game,” said Akira. “Is it related to the thing you told me about before, Nozomi?”
“Aaaah! Hold on! Say nothing more of that, please! You see, um, there is just so much fun to be had in life that—”
“Okay, but that’s no excuse to let your grades drop.”
“Y-You will understand before long, I’m sure! There’s no getting around it! It’s like an addiction!”
I was completely lost. “Hm? What’s up? Did some cool new game come out when I wasn’t looking?”
Is Akabane cheating on this game for another one? I guess it is common. Wait, why are they both glaring at me?!
“Anyway,” Akira continued, “this grade drop is a temporary thing. I know you’re smart; you’ve just gotta be strong!”
“Yes. I will do what I can.”
Our next trivia question had to do with Japanese. Akabane regained her calm and answered it without issue. Finally, we were off to the next floor: B75F.