Ch 140. The Beginning of Persecution

"Hoshimi-kun..." Hiratsuka Shizuka hesitated.

In the past, she had always tried to speak well of Hoshimi, but recently, his performance had been disappointing. Apart from his outstanding performance in the sports tournament, there was nothing else to praise.

The brief silence made Mrs. Arisugawa realize the issue, and she asked proactively, "Hiratsuka-sensei, has Hoshimi been underperforming recently?"

"Well... he's doing alright. His performance in the sports tournament was quite good. He won half of the champions for our class by himself."

"Is that so? That's indeed impressive. What about other areas?" Mrs. Arisugawa inquired further.

"Other areas... other areas..." Hiratsuka Shizuka looked troubled.

How to praise this troublesome kid? Recently, Hoshimi had been sleeping from morning till night. What could she say?

"Hiratsuka-sensei, please be honest."

"Alright..." Hiratsuka Shizuka chose her words carefully and said as tactfully as possible, "Hoshimi-kun's recent performance has been somewhat unsatisfactory. He's been very drowsy lately, and I'm not sure if it's due to lack of rest or some health issue."

"Drowsy?" Mrs. Arisugawa asked directly. "Hiratsuka-sensei, are you saying that Hoshimi has been sleeping in class?"

"...Yes, that's right."

"Hiratsuka-sensei, how many classes does Hoshimi sleep through in a day?"

"About four to five classes..."

"Hiratsuka-sensei, if I remember correctly, high school students have six classes a day, right?"

"That's right..."

"..."

On the other end of the phone, there was a silence, interrupted only by the faint electrical buzzing and barely perceptible breathing.

The atmosphere of the call was as oppressive as the calm before a storm.

"Hiratsuka-sensei, I understand. I will visit Hoshimi this weekend to check if there's a health issue with him."

Mrs. Arisugawa's exceptionally calm voice made Hiratsuka Shizuka feel a chill.

As she silently mourned for Hoshimi in her heart, she responded, "Alright, thank you for handling this."

"Mm, Hiratsuka-sensei, are there any other negative behaviors from Hoshimi?"

"No... none."

There's also an inappropriate relationship with the opposite sex... Hiratsuka Shizuka considered this but decided not to mention it.

Let the kid have some privacy, or at least some breathing room?

"Mm, understood. Please continue to keep an eye on Hoshimi. If there are any issues, inform me immediately."

"Of course, I will keep an eye on Hoshimi-kun."

"Thank you."

"It's no trouble, just the duties of a teacher."

"Mm, Hiratsuka-sensei, you're busy. I'll hang up now."

"Alright."

After hanging up, Hiratsuka Shizuka let out a long sigh.

Communicating with such a high-status lady was really uncomfortable. The oppressive calmness that seemed to penetrate her very bones made it hard to avoid getting caught up in her rhythm.

"Hoshimi~ May you be blessed..."

At this point, Hiratsuka Shizuka, feeling a bit of schadenfreude, was no longer inclined to educate Hoshimi. Let his guardian deal with him.

She hadn't wanted to report him; it was Mrs. Arisugawa who forced her to speak. She couldn't lie, after all.

Meanwhile, Hoshimi was planning experiments in his dream, completely unaware of the upcoming crisis over the weekend.

...

In the dream, Hoshimi stood on top of the rooftop water tank, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

He paced back and forth, considering how to experiment with the dream's ability to pull people in.

Previously, Kotoko had mentioned that the dream's pulling function was under his control, and testing it by pulling Kotoko in had confirmed this.

Since that's the case, are there any limitations to pulling people into the dream?

Can anyone be pulled in, or only females?

Is there a distance limit? Does pulling people from different distances make a difference?

What's the difference between pulling someone who has entered the dream before and someone who hasn't?

How about pulling people who are completely unknown, with no names or appearances?

If his dream can pull in beautiful girls who match his aesthetic preferences without his subjective involvement, does that mean the dream has a search mechanism to find people based on his preferences or set keywords?

There are many questions, and they are quite interesting. He planned to spend some time today experimenting to understand the dream's pulling ability.

Also, since it's an experiment, it would inevitably involve pulling in outsiders.

To ensure his safety, he couldn't appear himself and needed to make some changes to the dream.

With a thought, Hoshimi distorted the dream, transforming the modern cityscape into a dreamlike landscape of mountains and seas, with colorful bubbles and strange, unknown creatures floating in the air. The sky became a mix of night and day.

Looking at the fantastical dream, Hoshimi decided to change the style from realistic to 2D anime.

That way, people who enter will definitely realize they are dreaming.

Right, he would need to change the dream again each time someone entered to avoid having multiple people dream about the same place.

With everything prepared, Hoshimi began his experiment.

First, he pulled Yukino into the dream as a baseline reference.

With a thought, Yukino, who was attentively listening in class, suddenly felt drowsy and involuntarily closed her eyes.

In the next moment, Yukino entered the dream and looked around at the 2D anime-style dreamscape. Her first reaction was that she was dreaming.

She hesitated for a moment, trying to wake herself up, but after several attempts, she felt no sense of waking up.

Frowning, she pinched her arm, and the real pain made her immediately realize that she was in Hoshimi's dream.

"Hoshimi, what are you doing?" Yukino looked around, not seeing Hoshimi's figure, and asked, looking up at the sky.

"Hoshimi, I'm doing an experiment. Please leave for now. I'll tell you more in the evening." Hoshimi, hidden in the space, waved his hand and expelled Yukino from the dream.

In class, Yukino suddenly raised her head, looking as if she had been jolted awake from a dying state.

She frowned and glanced at Hoshimi, wondering what this troublesome guy was up to now.

Well, she'd just wait for him to explain in the evening.

Yukino collected her thoughts, looked up at the blackboard, and continued listening to the class, though her attention couldn't be as focused as before, often unintentionally glancing at Hoshimi.

In the dream, Hoshimi recorded the first set of data.

'Yukino entered the dream in 1 second. (Previously entered the dream, within one meter distance)'

Hoshimi continued with his experiment. He thought for a moment and decided to pull in Tenpou Ayami, who was sitting near him.

The next second, Tenpou Ayami, who was listening in class, lowered her head drowsily.

A few seconds later, Tenpou Ayami, her head almost falling onto the desk, suddenly raised her head.

She rubbed her eyes in confusion and wondered, "How did I fall asleep? How long have I been asleep?"

Looking up at the blackboard, seeing that nothing had changed, she felt reassured and continued studying.

Forget it, studying is more important.

"Clap--Clap--"

She slapped her cheeks, perked up, and resumed her serious study.

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