While Reina was having her mental breakdown, Shelly decided to shove her aside and head inside her office. It had been one and a half days since she saw Rin and she was beginning to experience withdrawal.

She was going to hurt someone if she did not see Rin soon which made her mood even worse.

Shelly twisted the handle but Reina recovered and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back and force her to drop the knife.

"Hey, behave yourself. This is the medical wing. You cannot do whatever you want-"

"Stop trying to tell me what I can and cannot do! I just need a peek-"

Reina tugged Shelly back and Shelly grabbed Reina’s hair to make her let go. They were both trying their best to gain the upper hand when Shelly’s back collided with the door.

It opened and the fighting pair fell awkwardly inside, all tangled up.

"Ugh...is there something going on here that I should know about? I can give you two some space. So if you need me gone, just say it-"

"This is not what it looks like!"

Shelly and Reina yelled at the same time, and immediately pulled away from each other, sitting upright.

But even then, they were still sitting far too close together. So Reina and Shelly stepped away from each other to create more distance.

"I...see...Anyway, do you want something from me?"

Rin asked and Reina replied to him before Shelly could.

"Shelly wanted to check on you but I told her you needed rest. Honestly, she needs to learn how to be independent."

The one in question did not say much but her gaze remained on Rin this whole time. Rin sighed and waved his hand lazily.

"As you can see, I am fine now. I can resume my office work in half an hour."

Rin assured the pair and the tension drained out of the air.

"It’s good that you are feeling better. But I would still prefer it if I could give you one last check-up before you leave. Shelly, would you mind stepping out?"

"Why? What are you going to do to Rin that requires me to step outside? Are you planning something bad?"

Shelly’s gaze looked suspicious so Reina decided to let her stay inside. There was no point in fighting her now.

"Fine, stay in. But please stay at the other corner so that your results don’t get mixed in with Rin’s."

Reina gave in and went back to Rin’s side.

She felt envious of Shelly and her freedom to express herself. She could not tell whether Rin purposely ignored her weird behaviour, or if he was too used to her to question her stalker tendencies.

If it was the first one, then maybe Reina could start showing off a little more of herself as well.

Maybe then, the tight feeling in her chest would finally go away.

__________

"I am going to check you now. Sit back and relax on the bed."

Reina lightly pushed Rin back on the bed, not questioning why sweat coated his face.

Rin had tried his best to get back to Reina’s office and he was lucky he made it in time before anyone noticed his absence

"Hmm, your temperature is a little high, but it could be because of the summer. All your other tests are normal so you can return to your office."

Rin got a clean bill of health and returned to his office. Shelly accompanied him but did not say much. The evening quickly passed and Rin’s routine returned to normal.

And then came the fourth task.

As far as Rin recalled, it was a huge turning point for the novel because it was a ’story-within-a-story’ kind of situation.

Humans from this world would possess people from another world and carry out the final wishes of the people they possessed.

Rin had no information about what character he would possess because his character had not been that important, but he did have information on Shelly, Albus and Amelia’s characters. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

And since Rin recalled their character settings, he also recalled what they needed to do in order to achieve their goal.

For Albus, it had been to become the emperor, for Amelia it had been to find her parent’s will. As for Shelly...

’Wasn’t it for her to marry her fiance and hold him captive? The person she possessed was a yandere-type. As far as I recall, she did succeed, but her story was not told. How much can I tell her-’

[Rookie, what is this? Are you trying to cheat? This is not fair. The system is here for you, not for other people. Cheating will not be tolerated in the next task.]

"What do you mean cheating? I am using my memories for my benefit. How is this cheating?"

[Lalala, the system cannot hear the cheater. And it cannot allow such cheating to take place. It unfortunately has no choice but to start the next task immediately.]

"What do you mean?...Why does nothing you do ever make sense?"

Rin questioned as he suddenly felt his vision blurring.

[Task 4 has started.

Task name: Story-within-a-story.

Task details: Please find the will left behind by your predecessor and make sure to fulfill their last wish within a given time limit. Once the wish has been fulfilled, you will be transported back to this world.]

Rin cursed the system but he could no longer see the blue screen in front of him. The world had turned dark, causing him to rub his eyes.

"Where is this space?"

Rin’s voice sounded faint in the darkness and he walked a few steps forward, only to see a hint of light in the darkness.

It was a beautiful translucent fiber-like thing that attracted Rin’s attention and he unconsciously walked toward that object. His mind was blank and all he felt was a need to become one with it.

His final destination...was right in front of him. His origin and end were in front of him and he was so close-

[Rookie, get ready for possession. Unfortunately, the time to return home has not arrived yet.]

Rin was suddenly yanked from that comfortable space into a cramped body. His head hurt and his vision felt blurry. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, but it only made things worse for him.

His head hurt, but blurry colors slowly began to appear in his vision.

"Y-Young Master is awake. Someone, go and get Madam here. Tell her that the young master managed to wake up."