Chapter 352: Force-Fed Dog Food
Faced with Lili's teasing, Sakura puffed her cheeks and grumbled,
"What else can I do…? I've already been really forward with him!"
Kissing, hugging, even sleeping together—
she had initiated all of that.
For a girl, that was already a huge step.
But as she said this, Lili smacked the side of her smooth white thigh and added,
"I heard from Shuang-shuang that you two are childhood friends,
but your relationship is more like siblings, right?"
Sakura blinked.
"Yeah… so what?"
She'd called him "big brother" for over ten years.
Lili's lips curled into a sly smile.
"Well then, take my advice.
Most guys don't actually have that much resistance to beauty.
Sakura—can I call you that?"
"Just look at you. With your figure and your face?
There's no way a guy like Hikaru wouldn't feel anything."
"So if he's saying he doesn't want a relationship yet,
there's only one reason…"
Smack—
Before Lili could finish, her head was bopped from behind.
Hayashi Mei scolded her without mincing words,
"Neither of you are even adults yet. Watch what you're saying."
The topic was swiftly derailed.
Just a moment ago, Lili had been sounding like a seasoned love guru,
but now she pouted and whined pitifully,
"Waaah, Mei-chan, you hit me!"
"Hmph! Then I'm gonna hit you back! Let's see how much you've improved!"
Without warning, she lunged toward Hayashi Mei in a playful tackle.
The two of them had been besties since middle school,
so this kind of roughhousing was par for the course.
"What the heck are you doing…?!"
Suddenly, the quiet beach was filled with the shrieks of giggling girls.
Only Sakura sat nearby, a bit speechless as she watched the two seniors wrestle.
You're not gonna finish that relationship talk?!
Now she was left hanging…
But still—Lili's earlier words struck a chord.
Sakura looked toward Hikaru, who was still focused on making energy cubes in the distance.
She whispered to herself,
"Are we… not supposed to act like siblings anymore?"
After thinking for a moment, she slipped on her shoes
and quietly walked toward where Hikaru was.
…
"Whew…"
Hikaru let out a breath of relief as he finished making the last batch of energy cubes.
With this stockpile, their food situation was finally secured.
Now the whole team could focus completely on treasure hunting.
Crunch… crunch…
The soft sound of footsteps on sand approached.
Hikaru looked back instinctively.
In the moonlight, he saw Sakura walking over with a faint smile on her face.
She sat down beside him, pulled out her canteen, and offered it.
"Thirsty, big bro?"
"Hmm… yeah, a little."
He took the canteen without thinking and drank.
With their level of closeness, it didn't even cross his mind to hesitate.
Still, this was the first time she'd brought him water so attentively.
After drinking, he handed it back.
Somewhat surprised, he asked,
"What's up?"
He had a feeling Sakura had something on her mind.
"Hmph!"
Taking back the canteen, Sakura's smile fell as she pouted,
"What, I can't care about you unless I have a reason now?"
"It's already so late, and the safe zone has finished shrinking.
I just wanted to know how much longer you'd be working."
"..."
Her tone made Hikaru reach out instinctively and ruffle her hair.
"It's getting late, yeah… but I'm done now. If you're tired, go rest."
A small pile of energy cubes was stacked beside them—
the result of Hikaru's entire evening of effort.
He began cleaning up the workspace and said,
"I'll go to bed after I finish packing up."
"Okay…"
Hearing that, Sakura finally looked satisfied.
"Don't stay up too late!"
With light steps, she walked away and headed to a flat patch of land on the island.
Soon, she'd set up her tent.
Hikaru scratched his nose in confusion.
Why did it feel like he'd just gotten scolded?
Shaking off the feeling, he shouted toward the beach,
"Hey, seniors! The energy cubes are ready—come get them!"
The rowdy noises stopped abruptly.
Then Hayashi Mei's voice rang out,
"Just leave them there—we'll come pick them up."
The two girls tidied up their clothes and hair.
As they passed by Hikaru to get their cubes,
they gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile.
Yeah… they might've gotten a little too carried away earlier.
Even if the Rotoms had stopped streaming for the day,
they still had a junior nearby…
Hikaru acted like he didn't notice
and quietly continued putting the cubes into containers.
…
The next few days:
With food no longer a problem,
the group entered full-on sweep mode.
During this time, Hikaru even activated a new purple trait:
> [Purple Trait – Treasure Radar]
While equipped, detects treasure within a 10-kilometer radius (adjustable by grade).
Needless to say, Hikaru equipped it immediately.
He set it to alert him to any B-rank or higher treasures nearby.
While his Aura could also scan for treasure,
that took time and effort, scanning each place one by one.
Now, with this trait,
the entire Orange Archipelago truly became his personal treasure vault.
Of course, he didn't forget about finishing his remaining elimination quota.
Latias handled it with a casual sneak attack,
breaking two students' energy bands from Azure University and sending them home early.
By Day Five of the preliminaries—
Here was Hikaru's total haul:
18 A-rank treasures
3 S-rank treasures
Countless B-rank items
7 A+ treasures
2 S+ treasures
Everyone in his team now had 3 to 4 A-rank treasures each!
All of them were enhancement-type items—
the kind that were usually sold at sky-high prices (if you could find them at all).
But Hikaru had swept them all into his inventory.
As for the second S+ treasure—
He had found it in a coral reef underwater,
never expecting the League to hide one beneath the sea.
It was a Dragon-type item:
> [S+ Treasure – Crystal of Dragonbirth]
Forged from molten essence beneath Rayquaza's gaze. Enhances Dragon-type moves by 15–40% when worn.
After some thought,
Hikaru gifted it to Sakura…
And in return—
Sakura gave him a kiss.
Which immediately made the entire livestream audience explode:
> [Nooo! We just got ambushed with romance!]
[This is dog food I didn't ask for!]
[They're too sweet! I need insulin!]
And so, the viewers were force-fed another large bowl of dog food.
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