"I really didn’t expect it. Just to smack BS-Rita around in person, Barista actually signed up for this game."
"Could be worse. I heard at least half the demons signed up too."
"What about the Cooking Teacher? Did they?"
"They even applied to Divine Game for permission to bring their own whip!"
"What floor did they draw?"
"They got the Librarian Chief."
Something wasn’t right.
Rita kept glancing back at the Librarian chasing them. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this one, blank-faced as they were, had locked onto her specifically.
She sprang upward, dodging as the whip carved the floor where she’d been. Behind her, the entire line of little dolls and toys chasing her all jumped in unison like kids playing jump rope.
See? That was the thing. This Librarian was at the back of the chase, yet instead of striking the closest runner, they swung their whip wide to sweep across everyone—and especially in Rita’s direction.
Skills flashed behind her, aimed at her and Crab, explosions peppering the shelves.
Numbers could be collected anytime. But Riot Time, where damage to the library carried no penalty, was an opportunity no one wanted to waste.
And besides, divine relics were far rarer than any Fun Match reward.
A crisp sound of wind chimes rang out. Crab must have used something—it surged forward, matching Rita’s multiplied agility.
Leaping in time with the whip cracks, Rita snapped at it, "Happy now?!"
Crab clicked its claws smugly. "Aha, you spoke to me."
The sheer stupidity of the exchange felt like a punch to the brain. Rita poured on more speed, drifting hard around a curve in the circular corridor.
As she turned, her compound eyes locked with the Librarian’s.
The Orchid Mantis lifted her scythe-like forelegs under her head and swayed her triangular head back and forth in time with the strange orchestral rhythms of the library—left, right, left, right. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝓷𝓮𝓽
It was the first time they had ever seen Foolishness’s form used for something this irritating.
Watching from an upper floor, Deceitful Bloom muttered, "..."
They too had never realized this form could be made so obnoxious.
Even Foolishness themself, who had been using this form for over a century, had never thought to pull something .
And then, Rita turned back to Crab and said, "Come back to me once you can dance with this kind of grace."
Frenzied Shark and NightFury, chasing close behind, both fell silent. They’d only ever heard rumors that the Moonlight Marsh girl had... a memorable personality. Now they understood just how unforgettable it was.
Then, from the central rotunda above, a round, chubby shadow dropped. It passed straight through the glowing barriers and landed with a heavy thump on their floor. One more leap, and it planted itself right in Rita’s path.
A fat rabbit. Walking upright.
In its paw, it gripped a whip sparking with golden lightning.
Rita skidded hard into a turn, still finding room to shout, "Why is there a rabbit here?!"
The system answered for her:
[Riot Time: Special Librarian – The Chief Librarian is now on duty. They have entered the 2nd floor.]
Crab muttered, "Something’s off. I think they’re after you."
Rita darted up onto a shelf, wriggling between tomes while snatching a number she had marked during time stop. "That’s impossible. Aside from occasionally making Lightchaser mad, I haven’t caused any trouble out there."
She barely finished speaking when the golden whip lashed toward her.
Rita burned her Hunter Form acceleration skill, barely avoiding the strike.
The second half of the announcement finally rolled in:
[The Chief Librarian will target the player on their floor who currently holds the most numbers.]
So it really was aimed at Rita. Which only made the other students chase her harder.
In just a few breaths, she was surrounded.
Everyone wanted to be the lucky one to land the final hit.
Nebula Bubble—created twice, canceled twice.
Rita called the deep-blue helm, vanishing from the circle. The golden whip cracked empty air, slamming into another student who had leapt for her. Rita reappeared beside a vending machine on the far end of the library.
The game wouldn’t include pointless mechanics. Even if vending required numbers, she had to test it. If it failed, she’d flee upstairs.
The price had changed. It had been "27" during time stop. Now it showed "15."
She had the digits for 3 and 5. The game had only been running under fifteen minutes, and she already had more than fifteen numbers. She was flush.
Her mantis claws manifested the two white-black number cards, "3" and "5." She shoved them into the slot.
The machine accepted them. Two numbers could indeed make 15. A metallic ding came from the dispenser slot below.
She glanced sideways. The fat rabbit was charging, lightning whip raised.
Her claw darted into the dispenser. ...Was this... a whip?
She stashed it instantly in her dagger’s storage, turned, and sprinted. A glance at its description flickered across her vision.
[Temp Worker]: Wielding this whip, you will temporarily act as a Librarian. Any student you strike will lose one random number, which becomes yours. The whip lasts 15 minutes. Outside of Riot Time, damaging library property will count as a violation.
Her first thought: Could this whip be used on the Chief and their colleagues?
Without hesitation, she returned to her human form, whip in hand, and charged back.
No one knew when the next Riot Time would come. Now was payback.
The student stormed forward, whip snapping. The rabbit narrowed its eyes. With BS-Rita now considered a fellow Librarian, she was no longer its target. It couldn’t move against her.
Staring down the oncoming girl, it spoke in a voice utterly devoid of inflection: "You intend to strike me?"
Rita stopped. Something in the tone made her skin crawl. Her face twisted oddly. "Your voice... it sounds a lot like Lightchaser’s."
And Rita, now convinced of what she had suspected, didn’t really feel like whipping it anymore. The runes etched into the whip had already felt familiar. The voice sealed it.
She tossed off a casual line—"White Bear is cuter anyway"—and bolted off again, lashing her whip at other competitors.
The Temp Worker state was surprisingly satisfying. She couldn’t grab numbers directly anymore, but chasing down students and stealing theirs with each crack was exhilarating.
Her gleeful taunts echoed across the library:
"Who? Who was chasing me earlier? Come out and say it again!"
"Three years! I was gone three years and not one of you opened GodDraw77!"
"I told you Arisentna was finished, but you didn’t believe me!"
Snap—crack! Snap—crack! The whip’s report rang over every floor.
"..." Hearing the voice from below, Pine Bloom gave Maple Syrup a complicated look. "She really hasn’t grown up at all during those three years, has she?"
Maple Syrup replied, deadpan, "Feels like it."