SPOILER WARNING
This chapter is a retelling/modified version of Volume 8, Chapter 3 of the manga: The Separation and Dismantling of the Worlds - World Purge. For those of you who have not read the chapter, and do not want to let me spoil the details, here is a short summary of what occurs:
The group of young ladies are trapped in a virtual dream land and Ichika has to go to each dream land and save them one by one. The problem is, each dream is set to carry out a fantasy/desire that each girl would love to experience with Ichika. The after effect of this event will have an impact in how the harem and Ichika act around each other throughout the story.
Laura's dream was not included as part of this story as I kind of inadvertently left it out. I will write a brief summary of her dream at the bottom of this chapter if you are interested to know what her dream was.
Ichika laid in his bed staring into the darkness of his quiet dorm room. After everything that occurred within the past week, he grew accustomed to these nights where he laid in the bed haunted by the scenes he witnessed, trying to save his friends and break them from their dreams, induced by a one Chloe Chronicle. He thought he could get over seeing these images, but seeing their embarrassed faces every day during the school day truly made it difficult to forget such perverted images.
It all started when the school's computer systems were hacked by Chloe, a spy and associate of Tabane Shinonono, the creator of the IS. After the school's systems were hacked, the girls had to go into the systems and attack the source virtually in order to restore the systems. Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, and Laura were led to a private room where the central system was located.
The girls plugged in their ISes into the mainframe and downloaded a virtual version of themselves into the system. They immediately fall to the ground unconscious as soon as their data is uploaded. They soon reached a spot which housed 5 doors. After a moment to discuss with Kanzashi, who stayed in the real world to protect and guide them, they went their separate ways into each door. They were on their own as their communications with Kanzashi and the others were cut. A bright light engulfed them as soon as they entered, and the doors slowly closed behind them.
The next thing that Ichika remembered was going into the virtual world and having to save the girls from being prisoners of their sick and twisted sexual fantasies about him. Rin, with her middle school uniform laying all over the floor and Ichika's hands, his hands, caressing her tiny body while his tongue licked at her skin. Ichika quickly shook his head trying to clear his mind of it.
Then there was Cecilia. He remembered walking in on Cecilia and the fake Ichika showering together as the fake gently washed all parts of her body. He vividly remembers the look on Cecilia's face as the fake's hands gently caressed her body and sensually washed each part of her body; The sounds she made when the fake caressed her perfectly shaped ass and gently massaged her well endowed breasts.
Ichika shivered lightly, though his room was a cozy 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). His cheeks were glowing a light red as he forced himself to stop his train of thoughts right then and there. Ichika began cursing himself as he pushed Cecilia's fantasy out of his mind. He turned to face the other side of his bed trying, yet failing, to finally go to sleep which had eluded him all this time.
Suddenly, his mind decided to torture him some more and began to flashback Charlotte's fantasy from her dream world. He tried his best to stop the recap, but Ichika knew that the harder he tried to not remember, he would only end up remembering every little detail he tried not to think about. Surrendering to his mind, he gave up and replayed the scene in his head, greatly causing alot of internal discomfort. He remembers busting in and seeing the fake Ichika sitting there in a chair and blissfully watching Charlotte as she undresses in front of him like she was putting on a strip show for the fake.
Ichika slowly sat up in his bed. He glanced over at his clock sitting on the dorm room table, "23:50." He let out a sad depressing sigh as he got out of bed and headed towards the patio door. He slid open the door and let some of the cool air brush against his skin. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and then took a step outside in his bare feet. In the distance, he could see the lights glowing from the tall city buildings. Every now and then, he could spot a small set of headlights traveling from one part all the way to the other side of the city. Even this late in the evening, the city still showed signs of life and busy travelers driving within it's streets and highways.
After calming down his mind with help from the cool fresh evening air, he turned around and headed back inside. He closes the door gently behind him, trying not to disturb his fellow classmates sleeping next door. He slowly crawls back into his bed and under his covers. He starts to feel the warm embrace of sleep wrapping its arms around him, finally granting him the sleep that he so desired. Drifting slower and slower into unconsciousness, Ichika finally manages to slip off into his own dream world and fall asleep.
"Hm... why does this place look familiar." I look around the temple grounds trying to figure out why this place looks so familiar. Suddenly it hit, this is the Shinonono Shrine. I think back to the night of the summer festival and when Houki performed the traditional dance on the stage. She was so graceful and beautiful as she performed the Kagura dance. I was stuck in a trance and couldn't take my eyes off of her. I slowly make my way to the dojo. I look down only to notice that I am wearing a white hakama with a kendo stick in my right hand.
As I reach the dojo stairs I see Houki cleaning up some of the gear. She's smiling and I can see a little bit of sweat on her forehead as though she had just finished practicing her Kendo. She looks over and sees me, confused she speaks out.
"The dojo's closed for today." She tells me. Why does she look so happy? And where am I in all of this?
"Ah-erm..." I stutter to answer. "I'm here to challenge the dojo!" I proclaim loudly. Looking even more confused, I see Houki still standing there with a lost look upon her face.
"I heard that I... err, Orimura Ichika's here. Please allow me to challenge him!" The look on her face changes from lost to irritated as she turns around and puts away the last of the kendo equipment.
"There's no need to compete to see who the winner is." She defiantly tells me, crossing her arms together which started to irritate me.
"Don't worry Houki, you'll know once the contest's over." I tell her. Now she looks a bit surprised.
'Was it a mistake to call her by her first name? I hope I didn't blow my cover' I think to myself as I stand there waiting for the fake me to arrive.
"Please bring out Orimura Ichika. I wish to battle him." I raise my voice to a higher than normal tone level. She lets out a small snort as she agrees to go and grab the fake Ichika to fight me. A few minutes pass when finally Houki returns with the fake Ichika.
"Let me say this here..." Houki began talking.
'Why is she giving this person such high praises?' I ask myself as I tighten my grip on my kendo stick. Then I see her smiling at the fake, a face I had not seen before this past year at the academy.
'Why is she so happy? And why is this pissing me off!' I grip tightly my kendo stick ready to lunge at him at a moment's notice. The anger within me is growing as I try to keep my focus on the matter at hand, defeating the fake me and rescuing Houki from this dream world.
I take my stance a few feet away from the fake. I just witnessed all my friend's sick fantasies and yet I'm getting so upset over this, why?
CRACK!
A sudden hit to the top of my head causes me to fall to my knees clutching it in pain.
"Match!"
I was defeated as soon as I heard Houki proudly declare the end of the match. This fake is strong. A blow like that was nearly fatal to my head. What is going on here? He's almost as strong as my sister.
"Nice going, Ichika!" I could hear Houki gleefully say as she congratulated the fake me. I look up and I can see this bright smile on her face. I clench my fist tightly, it becomes difficult to breathe, my vision starts to blur slightly. The only thing I can see is the fake me sharing a happy moment with a joyful Houki. I can feel a little anger start to grow within me.
"I-I want another round!" I yell out to them. I rise back up to my feet and regain my senses trying to stay focused. I see Houki trying to say something, but I ignore her words. The only thing I can think of is trying to defeat this fake me. The fake me smiles at Houki as he cups her face with his hand. I raise my bamboo sword again, my knuckles are white from gripping the bamboo tight.
"LET"S BEGIN!" I roar out, growing ever more tired of this fake's personality.
"Begin!" Houki declares and, in that instant, I charge blindly at my opponent.
'He's not moving! This is my chance to strike!' I thought to myself as I raised my bamboo sword above my head. As I bring the kendo stick down, I notice he still hasn't moved yet. Could it be a malfunction? I think to myself. Suddenly, I see the slightest curve of a grin on his face. He reaches out with his free hand and pushes me back with such great force I stumble back. Suddenly, it hit.
"Match!" I could barely hear Houki declare as my head is still ringing from the force of such a strong strike by my fake. I quickly rise to my feet, breathing even harder than before my vision is failing me even more.
"No! I'm not done yet!" I rabidly yell as I once again charge at my fake only to meet the same fate over and over.
'What can I do to free Houki from this?'
My body is bruised and beaten from all the strikes landed with such great speed by this impostor. I can barely see through this mask, my vision fading in and out of clarity. My breathing is erratic and my chest is tight, but I know I can do this. I made a promise to myself, to protect everyone or die trying, and I don't plan on breaking it anytime soon. This is proving difficult at the moment due to the difficulty of the task ahead of me and the weakness in my kendo skills.
Suddenly a thought pops to my mind. A risky plan, that could go terribly wrong or a plan that will save us both.
'Should I or shouldn't I?' I think to myself as I prepare myself for the next barrage of kendo sticks to bruise even more parts of my body.
'Go for it.' I decide as I go back into my stance ready to charge potentially one last time.
'Houki. Get ready. I'm going to wake you up from this dream.' I glance at her direction and look deep into her dark blue eyes. I prepare to use up my last ounce of energy for this moment.
'If this fails then I will lose Houki forever and I'll never forgive myself.' I charge at the imposter kendo stick held tightly. Suddenly I plant my left foot on the ground and use it to propel myself upward raising my kendo stick in the air.
"Get ready because here I come!" I yell out. The fake raises his kendo stick and easily blocks my attack. I grit my teeth as I try to apply more pressure on him to avoid his counter attack. He easily pushes me aside and causes me to stumble backwards in Houki's direction.
'Perfect!' I rotate my body as best I could to face Houki and I charge at her. I can see she was not expecting this, as it took her a moment to react and try to raise her hands in defense, but it's too late.
'I'm sorry, Houki. Please forgive me.' I think to myself as I raise my hands. In each hand, I grab both of her big firm breasts and begin to grope them. The initial shock, causes Houki to fall backwards but I make sure to keep my hands firmly grasping her breasts as we both fall to the ground. Suddenly I can see the gears in her brain start to click.
'It's working!'
"Unforgivable! Ichika you pervert!" She yells out embarrassed and angry beyond belief. Then her facial expression changes as her eyes widen and she quickly shot a look over at the fake me. Then she looks back at me. I can see the confusion in her eyes.
"Take your mask off!" She growls at me as she starts to reach for my mask.
"Houki, no!" I try to stop her, but it's too late. She rips off my mask and I can see the color of her cheeks turn a beet red.
"Ichika!" She gasps, my body freezes as my hands are still firmly holding her breasts.
"Houki, I'm Ichika." I can hear the fake me call out to her.
"Shut up! Disappear!" Suddenly everything, including the fake me disappears and changes back to the virtual forest to which we had originally been in. I finally get back up, releasing my hold on her breasts. After an uncomfortable moment of silence, I finally break it.
"Are you ok?" I ask simply, concerned about her mental well-being after realizing she had been trapped in her dream world. My clothes had changed to a different outfit, like that of a butler or servant. Houki glared at me though I could see a slight blush in her cheeks.
"Alright? Alright? You groped my breasts!" Her voice gradually got louder and louder as she spoke. "That is unacceptable!" I could tell by the angry tone of voice that this was not going to end well for me. I took a step back as Houki raised her left arm as it was suddenly engulfed by a bright light.
'Oh no.' I gulped loudly as soon as the light disappeared and what replaced it was part of her IS unit.
"Take your punishment!" She roared as she charged at me. I turn and run as quickly as I can away from her pleading for my life.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU LECHER!" I quicken my pace as I try to avoid getting hit by her IS' massive blade. The worst part about this whole situation is, I feel like she is enjoying every second of this. Suddenly I trip and stumble forward. My head smacks the ground as I roll forward until I finally lie flat on my back. I open my eyes after feeling my body has stopped rolling.
There I see Houki with her Karaware hoisted high above her head. And with a blink of an eye, the death god's blade came swinging down at my head.
Ichika's eyes shot open and he stared once again into the darkness of his still and quiet dorm room. He let out a defeated sigh.
"I'm not going to get a good night's sleep for a while." He said as he closed his eyes.
Laura's Dream:
For those interested in Laura's dream, here it is. Laura married Ichika 2 months prior to the dream and they lived in a giant house paid for with her military salary. Her and Ichika are sitting at the table eating breakfast, when she tells Ichika that she had taken some personal time off and Ichika decides to use their "Satisfy any wish" certificates/coupons. Ichika suggests his wish is for Laura to wear nothing at all, but an apron and cook. As she starts cooking, the fake Ichika does nothing but compliment her and begins embracing her semi-naked form and asks to role play like this for the rest of the day.