Takumi had absolutely no intention to go strike up conversation just because Yotsuya Miko was a beautiful girl, but turned away and left, searching for a barber shop while also continuing to think.
If first mission Shirakawa Apartments was Dusk-level, then next mission being same level as this mission, as long as he acted cautiously, should still be able to get through safely. Hmm, problem should not be big, as long as he did not run into Tanaka and traitor woman, those two among extreme ones.
While thinking this, Takumi's gaze happened to lock onto a barber shop by roadside, and then he directly walked in.
"Boss, I need to meet my girlfriend tomorrow, please help me get a style that is eye-catching enough."
Takumi's words fell with firm weight.
And inside shop, staff members, one after another, raised heads.
"Here he comes."
One among young staff pushed up glasses and said softly.
"Here he comes, the one Boss talked about, that kind who does not choose from menu, only gives requirements, hides preferences, and if dissatisfied will even use punishment Spell Cards, that rare customer."
Another shirtless staff member followed with a slight nod, expression serious.
"Are you sure Boss did not just play too much Night Sparrow Cafeteria yesterday?"
The last staff member who looked very much like a normal person weakly raised hand and asked.
In the end, a middle-aged uncle wearing a pink cat apron slowly lifted head and locked onto Takumi who had walked into barber shop.
"Young man, daring to make such a request to me, Backstreet Tiger, Fujimura Barber of Tokyo Barber Four Heavenly Kings, truly makes blood surge. Seems today is moment for me to return to world and reforge my name as 'Ghost-Cutting Hand'."
'Ah no, your group's tsukkomi configuration was a bit too classic, and even if it was a 2D crossover anime world, it did not need to be this cringe; did I come to some manzai program scene?'
Takumi, who very much wanted to complain, in the end still slightly tidied his hair in this shop, making his appearance a bit more refreshed. Then he went to street and bought several casual clothes with colors and styles that matched more; although not to extent of being dressed very handsome or very trendy, compared to that set of clothes randomly thrown together when going to meet Maki before, it was indeed much better.
By evening, Takumi contacted Maki and Kaguya once again, asking whether they could see those things outside, and ended up receiving negative answers.
It seemed that even among players, only he could see these things.
"If I have to say where something on me is different from other players…"
Takumi lowered head and looked at black watch he wore.
Was this thing giving him ability to see these things?
The question could not be answered.
Right now also was not good time to act.
Therefore in the end Takumi only curled up at home and played games, trying out all his game consoles, sighing that such days were something he had never dared imagine before, and just played happily until late at night, then went to rest and sleep.
That night he had a strange dream, dreaming he stood in middle of a straight road.
On one side of road stood cute Maki, and on the other side stood many beautiful girls with disheveled clothes.
Takumi walked toward Maki, and heard Maki snort and turn around.
"Who wants you to choose me, pervert, idiot, freak!"
So Takumi turned around and looked at those beautiful girls, and those beautiful girls hooked fingers at him.
"Master, come play～"
Hesitation appeared on Takumi's face, so he turned around again and looked at Maki whose back was facing him.
"Humph, if you like it then go over, you pervert!"
Then Takumi turned his head back again, looked toward those beautiful girls, and took a step forward.
"Idiot, who told you to really go over!"
Next moment, an anxious voice came from behind.
Takumi turned around and saw Maki suddenly rush forward toward him and crash into him. The force of this collision was really too great, and Takumi also was completely unprepared, resulting in the two of them falling backward together, falling straight into that group of beautiful girls.
Then, amid chaotic noises muffled by [beep——], Takumi opened his eyes, and sky outside window had already brightened.
Ah, it was a dream.
"Why would I have such an abstract dream?"
Takumi could not figure it out after much thought, and in the end decided to give up thinking. He got up, took a good shower, and finished the bread and milk he bought before going home yesterday. Then he checked phone, confirmed the message Maki sent him, and prepared to head out toward the agreed place.
[Beep, beep——]
Phone, which had already been switched off silent mode, made sound at this moment.
Takumi lowered head and saw it was a news article, saying that a dead woman had been found in restroom of a bar in Tokyo, the deceased having been disemboweled, extremely horrific. The news even had a pixelated picture, barely showing a woman sitting on toilet.
Wait…
Mosaic only covered relatively key areas, so Takumi quickly noticed this woman's clothes.
This clothing… could it be… Maeda Miwa?
Realizing something was wrong, Takumi abruptly stopped his steps.
...
Maki lifted her head and looked toward street outside café.
She then lowered her head again, lightly tapping her feet on ground twice, twisting her body a bit irritably, then lifted her head again to look toward street.
"So slow, this guy is just too slow, right?"
Girl finally could not help complaining.
"There is still a full half hour before our agreed meeting time, and you have already repeated this sentence five times."
Kaguya, sitting beside Maki, glanced at Maki and spoke in a cold tone.
"Even so, he still is too slow; we arrived forty minutes early, you know."
Maki, with her head lying on table, let out dissatisfied "mm, mm" sounds, then propped both cheeks with hands and lifted her head again, grumbling with great dissatisfaction.
"…Looks like you really are attracted to him, Maki-san."
Expression on Kaguya's face became somewhat playful.
"Who is attracted to that guy? That idiot who thinks all day about taking advantage, with not a bit of gentlemanly demeanor, I do not care at all."
Girl drank a big mouthful of coffee and at this moment spoke through gritted teeth.
"Ah, really? Hearing you say that hurts me a lot."
A voice sounded from behind at this moment.
Maki first froze slightly, then realized something and sharply turned her head, gaze quickly locking onto Takumi walking up from behind.
From hairstyle to clothing, everything was completely different from yesterday.
'Although his whole temperament was still that kind of cynical type, he indeed listened well to my words and tidied up his appearance.'
Seeing Takumi looking like this, Maki's mood at once improved a lot.
"Too slow. Since you are going to a girl's appointment, arrive a bit earlier."
Although her mood had improved, on the surface Maki did not show the slightest trace of happiness. She only cast Takumi a sidelong glance, then moved farther inside and reached out to pull the curtain up, blocking the light outside the glass.
This was a small private room on the second floor of the café, with quite a few people here chatting or working, coming to look for a quiet and comfortable environment.
Maki and Kaguya chose this place precisely to ensure safety, to ensure that no one would eavesdrop.
"Let's talk business first. This time there really are quite a lot of things that need to be discussed."
After pulling the curtain closed, Maki's expression immediately became serious.
Knowing that what they were about to talk about was very important, Takumi sat beside Maki and also nodded seriously, not fooling around at a time like this.
"Then, I will start with the explanation. Regarding the Sacrifice Game and information related to players, through my own means I have indeed grasped some."
After taking a sip of coffee, Kaguya opened Her mouth first.
"The existence of players, or rather the existence of players on a certain scale, has already continued for at least about two years."
"I did not directly investigate the existence of players themselves. Instead, after attempting to use an Obsession Item and discovering that Obsession Items can be used in the real world, I had my assistants investigate some of Japan's more bizarre and unresolved death cases recently. The result is that starting from two years ago, the frequency of these cases began rising rapidly, and they have appeared in almost all parts of Japan."
"Not only that, the outbreak frequency of these cases in the last half-year is becoming higher and higher. But the strange thing is that basically nowhere can relevant discussions be found. If I had not specifically asked people to search, I think I absolutely would not have believed that in just this month, Tokyo has already had 85 murder cases, and last year the number of murder cases even reached more than 80,000. Such large-scale malignant cases absolutely cannot be suppressed by the Metropolitan Police Department alone. Yet the fact is that no one knows about these incidents, as if they simply happened and that is all."
While speaking, Kaguya also placed some printed materials on the table.
Takumi flipped through part of the materials. They included a case where a family of three had their heads chopped off and died, but the investigation found that after being decapitated they still walked to the living room and gathered around the table to celebrate a birthday, with their throats stuffed full of cream cake. There was also a lone man living by himself who encountered a girl offering late-night door-to-door service; when he woke up the next day, he found that under the quilt there was only a sheet of freshly blood-soaked human skin, and the autopsy revealed that this skin had already been peeled off the previous evening. And there were calls for help coming from inside a sewer pipe; after knocking open the pipe, they found a mass of human tissue squeezed together, stretching for more than ten meters. The investigation found that this human tissue had crawled dozens of meters through the pipe, and the person inside the pipe only died once the pipe was knocked open…
Completely unreasonable cases, ones that simply could not happen in the real world—terrifying cases.
Not a single one had been solved.
Not a single one had drawn the slightest attention. Almost no one discussed them. Whether on open online platforms or various hidden small forums, no one mentioned these things. Even though that assistant of Kaguya very easily hacked into the Metropolitan Police Department's system and found these document files, proving that these things had not been sealed as top secret, they still could not attract people's attention, as if everyone were simply turning a blind eye to these terrifying incidents.
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