Beep—beep—click!
[Hello? Mr. Oko, it's quite unexpected for you to be calling this number.]
"Cut the nonsense. You said it before… you have the ability to help me, didn't you?"
[Of course. I did say that. But I also said that I wouldn't act lightly. You understand what I mean, right?]
"I know perfectly well. That's why, if I'm using you now, you'd better prove that you're really as capable as you claim to be."
[Hehehe. Looks like you've really run into trouble—otherwise, you wouldn't be speaking to me with this kind of attitude. Let me guess… it's your younger sister, isn't it?]
"…You really do know far too much."
[As I said before, anomalies have appeared within the Shinomiya family. No—more precisely, anomalies have appeared within both the Shinomiya family and the Shijō family. If we calculate it out, a month has already passed. After struggling to survive through two rounds of the death game, that child has likely realized just how dangerous the "Sacrifice Game" truly is, and so she has begun to take action.]
"…"
[No need to worry. Your problem will stop being a problem very soon. Also, I've already arrived—there's no need to keep calling.]
Within the call, the low, subdued voice vanished. Oko looked up, only to see the other party opening the door and walking in.
The man was an elder of the Shinomiya family. As for his name… Oko could not remember it very clearly. He had tried many times to investigate the man and clarify his background, yet for some reason he would always forget the matter. Each time, he could only recall it again when the man reappeared. Even so, Oko did not find this strange, because he had known since long ago that this person existed in another world—one completely beyond his reach.
"Then, I'll take over from here. You only need to wait until everything is finished."
The man spoke with a confident expression on his face.
"You already knew there was something wrong with that girl Kaguya? And that the Shijō family was having problems as well?"
Oko remained seated, not moving, merely frowning as he questioned the man.
"That's right. The Shijō family's little girl, Shijō Maki, and the Shinomiya family's younger daughter, Shinomiya Kaguya—those two girls should have been "selected" at the same time, and they just happened to be selected in the same place. As a result, the two of them met."
The man said this quite casually, waving his hand dismissively.
"If you knew all of this, then why didn't you tell me earlier?"
The veins on Oko's forehead bulged.
"And what good would telling you have done? They were already selected. Even if they're still just beginners struggling through Dusk-level instances, it doesn't change the fact that they've already begun to step beyond the bounds of humanity. No matter how much power or authority you have, it's useless in front of that little girl."
The man let out a cold laugh, the look he cast at Oko filled with undisguised contempt.
A piece of trash like this dared to lose his temper at him—when he himself was someone capable of clearing Dark Night-level instances, a true top-tier expert even within the entire Tokyo area.
If it were not because he truly had no ability to plan his finances and spending—and because that bastard Kogawa Shu had warned him not to act recklessly—he would not have bothered using an Obsession Item to alter the Shinomiya family's memories, fabricating for himself the identity of a Shinomiya family elder, and thereby freely making use of the family's assets at will.
In fact, many players around the world did this sort of thing. For example, among the upper-level political families over in the United States, players had basically infiltrated all of them. However, for some reason those players always acted in an extremely secretive manner, and the man had never had any contact with them.
Based on what he had just seen on the projection screen, the ones who were coming were most likely Shinomiya Kaguya and that Takahashi Takumi.
Kogawa Shu had protected this group's information very well. He had inquired multiple times about which Instance these newcomers had cleared, but in the end there was never any reliable information. Coupled with the record of defeating the Women-Face Gang and even wiping them out entirely, to be honest, the man had felt somewhat uneasy at first. After all, even a Dusk-level Obsession Item, if used properly, could easily kill a player holding a Dark Night-level Obsession Item. Ultimately, these players were still human beings; even with enhancements, nothing about that fundamentally changed.
For this reason, although the man had entered the Shijō household long ago to observe Maki, and had also secretly investigated the movement trajectories of Kaguya and Takumi, he had never done anything. He had merely been careful to conceal his own existence.
However, after last night, the man would no longer act cautiously over matters like this.
As he was now, he no longer needed to worry about being turned over by these few brats who had only just cleared two Dusk-level Instances.
Because a major figure had extended a helping hand to him.
That major figure—the one who had secretly built the Women-Face Gang player group with a single hand, and who was dissatisfied because his subordinates had been wiped out—had given him an extremely formidable Obsession Item. With the assistance of this Obsession Item, the man was certain that he could casually kill those two fools who did not know their own limits.
They're here!
The man raised his head and looked toward the blood-red point of light that was rapidly falling from above.
Wait—what is going on!?
Originally, the man had merely regarded the scene of Takumi and Kaguya jumping out of the window as some kind of visual effect released by an Obsession Item, and had not paid it any mind. Now, however, he could not help but widen his eyes, realizing that his judgment had probably gone wrong in some way.
But even having realized that there was a problem, it was already too late for him to regret it. Because that blood-red radiance, like a meteor, descended straight down in the very next instant.
Boom!!!
The enormous Japanese-style luxury villa was completely pierced through by this strike. All of the windows shattered and scattered, dust billowed into the air, and amid the sound of collapse, the roof of the building caved in.
Takumi slowly rose to his feet, and the blood-red light within his pupils dissipated at that moment.
Just moments earlier, he had driven the power of the blessing to its absolute limit—leaping directly from the top floor of a skyscraper dozens of meters tall, reaching an altitude of at least two hundred meters, possibly even close to three hundred meters, then crossing several kilometers in a single bound before landing straight inside Shinomiya Oko's residence.
After such an extremely high-intensity burst of operation, Takumi released the power of the blessing and found that he merely felt rather fatigued. If he wished, he could activate the blessing again at any time, and after activating it, he would still be able to use it for roughly thirty seconds to one minute.
"At this level of power, it should count as the peak of Dark Night-level, right? Sitting at the edge of being infinitely close to Red Moon-level?"
Takumi set down Kaguya, who had been clinging to his back the entire time, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
"The power of this blessing is indeed stronger than we expected. With this blessing, the next mission should be much easier for us."
As Kaguya spoke, she reached up and smoothed her somewhat disheveled hair, doing her best to steady her breathing. Takumi's earlier Hulk-style method of traveling had given her quite a shock, and that final leap had even forced Kaguya to activate her own blessing—otherwise, she would likely have been knocked unconscious the moment Takumi landed.
How utterly barbaric. Could this guy not consider that he was carrying a girl on his back?
Kaguya felt a bit helpless about Takumi's rough approach, but at the moment she did not really have the time or energy to dwell on such trivial matters.
After all, not far away, there lay a man with his mouth agape, already scared out of his wits.
"Good evening, my dear elder brother. Your younger sister, Kaguya, has come to pay you a visit."
With a smile, Kaguya stepped forward, walked up to the completely dumbfounded Oko, and said to him with a smile.
"You… why… why are you… what… what do you want to do?"
Oko, who had been terrified by that overwhelmingly shocking entrance and could not even stand up, could only barely prop up his upper body. Even his speech was trembling, and his mind was spinning so badly that it was difficult for him to think.
Although Takumi had deliberately made adjustments before landing to avoid injuring anyone, Oko had still been somewhat too close to the landing point. As a result, he was first flipped over by the shockwave, then left dizzy and disoriented by the thunderous boom produced upon impact. This man, who had always occupied a position of great authority, was now in a state of tears and mucus streaming down his face—utterly disgraceful, to the point that not a trace of his former arrogance could be seen.
She truly had not expected that her elder brother would one day show such an expression.
Kaguya looked at Oko in this state, and for a moment she even felt a trace of pity.
However, that would not affect what she was about to do next. When it came to dealing with members of the Shinomiya family, Kaguya would never show the slightest hint of soft-hearted mercy. At the end of the day, this financial conglomerate family was itself an evil thing soaked in blood from the very roots.
"As for me, I have no intention of competing with you for power, Elder Brother. To be honest, I have already stepped into another world. Even if the Shinomiya family's companies and enterprises were handed over to me, I would not have the time or energy to manage them. So your position, Elder Brother—you can continue to sit firmly in it. How does that sound?"
Squatting down and meeting Oko's gaze at eye level, Kaguya's voice was extremely cold.
"Then what do you want? Freedom? Money?"
Having barely calmed himself somewhat, Oko took a deep breath and stared straight at Kaguya as he asked.
"It's very simple. When I need something, I want to be able to obtain whatever I require from the family at any time. Whether it's money, manpower, or investigations into certain information or intelligence—so long as I make a request of you, you must comply. And when I have no needs, you can continue as you normally do. That way, basically nothing will change. Wouldn't that make everyone happy?"
Kaguya gave a soft smile, her tone incomparably relaxed.
"You… you want to turn the entire Shinomiya family into your personal servants? Into stewards who manage assets for you?! You actually harbor such delusions? Do you think that's even possible?!"
Oko was naturally no fool. He immediately understood what Kaguya was trying to say, and could not help widening his eyes as he roared in anger.
"How could that be? As long as you cooperate, Elder Brother, there won't be any problems, will there? Or is it that you refuse to cooperate?"
The smile on Kaguya's face did not change in the slightest.
"And if I refuse, what will you do?"
Oko's expression stiffened slightly.
Kaguya did not answer. She simply continued smiling.
"…You—you wouldn't dare. You—how could you possibly have the nerve?!"
And yet Oko completely understood Kaguya's meaning, and the expression on his face changed violently.
At that moment, a set of footsteps—neither heavy nor light—rang out.
Kaguya and Takumi both turned their gazes, looking toward the person who had arrived.
It was a man smiling faintly, carrying a small lantern in his hand.
He was a companion of both Takumi and Kaguya.
That's right—he had always been a companion of our group, so there was no need for us to pay particular attention to his presence. So his approaching us was not a problem at all. So there was no need for us to think about whether this person's actions carried any kind of issue. So we—
Thump, thump!
Within two sharp, violent impacts, Takumi's fist smashed into the man's cheek, while Kaguya's kick drove straight into his abdomen.
Both attacks came with such speed and force that the smile on the man's face had no time to fade, nor did he have time to show a pained expression, before he was cleanly sent flying and rolled along the ground to the side.
"Pwah—!"
Amid the splattering blood, the man opened his mouth, and a full seven or eight teeth fell out.
"You… why you… this can't be…"
The man, unable to believe things had turned out this way, stared fixedly at Takumi and Kaguya, muttering in a low voice.
"An Obsession Item that directly modifies one's own existence? That really is a terrifying thing. But at the very least, you could learn to hide your malice a little. Our companions wouldn't harbor such intense malice toward us."
Takumi frowned and spoke in clear irritation. Then he saw a card fly out from the man's body, shooting straight into the night and vanishing in an instant.
That was… a hotel room key card?
Because it appeared and disappeared far too quickly, Takumi only barely caught a glimpse of it.
"No! How is that possible?! Damn it, was it a trap?!"
The man, however, could not help but widen his eyes and curse angrily. The reason he had been able to use the operation of modifying his own existence and turning himself into "Takumi and Kaguya's companion" was by relying on the power of that mysterious Obsession Item just now. Yet he never expected that after suffering only a slight setback, the Obsession Item would actually disappear on its own. That was truly beyond belief to him.
The big shot who had promised to help him had actually taken the thing back just like that. Damn it, how could he do this…
The intense pain wracking his body continued to stimulate his nerves.
And when the man let out a breath and struggled up from the ground, Kaguya and Takumi were already standing in front of him.
"So the Shinomiya family really does have players hidden within it. In that case, would you mind telling us about your situation? Maybe if what you say pleases us, we won't do anything to you."
Takumi looked at the man and said with a faint smile.
"…"
The man did not speak.
He merely covered his mouth, which was bleeding profusely, lifted his head, glanced at Takumi standing on one side of his body, then glanced at Kaguya standing on the other side.
Then, after a brief silence, the man suddenly sprang upright, erupting like a venomous snake. A sharp dagger in his hand thrust out violently, attacking straight toward Kaguya's eyes.
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