A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

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The mysterious man wearing a black mask spoke calmly, his voice hoarse but filled with murderous intent, like a seasoned killer with countless lives on his hands.

As for the similarity in speech?

Shinomiya Hikari didn't think this could be used as evidence. After all, there are only so many words for insults. He had encountered fighters before, and some fighters were indeed sharp-tongued and good at influencing their opponents' mentality through taunts during battle. This couldn't be used as evidence.

Of course, none of this matters.

Once the "player" I hired at great expense kills that guy, I'll remove that repulsive mask from his corpse, and then the answer will be revealed.

Shinomiya Hikari didn't believe the fighter opposite him was Utsunomiya Asagiri, but he really hoped it was, so he could get revenge for what happened during the day.

After the inspection was completed, the referee stepped back a short distance, giving the open space to Asagiri and the bodyguard, and announced.

"The competition is officially starting."

The bodyguard cracked his neck, cracked his knuckles, and stared at Asagiri, who was standing ten meters away, with ill intent.

"Kid, are you ready? What you're about to face is hell..."

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Just as the bodyguard was speaking, a sound like a car engine suddenly rang out. Before he could find the source of the strange sound, Chaowu, who was originally ten meters away from him, disappeared instantly, leaving only a few afterimages. When she reappeared, she was already close to him.

"boom!!!"

Facing the bodyguard's dilated pupils and terrified expression, Asagiri did not hesitate at all and simply threw a straight punch at his face.

"Boom!"

After taking the punch, the bodyguard's muscular body remained rooted to the spot, but his terrified head flew off his broken neck and slammed into the wall like a baseball hit by a home run, leaving a large red and white pattern.

"Tick-tock...tick-tock...tick-tock..."

As the bodyguard's headless corpse lay on the ground, and as the sound of blood dripping from Asagiri's gloves fell to the ground, the room fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't until several seconds later that the referee of the duel finally reacted, pointing shakily at Asagiri standing there, his voice trembling as he announced the news.

"The match is over! The winner is Ashikaga Takeshi!"

Shinomiya Huangguang stared in disbelief, even rubbing his eyes as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The important figures watching from a distance also looked astonished.

This is outrageous! The match ended in less than five seconds?

And... in such a bloody, cruel, and absolutely violent way?

Is it even human that a single punch can shatter a person's skull and send them flying?!

Ashikaga Miwa walked slowly to Asagiri's side, looked calmly at the dumbfounded Shinomiya Kiko, and said indifferently.

"I will have someone contact you regarding the specific payment method for the two billion yen."

After saying this, Ashikaga Miwa left the office building with Asagiri, leaving behind only the extremely bloody scene and Shinomiya Kiko, who was completely unable to accept reality.

……

Later that evening, at Asagiri's house.

Sitting on the sofa were Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko, all with worried and nervous expressions. Even Kato Megumi, who was usually always looking down at her phone, was just resting her chin on her hand and staring blankly, not paying any attention to her phone at all.

"Clap."

Hearing the sound of the key being inserted into the lock, all three women showed joy. At Yuuki Asuna's prompting, Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko immediately stood up with her. The three of them ran to the entrance hall and looked at Asagiri who opened the door, saying in gentle voices.

"Welcome home."

"I'll go, what's going on?"

Seeing Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and Kotoko Iwanaga waiting to greet her at the door, Asagiri, who had changed into normal clothes, was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled.

"Where did I get here? Is this still Shibuya, Tokyo? Judging from the current development and atmosphere... isn't the next scene going to be the 1v3 duel between the God of War, Utsunomiya Asagiri, and the scene I've been wanting to see?"

"No frivolous behavior allowed."

Asuna Yuuki walked up to Asagiri and gently patted him, saying this in a reproachful tone, but then her face lit up with joy, as if she had been relieved.

"But since you can still joke around, it proves you weren't seriously injured, right? Was the battle tough?"

"Fortunately."

Asagiri changed her shoes, walked to the sofa in the living room and sat down. Looking at the three girls with curious expressions, she smiled and said...

"It only took about 3.2 seconds for the opponent to die. They were so fragile."

"3.2 seconds? That's way too fast!"

Kotoko Iwanaga asked in confusion upon hearing this.

"Could it be that we overestimated Shinomiya Hiromitsu? In reality, the person he invited was just a random roadside vendor?"

"That's not it."

Asagiri shook his head and placed his right hand on the coffee table. His right hand's knuckles were red and swollen, as if they had been burned by some scalding hot object.

"The fighter sent by Shinomiya Hikari is also a player, and he has a passive skill similar to damage reflection. As long as you come into contact with him, even through clothing, you will suffer fire damage backlash. I guess the longer the contact time is, the higher the fire damage backlash will be. That's why I was able to kill him instantly. If it were a normal fighting match, this ability would be completely overpowered. As long as you get into a prolonged fight, your opponent will be burned by fire damage. You can win just by passively defending."

After saying this, Asagiri looked up and found that the three women, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko, seemed not to be listening to him at all. Yuuki Asuna frowned slightly, her eyes filled with heartache, and she sat down beside him, her voice trembling.

"It hurts..."

Kotoko Iwanaga took his hand and gently blew on the burns.

Kato Megumi turned around, walked to the drawer of the TV cabinet in the living room, and asked while rummaging through it.

"Do you have any burn ointment at home? ...Given your personality, it's unlikely you'd keep something like that at home. I'll go out and buy some now."

"No...isn't this a bit much?"

Asagiri shook her head with a wry smile, looking slightly helpless.

"With my physical condition, I estimate it will heal in less than two hours. Why are you making it sound like I've been turned into a human stick? It's unnecessary, really unnecessary."

After saying that, Asagiri suddenly changed the subject and said with a smile.

"Of course, if you really care about me, I wouldn't mind if you wore revealing clothes to comfort me. Oh, and by the way..."

"I want to see black stockings tonight."

4

Chapter 04: The High Emotional Intelligence Team

"You're being inappropriate again..."

Asuna Yuuki replied with a slightly flushed face. Just as she was about to speak again, all four of their phones simultaneously beeped. After opening the app with the eye icon, text formed from condensed red mist gradually appeared on the phone screen.

The game has officially entered its third phase, and the rules have changed. From now on, the rule of entering the instance at least once a month has been abolished. Players can only register for the instance once per phase. At midnight on the last day of each phase, which spans two phases, all players will be put to the test.

[Note: Since you have advanced player privileges, you do not need to register three days in advance. You can choose any day as the date to enter the instance. You will also receive a hint about the hidden quest upon entering the instance. Successfully completing the hidden quest will greatly increase your completion rating.]

The four people present were somewhat surprised to see this brief message displayed on the app.

"The rule of entering the dungeon at least once a month has been cancelled? Does that mean that starting from Phase 3, it won't matter if players don't actively sign up for the dungeon?"

Hearing Asuna Yuuki's words and seeing her slightly complicated expression, Asagiri said calmly.

"The frequency has decreased, but this also means that from the third stage onwards, the danger level of the dungeon will increase significantly. After all, entering the dungeon once every ten days is fine if you can clear it with ease, but if you barely manage to clear it in a state of near-limit, ten days is not enough to recover to full condition. Moreover, although the rule of forcing you to enter the dungeon once a month has been canceled, the so-called 'test' has appeared."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked at the contents of her phone and said thoughtfully.

"Is it because the players who have survived to this point all have a certain degree of motivation to become stronger, so there's no need to restrict them with rules...?"

"It could also be another explanation."

Kato Megumi spoke in a gentle tone.

“In SLG-type games, there's a time limit of a certain number of rounds. If a player doesn't achieve a certain goal by the end of the time limit, they'll be declared a failure. From this perspective, the test at the end of each stage is the goal of the game. Players who are lazy and don't have enough strength will fail in the test, which means they will die.”

"Isn't one dungeon run per month a bit too infrequent?"

Hearing Asuna Yuuki's question, Asagiri smiled and said.

"That's quite a lot. If the 'trials' also offer rewards, it's like having two challenges at each stage, which means entering the dungeon twice a month. Besides, following the usual pattern of games, there might be some side quests that need to be completed in the real world. And becoming stronger isn't just about stacking up stats, is it?"

"Right."

Asuna Yuuki nodded in deep agreement. Over the past two months, she had trained with Miwa Ashikaga and had come to a profound understanding of the importance of combat awareness.

If she were to face an enemy with the same stats and abilities as her, but who had not received any professional training, Asuna Yuuki would be confident of victory within a minute.

"Oh, right."

After a brief discussion about the changes to the game rules, Asagiri then spoke.

"I went to participate in the arena competition tonight. As is customary for arena competitions, Ashikaga Miwa paid me the fee. She also entrusted us to try to obtain a player's phone and hand it over to her next time we enter the dungeon. She also paid the fee for the entrustment in advance. Let's split it equally among the four of us."

Upon hearing this, Kato Megumi frowned slightly and shook her head in refusal.

"A split? That won't do. You were the one who fought in the duel; we didn't even contribute..."

Before Kato Megumi could finish speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko interrupted her with a cheer.

"Yay, time to collect the money!"

While Asuna Yuuki's reaction wasn't as exaggerated as Kotoko Iwanaga's, she still smiled.

"Great, it's almost time to change seasons, so I can use the money to buy new clothes."

Seeing that neither Asuna Yuuki nor Kotoko Iwanaga showed any sign of refusing, Megumi Kato was slightly taken aback at first, then smiled and said.

"Then let's split it evenly."

Kato Megumi isn't stupid; of course she can see that Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko are deliberately acting this way so that she can accept the plan of splitting the compensation equally.

Of course, Asagiri was the one who proposed this idea.

This feeling of being quietly cared for by others...

It seems pretty good, and since we're all teammates, there's no need to worry about so much.

"okay."

Seeing that Kato Megumi had agreed, Asagiri smiled and nodded, then said in a calm tone.

"The prize money for the fighting match is 1 billion, and the commission is 1 billion, for a total of 2 billion. That's 500 million each. Send me your bank account numbers, and I'll send them to Ashikaga Miwa."

"Oh, five hundred million per person..."

Kato Megumi first read a sentence noncommittally, but only realized what she was saying halfway through when her pupils gradually dilated, and her usually calm and gentle tone began to tremble slightly.

"Wait a minute... 500 million? 500 million yen?"

Not only Kato Megumi, but also Yuuki Asuna had an incredulous expression. In their minds, it would probably be around a few million yen. After all, for high school students, even if it was split among four people, a few million yen was still a lot of money.

Kotoko Iwanaga was somewhat surprised, but her reaction wasn't that strong, since money was just a number to her.

"Huh? Is it really necessary to be so surprised?"

Seeing Kato Megumi and Yuuki Asuna's reactions, Asagiri smiled nonchalantly.

"If split evenly, it's only 500 million yen each. Besides, the stakes for the fighting tournament are 2 billion yen. Ashikaga Miwa essentially gave us all the money she won without asking for any of it herself. But she certainly doesn't need that much money."

"Five hundred million..."

They could spend it as they pleased, buying whatever they wanted. Five hundred million yen in pocket money was a huge shock to Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi, who were high school students.

"If you don't know how to spend it, I actually have a suggestion."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato both wore serious expressions. However, to their utter surprise, she then opened the laptop on the coffee table, clicked on a webpage, and then, holding the laptop screen, presented a new world to them.

"This shop that makes purely handmade cosplay costumes has no downsides except for its high prices. I recommend ordering one set of each of the five different themes: secretary uniform, shrine maiden outfit, nurse uniform, bunny girl, and succubus. Then, get one pair each of black and white stockings, black and white fishnets... no, thinking about it, I think I should get five pairs of each, since they'll probably tear..."

"What kind of indecent things are you saying?!"

Asuna Yuuki's face flushed red, and she covered Asagiri's mouth with her hand in embarrassment and anger. Looking at the photos of clothes on the laptop screen that were extremely revealing, impossible to wear in public, not comfortable enough to be worn as pajamas, and whose purpose was so obvious that she was almost speechless with embarrassment.

Kato Megumi blushed and pursed her lips, whispering.

"Asagiri-kun, you pervert."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked excited, then coughed twice and said in a serious tone.

"Hey, send me the website address on my phone."

"Alright, let's talk about fun...we'll get to the cosplay outfits later."

Upon hearing Asagiri's last-minute change of heart, Asuna Yuuki said with a hint of helplessness.