In the Ordinary Streets of Tokyo, I Awakened as a Player

Chapter 316: Transaction Completed

Chapter 316: Transaction Completed

Fifteen minutes later, inside the newly opened cafe in Shinjuku.

"Woohoo~ Eel cake~"

Iwanaga Kotoko speared a piece of the brightly colored, fragrant, still warm cake and held it to Asagiri’s mouth with a sweet smile.

"Ah~ Open up. I’ll feed you."

Asagiri glanced at the cake on the fork, his expression slightly complicated.

"My sense of smell tells me this is eel, but my eyes tell me this is cake..."

With that, Asagiri bit off the cake, chewed carefully, swallowed, and then spoke with utter seriousness.

"But my sense of taste tells me this is just a pile of crap."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Iwanaga Kotoko nodded noncommittally, pushed away the plate of eel flavored cake in front of her, then looked at the strawberry cream cake set aside and cheered happily.

"Woohoo, time for strawberry cake... Mmph mmph mmph..."

Asagiri did not stand on ceremony. He directly speared a piece of eel cake and shoved it into Iwanaga Kotoko’s mouth. Watching the expression on her cute face gradually twist in pain, he revealed a faint smile.

"You were the one making a fuss about ordering this cake, so eat it obediently."

"Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph..."

Seeing Asagiri and Iwanaga Kotoko messing around, Sakurakawa Rikka, who was sitting opposite them, sighed softly.

She picked up her porcelain cup, took a small sip of bitter black coffee without milk or sugar, then slowly set it down. Her voice was so peaceful that it almost felt emotionless.

"Although I also enjoy watching this person get punished, shouldn’t we discuss business?"

"Oh, you’re still here?"

Asagiri glanced at Sakurakawa Rikka, who was sitting opposite him, and feigned surprise.

"I thought you’d already gone home. What’s this? Do you want to join our date too? Or do you want to join the night activities as well?"

Upon hearing this, Iwanaga Kotoko’s expression changed.

Ignoring the strange sweet and savory taste of the eel cake still in her mouth, she clenched her fair little fist and shook it in front of Sakurakawa Rikka, declaring righteously,

"I absolutely do not allow it!"

Sakurakawa Rikka fell silent for a moment.

"...I never intended to join in the first place. The serious matter I mentioned refers to those people from just now."

When the previous battle ended, Iwanaga Kotoko had used the Pale Ghost Hand to extract the Necromancer’s soul and obtained part of his memories.

Because of that, they learned the identity of the enemy, as well as the reason behind the sudden attack on Iwanaga Kotoko today.

Sakurakawa Rikka had once mentioned that when she was young, due to her family’s ambition, she ate the flesh of two yokai, the Mermaid and the Kudan. Because of that, she obtained an immortal body and the power to foresee the future to a certain extent through her own death.

The five Players who appeared today were similar to her. They had consumed yokai flesh, obtained a portion of a yokai’s power, and transformed into monsters that were half human and half yokai.

Normally, humans who consumed yokai flesh had only one outcome.

Death.

However, those five individuals were Players, and they possessed the same exclusive talent.

[Monstrous Body: By consuming yokai flesh, the user can obtain a portion of the corresponding yokai’s power. If too much flesh is consumed, there is a risk of death due to being unable to withstand the power.]

Clearly, this was like drawing the target around the arrow.

Before entering the Game, these people had already wanted to obtain monstrous power by consuming yokai flesh. That was why they had gained such an exclusive talent.

Of course, that was not the main point.

The main point was that they viewed the "Princess of the Yokai," the "God of Wisdom who manages the balance between the Yokai and reality," meaning Iwanaga Kotoko, as an enemy who had to be eliminated.

In their view, as long as they killed this deity, Iwanaga Kotoko, the balance between the two sides of the world would completely collapse, causing something like a resurgence of the supernatural.

"I am different from them."

Sakurakawa Rikka gently gripped the stirring rod. Amidst the soft clinking inside the porcelain cup, she admired the ripples spreading across the surface of the pure black liquid.

Her dark yellow eyes were like a calm, unruffled lake. Her voice was soft, almost as if it did not belong to this world.

"This is not power. It is a curse. I consider myself human, and I only want to be human. I have no interest in so-called power from the yokai side. So..."

Sakurakawa Rikka raised her head, looked at Asagiri, and spoke slowly.

"They are your enemies, and they are also mine. Perhaps we can cooperate."

"Cooperate?"

Asagiri smiled at this and replied in a casual, indifferent tone.

"Although you are quite strong, we don’t seem to need your power."

"Mm. That is indeed true."

Sakurakawa Rikka nodded.

After all, she had witnessed Asagiri’s strength firsthand. She knew that in the battle just now, even without her help, as long as he used Supreme Magic Bullet, he could have easily eliminated those five Players.

However, she immediately changed the subject.

"But you have many things to deal with, don’t you? Not only the Game, but also building a Player faction, improving your own strength, and enjoying your life. No matter how strong you are, your time is limited."

She paused slightly.

"But I am different. I have never had friends, nor have I ever had a lover. Simply put, I have no personal life. So aside from playing the Game, I can devote all my time to investigating those people."

Asagiri nodded noncommittally and smiled.

"Continue. I’m listening."

Sakurakawa Rikka parted her lips slightly, stared straight into Asagiri’s eyes, and said,

"Let’s treat this as a transaction. Let me join the Player faction you are building, and I will offer everything I have. In exchange, when I need to fight that group, you must come to help me."

"Oh?"

Asagiri rested his cheek on one hand, looking at Sakurakawa Rikka with an interested, meaningful gaze.

"Offer everything you have? Do you know what that sentence implies? You really are someone who only thinks of herself."

"Say what you will."

Sakurakawa Rikka tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and said indifferently,

"So, what is your answer?"

"This is not something I can decide."

Asagiri shrugged, then looked toward Iwanaga Kotoko, who was gripping her silver knife and fork tightly, seemingly considering whether to launch a physical attack on Sakurakawa Rikka.

It was obvious that she was jealous.

He asked softly,

"You make the decision."

"Eh? Me? That works too."

Hearing Asagiri hand the right to decide over to her, Iwanaga Kotoko couldn’t help but reveal a sweet and cute smile.

After all, this meant Asagiri still cared about her as his girlfriend.

However, although Iwanaga Kotoko’s personality usually seemed a little willful, when it came to important and critical matters, she always maintained the principle of absolute rationality. She would not let personal feelings influence her judgment.

"Humans using yokai power to cause disasters has already broken the order between the two worlds."

A complex look appeared in Iwanaga Kotoko’s dark purple eyes. She exchanged a glance with Asagiri beside her.

After the battle that had just happened, a terrifying possibility could not help but surface in both their minds.

What if Asagiri did not have an ability like Mita World?

If the battle had taken place on that crowded street, then with the Necromancer’s ability to instantly turn corpses into puppets and detonate those corpse puppets at any time, he could have instantly created dozens, or even hundreds, of fast moving eerie bombs.

Even if they were only puppets made from the corpses of ordinary people, the power created by detonating such a shocking number of them at the same time would be nothing short of devastating.

"Transaction accepted."

Hearing Iwanaga Kotoko agree, Sakurakawa Rikka nodded slightly.

Then, she suddenly said,

"By the way, there is one additional condition."

Iwanaga Kotoko instantly became wary. She hugged Asagiri’s arm and stared fiercely at Sakurakawa Rikka’s face like a loyal dog guarding its food.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to NTR me too?"

Sakurakawa Rikka sighed, looking somewhat speechless.

"I originally wanted to ask where this ’too’ came from, but I have a feeling I would hear an abstract answer unrelated to me."

Immediately afterward, Sakurakawa Rikka changed the subject and extended her hand toward Asagiri.

"So I will just say it directly. My condition is... do not kill me. At the very least, while there is still a yokai inside me... please do not kill me. I do not want to die in this form. Is the transaction accepted?"

Asagiri grasped Sakurakawa Rikka’s hand and chuckled.

"Transaction accepted."

"Grind, grind, grind..."

Hearing the strange sound coming from beside him, Asagiri released Sakurakawa Rikka’s hand and gently stroked the head of Iwanaga Kotoko, who was jealous and sulking.

"Alright, let’s end the discussion here. If we keep talking, my cute, jealous girlfriend is going to unleash her wild instincts."

"Mm. Let’s leave it at that."

After Sakurakawa Rikka left, Iwanaga Kotoko finally lowered her guard. While fiercely eating her strawberry cream cake, she muttered softly,

"Geez, we finally went out on a date, and it got interrupted by those annoying people."

Asagiri looked at the soy sauce colored cake and said bluntly,

"I actually think having a battle once in a while is pretty refreshing, but I really can’t handle this eel cake."

"Oh right, speaking of the eel cake..."

Iwanaga Kotoko pulled out a tissue and wiped her lips elegantly.

Then, she leaned into Asagiri’s ear and parted her lips, speaking in an extremely seductive tone.

"The eel cake seems to have taken effect... I feel like I... can’t hold back anymore."

"When have you ever been able to hold back?"

Asagiri replied first, then suddenly discovered a blind spot. He stared at Iwanaga Kotoko with a serious face.

"By the way... your so-called ’eel is good for the body’ was just an excuse, wasn’t it? You used ’nourishing the body’ as a legitimate reason to invite me to spend the night together."

"Oh my."

After her true intentions were exposed, Iwanaga Kotoko laughed shyly.

"You saw right through me."

.....

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