And the world of that giga-chad Arthur had an actual God in it, which made the entire setting absurd beyond belief.
Ryuji couldn't help continuing his search, only to discover that just like Japan, all over the world these supernatural things began disappearing once firearms became widespread.
That left him genuinely unable to complain anymore.
"I seriously feel like if I keep digging into this, I'm eventually going to run into some bizarre development like 'how many divisions does God command?' And if Greek mythology also genuinely exists in this world, then Athena Asamiya might really be Athena's reincarnation… Wait, Saint Seiya never had arcade games, right?! Right?"
Thinking through the limited King of Fighters lore he actually knew, Ryuji felt a bit numb.
Because if people really wanted to stitch settings together, then the arcade-game worlds really could connect seamlessly with the world of Saint Seiya…
For example, why did people in this world love martial arts tournaments so much?
Because the gods of this world literally determined the future of the world through fighting tournaments.
Why is Athena Asamiya called Athena?
Because she is the reincarnation of Athena!
Good!
Case solved!
Chin Gentsai was Dohko all along!
"Though if I remember correctly, Athena Asamiya actually is supposed to be Athena's reincarnation… but where the hell did I even see that setting again?"
Ryuji scratched his head, sighed, and finally stopped worrying over these things. Instead, he started checking what games the internet café actually had available.
But after looking around, most of them were just MMORPGs similar to Legend of Mir. The single-player games were a bit more interesting instead.
Unfortunately, most of them were either shooting games or fighting games, both genres Ryuji wasn't particularly interested in.
So after checking the time, Ryuji decided to browse a few more forums to see if there was anything entertaining in this world before heading back for dinner.
After all, after dinner, Mai's 'breast-service' or 'Paizuri' was still waiting for him, and there was no way he was going to miss that!
However, even after entering several chatrooms, Ryuji still couldn't find anything interesting.
That was, until right before he was about to leave, when he saw a discussion thread.
"You probably won't believe me, but I just saw a blue-haired little girl throw out something like a capsule, and it instantly turned into an airplane… Is technology really this advanced now?"
"I think you're high, my friend. If you're high, stop chatting already. The FBI monitors all major chatrooms."
"XXXX I LOVE YOU!"
"Take your confession crap to the relationship boards already! And I'm serious here! I really saw a plane that looked like Metal Gear get pulled out by that blue-haired girl!"
"Have you ever considered that there's a technology called 'airdrop'?"
"Uh… actually, maybe? I did see something crash onto the ground…"
"Hello, FBI."
"Fuck! I thought you guys didn't care about this stuff?!"
"Hello, we do care. Mr. XXX from XXXX Street."
Ryuji watched the chat for a while and subconsciously took note of it, because no matter how he looked at it, it sounded suspiciously like Bulma from Dragon Ball.
But not long afterward, the account named "Great Stan" suddenly posted again.
"This idiot really is high as hell. Alright kids, remember, the internet is not a lawless place."
The entire chatroom fell silent for a moment before instantly exploding into chaos.
Meanwhile, Ryuji's was a little confused, because this was indeed an American chatroom. He'd just opened it randomly.
"So, is it Bulma or not?"
Ryuji was a bit curious, but since there was basically no concrete information and the source was a drug addict, he wasn't sure.
"Considering I seem to bring over two people every time I travel, it actually could be Bulma… but without clues, there's no way to confirm it."
After thinking for a bit, Ryuji gave up on actively searching for her and instead called Fame Douglas.
The phone was answered very quickly.
"Mr. Ryuji, is there something you need?"
"Yeah. Do you remember the King of Fighters tournament I mentioned before?"
"I do. What about it, Mr. Ryuji?"
Ryuji looked at the rapidly scrolling messages in the chatroom before speaking again.
"Buy out the tournament, then raise the prize money to one hundred million dollars. I'll participate in it myself… and all the expenses can be counted under my name. You can just deduct it from future dividends later, because I intend to use this tournament to find certain people. If you have goals you want to achieve as well, I don't mind. After all, I just want to hold a Tenkaichi Budokai (or World Martial Arts Tournament)."
Ryuji smiled as he spoke.
Although he didn't know if that person was really Bulma, one thing was obvious that Bulma would definitely know about the Tenkaichi Budokai.
And if that person truly was Bulma, then she would definitely come looking for him.
And if she wasn't, then it didn't really matter anyway. Fighting powerful opponents from this world was already one of his desires to begin with, so this really wasn't much of a problem.
"I see…"
Douglas narrowed his eyes. Although he didn't know who exactly Ryuji was looking for, after glancing at the "Dead or Alive" tournament proposal sitting on his desk, he nodded.
"Alright. Coincidentally, I also have something I want to accomplish, so I'll be relying on you, Mr. Ryuji. I need to use this tournament to flush out a some rats."
The rats within his company were obsessed with creating biological weapons using powerful martial artists. And if the fighters participating in the Tenkaichi Budokai turned out to vastly surpass the so-called powerful ninja fighters in Japan, those people would definitely take the bait.
"Good. And don't worry about the tournament's credibility. During this period, I'll continuously challenge various martial artists from all over and make them understand true value of this tournament."
"Then I'll await good news."
"Mm."
After hanging up the phone, Ryuji couldn't help but laugh.
"I really am a genius. Heh heh heh heh…"
But halfway through laughing, he suddenly froze.
Because he realized that if he did things this way, then he'd basically become the mastermind behind everything, which meant...
"…Wait. Did I just become the boss character?!"
~~~~~~~~~~
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