"Chika is a Player?"
Hearing Asagiri Utsunomiya suddenly make such a startling guess, Asuna Yuuki's expression froze. It took a while for her to react.
After taking a few deep breaths and stabilizing her emotions, she asked, "Why would you think that? Is there anything suspicious?"
Asagiri Utsunomiya first shook his head and then said, "Chika Fujiwara herself hasn't shown any flaws. However, the reason I suspect she is a Player is because of the suspicious points about Kaguya Shinomiya."
"Suspicious points..." Asuna Yuuki first murmured to herself, trying hard to recall all the information about Kaguya Shinomiya, but ultimately, she only asked with a puzzled face, "In my impression, Kaguya Shinomiya... doesn't seem to have anything suspicious, right?"
Asagiri Utsunomiya nodded noncommittally and said, "It's understandable that you'd think that. After all, you weren't at Shuchi'in Academy in middle school, and you don't know Kaguya Shinomiya very well."
Hearing his words, Asuna Yuuki tried hard to suppress the urge to retort, but she couldn't help but mutter inwardly, 'You weren't at Shuchi'in Academy in middle school either, were you?'
And as for knowing her... it's only been a week, how well could you possibly know Kaguya Shinomiya?
However, Asagiri Utsunomiya's next words made Asuna Yuuki realize that there were indeed suspicious points about Kaguya Shinomiya.
"Kaguya Shinomiya is not only at the top of her class academically, but she also has many talents, such as kendo, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, music, dances, and her most proficient skill, archery, which she won the national individual championship for in middle school."
Asagiri Utsunomiya paused briefly, and then spoke with a serious tone: "However, after entering high school, Kaguya Shinomiya did not join the kyudo club. She didn't participate in any clubs at all."
Asuna Yuuki asked hesitantly, "This... it could be because she wants to focus on her studies?"
"That's also possible. After all, I surpassed her in the entrance exam, and she only got second place. With her style of going all out and holding nothing back only in her studies, it's possible she gave up joining the kyudo club to concentrate on studying in order to defeat me, but..."
Asagiri Utsunomiya paused, looked at Asuna Yuuki's face, and asked back in a flat tone, "But, if she really gave up her best skill, archery, in order to defeat me, would she possibly not seize the time to study on the first weekend of school, but instead go to her good friend Chika Fujiwara's house to play?"
Before Asuna Yuuki could even open her mouth to ask, Kotoko Iwanaga, who was beside them, explained calmly, "After obtaining the seat on the board of directors, my family checked the campus surveillance from last Friday. Kaguya Shinomiya did not take the car that usually picked her up and dropped her off, but instead got into a car with Chika Fujiwara. As for whether she spent the night at Chika Fujiwara's house, that's not very clear.
"But assuming she is a Player, she must have chosen Saturday to enter the dungeon, just like us. As for why she entered the dungeon at Chika Fujiwara's house... it's likely because there are many spies where she lives. Without being able to determine the exact time of entering the dungeon and how long it would take to clear it, Kaguya Shinomiya couldn't enter the dungeon at her own residence.
"Chika Fujiwara's family is also very prominent, so even if there were spies monitoring Kaguya Shinomiya, as long as Kaguya Shinomiya was at Chika Fujiwara's house, those spies wouldn't dare to continue monitoring. Otherwise, if discovered, it might even cause conflict.
"Extending this reasoning, if Kaguya Shinomiya suddenly disappeared, Chika Fujiwara would definitely be very anxious. After all, if the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya Family went missing at her house, the trouble would be immense. Chika Fujiwara isn't so naive as to not understand something like this. Therefore, Kaguya Shinomiya must have told her about the dungeon in advance. Based on this, even if Chika Fujiwara isn't a Player, she must be an informed person assisting Kaguya Shinomiya."
Asuna Yuuki was stunned. After a long while, she finally spoke with a complex expression, "You two... thankfully you are my teammates. If you were my opponents, just thinking about it is terrifying..."
Asuna Yuuki was truly shocked.
From the beginning of the game until now, including the novice dungeon, only two dungeons had passed. It was just one week.
But Asagiri Utsunomiya and Kotoko Iwanaga had already directly discovered Kaguya Shinomiya's identity as a Player?
Most importantly, Kotoko Iwanaga and Asagiri Utsunomiya, besides their intelligence, had one more similarity.
Both of them were the kind of Players who wouldn't be bound by moral concepts.
"So now... what should we do?"
Seeing Asuna Yuuki's cautious and somewhat reluctant expression, Asagiri Utsunomiya was amused and said, "No, why do you look like you're attending a funeral? Even if Chika Fujiwara and Kaguya Shinomiya are Players, they are not our enemies for the time being."
"Eh?" Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing this, and after hesitating for a moment, she said, "I thought you would want to kill Chika and Kaguya Shinomiya, take their phones, and then extract their equipment and items..."
"Please, I'm not some chaotic evil person." Asagiri Utsunomiya said this first, then spoke with a calm tome, "Besides, do you think the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is useless? If we kill people in the real world, even if we use supernatural powers, it's hard to avoid leaving traces. Moreover, Chika Fujiwara and Kaguya Shinomiya are both from prominent families, young ladies who are secretly followed and protected. To take such a risk of exposing our identities just for a piece of equipment or an item whose effect we don't even know and can only randomly extract, wouldn't that be purely foolish? It's completely unnecessary. Besides..."
Asagiri Utsunomiya paused to take a sip of iced Coca-Cola, and then continued speaking: "Our most important task at this stage is to ensure that we can obtain the highest possible rating in every dungeon, and then use the rewards obtained from high-level ratings to continuously achieve high-level ratings, which is like a snowball, constantly expanding our advantage.
"Assuming what Megumi Kato said is true, from the information of the dungeons we have known so far, this so-called game has never had any dungeons with the goal of confrontation or even killing between Players, that is, PVP themed dungeons."
Asuna Yuuki nodded, and then asked tentatively, "Then... should we try to invite Kaguya Shinomiya and Chika Fujiwara to be our teammates? Although I am not familiar with Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika and I have a pretty good relationship. She doesn't have the boring thoughts of those pure students in Shuchi'in Academy, and her personality is also quite easy to get along with."
Asagiri Utsunomiya did not give a direct answer, but instead asked back, "If, when we are undertaking a certain dungeon, your and my judgments on the next course of action diverge, or even lead to opposite conclusions, but I insist on my opinion, what would you do?"
Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga gave the same answer.
"We will listen to you, after all, you are the leader of our time."
"Then isn't that right?" Asagiri Utsunomiya first replied with a shrug, then said indifferently, "A team can only have one leader, only one person can have the decisive say. Kaguya Shinomiya is excellent in all aspects, but in the dungeon, if her judgment and mine diverge, given her personality and arrogance, it is impossible for her to unconditionally follow my plan like you two. So I will not consider inviting her to be a teammate for the time being. Chika Fujiwara is a very good friend of Kaguya Shinomiya, so I will not invite her to be a teammate for the time being either."
Asuna Yuuki nodded obediently and said, "Hmm, that's true, and if you count Megumi Kato, we already have four people."
"OK, the serious business is finally over~" Kotoko Iwanaga was cheering and her body was already leaning towards Asagiri Utsunomiya's arm.
Asuna Yuuki quickly stopped Kotoko Iwanaga when she saw this, saying, "Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"
"Hmm? Of course, I'm cuddling with my cute boyfriend~" Kotoko Iwanaga replied with this first and then said seriously, "Don't forget, the reason I outwardly told my family to donate to Shuchi'in Academy was because I wanted to be with Asagiri-san all the time. Since that's the case, we have to put on a full act. When we are at school, I have to act like we are very much in love, hugging and kissing him from time to time, that's how it will look real~"
Asuna Yuuki sighed slightly, rubbing her forehead and saying with a hint of helplessness, "That's true, but why do I feel like you're taking advantage of him..."
And Asagiri Utsunomiya, looking at Kotoko Iwanaga who was sticking to his arm and constantly rubbing it, like a little cat, said without politeness, "You should first put away your love-struck brain and think about what to do with your prosthetic leg. After your prosthetic leg breaks, you can only hop around on one leg, just like that Spoink in Pokémon. If your prosthetic leg is damaged in the dungeon, it will be troublesome."
Kotoko Iwanaga smiled playfully, saying, "Captain, you can carry me! Anyway, you have such good stamina~"
"You're dreaming, I can only launch you like a human missile." Asagiri Utsunomiya replied with this first, and then added, "If that really doesn't work, wait until we encounter a cyberpunk type dungeon, and I'll get you a mechanical prosthetic limb that isn't easily damaged, and also get you a prosthetic eye that can shoot lasers. Don't be some God of Wisdom of the Oddities anymore, just follow the path of mechanical ascension. From now on, half of your power will be from the supernatural side, and the other half will be from the high technology side. You'll directly transform into a supernatural version of Astro Boy, and what are you playing with curses? When you encounter a specter, just activate your laser eyes and it's over."