"I'm very sorry. I was extremely tired after getting back, so I fell asleep."
The thoughts in his mind flashed past rapidly. Takumi did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately began to apologize, his tone and attitude incomparably sincere.
"Don't you think I'm not exhausted either? I worked myself to the bone escaping from that godforsaken place and still had to attend a full day of classes. And do you even know what the rumors about me at school are right now? A pure girl deceived by a delinquent from outside the school, all because of that hug of yours. In broad daylight, a complete stranger tightly hugging a girl whose clothes were covered in stains and tears—do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me?!"
The girl's voice grew increasingly shrill, like an enraged lioness roaring through the phone.
Takumi was already considering whether he should take a photo of himself performing a dogeza and send it over as an apology, when, after finishing her outburst, the other party suddenly returned to a normal tone.
"In short, don't barge into the school again. Even if you have to come in, at least wear something with some taste and tidy up your appearance a bit. Don't do things like sneaking in like a thief and stealing teachers' clothes like you did today ever again. Since this is the real world, pay at least some attention to your image."
"I've been carrying all the Obsession Items you gave me properly. These things can still be used in the real world. I'm worried about the risk of losing control, so tomorrow we need to meet and transfer these Obsession Items to you, since you're the one who can contain them using that black wristwatch. I've already contacted Oba-san as well—she has some helpers she can mobilize to help search for the whereabouts of other players. Don't go looking on your own; there's a chance you could be tracked in reverse."
"Tanaka and that woman who was disguised as Maeda Miwa gave me a very bad feeling. Maybe the group of players itself isn't united at all, and might even be in a state of survival-of-the-fittest predation. As rookie players, although it currently seems like we've obtained quite a decent boost, it would absolutely not be a good thing if we were being watched in secret."
"Also, I've found that my body has become much stronger. Whether it's strength or speed, or my body's coordination and control, it's completely different from before. That strange voice that kept talking about the sacrifice game said I received an A-level evaluation. Then I also heard the voice of a little girl saying goodbye to me. And then I discovered I can sense the goodwill and malice of the people around me—so long as someone is standing in front of me, I can instinctively know whether they'll treat me well or treat me badly. Although the judgment is rather vague, I think this should be the blessing that child gave me."
"You got this kind of power too, right? Still, be a bit careful. After our power increases, it takes a little time to control it. During class this afternoon, I accidentally yanked the classroom door handle off. Hey, hey, are you listening? Why haven't you said anything for so long?"
It was obvious that Maki really had a lot she wanted to tell Takumi. She chattered on for quite a while before noticing that there was no sound at all from Takumi's side, and she immediately started complaining with some dissatisfaction.
"I'm listening. We're meeting tomorrow, right? When—morning or afternoon? Around what time?"
Takumi spoke up quickly, his voice full of focus and enthusiasm.
"So after saying that much, all you heard was 'meeting up,' is that it?! Ha, that's enough already. You really make it hard to know what to say. Today was all because of you—I suddenly became the school's center of attention, and Dad even called to ask whether I'm dating some weird guy. This is all your fault."
At this moment, the girl's voice carried a bit of resentment.
"You can answer your dad and tell him I'm not a weird guy."
Takumi thought for a moment and then said it tentatively.
"You think you can get me to admit I'm dating you with this kind of roundabout approach? You idiot—who starts dating as boyfriend and girlfriend after only knowing each other for four days? Something like that… sh-should be handled more cautiously. Y-you, don't always rush like this. Can't you… can't you give me a little… a little time to think? My head is still a mess right now. I still can't think about this kind of thing…"
From irritation, to embarrassed anger, to bashful, hesitant shyness—altogether it took less than ten seconds.
Takumi didn't know whether this girl was doing it on purpose or was just naturally like this. He could only say that when it came to acting cute, 2D girls were truly so powerful it made one sigh in amazement.
"I know. Sorry—maybe I really was a bit too impatient. Anyway, the fact that we both managed to survive safely is something worth celebrating. I'm really, really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Maki."
As a result, the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened further, and the cheerfulness in his voice was completely undisguised.
"Ugh… you're spouting nonsense again. Anyway, tomorrow you are absolutely not allowed to come looking all high and mighty!"
Beep—
The girl was the one who hung up first, hastily bringing the call to an end.
Takumi put the phone down and sat on the chair by the desk on one side of his bedroom. After sitting there for quite a while, he finally clenched both fists, shook them slightly, and muttered a quiet, "Nice."
No matter what situation he might face next, Takumi felt that he was already prepared to deal with it. Whatever damn paranormal, horror, rule-based scenario it was, he was going to play to the otaku crowd, he was going to fall in love. Of course, gathering information and understanding his own situation was also important—but ideally, neither would interfere with the other.
Thinking this, Takumi turned his head to glance out the window, then lowered his gaze to look at his phone.
Then he paused for a moment and shifted his gaze back toward the window.
He locked eyes, just like that, for an instant, with the ghastly pale woman's face plastered against the glass outside.
Takumi: ???
In an instant, Takumi's entire body tensed up, and he was almost about to spring to his feet and flee out of the bedroom door.
He had clearly already escaped from the instance.
Moreover, throughout the entire daytime, he had clearly encountered no abnormalities at all. He had clearly been in a safe environment the whole time. So how had something like this suddenly appeared just as night was about to fall? Could it be that the real world actually always contained all kinds of bizarre entities—only that they usually existed in a state separated from ordinary people and thus went unnoticed, and that because he had participated in the rule-based horror game, his "perception" had been opened in some sense, allowing him to see these things?
All kinds of thoughts raced rapidly through Takumi's mind.
But very quickly, he frowned.
He did not sense anything at all from the woman's face in front of him.
Through the blessing given to him by the little girl, Takumi possessed the ability to distinguish goodwill from malice, and to tell humans from non-humans.
This ability did not take effect on the flat, pancake-like face in front of him.
Just as if this thing did not exist here at all—or as if it were merely a natural phenomenon, inherently devoid of any inclination or emotion.
"…"
After a brief hesitation, Takumi stood up, walked over to the desk, and reached out to pull open the window.
That woman's face merely stared straight ahead, continuing to float there without moving.
Takumi had already extended his hand, trying to touch it.
His hand passed straight through the thing.
He touched nothing at all.
It was as if this thing were some kind of three-dimensional projection, something that simply did not possess a tangible form that could be touched.
But what exactly was this thing? And why was he able to see it?
After a brief moment of thought, Takumi got dressed and walked out of his home.
This time, he saw even more.
Beneath the dim sky as night was about to fall.
High above, twisted figures drifted through the city, floating in midair—sometimes blurry, sometimes clear, sometimes vanishing without a trace, sometimes appearing all of a sudden.
Takumi saw countless corpses, countless bizarre entities, countless distorted and grotesque things.
The vast majority of them were still floating up in the sky, but some—like that ghastly pale woman's face—had already descended from above, drifting aimlessly through various corners of the city.
People along the streets walked past them, turning a blind eye, and likewise, those things paid no attention to the passersby.
Occasionally, someone would walk straight through them, and those things would also pass through pedestrians, vehicles, walls, and all manner of objects on the road—like strange glitches in a game that had lost their collision volume and could casually pass through walls, like a malfunctioning program, like hallucinations drifting about unnoticed.
What exactly were these things?
The unease in Takumi's heart grew increasingly intense.
A rule-based horror game carried out in the name of sacrifice; restless souls imprisoned by unknown existences; eerie objects repeating their obsessions; and… phantoms manifesting in the real world. It was like a grand curtain slowly being drawn open, and he was merely one of the actors within it—unable to know, unable to predict what the next step would be, and unaware of where the finale of this play would ultimately lead.
"No matter what, I can only take it one step at a time, right?"
As Takumi sighed this thought, he turned his head and saw a girl with long black hair and strikingly beautiful pale-golden eyes walking past him. As she walked, she was playing on her phone. She was wearing a school uniform and looked as though she had just been dismissed from school, or was on her way home after stopping by somewhere to hang out after classes.
It looked as though she lived right next door to his own home.
That girl's pure, lovely face was rare even within the 2D world, carrying a somewhat pitiful, fragile air.
Takumi could not help but take a few extra glances at her.
Let it be stated in advance that he was not thinking with his lower head. Although Takumi was well aware that he had a somewhat frivolous and lecherous personality, he was not at the point where he would start fantasizing and getting restless just because he ran into a good-looking passerby. It was simply that, knowing this was a crossover anime world, and having already encountered both Kaguya and Maki, Takumi strongly suspected that any high-appearance-value girl he met might turn out to be the protagonist of some other work, so he paid a little extra attention, that was all.
As for this one in front of him… he could not tell. There were far too many black-haired, straight-haired girls in Japanese anime. The only thing he could be certain of was that she was not Yukinoshita Yukino—judging from that chest curve alone, it was clearly not something a flat-chested girl could possess.
Still, it might be worth noting her family nameplate… hmm, the Yotsuya family? If it was the Yotsuya family… could it be the protagonist of Mieruko-chan, the girl who was bullied by grotesque spirits every day and spent every day with tear-filled eyes—Yotsuya Miko?
If she was here, would that mean that these things ordinary people could not see would someday become visible, gradually start being noticed by those around them, and then…
Forget it. What was the point of thinking that far ahead? It was better to think about how to survive the next mission.
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