The apples on the fruit stall were large and plump, their brilliant red skins looking incredibly appetizing.
The stall owner behind them was a middle-aged man wearing a black open-chested short vest and a black headband. He had a savage scar across his face and looked like the type of man who was difficult to talk to.
"Young man, buying apples?"
Satoru Gojo raised his hand and picked up an apple from the stall. He gave it a squeeze with his fingertips; the flesh was firm and elastic, clearly full of juice.
Without asking for the owner's permission, Satoru Gojo took a direct, experimental bite.
The sweet and sour juice exploded in his mouth, carrying a fresh fruity aroma. The taste was actually a few degrees more impressive than the strawberry cakes he usually ate.
"Mmm, tastes good."
Satoru Gojo narrowed his eyes, nodded in satisfaction, and prepared to head elsewhere to look around.
"Hey!"
"Kid, you dare steal from me?!"
Noticing Satoru's actions, the fruit stall uncle glared at him, his eyes wide with fury.
As he spoke, he prepared to lung out from behind the stall, looking for all the world like he was going to teach the boy a lesson.
"Ah-le."
Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow. "Well, my apologies then."
He fished a few coins out of his pocket and casually tossed them onto the stall.
The coins landed on the wooden surface with a crisp "ting-aling" sound.
Having done this, Satoru Gojo continued munching on his apple and turned to leave. However, once the owner saw the coins clearly, he became even angrier.
This guy had somehow gotten hold of some random metal scraps and thought he could fool him by using them as money? Outrageous!
"You bastard, pay me properly!"
The fruit stall uncle swung a fist and charged toward Satoru Gojo.
"Is the setting for this one the 'irascible type'?" Satoru muttered.
The uncle's fist approached rapidly, yet just as it was about to land on Satoru, it simply could not get any closer, no matter what.
"Wha—What's going on?"
The fruit stall uncle looked at Satoru Gojo in shock. Satoru was right in front of him, yet the man found that no matter how much strength he used, he couldn't move an inch further, let alone touch him.
Such an eerie scene was truly startling.
Right then, the fruit stall uncle spotted two patrolling guards walking nearby and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Guards! Someone's stealing here!"
"Tch."
Satoru Gojo saw the two guards' attention being drawn as they began walking over.
Without any sign of panic, he took the last bite of the apple. Then, while the fruit stall uncle was busy shouting at the guards, he stuffed the apple core into the man's chest pocket and gave it a gentle pat.
"Bye-bye~"
With that, Satoru Gojo's figure blurred, and he vanished into the crowd instantly.
He wanted to see more of this interesting illusion; he wasn't about to waste his time here.
In the blink of an eye, Satoru Gojo appeared at the corner of an alley.
Standing in the alleyway and listening to the hurried footsteps passing by outside, Satoru couldn't help but laugh.
"I didn't expect the NPC in this illusion to be so dedicated."
Once the commotion outside faded, Satoru Gojo leisurely walked out again.
Before long, Satoru Gojo appeared several streets away.
The encounter just now had made him increasingly interested in this illusion. This time, he intended to go check out those strangely shaped beastmen.
"A dog-type beastman? Doesn't seem all that cute."
"Bastard!"
"You trying to die, kid?!"
The beastman, feeling humiliated after having his head rubbed by Satoru, roared loudly. He bared sharp canine teeth, looking as though he wanted to eat the boy alive.
"Dogs that like to snarl won't be very popular, you know."
With a smile on his lips, Satoru Gojo ran off, disappearing from the chasing beastman's sight in a matter of moments.
A short while later.
When Satoru Gojo reappeared, he was already inside a blacksmith shop.
He hadn't been in there for long before the blacksmith, bare-chested and wearing a heavy apron, came charging out swinging a hammer in a rage.
All that was left for the man was Satoru Gojo's receding figure.
Similar scenes continued to occur over the next period of time.
General stores, bookstores, inns...
Wherever Satoru Gojo went, he left a trail of chaos in his wake.
After several successive commotions, Satoru Gojo gained a deeper understanding of the "reality" of this world. Whether it was the taste of the food, the tactile sensation of objects, or the emotional fluctuations of the people, it was all unrealistically authentic.
He leaned against a large tree and reached up to tug down his sunglasses, revealing his icy blue Six Eyes. The patterns on his irises were clearly visible.
As his gaze swept across his surroundings, there was still no trace of Cursed Energy fluctuations.
This feeling of "absolute void" caused a sliver of doubt to rise in his heart for the first time.
He had seen countless sophisticated illusions or Domains. Even an Innate Domain capable of simulating reality and manifesting a person's inner world would leave behind traces of Cursed Energy in the details.
Furthermore, what they could manifest was usually only a very one-dimensional fragment.
But this "world" was realistically absurd—the touch, the taste, and the emotional reactions of those people earlier were indistinguishable from the real world.
This was something an Innate Domain absolutely could not achieve.
"Is it not an illusion?" Satoru Gojo tapped his fingers lightly against a wall, his brow furrowing slightly. "But if it's not an illusion, then what is it? This so-called 'World Crossover'?"
He muttered to himself, his tone becoming a bit more serious. "This 'World Crossover' thing is proving to be much more interesting than I imagined."
Then there was that strange system that kept popping up "Popularity Value" prompts.
If he had truly come to a brand-new world rather than an illusion brought about by some technique's influence... then his method of exploration would need to change slightly.
Before, he thought it was an illusion, so he acted quite recklessly. But he wasn't the type of person who enjoyed causing trouble for ordinary people.
"For now, I'll treat this as a real world."
"And if it is a real world, being without money won't do."
Satoru Gojo felt his pockets. They only contained some Japanese Yen coins left over from buying drinks, which were clearly useless in this world.
Stealing? Hard pass.
Working a job? Even less of an option.
"This is quite a troublesome situation."
Although Satoru Gojo said this, the smiling look in his eyes beneath his sunglasses made it clear that this wasn't an actual difficulty for him.
[24 hours remaining until the protagonist of this world, Subaru Natsuki, arrives.]
[Would the supporting character please prepare to welcome the protagonist and work hard to gain popularity.]
"Here we go again."
Seeing the words "supporting character" appear before him, Satoru Gojo ruffled his white hair.
"Calling me a 'supporting character'... you're really looking down on me."
"Twenty-four hours left. It looks like I have something to look forward to."