The three of them played in Osaka for half a day, had lunch together, and then returned to Tokyo in the afternoon.
The journey was uneventful.
Immediately after returning to Tokyo, Natsuki received a message from Mitsui, saying that the Strange Tales Management Bureau was preparing to organize personnel to clear out the hotel anomaly, and discreetly asked if Natsuki and the others wanted to take on the commission.
"What do you all say?"
Natsuki did not reply immediately, but looked at Chika and Kaguya.
"Eh?" Chika said in surprise, "The evil spirits in Kabukicho Ichibangai were just eliminated, why the rush?"
"Probably because their momentum is strong right now, so they want to eliminate the danger in one go," Natsuki said casually. "Just because the hotel anomaly is quiet now doesn't mean it will be quiet forever, it's like a ticking time bomb; as long as it exists for one day, it will make it difficult for many people to sleep."
Kaguya nodded slightly and said:
"I suggest we don't agree for now. The hotel anomaly is clearly more mysterious and dangerous. We don't know anything about the situation right now, so acting rashly would be unwise… Even if we don't participate, the Strange Tales Management Bureau's official players will definitely take action."
Chika said worriedly:
"Those players might not be able to eliminate the kaidan. What if they encounter danger?"
With great power comes great responsibility.
After discovering she was a 'tall person,' secretary Chika always wanted to take care of the weak.
"Don't underestimate anyone, especially the official side," Natsuki said softly. "The power of the official side actually exceeds the imagination of ordinary people. After knowing that players can eliminate kaidan, they will definitely quickly cultivate their own trusted forces, so we don't need to worry at all."
"Hmm, that makes sense…"
After some discussion, Natsuki took out his phone and replied to Mitsui, politely declining this operation, as this was the right of a freelance player.
If he were an official player who joined the Strange Tales Management Bureau, while enjoying generous treatment, he naturally wouldn't be able to refuse the Strange Tales Management Bureau's operational arrangements.
After being rejected, Mitsui's attitude remained unchanged, still quite respectful, and she asked again:
"Natsuki-kun, can you help the Strange Tales Management Bureau's players paste some skills?"
Natsuki readily agreed: "No problem."
There was naturally no need to refuse just to help paste skills.
After the communication ended, Natsuki, Kaguya, and Chika went home together.
It was an uneventful night.
The next day.
Natsuki originally thought the operation would take several days to prepare, but the next morning, he received a message from Mitsui, asking him to come over to help paste skills.
He had to admit, the official side's speed of action was quite astonishing.
"I'm going out."
Natsuki changed his clothes, preparing to leave.
Kaguya followed him to the door: "Do you want me to come with you?"
"No need," Natsuki shook his head. "The weather outside is too hot. Just wait for me to come back."
"Hmm."
"…"
Natsuki left his home, came to the intersection, and headed to the Strange Tales Management Bureau's office in Tokyo.
Kaidan were usually bizarre and terrifying, harvesting lives indiscriminately regardless of age, youth, or status.
Therefore, the Strange Tales Management Bureau had considerable financial support and operational rights, one might say they were extremely wealthy, having directly acquired an entire office building in Chiyoda.
It was a pity that although the place was large, there were not many people inside.
Natsuki walked into the office and felt only emptiness, quite deserted.
"Natsuki-kun, good morning."
Mitsui was still wearing a suit and a hip-hugging skirt, looking quite shrewd and capable, standing at the entrance to greet Natsuki.
"Good morning," Natsuki responded politely.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mitsui quickly led Natsuki to the upper floors by elevator.
"Natsuki-kun, can the skills you copied in Osaka be used in combination?"
Inside the elevator, Mitsui asked curiously.
"They can be used, and they're exceptionally effective."
Natsuki nodded and explained the combined skill effect of Pickpocket.
Mitsui's eyes lit up: "That sounds super wonderful."
Natsuki said casually:
"Because it really is super wonderful."
Mitsui: "…"
The elevator stopped.
The two walked out of the elevator, and led by Mitsui, Natsuki entered a conference room.
There were already six or seven people seated inside, some familiar faces he had met during the Kabukicho Ichibangai operation, and some unfamiliar faces he had never seen before—these were clearly the players for this operation.
"Natsuki-kun!"
"Natsuki-sama!"
When Natsuki walked in, the passerby players who had worked with him before stood up and bowed in greeting.
As is well known, the people of Japan are naturally born with a gene for admiring strength; when you are strong enough, you will naturally earn respect.
Natsuki responded to each of them, then looked at Mitsui and whispered, "Is it just them?"
Eliminating the kaidan in Kabukicho Ichibangai involved a large amount of manpower and resources, and even then, the kaidan almost escaped. Natsuki did not believe the few players in front of him could eliminate the kaidan.
Of course, it was also possible that these players each possessed unique skills.
Mitsui softly explained, "Natsuki-kun, please don't worry. The main objective of this operation is to gather intelligence, to prepare for the upcoming actions…"
"I see."
Natsuki nodded slightly, indicating he understood.
The importance of intelligence was obvious to all.
Even the most financially powerful officials would not simply throw all their players into a situation without any prior knowledge; gathering intelligence was the first thing to do.
Natsuki found a seat and sat down, playing on his phone while waiting. During this time, more players continuously entered until two familiar figures walked into the conference room.
"Hmm?"
Natsuki raised an eyebrow, looking at the two girls who had entered.
"Natsuki-kun, good morning."
Haruno's eyes lit up. She happily waved, her smile exceptionally bright and beautiful, and walked quickly towards Natsuki.
Needless to say, beside Haruno was naturally Yukino.
"Good morning."
Compared to Haruno's enthusiasm, Hirano's attitude was much colder. After a simple greeting, she said nothing more.
Natsuki asked, puzzled, "What are you two doing here?"
"Mitsui contacted us, saying she needed our help." Haruno smiled like a flower, exceptionally bright, "This is an operation to save Tokyo, so of course, we couldn't just stand by."
Hey, hey, you're a new player who just cleared a dungeon once. If you go challenge a kaidan, at most you can only shout for help twice!
"It's Yukino." Haruno raised her hand to cover her mouth and explained softly, "Yukino has a detection skill. Mitsui asked her if she wanted to participate in the operation, and Yukino came over…"
This Yukino indeed had a detection skill.
Back in the Summer Time Rendering dungeon, she was the one with whom he explored Rhombus Hospital.
Haruno sighed lightly as she spoke, whispering, "I told her not to come, but she wouldn't listen. Natsuki-kun, please help me persuade Yukino."
Natsuki turned his head to look at Yukino and frowned, "Why?"
Yukino turned her pretty face away and whispered, "No reason. It's my own will."
"..."
There should be other reasons, but this Yukino clearly didn't want to say more.
Since that was the case, Natsuki didn't press further.
The air quickly fell silent.
A moment later.
Mitsui announced that all personnel for the operation had arrived. Natsuki silently counted, and there were a total of eight passerby players, both male and female. The number was actually not small.
The main purpose of this operation was to obtain kaidan intelligence, so these passerby players were not required to have strong combat capabilities. Instead, there were very high demands for their detection and enemy-tracking abilities.
One of them had a mind-link skill, allowing them to converse mentally with others, though with time and distance limitations.
The other four possessed detection skills, capable of investigating information, clues, and so on, and Yukino was among them.
As for the remaining few, they had long-range communication skills, similar to Shoko's notebook ability, though it was unclear if they could communicate across space.
Finally, there was Natsuki.
The skill he copied came from a middle-aged male player. The skill name was Amber, and its effect was that if he encountered fatal damage or felt the environment was too dangerous, he could summon a piece of amber out of thin air and freeze himself within it.
The amber could protect the player inside from harm, but the player encased in amber could not move, speak, or break free on their own. The maximum duration of the amber was forty-eight hours… Clearly, this thing was a life-saving skill.
The official stance was clear: the first batch of players sent to explore the kaidan were not expendable; they would also be protected. As for other rewards, that was unclear.
An hour later.
Skill copying completed.
"I'm counting on you all." Mitsui bowed, "The operation is scheduled for noon. Please move to the resting area for now."
Upon hearing this, everyone quickly left the conference room.
Although a 'life-saving' skill had been copied, no one knew what they would encounter upon entering the hotel, so their mood was inevitably tense. Many went to relax and vent.
Natsuki stopped and silently looked at Yukino and Haruno behind him.
"Hmm, I need to go to the restroom." Haruno blinked. It had to be said, this Haruno was exceptionally good at reading situations. She smiled and said, "You two chat first."
"Come sit down."
Natsuki held Yukino's soft hand and led her towards the lounge area.
Yukino did not struggle, allowing him to lead her forward.
The two arrived at the lounge area and sat down in a corner.
"Why are you participating in this operation?" Natsuki brought over two cold drinks and looked at Yukino, "You haven't joined the Strange Tales Management Bureau, so you don't need to follow orders."
"..."
Yukino held the cold drink with both hands, turned her head to look out the window, and remained silent.
Natsuki sighed, helplessly saying, "Others, fine, but you won't even tell me?"
Yukino turned her pretty face away and said, "You're not someone I have to tell, so why should I tell you?"
"..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yukino regretted it.
Although Natsuki was a scumbag with a harem, and shameless, what she had just said was indeed a bit too much.
Natsuki sighed and silently stood up: "I'm leaving."
Seeing Natsuki walk away, Yukino parted her lips, words of apology rising to her mouth, but she couldn't utter them no matter what. Finally, she lowered her head and stared blankly at the cup in her hand.
However, a few seconds later.
A figure suddenly sat down beside her.
"Hmm?"
Yukino turned her head to look and saw a smiling face.
Natsuki held up two slices of watermelon in his hand and smiled, "I'm back."
Yukino: "…"
"There's so much fruit in the self-service area, and no one is eating it, absolutely no one. It seems far too wasteful." Natsuki handed over the watermelon in his hand, "Want some?"
Not everyone could be a scumbag.
As a scumbag, Natsuki had deeply mastered what it meant to be 'shameless'.
Hirano had already been kissed and hugged, so even if she was verbally sharp and wouldn't admit it, was there truly no affection at all?
Of course not.
All in all, 'face' was truly worthless in Natsuki's eyes.
"Hmm…"
Yukino softly responded, took the watermelon, and bit into it with slightly parted lips. The cool sweetness quickly spread from her tongue to her heart.
Natsuki finished his watermelon, wiped his hands clean, and said, "As your boyfriend, it's perfectly reasonable for me to want to know your whereabouts, right?"
Yukino's pretty face immediately froze, and she looked over with icy eyes: "You're not."
How could a mere harem scumbag possibly be in a relationship with her!
"Alright, I'm not." Natsuki shrugged, "Having the most intimate relationship isn't too much, is it?"
"Hmm?"
Yukino raised her delicate eyebrows, her eyes warning.
Natsuki pretended not to understand and said seriously, "Aren't kisses considered an intimate relationship?"
"I only consider those things as artificial respiration." Yukino's pearly teeth bit her lip. She looked at him with the gaze one would give kitchen waste, tilted her head, and retorted, "Natsuki wouldn't think that a bit of artificial respiration counts as an intimate relationship, would he?"
Natsuki made to stand up, threatening, "If you say that, I'm really leaving."
Yukino said nonchalantly, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
Natsuki said, "I'm really leaving. Hirano, don't regret it."
Yukino bit her silver teeth lightly and glared at him, saying, "No regrets… And, call me by my name!"
"If that's the case, I'm really leaving." Natsuki stood up, his tone faint, "To be honest, I've admired Haruno for a long time. I'll go confess to her now. Haruno-nee probably won't refuse me, right?"
Yukino's beautiful eyes widened, and she finally couldn't hold back, spitting out two words through her lips:
"…Shameless!"
Pulling Natsuki back into the chair, Yukino let out a light breath and finally revealed the reason for her participation in this operation.
"It's mother…" Yukino said softly, "Mother found out about my and older sister's player identities. It just so happens that there are relatives of her business partner in the hotel, so she told me that she hopes one of us, me or older sister, goes to the hotel to rescue her business partner's relatives."
The Yukinoshita family was a councilor family in Chiba Prefecture, so it was not surprising that they knew about the existence of players. Just as Natsuki was very sure that his name and information must have already been known by many high-ranking individuals by now.
In front of true power, secrecy was just an empty word.
Natsuki gently frowned and said, "Doesn't your mother know about the danger of the kaidan?"
"She's just an ordinary person." Yukino said softly, "She hasn't had any contact with kaidan."
"Not having contact doesn't mean she doesn't understand anything." Natsuki asked again, "Why didn't you refuse her?"
"..."
Yukino fell silent again.
After a while, Hirano said softly, "Just this once."
She had already said yesterday that after helping to rescue her business partner's relatives, she would be free to decide her own life and would no longer obey her mother's commands.
"Alright." Natsuki complained, "I almost couldn't hold myself back and ran off to Chiba Prefecture to have a heart-to-heart with your mother, to make her retract her order."
Yukino immediately glared at Natsuki and said, "Don't mess around."
"You're the one messing around," Natsuki said, taking out a Witch Potion, momotaro rice ball, genuine Life Potion, and other items, handing them to Yukino. "There's no time to gather everyone, so you'll have to scout ahead."
Yukino hesitated, saying, "I…"
"Take it when I give it to you," Natsuki said. "That skill of Amber's is actually pretty good, so I won't paste any other skills for you. If something happens, seal yourself off and wait for us to arrive. Of course, if you can resolve the kaidan directly, that would be for the best."
"…Thank you."
Yukino did not refuse again, softly thanked him, and accepted the various items and tools.
She just wanted to make a deal with her mother. Unlike Sayu, who had lost hope in life and given up struggling, she certainly wouldn't choose to give up.
"One more thing," Natsuki whispered, "Your sister's service fee hasn't been renewed yet."
Yukino bit her silver teeth lightly, unable to resist glaring at him in disgust: "Shameless!"
They were about to enter the hotel, yet he was still thinking about such things. Quickly return my feelings from just now!
"How is it shameless when it's a fair renewal?" Natsuki said, his expression unchanged. "After you leave, Haruno will definitely be very worried. At that time, she'll probably look for me frequently… Haruno is so cute, no boy could refuse her, right?"
Shameless!
Absolutely shameless!
Saying no one could refuse, he was clearly using her sister to threaten her!
Natsuki pointed to his cheek and smiled:
"Yukino, please renew your sister's 'family' fee as soon as possible, or there will be additional interest."
Yukino clenched her small fists, took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to hit him, and bit her silver teeth as she leaned closer.
This guy is usually very trustworthy, but when it comes to being lewd and perverted, he's completely untrustworthy. If she doesn't 'renew,' he might really make a move on her sister…
For Haruno, Yukino ultimately chose to give in, leaning forward and gently kissing Natsuki's cheek to complete the renewal.
Natsuki then pointed to his lips, saying seriously:
"Sorry, insufficient payment. Yukino, please continue to recharge."
Yukino bit her silver teeth: "…Natsuki, don't get carried away!"
"Carried away?" Natsuki sighed and shook his head, then said, "I'll let you know what getting carried away means right now."
As his words fell, Natsuki extended his right hand and embraced Yukino.
Slap.
Yukino was prepared and intended to slap him away.
However, the next second.
Yukino suddenly found the space changed, and she appeared out of thin air in Natsuki's embrace, with the familiar burning sensation already imprinted on her lips.
"…Shameless!"
Yukino instantly understood.
To use Time Stop to take advantage of a girl, that's too much!
Hirano wanted to struggle up, but her waist was suddenly pinched, and her strength instantly drained by more than half. Then her tongue was caught, completely unable to dodge, and her pretty face uncontrollably flushed rapidly. Finally, she sighed softly in her heart and closed her eyes.
She didn't know what would happen after entering the hotel… Just this once, it's not like they haven't kissed before…
A few minutes later.
Natsuki reluctantly released Hiranoshita, who was panting and almost out of breath.
"Remember your promise," Yukino raised her hand to wipe away the silver thread at the corner of her lips, her pretty face flushed like fire, and quickly got up, "Don't make a move on my sister!"
"Don't worry," Natsuki promised, "I always keep my word… However, your previous overdue payment was too long. The payment just now can only be used for a few days. After you come out of the hotel, you'll need to renew again."
"…"
Yukino paused, turned her head to glare at him in embarrassment, and then hurried towards the restroom. After just two steps, she saw a figure flash in the corner, and her footsteps halted again.
Sister?
Everything that just happened… was seen by her sister?
Yukino's expression changed, her pristine white teeth involuntarily biting her lip, and she continued walking towards the restroom.
It doesn't matter if she saw it, maybe her sister will even give up the idea of using her body as a bargaining chip to trade with Natsuki… Of course, the probability is low.
Yukino remembered clearly:
Haruno had said long ago that as long as she could form a bond with Natsuki, a sisters rice bowl was fine…