Chapter 173: The Blonde Eriri
About four or five minutes had passed before Kaguya Shinomiya's figure gradually materialized in the unfamiliar world of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.
Her clear red eyes swept across the surroundings, taking in the familiar modern cityscape.
She glanced down at the black school uniform she was wearing, blinked, then muttered resignedly, "I forgot to change into regular clothes… Well, a uniform is annoying to fight in, but I suppose it'll have to do."
"Still, there's a pretty big problem right now — where exactly is this new member, Sawamura Spencer Eriri?! It doesn't seem like the Admin gave me a specific address! Am I seriously supposed to just search the whole place?"
This appeared to be Japan as well. Japan wasn't large, but its population was well over a hundred million.
Who knew where the new member even was — this was like fishing for a needle in the ocean.
And apparently the target was being hunted by a Reincarnator?
Or was about to be hunted.
That sounded like it could be a problem.
Kaguya Shinomiya was absolutely not going to let the new member die on her watch — but the issue was, she didn't even know where Eriri was. How was she supposed to protect her? How was she supposed to deal with whoever was hunting her?
This was the kind of situation that fell squarely outside Kaguya Shinomiya's knowledge base.
It was nothing like what she'd imagined.
She had assumed that the moment she crossed over, she'd appear right beside the new member. But now — where was the new member? And even if she did find her, she wouldn't recognize her!
"…I've made a bit of a blunder. I'll ask the Admin for now."
After muttering to herself for a moment, Kaguya turned her attention inward and entered the Dimensional Chat Group.
Kaguya-sama: @RawrSoFierce — Admin, I've arrived in the Saekano world. I'm in a fairly secluded alley right now, but there's no sign of the new member anywhere!
Kaguya-sama: This is awkward… I crossed over and can't even find the person.
RawrSoFierce: Open the Quest tab. There's a little red dot in the bottom-left corner — tap it and you'll get the new member's location. I just noticed it myself.
Kaguya-sama: Bottom-left of the Quest tab? OK, I see it!
Kaguya-sama: Found the new member's location — though it's a bit of a hike.
Kaguya-sama: Ten kilometres… No time to chat. Gotta move.
"…"
With the new member's location confirmed, Kaguya's eyes snapped to the east. In an instant, she vanished from where she stood.
Her combat ability within the Chat Group was nothing to sneeze at.
She had poured tens of thousands of Points into physical constitution upgrades, learned the Six Powers and Armament Haki, and trained in Observation Haki — not to mention the time she'd spent around Yukari, the gap youkai. Who knew what small tricks she might have picked up from that particular individual.
Within the Chat Group, her strength sat comfortably in the middle tier.
In the world of One Piece, she could have made Rear Admiral without breaking a sweat.
She might even have been able to manage a Vice Admiral branch command in one of the Four Seas.
Ignoring the high-rises around her, Kaguya pushed her speed to its absolute limit. Using Shave across rooftops without punching holes through them — that was about as fast as she could go.
Why couldn't she break through the roof? Simple: if she accidentally kicked a hole in one, Shave would be cut short, and that would cost her more time than it saved.
Meanwhile, about eight or nine kilometres to the east, a blonde girl in a school uniform skirt was making her way listlessly along the road, squinting up at the blazing summer sun.
"On top of my bike breaking down, the weather has to be this awful first thing in the morning… It's so hot…" she grumbled.
The girl looked to be around sixteen or seventeen. By Japanese standards she was fairly tall, roughly the same height as Kaguya.
Her skin was noticeably fair, and her golden hair looked completely natural — the kind of blonde that seemed like she'd been born with it, with none of the telltale signs of dyeing.
Her long hair had been tied into twin tails that fell to roughly mid-back.
A pair of clear blue eyes that were currently saturated with exhaustion.
"At this rate my skin's going to burn. And of course I forgot my umbrella too. The only reason any of this is happening is because I stayed up all night grinding through illustrations — now I can barely keep myself upright, and I'm dropping everything…"
Sweat had already beaded on her forehead, trickling down her pale cheek.
She was trudging along the road with zero energy when, without warning —
A distinctly unpleasant feeling of premonition —
Welled up in her heart.
Her sluggish expression sharpened. She looked around with wary eyes, but there didn't seem to be anything obviously out of the ordinary. She muttered to herself under her breath: "Why does it feel like someone's been following me this whole time… Is it some creep tailing a high school girl?"
Eriri's expression shifted. She immediately swept the listlessness off her face, quickened her steps, and was on the verge of breaking into a jog.
She hadn't actually seen anyone, but she trusted her sixth sense.
If there really was some creep following her from behind —
And she, a high school girl, lowered her guard for even a second —
Well. She was an illustrator who'd drawn plenty of scenes like that for pocket change. She'd also studied the works of certain senior artists in the field. She had a perfectly clear picture of how that kind of scenario ended.
In the shadows, a pair of eyes watched Eriri jog toward a busier street, then slowly stepped out into the open.
"She noticed me? In a slice-of-life world of all places — and she has that kind of instinctive sensitivity. Coincidence, or something else?" The figure shrugged it off. "Doesn't matter. As long as I kill all the female leads of this series within the month, the Sacred Ground mission is complete."
"Lucky it's a slice-of-life world. If it were somewhere with actual powers — some cultivation world, say — a rookie like me with only one loop under my belt would probably get buried here."
He reached down to touch the hard object holstered at his hip, and a cold smile crossed his face. "It's a Sacred Ground mission. Can't blame me for this. Kill you or lose everything myself. That said…" His gaze drifted in the direction Eriri had gone. "She is a two-dimensional girl. Never seen one in person before. The looks alone would destroy whatever the so-called beauties of the real world think they are."
"Would be a shame to end it so quickly. I've got ten days…"
No need to rush.
The figure looked no different from any ordinary person on the street.
He appeared to be somewhere between twenty-five and twenty-seven.
The only thing that stood out was a jagged scar across his neck.
Like something had raked a blade across it.
His left wrist bore a black watch with no visible brand.
He watched Eriri's retreating figure for a moment, then fell into an unhurried pursuit.
Time passed — hard to say exactly how much. The sun overhead seemed to be getting more vicious by the minute. Eriri, who was at her best a homebody-slash-street-corner illustrator, was already running low on stamina.
Gasping, she braced herself against a cool wall, checked her surroundings, and realized the alley she'd stumbled into had barely any foot traffic and nowhere obvious to hide. Only then did she let out a shaky breath.
She slid her back against the wall and worked on getting her breathing back under control.
Between gasps, she murmured: "There really was someone following me earlier. I don't know who, but the feeling was way too strong to ignore. Should be safe now though, right?"
"Didn't think I'd actually run into a creep today. The kind of person who only exists in those adult comics and those videos — and I actually had to meet one. At least I should be less than a kilometre from school now. Should be fine."
She'd just exhaled in relief when soft footsteps echoed from her left.
Her back stiffened against the cold wall.
Then she heard something she recognized. A sound exactly like the safety being clicked off in a shooting game.
Stiffly, she turned her head to the left.
What she saw: a stranger, holding something dark and oblong. Dark and oblong and pointed directly at her — and with it came an instinctive, visceral certainty that death had just stepped into arm's reach.
"Looks like you celebrated a little too early, Sawamura Spencer Eriri."
A slightly hoarse voice, dripping with mockery.
Then the stranger continued: "No security cameras in this spot. Barely a single passerby. The alley has plenty of exits, so escaping sounds easy enough — but do you think you can run faster than the bullet in this gun?"
Eriri's mind went completely blank. She had no idea how to react.
She could tell that he knew her name.
He was here for her, specifically.
But why was there a gun?!
Eriri's father was a British diplomat stationed in Japan, which meant she'd been exposed to more of the world than most people her age. She could tell perfectly well whether the weapon in his hand was a convincing replica or the real thing.
And even if it was a replica, she was in no position to test that theory right now.
What if it was real? What then?
The what if was exactly the problem.
"Hm… Nothing irreversible has happened yet. Looks like I made it in time." A clear, pleasant voice rang out — and it snapped Eriri back to herself.
It also drew the Reincarnator's attention.
Two sets of eyes turned toward the source of the sound.
And when they saw who it was —
Eriri blinked.
A student?!
She could clearly see the unfamiliar uniform the girl was wearing. Black, for a female student — and as far as Eriri could remember, there was no school in this city that used a black girls' uniform, was there?
Also, she was stunning. Her eyes were red, just like Kasumigaoka Utaha's…
Wait, is this really what I should be focusing on right now?
Eriri caught herself, and immediately shouted toward the newcomer, "Hey — it's dangerous here! Don't come any closer! Get back, find somewhere safe and call the police!"
"Oh? But if I don't deal with this Reincarnator, I won't complete my quest." The girl's lips curved into a smile. "You're interesting, new member — someone's pointing a gun at you and your first instinct is to warn the 'bystander' to run… But a word of advice: you're this cute, so someone in particular is definitely going to set their sights on you."
Kaguya Shinomiya, a smile playing on her lips, walked calmly toward Eriri, one step at a time.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you