"By eating that thing, you can turn into an Anomaly?"
Shinobu looked at the still-pulsing monster cells in Takashi's hand. The image of Muzan injecting his blood into humans to turn them into Demons surfaced in her mind.
Come to think of it, the two were quite similar.
However, after spending so long in the real world, she had also discovered a fact... the Demons Muzan produced in bulk couldn't compare to the Anomalies of this world.
The mere fact that Anomalies weren't afraid of light completely trumped Demons.
And after learning that Takashi, who had become an Anomaly, wanted her to become like him too, the last trace of sympathy in Rei's eyes was extinguished.
"Even without Makoto, I wouldn't like you."
Her voice wasn't loud, but each word seemed squeezed from between her teeth, carrying an unshakable certainty.
Even if she couldn't get into Makoto's harem, even if Makoto had never appeared in her life, she still wouldn't choose Takashi.
She now possessed superpowers. She was a C-Class Hero. She would grow even stronger in the future.
And him? A student at an ordinary university. After graduation, he'd find an ordinary job, become an ordinary corporate slave, live an ordinary life. The two of them were no longer in the same world.
Even without Makoto, there was a river between them that could never be crossed.
Takashi, who had just calmed down a bit, changed expression again. The eyes on his face all narrowed simultaneously. Their pupils reflected Rei's expressionless face.
The fact that Rei had refused to become an Anomaly had already displeased him. Hearing these words now made him even angrier.
"Rei! Even if I have to break your arms and legs... I'll turn you into an Anomaly!"
Reze looked puzzled, 'Why did that sound so familiar?'
As he spoke, Takashi's body vanished from where it stood. When he reappeared, he was right in front of Rei. His gray-black claws reached for her shoulder.
'Not bad speed.'
Rei drew the Holy Gun. The gun spun in her hand. Its muzzle aimed at Takashi's chest. (T/N: While it's a Holy Spear, the Author seems to change it to gun, since the character for gun and spear are the same in China. So, after some thought, I'll change it to gun too.)
Her body slid back a step, opening a half-meter distance. The muzzle flashed with fire.
This was an ability the Holy Gun had gained from absorbing Anomalies.
The bullet hit Takashi's shoulder, exploding in a spray of blood.
Takashi's body swayed, but his steps didn't stop. His claws grazed Rei's shoulder, tearing a gash in her uniform.
Rei turned sideways. The gun butt, coated in a layer of black energy, slammed into Takashi's temple. Then, using the recoil, she leaped back, creating distance.
Like Shin-chan and the others, having undergone Vegapunk's bloodline factor modification, Rei also possessed a physique comparable to the Fish-Men in the One Piece World.
At Saeko's side, she had also begun learning the two types of Haki. Armament Haki coated the surface of the Holy Gun, raising the power of each attack.
Observation Haki allowed her to track Takashi's movements in battle.
But even so, after several exchanges, she quickly fell behind.
Takashi was too fast. Miyamoto Rei's mediocre Observation couldn't track him.
According to Saeko and the others' speculation, Takashi, after transforming into Anomaly, already possessed the strength of a Demon-level monster, even if he was just barely touching the threshold.
And Rei was only a C-Class Hero. She could handle some Wolf-level Anomalies, but fighting a Demon-level was too much.
Just then, a flying sword energy shot in from the side, splitting a huge crack in the ground between Rei and Takashi, as if divine punishment had separated them.
"Fall back."
Saeko's voice came from behind Rei. Rei's lips moved, but in the end, she obediently followed her superior's orders, put away the Holy Gun, and retreated to Shinobu's side.
Saeko walked to the front of the team and drew the Shodai Kitetsu from its scabbard.
"The moment you chose to become an Anomaly, you lost her."
Saeko wasn't a looks person either. She only liked men who recognized her and were strong.
But for someone as ugly as Takashi after transforming, no normal woman could accept him.
With that, Saeko suddenly charged.
The blade of the Shodai Kitetsu trailed a golden afterimage. The blade tore through the air, emitting a sharp, piercing sound.
Takashi's eyes widened... he couldn't track her movements. The gap was too big!
Another sword light flew in from the side. The two blades collided in mid-air.
Clang—!!!
The sound of metal clashing exploded in the square. The shockwave spread outward, blowing away the surrounding rock fragments and dust.
Saeko's body flipped once in the air, landed on the ground, and stepped back two steps. She looked up at the figure blocking Takashi's path.
It was a wrinkled, humanoid monster.
Its skin was piled up like crumpled paper.
Its eyes were pure white, even completely different from Hinata's Byakugan... no pupils. It was as if someone had stuffed two white glass marbles into its eye sockets.
In its hand was a katana. Its black hair was tied in a ponytail at the back of its head.
"Kudo Shinichi?" Reze frowned, vaguely recognizing this Anomaly.
Although his features had become extremely grotesque, the wrinkles on his face almost covered all his facial features, if you looked closely, you could still vaguely see the outline of his appearance as a human... he looked a lot like Shinichi, who had been tortured to death by the Four Gay Bros five years ago.
"Are you... Okita Soshi?" Saeko said another name.
She recognized this person. In the kendo tournaments of former Japanese high school students, Okita Soshi was the champion of the men's division, and she was the champion of the women's division.
The two had never officially fought. What impressed her about this person at the time was that he looked a lot like that Japanese police 'savior', Kudo Shinichi.
It just goes to show that Aoyama Gosho's creative quirks are pretty strange. Shinichi had almost become a common face in the Conan Universe, with NPCs who looked like him popping up every now and then.
Back then, Saeko didn't know Makoto yet.
Soshi had come to talk to her after the tournament, saying he wanted to spar with her. She said she wasn't interested and turned to leave.
"You were once a rising star in the Japanese kendo world."
The tip of Saeko's blade pointed at Soshi's nose. "How could you stoop to becoming this?"
Soshi sneered. Those wrinkles at the corners of his mouth squeezed deeper. "You got power from a man. Why can't I get it from Anomaly?"
His tone carried a kind of resentment, like a jealous wife interrogating her husband who had abandoned her.
Reze laughed. "Saeko, this ugly freak doesn't have a crush on you, does he?"
She strongly suspected that Soshi was in love with Saeko, couldn't have her, and so chose to become an Anomaly... just like Takashi next to him.