"What are you doing?!" Quanxi asked, suddenly appearing behind Arata.
She had noticed him continually tossing items from the mall's stores into the mirrors. While she didn't understand why the mirrors were so magical, she could clearly see that Arata was frantically hoarding things that didn't belong to him.
"This is the 'zero-dollar shopping spree' that's been trending in the US lately. Haven't you heard of it?" Arata replied, not missing a beat. "If there's anything you girls want, feel free to gather it up."
"I don't need anything. But do you girls need something?" Quanxi turned to look at her harem.
"Lady Quanxi, the clothes over there are quite nice! Should we go try them on?" Pingtsi called out. She had been drawn to the clothes in the window displays as they walked past and wanted to try them on immediately to show Quanxi.
Who says only humans like to dress up? Fiends also love dressing up in front of the people they like. Well, except for Power, of course.
"If you like them, then let's go collect a few sets," Quanxi said. She quickly caught onto Arata's "zero-dollar shopping" concept and was dragged off to the clothing stores by her women.
Soon, the sound of women's laughter filled the boutiques. They began changing clothes right there on the spot. The first thing they did after putting on a new outfit was parade it in front of Quanxi. And Quanxi, acting exactly like a boyfriend dragged out shopping, patiently offered her evaluation for each and every outfit.
Meanwhile, Power and Denji headed to the arcade to play Street Fighter. After fumbling through a dozen rounds, the two finally figured out how to play.
Arata didn't stop his zero-dollar shopping to actively play Street Fighter with Denji until Natsume Noriyuki from the cleanup division arrived.
Currently, Arata was controlling Chun-Li, absolutely thrashing Denji's Akuma. By this time, Natsume Noriyuki had walked up behind them. He watched the game silently, not disturbing the two. It wasn't until Denji lost that he finally spoke up, "Denji, let me play a round."
"When did you get here?" Arata asked deliberately after Natsume sat down.
"I saw you pushing one of the Street Fighter arcade cabinets into a mirror the moment I walked in."
"You caught that, huh? There are at least 50 arcade cabinets in here; I only took the one that belongs to me. After all, I killed the Doll Devil. Otherwise, the machines in this arcade would've been smashed to pieces by those dolls sooner or later."
"You're right. If you hadn't killed the Doll Devil, who knows how many more people around Qianda Plaza would have died."
Natsume didn't care about Arata's zero-dollar shopping. His only job was to clean up the battlefield; everything else was none of his business.
"Which character are you picking?"
"I'll choose Ken. He's my favorite character."
"Then I'll stick with Chun-Li. I like characters with long legs."
Both sides locked in their characters. After the countdown, the two began to maneuver with practiced skill. They exchanged punches and kicks, testing each other with empty strikes. But Chun-Li, leveraging her long-range kicks, landed the first hit. The two then exchanged energy blasts. However, Chun-Li's bent-over posture while firing her Kikouken looked exceptionally provocative.
Seeing this, Denji insisted on dragging Power to another arcade cabinet to play. This time, Denji chose Chun-Li too—not for any strategic reason, but purely because he wanted to try out her Kikouken.
The empty arcade echoed with the frantic clattering of four people mashing buttons.
On Arata's side, he chained Chun-Li's combos, backing Natsume's Ken into a corner. A final Hazanshu kick directly KO'd Natsume's character.
"Not bad. You're pretty good at games. That's the first time I've lost," Natsume said, cracking his knuckles and taking off his jacket. He was clearly getting serious.
He selected Ken again. Arata, just like Denji, stuck with Chun-Li.
This time, Natsume completely changed his playstyle. His fingers danced across the buttons with expert precision. His combos and dodges became incredibly smooth. In the end, without losing a single drop of health, he finished off Arata's Chun-Li with a Shoryuken.
"Impressive. You must play a lot, Natsume, otherwise you wouldn't have those mechanics," Arata exclaimed.
"Indeed. I actually have a few arcade cabinets at home. I play them after work."
"Arcade cabinets at home? You must be pretty rich."
"I misspoke just now. I mean, I play on arcade cabinets at other people's houses," Natsume immediately corrected himself.
"Oh, is that so," Arata smiled, not pressing the issue further.
The two played a total of ten rounds. Natsume won nine. Arata only won the very first one, and even then, he had secretly used the speed of the Leopard Devil to secure the victory.
"I have zero talent for gaming, just like Saitama," Arata said, shrugging it off.
"Having real strength is enough. Games are just tools for killing time." Natsume stood up and put his jacket back on. "You guys take your time. I'm going to get back to work."
"Don't forget to tell your squad not to disturb the five women hanging around here."
"I'll let them know."
After Natsume left, Arata lost his interest in playing. Denji and Power, however, were bursting with excitement, playing round after round, neither willing to yield to the other. They only forcefully ended their gaming session when Quanxi, wearing her new clothes, came looking for Arata.
Following that, the group stepped through the Mirror Gate and arrived at Aki Hayakawa's apartment.
"Aki, we're back! Do me a favor and wash my clothes. Where did you put my new clothes?"
"Throw them in the washing machine yourself!" Aki yelled from the kitchen, where he was stir-frying dishes. He had assumed Arata and the others weren't coming home tonight and was just preparing a quick meal for himself. Now that they were back, he had to prep food for four.
"Aki, don't forget to pan-fry a steak for me! And don't just wash the Great Me's clothes casually!"
"You think I want to wash them? You wear the same clothes for a month! If they didn't stink so bad, I wouldn't even touch them!"
"Aki, I brought women home."
"Women? My house isn't a hotel!!"
Everyone was shouting over each other the moment they got home. It drove Aki crazy. He hurried out of the kitchen, only to be met with the sight of Quanxi and four other women. His expression froze in shock.
"Why did you bring them back too?" Aki remained highly vigilant toward Quanxi.
"They don't have a place to stay tonight, so they're crashing here for one night."
"I don't have any spare rooms," Aki flat-out refused. He didn't want enemies staying overnight in his home.
"It's fine. You sleep in Denji's room tonight, and Quanxi and her girls can take your room."
Seeing Arata insisting on letting them stay, Aki could only compromise. "No. I don't want that many women in my room. You two come to my room, and let them stay in your room."
"That works too," Arata agreed. "You girls can just stay in that room tonight. The bathroom is over there. Since the lock is broken, you'd better let me know before you shower so I can restrain Denji."
"Hey, Master, don't make me sound like a peeping tom!"
"Alright," Quanxi replied coldly, offering a brief nod.
Aki sighed in exasperation and had no choice but to head to the fridge for more ingredients. What was originally a quiet dinner for one had reverted to four. Now, it had upgraded from four to nine. His workload had more than doubled.
"Aki, you can just rest. I'll make a few Chinese dishes for them to try."
"The Great Me wants steak!"
"I want donuts!" Pingtsi yelled.
"Come fry your own steak. We don't have donuts, but I can fry some onion rings."
Arata put on an apron, playing the role of head chef, while Aki sat as far away from Quanxi as possible.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to do anything to you." Quanxi saw right through Aki's thoughts. He clearly didn't treat her as a friend.
"What is your purpose for coming to Japan this time?" Aki asked sternly. He had read the files on Quanxi.
"To take Denji's heart," Quanxi stated bluntly, not caring in the slightest about the impact of her words.
"I knew you couldn't be trusted."
"I never asked you to trust me. If Arata weren't here, I would have taken Denji's heart a long time ago."
"What!! You really want my heart?!" Denji, who had relaxed his guard around Quanxi, instantly sprang to his feet.
"I had that intention, yes. But Arata's strength is obvious to everyone, so I found another way to secure the educational resources my women need," Quanxi explained.
Originally, she really had come for Denji's heart. But Arata's display of power made her realize that was a lost cause, so she shared the secondary mission with him. After all, both missions could fulfill her demands. She had initially thought the first would be the easiest. But now, it seemed she had no choice but to choose the latter.
Want to read more??
Checkout my patreon patreon.com/cw/AfrikaanPolarBear Here you can read 50 chapters ahead everyone and also support this fic. Consider subscribing as it'll motivate me and also help this fic.
: )
Thanks you!!!