8.1

part 1

The Ōizumichō district was in an area that pushes the edge of the municipal map. The general architecture of Nerima isn't what one would think when trying to visualize a modern metropolis. The ward is predominantly composed of low buildings and rows of spacious houses, with an abundance of park and nature; however, Ōizumichō is where the city really began to turn into the country.

Scarce, full of large houses with longs stretches of lands between them, flat fields of grasslands spreading between the roads, and a number of factories decorated the landscape.

It made me wonder why this Shinnosuke guy had chosen this place for our match.

"Where exactly is this damn place!?" Ranma complained. He was probably more frustrated by the fact there was no higher fence for him to walk on than the distance.

"The Obaa-san from before said there is just on top of this road. Have some patience." Haruka responded. She was carrying a map we'd picked up in an old convenience store a while back, though it must be outdated or something cuz we still had to stop and ask for direction.

We were traversing an empty road that was leading us up and around an elevation. I'm reasonably confident we are in the right place; this feels like a location someone would build a temple on, high mounts and a patch of forest you can't go wrong with that.

"I just don't understand why choose this remote location in the first place. Delinquent aren't known for wanting their actions to stay discrete, if anything, it's the opposite." I commented, making my pondering known.

"Hm? Maybe is about territory? If they're from Nami-Ku in the south, then Ōizumichō would be the fastest way to enter Nerima without taking the metro, and maybe they can't go deeper because it would cause problems with the Nerima's gangs." Haruka offered.

It wasn't an unrealistic scenario.

"You sure do know a lot about delinquents. Are you keeping some dark secrets from us?" Ranma teased.

"Not at all." She didn't rise to the provocations. It's pretty hard to make her blush or stagger once she had her composure up. "It's only logical. Everybody knows there are gangs of delinquents everywhere, make sense that there would be some territory politics between them."

I thought about that for a second. "What even are the Nerima's gangs anyway, are the Vipers one of them?"

"Nope, they're from Nakano-Ku. They've been pushed into Nerima because they're losing territory there."

…This time, I joined in with Ranma in sending Haruka looks.

"What?" She asked, eventually.

"You… Really do know a lot about that, huh?" I said.

"Suspicious…" Ranma added.

The girl pouted just a little. "And whose fault is that! I have never even seen an actual delinquent before meeting you, senpai. Now I'm going to a challenge between them."

"Oh, don't give me that, it's not like you're not having- Hey!" I protested when the implication dawned.

Both she and Ranma began to snigger.

Goddamn Japanese and their stereotypes! Just because I like using gel on my hair, keep my shirt unbuttoned, and walk around with a dented baseball bat doesn't mean I was a delinquent! The sheer gall of these people…

On the apex of the elevation, right before the road started counting down, a set of stone steps showed itself, cutting a path through the vegetation on the side. By the stairs themselves I could tell this temple was several orders of magnitudes smaller than the Temple of the Heavenly Oni in the border of Nerima-Ku and Itabashi-Ku. That place had stairs that could easily fit four or five people side by side, and the way up was marked by multiples torii gates, but this one forced us to form a line to ascend the steps, and the only tori gate I've seen was the main one itself, which marked the entrance to the temple.

Yeah, this Jiyuu-Ji temple definitely seems more like a neighborly place of worship rather than a giant one that doubled as a tourist attraction. I can easily imagine old couples and newlyweds coming to pray and place their offering to whatever Kami it was dedicated to.

It was the size of a children's playground, with uneven stone tiles forming a rectangular platform amidst the vegetation; the main shrine looked like a small hut and was basically the only thing noteworthy in this place. Both the shrine and the tiles were showing signs of disrepair, which make sense, I doubt there was much traffic around these part nowadays with that road by the entrance. I bet this place had a lot more visitors before that had been built.

Not helping the situation was the fact there were twenty-six delinquents loitering around the area. As typical for youngsters of this particular specimen, they were leaving their usual markings of cigarette butts, dirty magazines, and food wrappings all around the place, and a disrespectful little fuck was actually drawing graffiti on the walls of the shrine, fucking really!?

All laughter and loud conversation stopped when we appeared, turning into glares and mocking sniggers.

One of them, which were practically indistinguishable from the rest, save maybe for the fact he was kneeling on the ground and had his arms tied to his back perked up when he saw us.

"Nii-san!" He called.

Ah, one of the Viper's guys, who was he again? He didn't look like the guy I saved yesterday… well, he did, but the guy from yesterday had glasses. And he wasn't Touji, the guy from a few days back who'd asked me to deal with Kodachi as revenge for his sister. All left was one of Touji's moral support, so he should be one of them.

The only distinctive guy was one in the back, glaring daggers at me; I would have thought he was the challenger if there wasn't for the bandages all over his body, and the cast on his arm.

Seeing no use in just standing around and glaring, I stepped in.

"I am Ōe Hiroshi, here to answer a challenge by Tsuji Shinnosuke. Is he here!?" I announced firming, making my voice bounce around the place.

"Yes!" The response was immediate, "Damn right, he is!"

Until now, all the delinquents I have seen clearly looked apart; Relaxed clothes, Gel-brushed hairs or mohawks, a tendency to walk around openly armed with blunt and slashing weapon, all aspects that very definitely marked them as what they were. But the guy who came out from behind the shrine was really pushing the stereotype.

He was taller than most gathered here, with a messy mass of black hair falling down to his back. His face was built from fierce-looking features that were locked in a confident grin. He was wearing a modified school uniform that billowed around his legs like a long coat. The only thing missing was the hat, and he would look right out of an 80's hardboiled shounen manga.

"I am Tsuji Shinnosuke!" He announces, thumping his broad chest. "I see you didn't run away, Ōe Hiroshi. Excellent! "

Tsuji Shinnosuke

Leader of the Tsuji troops, third Captain of Ragnarok.

Level: 15.

Well then, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary...

I think I can take him.

"You know, it's not every day I react to a single incident like that." He drops down from the shrine's steps to the solid ground. "But to send three of my new recruits to the hospital like that..." He shook his head. "No, that can't go unpunished."

Then he dramatically pointed a finger at me. "Ōe Hiroshi, The Dandy Fist! You will pay for raising your hand against the Tsuji troops!"

…

… I felt something die a little inside me, especially with the sniggering now coming from behind.

"I'm sorry, what did you call me!?"

Tsuji Shinnosuke continued to point and glare for a few seconds before his finger twitched downwards a bit and he spoke to the guy on his side with the edge of his mouth.

"Oi, Kenji!"

The bandaged man, who was still looking as if he wanted to stab me with his eyes, momentarily jerked in surprise at being called.

"Yes, boss!"

"You said he used his fists, right?"

""Yeah, boss."

"Then how come is he using a bat now!?"

"… Sorry boss."

"Grrr! Look at what you made me do!"

"Sorry, boss. I'll do better, boss."

After this brief but unbelievable retarded exchange, Shinnosuke cleaned his throat.

"Sorry 'bout that." He said, and then promptly pointed his finger again, his dramatic atmosphere returning as if it never left. "Ōe Hiroshi, The Dandy Bat! You will pay for raising your hand against the Tsuji troops!"

H-he… he actually called me that! And it was even worse now! Seriously where the hell did that come from!? Who came up with this name!?

"Dandy bat."

"Dandy bat!

"… Dandy bat."

Great, now his fucking underlings are repeating this ridiculous title all serious-like. And it's even worse cuz they aren't using Japanese to speak, no the fuckers decided to use English, and they're really fucking bad at English, so the end result was that horrible and comical accent that made it sound like—

"Dandii battō…" That last one came from behind me.

"Oh, shut up!" I snarled at Ranma. The motherfucker was barely containing his laugher.

"Alright, first of all!" I began loudly, pointing my bent baseball bat at my challenger. "Why do you need a hostage? I'm right here, right? You don't need him to drawn me here anymore, or whatever. Let him go!"

I was expecting him to would mock this proposal, but surprisingly, he gestured with his head to a guy, who promptly crouch down to cut the Viper kid's biding.

The kid immediately ran towards me.

"Nii-san! I'm so sorry!" He said.

"It's alright."

"No! I… I told them where they could find you!" He confessed with actual tears gathering in his eyes.

"It told you it's ok, just leave it to me." Fucking kids and their messes.

"Nii-san, thank you! I'll not forget this!" He declared, and bolted down the stairs, leaving the area.

… Did he seriously just do that?

"Rude," Ranma commented casually, I got a feeling he's enjoying this.

"Quite so. He could at least have stayed for the fight." Haruka added the obvious.

Whatever, he only part of the reason I came here. The other part was to keep Ranma from pestering me about chicken out from my first challenge. Another was to earn that sweet, sweet exp from the quest. And the last part, was because I simply wanted to: fighting had become quite therapeutic for me lately, no surprise there, considering I've been fighting something or another practically every day since I woke up as Ōe Hiroshi, so either I'd grow sick of it by now, or I'd learn to enjoy it.

"And second of all!" I raised my voice at the same time Shinnosuke opened his mouth, interrupting what he had to say. I didn't care; I had to know this, "The reason for this fight is because I beat up some of your guys yesterday, right? I want to know if you endorse their actions, trying to break a guy's leg like that."

This will serve as a lighting explanation as to the reason for all of this to Haruka and Ranma behind me… and really pissed the bandaged guy off… in fact, he looks rather panicked now.

Shinnosuke, however… Frowned. He frowned deeply at my question.

"Is that why you attacked my men? Fool! Don't you know wounds are inevitable in a fight between men!?"

On that's rich. "A fight between men!? He was already defeated, and was crawling on the ground pleading your men to not fucking cripple him!" I counted. Feeling my temper rising.

Oh yeah, the bandaged guy looked really agitated now, there is even some glances cast in his direction by the other. Had he not told them the full story, maybe?

"As if one of the Tsuji troops sink so low!" Ah, that confirms it; he is being played. "You going to pay for insulting our honor!"

This time though, it wasn't an empty threat; it was his battle cry as he rushed towards me.

I let my mana wash around my baseball bat, forming an aura-like cover to hold it together, giving it a slight blue-ish glow to its reflective surface. Then, I stepped in and struck at his incoming punch.

However, he quickly tilted his fist to the side, letting the weapon slide across his arm while he stepped into my guard in an attempt to grapple me. I slammed my body against him to interrupt his actions and threw out my elbow at his face, forcing a state of extremely close combat. He had to lean into it to avoid most of the force, and the move made the low kick he threw lose strength and fail to sweep my legs from under me.

Our movements had created a space between us and allowed me to maneuver my bat in a less awkward manner, which resulted in it coming crashing down on his shoulder just as a knee surprised me by impacting my gut.

We both stumbled backward, raising more distance between us. The hit had taken my wind for a bit, but it was nothing too damaging.

"Hey, you can leave if you're uncomfortable." I heard Ranma's voice talking in a low tone.

"N-No, I'll stay." Was Haruka's answer.

As much as I wanted to look back and see what this was all about, taking my eyes out of my opponent when the fight already started was stupid.

"Hahaha!" Shinnosuke laughed while he rolled his shoulders. All traces of his anger fading from his expression. "You're strong… Yes, I decided!" Once again, he dramatically pointed at me. "If I win this fight, you will join my troop!"

"What kind of anime bullshit is this?" I groaned out loud, resting my bat on my shoulder.

Thinking about the impressions I'm having of this guy. I bet that even if I refuse, he will insist on it. So I might as well benefit from this arrangement.

"Urg, fine. But if I win then…"

… Now what to ask of them? They don't have anything I want, and I don't really have anything I want them to do. Right as I was organizing my thoughts, I stepped on a bag of chips that had been discarded on the ground.

Oh yeah, delinquent leave trails behind…

Eh, might as well mess with them.

"If I win, you and your troop will clean this place up!"

There was a palpable silence following my declaration. A palpable feeling of shock and disbelief spread across on the delinquent side, while my own side had met my statement with snorts and facepalms.

"W-What!?" Shinnosuke exclaimed incredulously.

"You heard me. You and your friend made a mess around here. Do you have any idea how disrespectful this is! This is a place of worship for Christ's sake!" I was never, and will never be, the most religious guy in the world, and my new reality had kinda throw my catholic beliefs in a loop, but I would still be angry if I see a butch of low lives vandalizing a church. In my old life, this would warrant a quick call to the police, in this new one, however, a good ol' bat to the face would do the job.

"And not only that! But you will come back in these following days and actively repair this shrine. I want to see a weedless grounds, clean tiles, and brand new wood you heard me!? I want this place spotless!" I added totally because I could.

"Are you an old lady or something!?" Shinnosuke screamed.

"Hey, fuck you! Just trying to put your lazy asses to work on the betterment of our community. God's know your lot've been slacking off." The Japanese in me nodded proudly at these words.

The delinquent leader shook his head in disbelieve, wildly shaking his mop-like hair in the process. "Arg! Fine! Whatever I don't plan to lose!"

"They never do." I sighed in mock pity.

"Shaddup and fight!" Shinnosuke shouted, throwing himself back into the fight.

Once again, he pressed for extremely close range, probably in an attempt to keep me from using my baseball bat. Usually, I'd step back and work to do just that, using my weapon and longer reach to my advantage, but as I considered what to do, another stream of ideas formed in my head, ways to fight using my bat whole's length that I never thought up before, ways to use them even in very close range.

I had experienced something similar in relation to my overall fighting style when I gain the Brawling Mastery skill. So I knew this was my Club Mastery skill at work.

My hand slid over the handle to about the midway dent, quickly using the handle to strike against his face. At his sudden disorientation, I step forwards, making his chest bounce heavily against mine and delivered three more strikes across his torso with my bat. However, it quickly became clear I was holding back way too much because he soon found his footing and locked the arm that was swinging my bat under his armpit. I least out with my other hand immediately, punching his face with a swift jab. But he surprised me again by meeting my punch with a headbutt, making me hiss as the nerves of my arms flared in pain.

He processed to assault me with his free hand and knee. The knee was easy to block by raising my own leg to intercept it, while the hand was dealt with by using my already recovered arm to block it.

He blinked in shook at my speedy recovery, and I use this opportunity to plant a fist right between his eyes. Finally making him let go of my arm.

Let this be said about Tsuji Shinnosuke; the guy isn't weak.

He clearly knew how to fight and had experience doing so. He was crafty, not in the way that actually thinks things through, but in a way that let him react to his best instincts in an instant. He was fast, agile, could hit like a fucking truck, and could take hits like a champ. His highly aggressive fighting style also keeps me on my toes and forced me to react rather than think and consider. He would have been a formidable opponent for me if we had fought a short few days ago.

But that's the thing: a few days ago.

Now I had experienced first hand a fight to the death against a monster that could pulverize my bones with a single hit. Now I had 30 plus points on most of my physical stats, bringing my bodily strength to comfortably sit at superhuman levels. Now I had experienced what a real martial artist can do in the form of the merciless beating Ranma calls 'training'.

Frankly, if I had to rate Shinnosuke right now, I'd said he seats a bit higher than the highest level Kappa I ever fought, and the kappas had the advantage that they were actively gunning to kill me.

A few minutes into the fight, and it became clear who was the superior fighter, and who would win. And it seems my opponent was getting pissed at this realization.

"Stop doing that!" He growled between attacks as I battled his swing to the side and countered by taking a bat to his face. He barely managed to lean out and let it brush his shaggy hair.

Sweat flew from his brow as he pressed his assault.

"Stop!" He said as I pummeled his guard until he kicked me away.

"Stop! Guhg!" He said while he momentarily managed to grapple me, forcing me to bring my fists down on both sides of his torso at the same time.

"Damn it, stop!" He shouted while I used my superior strength to squash his attempt to break my balance and threw him to the ground.

"STOP!" He screams while I met his fury of assaults with my own. "HOLDING BACK!"

Eh?

One of his punches slipped through and struck me square on the cheek, the impact itself hit harder than the pain as my head was thrown to the side, and my body momentarily went limp.

However, I managed to jam my bat on the ground to stop the momentum while my body lashed out a high kick aiming backward almost unconsciously.

My sneaker-covered foot rasped against his hurried-raised guard, making his arms buck and forcing him to step back.

"See!" He exclaimed accusatorially, "You're holding back on me, bastard! You shouldn't hold back in a fight between men!"

I placed my bat on my shoulder while my fingers rubbed my jaw to see if there was anything broken. It was not the worst pain I ever experienced, but it was unpleasant.

Still, it seems I've gotten the wrong impression from my opponent. I had only myself to blame for that one.

"So, you want me to put my back into it?" I provoked.

"Bastard…" He growled, his hands clenching into trembling fists, "Are you mocking my manly spirit!?"

Then, for some ungodly reason, he ripped his top off, revealing his muscular torso to the world like he was a Yakuza game's boss or something.

"Are you sure? I might actually kill you." I said, ignoring the fact he went half-naked all of the sudden.

I was fairly confident that he can take it, I had been trying out my hits on him for the last fifteen minutes or so. If there was anything I could say about him was that he was tough.

His face twisted into a grim. "Heh, cocky bastard, let's see how you deal with this!"

He rushed in with his arms to the side and guard free, almost as if he was provoking me to attack him.

And he was, it was obvious he was planning to do something. Maybe duck under the next swing, or somehow use it to try and take my bat out of my hand; it wouldn't be the first time he attempted.

Whatever he was trying to do, he didn't expect me to actively step into his lunge displaying a level of speed I've been keeping to myself. My hands tightened around the handle of my baseball bat in preparation.

Just like he wanted, I was putting my back into it.

"HORA!"

My bat impacted his front with a loud, meaty sound, his body not deterring my swing in any way. The delinquent leader was sent flying backward, the heels of his feet literally skidding across the ground. To my surprise, he didn't fall outright when he finally stopped.

He actually managed to stay standing.

"Heh! How's that." He mocked cockily.

A second later, his arms flopped limply to his sides. The trembling limbs now spotting deep, red marks on his forearms.

Ah, he managed to defend it… but it looks like both his arms are broken now, or at least fractured. I don't think he can continue on like this.

"Fight's over." I declared.

"As if!" He shouted, rushing towards me again, the crazy motherfucker couldn't even raise his arms.

But never giving up until the end fit the hotheaded teenager impression I'm was getting from him.

He jumped, which was a bit unexpected, trying out a dropkick. Just like him, I decided to move unexpectedly, countering his kick with a high kick of my own, this one taken from my new Martial Art mastery and Muay Thai knowledge.

Our legs brushed together as they went past each other. His current position meant that his leg was brushed away from me, barely scratching my sides, while mine ended up directly on his stomach, his own momentum enhancing the force of the hit.

"GUH!" Shinnosuke gasped, spit flying out from his mouth. I could clearly see the last vestiges of the fight leaving his eyes as his consciousness began to fade. But it was only when he went totally limp, that I felt safe to tilt my raised leg to the side and drop him to the ground.

"Fight's over," I repeated even though he couldn't hear. "Good fight."

Quest completed!

+300 exp.Your closeness with the Viper's gang of middle school hooligans has increased.

Your closeness with the Viper's gang of middle school hooligans has increased.

Your closeness with the Ragnarok gang has decreased.

Your closeness with the Tsuji Shinnosuke has increased.

Your reputation within the Tokyo delinquent's scene has increased.

Whatever you say, Gamer, I certainly don't feel like my closeness with Tsuji Shinnosuke has increased. He certainly isn't in condition to say his piece about that right now.

My victory was met with silence… For about five seconds before Ranma began to talk.

"You could have punched his throat the first time he got close. It would end it faster!" Ranma's complaint made me huff.

"Everybody is a fucking critic."

"No, seriously, did you see the way he attacked you? Like, full of holes. And the throat man, I tell you he must have something against protecting it."

"I get it; you would have fought differently and ended it all in three moves, no need to brag."

"Two, and I just tell it like it is." He shifted his weight on his feet and smiled at me. "Still, good work, pretty intense."

"Yeah." I could see that by the fact that Shinnosuke was constantly in my face and attacking, which forced me to match, counter, and tank his blows with the same intensity. I can only imagine what it must have looked like to someone watching.

And I fought my answer on Haruka. She was… fine, like she has always been, but her cheeks were noticeable paler.

"That was…" She chewed her lower lip for a bit, trying to find the right word. "Violent." She decided in the end.

"Ah, well, it was a fight," I said, feeling a bit awkward.

"B-Boss!" Several voices cried out behind me. I turn to see the rest of the group of delinquents had finally snapped out of their shook and were now congregating around their fallen leader.

"Aaah," Ranma grumbled after a few seconds of just watching them. "Now that I think about it, this was kinda anticlimactic."

"I'm sorry if my life is not entertaining enough for you." I bit back, but sighed in the end. "… Let's just go home. There is nothing for us there anymore."

The fight was fun, the exp was juicy, but I don't see why we should stay.

"Home? But what about that rumor about the mysterious repair jobs?" Haruka asked.

"Oh yeah, that." I thought back to what the girl had said. It did sound interesting, however… "I can't even think about where to start looking?"

"We could ask around," Haruka suggested.

"It's gonna night soon, though." Ranma helpfully reminded us of that fact.

We were starting to make our way back, placing this entire incident to the back of our minds while we did so, but just as we were about to cross the entrance of the temple and began descending the stairs. We heard something very, very distinctive.

"GET THEM!"

I swirled on my heels as I turned around, my grip on my fingers gripping my bat's handle like iron hooks. I was expecting to find the rest of the 'Tsuji Troop' rushing at us in an attempt to get revenge for their fallen leader. However, I found them talking rapidly among themselves.

"What?" I wondered out loud, hearings the delinquent's voices growing louder. I looked at Ranma, who has also turned and assumed battle position. He looked back and shrugged.

Before I could voice my confusion to the delinquents themselves, however, the discussion finished, and all of them looked up at us with murderous glares.

On the back of the crowd, bandage guy was sniggering like a supervillain.

Of course. I rolled my eyes and I moved to intercept the incoming gang.

Fighting against a group of people is much different than fighting against a single person, obviously. As a rule of thumb, you're fucked; there is simply no way to defend against attacks coming from all sides and at the same time. One or more of them will bring you down eventually, and that's if you luck out, and no one grabs you from behind and lock the movements of your arms, basically turning you in a glorified punching bag.

There are several techniques you can use to help you fight better, like keep moving, try to reposition yourself in a more advantageous position, try to position the group so they strike themselves rather than you, but typically, unless you're highly trained, have a weapon with you, or have good back up; an one-against-many fight doesn't end so well for the 'one' part.

That was back on my old life, of course. Here, in anime world, things work differently.

Here, the fight went much different than it would have. Right now my body was blatantly superhuman, I hadn't had the time to test out what exactly what I could do, but I can safely say that my strength alone, the most straightforward of my stat, was high enough that I could break concrete with my bare hand, so the most challenging thing for me to do as holding back.

Tsuji Shinnosuke could take my new strength, but his group was noticeably weaker. Most of my attacks weren't well executed because of the chaos around me, but they carried a lot of punch behind them, causing meaty smacks and cracks wherever they landed. Only the delinquents' own tenacity let them kept going after that. Their attacks, in contrast, didn't hurt or damage me a whole lot. Frankly, the impacts of their attacks gave me more trouble than the damage itself, as it frequently made me mess up my posture or balance.

While what happened wasn't exactly a 'one hit, one man down' situation we see in Kung fu flicks, it was simultaneously more impressive and more brutal

By the end, I gleefully strode to where the bandage dude was whimpering and trying to crawl away and whop him over the head and to the land of unconsciousness.

He deserved a lot more for the troubles he brought me, but he's already injured, so fuck it.

My mangled bat now had some specks of blood on it, making for a ghastly image; I ignored it and placed it over my shoulder, a gesture that was quickly becoming part of my default image.

You familiar has been cleansed.

Hm?

A brief flash descended upon my mind; I caught a glimpse of Minon's falling from a high height and snapping her neck against the ground. The images disappeared a moment later like they hadn't even shown up in the first place, leaving me blinking and disoriented.

Minon is dead?

A surge of panic stab my chest, but I quickly subdue it. No, not dead, cleansed. Popping open my Summon Familiar skill, I saw that the once filled slot was open again, and Minon's Strength Card was completely black, marking it as currently unsummonable.

I, somehow, knew I could summon her again if I used my skill to refill her card first.

But it didn't change the fact she got 'killed'. Did something kill her? She appeared to be falling from somewhere high, was it an accident?

"Hey, Hiroshi, what are you looking at?" Ranma asked. Making me blink and realize I'd unconsciously turned to look at the direction Minon had been killed.

"Nothing," I said reflectively. "Have you finished with your side?"

Ranma crossed his arm and raised his eyebrow at my admittedly dumb question, behind him, there were piles of unconscious bodies dispatched way more efficiently than I did. It might be possible he had finished a while ago and was just waiting for me.

"Right, where's Haruka?" I asked, feeling a pang of guilt and worry wheeling up in my stomach. The girl didn't know how to fight, a fact that had slipped out of my mind in the moment and- wait fuck! What if she got attacked!?

"I told her to scramble cuz she'd got hurt." Ranma responded, "I saw her circling around the mess. I think she went to take cover by the shrine."

I sighed, relieved that Ranma was keeping an eye on her.

I swear I'd do that myself on the next opportunity.

"Hey Haruka, we're finished! You can come out now!" I called out in the direction of the shrine.

…

Nothing.

No response, no handsome-looking girl popping up from behind the shrine, or from standing up from behind the offering box, or even coming out from inside the shrine. Just the creaking sound of old, dilapidated wood as it was massaged by the rushing wind of the waning day.

I slowly closed my eyes, fighting against the dread and annoyance my genre savviness was invoking.

Maybe it was nothing, maybe she hadn't heard us, or was playing a prank, or something. I really hope this was the case.

But I can't simply ignore the nagging feeling in the back of my head. A weak, faint feeling I realized it had been there since I arrived in that place, but only now, without delinquents vowing for my head, could focus on it.

No, too weak, could be my imagination playing tricks on me, building up by the fact that Haruka wasn't showing up.

Ranma, too, called for her once. The results were the same.

"She's in the back." He concluded.

"I doubt so," I said as I started to walk toward the shrine.

It became undeniable then because as I approached, the feeling on the back of my head only grew.

Spiritual Senses leveled up!

Shit.

Ascending the steps to the shrine, walking over the uneven tiles of stone and dirt, passing the old, offering box. I noticed that the door was a bit ajar, understandable for someone how wanted to hide or at least keep out of sight. However, it would be questionable if Haruka would be able to squint her body inside, both due to the shrine's modest size, and the altar to the Kami that was most likely inside. Still, it wouldn't be unrealistic to assume she'd at least had taken a look.

Securing my mangled baseball bat with one hand, I pulled the door open.

"Double shit!" I cursed, this time out loud.

"What?" Ranma, who's been accompanying me, asked. Clearly alarmed at my sudden reaction.

"… Do you remember the Illusion Barrier where we fought that monkey yokai? The one that appeared naturally?"

Because I could see what was left of the altar to the Kami inside… through the distorting, transparent surface of an Illusion Barrier entrance.

One I didn't create.

"Eh? What? There is one right there?" He looked at the phenomenon he couldn't see, and then the implications dawned on him. "Wait, do you think Haruka went inside!?"

"It seems like it," I confirmed.

"Wait, wait, wait! You said people could only enter them with you!"

Because that was what seems like it at the time.

I'd done some tests on the limitations and applications of Illusion Barriers before, it was one of the first things I did, in fact. I could create them, and they all leave a bubble-like, transparent portal when I activate my Illusion Barrier Escape skill while inside. Ranma and everybody else can't interact or even see them in any way, shape, or form. I'd even place a bubble in the middle of a crowded corridor to test that out; everybody just walked through it like it wasn't there.

Haruka was just a normal girl. She shouldn't be able to get inside one at all, or, at least, not so easily.

Excerpt…

… She… isn't a normal girl… If we go by the Gamer system, which I see no reason not to, her death or permanent injury could cause the literal apocalypse, as the system had helpfully implied in the consequences for failing the quest to save her life.

She is not a normal girl.

"Clearly, I was wrong." I decided.

Maybe I was wrong now, maybe Haruka wasn't in there, there is very real chance that's the case.

But as things stand, we can't afford not to look.

"Let's freaking go then! We have to get her!" Ranma stated the obvious.

"Yeah, but…" I hesitated.

"What!?"

"This one is different," I reported, looking at the bubble of unreality. "It's… yellow."

"What!?"

"It's not completely transparent like the others, ok. There is a yellow tinge on it."

That was the only difference, a golden tone softly framing its undulating edges, it was a very, very small difference, but when dealing with things like that, every deviation has to be taken into accord.

"So what? We're not going in because it isn't in the right color!" Ranma affronted.

"I didn't say that!" I bit back. "Just… let's be careful ok. We don't know what could be waiting for us on the other side."

"We'll kick its ass anyway!" Ranma declared. "Let's just go already! We're wasting time!"

"Yeah, it's not like we have much choice."

The very definition of diving into the unknown, I guess. Alright, fuck it, let's do this!

It occurred to me that I could have summoned Minon for extra back up. But by then, I was already stepping into the bubble, dragging Ranma with me.

To a world of blood-red skies and a giant black sun.