Tokyo, but I'm a deceitful scumbag.

"But in the end he was willing to learn about our products, which is great."

"Let me think... Next, I should be heading to President Mitsui's banquet. What's the exact location again... Oh right, I wrote it down in my notes."

He muttered to himself, opened his phone's notes app, and saw the first sentence at the top.

Upon seeing this sentence, all my attempts to see things in the mirror failed me.

"what?"

"What is 'viewing flowers in a mirror'... oh my!"

Hoshino Hideyuki suddenly felt dizzy and instinctively ducked into a nearby alley. After a while, his eyes regained their clarity.

At the same time, his expensive suit was replaced by an ordinary hoodie and sweatpants, and his face returned to its original youthful and handsome appearance.

"It feels like a dream..."

That's right.

Before meeting Kayaba Nobuyuki, Hoshino Hideyuki hypnotized himself with the "flower in the mirror" technique!

He had anticipated that with such a powerful illusion barrier, Kayaba Nobuyuki would be tempted to use illusions to test anyone he found suspicious.

It's as obvious as a restless female knight in the underworld inevitably kidnapping a poor goblin.

But he wasn't confident he could withstand the test.

That's why he came up with this crooked trick—I'll deceive myself first, so when you hypnotize me to tell the truth, what I say will also be a lie that I think is true!

Coincidentally, the person he was going to impersonate this time, Aso Goku, was a real person with plenty of background material, making it very convenient to pretend!

To be on the safe side, he hypnotized himself not just once, but created three different personas, each with a deeper level of understanding, and hypnotized himself three times in total, to prevent the illusion from being exposed.

Of course, everything has risks.

If Kayaba Nobuyuki still notices something is wrong, then Hoshino Hideyuki will have to admit defeat.

Fortunately, the plan worked out.

After resting for a while in the alley, Hoshino Hideyuki began to carefully review his memories.

Ok……

A little weird.

Of the three layers of character design, only the surface layer was ultimately used? In other words, Nobuyuki Kayaba didn't see through even one layer of the facade...

And why did he go to check his watch? That movement was abrupt and conspicuous, and there wasn't any Kogoro Mouri nearby for him to shoot at...

This performance is quite different from that of a master illusionist...

A different kind of guess emerged in Hoshino Hideyuki's mind.

Just as he was thinking, his phone rang.

"Mosimoxi?"

“Hideyuki, I just received news that ten million yen has been deposited into your fake account.”

The caller was Tetsuya Inuyama.

"Your scam was successful?"

"It's far from enough, only ten million. It's not even enough to fulfill my promise to Ichiji."

Hoshino Hideyuki paused for a moment, then replied with a smile:

"However, we have indeed taken the first step, and that guy... well, maybe he's not as difficult to deal with as we thought."

"Why are you suddenly so confident? Don't let your underestimation of your opponent cause you to crash and burn."

"Thanks for the warning, I will be more careful."

"That's good. What are your plans next?"

"Eat sukiyaki."

"what?"

"Eating sukiyaki, that's the plan... I've been thinking about how to deal with Kayaba these past few days. I'm working an average of four hours a day, and I'm already exhausted. I need to relax."

"You're not tired at all..."

Snapped.

Hideyuki Hoshino hung up the phone with his part-time job, Ushima, and immediately began searching for delicious sukiyaki.

This dish is essentially a Japanese hot pot. The high-quality beef, dipped in egg and sauce, is quite to the liking of this fox.

However, eating hot pot alone always feels a bit boring.

Moreover, the waiting process is also very difficult to endure. It would be great if we could just go in and get our food ready.

Have it.

Hideyuki Hoshino picked up his phone again.

"Sorry, I don't plan to buy it..."

"Good afternoon, Ms. Ijichi, it's me~"

"what!"

On the other side, Ijichi Kikuri recognized the person from the familiar voice.

"Oh, sorry, I thought it was another sales call. Um, did you call me because there's been any progress...?"

"Almost there, but there's one more crucial step that I need your help with."

"Please say!"

"Please go to the Daimonji Sukiyaki restaurant, order a Wagyu beef set meal and an extra portion of pork slices, but please don't add cilantro, I don't like it, thank you."

"what?"

"That store seems to be quite far from your home, so please get dressed and head out now, and try to get there within forty minutes."

"what?!"

"What are you waiting for? Let's get started, quick, quick, quick!"

Before Ichikiku could ask anything else, the call ended.

"This guy……"

"The important thing is to go eat sukiyaki?"

"And are they treating me like a maid?!"

Chapter 10 The Fox Likes to Dine and Dine Free

More than half an hour later.

Inside the Daimonji Sukiyaki restaurant.

Ichikiku looked at the bubbling hot pot with mixed feelings.

In the end, I still managed to prepare it for him within the stipulated time...

I even took a taxi to get there in time...

Forget it, I won't dwell on it. It's all money he gave me, so I don't really feel bad about it...

"Really? I heard this store is very expensive!"

"No problem, no problem at all. Just enjoy yourself!"

Hearing the conversation behind her, she turned her head and glanced over.

They were a man and a woman, who seemed to be a couple, but they were clearly still very polite to each other.

The woman was dressed fashionably, and the man... wait, how come it's him?

Ijichi Kiku immediately shrank her neck.

She recognized the man as one of the yakuza members who had come to her door to collect a debt.

broken.

I went out for a meal, and somehow I ran into some troublesome guys...

"Why are you cowering like a rabbit in a hole when we're out for a meal?"

Kikuri Ichi turned around and saw that Hideyuki Hoshino had already sat down opposite her, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Hideyuki Hoshino smiled as he admired Kikuri Iji's outfit.

She wore a low-cut white tank top under a loose beige mesh cardigan, which was left open, revealing her fair collarbones and shoulders, as well as her fairly well-defined cleavage, which were faintly visible up close.

She wore cropped jeans that revealed her fair ankles, and wedge sandals that showed off her ten plump toes, which were enough to captivate anyone who caught a glimpse of them.

I feel much more energetic now, and the dejection I felt a few days ago is completely gone.

Good.

"Could you...stop staring so blatantly?"

Kikuchi's face flushed slightly.

"No."

Hideyuki Hoshino gave a concise answer, and before Kikuri Iji could retort, he immediately asked, "So what did that guy do that scared you?"

"Wait, could it be that he is actually your half-brother? When you were young, you were jealous of his parents' favoritism, so you pretended to accidentally push him off a cliff while climbing a mountain, thinking he was dead. You never expected to see him again, and that's why you're so terrified?"

"Are you kidding me? What kind of imagination do you have?! There are so many things to complain about, I don't even know where to begin!"

Kikuchi Ichi sighed and explained what had happened.

"What? It's just yakuza stuff. How boring."

Hoshino Hideyuki waved his hand: "Don't worry about it. That guy's eyes are only on the women who came with him. As long as you don't do a handstand while eating noodles on the spot, he won't see you."

"Yes, yes..."

"Do you really want to eat noodles upside down? I don't mind."