A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

"Oh ho, you guessed it?"

"Of course, I know you too well."

Asuna Yuuki's tone sounded somewhat helpless, but her smile was very gentle.

"You definitely want to see what changes will occur in this instance over time, what dangers will arise that will cause players hiding at the spawn point to die and be unable to complete the instance, right?"

"As expected, you understand me best."

Hearing Asagiri's smiling voice, Yuuki Asuna pursed her lips, her eyes flickering, and finally couldn't help but ask softly.

"What do you plan to do about Kotoko?"

Asagiri looked slightly puzzled: "What do you mean, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's expression turned somewhat displeased.

"Are you playing dumb with me? Don't tell me you still can't see that she really likes you."

"Oh, you said this."

Asagiri smiled and replied casually.

"I like her, too."

Upon hearing this answer, Yuuki Asuna, even though she was somewhat prepared, still felt a pang of sadness in her chest. She took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"In that case..."

Before she could finish speaking, Asagiri said something surprising.

"I like you too."

"what?"

Yuuki Asuna was stunned for several seconds before she reacted, her brows furrowed.

"What do you mean? If I understand correctly... you're saying that you like both me and her?"

"Yes."

Seeing Asagiri's self-righteous attitude, Yuuki Asuna almost laughed out of anger.

"Hey, isn't it a bit too much to openly declare yourself a scumbag like that..."

"Hey, what are you saying? How can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?"

Faced with Asuna Yuuki's accusations, Asagiri changed her tune and launched an attack.

"The term 'scumbag' refers to men who are unable to reciprocate the feelings of those they like, or who superficially accept the other person but then abandon them, betraying their affections."

At this point, Asagiri paused slightly, then sat up from the bed, looked directly into Yuuki Asuna's eyes, and said with a smile.

"And this is my open and aboveboard declaration of a harem."

76

Chapter 76 The Persuasiveness of Diplomats.

"What kind of blatant harem declaration is this?"

Yuuki Asuna couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing in exasperation.

"How could I possibly let you drive the back..."

"Stop for a moment."

Asagiri raised his hand, stopping Asuna Yuuki's attack and forcibly seizing control of the turn back into his own hands, and activated his unique skill: First Turn Offensive.

"My harem is not entirely driven by my own selfish desires; there are also more noble reasons."

"Sublime?"

Rather than feeling angry and speechless, Asuna Yuuki felt more curious at this moment.

“I want to hear how you can associate such a thing with the word ‘noble’.”

"Let me tell you the story."

Asagiri paused for a few seconds, then looked at Yuuki Asuna and spoke in a serious tone.

"First of all, this game is dangerous; there's a risk of death at any moment, right?"

"Yes, but what you just said, what does it have to do with the game..."

"Secondly, Kotoko is a very valuable teammate. With her in the team, our chances of survival will be greatly increased, right?"

Asuna Yuuki nodded and answered honestly.

"Well, that's true."

Although the two often bickered, Asuna Yuuki had to admit that, setting aside Kotoko Iwanaga's overly abstract personality and mannerisms, her ability as a teammate in dungeons was impeccable.

A sharp mind, logical reasoning, courage, action, and the talent to sense strange auras.

Just like this time, although they didn't enter a dungeon with a bizarre theme, Kotoko Iwanaga was still able to use her talent for sensing strange auras and her ability to communicate with the dead to find a vehicle for the team to drive, and learn from the white-coated ghost the location of the antibody reagents and the truth about the so-called disaster in the city.

"Then the question arises again."

Asagiri looked directly into Yuuki Asuna's eyes and asked softly.

"In this deadly game, what is the most important thing for a team to reach the end?"

After thinking for a while, Asuna Yuuki finally gave her answer to the question.

"I think that since it's a team, more important than strength, intelligence, and equipment... is actually the trust between each other that allows us to entrust our lives to one another."

"That's right, that's what I think too."

Asagiri got up from the bed, walked to the window, looked at the sky outside which was already at dusk, and seemed to sigh with emotion.

"If the members of a team cannot completely trust each other, then the strengths of a particular member, such as being very capable, intelligent, or well-equipped, will become obstacles that lead to mutual suspicion. After all, in this high-difficulty game, it is impossible to survive indefinitely if you have to be wary of your teammates while trying to conquer the dungeon."

"Well, you're right."

Yuuki Asuna nodded in agreement, but then looked puzzled.

"But what does this have to do with the topic we discussed at the beginning?"

"Of course it matters."

At that moment, Asuna Yuuki suddenly felt that Asagiri's figure, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, had instantly grown taller.

"Absolute trust is a relationship where you can entrust your life to another person; that is what we call a bond!"

"And what we call bonds are those that require connection!"

"For everyone in the team, for our future, to avoid losing to this merciless elimination game, and to prevent the team from falling apart, I will dedicate myself and become the bond that connects you, Kotoko, and Kato-kun!"

"This... is my resolve as a leader."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, which even evoked a sense of tragic grandeur, Asuna Yuuki was stunned, her lips slightly parted, unsure how to refute them.

"This...you, this...isn't this...this, is this right?"

When Asagiri first said those words, Asuna Yuuki thought he was just messing around, talking nonsense. But after thinking about it carefully...

It seems like there really isn't a problem?

Although Asuna Yuuki has never been in a relationship, when she was in junior high school, she witnessed girls who were originally close friends fall in love with the same boy, which eventually led to conflicts, public arguments, and even a complete break-up.

So, isn't there a perfect way to avoid getting hurt in this situation?

Asuna Yuuki originally thought there wasn't, but after hearing Asagiri say that... it seems there really is.

It seems right, but something just doesn't feel quite right.

……

Half an hour later.

"Huh...huh..."

Two men, dressed in sportswear and appearing to be around forty years old, were standing at the entrance of Renai Hospital.

One of the men looked up at the darkening sky, then glanced at the corpses of ordinary infected people lying on the ground inside Ren'ai Hospital. A hint of tension appeared on his face as he whispered to his companion beside him.

"Judging from this situation... it seems that other players have already arrived."

Upon hearing this, another man frowned and looked wary.

"They didn't avoid the infected; instead, they killed them all. It seems they arrived here quite some time ago. I don't know exactly how many there are, but their strength is definitely above ours. It's best to bypass them, quickly obtain the antibody reagents, and complete the challenge. There's no need to court death..."

Just as the man was halfway through his sentence, a voice filled with laughter suddenly rang out.

"I've finally waited for this moment. I thought no one would come."

Upon hearing this sudden sound, the two male players' expressions instantly changed. Under their tense gaze, a mysterious figure dressed in black, wearing a gray mask, and with a slender build, slowly walked out of the hospital and waved to them, seemingly welcoming their arrival.

"You...who are you..."

"Are you OK?"

Wearing the "Ever-Changing Mask," Asagiri pointed to the mask on her face and chuckled when she heard the question posed by one of the male players.

"Guess why I'm wearing a mask? Can you ask me something meaningful?"

"Then... what do you want to do?"

"doing what?"

Asagiri took two steps forward and saw the two players retreat a distance, looking wary. She slowly took out two glass tubes containing a pale green liquid from her pocket, and then smiled and spoke.

"This is the antibody reagent needed for customs clearance. How about we make a deal?"

"trade?"

"Yes, you two, give me your most valuable possessions in exchange for two sets of antibody reagents."

One of the male players frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"What a joke! We're already here, why don't we just go in and find it ourselves..."

Before he could finish speaking, another male player raised his hand to stop him, then looked at Asagiri standing there, and behind him, at the pile of corpses of ordinary infected people, and said with a serious expression.

"If I'm not mistaken, the real test of this instance only begins after we arrive here, right?"

"Well, it seems you're the smart one. I'll just talk to you directly then."

Asagiri looked at the man, who was dressed in a full tracksuit and had become slightly overweight due to sitting in an office for many years, and smiled as she spoke.

"Just like you said, the real test of the dungeon only begins after we arrive at this hospital. However, I have already collected antibody reagents. Each player only needs one reagent to pass the dungeon. Even if you submit more, you won't get any extra points for passing the dungeon. So you exchange things for me. I get something valuable, and you save yourself the danger of exploring the hospital. Isn't that a win-win situation?"

According to the hidden PVP rules of the instance, if a player has been confirmed dead and you can obtain the other player's phone, you can randomly draw a piece of equipment or item owned by the dead player by clicking the eye icon in the app.

The problem lies in this randomness.

Even for a high-end player like Asagiri, some of the items and equipment he owns are of average value, such as the teddy bear he had in the hotel dungeon, the ordinary quality rapier, and the bottle of medical alcohol he just used. For an average player, these would be a bunch of junk items, with only one or two truly useful pieces of equipment or items kept at the bottom of the box.

Judging from the fact that the draw is random, the game's system does not actually encourage players to kill each other, and drawing a piece of equipment or item is not the real focus of this rule.

The real point is that by taking over the phone of a dead player, an ordinary person can become a player.

In other words, while the game's system filters players through dungeons, it does not want the total number of players to decrease rapidly due to internal strife.

At this stage, Asagiri has no intention of making anyone a player, so the best approach is not to kill other players and gamble on the probability of random draws, but to ensure that valuable items or equipment can be obtained through trading.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man pondered for a few seconds before asking a question in return.

"Then how can you be so sure that the two of us actually possess equipment and items that even a player of your level would consider valuable?"

Faced with the middle-aged man's question, Asagiri simply smiled and said something that made both players' expressions change in surprise.

"Because this is your third instance, right?"

77

Chapter 77 The Ominous Dagger and the God of War's Hand Sanitizer.

"how do you know……"

"Isn't this simple?"

Seeing the astonished expressions on the faces of the two male players, Chaowu spoke casually.