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

Kind-hearted Mita hesitated slightly upon hearing this: "Eh? But if that happens, what if you encounter a monster...?"

"Do not worry."

Asuna Yuuki patted her on the shoulder and comforted her with a smile.

"I'm very strong, and if you die, we won't be able to reach the core area, will we?"

"Hmph~"

Just then, Hat Mita suddenly stepped forward, a familiar purple mysterious stick toy appearing in her hand, and said confidently.

"I don't know what the monster is, but my hat, Mita, is definitely not just for show... Oops, sorry, I took the wrong one, sorry, sorry."

Halfway through her sentence, Hat Mita realized she had taken the wrong thing. She quickly put away the "Purple Mood," coughed twice to cover her embarrassment, took out the black and red hand axe from her inventory, and confidently repeated her previous lines.

"I don't know what the monster is, but I, Hat Mita, am no ordinary person!"

Immediately afterwards, Hat Mita moved closer to Asagiri, revealing a rare serious expression.

"Mr. Player, I'll protect you!"

"Then please."

Seeing Asagiri's smiling face and Hat Mita's obvious joy after hearing his words, Kind Mita hesitated.

Should we tell Hat that this player can bend iron fences with his bare hands and doesn't need anyone to protect him?

Never mind, she seems quite happy, so there's no need to say anything.

……

five minutes later.

Just as kind-hearted Mita said, after several cycles, the appearance of the corridor has been completely changed.

The once bright and warm lights had turned into a dim, flickering glow, accompanied by the occasional crackling of electricity.

"Let me start from here, I'll go first."

Hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki's voice trembled slightly, but she still managed to force a smile.

"No, it's okay..."

"Are you alright?"

Kotoko Iwanaga, who was following behind, couldn't help but purse her lips when she saw Asuna Yuuki still putting on a brave face.

"Your hand holding the sword is shaking like you have Parkinson's disease, and you're still trying to be brave? Let the Leader do it."

In fact, Kotoko Iwanaga and Megumi Kato had already seen through Asuna Yuuki's weakness in the last instance.

I'm afraid of ghosts.

However, Asuna Yuuki's fear of ghosts is not simply a matter of being afraid of them. For example, she did not show any fear when she and Asagiri encountered the blood-faced caregiver in the newbie dungeon or the floating corpse evil spirit in the hotel dungeon.

What Asuna Yuuki truly fears is not the visible, attackable, and tangible ghosts and monsters, but rather the terrifying environment where something might suddenly jump out at any moment.

In other words, what she was truly afraid of was the unknown.

99

Chapter 99: Monsters Created by a Bug.

"OK then."

Although Asuna Yuuki is very competitive, she is also very sensible and knows when she shouldn't be willful or stubborn.

Just as she took a few steps back, giving the front of the line to Asagiri, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly sensed a strong, strange aura and immediately spoke up to warn her.

"Be careful……"

Before Iwanaga Kotoko could finish speaking, a huge skull suddenly emerged from the ventilation duct at the corner of the corridor, emitting a loud noise like an electric shock, and lunged at Asagiri who was standing there.

"Player!"

Mita, who was originally following behind Asagiri and holding a hand axe, looked anxious upon seeing this and immediately pushed Asagiri to the side, exposing herself to the skull's attack path.

"That's too late……"

As the skull emitting black smoke grew larger and larger in her field of vision, Hat Mita nervously closed her eyes, her last thought before death surfacing in her mind.

"I don't want to forget the players..."

However, the next second, Hat Mita did not feel the expected pain, but instead heard a muffled thud.

"boom!!"

Hat Mita subconsciously took two steps back. After a few seconds, she dared to cautiously open her eyes. What came into her view was a huge monster with a spider's body and a skull on its back, being pressed firmly against the wall by a burly black figure over two meters tall with red markings on its body.

"This is……"

Not only Hat Mita and Kind Mita, but also Iwanaga Kotoko, Kato Megumi, and Yuuki Asuna were incredulous at the sight. Yuuki Asuna walked to Asagiri's side, looked at Shura who was pinning the spider monster against the wall, and whispered.

"You... you didn't use a summoning device, nor did you say the names of the Persona and Persona. How did you summon Shura?"

Asagiri didn't say a word, but simply waved her hand in front of Yuuki Asuna, who asked in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"As long as you have hands."

Asuna Yuuki: "...I won't even comment on how pretentious your statement was...Couldn't you just say it directly? Did you have to make a gesture?"

Asagiri shook her head, looking inscrutable. Seeing this, Yuuki Asuna was puzzled again, but smiled helplessly and had no choice but to play along.

"Master, what does this mean?"

"Silence is golden."

"Are you done pretending?"

"almost."

Asagiri replied with a smile, then explained seriously.

"Actually, it's quite simple. It's just that after using it many times, my proficiency with the exclusive talent has increased. Although it won't be displayed on the player panel, I can now summon instantly without using a summoner or saying the name of the Persona, without any pre-cast animation, by consuming a certain amount of mental energy as a price."

"Given time, as I use my talent more and more often and become more proficient, I might be able to summon multiple personas at the same time."

"Your talent is the passive enhancement type. I'm not too sure, but Necro and Phantom should have a similar feeling to me."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Kato Megumi nodded and spoke gently.

"Yeah, me too. When I first started using my talent, my stamina and mental energy were depleted very quickly. But after entering the dungeon this time, it was noticeably less strenuous for me to use my talent. I originally thought it was because my physical fitness had improved, but now that I think about it, my physical fitness hasn't improved to such an obvious extent. It seems that it is indeed because of the increase in proficiency that I can better control the consumption when using my talent."

Kotoko Iwanaga echoed.

"Me too, I'm also more sensitive to strange auras now."

"I see."

Yuuki Asuna nodded first, then looked at the spider-like monster with a huge skull on its back, which was being pressed against the wall by Shura and was still struggling, and frowned slightly.

"How do we deal with it? This thing doesn't even look like it can communicate."

"Go ahead and kill him."

"it is good."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki gripped her exorcist sword tightly, aiming it at the skull on the spider monster's back, ready to pierce its body immediately.

Because of her passive growth-type exclusive talent "Shining", she is always the one who gets the kills whenever there is an opportunity.

Just as Asuna Yuuki was about to make her move, a soft, sweet, yet slightly trembling, voice of a little girl rang out.

"Please, please don't kill it, okay..."

Asuna Yuuki looked in the direction the sound came from and saw a little girl timidly hiding around the corner. Judging from her appearance...

"You're also Mita?"

Seeing the little girl's face, it was almost identical to Hat Mita and Kind Mita. However, because of her young age, compared to Hat Mita's playfulness and Kind Mita's intellect, this little girl Mita was the kind of innocent and adorable girl who made people unable to have any evil thoughts.

"that……"

The little girl, Mita, cautiously emerged from behind the corner. She first glanced at Yuuki Asuna, who was holding an exorcist's sword, then turned her gaze to Asagiri, who was standing there, her tone pleading.

"Sir player, could you please not kill it? It's my only friend."

Asagiri didn't answer directly. Instead, she turned to look at Kind Mita, shook her head mysteriously, and slowly spoke.

"Can you explain to me why a little girl named Mita, who is this age, appears in this supposedly 18+ dating sim?"

"Forehead……"

Kind-hearted Mita opened her lips, but couldn't think of any reason to refute. She looked around and when she saw Kotoko Iwanaga, she suddenly seemed to have thought of something and immediately retorted righteously.

"There will always be players who like lolis, aren't you yourself the best example?"

"Hey, eh, eh."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked speechless upon hearing this, raised her cane and gently poked the kind-hearted Mita on the shoulder, saying irritably.

"What do you mean? Where are the little girls around here? I'm a high school student, okay?"

"What!?"

Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga say that she was a high school student, both Kind-hearted Mita and Hat Mita's pupils dilated in shock. Both Mita looked at Kotoko Iwanaga with disbelief. After looking at Kotoko Iwanaga for a while, Hat Mita suddenly realized something.

"Oh, I see! Are you also a character in some game? In order to get the game released, you were designed with a loli appearance but given the setting of a high school student? I see."

"So that's how it is, my foot..."

Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga's speechless expression, Megumi Kato delivered a fatal blow to her in a calm tone.

"Hmm... After all, you're only 1.5 meters tall, with a face like that, and a completely flat figure. When we first meet, people would probably think you're a child."

Kotoko Iwanaga's expression stiffened upon hearing this, but she managed a strong rebuttal.

"I'm only sixteen, I still have a chance to develop. Just watch, my figure will definitely be more mature than yours and Violet's!"

"That's a bit of nonsense."

Asagiri chuckled and teased from the side.

"Whether you can go through a second growth spurt, I can't say for sure, but to say that your figure will surpass those two? That's not growth, that's mutation, isn't it?"

"Mutation... Huh? What do you mean? I don't want to live anymore, you just think I'm too small for a child!"

"Hey, don't talk nonsense."

Seeing that Kotoko Iwanaga was about to throw a tantrum, Asagiri emphasized in a serious tone.

"I've already said, I only have one standard, and that is good-looking. I'm not looking down on you. You're the one who keeps saying that you'll definitely have a second growth spurt in the future. Why do you keep emphasizing that? It means you don't like your childlike body. So, it's not me looking down on you, it's you looking down on yourself!"

Upon hearing these words, Kotoko Iwanaga seemed to have been enlightened, and suddenly realized the truth.

"I see... In other words, I should be more confident. I get it!"

"Sigh, you two... that's enough."

Seeing that Kotoko Iwanaga and Asagiri had started their crosstalk routine again, Asuna Yuuki interrupted them with a helpless expression, looking both amused and exasperated.

"Is the intermission over? Can we get back to business now?"

"walk slowly."

Asagiri drew out that sentence, her smile vanishing as she instantly switched to a serious "player" mode, her change of expression as fast as switching personas.

"This thing..."

Asagiri walked behind the human Shura, looked at the spider-skull monster pinned against the wall, and said in a calm tone.

"It must be something like a bug or program conflict in this game world, right? If you listen carefully, you can tell that the noisy electrical sound is very similar to the system error message."

Immediately afterwards, Asagiri looked at the little girl Mita standing there and smiled.

"Where is this place? Why do you call this thing a friend?"

"This...this is my home..."

Cute Mita, like Kind Mita and Hat Mita, seemed to trust Asagiri, who was their "player," very much, and answered softly.

"But... I don't know why, my home suddenly became like this. I can't get out, I'm so scared... Only it is here with me..."

Kind-hearted Mita seemed to be thinking about what she heard.