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

“I’ve always wanted to come to an arcade, but as you know, my mom is very strict with me. I’ve never even played games on a computer or phone, let alone come to a place like this. Have you ever been to an arcade before?”

Asagiri answered casually.

"I came here often during junior high school, but not so often after that."

"why?"

"Because no one can beat me, those competitive games become boring, and then I can beat those PVE games in one life, so I eventually get bored."

Asuna Yuuki smiled helplessly and sighed.

"Your life is truly amazing."

After exchanging 100 game tokens at the front desk, Asuna Yuuki clutched the sealed bag containing the tokens and, together with Asagiri, searched for games that interested her in the arcade. After a few minutes, she finally set her sights on the basketball shooting machine and eagerly asked to try it out.

"This looks interesting, how do you play it?"

Asagiri explained with a smile, "See that basketball inside the fence? Once the timer starts, just throw the basketball into the hoop, and then the total score will be calculated. If you reach the target, you'll advance to the next level; if you don't, the game ends. It's that simple."

Asuna Yuuki glanced at the row of machines in front of her and said thoughtfully.

"If we start the game on two machines at the same time, does that mean we can still have a match?"

"Wow, you're quite quick to understand."

"Of course."

Asuna Yuuki raised her fair chin and challenged Asagiri.

"Let's have a match then!"

"You want to challenge me?"

Facing Asuna Yuuki's challenge, Asagiri said confidently.

"I am the strongest."

……

five minutes later.

"Yes, I won!"

Seeing the numbers displayed on the scoreboard, Asuna Yuuki smiled with delight. Looking at Asagiri, who was filled with regret, dejected, beating her chest and stamping her feet, filled with remorse and unwilling to accept defeat, with an expression as if losing the game had made life meaningless, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Alright, stop acting. I know you went easy on me, but you're still putting on an act. This is too exaggerated, you've overdone it."

Upon hearing Asuna Yuuki's words, Asagiri's expression immediately changed, and she chuckled lightly.

"Is it an exaggeration? Isn't failure such a heartbreaking thing?"

"whispering sound……"

Asuna Yuuki made a sound that was ambiguous, like a kitten whining or a child expressing dissatisfaction, and gently bumped Asagiri's shoulder, deliberately pretending to be somewhat disgruntled.

"If you're deliberately letting me win, then it's pointless even if I win. How about we bet on something?"

"Yo ho?"

Asagiri looked at Yuuki Asuna with great interest and asked curiously.

"What do you want to bet?"

"Um……"

Yuuki Asuna pondered for a few seconds, then blushed slightly, tiptoed closer to Asagiri's ear, and whispered.

"If I win, I'll stay at your house tonight. If you win... you'll invite me to stay at your house tonight."

"There are bets like this?"

Asagiri looked surprised and teased.

"So you're just making sure you stay at my place all the time?"

"What, you're not convinced?"

Asuna Yuuki crossed her arms over her chest, deliberately acting somewhat willful, slightly raising her fair chin, and couldn't help but smile.

"As your official girlfriend, my rights are limitless~"

……

That evening, at the convenience store downstairs from the luxury apartment building where Asagiri lived.

"that……"

Asuna Yuuki, carrying a shoulder bag and holding Asagiri's hand, blushed shyly but still made a bold and direct statement.

"Toothbrush, towel, bath towel, I need to buy these, since I'll be coming here often in the future..."

Faced with Asuna Yuuki's direct attack, Asagiri was not to be outdone and immediately retorted.

"Then why don't you just move in with me and live together? It'll just be the two of us."

"That won't work."

Asuna Yuuki refused quite readily, but the reason for her refusal was rather peculiar.

"What if Kotoko finds out I moved in with you... and she starts making a fuss about wanting to move in with us again?"

Faced with this question that could be described as a battleground, Asagiri answered without hesitation.

"It's okay, the most important thing is for the four of us to live a good life together."

"four people?"

Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly, looking somewhat puzzled.

"Aren't there three?"

"That's a bad word."

Asagiri waved her hand and said something in a serious tone that left Yuuki Asuna speechless.

"Kato Megumi is also part of our team. Now that we've brought her into the strategy group, we should share the good times and the bad. How can we exclude her now? She'll be upset if she feels left out."

6

Chapter 06: Their Intimate Night.

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki looked helpless and sighed.

"You're quite fair, aren't you?"

"That's natural."

Asagiri explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Don't forget, my initial persona, the masked man Shura, corresponds to the upright Emperor in Tarot. As the saying goes, it's not scarcity that's the problem, but inequality. Soothing the emotions of every team member is also my responsibility as the captain."

Where do you get all these fallacies from?

As Yuuki Asuna muttered to herself as she took two towels, a bath towel, and other daily necessities such as a toothbrush and a wash cup from the shelf.

"Hmm... there's also face wash, conditioner, body lotion, and things like that, but convenience stores probably don't sell those... I'll just buy new ones when I go shopping with Hui and bring them to your house, but..."

At this point, Asuna Yuuki suddenly looked troubled and muttered something under her breath.

"My allowance this month doesn't seem to be enough. I don't really want to tell my mom about buying new toiletries..."

"I'll buy it for you."

"That won't work."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki waved her hand and refused outright.

"As a boyfriend, it's one thing if you want to give me a gift, but the toiletries I use aren't cheap. I'd feel bad if you bought them all. If you really want to show your affection as my boyfriend, well... just buy me a bottle of shampoo."

Looking at Yuuki Asuna's sweet smile, Asagiri smiled and said.

"Let me guess, of all the things you just mentioned, shampoo is the cheapest, right?"

"It's not cheap either, it costs over three thousand yen~"

Seeing that her thoughts had been seen through by Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna stuck out her tongue, made a face, and then took Asagiri's arm with a smile.

"No matter how close we are, I can't let you spend money on me all the time. That wouldn't be good. So, just give me a bottle of shampoo as a return gift for the meal I cooked for you last time."

"I don't care."

"How can you not care? You're a student too, and you don't have any income..."

“I have income.”

"Eh?"

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki was taken aback for a moment, her eyes revealing curiosity.

"Are you working? But I've never heard you mention it before."

"Work? No, no, no, that's impossible."

Asagiri shook his head, then, with the air of a reclusive sage, slowly began to speak.

"I am an independent butter maker."

Asuna Yuuki: "...As expected of you."

In that instant, Asuna Yuuki's mind flashed through many possibilities for Asagiri's income sources, such as investing her parents' inheritance, becoming a training coach based on her brilliant athletic career in junior high school, and competing in martial arts tournaments.

She even considered that, given Asagiri's personality, she might just wander around the streets, beat up any bullies she saw, and then rob them of all their money—that would be another kind of "working."

The only thing I never expected was that it would be making stand-alone butter?

As expected of Asagiri, even its source of income is so abstract.

Is making butter... a profitable business?

"It's alright. My main goal isn't to make money, but to bring joy to people."

Asagiri sighed, looking quite emotional.

"It's a pity that after becoming a player, I no longer had time to continue making eroge. Alas, the independent eroge world has lost one of its most brilliant stars, which is truly heartbreaking."

……

Later that evening, at Asagiri's house.

"Well... I'm going to take a shower now."

With a hint of shyness on her pretty face, Yuuki Asuna bent down and kissed Asagiri's cheek, saying something slightly coy.

"You should go take a shower too... Tonight, well, you know, I..."

As Yuuki Asuna spoke, the blush on her face became more and more obvious, but in the end she mustered up her courage and spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"Let's sleep together tonight..."

Asagiri nodded without hesitation.

"I think so too."

"Don't look at me like that, it's embarrassing..."

Asuna Yuuki blushed, her eyes welling up with tears, and carrying a handbag containing a change of clothes, she entered the ensuite bathroom attached to the master bedroom.

Just as Asagiri was about to enter another bathroom, his phone suddenly rang.

"Master Ashikaga, what's wrong?"

“Utsunomiya-kun.”

Ashikaga Miwa, on the other end of the phone, greeted him first, then spoke softly.

"I'm calling to remind you that those news reports on the internet have all disappeared. I don't need to specify what kind of news reports they are; you should know."

Asagiri knew that the news reports Ashikaga Miwa was referring to were the previous reports about disappearances, and that many people in the comments section had also mentioned the news about the death game.

He wasn't surprised, he just said calmly.

"It seems that the authorities have begun to control public opinion. Come to think of it, if this kind of thing is allowed to ferment, the whole world will become unstable."

"That's right, so I called to remind you of something."

Ashikaga Miwa's tone was very serious, more serious than usual.