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

result……

[Send failed, you have been blocked by the recipient]

Upon seeing this prompt, Fujiwara Chika's smile instantly froze.

“Utsunomiya-kun…”

"Did you block me?"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Asagiri, after smoothly completing the process of rejecting and blocking, put down her phone, looked at Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi in front of her, and said with a light smile.

"A game of strategy? Anyone who wants to play a game with her should just block her."

……

Two days later, on Saturday, at 2 a.m.

[Player Utsunomiya Asagiri, now entering the instance.]

[The location of this instance is: ? ? World]

[This instance has no time limit.]

The objective of this "player" mission is to obtain experimental data stored in the ??? Research Institute. Once any player achieves this objective, all surviving players are considered to have successfully completed the mission.

[Tip: Please keep a low profile]

After the thick red fog dissipated, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi, who had changed into combat gear and were holding weapons, could see clearly again.

But what appeared before the four of them was unexpected.

"A girl with a sword and a cloak? What is that, cosplay?"

"What anime character is that wearing a black trench coat, a gray mask, and chains wrapped around his forearms? He looks so cool."

"And what's that? A mysterious young lady attending a masquerade ball? She's quite glamorous, but a bit short."

"What a strange group of three people..."

Looking at the endless stream of people in front of her, and noticing the occasional curious glances from others, Asuna Yuuki was stunned.

She looked around and realized that she and her companions were at what seemed to be a crossroads in a city. The pedestrians were all acting normally, and it looked no different from Tokyo.

"This...is this the instance?"

23

Chapter 23, a massive dungeon, is now open.

"What exactly is here..."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked at the scene before her and immediately took out her phone to confirm that there was no signal, just like when she entered the dungeon. This was enough to prove that this was indeed the other world of the dungeon.

but……

Why is the location of this instance so normal?

The three women had imagined countless scenarios they might encounter after entering the dungeon, but they never expected that the dungeon location this time would be a bustling metropolis that looked no different from Tokyo in the real world, with towering skyscrapers and a constant flow of people.

What is too normal is abnormal.

While Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato were still in a daze, Asagiri had already taken off her gray mask, walked up to a young woman in a suit and skirt who was passing by, stopped her, and said in a smiling voice.

"Hello, my phone is dead. Can I borrow your phone to make a call?"

"Huh? I'm in a rush to get to work, don't hold me up..."

The office lady looked up impatiently, but when she saw Asagiri's handsome face with a smile, a blush appeared on her face, and her attitude changed completely, even becoming somewhat awkward.

"Okay, here you go."

"Thank you."

Asagiri took the phone from the woman, dialed a number randomly, then put the receiver to her ear. After nearly ten seconds, she handed the phone back to the young office worker with a smile.

"I couldn't get through, but thank you anyway."

"You are welcome."

The white-collar woman nodded, then blushed slightly and asked.

"Judging from your appearance, are you a college student? Could we... exchange contact information?"

"Goodbye."

Asagiri naturally couldn't exchange contact information with the other party, but simply turned around and walked to Yuuki Asuna and the others, and said softly.

"Let's find a quiet place first before we discuss this."

……

Five minutes later, in a quiet alley.

"Come out, Mitta."

As Asagiri crushed the tarot cards, Crazy Mita appeared before everyone.

"I've just hacked into that person's phone and have gathered enough information about the situation in this world."

Although the team's four phones are unusable in this world, Crazy Meta can hack into the phones of other people in this world and use them to obtain some basic information about this world, of course, limited to publicly available news that can be found online.

"This is Tokyo."

"what?"

Yuuki Asuna was somewhat surprised by what she heard, but it also seemed reasonable, and she murmured to herself.

"No wonder I had a sense of déjà vu as I walked along. Come to think of it... isn't this the Ginza shopping district?"

"Although this is Tokyo, it is not the Tokyo of your world. Of course, the basic structure is similar. From the information I have, there is only one difference between this world and your world."

Crazy Mita looked at the four members of the team in front of her and slowly spoke.

"There exists a kind of creature in this world... called 'Ajin'."

"Demi-humans?"

"Correct."

Crazy Mita nodded first, and then continued to explain.

"The physical structure of demi-humans is exactly the same as that of humans. No matter what detection method is used, it is impossible to accurately distinguish demi-humans. Even demi-humans themselves may not know that they are demi-humans. The only way to distinguish demi-humans from ordinary humans, and also the only special feature of demi-humans, is..."

“Demi-humans will be resurrected after death.”

Upon hearing the word "resurrection," even the usually composed Kato Megumi couldn't help but show a look of shock in her eyes.

"You mean... demi-humans can't die?"

"No, death is still death."

Crazy Mita paused for a moment, letting the four members of the team in front of her digest this astonishing news before slowly speaking.

“Demi-humans grow and age normally, and they can also get injured. In these aspects, they are no different from humans. However, their abilities will only be activated at the moment of true death. After a demi-human dies, he will be resurrected, and his body will return to a healthy and complete state.”

"In this world's view, demi-humans are not considered human beings, nor do they have any human rights. Their physical structure is no different from that of humans, but they can be resurrected repeatedly. They are a very valuable species, such as those used in clinical medical research."

"Therefore, once someone is officially identified as a demi-human, they will be hunted down and wanted, with absolutely no room to survive. This is what I know about the special features of this world at this stage."

After listening to Crazy Mita's report, a terrifying thought popped into Asuna Yuuki's mind.

"Could it be that the research institute mentioned in the dungeon's objective is the one where the demi-humans are imprisoned? The data we need is experimental data about the demi-humans? Isn't this way too difficult...?"

Not only Asuna Yuuki, but also Megumi Kato and Kotoko Iwanaga shared the same idea.

The difficulty of clearing this dungeon is ridiculously high.

First, you need to find the location of that research institute. If you think about it for a moment, you'll realize that the location of such a research institute that studies demi-humans must be a top secret. Players who come to this world don't even have a legal identity, so it's incredibly difficult to find out such top-secret information.

Even if the research institute's location is found, the official institutions of this world will definitely deploy defensive forces in such an important location, which means...

Players who want to break into the research institute will face heavily armed guards, or even elite mobile units.

The bizarre, the special infected, the crazy Mita—these enemies the squad has encountered in the dungeon so far are certainly terrifying, but compared to the mobile forces armed with guns, they are not really a threat.

Which player can withstand a bullet head-on? Even Asagiri, if hit in a vital spot by a bullet, could die, let alone most players whose strength is far inferior to his.

How do I pass this level?

"Calm down."

Just when Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga felt helpless and even somewhat desperate, a warm touch suddenly came from their palms.

Asagiri grasped both of their hands, her face still bearing her usual relaxed smile.

"Have you forgotten? The system doesn't give you a guaranteed death goal. The reason we think this dungeon is ridiculously difficult is just because we don't have enough information yet. We can't give up now."

Hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga gradually calmed down, but when they saw him holding one of them in each hand, they couldn't help but feel a little shy.

"that……"

Kato Megumi, who had been like a transparent person since entering this world and was even ignored by passersby, suddenly uttered a surprising statement in a soft tone.

"Judging from this atmosphere... did they leave me some space? Does it mean I should cling to the leader?"

"You should say goodbye soon."

Seeing Kato Megumi's serious expression, Asagiri quickly shook her head.

"What's with clinging to my legs? It's a good thing we're only a four-person team. If it were a six-person team, with four people clinging to my limbs and one person pulling on my neck, I'd be torn to pieces! Forget it."

After using this abstract phrase to ease the heavy atmosphere, Asagiri finally returned to serious player mode.

Let's take a look at the special hints we each received.

"it is good."

The four members of the team each took out their phones and began to check the special prompts they had received for the dungeon.

Asuna Yuuki's special tip is: "When facing certain targets, severing their limbs might be wiser than killing them outright." Kotoko Iwanaga's special tip is: "In this dungeon, there are targets whose mental strength far exceeds yours; please handle them with caution." Megumi Kato's special tip is: "Even with your exclusive skill activated, you may still attract the attention of certain individuals."

The special tips they received were mostly from their own perspectives, while the special tips Asagiri received seemed to have little to do with his own combat abilities, but rather with his special profession as a diplomat.

Including you and the other players, there are three factions in this world.

After reading all the special tips, Asuna Yuuki seemed to be thinking.

"The special alerts that Necro, Phantom, and I received all seem to be warning us to be wary of certain people. Since Mita just said that there doesn't seem to be any supernatural power in this world besides demi-humans, we can tentatively assume that the system is warning us to be careful of demi-humans. And the special alert that Leader received..."

Asuna Yuuki raised her hand to support her fair chin, her brows furrowed as she murmured.

"There are three factions. We players are one, the official faction is another, and the third... is it the demi-humans? Combining this with the special hints we received, it means that in the system's assessment, although the demi-humans are the targets of the world's official hunt, they are not entirely without the power to resist? At the very least, they can be called a faction. But I don't think the ability to resurrect is enough for the system to give such an evaluation. In other words, in addition to the information known to the public, the demi-humans must possess some special powers."

"Yes, that is indeed a possibility, but we don't have enough information right now to draw a conclusion. But there's one more thing..."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked at the people in front of her and spoke softly.

"When we registered, the system reminded us that this was a dungeon that would take at least 24 hours to complete. Why is there such a restriction? There are two possibilities."

"The first possibility is that the research institute is not only hidden but also very remote, not located in any city. Otherwise, if we find the location of the research institute and manage to take the tram, it would be possible to complete the clearance within 24 hours."

"The second possibility is that the research institute's defenses are too strong for players to breach at this stage, but..."

"Starting from the moment we enter the instance, something will happen in twenty-four hours that will cause the defenses of the research base, which was originally impregnable and impossible to breach by force, to collapse, thus allowing us to either break through head-on or infiltrate it."

24

Chapter 24: The All-Seeing Sage, Hui.

Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's analysis, Megumi Kato spoke softly.

"I feel the second possibility is more likely. If it's just a matter of distance... we're currently in Tokyo in central Japan, and the two furthest places are Hokkaido and Kagoshima."

"Going to Hokkaido takes less than four hours by Shinkansen, and seven hours to Kagoshima, but it only takes two hours by plane. Even if the research institute base is not in the city, plus the time needed to gather intelligence, I think twenty-four hours is more than enough."

"While none of the four of us possess any special mobility abilities, the other players might have skills like flying and sprinting, or even vehicle-type equipment and items."

After Kato Megumi finished speaking, Asagiri couldn't help but sigh.

"Wow, this is the episode where you talked the most."

Kato Megumi smiled slightly and tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear.

"As a member of the team, I also need to think hard and make the contributions I should make."