Onmyoji who mingles in the world of anime

Of course, although she was very satisfied, she didn't hold back at all, saying, "As expected, your smiling face makes me want to punch you, you cunning devil."

After saying that, she looked at the black cat and said, "Black cat, I won't lose again next time."

"I won last time, and I'll win again this time," the black cat said confidently.

Although the two were at odds, that was all. Afterwards, Umaru and Hinata Kaho sat down next to Kuroneko and started discussing the other players.

As top players in the game, this conference should bring out many of their "old friends," but it's just a matter of who's who.

……

Not long after, a host walked up to everyone and introduced the details of tomorrow's competition.

First, the number of participants is determined. Considering that some participants live far away, even if a participant is not present at the moment, they will call the other party to confirm whether they want to participate.

If the other party wants to participate, then their spot will still be confirmed; if they don't, then naturally they won't be in the subsequent competitions.

Similarly, Umaru said that Tachibana Sylphynford went back to his home abroad with his brother, so he most likely won't be able to participate.

Fortunately, she couldn't participate in the competition, otherwise Umaru would have to consider whether or not she should participate.

After all, she didn't want her classmates to know that she was a gamer behind the scenes.

Next, they talked about the competition process, covering a lot of details, but in summary:

The competition lasted for two days. Because of the short competition time and large number of participants, the competition was conducted simultaneously. The elimination rounds were held in waves until the top sixteen were determined. Only then would the subsequent matches be held one by one.

Because of the time constraints and heavy workload, everyone might have to work a little harder. Then, he went on and on with a lot of encouraging words and the prize for the champion, hoping that everyone would compete to their best ability and show their style, so that the game would sell even better.

After saying all that, the host announced that everyone could leave and that they just needed to be there promptly at 8:00 AM the next morning. If anyone was five minutes late, they would be considered to have forfeited.

……

The next morning, a long line of people had already formed outside the stadium.

Tsuchimikado and his team got up early, ate breakfast at seven o'clock, and rushed to the competition venue. When they entered the venue through the contestant passage, they found that most of the contestants had already arrived.

In the players' lounge, some chatted in small groups, others played on their phones alone, and still others practiced their skills with their own controllers...

Soon, it was eight o'clock. Under the excited and curious gazes of the audience, the contestants followed the signs to their positions, sat facing their opponents, and waited for the match to begin.

……

The first day of the competition ended quickly.

Regardless of the results, all the athletes felt one thing: they were tired, really tired.

Because there were five contestants from each region across the country, each contestant had to go through five elimination rounds on the first day alone, until the top sixteen were selected.

Furthermore, none of the participants in the national competition are weak, and defeating them is not an easy task for most players.

Even Tsuchimikado Fuyu encountered a top-tier player in the round of 64 and narrowly lost to him.

Like Tsuchimikado Fuyu, Hinata Kaho also failed to make it into the top 16. She fared slightly better than Tsuchimikado Fuyu, narrowly losing to her opponent in the round of 32.

Fortunately, there are still Black Cat and Umaru, so Chiba won't have no one make it into the top 16.

It is precisely because of them that Chiba became the only region with two contestants making it into the top sixteen.

Chapter 994 The Match Ends

"Kuroko, Umaru, it's up to you guys now." After the first day of the competition, Hinata Kaho said to Kuroneko and the others with some regret.

"Hmm." The black cat nodded and said calmly.

Unlike the others, she dominated the entire way and easily made it to the top 16.

"Let's leave it to Umaru next." In front of her "old friends" like Tsuchimikado Fuyu, Umaru rarely revealed her true nature, acting like a lazy, good-for-nothing girl, and said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, I heard a name during the match today that sounded familiar, but I forgot who it was," Tsuchimikado Fuyu said thoughtfully, scratching his head.

"A familiar name? Is it someone we know?" Hinata Kaho asked curiously.

"I don't know, I think her name was... Lisa or Sally?" Tsuchimikado Fuyu frowned as he recalled, "I think she was near me once, so I heard her name by chance, but it was so fleeting that I've forgotten about it."

"Lisa?" Umaru and the other two looked at Tsuchimikado Fuyu with puzzled expressions. They searched carefully for their old friends from the games but couldn't find anyone with that name.

"It's Sally!" Just then, a brown-haired girl walked over with a short-haired black girl and said somewhat speechlessly, "I didn't expect to see so many old friends at a fighting game competition. Japan is too small."

“Sally… Oh! It’s you! I was wondering why your name sounded so familiar.” Tsuchimikado Fuyu suddenly realized, “I didn’t expect you to be participating too?”

Sally is also a player in this circle of high-level gamers. She is a lone wolf player who rarely joins guilds and usually prefers to play assassins in online games or fighting games.

Because of their high level of concentration and rich gaming experience, they are able to avoid most attacks and are considered skilled players.

However, because she is an assassin, even if you play the same game, you may not necessarily encounter her.

This also led to the fact that although Tsuchimikado and the others had added her as a friend, they often forgot that there was such a person in their circle.

Of course, these are just Tsuchimikado Fuyu's impressions of her in the game. When Tsuchimikado Fuyu saw her in person and the girl next to her, he was stunned.

He thought it was already outrageous that Kirito existed in this world when the gaming industry was still in its early stages of development.

He never expected that even the famous Maple from his previous life would appear.

That's right, these two girls are characters from an anime from my previous life, called "Because I'm too afraid of getting hurt, I maxed out my defense."

Sally is the female lead's best friend and the one who got her into this mess; she's also fiercely protective of her wife.

As for the female lead, she is naturally the girl with short black hair, whose real name is Honjou Kaede and game name is Maple. She is a shield girl who has maxed out her defense and has decided to stop being human.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the current state of Honjou Kaede, since games haven't yet developed to the point where you can play virtual reality games.

Let alone virtual reality, even VR and AR haven't really developed much yet.

“I suddenly sense that you’re thinking about something rude,” Sally said speechlessly. “As expected of you, the cunning Revelation. Just looking at you, I can tell you’re plotting something wicked.”

“…Hey! That’s slander, isn’t it?” Tsuchimikado Tou said speechlessly, “Tianyu, my real name is Tsuchimikado Tou, I’m from Chiba, nice to meet you.”

"Natsumi, whose real name is Hyuga Kaho, is from Chiba."

“UMR, just call me Umaru, I’m also from Chiba.”

"Chiba's Fallen Saint Black Cat, whose original name was Gokou Ruri, and whose future name is Tsuchimikado Ruri."

"..." As soon as the black cat finished speaking, everyone stared at her in utter confusion. Good grief, you're just introducing yourself! Why did you suddenly have to feed us dog food?! Aren't you polite?

Ruri Tsuchimikado, you two are too old to get a marriage certificate!

The black cat blushed slightly under everyone's gaze, but she still confidently clung to Tsuchimikado Fuyu's arm, as if asserting her dominance.

There's no way around it. Umaru was already a top-tier beauty, and now two more beauties have appeared. Given Fuyuki's luck with women, if he doesn't keep a close eye on them, who knows how many of these girls will become their sisters in the future?

Fortunately, Sally didn't seem to care and smiled, saying, "Sally, my real name is Risa Shiramine, and I'm from Tokyo."

"Um... this..." After everyone introduced themselves, Honjou Kaede felt incredibly awkward, like a husky that had wandered into a pack of wolves.

After all, she never plays any games, let alone knows any game names; she only came to accompany Risa to the competition.

How did it suddenly turn into a gathering of big shots?

She had watched the entire match. Although she didn't know the rankings of Tsuchimikado Fuyu and Hinata Kaho, she remembered clearly the names of Kuroneko and Umaru, who were also in the top 16 like Risa.

Seeing her good friend's (wife's) flustered state, Shiramine Risa quickly took her hand and comforted her, while introducing her to Tsuchimikado Fuyu and the others:

"This is my good friend, Honjou Kaede, but she doesn't play games much; she just came to watch my match."

Seeing Shiramine Risa's skillful yet gentle movements, Tsuchimikado Fuyu smiled to himself, thinking, "As expected of you, you're such a protective husband."

……

Tsuchimikado Fuyu and the others chatted with Shiramine Risa and the others for a while, then had dinner together before going their separate ways.

The next day, the round of 16 officially began.

In this match, Kuroneko, Umaru, and Shiramine Risa all won and advanced to the quarterfinals. Similarly, Tsuchimikado Fuyu and the others also discovered another familiar face in the quarterfinals: Kirito.

In the quarterfinals, Risa Shiramine was eliminated after encountering Kuroneko, while Umaru narrowly defeated her opponent and also advanced to the top four.

Thus, the four finalists were determined: Kuroko, Umaru, Kirito, and an elderly man whom no one recognized.

That's right, he's an elderly man, and it's said that he's almost sixty years old. I don't know how he does it, but at such an old age, his reflexes are still so fast.

"Sigh! We lost, we lost. Black Cat is too strong. His reaction is insane." Shiramine Risa returned to everyone's side after losing the match and said helplessly.

"After all, the black cat's greatest strength is her dynamic vision and reflexes," Tsuchimikado Fuyu sighed. "But I didn't expect her next opponent to be that Kirito guy. He's not easy to deal with."

After all, Kirito and Kuroneko are players with similar talents. Their talents and game skills are evenly matched. If Kuroneko is not careful, he is likely to lose the game.

Tsuchimikado Fuyu's prediction was correct. The battle between Kuroneko and Kirito was extremely difficult. The two were evenly matched, and the fight was back and forth, making it a thrilling spectacle for the audience.

In the end, Black Cat won by a narrow margin, with a score of 3:2.

On the other side, the match between Umaru and the old man was also incredibly exciting, but Umaru ultimately emerged victorious.

Finally, in the final, Umaru redeemed herself, quickly securing a brief victory with a score of 1:2.

Unfortunately, the black cat fought back fiercely, and the two quickly tied. In the final battle, the black cat once again found Umaru's weakness by a slight advantage, and won the final victory, taking home the championship trophy.

Black Cat, Umaru, Kirito, and the old man known as the God of War have earned their spots in the World Championship. The fifth spot will be chosen from the remaining four players in the quarterfinals.

In other words, if Risa Shiramine performs exceptionally well, she still has a chance to secure the fifth spot.

Risa Shiramine lived up to expectations, overcoming all obstacles and defeating her opponents with brilliant maneuvers to secure a spot in the world championship.

While she was seriously playing the game, Tsuchimikado and the others got to know Kirito offline and became acquainted with him. As for what would happen in the game later, they would just keep messing with each other as usual.

Chapter 995 Christmas Preparations

The day after the end of the Street Fighter IV National Tournament, today is a special day because it is December 25th, which is Christmas Day.

After the match ended yesterday, it was already quite late, so Tsuchimikado and his team didn't go straight back but stayed in Tokyo for another night.

This morning, the three of them got up at a leisurely pace, packed their things, had lunch, and then slowly headed to the station to go home.

On the way, Tsuchimikado Fuyu also bought a lot of gifts, intending to play Santa Claus tonight.

Of course, it wasn't just Tsuchimikado Fuyu who was preparing Christmas gifts; everyone else was also thinking about how to spend Christmas today.

"Venet, we'll do whatever you say today." At home, everyone was gathered in the living room, and Raphiel said enthusiastically to the excited Venet.

Ah~ the sheer intensity of this immorality—having Vinnie, this devil, lead us angels to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ—is so incredibly...exciting.

"Hmm, but speaking of which, where did Satania go? I thought she was going to cause a huge scene today," Winette asked, puzzled.

She had already made various plans to deal with Satania, so as not to ruin the festival activities she had worked so hard to prepare today, but she did not expect that Satania would disappear early in the morning.

“I know that,” Rikka said. “Satania said she will carry out the Demon King’s will and bring terror to the world on Christ’s birthday, ruining his birthday celebrations!”