Tokyo Soft Rice King.

However, this time it is indeed the 'real thing'.

Can't anyone else see it?

Saotome Fuyumi's left eye was emitting a golden glow unlike any other that came with her colored contact lenses...

That was a 'golden eye'.

Although he had been mentally prepared beforehand, when he actually confirmed it, Kuroba Akira felt a mix of complex emotions.

There's a sense of reassurance that 'I'm not alone,' a sense of unease that 'this ability isn't exclusive to me,' and a sense of dread that 'there really are extraordinary abilities in this world.'

After exchanging identities, Saotome Fuyumi put down her mug and pointed to the door.

"Or... shall we go outside and talk alone?"

“Of course, that suits me perfectly.”

A secret meeting between people with special abilities has begun.

Chapter 257 God's Agent

Originally, Fuyumi Saotome was planning to take Akira Kuroba out to find a meeting room to talk, but Akiko Takanashi suggested that the rest of them wait outside while the two of them stayed in the director's office to talk.

After everyone had left, Saotome Fuyumi took a hair clip from the breast pocket of her jacket and clipped the bangs that were covering her left eye back up before starting the conversation.

"Actually, when Akiko told me about you, I already had the feeling that we were kindred spirits. I think you must feel the same way, right?"

"Yes, that's what I thought of from the very beginning."

Kuroba Akira nodded in agreement, while Saotome Fuyumi smiled and said...

"After all, people who do extraordinary things are either confident of success or have gone crazy because their brains have gone mad, and you and I both seem to belong to the former."

"I agree."

Whether someone is an investor or a gambler depends on whether they act based on reason or emotion.

In his past life, Kuroba Akira had met many people who were all impulsive but lacked seriousness.

For example, most of those who followed the trend and opened stores lost money. Is it really just because they missed the right time?

That might be part of the reason, but more often than not, these people are simply 'blindly following the trend,' making hasty decisions without deeper thought.

Things like the store's location, the potential customers in the surrounding area, their spending power, and whether there are competitors... 'Preparation' is the most important part.

Starting a business without considering the consequences is something only wealthy young people can do. Even for second-generation rich kids, starting a business without a brain can easily lead to the squandering of their family fortune.

For ordinary people who have no cost of trial and error and whose goal is to make money, they need to investigate all relevant information.

If you still fail after doing this much, then learn from your experience and try again.

Both Akira Kuroba and Fuyumi Saotome possess the ability to 'obtain information that others do not know,' which is why they can profit from it.

At this moment, Akira Kuroba was curious about the different effects of Fuyumi Saotome's abilities compared to his own, while Fuyumi Saotome was curious about the 'source' of Akira Kuroba's abilities.

The two tacitly chose a question-and-answer format, where each person asked a question and received an answer before switching roles. It was essentially a negotiation method where they exchanged information they wanted to know.

This time, it was Saotome Fuyumi who asked the first question.

"So, which deity protects you?"

"Gods?"

Kuroba Akira was stumped by the first question. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, but that he genuinely didn't know what the other person was asking.

He even had a question in his mind: 'So there really are gods in this world? That's ridiculous!'

Then a further thought is, is time travel also the work of gods?

Saotome Fuyumi, seeing Kuroba Akira's expression, knew what was going on and said with her arms crossed.

"Ah...it seems you were 'uninformed'...well, let's put that question aside for now, and I'll answer one of your questions for free first."

Kuroba Akira knew that her free answer was meant to prompt him to ask questions, so he treated it as an opportunity to understand the worldview and cooperated by acting like a novice.

Do gods really exist in this world?

“I don’t know about other countries, but they probably exist too. In this country, there are indeed ‘supernatural beings’ like gods. However, they are very different from the omnipotent gods you know. Gods do have some incredible abilities, but they are not omnipotent beings.”

“I can understand that. After all, if gods were truly omnipotent, they wouldn’t be unknown to the public until now, and there wouldn’t even be any trace of their existence.”

“That’s right. Although this country has the saying of ‘eight million gods,’ most of them are just ‘ninety-nine gods’ that are not worth mentioning.”

The "eight million" does not actually refer to eight million gods, but rather to the idea that "all things have spirits," and the "ninety-nine gods" actually refer to "tsukumogami" (spirits or deities).

Simply put, objects that embody human longing and are left unattended for a hundred years will gain a soul and transform into monsters.

To put it bluntly, it's become sentient.

This shows that Japanese culture has been deeply influenced by the neighboring continent; many concepts are interchangeable, just with different names.

"Only a few deities with strong faith can incarnate as 'human gods'."

The term "human god" refers to deities who appear in the human world in human form, but nowadays it often refers to "humans possessed by gods".

In a certain lunar worldview, it would be described as something similar to Ishtar-Rin.

"This is related to the origin of the existence of gods, because gods are beings born from human faith, so what gods can do is actually determined by 'what people hope gods can help them with.'"

"I understand now. Gods are actually the embodiment of faith, the vehicle for wish-granting machines."

"That's right, you grasp things very quickly. Young people these days are really good at accepting new things."

After all, Akira Kuroba is a character from the world of anime and manga, and this kind of setting is very common in various anime, games, and novels.

Saotome Fuyumi continued her explanation.

"Generally speaking, the stronger the faith in a deity, the greater its power. However, it is also subject to more restrictions and can hardly appear in front of people. However, faith allows deities to exist, so when deities receive people's prayers, they must give back to humanity... This is why 'agents' like us exist, endowed with a certain power of the deity."

"I see. So, our abilities also come from the gods. We are like 'divine messengers,' tasked with helping the gods complete their missions... But the gods didn't tell me what to do, did they?"

“I’ve also seen agents like you who are completely unaware and think they’ve awakened superpowers. This might be because some gods once had great power, but as they were forgotten by people and their faith weakened, their power also degenerated, and they even lost the ability to appear in front of people, so they ‘cannot tell their agents’. Another reason is that they feel ‘there is no need to tell them’.”

"That's very strange. They've already found an agent, but they haven't told the agent what to do..."

As soon as Kuroba Akira finished speaking, he thought of a reason why he didn't need to tell him.

"No, wait, I understand now. It's because the purpose of finding an agent is to allow the agent to 'use power,' right?"

"That's right. In fact, there is only one thing God wants us to do, which is to keep using our abilities to perform 'miracles' in front of people and gather 'the power of belief' for God."

Therefore, the reason why gods seek agents is that, given their numerous powers, they can hardly appear directly. So they seek agents to share some of their powers and let the agents help them exercise those powers.

It's roughly similar to Jehovah and Jesus, where God sent his son to earth to perform miracles.

While the Bible is largely fictional, it may also contain events that actually occurred in this world.

"Um, I have another question... If an agent uses their power to do bad things, won't the gods be affected?"

"Ha, even the faith of an evil person is still faith."

"...I see. Anyway, it doesn't matter who it is to the gods, as long as there are always people praying to them, they can have faith and continue to exist."

"That's right. Some gods do have a preference for good and evil because of their origins, but most gods don't have the human concepts of good and evil or morality. After all, what people ask of gods most of the time is not 'good and evil,' but 'profit.' So the essence of gods is actually the same as 'capital.' Do you understand what I mean?"

Capital is not a thing, but a social relationship between people mediated by things... There is a similar 'social relationship' between humans and gods.

Kuroba Akira nodded, then shook his head helplessly.

After deconstructing the lofty and supernatural existence of 'gods', we find that their essence is nothing more than 'human desires,' which gives us a very poignant feeling.

"However, it has been a long time since I have seen an agent like you who is detached from the circle of the powerful and wealthy."

"Miss Saotome, have you seen any other ability users?"

"Of course I've met them. Many of them are high-ranking figures in politics and tycoons. They are rarely seen, after all, these people control the most resources and can bring more faith to the gods."

"Good heavens... so even divine power has been 'monopolized'..."

"Yes, but for those guys, the powers bestowed by the gods are just a 'convenient means.' Even if they don't use them, they can often achieve the same results with money and power, it just takes more effort. So, the power might actually be a nuisance for them..."

"Trouble? Does that mean there will be some punishment if I don't use my powers?"

"If you don't use it, you'll be cursed by the gods. What will happen depends on how far the gods can go. If it's mild, you might just have bad luck for a month. If it's severe, you might lose your life."

"Uh uh..."

Kuroba Akira glanced at his palm. Fortunately, he had been using his ability the whole time... Wait, was he really 'using' his ability?

Does simply looking at something count as using it?

However, Akira Kuroba knew that the free answers Saotome Fuyumi had provided for him were over, and it was now his turn to answer.

"Well, since you don't know which god gave you your power, tell me what your power is, and I will tell you what my power is in return."

"no problem."

Kuroba Akira briefly explained his ability to see words in both hands, but he deliberately omitted mentioning his ability to copy talents.

"So what you can see is talent and proficiency, right?"

"Yes... but that's just my personal opinion."

"I see. You must be very confused because no one explained your abilities to you. I was just like you at first, not knowing what I was seeing. I only found out what it was later."

Saotome Fuyumi pointed to her golden left eye and said.

"This eye can see 'human obsessions'."

"Obsession...that's a bit abstract."

"Hmm, Kuroba-kun, you must have seen Dragon Ball, right?"

"Of course I've seen it."

“What I can see is something like ‘qi’ that surrounds a person. In reality, that is a person’s obsession. So I specifically select people with strong obsessions to join my firm because they often have unparalleled motivation. Even without talent, they can relentlessly climb to the top.”

"I see……"

As the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way.

Some people talk about how hard they want to work, but they never actually take any action. This is because their motivation isn't strong enough.

That's why she valued Akiko Takanashi so much, but had no interest in Shion at all.

It's because she and Kuroba Akira can see different things.

On one side is obsession, on the other is talent.