Crossover PS 209 (Patreon)

Asuna leaned back in her chair, looking at the four people opposite her, suddenly realizing a very awkward thing. She didn't even have their contact information.

"Um..."

Asuna gripped her fingers, her voice much softer than before, "Have we... not added each other's contact info yet?"

Mahiru blinked and suddenly smiled. "Oh, right."

Erii tilted her head. "Did Asuna only just remember?"

Asuna's face instantly turned red. She had been too busy being nervous, ordering food, and introducing the restaurant to remember this at all.

"I-I thought... adding each other in the game was enough..."

"It's not enough." Mahiru smiled and took out her phone. "What if one day we can't log into the game?"

Asuna was stunned for a moment, then smiled along.

Right, what if?

She pulled out her phone and opened her QR code.

After everyone had scanned the QR code, Asuna put away her phone, feeling much more at ease.

Not game friends, but real-life contact info—the kind where you can talk to someone at any time.

"When's the next time?" Asuna asked quickly, as if afraid she'd regret it.

Mahiru thought for a bit and said, "This weekend? Minoru has to go to school during the week."

Kiss-Shot spoke up, "What difference does it make if he goes to school or not? I've never seen him actually go to school properly."

Minoru: "..."

Mahiru couldn't help but laugh. "Tjis weekend, we can pick a place and cook together? Since everyone likes cooking, we can exchange tips and then we can go to a restaurant for dinner."

Asuna's eyes lit up. "Is that okay?"

Mahiru nodded. "Of course. I want to learn from you too."

Erii raised her hand. "I want to learn too."

Minoru said, "Okay. See you this weekend."

...

After saying goodbye, Asuna stood at the door, watching them walk toward that black luxury car by the roadside.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

It was the feeling of a string that had been taut all day finally loosening.

She had done it!

She had treated them to dinner, chatted, exchanged contact info, and made plans to meet again.

Minoru poked his head out from the window. "Asuna."

"Eh?"

"Go back early. Send a message when you arrive."

Asuna was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Okay."

The car door closed, and the black car merged into the traffic of Ginza.

In the car, Mahiru leaned against Minoru's shoulder. "Asuna is such a nice person."

"Mm."

"She's great at cooking, picking restaurants, and she speaks so gently."

Minoru turned his head to look at her. "Jealous?"

Mahiru glared at him. "I am not."

Minoru asked, "Then why are you praising her so much?"

"Can't I praise people?" Mahiru buried her face into the crook of his neck. "Besides, she really is very good."

Minoru smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair.

As the car turned into an alley, Kiss-Shot suddenly spoke, "We're here."

Mahiru sat up from Minoru's shoulder and looked out the window. The light of the Infinity Castle flickered in the night, like an entrance to another world.

Mahiru looked at Minoru. "Then I'll head back first. Are you taking Erii to her brother's place?"

Minoru nodded. "Yeah, a trip to Genji Heavy Industries."

Mahiru leaned over to give Minoru a light peck on the cheek. "Come back early."

"Okay."

Soon, the figures of Mahiru and Kiss-shot disappeared into the light.

Minoru leaned back against the seat and glanced at the driver's seat. The one driving was the humanoid Black Sperm.

Psykos had helped find a reliable driver, guaranteed not to talk out of turn or look around aimlessly.

This Dragon Level Monster, who once gave the Hero Association a headache, was now wearing a black uniform, hands gripping the steering wheel, eyes fixed ahead, driving more steadily than any professional driver.

But in reality, his heart was in turmoil, a state he hadn't recovered from since Minoru's group started dinner.

If Psykos hadn't found him, he would currently be playing a monkey at the zoo and he would be constantly living in fear that Minoru would find him and give him a punch.

'Good thing I became a driver. Thank you, world.'

As for the car itself, Minoru had asked Miyako to help find it.

"Shibata-san, are we going directly to Genji Heavy Industries?" Black Sperm's voice was incredibly respectful.

"Mm."

The car merged smoothly into the traffic flow.

Erii sat beside Minoru, her fingers resting on her knees, watching the night scenery flow past the window.

Minoru turned to look at her. "Are you nervous?"

Erii nodded. "A little. I'm afraid brother will be angry. I've been gone so long and only told him once, he must be very worried. But I don't regret it. If I hadn't gone with Minoru that day, I would still be in that room, looking at the ceiling, waiting for the nurse to bring food, waiting for brother to occasionally visit, not speaking, not going out, not contacting anyone."

"Minoru, do you know? I once watched a drama called 'Tokyo love story'."

Minoru tilted his head slightly. "Oh?"

"It's about several people falling in love, it's a story of a love quadrangle. A boy likes a girl, but that girl has someone else in her heart. There's another girl who likes that boy very much and is especially good to him, but in the end, the boy still doesn't choose her."

"At the end, that girl leaves alone and cries very sadly on the train. But later when she meets the boy on the street, she still smiles and greets him, as if nothing had ever happened."

"I didn't quite understand back then why someone could like another person so much and still be able to let go with a smile in the end."

"Later I watched many anime, including the harem type. The male lead can like many girls, they all live together and are very happy, no one gets sad."

She lowered her head, looking at her fingers. "But Tokyo love story is different. It's very real, to the point of being scary."

Minoru guessed what Erii was going to ask next.

"So I was wondering, is Minoru a person from an anime, or a person from Tokyo love story?"

Minoru was silent for a while, his gaze falling on the flowing night scene outside the window.

He thought back to when he had first arrived in this world. At that time, he thought this was just a game, a playground where he could plunder opportunities and change the plot at will.

Later he met Mahiru, Mai, and more and more people. They weren't NPCs, they were real people. They would laugh, cry, be afraid, be dependent, and give all their trust to him.

Thus, this world was no longer a chessboard, and those characters were no longer chess pieces.

He had been thinking about this question for a long time and still hadn't figured it out.

A harem anime male lead can take everyone's kindness for granted. He can say things like 'I love everyone' with a smile and navigate between countless feelings with ease.

The audience would just say, 'It's a harem anime, you lose if you take it seriously.'

But in reality, a human heart is only so big, it can't hold that much. That is life.

What about himself?

He had transmigrated here and changed the endings of countless people.

He could shatter the Monster Association with one punch and rewrite causality but he didn't know the answer to this question.

He didn't even know who he was. Was he a person from a story, or a person from reality?

He didn't know which path he should take.

The path from a harem anime where everyone is happy, or the path from reality where a choice must be made.

Perhaps all of this would only be resolved on that day—when he unraveled the mystery of his transmigration and found the source of it all.

Only then would he make a decision.

Minoru looked at Erii and asked, "What do you think?"

"I don't know but no matter what kind of person Minoru is, I want to stay by Minoru's side. Not because Minoru saved me, nor because Minoru is good to me. It's because..."

"It's because when I'm by Minoru's side, I feel like I'm alive."

"Thank you for taking me away."

"Thank you for calling out to me at that intersection that day."

"Thank you for not sending me back."

"Thank you for letting me know that I can be seen too."

"Minoru, do you know? You are the brightest light I have ever seen."

Soon, Erii fell asleep, her head resting on Minoru's shoulder. Her fingers had, at some point, come to rest on the back of Minoru's hand.

Minoru rolled up the car window a bit to block the night wind.

...

As the car entered Shinjuku, Minoru patted the back of Erii's hand. "Erii, we're almost there."

Erii's eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't wake up.

"Erii." Minoru called again.

She hummed and leaned further into his shoulder. "Mm... five more minutes..."

Minoru couldn't help but laugh.

This was the first time he'd seen this. It turned out the usually quiet and obedient Erii also had times when she wanted to sleep in.

After a while, Erii finally woke up on her own. She blinked, realized she was leaning on Minoru's shoulder, was stunned for a moment, and then sat up straight.

"We're here?"

"We're here."

Erii looked out the window and saw the Genji Heavy Industries building.

She took a deep breath and reached out to tidy her messy hair. She also looked down at her skirt, smoothing out the wrinkled parts.

"Let's go." Erii took a deep breath and said.

Minoru stepped out first and turned to offer her his hand. Erii took Minoru's hand and stepped out of the car.

The main entrance of Genji Heavy Industries was brilliantly lit.

The guards at the entrance saw the car and instinctively stood up straight.

This was a Maybach 62S. People who could afford such a car were either rich or noble, at the very least a partner-level figure of the company.

But when their gaze fell upon the young girl who stepped out of the car, their expressions changed instantly.

It was Uesugi Erii.

The Head of the Uesugi Family who had been missing for several days.

The Uesugi Erii who had the entire Executive Bureau scouring Tokyo.

The Uesugi Erii who had caused Gen Chisei to drop all official business, mobilize all connections, and nearly turn the whole of Tokyo upside down.

The guards instinctively turned their heads to look at the figure at the building's main entrance.