For the next roughly thirty minutes after that, I had to listen to this girl named Misaki’s stories.
“Munch munch.
This is delicious.
Give me one more.” “No.
Buy your own with your money.” “I don’t have any right now.” “Haa…
Fine, eat it.
Go ahead.” To be precise, I had to listen to her while she stole the lunch I was supposed to eat.
Otherwise, she’d start bawling.
Thanks to that, I learned a bit about this girl named Misaki—that she was a total loner with no friends—and some of her family background.
“So, let me get this straight.
You’re the daughter of a famous exorcist family, and you’re so talented that you can talk to ghosts or see them in everyday life?” “Yeah!” I could tell something was off about her.
What is this, Jujutsu Kaisen?
No, the stories she was telling sounded straight out of some exorcism anime.
The problem was, I couldn’t just dismiss it as a kid’s wild imagination.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [First Scenario Progress: 5%] The thing right in front of my eyes is unrealistic enough as it is.
I’m already the weird one here.
Who am I to call someone else weird?
On top of that, as far as I remembered, two of Ero Villain’s games featured yokai.
One was an escape-the-female-yokai galge set in the neighborhood, and the other was the complete opposite—a story about an exorcist in a tight outfit battling the yokai lurking around town.
Huh?
Wait a sec…
As far as I recalled, the protagonist’s name in that game was definitely…
“Your name’s Misaki, right?” “Munch munch.
Yeah.
So?” “Then what’s your family name?!” “Oh!
Right.
Tachibana.
Tachibana Misaki.” Tachibana Misaki.
Hearing Misaki’s full name, I couldn’t help but be stunned.
First, because the galge protagonist wasn’t a high school girl but an elementary school kid, and second…
This little squirt turns into that body?!
Whoa—the character who made you go “whoa” out loud looked like this as a kid.
While I was pulling a shocked face after hearing her family name, Misaki tilted her head at my expression and asked.
“Why?
Is Misaki’s name weird or something?” “No, it’s not that…” “Pfft!
Then why the face?
You even fed me lunch, and Grandpa said not to tell my family name, but I did anyway.” “Huh?
He told you not to tell your family name?” I voiced my doubt at Misaki’s words.
In Japan, you usually call acquaintances by their family names.
So why hide it?
“Yeah.
He said if ghosts or people with grudges against us hear our family name, they might attack.
So we only reveal it to enemies when we want to, or after completing a mission safely.” Seems like some exorcist family tradition.
Wait a minute, now that I thought about it…
In the game, Misaki’s debut goal was taking down the yokai that destroyed her family, right?
And come to think of it, the protagonist’s family name never came up during the story.
The only times were right before the final boss fight and after defeating the yokai final boss, when she shouted her name and declared the mission complete.
I hadn’t thought much of it back then, but there was this backstory.
Ero Villain, you crazy bastards.
What kind of galge has hidden lore like this?
No, actually, thinking deeper, Ero Villain always had this side to them.
Yeah, they had stories only they knew about that players missed, right?
How does this connect to this world?
“What’re you thinking so hard about?
Oh, and we’ve been talking about my name all this time.
You haven’t told me yours!” No, this wasn’t something for me to worry about right now anyway.
What mattered to me now was…
“Ah, yeah.
My name’s Takuya.
Let’s get along from now on.” “R-Really?
You don’t think it’s weird that I talk to yokai or don’t say my family name?” “Nah, it’s fine.
I’ve seen weirder people than that.” That her family was loaded.
I was just stressing over how to scrape together seed money for Bitcoin.
Play my cards right, and I might snag a sugar mama?
Even pocket change would do.
From a rich family like hers, it’d be on a whole different level from mine.
With that in mind, I pondered how to get along with this kid Misaki—no, my future benefactor.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ About an hour later.
The sun, which had been scorching the ground, was finally starting to calm down.
Takuya said goodbye to Misaki.
“Ah, guess it’s about time for me to head out.” “Already?!
No!
Play more!!” Misaki threw a tantrum at Takuya’s words, begging him not to go, but…
“No.
Not playing anymore.
Go home.” Takuya just held up his palm and shut her down.