The organization came to an end, and Sakurai Hoshi’s life also returned to ordinary everyday life. The believers returned to the side of the god-child, to take care of all of her daily life. The reliable god-child spent every day shuttling between the hospital, the nursing home, and the mental hospital, and under the applause and moved tears of Dad and Mom, used her little hands to hold up this family.
The Wansei Gokuraku Sect was developing in an orderly manner, and the Sakurai family gradually no longer had to worry about money.
Mom also became firm in her new goal. She began, day after day for ten years, to passionately go head-to-head with the evil cult like the Pansixing Sect that dared to use the god-child’s name. And every day she would pretend to be a passerby and squat across from the Pansixing Sect, voyeuristically watching their activities and believers.
After retiring, Dad changed his appearance and took responsibility for helping Mom dig out wall corners, using his silver tongue to promote their own Wansei Gokuraku Sect.
Sakurai Hoshi was responsible for playing god and ghost, and fooling people with itchy-monster exorcism skills.
A clearly divided con artist squad was established!
The life of scamming people was very peaceful, except that when walking down the street they would always run into passersby who suddenly knelt down and cried bitterly, confessed their criminal plans and gave up while crying, forcing Sakurai Hoshi to call the police, and every day she felt like she was being made an example to warn others.
The criminal was that chicken, and she was that monkey, and the police were all chicken-killing experts.
Damn it!!
Was the crime rate in Tokyo really this high??
Criminals, don’t come over here! Get lost!!
She, the cult leader, didn’t want to call the police, and didn’t want to be taken into the station to give a statement either, not at all, and she definitely did not want to preview a behind-bars-tears bad ending in advance, help!!
Every time she sat on the bench at the police station and was questioned by a police officer, she was very grateful that her charm had reached 20, otherwise in such a dangerous world, Dad, Mom, and she would have long been beaten to death by someone or sent to the station to eat pork chop rice.
“Come to think of it, the Tokyo crime rate has dropped sharply recently. So many people have come forward to turn themselves in before committing crimes, and bombs can also be safely dismantled.” The handsome policeman with medium-long hair was called Hagiwara Kenji. After being saved by the cult leader once, he became very familiar very quickly. While taking off his bomb-disposal suit, he smiled and rubbed her head, “You’re really the lucky star of the Metropolitan Police Department, Hoshi-chan.”
The cult leader: I really don’t want a title like that, thanks.
“That’s not a reason for you to be careless. If I catch you messing around again, then you can forget about being a police officer for the rest of your life.” The handsome guy wearing sunglasses beside him had a dark face as he slapped his hand away, this was Hagiwara Kenji’s childhood friend Matsuda Jinpei, the ace of the bomb disposal squad, always the hateful curly-haired one who bullied the cult leader.
The hateful curly-haired one picked Sakurai Hoshi up with one hand and weighed her in his arms. “You’re still this thin. Are you even eating properly? Let’s go, if you don’t finish three bowls of rice today, you’re not allowed to leave.”
“…I want to go home.”
“You’re a hostage right now. Hostages don’t have the right to speak.”
The cult leader: kidnapped by the police, very panicked now.
“Hateful curly-haired one, just some little Jinpei, one day my little brother will punch you to pieces!” Sakurai Hoshi twisted around in Matsuda Jinpei’s arms like a caterpillar, trying to escape the police arrest.
However, her struggle was just acting cute to the curly-haired gorilla. Little Jinpei even showed a mocking, provocative smile on his face: “Hah? Where did you get a little brother, you brat? The snot-nosed Sake-ta next door?”
“It’s Yuta, not Sake-ta. Yuta doesn’t have a runny nose and isn’t my subordinate either, my little brother is an incredibly amazing police officer!” The player entered a berserk state, twisting violently, and was violently suppressed.
Honestly, how could they question the god-child’s ability to take in a little brother.
Hagiwara Kenji was so amused by her and Matsuda that he couldn’t hold it in at all, laughing the whole time. Hearing this, he also leaned over with a pitiful expression, “Eh, so Hoshi-chan already has subordinates? Weren’t you saying last time that I could at least be your attendant?~”
“It’s okay, Kenji. Sakurai Hoshi-sama allows you to join our team. But when the boss doesn’t need you, you have to obediently disappear, okay.”
Actually, Kenji was only attendant number 2, but attendant number 1, the player, had not yet been taken in. Tsk, police who use reverse psychology are really annoying.
“Pfft——” Even Matsuda sprayed. “You brat can still become a boss?!”
“Hahaha cough cough, Hoshi-chan is really ruthless hahaha.” Hagiwara Kenji was almost laughing so hard he choked. “So who is your subordinate? Maybe Little Jinpei and I know them.”
“Hmph, I won’t tell you.” The cult leader’s mole, of course, should be known by as few people as possible!
“Eh~ so cold~ Hoshi-chan doesn’t love me anymore~”
“…You two, give it a rest already!” Passersby were already starting to look weird, idiots!
…
That day, after as usual avoiding the nurse ladies on patrol and finishing a round of the hospital, collecting a large pile of cult fees (protection money), Hoshi received a system prompt.
［Exorcised a first-level curse spirit, perception +0.5］
［Congratulations, player. Your perception has reached 20 points］
[The world of the nonhuman has opened to you. Are you truly ready?]
Wow.
The player opened her eyes wide in surprise and looked around at her surroundings.
Mm…
There was nothing at all, tsk. She thought she would be able to see a Stand user.
Sakurai Hoshi walked out of the hospital, which had been cleaned out by the itchy monster, in disappointment, and casually opened her attribute panel to take a look.
Age: 4 (An infant form with many restrictions.)
Strength: 4 (The strength that had originally been about to drop seems to have barely been maintained through emergency training.)
Constitution: 5 (Your constitution is on a downward trend, please be sure to rest and strengthen your training.)
Agility: 5 (A level where you are guaranteed to fall if you dance. You must be careful even when walking on flat ground.)
Intelligence: 15 (Congratulations! You have become the king of hackers of the present day. Please be careful when using your wisdom.)
Perception: 20 (You can see nonhuman things. Go one step further, and perhaps you can see even more things…)
Charm: 20 (You are God’s favorite.)
Reputation: 249【Order · Neutral】 (You have gained a certain amount of fame among a certain special group in the area where you live.)
The player was very relieved. These past six months had not been wasted!
It seemed that reputation had accumulated through the day-by-day process of making offerings, and probably also reflected the current development of the Wansei Gokuraku Sect. She wondered what kind of effect it would achieve once the reputation value increased…
Her intelligence value was originally already difficult to raise, but fortunately, when she was farming hacking skills before, she completed a hidden achievement, [Found It], and gained 1 intelligence reward attribute point.
Come to think of it, she still had not carefully looked at the detailed explanation of [Found It]. She only remembered that there seemed to have been a title reward.
She opened the system interface, and the achievement column currently only had one black, lifeless [Found It]. Just looking at it made it feel as though she was being stared at by pervasive eyes, giving people a slight chill.
[Achievement: Found It
Successfully tracked Gin’s location 100 times.]
[Bound title: [Eye of Shadow]]
[Description: You are the shadow of the online world. Wherever electronic products exist, there are your eyes. No one can escape your gaze, though perhaps there is someone in this world who is completely free of electronic products?
Effect: Perception +1, real-name detection probability up]
Mm…
No matter how she looked at it, it was a rather subtle achievement.
But in any case, there was no debuff, so equip it, equip it~
The player ignored the somewhat eerie font design, put on the title of Eye of Shadow, and was just about to head home when a black shadow suddenly flashed past the corner of her eye.
?
She turned her head to look at the nurse not far away. On the other’s shoulder was crouching a black mud monster that looked extremely sanity-dropping.
What the hell is that thing?!
Sakurai Hoshi froze for a moment, then immediately opened the system’s enemy identification function, and a label [Level 2 curse spirit] instantly appeared above the black mud monster’s head. Under the label there was also a black bar, which looked a bit like a health bar.
So this was what a curse spirit looked like! Her cute little thing that contributed perception points to her every day!
Come to think of it, how are curse spirits supposed to be fought? She didn’t seem to have any attack skills either. Before, it was always only after the system prompt that she knew she had killed a monster. Even now, Sakurai Hoshi still had not figured out how the battle system was activated.
She didn’t seem to have done anything special either. Every time she exorcised, she just turned on the itchy monster and muddled through the whole thing.
The player thought carelessly as she slowly walked toward the nurse lady.
It’s fine, anyway she had killed 10 level 2 curse spirits a day before and had felt nothing, this thing was definitely very weak! It was probably only at the level of a chicken in the newbie village!
Mm… this world shouldn’t have a situation where killing one chicken would get the whole village to hunt you down…[[1]]
While thinking this, Sakurai Hoshi tentatively reached out her hand. She hadn’t even used any force yet, when that black health bar quickly turned into glowing gold, and the curse spirit also shattered into beautiful points of light.
Huh? Is this the transformation cue?
The player braced herself, and in the next second, the system prompt came:
[Exorcised a level 2 curse spirit, perception +0.0002]
The player who had already prepared to run away: …?
Alright, so it was a existence even weaker than the chicken in the newbie village, a little monster at the ant level.
It was definitely because she was in an infant form, and the system gave her a newbie protection mechanism. Anything that threatened the player’s existence would not appear during this time period, mm, very reasonable!
The player convinced herself and happily finished today’s work.
As for the sorcerers who arrived after she left and dug three feet into the ground but still couldn’t find the curse spirit, that was another matter.
…
Because she had long been inactive before, her constitution, strength, and agility were all on a downward trend, so the god-child had now stopped Sakurai Mom’s habit of spoiling the child. Aside from the basic display, believers were basically no longer allowed to help, and she had begun to do moderate exercise.
In the morning she had to hide in her room to learn dancing, and every day after dinner she had to take a walk in the children’s park, and then fall over on flat ground.
There was no way around it, if agility was too low, this kind of problem would happen.
Sakurai Hoshi struggled to get up, but after falling, the hp -1 and her too-low strength made it so she couldn’t even get up for a while, and could only let the dirt make her skirt even dirtier.
Damn it! So this was the strength that couldn’t compete with a chicken!
It was lucky she hadn’t let the believers follow her, otherwise where would the god-child’s dignity go?!
By the way, Sakurai Hoshi’s hp now was 10 points, too low a constitution was really terrifying!
Just as the player lady was still twisting and struggling clumsily like a caterpillar, a little hand appeared before her eyes.
“Um, can you still stand up?”
Sakurai Hoshi raised her head. It was a very delicate boy, and his face, as he leaned closer, looked a little careful.
It was the child from the neighboring house, and Sakurai Hoshi still recognized him.
“Thank you, Yuta.”
“Ah, y-you remember me?” The other looked quite flattered.
“Mm, we’re neighbors after all. Yuta’s room is also next to my window.” Hoshi took his hand and stood up, patting the dust off herself.
Okkotsu Yuta hurriedly took a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. “S-Sakurai-san, please use this…”
A boy who carries a handkerchief is so cute. …So why did such a cute boy become Snotty Sake-ta in Little Jinpei’s mouth? I strongly suggest that some hateful curly-haired one reflect on himself.
Sakurai Hoshi smiled a little pityingly at Yuta. “Thank you, Yuta can just call me by my name.”
The little boy’s face suddenly turned red. “Ho, hoshi…”
“Mm, Yuta~”
She continued to walk slowly around the little park, and Okkotsu Yuta also slowed down to accompany her.
“I had never seen Hoshi-chan outside before… can Hoshi-chan come out to play now?”
“Mm. Because before I had to help Dad and Mom with things… but exercising is also very important. My body isn’t very good, if I stay at home all the time I’ll get sick.”
“I, in that case, I can…” Okkotsu looked cautiously at the girl beside him, “…go find you to play together?”
“Of course you can. Then starting today, we’re friends.”
Okkotsu blinked, lightly pressed his lips together, and showed a shy smile.
“Mm…! It’s a promise!”
…
Okkotsu Yuta had a secret.
He could see ghosts.
But as long as he was beside Sakurai Hoshi, those things would all disappear.
Although today was the first time they spoke to each other, in fact Okkotsu Yuta had already been paying attention to Sakurai Hoshi for a long time.
When he was just old enough to remember things, his dad and mom did not allow him to interact with the neighbors next door.
“Keep your distance from the family next door, okay. Honestly, they’re mumbling about gods and spirits all day long, why do our neighbors have to be people like that.”
The aunt next door always wore shrine maiden clothes and danced strange dances in the house, the yard was piled with incomprehensible talismans, and every time there was a visitor, eerie cries and screams would come from next door.
Okkotsu Yuta had heard adults say that they were all frauds.
Therefore, when he discovered that he could see ghosts, Yuta subconsciously hid this secret. If he didn’t do this, he would also become the fraud in everyone’s mouth.
Although Okkotsu Yuta already lived very carefully, getting frightened by ghosts or being chased by them was still something he couldn’t control, so Yuta also became a person who seemed spooky and superstitious, and was no longer liked by adults.
…
He didn’t know when it started, but everyone’s attitude changed.
“Truly amazing parents.”
“As expected of a god-child…”
“When will we have a chance too…”
He heard Dad and Mom speaking in awed voices about the neighbor’s “god-child,” and unfamiliar uncles and aunties asking Dad and Mom to help make introductions.
The way Dad and Mom looked at him was no longer so cold either.
“If Yuta can see them, maybe he could accompany the god-child…”
“Did you see it again today, Yuta? …Ah, it must be that one’s blessing…”
“Yuta, Dad and Mom changed your room for you, do you like it…”
Adults are really strange.
Yuta actually didn’t like the new room. The window was pressed tightly against the next door, and he could no longer see the blue sky.
But he would work hard to be a good child, so that Dad and Mom would not hate him.
…
On the second day after changing rooms, when he woke up in the morning and opened his hazy sleepy eyes, he saw the neighbor’s “god-child.”
She was wearing a beautiful yet heavy kimono, her ebony hair was being gently combed by someone holding it in their hands, and her fair fingers were stroking a hydrangea. Noticing his gaze, eyes as soft as wisteria looked toward him.
She smiled.
Like a princess.
The four-year-old Okkotsu Yuta was awakened to a sense of beauty.
Their rooms happened to be adjacent, with only a balcony between the two windows.
If Okkotsu Yuta grew a little bigger, he could easily climb into her room.
He came to like this room.
Yuta learned the name of the “god-child” from the adults.
Sakurai Hoshi.
A name like the stars in the sky, like a princess.
He was full of curiosity and goodwill toward her.
He began paying attention to every movement in the other window, hiding behind the curtains and secretly peeking through the gap at her dancing and combing her hair.
After moving next to the god-child, ghosts never appeared in the room again. Yuta discovered that those terrifying ghosts that bullied him at random would disappear after touching the “god-child.”
She was like a bright lamp, quietly releasing light. Even if it was not by her own intention, somewhere she did not know about, a little boy was warmed by that light.
Okkotsu Yuta seemed to have become a moth from then on, striving to fly toward her.
He heard adults talk about her, “purifying the heart,” “binding ghosts and subduing demons.”
He secretly followed her car to the hospital, the nursing home, and the mental hospital.
He watched her touch the patients, the elderly, the poor, and the noble. He watched her embrace beggars, listen to homeless people’s crying, or gaze at a flower that had suffered much hardship, or stroke an injured bird.
She always seemed very busy. Just like an adult. As if she wanted to see all the sorrowful people in the world.
Perhaps Yuta was also seen by her.
So they became friends.
Author’s note: ① The joke comes from The Elder Scrolls V. When the player first arrives in the starting village, killing a chicken will get the whole village to chase you because your favorability isn’t high enough.
Okkotsu as a child was definitely very fragrant and soft…
Hoshi and Yuta are the same age, and they’re only one Rika childhood friend away from being complete!
Today I finally finished the cover, this is the grown-up version of Sakurai Hoshi, and I also commissioned other age versions of Hoshi!
Rolling around and begging for comments~ Thanks to the little angels who gave me monthly tickets or nourishment between 2022-10-30 03:22:25~2022-10-31 00:09:32!
Thanks to the little angel who gave nourishment: Zhixing 5 bottles;
Thank you all very much for your support, I will keep working hard!