Yukiko brought her palm down onto the table with a light slap, demanding, “Eri, what was the real reason you asked me out today?”
Eri crossed her legs with practiced elegance.
As the undisputed victor in her own mind, her aura of superiority practically radiated through the air.
She offered a relaxed smile: “Originally there was a minor matter, but it is no longer relevant.”
“Think about it.
We have competed against each other for decades, yet neither of us could ever claim a decisive lead over the other.”
“We have always strived to stand one step above our rival, and today, that lifelong competition has finally reached a definitive conclusion.”
“Because of that, I am in an exceptionally wonderful mood, and lunch today is on me.”
Yukiko slapped the table again in exasperation: “Hey!
You don’t get to unilaterally declare yourself the winner out of nowhere!”
“This makes zero sense.
You can’t honestly believe you’ve defeated me, can you?”
Eri lightly clapped her hands together once, her smile widening: “Isn’t the result painfully obvious?”
“Obvious where?
Eri, you are acting completely unhinged today.
Have you finally lost your mind?”
Eri let out a soft, amused chuckle: “It doesn’t matter.”
“Regarding this matter, those who know will naturally understand, while those who don’t will remain forever in the dark.
There is simply no need for further explanation.”
Once the meeting concluded, Yukiko Kudō found herself growing increasingly irritated the more she replayed the conversation, her mind tangled in sheer perplexity.
Eri’s entire demeanor throughout their chat had been that of an undisputed victor.
It was not a shallow bluff, but a profound, unshakeable conviction that she had thoroughly triumphed in every conceivable way.
Yet Yukiko remained utterly clueless as to what had triggered it.
She could not fathom what metric Eri had used to place herself on such a high pedestal.
“Unbelievable!” Yukiko clenched her fists tightly, failing to suppress a frustrated hiss under her breath.
She meticulously retraced every single detail of their encounter.
The strange behavior had started the exact moment Eri pointed toward the empty table, asking whether she saw a Diary sitting there.
When Yukiko confirmed seeing nothing, Eri’s face had instantly broken into that haughty victor’s grin, overflowing with sheer superiority.
At first, Yukiko genuinely suspected Eri had suffered a mental breakdown.
Yet throughout the rest of the meal, Eri spoke with her usual razor-sharp intellect, remaining the exact same composed attorney she had known for decades.
It was precisely this completely baseless air of triumphant superiority that left Yukiko seething, while simultaneously sparking an overwhelming wave of curiosity.
Yukiko, who had originally planned to catch an overseas flight, decided to postpone her departure indefinitely.
She swore she would unearth whatever hidden secret had made Eri Kisaki believe she had suddenly surpassed her so thoroughly.
…
Elsewhere, Hayashi Rin was actively parsing and compiling geographical and historical intelligence regarding the realm he now inhabited.
From what he had gathered thus far, this crossover anime world was a vast amalgamation of various Japanese anime and manga franchises.
The geopolitical landscape was structured around the Five Great Nations: the Land of Ke, the Nation of Japan, the Land of Chrysanthemum, the Land of Shadows, and the Land of Sakura, flanked by numerous smaller sovereign territories.
For instance, the Land of Ke where he currently resided was a massive fusion of properties like Case Closed, Magic Kaito, Lupin the Third, Cat’s Eye, Saki, the Hidden Cloud Village, and numerous others.
Meanwhile, the Nation of Japan was an integration of A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Magical Index, Date A Live, Kuroko’s Basketball, Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, the Hidden Stone Village, and similar settings.
Reviewing these geopolitical overlaps, Hayashi Rin could not help but let out a long sigh of genuine awe: “How in the world did they blend all these together?”
“Diary System, your craftsmanship is truly out of this world!”
Yet a chaotic reality like this made things infinitely more exhilarating.
Had the narrative progression of a single story remained entirely predictable and linear, the thrill of this grand adventure would have been severely diminished.
Furthermore, with so many distinct anime universes occupying the same physical reality, the sheer number of breathtaking heroines scattered across the globe was astronomical.
That naturally meant boundless potential interactions awaiting him in the future.
As a transmigrator, what was the true, ultimate objective of journeying across dimensions?
Was it merely to engage in endless, grueling warfare just to establish absolute dominion over the cosmos?
Such an assumption was entirely flawed.
Hayashi Rin did not subscribe to such a tedious philosophy.
Fighting across dimensions and ascending to the peak of sovereign authority was merely an intermediate stepping stone, never the ultimate purpose.
It was nothing more than a necessary procedure along the path, alongside serving as entertainment to stave off boredom during the journey.
Hence, territorial conquest was never a mandatory goal.
In his eyes, the foundational essence of traversing dimensions was to savor the absolute finest quality of life and attain eternal, immortal existence.
Every other action taken along the way was merely a supporting pillar to secure those two core desires.
To truly enjoy life, one required an unshakeable material foundation, absolute inner gratification, and boundless freedom unburdened by outside interference.
Amassing overwhelming personal might existed purely to guarantee the sanctity of those three conditions.
The pursuit of refined pleasures arose naturally once the basic necessities of survival were permanently resolved.
Once hunger and shelter ceased to be concerns, the company of extraordinary heroines became the natural elevation of spiritual fulfillment.
Consequently, every stunning heroine from across the anime pantheon—all those two-dimensional beauties he had admired in his past life—he fully intended to claim for himself.
…
A new dawn arrived.
By early the following morning, Ran Mōri, Sonoko Suzuki, and Kazuha Tōyama were seated in a tight circle, anxiously awaiting the next update to the Diary.
“Why hasn’t the text updated yet?” Ran muttered anxiously, tapping her foot: “This guy is insufferable, always stopping his explanations right at the most critical moments.”
“Why can’t he just tell me directly where Shinichi is hiding right now?”
Sonoko patted her shoulder soothingly: “Calm down, Ran.
Our family’s investigators have already begun canvassing the prefecture, and I’m sure we’ll have leads on this guy in no time.”
Just as she finished speaking, fresh lines of glowing text began to manifest across the open parchment of the Diary, etching themselves row by row.
The Diary was updating in real time, and witnessing the mystical data stream appear out of thin air left all three girls in absolute awe.
[Good morning, my lovely ladies.
Did everyone sleep well last night?]
[Did any of you spend the entire night tossing and turning from insomnia just wondering where I might be?]
[I’m willing to bet at least a few of you did.]
[Whether you rested well or not is something I can’t say for sure, but personally, I slept like a baby.]
[You must all be dying of curiosity regarding what kind of grand reward I received from yesterday’s diary entry, right?]
[Well, I don’t mind sharing that detail with you.
The quality of the reward is frankly extraordinary, even if it doesn’t solve my immediate combat needs just yet.]
[The item I obtained is called a Resurrection Token.]
[Once per week, I can generate one brand-new Resurrection Token.
Its primary function is to bestow an additional ten years of lifespan onto whoever activates it.]
[And the natural secondary effect that comes with it is true resurrection.]
[This occurs because if a ten-year lifespan extension is forced upon an individual who has already passed away, that individual must logically undergo resurrection first in order to actually receive and experience those ten years of life.]
[It is strictly due to this causal logic that the system designates it as a Resurrection Token.]
[Furthermore, this resurrection mechanism carries zero temporal limitations.
Even if the target individual has been deceased for thousands or tens of thousands of years, they can still be pulled straight out of the boundless river of time and brought back to life.]
[Naturally, executing a resurrection using only a name is insufficient, given how many people have shared the exact same name across human history.]
[Therefore, to guarantee target accuracy, the user ideally needs a biological sample from the deceased individual, whether it be a bone fragment or a single strand of hair.]
[If no direct physical remains exist, even a single drop of blood from a direct bloodline descendant will suffice, even if the genealogical gap spans dozens or hundreds of generations.]
[On top of all that, this lifespan extension comes bundled with absolute, ageless youth.]
[To illustrate: if someone uses a Resurrection Token at age twenty to gain ten years of lifespan, the lifespan granted is ten years locked at the biological state of age twenty, meaning their physical appearance and vitality will remain permanently frozen at twenty for that entire decade.]
Can’t wait to see what happens next?
Plus, I’ll be dropping exclusive 18+ content there much earlier.
Your support means the world to me!