Under Uchiha Hikari's gaze, Erii scribbled a few more lines in her notebook before holding it up again.
"…So, this account is shared by Xia Mi and her brother, but Fenrir mostly handles it, and recently he's been learning to play online games with you?"
Hikari tilted her head, picturing the giant dragon Fenrir sprawled out in the Nibelungen of a Beijing subway station, clumsily using his massive claws to control a tiny game character in a World of Warcraft raid.
Yeah… that's a weird image.
But for Fenrir, it was probably something to celebrate. As the "slow" kid among dragons, he used to pass the time with old movie discs, beer bottle caps, and candy wrappers. Playing online games with Erii was a huge upgrade in his quality of life.
Just wondering… has Fenrir ever gotten into a flame war with some hotheaded gamer bro?
That'd be a sight to see.
…
Fenrir's gaming habits were just a small side note.
Next, Hikari munched on a fruit platter sent over by the Snake Qiba family—luxury stuff in Japan, the kind most people could only afford a few times a month. While eating, she pulled out a map to check the rendezvous point Xia Mi had mentioned in her message.
The location of the "Bronze City" was no mystery.
It was near the "White Emperor City," in the southwest of Tokyo, Japan, at roughly a 30° angle. The distance was about 3,000 kilometers, practically spanning all of China.
But…
That distance was nothing to "Shangri-La." Hikari had used it to travel thousands of kilometers in the Akame ga Kill world. The Dragon Clan world was new territory for the device, though, so the teleportation might not be pinpoint accurate, likely with some margin of error.
"Let's give it a shot."
After confirming the general destination, Hikari signaled Esdeath and Erii to stand in front of her. She raised her wristwatch, channeling her mental energy into the Teigu, her consciousness stretching southwest.
Mountains, rivers, and bustling towns flashed through her mind before settling on a remote, uninhabited spot.
"Get ready…"
"Here we go."
With that, a massive lavender teleportation circle appeared. With a whoosh, Hikari, Esdeath, and Erii vanished from the spot.
"?!!"
The Snake Qiba researchers were stunned.
They couldn't see inside Erii's bedroom—after all, she was a young woman with a mature figure, and even without Hikari's presence, Genichiro wouldn't dream of putting cameras near her bed, respecting her privacy. But Shangri-La's teleportation circle was large enough that even the living room's surveillance caught some traces of it.
"What just happened? Did Miss White King… take Erii and the 'Ocean and Water King' with her?"
"It looks like some kind of spatial teleportation… Could it be the Mangekyō Sharingan's Kamui?"
"I knew it! Kishimoto must've been to Miss White King's Nibelungen! And he even saw that ability!"
"…We need to talk to Mr. Kishimoto again. He might know something about the 'Water King' too."
Amid the researchers' chatter, Kishimoto Masashi and Naruto's credibility skyrocketed.
Some even threw out wild theories like "the Nine Tailed Beasts are all Miss White King's dragon vassals" or "Water Release was probably inspired by the Water King Esdeath," debating them with utmost seriousness.
Whether they'd reach any conclusions was anyone's guess…
But it's safe to say this world's Naruto was barreling toward an even wilder plot divergence.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Hikari and her group appeared thousands of kilometers away in a sparsely populated forest in mainland China.
"Is this that 'China' place?" Esdeath asked, squinting at their surroundings. "Doesn't look much different from Erii's world."
"Of course not," Hikari replied, pulling out her phone to check their location on a map app. "You haven't seen any people yet. Scenery's pretty similar everywhere."
"Hm… We're probably at the border of Sichuan and Chongqing, near a tributary of the Yangtze River, about 150 kilometers off from Xia Mi's coordinates. But she's probably just arriving there herself, so we'll take our time heading over."
Based on Xia Mi's intel, Cassell College had only just started exploring the "Bronze City." Retrieving Constantine's bone bottle and shipping it back to their Chicago headquarters would take at least ten days to two weeks, if not longer.
So, they had plenty of time to act.
More than finding Constantine, Hikari wanted to linger in this world's China for a few days, do some sightseeing, and take in the scenery. As a Chinese person herself, being here felt like coming home, even if it was a different world. The familiarity was comforting.
"Let's go, Esdeath, Erii."
"First, we'll find a place with people, grab some food, and then check in with Xia Mi."
Hikari waved her hand, her feet lifting slightly off the ground as she floated toward a town marked on the map. Esdeath and Erii followed close behind.
…
Over an hour later, the trio stood on a small county town's street, each holding a roasted sweet potato wrapped in wax paper. They nibbled slowly, blowing on the steaming bites while watching the bustling crowd.
"How's it taste?" Hikari asked, glancing at Esdeath and Erii.
Erii couldn't respond easily—her hands were full with the sweet potato, and she needed to write to communicate. As for Esdeath…
"Not bad. Kinda like a mountain fruit I ate as a kid," Esdeath said with a nod, then frowned slightly at the crowd. "What's with these people? Why do they keep staring at us? And what language are they speaking? I can't understand a word."
"Well…"
Hikari's group had indeed drawn a lot of attention since entering the town.
And no wonder—their appearances were striking.
Three women with long, flowing hair—one dark red, another ice-blue—and two of them exuded an aura of commanding authority, like queens from a movie. The third, Erii, was pure and untainted, like a blank canvas, creating a perfect contrast with the other two.
It was a combination most people would never see in their lifetime.
In just a short while, a few bold locals had approached, quietly asking if they were foreign celebrities or VIPs, requesting autographs or photos.
—Cosplayers? That possibility was ruled out. The regal air of Hikari and Esdeath wasn't something you could just "cosplay." If someone could pull that off, they'd have to come from serious money.
"Sorry, we're just regular tourists here to sightsee. Photos are fine, but no autographs," Hikari explained with a friendly smile.
"…Wait, you speak Chinese?" one of the locals asked, surprised.
"Of course."
Hikari politely declined the autograph requests, then took two big bites to finish her sweet potato, gesturing for Esdeath and Erii to follow her.
Good thing Yamato didn't come along this time.
With her towering height and distinctive look, she'd have drawn an even bigger crowd.
For the rest of the day, Hikari leisurely led Esdeath and Erii around the county town. They shopped at a mall and even tried a roller coaster at an amusement park—the money for it all came from Hikari exchanging some gold nuggets she carried.
They kept at it until the next afternoon, when they returned to their temporary inn room. Hikari then contacted Xia Mi via phone to check in and see if she had any plans or a timeline for meeting up.
When Xia Mi learned Hikari was already near Sichuan, her tone was full of surprise:
[Shrimp: Whoa, Big Sis Hikari, you're already here? That was fast!]
[Hikari: Fast?]
Hikari paused, then realized why.
Right—Xia Mi didn't know about Shangri-La.
From her perspective, Hikari would've had to fly from Tokyo to Beijing or Shanghai, then transfer to another flight to Sichuan—a process that'd take two or three days at least.
—High-purity dragons could fly at high altitudes, like Herzog, the "Pseudo-White King," who used Erii and the Genji brothers to revive in the original plot. But flying 3,000 kilometers straight was a massive physical challenge. Even for a Dragon King, avoiding human radar detection mid-flight wasn't easy.
Hikari didn't explain any of this.
Xia Mi, after a brief moment of thought, quickly shifted to another topic.
[Shrimp: Got it. Please stay where you are and don't move. I'll come find you.]
[Hikari: Sure.]