The serum meant to awaken abilities clearly still needed a lot more improvement.
At the current level, it seemed that only the immortal hospital director could truly withstand it.
As for Sayo Hitsugi, she had not really endured it at all. She had simply lost control and gone berserk.
Like a wild beast, she attacked anything that moved.
In the end, Kain was the one who subdued her, wore down her strength, and brought her back to her senses.
Still, it had undeniably strengthened her further.
Sayo's ability seemed to be the type that enhanced her own body.
After that injection, her strength had increased to roughly three times what it had been before.
In the blink of an eye, time had moved on. Out of the one hundred hours he had paid ten energy coins to stay in this world, only fifteen remained.
Next, he arranged a contest with a group of them, a special kind of battle game.
If he won, he could reject any demand made by any of the participants.
If he lost, he had to grant one demand from their side. Not one demand per person, but one single demand agreed upon by all the participants together.
But if he won, he was allowed to make a separate demand of every participant individually.
...
Mikoto Kiba was inspecting something when her expression suddenly changed.
"Oriha, what the hell are you doing? Why did you actually bring out the real thing?"
As she spoke, she held up the bomb she had originally been about to install and shoved it in front of the little bomber girl.
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, the fake one?"
"What fake one? Of course I'm installing the real one."
Without even looking up, Oriha Nashida kept working, adjusting the C4 bomb in her hands.
"Are you out of your mind? You're seriously planning to go all out?"
"So what if I am? Mikoto, were you planning to treat this like some kind of practice match? If we do that, there's no way we can win."
That left Mikoto speechless for a moment.
If they did not truly treat him as an enemy and fight with real intent, then yes, there was no chance of beating him.
"Oriha, adjust the output on this for me. I need it to match the suppression function."
The one who said that was Sayo Hitsugi. She walked over carrying a Gatling gun, making Mikoto's eyelid twitch.
That one was real too.
"Mikoto, everyone here is serious," another voice cut in. "If you're treating this like even a little bit of a game, then I think you should drop out. Otherwise you'll just interfere with everyone else's operation."
It was Yuko Sagiri, currently wiping down her sword.
"I understand."
"Sumire, Haron, here's your gear."
Oriha called the twin idol sisters over. They were joining in too.
But since they were too weak, their assigned role was simple: bait. Cannon fodder.
"Um, is that really all I'm supposed to do?"
The voice sounded soft and adorably hazy. It belonged to the busty beauty, Shizuka Marikawa.
"Shizuka, your job is exactly that."
Her close friend Rika Minami, who was also cleaning her sniper rifle, answered in a tone that left no room for doubt.
"But isn't that kind of underhanded?"
Shizuka still felt it was too dirty.
Because she was also a trap, but not the same kind as the others. Her trap was one that would be used on herself.
She would "accidentally" put herself in danger. If Mr. Kain did not save her, even though she was technically his enemy in this match, then her life would truly be at risk.
But if he did save her, then he would fall into their trap.
That was why she felt her role was particularly shameless.
"All warfare is deception, Shizuka-sensei. Or what, are you planning to lose? Don't you want to win?"
The speaker was Saya Takagi, her tone openly dismissive of any objections to the plan.
"I-I want to win, of course!"
If they won, then they could make that request, the one everyone had already agreed on together.
"But... will Mr. Kain agree to it?"
"Hmph. If he refuses, I'll look down on him for the rest of my life."
As she said that, Saya glanced at someone else, Saeko Busujima.
"Senpai, you're not allowed to leak our plans."
"I won't."
Saeko knew that man wanted a peaceful life.
But she had also seen his true nature.
Deep down, he longed for danger and excitement.
In that sense, he and Saeko were actually the same kind of person.
So rationally, Saeko stood on his side.
Emotionally, though, she stood on everyone else's.
If they won, their demand would be for him to extend his stay in this world to a full month.
They were trying to corrupt him with a stable, peaceful environment. Once he had more energy coins later, the hope was that his desire for an ordinary life would outweigh any urge to keep risking himself, and that instead of adventuring he would spend enough to live out an entire normal lifetime in some stable world.
That world might not necessarily be theirs, since their world had already fallen into an apocalypse.
But they could still do everything possible to turn this world into one gentle enough to heal the hurt in him.
Especially now that the world was, in a sense, being rebuilt from scratch, and they were already far ahead of everyone else. There was a very real chance this world would end up under their control.
And when that happened, he would become the king of this world.
"Then get out. We're holding the strategy meeting now."
"Senpai, this way please."
Rei Miyamoto came over politely and escorted her out.
The reason was simple. Saeko was not truly on their side, but she was not truly on Mr. Kain's side either.
A centrist like that obviously could not be allowed to hear the battle plan.
As the two of them reached the door, they both stopped when they saw a figure approaching from the other side.
"Mrs. Takagi, are you joining too?"
Saeko asked with a smile.
Not every person participating in this operation was in love with him the way Saeko was.
But every one of them liked him more than they liked ordinary men, and each had been drawn in by his mystery.
So for some of them, it was still possible to step away before their relationship with him turned into that kind of relationship.
Yuriko Takagi, however, was different.
If she decided to join, there would be no turning back.
She could only move forward into that kind of relationship.
"Saya is smart," Yuriko said softly, "but in the end, she'll still go soft. She's not ruthless enough. If things stay that way, she'll lose for sure. And I don't want her spending the rest of her life constantly worrying over him either."
With only that, Yuriko walked inside.
Saeko, the daughter of the Busujima family, would trust her more after hearing those words.
Yuriko knew Saeko had been hoping she would join.
And Yuriko also knew that once she stepped into this, there would be no turning back.
But if it could win happiness for her daughter, if it could stop her daughter from living in fear and anxiety, then let her be shameless.
"Mom? W-Why are you here?"
When Saya saw her mother walk in, her emotions immediately turned complicated.
Clearly, her mother had already made up her mind. That meant they had moved one step closer to the wish he had asked for last time.
It also meant her mother would no longer be thinking about dying for love.
Maybe... maybe her mother could grow old alongside her after all.
In fact, this entire showdown had been organized and initiated by Saya herself, after Saeko had told her a few secrets.
"Give me the plan."
"Here."
After reading it for several minutes...
"Add this too."
"Uh, isn't that going too far?!"
Oriha rushed over for a look, sweat instantly breaking out on her face. Mrs. Takagi had added the Ho 229 aircraft, their ultimate trump card, to the plan.
That made a thought rise in her mind before she could stop it.
Could it be that Yuriko Takagi actually intended to kill him?
"It's not too far," Yuriko said coldly. "If you want to win, this has to be included. A man like that is not going to die so easily. If he could be killed by something like this, then he would've died long ago back in his own world."
Her tone was utterly decisive.
If he wanted to become her man, then he could start by conquering her in this match and defeating her.
For that reason, she would not hold back. She would alter the plan without mercy and do everything in her power to create a vicious situation designed to make his defeat inevitable.
(End of Chapter)
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