[Anon: So what's the deal with that anime, anyway? Don't tell me you can use magic?]
Just as Kamijou Mutsuki finished settling tomorrow's plans with the girls and was about to put his phone away, he received a private message from Miss Anon.
[Capitalist: I can't.]
Kamijou Mutsuki wasn't surprised by Anon's question—if anything, he was more surprised that she'd only just asked now.
[Anon: Huh? Don't try to fool me. That sticker of yours is obviously not normal, and you're telling me you can't use magic?]
Having personally experienced the sticker's bizarre effects, Anon clearly didn't believe his answer.
[Capitalist: Magic is a miracle, but miracles aren't necessarily magic.]
Faced with this riddle-like reply, Anon thought about it for quite a while before finally grasping what he meant.
[Anon: Aren't those basically the same thing?]
The girl officially declared that riddle-talkers should get out of the Bandori universe.
[Anon: So basically, you have some ability that isn't magic, but works kind of like it.]
[Anon: Does that mean you can monitor us whenever you want?]
This was the question Anon cared about the most.
Even if she more or less treated this scumbag as a friend, she absolutely couldn't accept living under someone else's surveillance 24/7.
[Capitalist: No.]
That kind of blame was not something he could casually take.
[Anon: Then how do you know so much about what happened between me and Tomori?]
After receiving a clear denial, Anon let out a small sigh of relief.
[Capitalist: Everything that happens on this land may be nothing more than a magnificent play, viewed from beyond the stars.]
[Capitalist: And I merely happened to be an audience member who watched this splendid performance.]
—Wait, did the ghost of Shadow-sama possess you or something?
Facing Kamijou Mutsuki, who seemed like he'd been possessed, Anon was completely speechless.
What on earth was he even talking about?
Could he not just speak normally?
[Anon: Fine, if you don't want to answer, forget it. But that means this world really does have magic and superpowers and other fantasy stuff, right?]
As Anon typed, her eyes practically sparkled with little stars.
At that age, who—boy or girl—hadn't fantasized about things like that?
[Capitalist: Miracles and magic both come with a price.]
What Anon didn't expect was that his attitude suddenly turned serious.
[Capitalist: If you deliberately chase after them, it will only bring misfortune.]
[Anon: Why are you making it sound so scary? I get it, I won't ask anymore.]
The flame of curiosity that had just ignited in Anon's heart was instantly doused by a bucket of cold water, and she replied like that.
[Capitalist: In short—if a strange white creature ever tries to get you to sign a contract and become a magical girl, no matter what it says, absolutely do not agree. Call me immediately.]
[Anon: Huh? Why?]
[Capitalist: People die.]
That single sentence from Kamijou Mutsuki made Anon swallow all her remaining questions.
[Anon: That… sounds kind of scary.]
After that, the two of them fell into silence.
After hesitating for a while, Anon finally asked the question that had been bothering her ever since the conversation started.
[Anon: Um… you and Mutsumi… are you living together now?]
Seeing Anon's message, Kamijou Mutsuki raised an eyebrow slightly, clearly not expecting her to ask something like that.
[Capitalist: What do you think?]
[Anon: Don't answer a question with another question!]
Miss Anon seemed a bit dissatisfied.
[Anon: Forget it. By the way, about your superpower—does anyone else know about it?]
[Capitalist: For now, only you.]
After all, Anon was the only one clumsy enough that he'd needed to use item matches on her.
[Anon: I see. Then… good night.]
However, Miss Anon seemed to have misunderstood this as meaning something else, replying cheerfully before logging out of LINE.
Seeing this, Kamijou Mutsuki also put his phone away.
He looked out at the night scenery beyond the window and let out a small yawn.
At this moment, the virtuous Miss Mutsumi had already gone to wash the dishes, while Kamijou Mutsuki opened the system panel that had almost no sense of presence at all.
Although it was practically absent for most of the time, Kamijou Mutsuki's system was still fairly capable compared to the many "cat-guest" model systems that could only whimper and act cute.
At present, his system contained two kinds of currency.
The first was Money Value, which represented all profits generated from Kamijou Mutsuki's anime productions.
It wasn't actual cash, but conceptual profit.
That is, when Kamijou Mutsuki spent Money Value in the system, the money he earned from anime in reality would not be affected, and vice versa.
At the same time, the system calculated the total revenue of the anime, not just the portion Kamijou Mutsuki personally received.
For example, the shares later given to the band girls would also be counted as Money Value.
The function of Money Value was to purchase anime scripts from the system.
Moreover, Kamijou Mutsuki's system wasn't like some shoddy systems riddled with bugs—only scripts purchased from the system would generate profits after being produced. Anime recreated purely from his memories of a previous life were not recognized by the system.
The system's second currency was called Houbun Value, formed from the mental energy generated by viewers watching the anime, somewhat similar to an "emotion value" concept.
Houbun Value could be exchanged within the system for various magical items and skills, divided into a normal pool and a limited pool.
The normal pool was the system's built-in exchange shop, which changed every day.
Although extraordinary abilities and items occasionally appeared, most of it consisted of ordinary items that existed in the real world.
From gold and silver at the low end to nuclear bombs at the high end—these items all appeared with relatively high frequency.
As for the limited pool, it allowed the exchange of items and skills that appeared in the anime Kamijou Mutsuki had produced.
For example, the only limited pool Kamijou Mutsuki currently had included things like "Soyo's firmness," "Riki's emotional intelligence," and "Wakaba Mutsumi's way of speaking," among many other exchange options.
The sticker Kamijou Mutsuki had previously used on Anon came from this very limited pool.
Moreover, although Kamijou Mutsuki had only produced MyGO!!!!!, in the system's evaluation the BanG Dream! pool had been unlocked directly.
As a result, Kamijou Mutsuki could also exchange for the abilities of the senpai characters.
Of course, for Kamijou Mutsuki himself, these didn't really have much use.
Because—
Name: Kamijou Mutsuki
Innate Skill:Omni-Musicality (Purple)
That's right. The skill levels possessed by most BanG Dream girls were probably lower than his.
If that still feels abstract, to put it more plainly: even Raana, who is set up as a genius, only has a blue skill that's one tier lower.
A purple skill is already the pinnacle of what mortals can reach. The moment one appears, it almost always represents the peak of an entire era.
It's similar to so-called "holy physiques" in certain novels—once they appear, they're enough to dominate a whole generation by themselves.
Of course, given Kamijou Mutsuki's current physical condition, no matter how powerful the skill, it wouldn't help much. He was basically saying goodbye to instruments altogether.
It wasn't that there were no skills in the BanG Dream pool that could help him, but what he needed most right now were items and abilities that could repair his body.
.........