Tokyo Psychic

Momoka Kawahara's expression became very depressed and tired.

The evening breeze passed by her, making the corners of her clothes rustle.

She bent down to pick up a can of beer, sat back down next to Kurusu Akatsuki, and put her arm around his shoulders without hesitation.

"Life is truly cruel. Everyone's innocent dreams are shattered time and time again. Having dropped out of high school and having no source of income, every day four of us tiredly squeeze into a small room, lying on the sofa and discussing the future...it's as if all the hardships and difficulties we're going through aren't so painful anymore."

“That was truly the happiest time I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

There was a somewhat unpleasant smell of alcohol coming from Kawahara Ki Momoka's body.

Even when adults shed tears, they are full of repression and restraint, and the sleeves that wipe the corners of their eyes gradually become wet.

The Phantom Thief who instinctively wanted to push her away now just restrained this physical and psychological disgust, endured it calmly, and then listened quietly to Kawahara Ki Momoka's confession.

"Life here is so fast-paced. The city is so big, but it always feels crowded. I've saved over a hundred thousand yuan, but I'm reluctant to spend it. I don't dare to spend it. I just keep the money in my wallet. I've walked into livehouses several times, but I haven't even had the courage to ask the owner if I want to be a resident singer..."

"As for me, I've actually thought about leaving Tokyo several times." Kawahara Ki Momoka finished a can of beer and threw it into the empty plastic basket. Then, with those dim, tear-filled eyes, she looked at Kurusu Akatsuki, who was standing right next to her. "If you hadn't suddenly invited me to join the band, I would probably have left here alone and gone to a smaller place closer to them."

"Is it Kyoto?" Kurusu Akatsuki, who had also finished a can of beer, looked up at the dark night sky.

A tipsy-looking Kawahara Momoka shook her head. "It's Kawasaki. Life there is slower, prices are lower, there are no jerky highways, and no tall buildings that are as dense as a forest and block out the sunlight... We took our first steps as a band in Kawasaki."

Kurusu Akatsuki asked her, "Do you think we are the same kind of people?"

Kawahara Momoka shook her head again, her voice becoming softer, "Of course not."

"Because you are actually very dazzling... A diamond is a diamond. Even if it falls into the dust and deliberately buries itself, it will still shine brightly."

Kurusu Akatsuki wanted to say something else when he found that Kawahara Ki Momoka had fallen over and was lying in his arms.

This is a drunken blackout.

He looked at the empty beer cans on the ground. He didn't expect that this rock female lead singer had such a good alcohol tolerance and could control herself even when drunk.

As he thought this, a warm and soft feeling blossomed at his waist.

Momoka Kawahara hugged Kurusu Akatsuki's shoulders like a koala, and then used him as a pillow, clamping her legs around his waist, burying her hot cheeks in his neck, and murmuring like a dream.

Kurusu Akatsuki immediately prepared to throw her to the ground.

"sorry..."

A moist breeze drifted past my ears, whispering in my sleep. I couldn't tell if it was addressed to Kurusu Akatsuki, or to my former bandmates far away in Kawasaki, or perhaps... to my former self.

Kurusu Akatsuki finally softened his heart.

He pulled apart Momoka Kawahara's hands and her soft thighs tightly wrapped in black stockings, then turned around and carried her on his back.

The empty cans on the ground will be picked up by the sanitation workers tomorrow.

These could probably be recycled for quite a bit of money.

Kurusu Akatsuki supported Kawaharaki Momoka's knees with both hands and walked on the streets of Kitanomaru Park.

"Let me tell you first, if you dare to spit it out, I will throw you out on the street and leave you alone."

Kawahara Momoka lay on his shoulder and responded in a daze.

Fortunately, she told me where she lived when she was driving.

Iwamoto Town?... Kurusu Akatsuki summoned the personality mask "Dioscuri" in his heart.

[Memory Loading], I need a specific map of Chiyoda.

Kurusu Akatsuki gave a silent command to Dioscuri.

*

As the stars dimmed, Kurusu Akatsuki carried the drunken Momoka Kawahara, who was gradually sobering up, on her back and walked on the streets of Iwamoto Town.

There is an industrial park nearby, and the environment here is worse than I imagined.

Momoka Kawahara, who finally regained consciousness, immediately wanted to get down and walk by herself with a look of shame on her face.

But as soon as his feet touched the ground, his knees went weak, and he was almost about to perform the "New Year's greeting" custom of the neighboring country for Kurusu Akatsuki.

Kurusu Akatsuki carried the red-faced Kawahara Momoka back on his back and said, "Hurry up and show me the way. My arms are about to break."

Kawahara Kimoka stammered as to the location of her residence.

Nearly ten minutes passed.

The two parted at the bottom of a somewhat old apartment building.

He returned to his little room in a daze and locked the door.

Momoka Kawahara, who was drunk, tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The "reliability" she felt from the high school student made her want to rely on him more.

What's wrong with me?

Kawahara Momoka pinched her burning earlobe and slammed her face into the pillow in despair.

Some memories of when she was drunk began to jump into her mind, making her heart beat so fast that she felt like she could play "Flight of the Bumblebee".

The time on the phone happened to jump to "0:00".

*

【August 2022, 4. 】

[Two days left until the Kawasaki trip begins.]

[The Kaito's current funds: 122050 yen.]

When passing by an izakaya in a nearby apartment building, a group of tattooed men were already walking on the street, making a lot of noise and carrying bottles of wine.

Kurusu Akatsuki ignored them and stood by the door for a while, because the TV hanging in the lobby of the izakaya was broadcasting the finals of the "2 Intel Extreme Masters", the highest competition of "StarCraft 2022".

The commentator was so excited that he even spoke with a Kanto accent.

"Ricardo's swarm is still advancing. He broke through Maru's defenses. Poison fog filled the sky. The huge swarm locked the Terran people in this narrow intersection! The Bull broke through the front of Baldy and Thor, and the Dog and the Poison Exploder rolled through the ghost soldiers and tanks behind them! Maru can't wait for his next buyback, and his remaining troops can't wait for his next assembly. The wormhole opened in Maru's main mine, and Ricardo is demolishing his base!!!"

"Congratulations to Ricardo M. Lu from China for successfully defending his title! This is his third IEM championship this year. This scene, this moment! He is becoming an insurmountable milestone in the history of the game StarCraft!"

Lu Mingfei... seems to be the keyboardist in that world-class rock band?

Kurusu Akatsuki watched the older boy on the TV screen hold up the trophy, smiling awkwardly and shabbily. He sloppily answered questions from the plump European and American host and hurried off the podium. A muscular Italian man and a slovenly German man rushed over, cheering and giving him a hearty bear hug...

It's hard to connect this shy and introverted guy with the ferocious, brutal, sinister and treacherous Zerg player in the live broadcast just now.

My wandering thoughts late at night were suddenly interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone.

The contact person column reads [Sakura Sojiro].

Oh no, they’re here to check on us.

Kurusu Akatsuki looked around and then answered the phone.

He put on a tired and sleepy voice, "Mr. Sakura, it's so late, is something wrong?"

"Jing Qin is missing. She should still have a fever, but she can't be found in the room." Even through the receiver, one could feel that the middle-aged man's tone was unprecedentedly serious and angry.

"I went to the Metropolitan Police Department to check the surveillance footage, and I didn't find any evidence that she had left Sicha!"

"......ah?"

"You probably haven't seen Jing Qin today, have you?"

Kurusu Akatsuki's eyes narrowed slightly, "Of course not."

"Sorry to disturb your rest. Go to bed early..." Sakura Sojiro said this and hung up the phone in a hurry.

Kurusu Akatsuki put his cell phone in his pocket.

He thought of the "other world navigation app" in Jing Qinren's mobile phone, and his expression became more dangerous.

So he looked towards the bathroom next to him.

......

Deep crimson lines spread across the wall, like blood vessels running through muscles and organs. They flickered, pulsating like breathing.

Jing Qinrencai hugged her knees and tried to curl herself up in the construction room on the side of the tram tunnel, not daring to make a sound.

On the track across the wall from her, a man in white royal attire and a red crow mask casually cast his gaze toward the small door of the construction room.

"It's time to end the game, Jingqin-san."

The man said, "That resurrected monster is terrifying enough. If someone like you follows your predetermined fate and becomes part of his wing, we'll have no chance of winning. Constantly increasing your own power through the bonds and emotions of others, huh, huh, that sounds truly evil."

Beneath the long-beaked red crow mask, a pair of dark golden eyes, filled with indifference, stared at the archway before him. "...He must 'cut you off' before he enters that palace."

at this time.

Suddenly, the sound of a speeding tram was heard in the tunnel.

The wheels collided with the tracks at high speed, sparks flew, and a deafening roar was heard.

The man immediately took a step back and jumped back into the waiting room.

The dark blue tram carriages passed by one after another, making a huge noise that wore away patience and constantly aroused irritation and anger.

But when this somewhat strange dark blue tram completely disappeared from the man's sight.

A young man in school uniform was already standing in front of the arched door of the original construction room.

He opened the arched door and held the curled up, burning hot Jing Qin Rencai in his arms like a princess.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the man ran away without hesitation.

Kurusu Akatsuki raised her head and looked at his back, with pale blue flames burning in her eyes.

...language has power.

Just as Kamen Rider shouts "henshin" before transforming, magical girls also chant lines like "I will destroy you on behalf of the moon" when transforming.

A simple sentence, however, can inspire the will to fight in the shortest possible time through "self-psychological suggestion".

At this moment, another voice in Kurusu Akatsuki's body said, it's time to go ahead.

So he responded to the voice——

"Persona!"

Pale blue flames suddenly burst out from the bottom of his eyes, spreading wildly across his face into the shape of a flying bird!

The wings spread high, then fluttered down, intertwining like chains...

A white bird-shaped mask, a black thief suit, bright red gloves, and a pistol and dagger on his waist.

The pale blue flame slowly died down, and was replaced by a blood-red demon that quickly spread out huge black wings behind the thief.

Jing Qinren, who was lying in the arms of the thief, slowly widened her eyes.

This was another "Amemiya Ren" she had never seen before, completely different, yet seemingly familiar.

*

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(Sixth update completed, my strength is recovering on the keyboard! Thursday and Friday are epic classes, so I will resume the "4,000-word" update for the time being, but it doesn't matter, I will give you a big one this weekend.)

(The tasks of the first update cycle have been successfully completed so far. Please give me monthly tickets, blades, and rewards! The detailed update rules have been written into the "Remarks on the Listing".)

043. Kneeling is a wise choice (two in one)

"Persona!"

With a low roar, a gigantic demon appeared. He was wearing a blood-red gown, with flaming blue chains wrapped around his limbs. He wore a pitch-black top hat, and deep red, almost ink-black wings spread out behind him.

Its name is "Yasen".

This is a personality mask born from Akatsuki Kurusu's subconscious. Its cognitive prototype is taken from the chivalrous thief protagonist created by the 20th-century French writer Maurice in the "Arsene Lupin" series. Now it has become the embodiment of his inner strength.

The surrounding shadows were instantly sucked in, and in the hands of "Yasen" they were intertwined into a smoothbore rifle with sharp lines and a ferocious appearance like a thorn-wound musket.

The man who was desperately running away in the station didn't dare to look back.

Because the personality mask that the monster behind him was driving had such terrifying power... He had just experienced it with his own life.

As a price, the "miracle" ring bestowed by the gods, which had the power to reverse the time of death, was broken in two and could no longer be used.

About ten seconds ago.

He resolutely summoned his own personality mask, and then attacked the thief who was holding the sick beautiful girl and seemed to have no time to fight back.