Carrying a bag of groceries out of the supermarket, Hideyoshi Akai sat down in his car just as a call from Kudo Shinichi came in.

He started the car, connected to his Bluetooth headset, and pressed the answer button. A teasing voice immediately sounded in his ear: “Akai, are you still at home growing mushrooms?”

Hideyoshi Akai couldn’t be bothered to banter with him and just casually replied: “Just get to the point. It’s not like you guys messed up the finishing work over there, right?”

“Of course not. Amuro and I found a backup of the experimental data from another branch of the organization, Ashigara and Dr. Agasa are working on it, and will soon be able to develop an antidote to completely solve the drug properties of APTX4869.”

“Well, that’s great, isn’t it?” The traffic light ahead turned red, and Hideyoshi Akai slowed the car to a stop at the end of the traffic stop: “So, what do you need my help with?”

“You don’t need to worry about the cure, but there’s one thing I need your help with.” Kudo Shinichi coughed a couple of times, his tone revealing a barely detectable sense of guilt. “Do you know the game ‘Chronicle Restorer’?”

Hideyoshi Akai: “?”

He hesitated, not understanding: “I know, I have a player account. So, what does this game have to do with the organization?”

“…… is not.” Kudo Shinichi denied it outright, then coughed like he had chronic pharyngitis, coughing up before continuing: “I’m not going to lie, I am also playing this game with Tooru Amuro. You know, the game has a team competition function, with five people per team, and we’re short of two people. So, I’m calling to ask if you want to join.”

“……”

Hideyoshi Akai reached into his shopping bag, pulled out a box of chocolate bars, opened it, and took a puff like he was smoking before biting off a big chunk.

“It’s clear that you guys are really idle now.”

“With the organization gone, it’s only natural that we take some time to relax.” Kudo Shinichi suddenly didn’t feel guilty anymore and said confidently: “So, will you join or not?”

Hideyoshi Akai chuckled and said: “Sure, I’ll join when I get back. I’m outside now, so send me your account IDs and team numbers first.”

“Great, it’s settled then.”

Kudo Shinichi hung up the phone happily, and in a few seconds, Hideyoshi Aka received a message from him with their three IDs and team numbers.

Online games truly deserved to be called the ninth art form. They managed to capture all three of them. Sometimes he thought, this world was truly magical, magical enough that people who should have died were still standing in front of him unharmed.

Good! We need more magic like this!

Hideyoshi Akai was in a great mood, driving slowly with the flow of traffic ahead. Despite having to wait at a red light again due to the high traffic, it didn’t affect his good mood.

On the other hand, Gin drove back home with the rabbit still hanging next to the air conditioning unit outside. It was glad that the air conditioning was broken because with this weather and the hot air from the unit, it would have been roasted by the time Gin returned.

However, being hung up like this was uncomfortable, so from the moment Gin entered the house, the rabbit’s three-lipped mouth never stopped chattering.

“Gin? Kurosawa? Can we talk about it? How about you put me down from here and I’ll open a GM account for you to

dominate the game world, or you can pick a puzzle game you like and I’ll fill it with items and save slots, how about that?…”

Gin ignored the rabbit on the air conditioning unit outside and focused on boiling water for instant noodles.

“I promise you, I’ll never wake you up in that way again. You and I are on the same boat and we’ll have to work together in the future…”

“Shut up.”

“……Oh.”

The rabbit remained quiet for a while and when Gin finished making his noodles and sat down on the couch to eat slowly, seeing that he had no intention of letting it down, it decided to play its trump card.

“Ah, Gin” the “respected elder” module came online again: “Do you want to know who the only player that can boost your favorability is?”

“Is this important?” Gin didn’t even lift his eyelids.

“Of course, if you don’t figure it out now, you may regret it later.” The rabbit smiled kindly and warmly, and a halo of sacred light shone on its fluffy fur.

Maybe it was just psychological, but as soon as it finished speaking, Gin heart was filled with a faint unease, as if there was a dangerous answer hidden in this question.

Then Gin got up and pulled the rabbit down from the air conditioning unit, flicking its ear with his finger. “Tell me, who is it?”

The rabbit resurrected in place, bouncing excitedly on his legs: “His name is Hideyoshi Akai, the FBI’s top detective! He spent a whole day raising his favorability level for you and even used up this month’s stamina gift pack, which shows that he really likes… your character! How about it? What do you think of your great teammate?!”

“I also added your name to the list of original artists and voice actors, so you’ll get a share of the game’s earnings in the future!” The rabbit added happily.

Gin: “…”

It was a silent morning in Namimori town.

One minute later, Gin hung the rabbit back in its original place with a pair of slippers next to it.

The rabbit: QAQ

In the afternoon, the furniture that Gin bought arrived at his home, and the workers helped him install it before leaving. Of course, when settling the bill, he also paid an extra installation fee.

Gin turned on the air conditioning, and the outdoor unit started working. The rabbit was blown and its fur was in a mess, wishing it was winter now.

…

On the other side, after returning home, Hideyoshi Akai thought for a moment and removed his “Okiya Subaru” disguise, and revealed his true face.

The scar on his cheek still ached faintly, but he ignored it and instead looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. If he didn’t know that he was truly happy at this moment, the villainous expression on his face reflected in the mirror would have looked a lot like the villainous style of Gin.

He walked out of the bathroom, went to the kitchen to boil water, cooked a package of pork bone noodles, opened a can of sardines, and sat at the dining table eating while playing games.

After his favorability level increased to level one, “The First Restorer” could already be set as the team’s banner. As soon as Hideyoshi Akai logged in, he saw him nodding in his direction, feeling so happy that he forgot the difficulties of the previous dungeon raid.

However, after staring at his own banner for a long time, Hideyoshi Akai suddenly noticed a small button next to it. He reached out and clicked it, and all sorts of information about “The First Restorer” suddenly popped up, filling the screen.

Modeler: Nicholas Perfect.

Original drawing: Kurosawa Gin.

Voice-over: Kurosawa Gin.

Other: ….

Hideyoshi Akai read all the information at a glance, and finally, unsurprisingly, remembered only two – the original drawing and dubbing.

“So, he escaped the organization and went to work as a voice actor and artist at a game studio?”

Hideyoshi Akai laughed at his own understanding, staring at the familiar yet unfamiliar name for a long time until Shinichi Kudo personally called him to add him as a friend before he remembered he still had three other friends.

“Good afternoon, we’ll see you later.”

He touched the head of “The First Restorer” on the screen and then added Kudo and the others as friends, then clicked on the new feature on the right – the arena, searched for a team and clicked apply.

One second later, he was pulled into the team homepage, where the huge team name “Nanke” caught his eye.

This five-person team now only had four people, including the newly joined Hideyoshi Akai, while the other three were Kudo Shinichi, Amuro Tooru and Hattori Heiji.

He was not sure how long these three played but their levels were all above twenty, ranking in the top twenty of the game’s level list, but unfortunately, they only had weapons dropped from dungeon runs and no accompanying card characters.

This was normal, up to this point, only Hideyoshi Akai had obtained a complete six-star character card.

“Akai are you [Traveler One]?!”

As soon as he entered the homepage, the team’s voice chat rang out with Heiji Hattori’s sour voice.

“Ah, yes.” Hideyoshi Akai smiled faintly. “Look, this is my ‘First Restorer” with full stars, full levels, and full battle power. Is that good enough to carry us through the entire game? Are you happy?”

Amuro Tooru’s game character raised the red weapon he had grinded for: “Eat this spear!”

“Young man, don’t be so impulsive. I’m on your team, so I’m here to help you.” Hideyoshi Akai put away his versailles face. “By the way, our team is still missing one person. Have you decided who to invite?”

“We won’t invite anyone. Let’s just match with a random teammate. There are many lone wolf players in the game.” Said Shinichi Kudo calmly, but not entirely calmly: “Since we’re all online now, let’s play a game and see how free this so-called free combat operation is.”

“Okay.” Hideyoshi Akai slurped his noodles and put down his chopsticks.

System prompt: Random matchmaking in progress – matchmaking successful, player [Taoli Buyan] has joined the team.

System prompt: Competitive matchmaking LV.1 whiteboard match, Nanko team vs. Pangasius Future Tenth Generation Squad, three-second countdown –

“The name of this team ……”

Hideyoshi Akai didn’t even finish his joke before the match started.

On the left-hand side, there was a row of skills, and above the skills, there were three options: “support”, “output” and “violent healer:”. Without hesitation, he chose “output”, and the skill suddenly changed. The “First Restorer” behind him also gave him the two enhancements he threw out in the last battle.

Attack and agility increased by 300%.

…

The rabbit was hanging outside, while Gin was sitting inside the house. He hadn’t even sorted out his own feelings yet when a notification popped up on his task panel, prompting him to hang the rabbit for two more days.

The system prompt: the host’s “bound comrades” has opened the competition, click here to watch live —

“……”

Gin rubs his temples and realizes that his past nemesis, Hideyoshi Akai who had previously been chasing after him as an undercover agent during his time in the organization was still like a sticky gum that won’t go away. Even after leaving the organization to save the world, Hideyoshi Akai was still popping up everywhere.

With a deep sigh he stared at the notification, feeling conflicted inside.

In accordance with the rabbit’s explanation, this game’s combat system was extremely flexible, even allowing players to combine skills during battle to create new effects. With enough creativity, ten skills can produce an infinite number of maneuvers.

Gin wanted to see what kind of amazing feats his archenemy can pull off in the arena. The screen changes, and the silver steel arena appears in front of him. The platform was spacious and ever-changing, with the design constantly shifting every few seconds, which inadvertently increased the level of difficulty for players.

At the edge of the arena, Gin saw a fierce battle taking place between the two sides. The IDs above their heads showed their real names, and apart from Hideyoshi Akai, Gin recognized everyone: Shinichi Kudo, Tooru Amuro, Heiji Hattori and even Reborn, Dino, Xanxus, and Skuvalo on the opposite side were his acquaintances, and the only stranger on the field was Kinomoto Momoya on Hideyoshi Akai side and Tsunayoshi Sawada on the opposite side.

At this moment, Hideyoshi Akai was being held down and beaten by Reborn.

Upon seeing this scene, Gin bursts out laughing and commented: “How funny.”

——————–
The author has something to say:

Gin: Isn’t it funnier than playing by yourself?

 

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