MHGA Chapter 196: The Hunters Ready for a Big Operation
"Kairo really just dumped everyone on me..." Joseph Joestar scratched his head in frustration, then turned to Tanjiro with a look of desperate appeal. "Tanjiro, where should we go next?"
"I know!" Rakuro Hizutome raised his hand enthusiastically. "Let's go visit Vik!"
"Misty-san, could we use the back door?" Tanjiro asked politely.
"You guys know Viktor?" Misty blinked in surprise. "Never heard of him knowing folks like you."
"Uh… someone introduced us," Shirou Emiya answered vaguely. "That person told us a lot about this place. Stuff like Vik, the Afterlife, Jackie…"
Well, technically that person was V—from the game. So yeah, it counts as an introduction…
"Vik?"
The only two who hadn't played through the Gathering's VR sim—Joseph and David—looked confused. But the other three quickly led the group out.
The five of them exited from Misty's back door, making their way toward Viktor's underground clinic.
"David, did the doc prescribe you anything?" Tanjiro looked David over carefully and asked with concern.
"…No. I forgot." David suddenly realized he'd completely forgotten to get any inhibitors after his cyberware reinstall.
No wonder he was feeling so off…
"But… we don't have money," Shirou said with a worried expression.
He looked around at the five of them.
Aside from the tall, mature-looking Joseph—who easily stood over 195cm—the rest of them all looked like high schoolers.
Scratch that. Three of them were literally still in high school. Other than Tanjiro, everyone else was still a student.
"Yen… there's no way that's accepted here," Shirou muttered as he patted his wallet.
"I got it," Joseph volunteered. "I've still got a bit of cash left."
"You're amazing, Mister Joestar!" Tanjiro looked at him with admiration. "You already earned money in Night City?"
That pure gaze of admiration from Tanjiro stabbed Joseph right in the conscience.
The kind of gaze that really stung—especially when you just mugged some street punks not long ago.
"Is the Sandevistan really as awesome as in the anime?!" Rakuro eagerly leaned in to examine the cyberware on David's back. "Feels like it's straight-up time-stop!"
"Have you tested it yet?!" His eyes practically sparkled. "When you activate it, does the whole world slow down?!"
To Rakuro, David felt like a friend who had just looted some legendary gear. He was dying to see it in action.
"For a demo…" David thought for a moment, then glanced at a pile of soda cans by a dumpster. He took out a coin and flicked it into the air.
The moment he did, Sandevistan activated. The world around him slowed to a crawl. And before the coin fell, David completed his cyberware demonstration.
When he caught the coin again, Rakuro and Shirou still hadn't realized what had happened.
David pointed them to the trash can.
Atop the bin, over a dozen cans had been stacked neatly into a triangular tower—David's handiwork while time-dilated.
"Incredible! Just like a superhero!" Rakuro clenched his fists, thrilled. "I've never seen anything like that in real life before!"
"Me neither…" Shirou nodded in agreement.
Even though they'd seen many unbelievable things since joining the Gathering, this was their first time witnessing such a feat firsthand.
But David was staring at Tanjiro and Joseph, eyes wide in disbelief.
"…David-san, why are you looking at me like that?" Tanjiro scratched his head, clearly confused by the intense stare.
"Did… you guys just see what I did?"
While he was stacking cans during the Sandevistan's activation, David had turned his head once—and saw something that made his mind go blank.
Tanjiro and Joseph's eyes had been tracking him the whole time. As if they could see him moving, clear as day. Even after the Sandevistan deactivated, they still seemed to be following his movements.
"Yeah! You were really fast!" Tanjiro nodded seriously. "I feel like if you practiced swordsmanship, you'd be able to strike vital points with ease!"
"Uh… yeah, I saw it pretty clearly too…" Joseph rubbed his eyes.
He hadn't expected himself to keep up either.
Maybe it was genetics? After all, his grandson could fight DIO inside a frozen-in-time world…
Joseph shrugged it off with a quip, then pieced together the real reason.
Sure, battle experience played a role—but the real factor had to be…
Felyne Meals.
"Come to think of it, eating too much Felyne food really has made our bodies feel way beyond normal humans…" Joseph recalled training with Tanjiro at the camp, watching him hoist increasingly massive boulders day after day…
"Anyway, let's get that doc to prescribe you something," Joseph said. "You've got a lot more to do."
"…Yeah." David clenched his fists and looked out at Night City through the alley. "I really do."
Meanwhile, at the Afterlife bar...
"This whiskey's fantastic!" Jackie downed his glass with gusto. "Never thought whiskey could have a flavor like this! Is this some fancy upper-class joint's brand?"
"Ha! Upper-class can't touch this!" Kairo grinned proudly. "It's a local specialty from our homeland! The barrels it's aged in? Scorched by a Rathalos's breath! Otherwise, it wouldn't be called Rathalos Whiskey!"
"Now that's a good one!" Jackie chuckled, thinking it was just a joke. "But with this flavor? I'd believe it really was smoked by a fire-breathing dragon!"
"You said you wanted to be a legend in Night City, right? I believe it, choom!"
"I wanna be a legend too!" Jackie declared excitedly. "Once you become one, you get your own drink on the Afterlife menu! I've already got mine planned out!"
Jackie's voice brimmed with excitement as he laid out his dream, and Kairo watched him fondly, silently mouthing the recipe Jackie had once described.
"One shot of vodka, on ice… lime juice, ginger beer. And the most important ingredient…"
"…a little love."
"Jackie." Kairo smiled warmly.
"You're gonna be someone big. Really big."
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