"It's me, Traveler. Did you miss Paimon at all?"
Yeah, Paimon. I really missed you.
Natsuyu felt a surge of excitement. After all, in a completely unfamiliar world, having something—someone—familiar by her side made her genuinely happy.
"Paimon's really happy to see you too, Traveler!"
Paimon's voice was light and cheerful. "Alright then—next, Paimon will explain how the system works."
"Traveler just needs to call out 'Menu' in your mind, and the system menu will open. It's pretty much the same as the game menu you're used to."
Following Paimon's instructions, Natsuyu called out Menu in her mind.
Sure enough, a pale-blue, semi-transparent screen appeared before her eyes. In the top-left corner was her avatar. Natsuyu tapped it with her consciousness, and her detailed personal information opened up.
Her name had changed to Natsume Natsuyu.
Her age was listed as 20—several years younger than in her previous life. Her appearance had also changed, now resembling Lumine from Genshin Impact. Seeing it for the first time, she felt a little unaccustomed to it.
After closing her personal profile, she saw several sections below: Inventory, Characters, Quests, Shop, and more. One tab immediately caught her attention—
Wish (Gacha).
Unable to hold back, she asked,
Paimon, what's this gacha about?
Paimon explained patiently,
"Just like what you see, Traveler. By completing quests, you'll earn rewards such as Mora and Primogems. Quests are issued from time to time. Mora and Primogems can be used in the shop to buy weapons, food, and upgrade materials. Primogems can also be used in the Wish system to obtain characters. The rules are basically the same as the gacha systems you're already familiar with."
Quests? If I fail them… will there be penalties?
Natsuyu had never dealt with anything like "quests" in real life before. She was worried she might mess up at the start and fail.
"Don't worry, Traveler. There's no punishment for failing."
Paimon reassured her.
"Among all quests, those related to the main characters give the most rewards. Failing them won't bring penalties, but it will affect the goal of balancing the Red and Black factions—so you should try your best to complete them."
After all, Paimon was the Traveler's very best companion. How could she ever punish the Traveler just for failing a quest?
"And don't worry—even though Paimon can't appear by your side just yet, Paimon will definitely help you. I'll always stay with you, Traveler."
Always…?
Hearing those words, something stirred inside Natsuyu.
She had always been alone—handling problems alone, living alone. This was the first time someone had ever said they would always stay with her. Even if it might not come true in the end, the warmth she felt in that moment was something she would never forget.
Of course you have to stay with me, Paimon, she added lightly.
After all, you're still my emergency food.
"Traveler!!"
Paimon's voice suddenly shot up in volume.
Natsuyu could practically picture her—stomping her feet in anger while yelling.
So much had happened so suddenly that Natsuyu had felt as though she were trapped in a dream. But at this moment, she finally felt a sense of reality settling in, and she began to actively sort things out.
By the way, Paimon, she asked,
how do the characters I pull work? Do I have to control them myself, or can they act independently?
Hearing the question, Paimon instantly forgot their tiny argument from earlier.
"You'll be controlling them yourself, Traveler. You'll need to split off part of your consciousness and enter the character. Your consciousness will be influenced by the character's own memories, making your behavior align more closely with their personality. Others won't be able to tell that it's the same person."
"Characters can be temporarily stored in the system space. However, once a character appears in the outside world, if they aren't being controlled by your consciousness, they'll enter a dormant state—so be careful."
Consciousness control… is it difficult?
In her previous life, Natsuyu had been an ordinary person. Something like consciousness control sounded incredibly advanced, and she couldn't help feeling uncertain.
"Don't worry. It sounds hard, but it's actually very easy in practice."
Paimon said encouragingly.
"And perfect timing—there's a newbie reward. You can open it and take a look. Usually it gives ten Wishes. You can pull a character first and try it out."
Only then did Natsuyu notice a small red dot on the information panel, indicating an unread message. She tapped it with her mind—it really was the newbie reward.
Opening it, she felt a bit disappointed.
Only ten Wishes? She had hoped for a few more.
Aside from that, there were some EXP books and enhancement ores for upgrading characters and weapons, plus 3,000 Mora.
Still, it wasn't bad. At least she had some starting funds—much better than being completely broke.
Since she already had ten pulls, Natsuyu decided to do a Wish first. At the very least, the pity system guaranteed a character. That way, she'd have someone to help her—even if it was still technically herself.
But before starting the Wish, there was one more thing she needed to do.
She looked around carefully, but couldn't find what she was looking for. So she asked,
Paimon, do you know where the nearest restroom is?
"A restroom? Yeah, I do—go down this path…"
Paimon paused, puzzled.
"Traveler, do you need to use the restroom right now?"
No, I just want to wash my hands.
Natsuyu firmly believed that pulling gacha required good luck—and washing her hands beforehand would ward off bad pulls.
"Wash your hands? But Traveler, your hands aren't even dirty…?"
Paimon was confused. They were just about to do a Wish—why suddenly wash hands? They had only arrived here recently and hadn't touched anything.
After washing her hands, Natsuyu headed back toward the bench, carefully drying the water from her fingers. Distracted, she didn't notice where she was going and accidentally bumped into a small child.
"Ah!"
Natsuyu immediately stopped and looked down.
A little girl, around seven or eight years old, with shoulder-length short hair and a red top, had bumped into her leg.
"Are you okay?"
Natsuyu crouched down.
"Did it hurt when you bumped into me?"
"It's okay, big sister. I wasn't watching where I was going either—I was wrong too."
The girl looked up, her face slightly red.
This is so pretty… and her hair is golden, just like sunlight, she thought.
"Ayumi, what happened?"
Two boys' voices called out from outside the restroom.
Ayumi?
So this little girl was Yoshida Ayumi.
Natsuyu felt a strange sense of fate—she had run into a member of the main cast so quickly.
Which meant that the two boys outside must be Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and Kojima Genta, the other two members of the Detective Boys.
Ayumi's next words confirmed it.
"Genta, Mitsuhiko, I'm fine!"
Yoshida Ayumi called out so her friends wouldn't worry. Then she turned back to Natsuyu.
"Big sister, I'm really okay. If you're busy, you can go ahead. I'm going to the restroom now too. Bye-bye!"
She waved quickly and hurried inside.
Seeing that she truly wasn't hurt, Natsuyu felt relieved and left as well. On her way out, she deliberately glanced at the two boys standing by the restroom entrance.
One was fat, one thin—the contrast was striking. The round-headed one kept muttering about food, while the other looked more composed. At a glance, they matched exactly how she remembered them from the anime.
Natsuyu didn't linger.
She headed back, ready to try her first Wish—and test out the consciousness control Paimon had mentioned.