Chapter 222: SS+ Rating and Turning Stillness into Motion
[Player Haruto has cleared the instance — The Never-Ending Circus]
[Tasks Completed: Survived and watched two full performances; discovered a hidden escape route while the main exit was obstructed; successfully led players from all factions to clear the instance; completely terminated this instance.]
[Clearance Rating: SS+]
[Rewards: 'Turning Stillness into Motion'(Twice a day);'Devour'; Physical Strength increased by 10%]
Not too shabby.
Haruto stroked his chin, his eyes scanning the glowing blue text floating in his vision. He had originally assumed that completely obliterating an instance and shutting it down for good would automatically grant a legendary SSS rating, but it seemed the system was a bit stingier than he thought.
Still, the rewards handed out this time looked incredibly promising on the surface.
Take the ability 'Turning Stillness into Motion', for example. Judging purely by the name, it sounded suspiciously similar to a certain Rat Talisman from an old cartoon, granting the user the power to turn inanimate objects into living, breathing entities.
Of course, the effect probably wouldn't be that exaggerated.
If it were truly limitless, he could just waltz over to the Forest of Magic, ask Alice to stitch together a massive batch of 'Mother Yukari' dolls, and animate them all. With an army of miniature, gap-spamming Youkai Sages at his beck and call, he could cross his arms, utter the classic arrogant villain line, "I don't eat beef," and instantly become the most invincible being in existence.
The caveat—Twice a day, advancing with energy level—likely meant that the ability consumed a catastrophic amount of Demonic Power. Even with his current, monstrously expanded reserves, he could only safely trigger it two times every twenty-four hours.
Whatever. I'll test it when we get back, Haruto decided. He could track down Ran and see if this new skill could restore that eerie, cursed merry-go-round—the one that had been shrunk down into a mere toy—back to its original, terrifying state.
As for 'Devour'... there was absolutely no supplemental introduction. Just that single, ominous word.
Given the context of the survival game, it was probably related to actual consumption, mirroring how the Circus Troupe Leader had devoured the Clown to forcibly assimilate a portion of his abilities. He would just have to experiment with it later.
Kaguya's final score came out to an SS.
She only received two rewards: 'Animalization of Reality and Illusion', and a flat ten percent increase to her physical strength.
According to Kaguya's own casual explanation, the first reward was a bizarre conceptual ability. It allowed her to forcibly alter a living creature's spirit, which would in turn violently distort and mutate their physical body to match the new spiritual blueprint.
Hearing that explanation had left Haruto completely bewildered, his eyebrow twitching at the sheer body-horror implications.
However, when paired with her previous abilities—the ones that allowed her to arbitrarily transform creatures into harmless rabbits, insects, and other critters—it was actually a terrifyingly potent combination. It essentially guaranteed her the power to permanently mutate and reshape living beings on a whim.
Haruto could already vividly picture the chaos. He could easily imagine Kaguya getting bored one afternoon and casually mutating some random forest youkai into a towering Godzilla or a tentacled Cthulhu-esque monstrosity right in the middle of Gensokyo.
Of course, if she actually dared to create something that disruptive, she would almost certainly be dragged into a pitch-black Gap by a certain furious Youkai Sage and strung up by her ankles for a severe, humiliating thrashing.
Youmu's score was slightly lower than theirs. Her rewards consisted of several high-tier ghost artifacts and a solid enhancement to her baseline physical strength, which suited the half-phantom swordswoman perfectly.
Overall, it had been a highly lucrative vacation.
With a flash of spatial distortion, the three of them finally returned to the familiar comforts of Gensokyo.
The moment they materialized inside Eientei, Kaguya didn't even bother taking off her shoes. She simply let her knees give out, plopping her bottom onto the edge of her massive, ridiculously soft bed before flopping backward. She casually grabbed a silk pillow, buried her face deep into the fabric, and took a long, greedy breath of her own familiar scent.
Only then did her tense shoulders finally drop. She looked like a wilting plant that had just been watered, truly coming back to life.
"Those games are fun, but it really is a bit exhausting having to walk everywhere," Kaguya mumbled into the pillow, her voice muffled and lazy.
"Indeed," Haruto agreed.
He walked over and unceremoniously collapsed onto the mattress beside her, staring blankly up at the wooden ceiling. After a moment of enjoying the silence, he turned his head and noticed Youmu. The silver-haired half-phantom was still sitting rigidly upright on the very edge of the bed, her hands resting perfectly on her knees, her posture as stiff as a wooden board.
"Youmu, we're home now," Haruto said, waving a hand lazily. "You don't need to be on high alert anymore. Relax a bit. Lie down."
"I... I cannot," Youmu stammered, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looked down at her clothes. "This humble one's body is soiled from the instance. I cannot possibly dirty the Princess's bed..."
"It's fine."
Kaguya interrupted her with a massive, unladylike yawn, waving a hand without even lifting her face from the pillow. "I don't mind at all. Just lie down. Anyway, Reisen will wash the sheets later."
"You really don't treat Reisen like a person, do you?" Haruto chuckled, shaking his head at the sheer exploitation.
"She isn't human to begin with," Kaguya retorted, finally rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. "Besides, ever since Eirin stopped forcing her to act as a crash-test dummy for new medicines, she's been bored to death. She runs off to the Human Village to peddle cold medicine every few days just to have something to do. Doing my laundry gives her life purpose."
Kaguya waved her hand again, acting as if her blatant laziness was a divine blessing bestowed upon her subordinates.
Seeing Youmu still hesitating, Haruto simply reached out, grabbed the half-phantom by the shoulder, and pulled her backward. With a soft yelp, Youmu tumbled onto the mattress, forced to lie flat on her back between them.
For a few minutes, the three of them lay side by side in comfortable silence, quietly staring at the ceiling and letting the adrenaline of the survival instance completely fade away.
Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack...
The rapid, rhythmic sound of a mechanical keyboard suddenly echoed through the room.
Haruto blinked. He slowly turned his head to his left, looking at Kaguya in utter confusion. Kaguya was lying right next to him, her hands empty.
Sensing his gaze, Kaguya turned her head as well. The two of them simultaneously sat up, their eyes narrowing.
They glanced to their right and found that Youmu was still on the bed. The exhausted half-phantom was breathing evenly, having already fallen fast asleep the moment her head hit the mattress.
In perfect sync, Haruto and Kaguya slowly turned their heads toward the far corner of the room, where the glow of a computer monitor illuminated the dim space.
The screen was flashing with the bright colors of a video game, and two large gaming chairs were facing away from the bed. Clearly, someone was operating the computer.
It was them after all.
Haruto and Kaguya exchanged a silent, mischievous glance. They quietly slipped off the bed, their footsteps completely silent on the tatami mats, and crept up behind the two chairs.
Sure enough, it was Reisen and Tewi Inaba.
Two rabbits, one occupying each gaming chair, had completely hijacked Haruto and Kaguya's usual gaming setups. Both of them were wearing oversized, noise-canceling headphones, their eyes glued to the monitors as their fingers flew across the keyboards. They were deeply focused on a two-player cooperative level-clearing game, completely oblivious to the outside world.
They hadn't noticed at all that the owners of the room had returned.
Haruto crossed his arms, leaning against the wall, while Kaguya stood beside him, a dark, amused smile creeping onto her face. They decided to just stand there and watch.
About ten minutes later, a triumphant jingle played through the speakers.
"Yes!"
This grueling round of the game was finally cleared.
Reisen leaned back in her chair with a heavy sigh of satisfaction. She closed her eyes, stretched her arms high above her head, and let out a long, relaxed groan. But the moment she opened her eyes and lazily turned her head, her breath hitched.
She found herself staring directly into a pair of familiar, pitch-black eyes. Haruto was standing less than two feet away, staring down at her without blinking, a pleasant, terrifying smile on his face.
Reisen's already drooping rabbit ears immediately went completely limp, flattening against her head in sheer terror. All the color drained from her face.
Oblivious to her partner's internal panic, Tewi kept her eyes on her own screen, her fingers still tapping away.
"Hey, Udonge," Tewi chirped, a wicked grin on her face. "How about we just move the Princess's computer back to the rabbit hutch? It runs way faster than ours."
Before Reisen could even attempt to signal her, Tewi had a sudden, brilliant flash of inspiration. She slapped her desk. "Oh! Even better! I'll find a chance to sneak into the Yakumo Residence next week and swipe Haruto's rig too! Then we'll have a matching set!"
"Th-that's... that's probably not a good idea..." Reisen stammered, her voice trembling so violently it sounded like she was vibrating. She kept her eyes locked on Haruto, silently begging for mercy.
"What are you afraid of?"
Tewi scoffed nonchalantly, completely missing the sheer terror radiating from the rabbit next to her. "When the time comes, I'll just have the earth rabbits under my command buy two cheap, broken ones and put them back in their rooms. We'll just say the old ones accidentally broke due to a power surge. Those two lazy bums won't even notice!"
Seeing Tewi straying further and further down the inescapable path of seeking death, Reisen decisively gave up on trying to save her. Survival of the fittest.
"I-I suddenly remembered I left some medicine boiling! I have something to do! I'll be going now!"
Reisen squeaked out her excuse, silently yanking off her headphones. She didn't even dare to look at Kaguya. She just kept her head down, hugged the wall, and quickly shuffled toward the door like a crab fleeing a predator.
Tewi was still wearing her noise-canceling headphones and hadn't heard a single word of Reisen's panicked excuse. She only reacted when she felt the vibration of the heavy sliding door opening.
She finally took off her headphones, scratching her long ears in confusion as she looked at the empty chair beside her.
Wait...
The hairs on the back of Tewi's neck suddenly stood up. A chilling, oppressive killing intent filled the room.
The legendary lucky rabbit's intuition was screaming at maximum volume, violently warning her that something was standing right behind her. Her instincts told her it was best to pretend she knew absolutely nothing, keep her eyes forward, and slip away as quietly as possible.
"Hey, Reisen, why are you in such a hurry? Wait for me, I... I also need to check on the carrots..."
Tewi forced a nervous laugh. She placed her headphones on the desk and was just about to push herself up from the chair when two hands clamped down heavily onto her shoulders, forcefully pressing her back into the seat.
Tewi froze. She swallowed hard, slowly tilting her head back to look upside down.
She saw Haruto and Kaguya standing on either side of her chair, looming over her like the left and right guardian deities of the underworld. Both of them were looking down at her with beaming, radiant, absolutely murderous smiles.
Gulp...
Her throat bobbed heavily as Tewi forced out the most innocent, pitiful smile she could muster.
"If... if this cute little rabbit says she was just joking about stealing the computers... would you believe her?"
...On the other side of Eientei.
Yagokoro Eirin closed the thick medical notebook in her hand, letting out a soft sigh as she walked out of the Pharmacy.
As she stepped into the main corridor, she happened to see Reisen stumbling frantically out of the Princess's room, her face pale, looking exactly as if she were running for her life from a pack of hungry wolves.
Eirin frowned. She opened her mouth, fully prepared to give the frantic rabbit a stern lecture about running in the halls, but she suddenly paused. She felt that this exact scene was strangely, incredibly familiar.
Eirin's sharp gaze shifted subtly down the hallway, locking onto the sliding door at the end of the right corridor.
Sure enough.
The very next moment, a certain prankster rabbit's shrill, agonizing wailing echoed from inside the room, piercing through the quiet atmosphere of Eientei.
Is this some new kind of stress-relief method for the youth?
"Perhaps I really am falling behind the times," Eirin lamented, shaking her head as she slowly walked down the wooden corridor.
She arrived at Kaguya's door and knocked lightly. However, it seemed the 'festivities' inside were far too lively, as the screaming completely drowned out her polite knocking. There was no response at all.
"I'm coming in," Eirin announced calmly.
She slid the door open and stepped inside, only to immediately freeze in her tracks, her eyes widening slightly at the bizarre tableau before her.
Tewi Inaba was currently tied tightly to the wooden headboard of the bed with thick, glowing ropes of Demonic Power. A massive clump of white cloth was stuffed unceremoniously into her mouth as a gag. The prankster rabbit's eyes were rolled back into her head, her small face completely dazed and defeated.
Meanwhile, Haruto and her precious Princess stood at the head of the bed, hands on their hips, laughing mischievously like a pair of cartoon villains who had just successfully conquered the world.
Off to the side, that silver-haired Gardener from Hakugyokurou was still lying peacefully on the mattress, completely unconscious and dead to the world, entirely undisturbed by the kidnapping taking place two feet away from her head.
Eirin's eyes quickly scanned the room. After confirming that all four of them were fully, completely clothed, the Sage of the Moon breathed a secret, heavy sigh of relief.
Good. It seems they were just playing around and bullying Tewi.
For a terrifying second there, she had thought she really was too old, and that she had completely failed to keep up with the bizarre, degenerate kinks of the modern era.
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