Anime Crossover: Tokyo Reincarnation Game — Chapter 44

Chapter 44: The Strongest Anomaly Within the HotelYou're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

“Don’t be envious. Although my exclusive talent is incredibly potent in strange dungeons, it comes with a mountain of restrictions.”

Iwanaga Kotoko offered a bright smile as she turned toward Yuuki Asuna.

“Besides, you deserve the lion’s share of the credit for eliminating the source of the anomaly this time. You acted without a shred of hesitation or mercy. No wonder Leader teamed up with you.”

Asuna opened her mouth to reply, but the petite girl leaned in, her voice dropping into a teasing lilt.

“But next time, could you try not to act like a total pervert? Standing on top of a water tank and softly chanting Leader’s name is a bit abnormal, don’t you think?”

Asuna’s face instantly flushed crimson. She hadn’t expected Kotoko to overhear her quiet murmurs in the heat of the moment. She hadn’t been thinking anything weird at all; she just subconsciously knew that to keep Asagiri safe, she had to harden her resolve. Even if it meant diving straight into a foul, corpse-filled water tank, she wouldn’t have hesitated.

“I… You’re the pervert!” Asuna shot back, her eyes narrowing as she sized up the girl. Kotoko barely cleared a meter and a half in height. With her delicate, doll-like features, she looked absolutely nothing like a high school student.

“Look at your figure… you’re practically built like a middle schooler.”

“What?! Are you saying a certain part of me is small?!”

Kotoko followed Asuna’s gaze down to her own chest. Compared to Asuna, whose assets were admittedly outstanding for a high schooler, her momentum faltered for a fraction of a second. Still, she rallied instantly, puffing out her chest to deliver a bombshell.

“Heh. I’m just a late bloomer. Besides, I’ve heard that with the right massage techniques, you can trigger a secondary growth spurt!”

Without missing a beat, Kotoko turned her gaze straight toward Asagiri, her expression entirely earnest.

“Leader, caring for the mental health and physical development of your team members is part of your job description, right? I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

A wave of intense second-hand embarrassment crashed over Asuna, tinged with a sharp, obvious spike of jealousy. Her cheeks burned hot.

“Can you not spout such vulgar nonsense right now?” Asuna stammered. “Please don’t say such shocking things with that innocent face!”

“Tch.” Kotoko rolled her eyes, completely unbothered. She was utterly shameless, perfectly willing to say something outrageous or die trying. “I wasn’t asking you to massage me. Mind your own business.”

“You—”

“That’s enough.”

Asagiri cut through the bickering. His expression remained entirely serious as he looked between the two girls.

“Just a heads up. I have two hands. I can massage both of you at the same time.”

Asuna froze. Her face burned even hotter as she gritted her teeth, glaring at him.

“Who… who wants you to massage them?! How did you get infected by her too…”and support the real translator.Read at elysianreads.com This is a stolen translation. You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

She trailed off, rubbing her temples as she sighed in sheer defeat.

“I forgot. If we’re talking about who’s crazier… you’re definitely worse than her. What kind of people did I team up with…”

“Alright, let’s get down to business.”

Having had his fill of the abstract banter, Asagiri smoothly pivoted the conversation back to reality.

“The APP gave us the option to leave early? I didn’t expect that. The icon looks terrifying, but as an external system for the game, it’s surprisingly user-friendly.”

Asuna nodded in agreement. The preset objective for the Players was to survive until the twelve-hour time limit expired. Now that the source of the Hotel’s strangeness was dead, the Earth-Bound Spirits created by the Bloated Corpse Spirit should have vanished from every floor. The immediate, lethal dangers had been cleared out. That explained why the APP unlocked the early exit function.

It was just…

“What exactly did Necro’s special instance hint mean?” Asuna mused aloud.

Kotoko, having also secured an S- rank in the novice instance, had received the exact same clue from the APP upon entering.

[The Most Dangerous Strangeness Is Not The Strongest Strangeness]

“Taking it literally, the most dangerous strangeness was the Bloated Corpse Spirit we just killed,” Kotoko analyzed. She hopped up onto the front reception desk, her legs dangling like a child’s as she rested her cheeks in her hands.

“It was the most dangerous, but not the strongest. Plus, the APP stated we eliminated all ‘hostile’ Evil Spirits in this Hotel. That implies there is an entity here far more powerful than the Bloated Corpse Spirit. It wasn’t created by it, but born from something else entirely—and it holds no hostility toward us.”

“A strange entity without hostility?” Asuna asked skeptically. “Does something like that really exist?”

“Of course.” Kotoko smiled, shrugging lightly. “In fact, most strange entities in the real world fall into that category. They just want to live peacefully and have zero desire to harm humans. Only a tiny fraction act out. Entities like the Bloated Corpse Spirit, who kill out of overwhelming resentment and disrupt the order maintained by the Evil Spirits, have to be purged to preserve the boundary of non-interference between our worlds.”

“I see.” Asuna turned to Asagiri. “But… since this entity isn’t hostile, there’s no need to provoke it, right? You’ve already burned through a lot of physical and mental stamina. I say we end the operation here—”

Before Asuna could finish her sentence, a tender, childish voice echoed through the quiet lobby.

“Big brother, big sister… where are you going?”

The sudden voice sent a violent shudder through both Asuna and Kotoko.

Kotoko snapped her head toward the sound. Standing quietly a short distance away was a little girl. She wore a neat dress, her blonde hair framing bright blue eyes. She looked incredibly cute, standing there in the dim light.

But Kotoko’s eyes widened in sheer shock.

Even with her talent as the God of Wisdom, she hadn’t sensed the girl’s presence at all. It wasn’t until the child spoke that the realization hit her—a suffocating, terrifying aura that made her very soul tremble.You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.