Anime Crossover: Tokyo Reincarnation Game — Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Time Alone with Asuna

“Counting from when we entered the instance, it’s already been over two hours.” Kotoko’s eyes lit up with a sudden flash of inspiration. “I understand now. That diary at the very beginning? It was both a vital clue for the Players and a deliberate, misleading trap!”

“Misleading?” Asuna asked.

“Exactly.” Kotoko, vibrating with the thrill of unraveling the mystery, could barely contain her excitement. “Think back. The final entry left by the diary’s owner was dated the sixteenth day after the apocalypse. But according to the wraith we encountered, the infected first appeared roughly a month and a half ago… No, wait. Considering the wraith didn’t even realize he was dead, his perception of time would be severely distorted. The actual gap between the initial outbreak and our current arrival must be far longer than a month and a half.”

Asuna frowned, a trace of doubt in her voice. “But… we examined the corpse in that apartment. None of us are forensic experts, but we should still be able to tell the difference between a body that’s been dead for a few days and one rotting for over a month, right?”

“And that is precisely where the trap is most lethal,” Kotoko replied, raising a pale, slender index finger to emphasize her point. “The diary’s owner didn’t lie, but his records were entirely based on his own limited perspective. He claimed he didn’t ‘turn into one of those things,’ but was he truly free of the virus? Look at zombie lore across any media—they all share one defining trait. Even when the host’s biological functions cease, they don’t rot away into dust. In fact, just like the Special Infected in this instance, their bodies show zero signs of natural decay.”

Kotoko paced slightly, piecing the puzzle together. “The diary describes the city half a month into the apocalypse. Back then, the writer still encountered the infected just by going to the supermarket downstairs. Yet, after we left the apartment, we only ran into a single Special Infected. That completely contradicts the swarming streets he described.”

“So, if we reconstruct the timeline,” Kotoko continued, “it goes like this: The initial outbreak. The diary owner records his survival. The diary owner dies. A mysterious military force enters the city and purges the standard infected. Doctor Robindias of this hospital dies. The virus mutates, triggering a secondary evolution. This is likely when the Special Infected were born. Finally, that same military force—or perhaps a different shadow organization—implanted locators inside the Special Infected, turning this entire quarantine zone into a live experimental testing ground.”

Asuna, already sharp and perceptive, immediately connected the dots. “The diary’s trap makes the Player believe they’ve spawned just days after the writer’s death—the first stage of the apocalypse. But in reality, we’ve been dropped right into the second stage. The virus has already evolved, the standard infected are highly mobile, and the Special Infected are actively hunting.”

“Exactly,” Kotoko confirmed.

Beside them, Megumi’s brows knit together, a complicated shadow passing over her eyes. “Why would the system deliberately plant such malicious misinformation…?”

“Because that is the nature of this game,” Asagiri said, his voice calm, carrying a chilling detachment. “The diary feeds the Player false assumptions, but those assumptions lead to a temporarily correct strategy: as long as you carefully avoid the Special Infected, the path from the spawn point to Mercy Hospital is relatively safe. However, as time drags on and night falls, that safety expires. The first objective—surviving until the time limit ends—sounds like a free pass, but it’s actually a death sentence. The supposedly difficult second objective is the true lifeline.”

Asagiri’s gaze swept over the dark hospital corridors. “Those who are too cautious and hesitate? Eliminated. Those who panic in an unfamiliar environment, fail to gather intelligence, and can’t locate the hospital? Eliminated. Those cowards who refuse to face any danger and just cower at the spawn point, hoping to run out the clock? Eliminated. And finally, those who reach this hospital, blindly trusting the diary’s lie that the infected are slow and harmless, only to charge headfirst into a mutated horde? Eliminated.”

A heavy silence settled over Megumi and Asuna as the sheer ruthlessness of his words sank in.

“The system isn’t cruel, nor is it benevolent,” Asagiri added dryly. “It simply enforces a rigid, uncompromising standard. It filters out the weak and refines the best Players through a meat grinder of instance assessments. Nothing more.”

Ten minutes later, inside a sterile ward on the top floor of Inpatient Building 2.

“So this is the antibody reagent…” Kotoko murmured. She stared at two rows of glass vials, each filled with a luminescent, pale green liquid. Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her fingertips against the cold glass.

Instantly, the eye-shaped app on her phone chimed, projecting a crisp line of text across the screen.

[You have obtained one tube of?? Virus Antibody Reagent. Do you confirm submission? Upon submission, the instance objective is considered complete, and you will begin the transfer back to the real world for instance settlement.]

“We finally cleared it.” Kotoko rubbed her tired eyes, letting out a soft yawn as she stretched her arms above her head. The physical toll of the trial was catching up to her. The time spent in this instance was roughly the same as their previous Hotel survival game, but that had involved mostly hiding and resting. This time, they had trekked across a hostile, infected city.

“One, two, three, four… there are ten tubes in total,” Kotoko counted. “Does that mean there are six other Players in this instance besides us?”

“Not necessarily,” Asagiri replied, his tone indifferent. “It’s highly probable that other batches of the reagent are scattered elsewhere in the hospital. If they weren’t, whoever found this stash first would hold an absolute monopoly over the lives of every other Player.”

“That makes sense,” Kotoko nodded, a bright smile returning to her face. “Then let’s submit them and get out of here…”

“You and Phantylia go ahead,” Asagiri interrupted smoothly. “Violet and I are going to stay behind and explore a bit longer.”

Realizing Asagiri intended to stay alone with Asuna, Kotoko instantly puffed out her cheeks, her eyes narrowing in a blatant display of jealousy. “You’re playing favorites! I want to stay too.”

“Do you think we’re on a sightseeing date?” Asagiri stepped forward, raising a hand to gently pat the top of Kotoko’s head. He offered a faint, almost mocking smile. “Violet can permanently increase her speed, agility, and reflexes by hunting down the Special Infected. Even if delaying our exit lowers our final completion rating, the raw stat gains will more than make up for it. As for me, I want to sweep the rest of the hospital for high-value loot. There’s no reason for you two to drag yourselves through the mud with us. Taking a hit to your completion rating is one thing, but more, you and Phantylia have already burned through a lot of your stamina.”

Kotoko, who had been fully prepared to throw a tantrum, felt the warmth of his hand on her head. A dusting of pink spread across her fair cheeks at being coaxed like a stubborn child. She broke eye contact, muttering softly, “Hmph. Are you trying to pacify a toddler?…But fine, you have a point. Phantylia and I will head back first. Just… be careful, you two. Got it?”

Kotoko and Megumi each retrieved a vial of the glowing green antibody. They tapped the confirmation prompt on their screens, and in a blink, their silhouettes dissolved into digital light, vanishing from the ward.

Left alone, Asagiri didn’t miss a beat. He casually strolled over to one of the empty hospital beds, collapsing onto the mattress with a lazy exhale. “Alright. Let’s take a breather, then we’ll get back to the grind.”

Asuna nodded. She took a seat on the edge of the adjacent bed, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. Her amber eyes traced the relaxed lines of Asagiri’s posture, and a soft, knowing smile touched her lips. “That excuse you just gave about wanting to scavenge for valuable items… that wasn’t the real reason you stayed behind, was it?”

“Oh? You saw right through me?” Asagiri mused, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Of course. Who do you think knows you best?” Asuna’s tone carried a hint of helpless resignation, yet her expression remained incredibly gentle. “You want to stick around to see exactly how this dungeon mutates when night falls. You want a front-row seat to whatever fresh hell spawns to slaughter the Players hiding at the starting point, just to understand the mechanics of their failure. Am I right?”

“As expected. You read me like a book.” Asagiri chuckled, his voice laced with dark amusement.

Hearing his relaxed laughter, Asuna pursed her lips. The ambient light of the ward cast a flickering shadow over her eyes. After a heavy beat of silence, she finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at her. “About Kotoko… what exactly are you planning to do?”

Asagiri cracked an eye open, looking genuinely bewildered. “What do you mean, what am I planning to do?”

Asuna’s expression darkened, a flash of irritation breaking through her usual composure. “Are you seriously playing dumb with me right now? Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that she is completely in love with you.”

“Oh, that.” Asagiri smiled, his tone infuriatingly casual. “I like her too.”

The blunt admission struck Asuna right in the chest. Even though she had braced herself for it, a bitter, suffocating wave of jealousy still clawed at her throat. She took a slow, deep breath, forcing the corners of her mouth up into a fragile smile. “If that’s the case…”

Before she could finish her graceful retreat, Asagiri dropped the guillotine.

“I like you too.”

Asuna froze. For several agonizing seconds, her brain simply refused to process the words. When reality finally caught up, her brows snapped together in a tight, furious knot. “Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean? If I’m hearing you correctly… you’re saying you have feelings for both me and her?”

Watching Asagiri lie there with an expression of absolute, shameless righteousness, Asuna was so appalled she almost laughed. “Hey. Isn’t it a bit too arrogant to just openly declare yourself a cheating scumbag to my face…?”

“Hey now, watch your words. How can you slander an innocent man’s reputation out of thin air?” Facing Asuna’s icy glare, Asagiri didn’t flinch. Instead, he shifted his strategy entirely. “A ‘scumbag’ is a man who strings women along without reciprocating their feelings, or someone who accepts a confession only to betray and abandon them later.”

Asagiri paused. He pushed himself up from the mattress, closing the distance until he was sitting upright, locking his dark gaze directly onto Asuna’s widening eyes. A dangerous, magnetic smirk curved his lips.

“What I am doing right now… is an open, public declaration of a harem.”