After walking for about ten minutes, a medium-sized supermarket appeared in front of us.
Kurosawa Jin stood across the street and stopped moving forward.
"Go in on your own," he said.
Sure enough, the daily behavior of "shopping in the supermarket" does not fit the style of this cold-blooded killer. Rather, being willing to agree to such a request and then lead the person to the supermarket entrance is already a manifestation of tolerance and kindness.
"Okay." Hojo Natsuki didn't force it, "Will you wait for me here?"
Kurosawa: “Yeah.”
He nodded and walked towards the zebra crossing, but after walking a few meters, his steps became hesitant and slow.
Hojo Natsuki realized: "I don't seem to have any money on me?"
As the Boss of the Frog Organization, he is of course wealthy, and the amount of his deposit is a terrifying number for ordinary people, but that money can only be spent in the system mall, and no way to withdraw it has been found yet.
I had no bank cards or credit cards, not even a wallet. My sleeves were clean and my pockets were empty... But there was a matchbox in my pocket.
He thought for a few seconds and tried to find the bug.
Open your phone, open the game icon, switch to [Simulation Business], and enter the system mall.
[Gold bar 20g]
[Do you want to buy? [Y/N]]
After selecting [Yes], the originally very smooth system mall interface froze for a while, and the loading icon on the screen kept spinning.
System: [Purchase failed! ]
[Friendly reminder] [In order to ensure the player's gaming experience, some functions will be restricted in holographic mode. I wish you a happy game~]
The card bug failed, and for a while, Hojo Natsuki couldn't find a way to withdraw the money. He decisively decided to be a beggar and turned around and walked back to Kurosawa Jin.
"I don't have any money." He spread out his hands and said frankly, "Give me 20,000 yen."
Kurosawa didn't answer, but looked at him as if he was wondering if he was going to do something weird again... But Hojo Natsuki really had no money.
His magically high net worth, like being trapped in the stock market, was ruthlessly restricted by the system mall.
Hojo Natsuki waited for a few seconds, thinking that the other party was unwilling to give it, thinking that it was really stingy, so he simply changed the name of Top Killer to Stingy Killer. He took out the matchbox from his pocket and said seriously: "Sir, buy a box of matches. 20,000 yen, thank you for your patronage."
Kurosawa raised the corner of his lip, taking the matchbox from Natsuki's hand and handing him a black wallet. "Go," he said.
Hojo Natsuki opened the wallet and took a quick look, and found that the man's wallet also continued his usual minimalist style, with a simple design and only banknotes and a few bank cards in it.
He put the wallet he got from selling matches into his pocket, then reached into Kurosawa Jin's coat pocket, took out the matchbox, and shook it in front of him.
"Sir, please buy another box of matches," he said sincerely.
Kurosawa Jin: “…”
Kurosawa Jin: "Get lost."
The card BUG failed again!
Hojo Natsuki shrugged, and said, "Go away, I'll be right back."
Then he crossed the street alone and walked into the supermarket.
He pushed a small shopping cart and quickly scanned the merchandise on the shelves with his eyes, the categories, packaging, brand names... The categories and packaging were similar, but they were all brands that had never been seen in the real world.
The last time I saw anime works on the video player, there were many overlaps with reality, which was a bit strange.
Hojo Natsuki walked forward while thinking, and casually threw a few packets of puffed food into the basket.
Standing between two rows of shelves, he saw a very familiar-looking teenager walking by pushing a cart.
I actually met Kudo Shinichi Chicken!
Behind Kudo Shinichi, two girls of the same age as him were holding each other's arms and laughing.
"The last time I spent New Year's Eve with Lan was four years ago, right?" The girl with short chestnut hair smiled at her friend named Lan.
The Red and White Song Contest..."
Hojo Natsuki glanced at the necklace around her neck and quickly made a judgment: her family conditions were quite good.
"Then I watched a horror movie..."
The sound of their laughter gradually faded away.
Hojo Natsuki opened his phone, and the [Simulation Business] map expanded with the puppy Boss as the center. He selected the animal avatars around him to view their basic information.
The girl with short chestnut hair should be a budgie, named [Yuanzi].
Another long-haired girl called "Lan" by her friends is named [Maoli Lan].
[Mao Lilan] [Recruitable]
[Species: Kangaroo]
[Faction: None]
The petite kangaroo, with its eyes drooping, looks like a gentle deer.
System: [[Moulin Ran] is [Kudo Shinichi's] childhood sweetheart. It's a good idea to use [Moulin Ran] to control [Kudo Shinichi]. But [Moulin Ran] looks weak and docile, but she is a real kangaroo that can kill three dead pigeons with one punch~]
Hojo Natsuki: “… ?”
So '毛栗' means to treat someone to a Mao Li (brain explosion)
But this is not the point. Mao Lilan is in the [recruitable] state. A capitalist smelled the scent of an employee and recruited her as a part-time worker in the toy factory. The salary of a part-time worker is not high, and she can also use this opportunity to monitor Kudo Shinichi, killing two birds with one stone. However, you have to think carefully about what position to assign her.
He scanned Shinichiji's profile picture again.
[Kudo Shinichi Chicken] [Recruitable]
[Faction: None]
Hojo Natsuki: “!?”
Yes, now Shinichi is not persecuted by Gin and does not hate the organization.
The game's plot and world line revolve around the experiences of Shinichi, who is roughly a child of the world and the 'protagonist' of the story.
Since he is the protagonist.
You must be good at working part-time! You must be able to become the best employee!
Hojo Natsuki raised the corner of his mouth and pushed the cart forward very naturally.
Suzuki Sonoko threw a bag of jelly into the car.
"And then? And then, my uncle—"
Her voice suddenly stopped, her eyes fixed, her head spun dully like a sunflower, chasing the 'sun', and then stopped moving again.
Mao Lilan realized it later, turned around and asked in confusion: "What's wrong? Sonoko?"
"…" Suzuki Sonoko took a deep breath and lowered her voice, but she couldn't hide her excitement, "I saw a super handsome guy! So handsome, really handsome!"
Mao Lilan: "...Huh? Is there?"
Kudo Shin's eyes were half crescent, and he hung on the handle of the shopping cart, with a tone of despair: "Why did it start again..."
"Come on! I'll take you to see it."
Suzuki Sonoko grabbed her and chased in the direction the handsome guy in the black windbreaker left.
She stopped just two or three meters away from Hojo Natsuki, and whispered in Mao Lilan's ear: "She looks like an idol? I really want to chat with her."
Mao Lilan was obviously not very interested, but she continued with her friend's words: "Well, indeed, she was wearing sunglasses... Since she is an idol, it is better not to disturb her casually, right?"
Behind them, Kudo Shinichi slowly caught up with his cart and sighed.
"Not really like an idol." Kudo reasoned in a casual, complaining tone, "Young idols usually pay attention to matching their clothes when they go out privately, for fear that someone will take a bad photo of them and post it online. After all, this is a job that sells romantic fantasies. ... His clothes are totally ill-fitting. The length, sleeve length, and shoulder width are more than one size too big."
Suzuki Sonoko's eyes lit up: "Yes, a truly handsome guy would look good even in a sack!"
"Hey." Kudo Shinichi was speechless and frowned, "But I always feel that he looks familiar, as if I have seen him somewhere."
Suzuki Sonoko became more and more certain: "He must have seen it on TV. I'll go ask him."
Of course, Hojo Natsuki noticed their movements.
Guessing that the girls were probably discussing him, he quickened his pace and walked quickly towards the checkout counter.
Relying on the scarf to cover himself, Xia Shu only wore a pair of narrow-framed brown sunglasses when he went out, but he has not yet figured out what identity he should use to approach Kudo Shinichi. It would not be a good thing to reveal his true identity too early.
Hojo Natsuki stepped back into the cold wind, carrying a plastic bag.
Suzuki Sonoko, who had caught up with him, could only watch him walk away with regret. She angrily put her arm around Mao Lilan's arm again and complained, "Why is he walking so fast?"
Mao Lilan comforted him, "Maybe he lives nearby. We may meet him again in the future."
Suzuki Sonoko stood on tiptoe, looking around, and said reluctantly: "Opportunities like this don't come around often."
At this time, Hojo Natsuki crossed the road and walked towards Kurosawa Jin under the street light.
The silver-haired man was tall, blocking the light and shadow. He held a cigarette casually in one hand, with a faint cluster of scarlet on his fingertips.
Kudo Shinichi, who was waiting for the salesperson to scan the product code, also came up to Xiaolan and Sonoko out of boredom and looked over with his head tilted.
In an instant, his eyes gradually changed from the dead eyes that were forced to work to sharp ones.
Kudo Shinichi thought: "... Wait, I think I really saw them, not on TV."
Suzuki Sonoko: “Really?”
"Ah... yeah." He looked at it and tried to recall it.
The silver-haired man in the distance put out his cigarette, bent down very naturally, hooked his fingers lightly, and took the shopping bag from the black-haired young man.
The two walked forward side by side.
Kudo Shinichi: “…”
If he remembered correctly, he saw only a few packs of puffed foods, a few packs of biscuits, and two bottles of soda in the man's car, which could be carried by an elementary school student.
Suzuki Sonoko: "Is that his agent? Assistant? Bodyguard?"
Mao Lilan frowned slightly and whispered: "It feels a bit scary..."
Kudo Shinichi clenched his right fist and tapped his palm: "Ah, I remember where I saw them."
Suzuki Sonoko: "Where?"
Mao Lilan was puzzled: "'They'?"
Kudo Shinichi nodded and drooped his eyelids. He finally understood Hattori Heiji's strange state at that time, and showed the same sour expression as the other party - it seemed that he had met a gay again.
Hojo Natsuki returned to the safe house with Kurosawa Jin.
He turned on the TV, letting the lively atmosphere of the Red and White Songs Festival liven up the air in the living room, and then he opened each packet of snacks and took a bite. There was nothing wrong with it, the taste was just average.
[[Qin Frog] Favorability 8]
[[Qin Frog] Current Favorability: 73]
[Congratulations on unlocking the mysterious function of [This game's exclusive communication APP] ~ Experience it quickly ~]
Hojo Natsuki: “?!”
He immediately selected the cartoon phone logo of [This game’s exclusive communication APP].
[Video Call] and [Voice Message] have been unlocked, and now [Photography] has been added, making the function closer to real communication software.
However, it's still pretty useless.
He lost interest immediately, but with the mentality of "since it's already open, I might as well give it a try", he selected the camera LOGO of [shoot] and took a picture of the snacks on the table.
Everything was normal in the viewfinder, but the next second after pressing the shutter button, the originally extremely realistic photo turned into a cartoon.
The painting style is exactly the same as that of a mobile phone interface.
Hojo Natsuki: “?!”
It's a bit fun.
He raised his cell phone and took a picture of Kurosawa Jin from a distance.
At the moment the camera was aimed at him, Kurosawa looked over very keenly with a defensive expression, and Hojo Natsuki guessed that he would react quickly, so he pressed the shooting button with his finger at the same speed, and recorded this moment before the other party dodged.
The frame still contained a stern-looking silver-haired man, but after a few seconds, he turned into a gloomy-faced little guy looking fiercely at the camera.
Hojo Natsuki became interested, rotated the camera, pointed it at himself, and prepared to take a selfie - but he felt that there was no point in taking a picture of himself.
He put on his slippers and ran to Kurosawa Jin: "Let's take a photo together!"
Kurosawa: “No.”
Xia Shu: "Take a picture."
Kurosawa said fiercely, lowering his voice: "Get lost."
Apparently, the other person hates having his picture taken.
His fierce look is very scary.
Driven by curiosity, Hojo Natsuki was not afraid at all. He placed his hands on the table, resting his chin on the back of his hands, with a look of just the right amount of pleading. He gave him a pitiful look like a puppy and repeated, "Please, please."
Kurosawa Jin: “…”
He immediately restrained his expression and looked away coldly and awkwardly.
Obviously, this is the default meaning.
So Hojo Natsuki naturally took advantage of the situation and seized the opportunity before he changed his mind. He moved closer to him, raised his phone, and made a "yeah" gesture with his hand.
Wait, something's wrong.
He realized that Kurosawa, who was a few years older than him, looked more manly than he did.
Just like people with round faces like to hide behind others when taking photos, Hojo Natsuki doesn't like his slender body shape, which makes him look frail and not like an adult at all. This feeling is even stronger when compared with the Top Killer around him.
So, Hojo Natsuki put one hand on Kurosawa Jin's shoulder and deliberately pushed him down, making his proportion in the frame smaller, confidently thinking that this would make him look a little stronger... This was actually a meaningless act, and he did it subconsciously.
He pressed [Record].
“Crack!”
There was a shutter click and the picture was frozen.
Hojo Natsuki put away his phone. The snow-white puppy in the photo was smiling brightly; while the frog not only had a coffin-like face, but also sweat dripping from its forehead, as if to say "that's enough".
He looked at it for a long time and felt that the frog's expression was too vivid and quite funny, so he selected [Save to local computer].
"What are you laughing at?" asked Kurosawa Jin.
Hojo Natsuki coughed pretentiously: "Nothing... It's New Year's Eve, I'm happy."
He sat back on the sofa holding his phone and clicked on all the remaining icons again to see if there were any new features he had missed or had not experienced before.
There was nothing special about the rest, and the unlocked content was very routine and did not bring any surprises... But after selecting [Map], Hojo Natsuki keenly discovered that there was something more in the game's cartoon map interface.
This map originally recorded the footprints of the harp frog. Wherever it has been, a green coordinate will appear at the corresponding position on the map.
Hojo Natsuki looked at the new interface and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Now, in the map area representing [Tokyo], in addition to the original green icon, there is also a red coordinate mark.
In the upper left corner, next to the expressionless head of the harp frog, a puppy with its tongue sticking out is added, and the expressions of the two animals form a sharp contrast.
Frog: [=. =]
Line puppy: [:p]
The game begins with the journey of a lonely little frog.
It is homeless, bad-tempered, cold, picky, and a natural executioner. It never sends postcards to players and never travels.
Many years passed and many things happened.
Now, it is no longer alone.
(End of this chapter)