Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

Hearing Kasumigaoka Utaha's question, Yozora picked up his coffee and took a sip, replying with a smile.

"I killed a few people."

Hearing this, Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed with slight helplessness.

"You're starting to say weird things again, aren't you? Seriously... I can't write this kind of dating scenario into my novel..."

Yozora smiled, unconcerned.

"That's why I brought you to a normal dating spot, right?"

"A coffee shop, huh..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha rested her chin on her hands, looking around at the other customers, sighing softly, and stirring her coffee with the stirrer, muttering to herself.

"This kind of place... feels alright as a first date location, but according to my book's male and female leads' personalities, after confirming their relationship, they should go to some... um... more interesting, more youthful places, preferably with occasional physical contact that can make the heroine's heart flutter, right? In other words... a place with a sense of excitement."

"A sense of excitement?"

Yozora's smile faded, and he asked with a serious expression.

"Could it be that you're referring to the kind where both parties are holding their breath, able to clearly hear their own heartbeats, so nervous that their bodies are a little stiff, even their breathing becomes heavy, and they even feel like their minds are becoming unclear?"

"Eh, yes, yes, that's it."

Hearing Yozora's precise description, Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly nodded and smiled.

"Do you know where there is such a place?"

"I know it very well."

Yozora finished his coffee in one gulp, then stood up.

"Let's go, Operation Date, begin!"

...

Half an hour later, inside a dimly lit, eerie house.

"Yo... Yozora, w-w-why did you bring me to a haunted house..."

Hearing Kasumigaoka Utaha's voice tremble, Yozora, who was being grabbed by the sleeve, turned his head and said earnestly.

"Didn't you say it yourself? Accelerated heartbeat, nervous to the point of stiff body, heavy breathing, unclear mind, isn't this place enough to make your heart flutter?"

"This..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked like she was about to cry, the excitement she had imagined was not this kind of excitement!

This wasn't a heart flutter, it was clearly being hit by a truck.

"A-A-Aren't you even a little afraid?"

Hearing Kasumigaoka Utaha's question, Yozora just yawned boredly.

"What's there to be afraid of? I even feel a little hungry."

"Your thought process is really something else..."

Just as Kasumigaoka Utaha finished speaking, the wall of the house suddenly sounded like it was being hit hard, making a loud "bang", she was so frightened that her face changed, and she subconsciously hid in Yozora's arms, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"Th-Th-This place is too scary... I... let's go out..."

"Ah? Is the dating experience for novel material going to end here?"

"N-N-No... I still need to gather material..."

Tears were already welling up in Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes, and she said weakly.

"L-L-Let's change... change the place to gather material..."

After coming out of the haunted house, Kasumigaoka Utaha sat on a bench in the amusement park, feeling like her whole body was about to collapse, and she could barely muster any strength.

"Yozora-kun..."

Looking at Yozora, who still looked calm, Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't help but sigh.

"You really aren't afraid of these things at all..."

When they came out of the haunted house just now, Kasumigaoka Utaha directly grabbed Yozora's hand because her body was weak and her steps were unsteady, and with this hand-holding, she confirmed one thing.

Yozora wasn't pretending, he really wasn't afraid at all.

Even in that gloomy and terrifying haunted house, where staff dressed as ghosts jumped out to scare people from time to time, Yozora was as calm as ever, even his palms didn't sweat, and his pulse was so steady.

Of course, Kasumigaoka Utaha's timid and fearful performance in the haunted house just now was also somewhat of an act, after all, the scenario where the male and female leads go to a haunted house together, and then the heroine is frightened and throws herself into the male lead's arms, creating intimate physical contact, is also a classic scene in romance light novels.

Even if Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't that scared originally, she would have to pretend to be particularly afraid in order to take advantage of Yozora.

"Where to next? How about we go ride the Ferris wheel..."

Just as Kasumigaoka Utaha was halfway through her sentence, she suddenly noticed that the tourists in the amusement park had already taken out their phones, and they had surprised expressions on their faces, talking and discussing with each other, as if some explosive news had happened.

"How could something like this happen?"

"This... there's a video as proof, it shouldn't be fake, right?"

"Oh my goodness..."

"Now the Kyoto Prefectural Police... is going to be busy."

Listening to the whispers of those around her, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked puzzled, and also opened her phone, and as soon as she opened her browser, she received an automatically pushed news item.

"Breaking News! 'Mask' Publicly Murders Five Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigators!"

Seeing this title, Kasumigaoka Utaha's pupils couldn't help but shrink in shock.

"This is..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha clicked on the video file in the news content.

The clarity of the video wasn't very high, and the shooting angle was constantly shaking, it looked like the kind of footage taken by a hidden camera installed on clothing.

And the opening scene of this video was "Mask" stabbing his hand into the chest of a man in a suit, then watching the other party's body fall to the ground, and saying this sentence.

"I'm tired of this boring hero game."

When she saw the investigators of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department taking out guns and pulling the trigger at "Mask", but completely failing to cause any effective damage, one of them being lifted up and smashed to death on the hard ground, and "Mask" inserting sharp silver nails into the heads of those police officers, not only Kasumigaoka Utaha, but everyone in the entire amusement park fell silent for a moment.

As the shooting angle suddenly lowered, a line of bright red traces flowed into the picture, and any normal person could guess that this was caused by the blood flowing from the wound after the police officer wearing the hidden camera fell to the ground.

"Anyone who tries to stop me..."

"Will end up just like them."

In "Mask's" chilling words, the video screen plunged into darkness, and the video playback ended.

"How could this be..."

Although Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't a supporter or fan of "Mask", as someone living in Kyoto City, she had obviously heard of his deeds and seen news reports about him.

She couldn't believe at all that this "Mask" in the video was that mysterious hero who was sought after by countless people, just looking at this video...

This was completely an evil villain who killed without batting an eye.

And "Mask" himself said things like a boring hero game, those who hinder me will end up the same, these cold and ruthless words made people feel even more unbelievable.

Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered to herself.

"'Mask'... why on earth would he do such a thing..."

"Yeah."

Sitting to the side, Yae Hoshi revealed a hint of a smile, raising his head to gaze at the clear, cloudless sky, and said meaningfully.

“Why… why would he do this?”

…

Later that day, in Sapporo City.

“Minister Ito, your plan was a success!”

A subordinate in a suit pushed open the office door, his face filled with barely suppressed excitement and agitation, reporting to Shuji Ito, who was sitting behind his desk.

“Just as you predicted, after our people threatened Soichiro Yagami, ‘Kamen’ directly took action and killed him. The entire process was filmed. After we had several familiar media outlets release news reports, the entire Sakura Prefecture is now discussing this matter! We’ve tallied the results, and apart from the people of Kyoto City who still hold hope for ‘Kamen,’ believing there must be some unspeakable reason, the people in all other areas believe that ‘Kamen’ has finally revealed his true colors!”

“Don’t get so excited.”

Shuji Ito lightly tapped the wooden desk with his knuckles, and said in a deep voice.

“It seems just as I thought, ‘Kamen’s’ true identity is a young person with little social experience, possibly even a student still in school, at an age where they are easily impulsive and hot-blooded. Feeling that someone close to them was threatened, they resorted to such an extreme measure as murder, killing an officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and even making such arrogant remarks… It’s even better than I anticipated.”

“In that case…”

“Having lost the faith of the people, ‘Kamen’s’ power will become less to be feared. However… there is still one person.”

Shuji Ito crossed his hands, supporting his chin, and slowly said.

“Have the local Tokyo media and television stations start a discussion, with the theme being: after ‘Kira,’ who aims to punish evil, ‘Kamen’ has committed an unforgivable crime of openly murdering a police officer. Will ‘Kira’ still uphold his principles? If we can incite infighting between ‘Kira’ and ‘Kamen,’ that would be best, but even if not, ‘Kira,’ who turns a blind eye to evil and breaks his own principles, will lose all faith.”

“By the way, have the people sent to those three areas sent back any information?”

“No.”

The subordinate in the suit shook his head.

“Just as you predicted, they completely lost contact within half an hour of arriving in the area where the incident occurred.”

“I see… Well, they were just ordinary people after all. Being used as cannon fodder to gather information is good enough.”

Shuji Ito’s face showed no emotional fluctuation upon hearing this news. After all, in his eyes, those subordinates sent to Kyoto, including the murdered officers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, were merely tools to help him become an all-powerful being.

“Is the press interview for tomorrow arranged?”

“Minister Ito, everything has been arranged, and… mobile units from various locations are also ready.”

“Very good.”

Shuji Ito slowly clenched his fist, his eyes revealing a twisted greed, and slowly said.

“Those beliefs that originally belonged to ‘Kamen,’ starting from tomorrow…”

“Will belong to me.”

…

That night, in the hall on the first floor of the Super-Dimensional Society.

In front of Yukino Yukinoshita was a laptop, with a video call interface displayed on the screen. On the other end of the video call was Rio Futaba, who was still with the other Super-Dimensional Society members in Tokyo.

“What… what exactly are you doing…”

Rio Futaba took off her glasses, raised her hand to rub her brow, and sighed heavily, looking at Yae Hoshi, who was sitting next to Yukino Yukinoshita. He had clearly ignited a storm of public opinion throughout the entire Sakura Prefecture, but as the person involved, he seemed unaffected, even leisurely drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola, and slowly said.

“I can understand you killing those investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, after all, they threatened Mr. Yagami, so they must have had problems. You wanted to search for information by devouring their souls, but… a pointless hero game? ‘Death to those who stand in my way?’ This… And you should have noticed that those investigators were wearing hidden cameras, right? Since you noticed, I really can’t imagine… your reason for deliberately doing this.”

“Can’t figure that out? Isn’t it very simple?”

Yae Hoshi smiled nonchalantly, and explained.

“First of all, even Yagami Light, the clear player from another world, lost his mind and was controlled by that thing after creating the so-called Holy Grail. That shows that this thing, based on the seven deadly sins and gathering human desires, will affect people’s minds. Simply put, those who covet the power of the Holy Grail will become puppets of the Holy Grail.”

“Second, the enemy has at least three, or even four, fragments representing the original sin in their hands. In this world, apart from me, no one’s power can be stronger than Yagami Light, who has gathered the power of faith from the entire world and become the god of the new world. In other words, the enemy will definitely be unable to resist the influence of the Holy Grail fragments.”

“Third, the three strange incidents created by the enemy, and the investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who were sent to the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department under the pretense of those three incidents, and deliberately threatened Soichiro Yagami, are ultimately just appetizers. The real feast is the shift in public opinion regarding ‘Kamen,’ which is to make me lose the support of the people’s faith and weaken my power.”

“The problem is, even if the enemy wants to eliminate ‘Kamen,’ why not wait until the Holy Grail has grown into a complete body and merged with it, possessing great power, before taking action? That is obviously a safer choice, but the other side used such a complicated method, specifically setting up a plan to make ‘Kamen’ lose faith. This shows that the enemy is very anxious. What is he anxious about? He wants the Holy Grail to grow into a complete body. To achieve this goal, he must…”

Hearing this, Rio Futaba already understood Yae Hoshi’s meaning.

“Are you saying… if he doesn’t take that fragment representing lust… from your hands, the Holy Grail cannot be formed?”

“Exactly.”

Yae Hoshi nodded, and said in a calm tone.

“To let the enemy know that this fragment of original sin is in ‘Kamen’s’ hands, I deliberately left traces of black flames in that village, and followed the other side’s plan step by step, entering the trap. Judging from these traps set up by the other side, the enemy clearly knows the information that the faith of the people can enhance the power of spirit ability users. Since he knows this, then after weakening ‘Kamen,’ what he will do next…”

“Is to take over ‘Kamen’s’ position himself, seize the faith of the people, and then, take the fragment of original sin from ‘Kamen’s’ hands, which means…”

Hearing this, both Rio Futaba and Yukino Yukinoshita understood Yae Hoshi’s thoughts.

“Which means that in this situation where the enemy is very anxious and wants the Holy Grail to grow into a complete body as soon as possible, the enemy probably won’t have the patience to appear in another image like us, but will use a more convenient way to seize the faith of the people…”

“That’s right.”

Yae Hoshi nodded slightly, and said softly.