''Hmph. So I wonder what Ryouji is going to do.

　Misaki laughs provocatively at me.

''Well I guess so.''

　The masked little guy has completely disappeared in an unknown way.
　How does he escape my future vision... and if he doesn't know how to do it, what should he do?
　You may be a pledge, but for now, you shall be willing to kill in order to remain in the game.
　We need to find out what our opponent is capable of so okay, you've got your first order of business.

"We're gonna use this guy.

　I took out a black leather notebook and pen from the item box and Misaki peeked in from the side.

''What's that?''
The Grim Reaper's Handbook. Anyone with this guy's full name on it will die.
'Oh, my God!　That's a total foul!　Wow, but even with my appraisal skills, I don't want to know that it would be bad if my name was written on that thing, but I get it...

　Misaki's appraisal skills seemed to confirm this.
　Well, it's an item that doesn't have much security in itself.
　When I was about to write down the name, my hand stopped.

''I don't know the name.''
'What?　Well, yes. Manto, you're very secretive, so I don't know about it either.
No, I don't remember the first time I saw it, including my real name in a connoisseur's eye.

　Misaki gave him a disappointing look.

'Is Ryouji...stupid...by any chance?'
'Huh ... you say things like that?　Oh, yeah. Let's check if this pen is running out of ink. Now, whose name shall we write?

　When I grinned at him, Misaki, who had been looking at me blankly, noticed something and started to panic.

'No, no, no!　I don't think that's a good idea!　Look, you've spent a fair amount of time with me, and you're starting to develop feelings for me, right?　And you said something about it being against policy to kill women!
I didn't say that much.

　When I relentlessly try to put my pen in my notebook, Misaki interrupts me, waving his hand warily.

'Look, look, it's a game where we have a better chance of escaping if we work together, and most importantly, I know this game inside out!

　Desperate. I'm already desperate.
　Misaki is begging for his life anyway, showing off his usefulness.

'You wasted half an hour of my time, and come to think of it, you also said the game recommended betrayal.

　Of course, Misaki would have attacked me if I was caught off guard, but he never showed any of those openings.
　Misaki, who began to smoke out of his head as if he was using his brain fully to survive, clapped his hands with a pop, just like when Mr. Ikkyu flashed Tonchi.

'Yeah, right!　All you have to do is rewind time before the game starts and look at your name, cape!　You can do it, can't you!

　With a snap, I stop holding the pen.
　You ruminate and consider Misaki's words in your head.

''Well yeah, you're right. Whatever you do, you'd better know his real name.
'Yes, that's right, that's right, let's do it!　Anyway, I'll take back what I said about calling Ryouji an idiot and I apologize, so I hope you'll be in a better mood~

　It's not like I was angry with him in the first place.

'Okay. I'll call it a charade for providing ideas.　

　As he stowed the Reaper's notebook and pen in the item box, Misaki was heartily relieved and deflated.

''Well, then ... considering what happens later, I guess I'd better go back to the past with you.
Yeah, yeah!

　With his usual goofy smile on his face, Misaki held out his hand.
　Ignoring him, I put my hand on his shoulder and lowered it disappointingly.

'And yet,'

　Misaki opens his mouth with a kerfuffle, as if it's nothing.

'You were serious now, weren't you? He was seriously trying to write my name.............and he was trying to kill me without changing his expression. Ryouji.........................is a person who can do that kind of thing.

　I feel an extraordinary fire burning in Misaki's eyes.
　I had an incredibly bad feeling about this, so I quickly decided to rewind time.




''Hai-hai!　So let's do a second one!　Well, well, well, for some of our repeat customers, here you go!　Next subject is familiar!　Otherworldly dungeon survivor baba baba baba baba baba!

　As a small consolation, I changed the errand boy into a miserable form like a quick sacrifice to the shrike, and then rewound time again.
　And this time, after looking at the masked chibi with a connoisseur's eye, he skipped the time until exactly 22 minutes after Misaki joined him.
　It's like clicking on the seek bar and playing back from the specified time.

Oh, have they gone yet?　How about it?

　Misaki leaned forward in the aisle earlier to check the results of the battle.

''Yeah, I figured out the true name itself,''
'You look good!　So why don't you just write it down then?

　I let out a sigh and shrug my shoulders, "Huh," he says.

'I wrote it a long time ago.'
Huh?　But this guy is just as dead as he was before?

　Again, the victim has been shot in the head.
　Unless we intervene in some way, he's still going to die here.
　We can help him, but for the purpose of the game, we'll let him die for now.

If you die in the Shinigami Techo, the letters in your name will turn red, but the letters turned yellow. But the letters are now yellow. It means that the curse's defensive measures or instant death resistance or something prevented him from dying. That's why the masked midget carried out the crime without dying.

　What arises from the Reaper's Handbook is an instant death effect classified as a curse.
　Since the power of the item doesn't increase with my ability - as long as I haven't tinkered with it with a customization cheat - I can prevent it with instant death resistance or an amulet that plays the curse.
　For example, the effects of 'Resistance Penetrating Cheat' and 'Immortal Killing Cheat' don't ride on it.
　But that's fine. Because that's exactly what I'm aiming for.

''So now we know that at least we can't get rid of them with just instant death magic or a curse.

　The possibility of being out of range of the Reaper's Techbook can be eliminated, so they probably had at least an instant death countermeasure in place.
　There's no record in my history (log) of the instant death effect bouncing back. In other words, there was no instant death effect reflex by returning a curse.
　The reason I used the Shinigami Techo at first was to find out the level of countermeasures against this kind of opponent.
　Of course, it doesn't matter if you die, but there was a possibility that you could come back to life by some means, so I didn't rely on it too much.

''Hmmm, so we'll have to think of another way...''

　Misaki is thinking about it.
　He's probably figuring out how to kill the masked chibi with this guy too.

'You've fought that guy before, haven't you?　Did the same thing happen to you then?
Hmm, there have been times when I've certainly disappeared. But I don't want to be too helpful. The game with Manto was invalidated because I killed a bunch of people for no reason, so we had to start over with the same game. So, it's kind of like me and him starting over in the same game. We didn't really fight that much.

　I see.
　It's also possible that I was summoned to make up the difference.

"In other words, the masked midget is the only guy you failed to kill last time.
Ha ha. Well, yeah.

　Misaki laughs, but shakes his head in a way that doesn't seem amused.
　'I guess it's not a pleasant memory for a killer to let his prey get away.

'Well, maybe we're lucky that it was disabled. Not only does he have an anti-incapacitation and anti-spell measure, he also has a time measure. Moreover, he doesn't misrepresent my past vision head-on, but rather picks up on some simple oversight... You, as a recurring player in God's Play (game), know what this means, don't you?

　Misaki nodded back with a serious face.

That masked little guy is not a frog in a well that claims to be the strongest in the world just because he's leveled, nor is he some amateur reincarnated as a cheat and got a cheat, nor is he the kind of satanic criminal who is just mad at himself for defeating a few gods.

　It doesn't matter that I'm immortal or that I could collapse the whole game if I wanted to.
　Just the fact that I have an enemy who is an experienced cheat holder who knows how to fight is a huge risk to me.

　The cheat ability itself of the guy I just checked was almost exactly as I remembered it.

　Various equipment. Including masks, with resident defensive magic. In addition, the masks are inset with gems that can activate optional life-sensing magic for searching for enemies. There are many protective amulets that reduce the damage of each attribute. All of them are disposable, but they can withstand the breath of an Ancient Dragon. I can't say for sure since it's only a magic wave, but I've probably got some items in my pocket that are countermeasures against instant death and spells, as well as items to disguise your abilities. Since I prioritized the confirmation of the true name, I didn't do the clairvoyant thing. The content is unknown.
　Future Walking Cheat. It seems to be an ability that allows you to travel up to 5 minutes into the future, not unlimited like my time-space manipulation future travel. It's an ability that I don't have, and I'm sure the secret to his "Mystery in Five Minutes" lies in the way he uses this ability, in his own amazing ideas and perspectives.
　He is a past- and future-vision magic eye cheat. He can see into the past and the future, respectively, up to an hour ahead or even later. Unlike mine, it only activates both eyes, so you can't see the current time while using the magic eye.
　Time Retrograde Cheat. You can send yourself and others back in time, or send objects into the past. It seems to be able to synchronize with the past-seeing eye to fire bullets into 'seen enemies' without being aware of it.
　Dimensional Transition Cheat. This is the ability to move to a transition point that you have visited before. You can set up to 100 transition points, of which 74 are already specified.
　Item Box Cheat. Requires 500kg of survival supplies, firearms, ammunition, and precious metals and gunpowder. Equipment reserve is also confirmed.
　Modern Weapons Cheat. Ability to create guns, bombs and ammunition from materials. You can create weapons from the materials in the item box.
　And there's one more ability that goes best with this modern weapon cheat. Perhaps this is the biggest trump card.

　The little masked bastard has met all the requirements to be a threat to me at this point.

　One. I have free inter-dimensional travel between worlds.
　I'm bound by the Summons and Oaths, which gives me an unconditional advantage.
　I must drive a dimensional wedge into the base world as soon as possible to prevent it from escaping and preparing a counterattack.

　Two. He knows how to use abilities that I don't know how to use.
　This is also very tricky, but for me, it's an opportunity to learn something new.

　And finally and most importantly...

"He's a pro. He's always expecting and preparing to fight cheat holders as good as or better than he is. He knows what the threat is in this multidimensional universe. He's definitely a formidable opponent.

　Cheat holders with a variety of experience are in trouble if you make them your enemy anyway.
　Just like the other world's guardian paisen, this is not an opponent that should be discussed in terms of whether you can or cannot win.
　
　You have to examine them carefully, including whether or not it's okay to kill them in the end.

''.............Hey.

　And there.
　Misaki, who had been listening to me, suddenly opened his mouth.

"A powerful enemy? Is that, by any chance, including me?

　Misaki had no expression on his face.
　I've been smiling all this time, so I've never seen a face like this before.
　But really, for some reason, it felt like it was just plain.

''Well of course. I'm not sure what to do, but you're more than him in the sense that you don't know what you're going to do.

　This was the real deal without a price.

　We know the abilities we have and we know the true name.
　Normally, I wouldn't be a threat.

　However, I changed my assessment while I was interacting with this guy.
　I really don't know what's going on but this guy is also in trouble.
　Something is bad anyway.

"I see.

　That was all I got in response.
　Still the same blank expression.　

''........Well, I can see that you don't have any time measures or instant death measures in place.
Well I'll think about it some more next time!

　I say jokingly, and Misaki puffs out her cheeks in frustration.

'So what do we do now?　Do you want to explore this place further?
'No, we'll advance the game time. There doesn't seem to be any more clues at the moment. Jeez, it's like we don't have a clue, after all. Well, maybe it wasn't all for nothing.
'Yeah. In the end, we still don't even know what the "Mystery in 5 minutes" is.

　Misaki suppressed his mouth and chuckled.
　That ordinary gesture........made me nervous.
　Only then did I see Trance Misaki not as a mysterious murderer, but as a simple girl.

'I'm very amused too,'

　I looked at Misaki, who gave me a glowing smile, and I thought to myself.

　If this guy was my pledge, that would be the worst........