Even though she desperately wanted to complain, Youmu held herself back with all her strength.
Because she knew—
if she actually voiced what she was thinking aloud, then her precious little half-phantom companion would absolutely become today's sacrifice.
Yuyuko-sama would probably swallow it whole in one bite.
Realizing this horrifying possibility, Youmu decisively shut her mouth.
Izumi, meanwhile, didn't mind at all.
Hearing Yuyuko's exaggerated complaints, he simply smiled and pulled her into his arms.
"Yeah, yeah. I know~"
"I just had some things to deal with outside for a while."
"But it's all settled now."
"I probably won't be leaving again anytime soon."
Now that he had reached the One-Digit realm, there was no longer any need for Izumi to venture outside personally.
All he had to do now was wait for more worlds to continue merging into his own.
Perhaps—
once every dimensional world had fully fused together, he could finally attempt to surpass even the level of One-Digit beings.
That had been Azathoth's intention all along.
To have Izumi unite all worlds into one.
And naturally, once every world became part of his domain—
Izumi himself would become the ruler of the complete dimensional cosmos.
At that point, his evolution would happen automatically.
Of course…
that process would take an unimaginably long time.
...
After ordering an absurd amount of food at Erina's restaurant, Izumi naturally began feeding the gluttonous ghost princess sitting in his lap.
Just then—
the restaurant door opened once more.
The instant Yukari Yakumo entered and saw Izumi—
her face immediately darkened.
Without a second thought, she turned around and prepared to leave.
Clearly, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
Unfortunately for her—
Izumi had already noticed.
He casually waved a hand.
The next instant, before Yukari could even resist, she was forcibly dragged over and pressed against the table.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Izumi looked at her with a teasing smile.
Yukari's expression became extremely unpleasant.
"Hmph!"
"You worthless playboy."
"What exactly do you want now?"
She still hadn't gotten over what happened previously.
Not only had Izumi thoroughly bullied her—
he had also stolen the precious thing she had protected for seventeen years and countless additional months.
There was no way she could greet him kindly after that.
Izumi merely laughed.
"Well, since you're already here, why not sit down and chat?"
"Then later, we can head back together and discuss the origin of life."
The moment she heard that, Yukari instantly tried to flee again.
Unfortunately—
she discovered she couldn't move at all.
That immediately stunned her.
Meanwhile, Yuyuko's eyes sparkled brightly.
"Ooh~!"
"Sounds great!"
"Let's do it together with Yukari!"
And just like that, without even a second of hesitation, Yuyuko sold out her best friend completely.
...
It was currently peak dining hour.
Erina's restaurant had become packed with customers.
Many people familiar with Izumi immediately noticed his return and enthusiastically greeted him one after another.
This naturally caused countless newcomers to become curious.
Who exactly is that guy?
Why were so many powerful figures greeting him respectfully?
Was his status really that high?
After all, in the eyes of the newcomers, the people talking to Izumi were all major figures.
And yet those same people acted surprisingly humble before him.
Driven by curiosity, the newcomers quickly began asking around.
And before long—
they learned the truth.
Izumi was the creator of this entire world.
The atmosphere inside the restaurant instantly changed.
The newcomers now looked at him the same way mortals might look at a god.
Izumi himself, however, couldn't care less.
As the restaurant grew more crowded, more familiar faces appeared.
For example—
Muse and the girls from Houkago Tea Time.
The moment Izumi saw them, he burst out laughing.
At the same time, he sensed a certain familiar divine aura surrounding them.
"Huh…"
"So Eris recruited all of them into her Familia?"
Izumi looked at Yui Hirasawa and the others with surprise.
Yuyuko, currently stuffing mochi into her mouth, followed his gaze and nodded.
"Yep~"
"Eris has been recruiting lots of people lately."
"Her Familia's gotten pretty big."
"There are even quite a few people from Gensokyo joining now."
"Like Mystia and Reimu."
The moment Izumi heard that Reimu had joined Eris's Familia, he immediately became interested.
Turning toward Yukari, he asked with an amused expression:
"You actually let Reimu go?"
Yukari shrugged casually.
"She wanted to join. Was I supposed to stop her?"
"She said her luck was terrible, so she wanted a goddess of luck to improve it."
"So I didn't interfere."
"Though honestly, her luck has improved a lot after joining Eris's Familia."
"The only unfortunate thing is that this world uses points instead of physical money."
"Otherwise I could still help manage her finances."
Not a trace of guilt existed on Yukari's face.
The only thing truly upsetting her was the fact that everything in this world used digital points now.
Especially after Asagi introduced facial-recognition payment systems.
Now people could just scan their face and spend points instantly.
That completely eliminated all opportunities for Yukari to "borrow" money.
Truly tragic.
Izumi looked at her with a strange expression.
"No wonder Reimu dislikes you so much."
"Seriously…"
"She had such a miserable life in Gensokyo."
"You really are unreliable."
"Your sense of dignity disappeared ages ago."
Yukari snorted.
"Dignity?"
"What's that?"
"I don't need something like that."
She was Yukari Yakumo.
Why would she ever care about maintaining appearances?
Izumi stared at her speechlessly.
"As expected of you…"
"Honestly impressive."
Her shamelessness had truly reached legendary levels.
And just as they were discussing Reimu—
the shrine maiden herself walked into the restaurant alongside Asuna and the others.
The moment Reimu noticed their table, she completely ignored Yukari's existence.
Instead, she greeted Izumi casually before sitting down at a nearby table.
Yukari's lips twitched violently.
"Reimu, aren't you going to greet me?"
Reimu immediately replied with complete disdain:
"Why would I greet an old hag like you?"
"Shouldn't you stay home and quietly retire already?"
At some point, Reimu had apparently become astonishingly sharp-tongued.
The moment those words landed, Yukari clutched her chest dramatically.
"Wretched child!"
"Reimu's grown up and doesn't respect me anymore!"
"I'm heartbroken!"
"She used to be so adorable when she was little!"
"How did she turn into this?!"
As she spoke, she even squeezed out a few fake tears.
Reimu ignored the performance entirely.
Not only that—
she immediately followed up with another brutal attack.
"Quit acting already, you damn old woman."
"You're seriously so fake."
The entire restaurant fell silent.
Even Izumi himself was stunned.