"You two big idiots!!! How did the operation plan turn Dio into a shut-in?!!!"
Back in that dark little meeting room, Takanashi Rikka and Dekomori Sanae were kneeling on the tatami mats receiving a lecture. Little pearls hung from their faces as their bodies twitched. They didn't dare talk back, and there was no trace left of the high spirits they had when they set out.
"At least Dio isn't that depressed anymore…" Takanashi Rikka's eyes drifted as she poked her fingers one by one.
"But it seems like we're reaching the limit. We're almost out of ideas!" Shinomiya Kaguya looked troubled.
"No, it hasn't reached that point yet. I still have one method." Kitagawa Marin, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke. Her eyes gradually became resolute. "I'm about seventy percent confident, but the risk is extremely high. Could I ask Shinomiya-san and Hori-san to help me?"
With that, Kitagawa Marin beckoned the two of them over. After they leaned in and had a quiet exchange, Hori Kyoko and Shinomiya Kaguya's expressions changed drastically—from curiosity to shock and even a trace of fear.
"R-really? This plan?"
"Won't he hate us for it?"
Faced with their doubts, Kitagawa Marin placed one hand on her chest and smiled calmly. She gave a confident V-sign and said:
"Even a dress-up doll occasionally wants to solve problems and achieve victory using cosplay methods!"
...
Diego felt very unlucky.
Just over ten minutes ago, two robbers had broken into his house. Without a word, they stuffed something unknown into his mouth—something sweet, like candy.
Before he could react, the two robbers snatched his game console and said they would return it tomorrow.
If that had been all, it wouldn't have mattered. The key point was after he chewed up and swallowed that "candy."
Not long after, he couldn't smell any scents at all.
More accurately, he could only smell the mint scent inside his nasal cavity. It felt like he had gone to the South Pole, stripped naked, eaten ten sticks of mint gum in one go, and then started breathing in and out like crazy.
[Haha… That's a new drug developed by the Shinomiya Group. The effect should last about a day. Besides Dio, no one else could test it. Please, please…]
Diego exhaled the turbid air in his chest and helplessly scratched his forehead. "What if I die from taking the medicine…"
Knock knock knock…
"?"
At this time… who could it be?
Diego subconsciously sniffed.
A bone-chilling cold instantly swept through his entire body.
"Ah-choo!!!"
"So uncomfortable…"
Knock knock knock!!!
The knocking grew more intense.
Seeing this, Diego went to the entrance, twisted open the door, and poked one eye out. His tone was unfriendly. "Who is it?!"
At that exact moment, a falling leaf happened to drift down and blocked Diego's view.
"Beast——man——face——?!"
A familiar voice and an extremely dangerous tone!
When the face of the person in front of him entered Diego's sight along with the sunlight…
"Kuru?!!"
Diego instantly became clear-headed. His two eyes widened greatly, and his lips trembled slightly from shock.
...Sui?!!!
That's right. The face reflected in Diego's eyes was precisely the elf he had yearned for day and night—the arrogant elf Sui with her beautiful emerald-green pupils.
A Stand attack?
Or mental magic?
Could it be that this Dio hasn't woken up yet?
Thinking this, Diego stretched out his hand, intending to pinch Sui's face. But halfway through, it was slapped back.
"Yaaah!! Don't pinch me!! I finally found you, and there's still sweat on my face!!"
"Hiss!" Diego felt the pain and pulled his hand back. He muttered to himself, "It's physical…"
Only then did he begin to seriously observe Sui in front of him from head to toe.
But as he looked, Diego seemed to realize something. The upward curve at the corners of his mouth slowly fell, and his gaze darkened for an instant.
At that moment, Sui extended one finger and poked Diego's chest hard. She complained, "What about you? Why is your hair such a mess?!"
"Uh, I…" Diego hurriedly took out his hat and pressed his hair down, then changed the subject. "Let's not talk about that for now. How did you find me?"
"Because you were too slow, so I came to find you." Hearing this, Sui withdrew her hand, leaned forward slightly, and smiled. "Let's go outside for a walk together."
"...Alright." Diego nodded, then asked, "Where are we going?"
"Eh?! Shouldn't you be the one deciding that kind of thing?! I just arrived in this world!!"
"Oh, right. Then let's go to the nearby park."
The two walked side by side.
Perhaps because the weather was getting colder, more people preferred to stay bundled up in their blankets rather than go out and play.
After arriving at the park, the two found a stone bench and sat down. It was quiet all around, with only a few children kicking a ball in the distance.
"Oh, right. Do you want to eat a peach?" Diego somehow pulled out a peach. After a little water sprite gave it a simple rinse, he handed it to Sui.
"A peach? Is this a fruit?"
"Let me think… The taste is very similar to the manpan from the northern countries." Diego recalled with a sideways glance for a moment before slowly continuing. "Peaches are one of the favorite fruits of the stone monkey that jumped out of a stone in the Huaxia story. It's said that eating them can increase your lifespan by a hundred years, a thousand years, or even ten thousand years."
Sui's reaction was bigger than expected. With her mouth hanging open, she asked, "...What?! Increase lifespan?! Why would a monkey jump out of a stone?"
"Eh, you're that interested?" Seeing this, Diego continued explaining. "Well, a very, very long time ago, a stone used to repair the sky suddenly went 'crack crack bang' and exploded. From inside jumped out a stone monkey…"
"Crack… bang?" Sui had a puzzled look in her eyes. "What kind of sound is that?"
Diego frowned, the corners of his mouth turned down. He swung his hand downward, making a whooshing sound through the air, and thought for a moment. "Bang… How's that?"
"F-forget it! Never mind the sound!" Sui's eyes instantly turned into dots. She shook her head and pressed on. "Then what happened?"
"The stone monkey came to a waterfall and said to the other monkeys, 'If I can jump inside, then I'll be your—King…'"
"He'll die…"
Sui broke into a cold sweat.
"Behind the waterfall is a cave. As long as you're like this…" Diego personally demonstrated the movement. He jumped from the stone bench to a nearby railing and hung on. "Nimbly find the entrance… and you won't get hurt."
"Pfft?!"
This comical pose hit Sui's funny bone.
She covered her mouth with both hands, her voice trembling as she desperately held back laughter and asked, "Th-then what? What did the stone monkey do in the end?"
"He went to subjugate demons and traveled to the West to obtain the true scriptures." Diego raised his index finger seriously.
"All by himself? Uh… a monkey?"
"No… Along the way he met two animals, one demon, and one person." Diego looked upward. "They were a pig demon, a dragon horse, a sand spirit, and a fair-skinned, tender monk who could become immortal with just one bite."
"P-pig… piglet…?! No way…! Bring a few more ferocious companions!!"
Sui's trembling from holding back laughter grew stronger and stronger.
Diego jumped down from the railing, the corners of his eyes slightly raised. "Uh, in any case… After going through eighty-one hardships, they obtained the true scriptures. Congratulations, congratulations."
"It's over? But this didn't use the peach factor at all?" Sui's breathing gradually steadied. She calmed down and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hand. "F-forget it. It was interesting, sure, but the details are really weird! Super weird!"
Whoosh whoosh…
The wind passed through the park. The colliding leaves made a rustling sound as withered leaves fell one after another.
Sui smiled and raised her hand, catching a drifting leaf. She lightly twirled it between her fingertips, her eyes filled with tiny fragments of light. She excitedly held it up for Diego to see.
"Hmph…"
Their eyes met…
The wind was still blowing, and the leaves were still falling.
Diego caught a falling leaf. His gaze followed Sui's profile closely. He knew clearly in his heart that this was a dream that was destined to shatter.
I've already been influenced by this body's personality, huh…
Thinking this, the smile on his face gradually faded. His eyes became as heavy as an impenetrable fog. He took a deep breath and roared at the sky: "Appearance sprite, have you had enough fun? Turn Kitagawa back…"
"As you wish, Lord Dio!"
The sprite's voice carried a rare sense of panic.
Kitagawa Marin also returned to her original appearance.
"You have to be careful. Don't underestimate transformation magic too much…" Diego walked up to Kitagawa Marin and squatted down. His hand gently brushed her cheek as he spoke softly. "The spirit will be affected by the physical body of the transformation target. If you stay transformed for too long, your own personality will completely disappear."
"I-I wanted to make Dio-kun a little happier…" Kitagawa Marin hugged her knees. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her voice carried a hint of crying. "But I messed up! I finally tried to sew Sui-san's clothes from memory…"
"The one I like has been you yourself from beginning to end, not the roles you cosplay."
Hearing this, Diego hugged Kitagawa Marin's head and gently patted her back to comfort her. "It's fine. Later you can turn into a velociraptor and reset your spirit. It's all the fault of that appearance sprite for randomly cooperating with you."
"Don't blame them, okay? The sprites are also very worried about you…"
"As you wish…"
Aftermath of the incident: Kitagawa Marin turned into a velociraptor and ran around the park for fifteen minutes.
...
"That day's squid squid rising~~♪ That day's mustard mustard rising~~♪"
At a certain teppanyaki restaurant in Shimokitazawa, the manager was humming a song while passionately frying squid. The spices and squid on the iron plate gave off an alluring aroma that whetted the appetite.
This was a very ordinary day for the manager—until a tall shadow covered him. Realizing a customer had arrived, he looked up as usual and put on his signature smile to greet them.
"Welcome! Welcome! What would you like to eat, dear customer?"
"Squid yakisoba. No squid."
?
I'm not dealing with someone here to cause trouble, am I?
How are you supposed to make squid yakisoba without squid? Are you eating the seasoning?
Seeing this, the manager picked up the towel around his neck and wiped his sweat. He explained, "I can't make squid yakisoba without squid."
Diego repeated it again, his tone dangerous: "Squid yakisoba. No squid."
!!!
For some reason, there was an inexplicable chill…
The manager quickly nodded, swallowed hard, and sped up his movements. He handed over a bowl of "squid yakisoba" that only had seasoning.
Only then did Diego satisfactorily accept it. He reasonably paid only for the seasoning and sat down on a bench with the "squid yakisoba" to eat heartily.
After finishing the "squid yakisoba," Diego suddenly spoke: "Bocchi, you bastard, you're spying on me, aren't you?!"
Bocchi-chan, who had gone out to buy soy sauce and accidentally ran into Diego, and was about to sneak away while he wasn't paying attention: It's over?
"Y-yo… What a coincidence…"
"You're not here specifically to comfort me, are you?" Diego didn't turn his head.
Bocchi-chan frantically waved her hands. Her head shook so hard it looked like she was trying to mix her brain into a smoothie.
Hearing this, Diego raised one hand and waved it. "Then that's good. Bye."
"Yes!"
Bocchi-chan exploded with speed that didn't belong to her body and whoosh ran off.
"You actually left?!"
The World!
Time! Stop flowing!
Diego unhurriedly walked behind Bocchi-chan, grabbed her tracksuit, and dragged her back.
When time resumed flowing, the scene in front of Bocchi-chan changed. She whoosh fell onto Diego's lap.
Bocchi-chan was so anxious she almost cried. "Eh, eh, eh?! No no no, I clearly wasn't running this way just now…"
Diego said flatly: "Keep me company."
"Ah?"
In that instant, many things flashed through Bocchi-chan's mind—evil capitalists keeping female college students, terrifying yanderes locking pitiful girls up for life, and…
Diego added again, interrupting her unhealthy imagination: "Just sit with me for a while is fine."
Bocchi-chan calmed down and obediently sat beside Diego without daring to move, her body stiff.
But before long, her stamina gave out first. She lowered her head, panting heavily.
"Hah!"
Diego glanced at her from the corner of his eye and mercilessly let out a mocking laugh.
A blush quickly climbed up Bocchi-chan's face.
She carefully stole a few glances at Diego's expression. Seeing that he seemed to be in a pretty good mood, she finally relaxed a little.
"Um…"
Washing machine sound!
Her mouth spoke without permission!
Bocchi-chan hurriedly covered her mouth in a panic.
Diego's gaze toward the coast flickered slightly. He casually brought it up: "Speaking of which, Bocchi, how did you become a social anxiety sufferer?"
"Ah… I…" Bocchi-chan answered in a fluster. "Um, I think it was when I was playing hide-and-seek as a child. The other kids said they wanted to play and went to grab her fingers…"
"I was thinking, can I play with them too?"
"While I was hesitating, I had already missed the opportunity. When I came back to my senses, I was all alone."
At this point, Bocchi-chan paused and showed a faint smile.
"I also often wonder, is it really okay to keep going like this? But before I speak, I always hesitate. I don't dare look people in the eye. In my days as an outsider, I kept company with shadows."
"If I hadn't met Dio and Nijika-chan that day, I think I would still be in some corner with my guitar gathering dust!"
Bocchi-chan scratched her head shyly.
"I see…"
Even Bocchi has grown, huh…
Then this Dio also… can't stay stagnant!
"Bocchi, have you ever imagined yourself gaining superpowers one day?"
"...I used to fantasize about it a lot."
"Then let's turn fantasy into reality."
Diego stood up and smiled confidently. He extended his hand toward Bocchi-chan.