Starting with Firefly, Speedrun the World

I don't know how much time had passed, but Nene Arakawa still wasn't satisfied—she hadn't been this happy in a long time.

Especially...

Nene Arakawa turned to look at the beautiful silver-haired girl beside her. Being with Firefly-chan felt so comfortable, how to put it...

Even though she looked like a younger sister, she always seemed to be thinking about her.

Whenever she saw something, or a stall had something, when it came to deciding and choosing, Firefly would always look at her. In short, spending time with Firefly was incredibly pleasant.

It was like having a little girlfriend who listened to everything you said and cared about you.

Of course, that comparison wasn't right—they weren't a couple—but it really was so comfortable.

At this moment, Nene Arakawa even found herself thinking, why wasn't she a boy? If she were a boy and had such an adorable girlfriend as Firefly, that would be Grand Perfection in life!

"Firefly-chan, I'm so jealous of whoever gets to marry you."

Such a Firefly made Nene Arakawa unable to help letting out an envious sigh.

"There won't be anyone."

Hearing this, Firefly, who had been sweet and well-behaved, stiffened, let out a breath, and said softly.

She had no interest in that!

In the future, she was going to become an Aeon, and according to the system's promises, after seven worlds... the forms and abilities she transformed into would be permanently hers.

So future Firefly was her own wife—how could she let her wife marry someone else?

"Huh? Why?"

Hearing Firefly's words, Nene Arakawa didn't quite understand.

Which girl didn't dream of her prince or Guardian Knight? For example, she herself was looking forward to her destined one.

But now, with Firefly's help, she didn't seem as fixated on that destined person anymore.

Though deep down, she still longed to receive true "love."

"No reason, okay?"

Firefly didn't explain, and when her gaze noticed a stall not far ahead, she touched her own little stomach.

"By the way, we've walked so long... Nene, do you want to eat something? There's a dessert stall up ahead, looks pretty good!"

"I'll treat you to some sweets, okay? Consider it thanks for letting me stay and for showing me around!"

After walking for so long without eating, she was really a bit hungry.

Come to think of it, she'd been pitiful since arriving in this world—she couldn't even fulfill the basic wish of one Oak Cake Roll a day. Even though this world didn't have Oak Cake Rolls, there were other similar cake rolls.

But she simply couldn't afford to splurge on one a day.

She had to scrimp and save.

Even now, after working for two days and earning a little money, after deducting her previous expenses, she only had a few thousand Japanese Yen left.

Still, it was enough to buy some sweets.

"Sure, Firefly-chan, now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry."

"Alright then, let's go buy some sweets!"

Hearing Firefly's words, Nene Arakawa also felt a craving and immediately walked with the girl beside her to the stall ahead.

Looking at the desserts on display, she found them all incredibly exquisite.

"Every single one of them looks so beautiful!"

Admiring the desserts at the stall, Nene Arakawa was captivated by their appearance. Though each portion was very small, they were all exquisitely made.

For a moment, she found it hard to choose.

But since the portions were so small, she could easily pick several.

So soon, Nene Arakawa made her decision.

"Boss, I want this one, this one, and this one, and that one too..."

Chapter 20: Is It Not Wanting? It's No Money

"Oh, and boss, this one's so cute too, and this one!"

Nene Arakawa picked out the little sweets she liked. The smallest could be eaten in half a bite, and since they were all adorable, she unconsciously ordered a few more.

After she finished choosing, she turned to look at Firefly beside her.

"Firefly-chan, what do you want? The portions are really small, you can get a few."

Nene Arakawa didn't ask about the price. As the young lady of a wealthy family, she generally didn't care about such things.

She completely failed to notice that Firefly's expression had frozen stiff as she reached for the small amount of money on her, unsure what to do.

"Um... I suddenly don't feel hungry. I don't want to eat."

Firefly was a bit awkward now. Glancing over the desserts at the stall, she forced herself not to look at them anymore and turned her gaze to the boss.

"Boss, how much is everything she has here?"

"I've checked. It's 7,280 yen in total."

The boss did the math and gave a number.

"..."

Hearing that number, Firefly fell even more silent.

What a coincidence, right? The money she had on her was exactly 7,280 yen, neither more nor less.

It felt like the desserts had been chosen based on the cash in her pocket. Good thing she hadn't ordered anything herself—if she had, she wouldn't have had enough to pay.

Was this what Japanese prices were like?!

High wages, high prices, small portions, and pretty to look at—pretty indeed!

"Here, exactly this much."

Firefly grimaced as she handed over the only money she had. Since she'd said she was treating, there was no backing out now.

After leaving the stall, Nene Arakawa, eating her dessert, looked at Firefly with some hesitation.

"Firefly-chan, you... really don't want any?"

"...Mm."

Did she really not want it? Was she not hungry?

She had no money!!

And then, this innocent, carefree... unaware-of-how-hard-it-is-to-make-money young lady, Nene Arakawa, genuinely believed Firefly just didn't feel like eating anymore.

It never crossed her mind that it was about money.

After all, to her, money was the least important thing.

Born into a wealthy family, though her life wasn't happy, she'd never lacked food or clothing. And even without her family's support, her Nene TV had tens of millions of followers.

Making money was far too easy for her—how could someone like that think earning money was hard?

Even if someone was really short on cash, surely they'd still have enough for a meal or a snack, right?

Still, not dwelling on it too much, she felt a bit awkward eating alone, so she picked up a piece of dessert and offered it to Firefly.

After they'd more or less finished exploring the festival, Nene Arakawa and Firefly left the area and came to a small roadside restaurant.

Firefly wasn't picky about food, and Nene Arakawa, this young lady, seemed the same.

She didn't look down on the place for being low-class.

Quite unusual, wasn't it!

Since they happened to pass by and the place looked busy enough, the two of them went in together.

They were really hungry by now. The earlier desserts hadn't filled them up, and even if they had, some time had passed.

"I wonder when the next DGP Grand Prix will start."

Sitting in her seat, Firefly looked at the girl across from her, who was seriously studying the menu, and fell into thought.

So many days had passed, and the DGP Grand Prix hadn't shown any signs of activity. All she could do was wait. After all, she'd only arrived in this world recently, and there was a lot she didn't fully understand.

Though she knew some of the plot, the specifics were another matter.

The DGP was a super reality show unknown to the general public. It wasn't until the future Game Master's Vision Launcher was stolen that the DGP management could no longer arbitrarily rebuild the world, slowly bringing it into the open.

Earlier, she had changed the outcome of Ace Ukiyo becoming the Desire God, but in reality, she'd only altered Ace Ukiyo's consecutive win record. She'd merely stripped him of some glory, unable to affect much else.

Ace Ukiyo had two thousand years of memories. He kept reincarnating... yet retained all memories of his past lives. Calling this guy a two-thousand-year-old monster wouldn't be wrong.

And in most of his lives, he'd participated in the DGP Grand Prix. Over two millennia, he'd become the Desire God time and again, making many wishes as backup plans.

At critical moments, he could always unleash power beyond imagination.

Yes, the DGP had existed in this world for a very long time, with the DGP Grand Prix taking place in every era.

And the power of the DGP to change the world actually relied on the power of the Creation Goddess statue.

When one possessed both the Game Master's Vision Launcher and the Game Producer's Launcher, they could make a wish to the Creation Goddess and create whatever they desired.

Though not all wishes could be fulfilled, and as the Creation Power was consumed, the Creation Goddess's strength wouldn't last much longer.

When that time came, a new Creation Goddess would be needed.

The Creation Goddess was born precisely because of the DGP game...

The current Creation Goddess was, in fact, the first DGP Game Navigator.

Interestingly, she was also Ace Ukiyo's mother from two thousand years ago.

To change or destroy the DGP Grand Prix, the Vision Launcher, the Game Initializer, the Creation Goddess, and the Jyamato Garden were the key factors.

Especially the Creation Goddess and the garden that cultivated the Jyamato.

"Firefly-chan, what are you thinking about?"

After Kuruma Neon ordered her meal, she noticed that Stelle was spacing out, lost in thought about something, so she asked.

"Huh? No... it's nothing." Stelle quickly responded upon hearing her.

But then she thought of something else—come to think of it, it was inevitable that Kuruma Neon was chosen as a Kamen Rider.

Not only because the Kuruma Zaibatsu was a sponsor of the DGP Grand Prix, but also because she was a life created by the Goddess, and a future person's top supporter had chosen her.

But if she kept wearing the Fool's mask, would the DGP be unable to find her and miss her?

Although Kuruma Neon's connection to the main storyline didn't seem as tight as the other three's.

Geats, Buffa, and Tycoon—they were the key ones.

Forget it, I won't overthink this.

Even if things changed, it didn't matter. With Sam's power, there was hardly any major difficulty in this world, unless some Rider with absurd abilities barged in.

Otherwise, this world's creation power—sounded impressive, but in reality, it was a bit underwhelming.

Not dwelling on it anymore, let's eat first.

All that was left was to wait for the new round of the DGP Grand Prix to appear, then grind points while finding a way to make the Game Master or Producer step in.

And then obtain their launcher—that was one of the keys to clearing this world!

Oh right, there was also the Game Guide, Tsumuri.