Riko Amanai

"Is she still unconscious? Should we take her to the hospital?"

Suguru Geto looked at the unconscious Riko Amanai and suggested it.

"It would be great if we could use Reverse Cursed Technique like Shoko!"

"Impossible. That woman Shoko never makes any sense!"

"Forget it. We should still take her to the hospital. What if she hit her head and developed a condition that affected the merger? Then it'd be our fault!"

Gojo Satoru stepped forward and picked up Riko Amanai. Just as he was about to leave, she suddenly opened her eyes.

"Eh? She's awake?"

Riko Amanai stared blankly for two seconds before suddenly raising her hand and slapping him.

"Take this!"

Smack!

Gojo Satoru, who still couldn't keep Limitless active automatically all day, was suddenly given a hard slap across the face.

"Hm?!"

Gojo Sawa, who had been prepared, pulled out a magenta camera and snapped several pictures of Gojo Satoru's disheveled appearance from a corner where no one noticed.

Riko Amanai got to her feet, planted her hands on her hips, and shouted at Gojo Satoru, "You brazen thief! How dare you hurt me!"

Gojo Satoru growled furiously, "You brat! We're not with the people who attacked you!"

Suguru Geto also explained, "We were ordered to protect you!"

Riko Amanai looked wary. "You've got a con man's face, and your bangs and man bun are super weird! And those two white-haired guys look like delinquents!"

Gojo Sawa, who had been dragged into it for no reason, looked bewildered. "It's my natural hair color. What, is that my fault?"

"What natural white hair? Are you sure it's not premature aging? The three of you don't look like good people at all!"

The three men's faces darkened.

Gojo Satoru and Suguru Geto stepped forward and each grabbed one of Riko Amanai's hands and feet, lifting her entire body into the air.

Then, with perfect coordination, they pulled in opposite directions and twisted Riko Amanai like a towel.

Gojo Sawa, meanwhile, held a feather duster and poked Riko Amanai's armpits without restraint.

"Ha ha ha... bastards... ha ha ha... stop..."

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, and Misato Kuroi appeared riding the Cursed Spirit Heavenly Ox.

When Misato Kuroi saw what was happening in the room, she was stunned. "P-Please stop!"

Riko Amanai saw Misato Kuroi and burst into tears of excitement. "Misato, save me!"

The three men let go. Riko Amanai fell to the floor, then rubbed her backside and pitifully struggled back to her feet.

Misato Kuroi explained, "Miss, these three are your companions, sent by our superiors to protect you!"

"What? Why did they find me such scumbag bodyguards?"

Riko Amanai protested. Then her eyes lit up as she pointed at the Cursed Spirit beneath Misato Kuroi.

"What's this ugly-but-cute little thing?"

Misato Kuroi smiled. "You'll have to ask... uh... Mr. Bangs!"

The corner of Suguru Geto's mouth twitched, but he couldn't lose his temper, so he patiently explained, "This is my Cursed Technique, Cursed Spirit Manipulation!"

"Then can you summon Angewomon?"

"That's a Digimon, not a Cursed Spirit!"

"What about the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox?"

"No!"

"Then what about Yamata no Orochi?"

"No!"

"What a useless ability!"

Suguru Geto narrowed his eyes with a smile, but the vein on his forehead was already twitching.

As if to prove himself, Suguru Geto waved a hand, and a cute little cat emerged from the shadows.

Riko Amanai's eyes lit up. She reached out, pulled the cat into her arms, and began petting it enthusiastically.

"What is that?"

Gojo Sawa asked softly. He didn't believe Suguru Geto would collect such a flashy yet impractical Cursed Spirit.

"Shapeshifter. Its original form is... never mind!"

"...Nice."

Gojo Satoru looked at Riko Amanai petting the cat and sighed. "It's impressive that she's so energetic. I thought she'd be depressed after learning that she was going to merge with Tengen!"

Hearing that, Riko Amanai stood up and snorted. "As expected of a scumbag's way of thinking! Listen up!"

Riko Amanai held her head high, her face filled with pride.

"After I [merge], my consciousness, heart, and soul will exist together with Lord Tengen. In other words, I am Lord Tengen, and Lord Tengen is me!"

"Hey! You changed your wallpaper?"

"Yeah, Waka Inoue!"

"Bro, your taste is pretty good. But I think Akina Nakamori is the most perfect!"

"Hey! Are you three even listening to me, you bastards?"

Riko Amanai's hair stood on end as she roared angrily, but the three men merely rolled their eyes at her.

"Judging by the way she talks, she probably can't make any friends."

"Agreed."

"Bastards! I just talk normally at school too... School! Oh no, I'm going to be late!"

Misato Kuroi advised, "Miss, it's dangerous outside right now. You shouldn't go to school, should you?"

The three men nodded as well. After all, going to school could easily lead to complications.

But no one could talk Riko Amanai out of it, so they had no choice but to let her go to school.

After all, the additional condition of the mission was to satisfy every request of the Star Plasma Vessel within their capabilities.

Gojo Sawa suddenly said to Misato Kuroi, "Miss Kuroi, why don't you stay with us from now on?"

"Eh? Why?"

Gojo Sawa explained, "Judging by your relationship with Riko, you must be like family to her, right?"

Misato Kuroi nodded with reddened eyes.

Her family specialized in raising Star Plasma Vessels.

After Riko Amanai's parents died when she was young, Misato Kuroi became her caretaker and stayed with her day and night.

They weren't related by blood, but they were closer than family.

Now that she knew Riko Amanai was about to merge with Lord Tengen, Misato Kuroi's heart was also filled with unwillingness and pain.

Seeing this, Gojo Sawa sighed. "Since you and Riko are so close, I'm worried those people hiding in the shadows might take you hostage!"

"Even if they fail, they could still use you to distract us. So you'd better stay with us!"

Misato Kuroi nodded. "All right. I understand!"

At the racetrack.

"Shiu Kong has already contacted us. Are you satisfied with this price?"

A cold voice came from the other end of the phone, causing Toji's brows to furrow.

"Two Six Eyes and one rare Cursed Spirit Manipulation user. Three hundred million in total!"

Toji chuckled. "As far as I know, those two Six Eyes each had a hundred-million bounty when they were children. After all these years, the bounty hasn't gone up?"

"You mean..."

"Pay more!"

"..."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Toji popped a takoyaki into his mouth and said indistinctly, "Don't think I don't know. Although your Star Religious Group doesn't have dedicated fighters like the Q Organization..."

"You're rich!"

"Heh heh heh. Fine. As long as you can pull it off, we're willing to raise it to five hundred million!"

"Deal."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Zenin!"

"Not Zenin. Fushiguro. I married into the family. My name is Fushiguro Toji now."

Toji sneered. "I killed quite a few people from the Zenin Clan back then. It'd be a miracle if they were still willing to let me use the name Zenin!"

"Besides, I don't care for it anyway."