"Then..." Sogo Doma narrowed his eyes and pointed at the sky. But halfway through his sentence, he seemed to remember something, and his expression changed.
MMP!
Could you just go around making bets like that, planting flags left and right? Never mind anything else—just look at Zhang Wuji making a bet with Zhao Min. That was... a lesson from the past, a warning for the future.
He, Doma, was a pure, kindhearted gentleman. Sougo wasn't some womanizer. How could he casually make a bet with these little girls? It was too sinful.
After thinking it over...
Endure for a moment, and the sea will be calm; take a step back, and the sky will be wide.
So Sogo Doma changed his tune. "Well, actually, you're right. Let's say I lose. Goodbye..."
With his hands clasped behind his head, Sogo Doma turned to leave.
"Stop!" the silver-haired little girl ordered.
Sogo Doma turned around. "?"
"Are you making fun of me?" She was getting clever at exactly the wrong time.
"No, not at all. I thought it over, and you're right..." Doma, who never blinked when he lied, said.
But he had barely taken a few steps when he heard several claps behind him. "Clap, clap, clap..."
Immediately after—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Black-suited bodyguards, still dressed to the nines in the sweltering heat, surrounded Sogo Doma. Their faces were fierce. Sogo Doma thought this guy had real talent for working in the underworld.
That face alone could scare off quite a few people.
As for now... Well, he came running as soon as he was called. At best, he had the makings of a team leader. In any case, this was the guy blocking Sogo Doma's way.
Good grief...
No wonder he hadn't panicked when they brought him behind the changing rooms. Who wouldn't keep their cool with that many bodyguards around?
Sogo Doma knew what was good for him. Before the men could even speak, he turned around with a smile. "So, where were we?"
MMP! A young heir shouldn't put himself in danger. If only he'd found Akasaka or made up an excuse to summon the bodyguards... For now, he'd just have to stay calm!
Now that was what you called keeping your head in a crisis. So what if they had a lot of people? As long as they didn't hit him, he could keep spinning his story.
"Right, you think that as soon as a man sees a beautiful woman, he'll fall for her and forget everything else... and that it has nothing to do with the hormones his body secretes."
"Isn't that right?"
"Heh..." Sogo Doma laughed. Oh, ignorant girl, did you know what social anxiety was? Or what it meant to have trouble making friends? None of that was the point. Fear of the opposite sex was the real issue!
"Ah... I'll take the loss and make the bet with you. My friend's still in the changing room. Once he comes out, if you can find someone who makes him fall for her, you win. How about that?"
"What are you plotting?"
"Come on, with all those bodyguards you have, what could I possibly do?" As he spoke, Sogo Doma glanced at his skill panel.
Physical Fitness LV2--678/999 (You could probably be an athlete)
Fighting Skills LV2--668/999 (I could take on ten!)
Swordsmanship Skills/LV2--713/999 (Why not try winning a human championship?)
What the hell!
This cheat was totally exposing itself, wasn't it? What did it mean, "try winning a human championship"? Wasn't he human? This damn thing had given up on hiding it.
But—
What could Sogo Doma do? It wasn't what he wanted. He was desperate, too...
This damn cheat clearly had no intention of letting him live a normal life. Whenever it came to improving his own strength, his experience crawled along slower than an ox pulling a cart. But whenever anything involved an evil god, his experience skyrocketed so much even its own mother wouldn't recognize it.
Just imagine: Physical Fitness LV999, Fighting Skills LV999—if his stats got that high, Sogo Doma would dare to stab an evil god until the heavens fell...
Uh...
He'd start with that lazy angel, Gabriel. If he couldn't beat her, he'd just back down again.
That wasn't cowardice. It was taking responsibility for his own life...
Don't think heaven was truly peaceful. Gabriel's older sister had killed a dragon to get promoted and earn a raise. If things were really peaceful, where would dragon slayers come from?
So Sogo Doma had already picked out his second target.
Tohru—from the Kobayashi household.
It was a shame his cheat wasn't any good. No—he should say it was too good. Aside from being unable to boost himself, every other skill could destroy the world. He had no idea what effect the descent of the Old Gods would have on this world.
As he studied his skill panel, the silver-haired little girl also considered the terms of the bet.
"So, if your friend joins us, you lose!"
Sogo was still looking at the skill panel.
"Uh, sure..."
They hadn't said what the loser had to do, so Sogo Doma wasn't worried.
His nonchalant attitude seemed to anger the silver-haired girl. She stared straight at Sogo Doma. "If you lose, you have to agree to one thing I ask. If I lose, I'll agree to one thing you ask."
"Uh..." Sogo Doma was about to answer when a jolt of alarm went through him. MMP, another flag! Had this little girl spent the whole day thinking about nothing but setting them up?
"You agree to one thing I ask, and I agree to one thing you ask"—how many heroes had fallen for that? He absolutely couldn't agree to something like that!
There was no helping it. The little girl was pretty, and she'd definitely be a beauty when she grew up, but Sogo Doma wasn't a lolicon! He might only be fourteen or fifteen himself, but it just didn't feel right.
So he had to stop this kind of thing at the source!
"Making promises like that sounds so outdated, doesn't it? You're nearly a grown-up now. You should think of a better bet."
Silver-Haired Girl: "..."
The books said that was how people did it. But they'd been published ages ago, so maybe it was outdated after all.
"A bet? If we're going to bet, let's make it something fresh and original..."
"Like what?" The silver-haired girl perked up.
"Like yen, or Celestial Empire currency, or dollars, or..." Sogo Doma was very good at listing examples at times like this.
But then—
The silver-haired girl's expression shifted from interest to—
"ヽ(●-`Д′-)ノ"
Hey, hey! That was gambling, wasn't it? Why was gambling being called fresh and original? Wasn't he just trying to avoid getting involved with her?
Sogo Doma kept talking. "They say a little gambling is fun, but too much is harmful. How about we make it a small bet of a hundred thousand yen?"
Click...
The string in the little girl's mind snapped. "..."
She stared coldly at Sougo. "Fine..."
Then the little girl beckoned, and another big man in a black suit, dressed for a heat wave, came over. No one knew what they said to each other, but all they heard were a few responses.
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Important people were important. By the time Sogo Doma looked up, more than a dozen women in bikinis were waiting there. The silver-haired girl gave him a taunting look, and Sogo Doma felt a pang of regret!
"I object!"
The silver-haired girl blinked. "What do you object to?"
Why did Akasaka get to enjoy all the attention from so many older women? What about him? Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. "I feel like I could be an observer or something, too. If I lose, I'll accept it..."
Silver-Haired Girl: "..."
For some reason, she just felt furious. "You're just lusting after his body."
Sogo Doma: "@-@ Stare!"
Just then, Ryunosuke Akasaka came out. He had straight, smooth black hair and looked easy to bully. Of course, that was just how Sogo Doma saw him.
The women who'd been summoned didn't think so. A delicate face paired with black hair was simply perfect. Add that slender frame, and who wouldn't want to do whatever they pleased with him?
No, he couldn't let his true nature show too much. He had to get to know him first.
Before you continue