"Are you all right?"
Clear, cold moonlight shone on the young man in the black cloak patterned with red clouds, outlining his breathtakingly handsome profile.
He slowly turned to look at Amami Katori, revealing his face fully to the livestream as well.
He was in his early twenties, with raven-black hair. Beneath his long lashes were black eyes as deep as the sea, gentle and calm yet harboring profound emotion. The most striking features were the two long tear troughs on his face.
"Um, hello..."
Amami Katori stared blankly at his handsome face, her heart fluttering. For a moment, she was so captivated that she could not speak.
But when she spotted the mannequins moving behind him, she immediately cried out:
"Watch out! Behind you..."
A sheathed katana hung at the mysterious young man's waist. His expression shifted slightly as he stepped around and drew his blade.
An eerie blue glow burst from his body, flowing down his arm and wrapping around the katana!
The blade flashed, reflecting the cold moonlight like a half-moon appearing indoors, and sliced every mannequin in the room in half at the waist.
The mysterious young man did not look back again. Instead, he swiftly gave chase outside, leaving only a few words behind:
"There's only one monster in this building. Stay here. This will be over soon."
Watching his back disappear, Amami Katori felt a sting in her nose. He had appeared mysteriously, as though walking upon moonlight, then vanished like a bubble. She had a premonition that she would never see him again.
"I didn't even get to ask your name..."
Only after a long while did she shake off that melancholy sense of loss and pick up her livestreaming equipment again, eager to share with her fans the emotion of narrowly escaping death and meeting a mysterious, handsome stranger.
"That guy is gorgeous. Yes, please!"
"Those eyes are like the sea reflecting the sky, but there's sadness in them too. Looking at them kind of breaks my heart."
"Which new show is this a promo for? The effects are pretty good. Who's that actor?"
Some new viewers drawn in by the front-page recommendation knew nothing of what had happened. Having seen only the young man under the moonlight and the crescent-like flash of his sword, they began asking questions.
The longtime viewers, who had been scared stiff, also grew lively again once they saw a godlike savior descend and resolve the crisis, and the comments poured in.
"I'm so glad Katori-chan's okay!"
"Holy shit, was that sword energy just now? That was so cool."
"That slash reached so far. It even cut the mannequins by the door in half."
"How could it be sword energy? It's special effects!"
After the mysterious young man appeared and unleashed that chilling slash, the livestream's popularity had risen to the top spot on the platform's front page. All sorts of casual viewers flooded in, and some contrarians who thought they had uncovered the truth began offering their analyses:
"I knew nothing would happen! How could monsters exist in this world? Isn't this the same marketing gimmick they used for The Blair Witch Project back then? A mockumentary, using fake supernatural stuff to lure people into theaters."
"The production crew should be coming out soon to announce the movie's release plans and show the trailer."
After discovering the "truth," some trolls, embarrassed and angry because the livestream had frightened them earlier, began spewing abuse:
"The male lead isn't even that good-looking. He's worse than Hayama. With that weird black costume covered in red clouds, I bet this movie's going to suck!"
"Even Katori-chan's started shilling garbage for cash!"
"So what if the effects are good? What matters most now is the acting and the script. It's about making an honest effort!"
Just as the nasty, malicious comments were about to fill the livestream, the feed suddenly went dark.
Some trolls, gleefully hammering out obscenities on their keyboards, wanted to keep dumping their garbage. But after refreshing, they found that the livestream room no longer existed. It was not a dead battery, a lost signal, or Amami Katori ending the stream.
The livestream had been blocked.
Uchiha Naruto raced down the corridor after leaving the room, still maintaining his transformation into Uchiha Itachi.
Although the corridor was pitch-black, so dark he could not see his hand in front of his face, he could clearly make out the shadow crawling rapidly across the ceiling.
At first, Uchiha Naruto really had been up to no good. When he saw the video platform's livestream preview for "Trainee Shrine Maiden Katori-chan's Great Adventure," he sensed an opportunity.
He could use ninjutsu to stage supernatural scares from the shadows and frighten the livestream crew, then appear disguised as a Superhuman, such as an Onmyoji or a Shinto Priest, to vanquish the monster on camera.
That would draw the Metropolitan Police Department's attention away from Nakano Ward toward Adachi Ward, diverting it from Chiriku and making it easier for him to exploit the confusion.
Of course, Uchiha Naruto knew the plan was a little rough, so he did not act rashly. Instead, he sent a summoned crow to follow Amami Katori's livestream crew and observe them in secret.
But unexpectedly, while Uchiha Naruto was still hesitating over whether to act, before he could make an appearance himself, some indescribable monster inside the building attacked the livestream crew.
It truly was a case of walking dark roads often enough that you were bound to encounter a ghost.
Through his crow's covert observations, he had gained a clear view of the monster's true appearance and strength. Once he understood what he was dealing with, Uchiha Naruto decided to rescue them.
Unfortunately, he had only arrived in time to save the streamer Katori-chan and a young cameraman. The others had already been tortured to death by the monster.
At that thought, a trace of killing intent flashed through Uchiha Naruto's eyes. He formed hand seals, opened his mouth, and exhaled:
"Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball shot toward the ceiling.
The shadow crawling swiftly across the ceiling lowered a deathly pale arm and curled a finger. A toppled cabinet flew into the air to shield it, only to be blasted to pieces by the great fireball.
The shadow seized the opportunity to round a corner and flee into the more spacious clothing section, where it finally stopped.
The monster hung from a chandelier beneath the ceiling. Below it stood one shadowy mannequin after another, like ghostly apparitions, making the dark, empty hall all the more sinister and terrifying.
Uchiha Naruto stopped as he caught up, staring coldly at the shadow.
The monster had a bald head as large as a wheel, narrow eyes, and a mouth full of sharp teeth, but no torso. Six grotesquely long, humanlike arms, each over two meters long, were attached to its head.
The Six-Armed Monster's head hung from the chandelier, its six ghastly white arms dangling like the limbs of a corpse. In a wary, bewildered tone, it asked:
"Human, what was that explosion just now? Are you carrying grenades or an RPG? Don't tell me it's a flamethrower?"
It could actually speak!?
This was the first talking monster Uchiha Naruto had encountered since coming to this world. Although he was somewhat surprised, he showed no reaction.
Wearing Uchiha Itachi's calm, impassive face, he said:
"Grenades, RPGs, flamethrowers. I never expected to hear those words from a monster. Monsters in the modern world really are interesting."
Before you continue