Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

His real name is Goto Ichiri, he is 156cm tall and weighs 50kg. He is a guitarist who works online under the pseudonym "Guitar Hero". Gao Hai doesn't remember the exact number of fans in the original work, but he found that he has more than 600,000 followers in this world, which is quite astonishing for a faceless pure music blogger.

However, Goto Ichiri is portrayed as having severe social anxiety. She has never been able to make any friends since childhood, and even has difficulty speaking properly to people. She is immersed in her own inner monologue all day long, to the point that Takami suspects that the child may have some kind of congenital brain disease.

But isn't this a crossover anime world?

I had asked Kaguya Shinomiya before, and she didn't become the student council vice president; she simply lived as an ordinary student at school. She still participated in the archery club and even continued to compete in the annual tournaments, unlike in the original work where she had to forgo the competition due to a conflict between the tournament date and Christmas. This means that the Shirogane family, the male protagonist from the original Kaguya story, doesn't exist in this world. This explains why, even though she's already a second-year high school student, Kaguya still maintains her Ice Kaguya form.

So, it seems a bit of a shame that there's no Silver Jade?

In short, after the precedent of Kaguya Shinomiya, Takahashi knew that it was best not to judge the anime characters he encountered based on his impression of the original work, as they might be a parallel world version with drastic modifications. Therefore, it was still necessary to be cautious in his interactions.

"Hello."

Therefore, after a brief moment of thought, Takashi stepped forward and walked in front of Maki, cautiously greeting the girl not far ahead.

The girl standing across the street trembled almost imperceptibly.

She did not respond to Gao Hai immediately.

The pair of blue pupils narrowed slightly, as if startled by Gao Hai's voice. Then they moved quickly, suddenly fixing their gaze on Gao Hai before moving away at an extremely fast speed and turning to look at the ground.

Take one step back, then two steps back.

The girl increased the distance between herself and Gao Hai, making the already not-so-close distance between them even greater.

"Hello……"

The girl, who didn't make eye contact with Gao Hai at all, bowed slightly and greeted him in a small, barely audible voice.

He still seems to be the same socially awkward person.

I don't have any mind-reading abilities, so I wonder if this girl is currently having all sorts of internal monologues playing out.

"Are you a player too? We came here after seeing the news on TV. Are you going to that market as well?"

Gao Hai stood still, not daring to approach rashly, but asked again.

He did not sense any malice from the other party.

The power of blessings should not be easily deceived, so after some thought, Gao Hai decided to adopt a more honest attitude.

"Um...I am..."

The other person's voice became even softer in response.

Even though the two were still talking, Gao Hai had a feeling that the little pink-haired girl's entire body was being pulled by some powerful suction force, and that she was about to disappear from his sight, barely managing to stay on the ground with her legs.

"That must be something you're obsessed with."

At this moment, Zhenfei tiptoed and whispered in Gao Hai's ear.

She was referring to the guitar on the pink-haired girl's back.

It was only then that Gao Hai noticed that the guitar on the pink-haired girl's back seemed rather unusual.

The guitar had obvious red marks, and it looked somewhat old and damaged. There were even some marks that looked like knife carvings. But we were too far away to make out the details.

The moment I noticed it, I seemed to feel a sense of unease, an uncomfortable feeling as if I were being watched by something.

Gao Hai recognized that it was indeed an object of obsession, and... it didn't seem to be an ordinary object of obsession.

Does possessing a cherished item indicate a seasoned player?

"Are you a veteran player? A seasoned one? I'd like to ask if there are any issues we should be aware of in the player market? My girlfriend and I are new here, and to be honest, there are still many things we don't quite understand."

Although he felt there was something odd about the title "Veteran Pochi," Gao Hai immediately lowered his stance and politely inquired again.

"..."

This time, the other party did not answer immediately.

Gao Hai only saw the pink-haired girl take another step back.

Then, her lips moved slightly.

No sound.

Then she took a deep breath and opened her lips a little wider.

Still no sound.

Finally, she lowered her head, took two or three deep breaths, and barely managed to raise her head. Although her eyes were still fixed on the road, this time she could finally hear some sounds.

"The booklet compiled by players... can be purchased directly..."

"Um... don't attack other people in the market, and don't kill people randomly. Players who kill indiscriminately are not welcome in the market..."

"That's about it, roughly..."

With each sentence she spoke, the girl would visibly take a step back.

After saying the third sentence, Gao Hai realized that the other person had retreated to the end of the street, turned around, and disappeared in an instant.

He seems to be the same eccentric character as in the original work, but can someone with such a personality become a veteran player? Could it be that he was lucky enough to encounter a reliable veteran player leading the team, which allowed him to survive?

After a brief moment of thought and analysis, Gao Hai decided to continue forward.

Then the girl next to him gently stepped on his foot.

"What do you mean by 'my girlfriend'? How can you so casually decide our relationship in front of other people?"

Turning her head, she saw Zhenfei's somewhat embarrassed and annoyed face, and a very conspicuous canine tooth in her open mouth.

"So we're not even boyfriend and girlfriend yet?!"

Gao Hai looked shocked.

"Of course not, I... I didn't accept your confession... Anyway, it's still... it's still a little bit short..."

Princess Zhenfei puffed out her cheeks, seemingly trying to appear more arrogant, but as she spoke, her face grew increasingly red, and she could no longer maintain her haughty tone.

The deep kiss that almost crossed the line three days ago is still deeply imprinted in Zhenfei's mind.

Especially when she realized that she didn't actually hate it, and that she subconsciously had thoughts like "it would be okay if it were the sea," Maki couldn't muster any more backbone and couldn't maintain her usual arrogant attitude.

"Anyway, let's focus on finishing what's in front of us first. As for our relationship... now is not the time to discuss such things..."

Finally, after reluctantly glossing over the topic, the girl hurriedly walked forward.

Gao Hai didn't say much, but followed Zhenfei's steps and took her hand again.

This time, Maki didn't struggle at all; she was like a docile kitten, letting Gao Hai lead her forward.

It seems like it's going pretty well.

Gao Hai couldn't help but steal a glance at the girl's rosy cheeks beside him, and then sighed inwardly.

If they hadn't met in this death game, if they didn't have to worry about the monthly rule-based mystery dungeon, perhaps... no, in that case, it seems unlikely that I would have had the chance to meet a girl like this, and it would be almost impossible for us to develop such a relationship.

It's really a contradiction...

I don't know how far we can go in the end.

With heavy hearts, the two quickly arrived at the entrance of the underground shopping mall, stepped inside, and walked down the stairs into the dark space. They continued forward, approaching the depths of darkness.

The light suddenly shone after we had walked a certain distance; it was a pale blue, eerie flame that lingered all around.

An eerie atmosphere was slowly spreading.

Gao Hai saw stalls, all very simple and temporary structures, seemingly set up haphazardly. He also saw a variety of figures moving about there, no more than thirty or forty people at most.

There were office workers in suits, women with heavy makeup, people with graying hair who looked older, and very young people who seemed to be just high school students. All sorts of people came and went in this dark, abandoned underground shopping mall, lit only by eerie blue will-o'-the-wisps, and everyone looked preoccupied.

"An unfamiliar face, is it a new player?"

At that moment, Gao Hai heard a sound coming from behind him.

He turned around and saw a thin, withered old man, who looked like a dried corpse, standing behind him and Zhenfei, grinning at them with a mouthful of yellow and black rotten teeth.

Neither Gao Hai nor Zhen Fei were aware of the old man's presence until he spoke.

"For new players, the newbie manual is free. Also, if you sell me your Twilight difficulty entry tickets after clearing the game, I can introduce you to a lot of good stuff, hehehe."

The old man rubbed his hands together gently and let out a low, hoarse laugh at Gao Hai and Zhen Fei.

For some reason, when Gao Hai heard this guy's laughter, his first reaction was that he was back in Resident Evil 4, as if he saw a mysterious businessman standing in front of him and saying something like, "Oh, what are you buying?" or "You're an artist, bro."

Next, Zhenfei, standing beside Gao Hai, frowned slightly and repeated in a low voice:

"Ticket?"

She had a slightly uneasy feeling about the prop the old man had mentioned.

"That's right, that's right. All players who clear the dungeon will receive an entry ticket from the dungeon they cleared. New players' Twilight-level entry tickets are in high demand, after all, who wouldn't want to easily clear such a low-difficulty dungeon and live a peaceful extra month? See, I'm such a sincere person, I'm telling you this important news directly."

The old man laughed even more heartily and said to the two of them with great pride.

At this moment, Gao Hai and Zhen Fei exchanged a glance, both with equally bewildered expressions.

Admission tickets? What are those? Why don't they have any?

Interlude 1-11: The matter of the veteran Goto Ichiri being an oddball

In fact, when Gao Hai completed the Shirakawa Apartment instance and witnessed the destruction of that world, he did wonder if the beginner instance he cleared would be slightly different from others.

But at that time, he only thought that the beginner's task was too difficult and his teammates were too incompetent, so he had to try twice before he finally succeeded.

But after hearing what the old man said, Gao Hai realized that the difference might not just be the copy itself.

"Oh, I see. Well, we didn't... well, we wanted to look around somewhere else first. We'll come back to you if we decide to sell tickets."

Although his mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts, Gao Hai calmed down and laughed as he spoke to the old man in front of him.

At first, Gao Hai did consider making up an excuse like "I didn't bring my admission ticket," but halfway through, he worried that the prop, which sounded like something out of the ordinary, might not be something he needed to bring, so he quickly changed his story.

"Hmm? What, you want to ask a few more prices? Hehe, whatever you want, just don't regret it."

The old man didn't know what Gao Hai was thinking, but it was clear that Gao Hai's refusal had made him somewhat unhappy. So he glanced at Gao Hai, turned around and left, and sat down at a stall on the side of the corridor.

It seems I've upset the other party, but the problem is that he really doesn't have anything he's fixated on. If this matter is exposed, it feels even worse.

"Hai Jun, what's the next step?"

Princess Zhenfei also became a little nervous, realizing that her situation might be very different from that of normal newlyweds.

It's best not to reveal the situation of the first instance too easily.