Don't use Type-Moon references in Oregairu!

Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief; at least these guys had listened to what she said.

Looking at the ever-expanding mist, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but sigh, "I hope we can get through this smoothly."

Fujimaru Ritsuka ruffled her hair and said with a smile, "Don't worry so much. As the second-in-command, you need to step up."

"Eh~ You've already decided on a second-in-command? What about me?" Kasumigaoka Utaha raised her hand to indicate that she shouldn't be treated like she was invisible.

Fujimaru Ritsuka said with a straight face, "Don't you understand the seniority system? Japan has its own national conditions. In other organizations, you would have to call someone 'senior' and greet them every morning at the Chiba school gate before coming to Toyonosaki Academy in Tokyo for class."

"...Guess who would be the first to cry out if I actually did that?" Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled slyly.

Please take my words as a joke!

The three chatted and laughed casually, relaxing. Eriri, however, could only sit in the car, resting her chin on her hand and sighing: "The fun is theirs, but I have nothing."

She looked up at the sky shrouded in thick fog, as if she could see someone atop Tokyo Tower: "Aki Tomoya, what are you thinking?"

-------------------------------------

"What am I thinking? Do I need to explain to you?" Aki Tomoya looked at Old John, who was being lifted up out of thin air, with a disdainful expression. "Old man, you'd better hurry up and spill everything you know and make some contribution to the coming of our Lord."

29. I gradually came to understand everything... (2/?)

Old John clutched desperately at the invisible hand lodged in his throat, his face flushed crimson. His usual gentlemanly demeanor was gone; tears streamed down his face, and his legs thrashed helplessly in the air.

Aki Tomoya felt that the time was right and the pressure he had applied was sufficient. With a gentle flick of his wrist, Old John was slammed to the ground.

Thanks to the magic, his body wasn't as weak as an ordinary old man's. He choked a few times, greedily inhaling the hard-won fresh air, and pleaded with a wry smile, "Aki Tomoya... Lord Aki! Didn't you already get all the information from my student?"

He glanced to the side and saw a middle-aged man who could only giggle foolishly. He felt a great sense of unease.

Old John never imagined that the information he left behind about the rendezvous would be used by Aki Tomoya. While he wasn't paying attention, his student had been driven completely insane by the magic's corruption, and all the information had been revealed to the madman before him. Even the materials he had secretly hidden were unceremoniously taken by Aki Tomoya.

Aki Tomoya half-squatted down and slapped his cheek in a humiliating manner: "Ah~ what a pathetic, what a stupid guy, still unwilling to lay out your plan even now... How lazy!"

His eyes went wild as he grabbed old John's hair and slammed it down hard.

lb!

"Years of dedicated study, yet they can't even match us novices? Laziness!"

Ouch!

"He keeps saying he'll summon my lord, but the plan hasn't made much progress yet. Sloth!"

Ouch!

"You have clearly received the Lord's grace and are the best sacrifice, yet you cherish yourself and become lazy!"

Old John's head was slammed against the ground again and again, blood streaming down his face, the red liquid obscuring his vision. He could no longer think clearly, and Aki Tomoya's words seemed to come from a distant horizon: "But I accept your sacrifice, I accept your spell, I accept your body. Rejoice, for you are the beacon of our Lord's descent—"

The boy, like a priest on an altar, spoke with an unquestionable solemnity: "With your broken body, the first extraordinary person in this world to form the concept of our Lord, I offer this sacrifice to our Lord as a celebration of His birth."

He grabbed old John's foot and dragged him toward the stone altar in the strange space, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.

The mentally impaired middle-aged man, Old John's student, chuckled foolishly and uttered incoherent babbling: "Mist...silver...has descended...my lord..."

-------------------------------------

Those below were completely unaware of what was happening atop Tokyo Tower above the mist. But after less than an hour of preparation, they were finally ready to depart, gathering in small groups to prepare for entry.

After exchanging a few words with a few people he knew, Sasagawa Yagokoro walked over to Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others and said, "Once we enter the mist, act according to the situation and don't act rashly. If you have any problems, come to us."

He paused, looked at Yukino Yukinoshita, and nodded: "Give my regards to your sister."

After saying that, he turned and left without hesitation, as free and easy as the wind.

Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and nodded, then quietly nudged Yukino's shoulder: "What's going on between Haruno-nee and him?"

Yukino Yukinoshita struggled to choose her words: "Probably, an eager suitor and a less interested suitee?"

understood.

Fujimaru Ritsuka looked around and said, "Oh dear~ Everyone's ready, let's go." Before he could finish speaking, a small, soft, white hand appeared in front of him.

"What are you looking at? In this thick fog, we definitely need to hold hands in case we get separated." Yukino Yukinoshita said calmly.

Kasumigaoka Utaha also extended her hand, which was the same size as her own, and said generously, "And there's mine, Captain."

"...I really can't do anything with you guys." Fujimaru Ritsuka held one person in each hand, standing side by side.

Yukino Yukinoshita muttered to herself, "I wonder if Yuihama will regret not coming."

"What? Oh, Yuihama? It's actually a good thing she's not coming. The fewer adventures the better, and we have enough fighting power." Fujimaru Ritsuka is a good leader who cares about the safety of her members.

The two sighed in unison, then smiled politely: "Let's go. Fujimaru, some people have already gone in ahead of us."

"That's true, let's go!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka squeezed the two women's hands, signaling them to be on guard, and then led the charge.

The feeling of rushing into the fog is not pleasant.

In normal life, fog only obstructs vision and makes clothes and skin damp.

The fog around Tokyo Tower is completely different.

The floating mist particles are not water vapor, but something much more difficult to understand.

Fujimaru Ritsuka strained to open his [Eye of Karma], which was shimmering with golden light, but even at such close range, he couldn't see anything... no, he saw far too much.

As the fog touched her skin and she stared directly into the thick fog, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt countless pieces of knowledge flash through her mind.

(Fog... is a combination of water vapor that is too saturated in the air and becomes diluted due to cooling. But this is clearly not the case...)

(It merely captures the symbolism of fog, signifying the moment of creation when extreme heat cools down. Just like the beginning of Norse mythology, the river flowing through the land of fire turned into fog, from which the primordial giant Ymir was born. After he was killed, his body became the material basis for the birth of the nine realms.)

(After the Big Bang, when matter scattered and cooled, space emerged, containing the existence of matter. This is how the so-called matter, due to its excessively high concentration in discontinuous spacetime, coalesced into stardust. Was the mist born first, or space? I do not know these mysteries. Perhaps, it was the appearance of the nameless mist that gave birth to my Lord, the symbol of space... I'a, I'a...)

He couldn't think any further! That blasphemous and all-encompassing knowledge kept trying to invade Fujimaru Ritsuka's reason. He groaned and closed the [Eye of Karma], struggling forward. His mind was filled with a sharp pain, and the cold temperature contained in the strange knowledge made his scalp tingle. Only the warmth of his hands holding the object gave him a real sense of being alive.

Unable to hear any shouts or see any direction, and even the protective spells cast on her by Kasumigaoka Uta during preparation had no effect, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt herself constantly sliding towards the abyss, the ultimate place composed of countless whispers and mysteries.

But at the moment when he could no longer bear it, he broke through the fog.

With a thud, he fell heavily to the dark, cold ground, feeling dizzy and disoriented. He could only hear two gentle voices anxiously calling his name.

Before us lay a long stone staircase leading into the depths.

30. There's too much, it's overflowing! (Third update, please subscribe)

Fujimaru Ritsuka lay on the ground, clutching his head and panting heavily. Through layers of overlapping images, he saw an indescribable, enormous evil composed of circles upon circles, and felt his head being placed on a soft, fragrant surface. A flash of light, and he regained consciousness.

Yes, my eyes saw Yukinoshita and Kasumigaoka's concerned gazes without any obstruction, since I was resting my head on Yukinoshita's lap with nothing blocking my view.

Are you feeling better?

"Do you need some more healing spells?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka refused to get up, pretending her head still hurt: "Let me lie down a little longer, Kasumigaoka, save your magic."

"Okay, then." Kasumigaoka Utaha stopped talking, tugged at her skirt, and sat quietly next to Yukino Yukinoshita.

I don't know if they noticed, but he's feeling a tiny bit ashamed right now and wants to escape reality.

It's definitely not about wanting to enjoy the benefits for a while longer.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes were vacant, and a thousand thoughts in her mind boiled down to one sentence: I got a big E, but I didn't get a flash.

I just experienced a Sancheck, but it had absolutely nothing to do with confronting the madness of Outer Gods, witnessing the truth of the universe, or absorbing indescribable knowledge. It was simply a DDoS attack.

After experiencing the mist—clearly the effect of a ritual or spell—with his eyes and touch, he processed part of the truth with his brain. However, this included numerous side details, such as Aki Tomoya biting his fingers several times while setting up the ritual, and all of them were .JPG files.

It's like a poor soul crying out, "I can't take any more, it's overflowing, I can't hold any more," while enduring a large amount of liquid.

This specifically refers to the situation where elders pour wine for you during the Lunar New Year.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's parched brain finally began to function smoothly, and he scanned his surroundings. It was a pitch-black cave, completely empty, with only a faint light from somewhere preventing it from being utterly dark. The empty cave had only one exit: stone steps leading to a bottomless, unfathomable depth.

He slowly sat up, facing the two women, trying to get their help in analyzing the situation: "Where is this?"

Yukino Yukinoshita remained silent. She felt she had seen a similar description somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it.

Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was quite familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos, said uncertainly, "The layout here looks like the entrance to the Dreamlands?"

“Ah~ it does look a bit like that. But isn’t that a passage that can only be entered when you’re in a light sleep? How did we get here with our physical bodies… No, there’s no need to be surprised.” Fujimaru Ritsuka covered her face, having a guess. “It’s just a ritual-like structure. Now I’m curious where Aki Tomoya got the ability to do something like this.”

He had a feeling that something was wrong. In a daze, he recalled that he was in the fog and seemed to have heard a familiar and nostalgic voice, as innocent and obedient as a young girl, saying something.

"Fujimaru, are you alright?" Yukino Yukinoshita looked at him with concern, while Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was beside him, had already taken out a brush, wanting to cast a few more spells on him.

Fujimaru Ritsuka shook her head vigorously, forcing a smile: "I'm fine. It's just a lingering effect from what just happened, making me a little dazed. Did you encounter any other people before?"

"No at all. I don't know if we got separated and missed the chance to meet, or if our circumstances were different."

They shook their heads. Kasumigaoka Utaha casually cast a spell around the cave, but there was no reaction: "As you can see, although the spell can still be cast, it did not affect the formation of the surrounding environment. It doesn't look like an illusion."

Fujimaru Ritsuka forced a smile and said, "Well, we have no other choice. Let's go down the stairs."

He was just about to walk forward when his hands were taken by one person on each side.

"Why are you looking at me? Let's go." Yukino Yukinoshita shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Kasumigaoka Utaha teasingly tightened her grip on his left arm: "Stop dawdling, I'm just afraid you'll slip and fall down the stairs."

"...The problem is that I can't move."

Kasumigaoka Utaha snorted, loosened her grip on her arm, and clenched her left hand: "Let's get going."

"I feel like an old man who's just been discharged from the hospital, being led downstairs by a nurse." Fujimaru Ritsuka noticed their faces inexplicably darken and was a little confused, but she kept quiet and went down the stairs anyway.

The stone stairs were not difficult to climb; on the contrary, each step was quite wide, and I easily made my way down.

"Sixty, sixty-one... seventy." Fujimaru Ritsuka silently counted the steps on the stairs in her mind. There were exactly seventy steps, and they had indeed entered an empty, fiery cave. The two gatekeepers who should have been there were nowhere to be seen.

Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled slightly: "As expected, the structure is not yet complete."

"So, what's next?"

"Let's continue."

After descending the so-called "Deep Sleep Staircase" of seven hundred steps, they saw a large door.

The gate is entirely sculpted from ancient rock, its patterns layered and arranged in a way that resembles a cross-section of Earth's rock strata. The gate is adorned with diverse designs: at its center is a seal symbol composed of circles and various zigzagging lines; upon closer inspection, several pentagrams appear to overlap, conveying a sinister aura, and outlining eyes at the ends of the lines. Surrounding the seal are countless ever-changing patterns, some serious depictions of monsters, aliens, and great beings from the Cthulhu Mythos, others absurd ones showing humans reading, browsing, and creating various works, and occasionally even glimpses of mischievous figures such as the moe version of the Black Goat of the Forest, Chiya; the idol Cthulhu shouting for sacrifice; and the silver-haired Nyaruko with long ahoge (cowlick).