"Chika is a 'Player'?"
Hearing Asagiri suddenly make such a startling guess, Asuna's expression froze. It took a while for her to react. After taking a few deep breaths and stabilizing her emotions, she asked.
"Why would you think that? Is there anything suspicious?"
Asagiri first shook his head and said lightly.
"Chika herself hasn't shown any flaws."
Immediately after, however, he changed the subject.
"However, the reason I suspect she is a 'Player' is because of the suspicious points about Kaguya."
"Suspicious points..."
Asuna murmured to herself, trying hard to recall all the information about Kaguya, but in the end, she only asked, puzzled.
"In my opinion, Kaguya... doesn't seem to have anything suspicious, right?"
Asagiri nodded noncommittally: "It's understandable that you'd think that. After all, you weren't at Shuchiin Academy in middle school, and you don't know Kaguya very well."
Hearing this, Asuna tried hard to suppress the urge to retort, but she couldn't help but mutter inwardly, thinking, 'You weren't at Shuchiin Academy in middle school either, were you?' And as for knowing her... It's only been a week. How well could you possibly know Kaguya?
However, Asagiri's next words made Asuna realize that there were indeed suspicious points about Kaguya.
"Kaguya is not only at the top of her class academically, but she also has many talents, such as kendo, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, guzheng, dance, and her most proficient skill, kyudo, for which she won the national individual championship in middle school."
Speaking of this, Asagiri paused slightly and then spoke softly.
"However, after entering high school, Kaguya did not join the kyudo club. She didn't participate in any clubs at all."
Asuna said hesitantly: "This... it could be because she wants to focus on her studies?"
"That's also possible. After all, I surpassed her in the entrance exam, and she only got second place. With her style of going all out and holding nothing back only in her studies, it's possible she gave up joining the kyudo club to concentrate on studying in order to defeat me, but..."
Asagiri looked at Asuna's face and asked back in a flat tone.
"But, if she really gave up her best skill, kyudo, in order to defeat me, would she possibly not seize the time to study on the first weekend of school, but instead go to her good friend Fujiwara Chika's house to play?"
Before Asuna could even open her mouth to ask, Kotoko, who was beside them, explained with a smile.
"After obtaining the seat on the board of directors, my family checked the campus surveillance from last Friday. Kaguya did not take the car that usually picked her up and dropped her off, but instead got into a car with Fujiwara Chika. As for whether she spent the night at Fujiwara Chika's house, that's not very clear."
"But assuming she is a 'Player,' she must have chosen Saturday to enter the dungeon, just like us. As for why she entered the dungeon at Fujiwara Chika's house… It's likely because there are many spies where she lives. Without being able to determine the exact time of entering the dungeon and how long it would take to clear it, Kaguya couldn't enter the dungeon at her own residence."
"Chika Fujiwara's family is also very prominent, so even if there were spies monitoring Kaguya, as long as Kaguya was at Fujiwara Chika's residence, those spies wouldn't dare to continue monitoring. Otherwise, if discovered, it might even cause conflict."
"Extending this reasoning, if Kaguya suddenly disappeared, Chika would definitely be very anxious. After all, if the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya Family went missing at her house, the trouble would be immense. Chika isn't naive as not to understand something like this. Therefore, Kaguya must have told her about the dungeon in advance. Based on this, even if Chika isn't a 'Player,' she must be an informed person assisting Kaguya."
Asuna was stunned. After a long while, she finally spoke with a complex expression.
"You two… thankfully, you are my teammates. If you were my opponents, just thinking about it is terrifying…"
Asuna was truly shocked.
From the beginning of the game until now, including the novice dungeon, only two dungeons have been passed in just one week. Asagiri and Kotoko have already directly discovered Kaguya's Player identity?
Most importantly, Kotoko and Asagiri, besides their intelligence, have one more similarity.
Both of them are the kind of Players who won't be bound by moral concepts.
"So now… what should we do?"
Seeing Asuna's cautious and somewhat reluctant expression, Asagiri was amused.
"No, why do you look like you're attending a funeral? Even if Chika and Kaguya are Players, they are not our enemies for the time being."
"Eh?"
Asuna couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing this, and hesitated.
"I thought you would want to kill Chika and Kaguya, take their phones, and then extract their equipment and items…"
"Please, I'm not some chaotic evil demon."
Asagiri said this first, then spoke with a smile.
"Besides, do you think the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is useless? If we kill people in the real world, even if we use supernatural powers, it's hard to avoid leaving traces. Moreover, Chika and Kaguya are both from prominent families, young ladies who are secretly followed and protected. To take such a risk of exposing our identities just for a piece of equipment or an item whose effect we don't even know and can only randomly extract, wouldn't that be purely foolish? It's completely unnecessary. Besides…"
Asagiri took a sip of chilled Coca-Cola and then continued.
"Our most important task at this stage is to ensure that we can obtain the highest possible clearance rating in every dungeon, and then use the rewards obtained from high-level clearance ratings to continuously achieve high-level clearance ratings, which is like a snowball, constantly expanding our advantage."
"Assuming what Megumi said is true, from the information of the dungeons we have known so far, this so-called game has never had any dungeons with the goal of confrontation or even killing between Players, that is, PVP-themed dungeons."
Asuna nodded and then tentatively asked.
"Then… should we try to invite Kaguya and Chika to be teammates? Although I am not familiar with Kaguya, Chika and I have a pretty good relationship. She doesn't have the boring thoughts of those pure Shuchiin Academy students, and her personality is also quite easy to get along with."
Asagiri did not answer directly, but instead asked back.
"If, when we are undertaking a certain dungeon, your and my judgments on the next course of action diverge, or even lead to opposite conclusions, but I insist on my opinion, what would you do?"
Asuna and Kotoko gave the same answer.
"We will listen to you, after all, you are the Leader."
"Then isn't that right?"
Asagiri shrugged and said indifferently.
"A team can only have one Leader, only one person can have the decisive say. Kaguya is excellent in all aspects, but in the dungeon, if her judgment and mine diverge, given her personality and arrogance, it is impossible for her to unconditionally follow my plan like you two. So I will not consider inviting her to be a teammate for the time being. Fujiwara Chika is a very good friend of Kaguya, so I will not invite her to be a teammate for the time being either."
Asuna nodded obediently and replied.
"Hmm, that's true, and if you count Kato Megumi, we already have four people."
"OK, the serious business is finally over~"
Kotoko was cheering, and her body was already leaning towards Asagiri's arm. Asuna quickly stopped her when she saw this.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"
"Hmm? Of course, I'm cuddling with my cute boyfriend~"
Kotoko replied seriously: "Don't forget, the reason I outwardly told my family to donate to Shuchiin Academy was because I wanted to be with Asagiri all the time. Since that's the case, we have to put on a full act. When we are at school, I have to act like we are very much in love, hugging and kissing him from time to time, that's how it's real~"
Asuna sighed slightly, rubbing her forehead with a hint of helplessness.
"That's true, but why do I feel like you're taking advantage of him…"
And Asagiri, looking at Kotoko who was sticking to his arm and constantly rubbing, like a little cat, said without politeness.
"You should first put away your love-struck brain and think about what to do with your prosthetic leg. After your prosthetic leg breaks, you can only hop around on one leg, just like that Spoink in Pokémon. If your prosthetic leg is damaged in the dungeon, it will be troublesome."
Kotoko smiled playfully: "Leader, you can carry me, anyway, you have such good stamina~"
"You're dreaming, I can only launch you like a human cannon."
Asagiri replied first, and then added.
"If that really doesn't work, wait until we encounter a cyberpunk-type dungeon, and I'll get you a mechanical prosthetic limb that isn't easily damaged, and also get you a prosthetic eye that can shoot lasers. Don't be some strange Goddess of Wisdom anymore, just be flesh is weak, machine is ascendant. From now on, half of your power will be from the spiritual side, and the other half will be the crystallization of high-tech machinery. You'll directly transform into a spiritual power version of Astro Boy, and what are you playing with curses? When you encounter a Yokai, just activate your laser eyes and it's over."