Volume 9 - CH 15

Akasaka Otoha

So the heroines from the sequel are starting to show up already huh…..

It would be impossible for all of them to appear within this year. For example, the heroine from the final game who even rivaled Yoru Hiru for the position of the main heroine would only transfer into the academy next year. That said, my personal relationships have already grown similar to Akechi Hideyori’s relationships in the game.

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Akasaka Otoha….

Perhaps it’s a silver lining that it’s her I run into since she didn’t fall victim to Hideyori’s poisonous fangs in the game.

Hideyori’s role was pretty tamed in the second game but as though to fill the hole he left, the Gift Hunters became more actively involved in the story from the second game onward…….

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Give it back!

Give me my peaceful life with Seiko back damn it!

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“Am, am I bothering you……?”

“It’s a pain but I will help you out.”

“Th……!? Thank you very much!”

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Just now, her Gift was activated huh.

I completely forgot about her existence until earlier but since I remembered the heroine called Akasaka Otoha, I also remember the ability of her Gift.

The ability of Akasaka Otoha’s Gift left quite an impression after all.

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It’s the classic example of how having a convenient power is not always a good thing.

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“So, you’re looking for Takeru-Oniichan right?”

“Yes! We got split up about 20 minutes ago……..maybe Takeru-Oniichan went home already…….?”

“He’s not that kind of guy.”

“Eh? H, How can you say that?

“I’m his No.1 best friend in the whole wide world after all.”

“……..eh?”

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I take out my phone and make a call.

The phone rings 4-5 times and before the 7th ring, he picks up.

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[[Hello? Hideyori? I’m a little busy right now……can I call you back?]]

“Unfortunately, NO! TAKERU-ONIICHWAAAAAN.”

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Saying so, I handed my phone to Akasaka Otoha who had a dumbfounded expression on her face.

She probably doesn’t have a phone of her own yet.

My aunt only bought one for me when I entered high school after all.

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[[……Oi, why are you calling me like that?]]

“I’m, I’m, I’m sorry! Takeru-Oniichan!?”

[[Otoha!? W, Wh, Why are you with Hideyori!?]]

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won’t call you Takeru-Oniichan again! Please forgive meeeeeeeee!”

[[Wha-, No!? Not you Otoha!? I was talking to that idiot over there!?]]

“Kuh, KuKuKuKu……..”

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Takeru’s panicking voice leaks from the phone.

His reaction was just too funny.

Nice going, Takeru-Oniichan!

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After that, I heard [I’m heading over] from the phone.

Judging from where he is, I will probably have to wait around 5 minutes for him to get here.

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“Th, Thank you very much! Takeru-Oniichan said he’s coming.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to thank me. I only called him for you after all.”

“No, that’s not true at all. I didn’t expect to find Takeru-Oniichan’s friend though……..”

“I’m friends with Risa too you know.”

“You’re Risa-Oneechan’s friend too!?”

“Yup.”

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“Haa…….” she sighed with a look of surprise on her face.

Small height and young facial features.

Short Gray hair.

And a floral hairpin in her bangs.

The hair on the back curved outward at the end like a splashing waterfall.

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In the game, she hates Hideyori partly because of her Gift.

In other words, there’s a high chance that she will start to hate me as well.

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Like Mishima Haruka, her Gift is in a state of constant activation. However, in the case of Akasaka Otoha, the value of her Gift came from the fact that it’s always activated.

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“Incidentally, Takeru-Oniichan called you Hideyori, is that your name?

“Yeah, it’s Akechi Hideyori. Nice to meet you, Akasaka-san.”

“N, Nice to meet you too. A……Hideyori-san.”

“Ahh, you don’t have to push yourself, Akechi is fine.”

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I think she only called me [Akechi-san] in the game too.

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“Please match me instead, Hideyori-san. It’s Otoha.”

“You want that? Well, nice to meet you, Otoha-chan.”

“Yes.”

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Otoha cutely lowered her head.

She’s Takeru’s cousin who’s very attached to him but, calling your cousin [Onii-chan] is just illegal right…….

Her younger sister energy is just too powerful.

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“Right, Otoha-chan.”

“Yes?”

“You, you probably have some kind of Gift right?”

“I, I do.”

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She timidly nodded.

Even though her Gift was ranked on a slightly lowered end, it’s still a dangerous gift so I need her to be careful.

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“I don’t know what Otoha-chan’s Gift is but having a Gift can be pretty dangerous. Be careful not to let others find out you have it, okay?”

“Dangerous……..?”

“It’s a convenient ability but you can’t let others find out that you have it that easily you know. Your face is pretty easy to read after all.”

“…….amazing, you knew that much just from that………”

“I’ve seen many who became unhappy because of Gifts after all……that’s why I don’t want Otoha-chan to become unhappy too.”

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I don’t want her to be isolated like Mishima Haruka.

Risa seems to have something going on with her parents because of her Gift too. There’s seriously no benefit to letting others know that you are a Gift Holder…….

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“I understand. I will be careful.”

“Yeah, that’s good. It’s a pain right, having a Gift I mean.”

“……..yes, I think so too.”

“If you feel troubled by anything then you can come talk to me okay? Gift-related or not.”

“Thank you!”

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Seeing Otoha-chan’s smile beam like sunshine, I can’t help but think that she’s cute.

She’s cute, yes, but I’m afraid that if I say that out loud, people would start calling me lolicon.

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Thinking so, I recalled what I wrote about her in my notebook.

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Gift: [Seeing through both truth and lies]

Otoha-chan’s Gift is the ability to tell if someone is telling the truth by just listening to their voice.

She can tell who’s telling a lie right away and she doesn’t like liars.

That’s why Hideyori, who did nothing but lied, scared her.

His scary face and the fact that he already looked like a thug didn’t help his case either.

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She can’t read Takeru because of his [Anti-Gift] so he has kind of become someone special to her and she looks up to him as an older brother.

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“O~~i! So this is where you are!”

“Takeru-Oniichan!”

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While we were chatting, Takeru ran up to us. He was short of breath.

Since she’s his relative, she probably came to visit him during Golden Week.

When I think of the misfortune that will befall Otoha-chan in the next year, my heart aches at how her happiness would one day crumble away.

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“Who would have thought that she would have run into Hideyori of all people…….thanks.”

“I didn’t do anything alright. Otoha-chan just happened to call me over when I was on my way home.”

“Thank you very much, Hideyori-san! I’m very grateful. You even warned me about my Gift.”

“Right. Well, see you later okay.”

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I wave goodbye to Takeru and Otoha-chan.

Otoha-chan’s childlike gesture as she waved back at me brought a smile to my face.

I met her earlier than I expected but she’s a lot cuter compared to my vague memory of her. Thinking so, my smile broadened.

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Author Note: What is Gift Rank?

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Based on Concept-san (Ennoia)’s standard, the stronger the Gift, the higher the rank.

The higher the rank, the higher its rarity and the more unrealistic its ability becomes. Moreover, the Gift would be more sought after by people the higher the rank gets.

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V7C9 Ennoia says that Hideyori’s Gift is an advanced kind.

According to the ranking framework, the ranking would be as follows.

(Top down, Rarest -> Trash)

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SS Rank (Conceptual Class)

[Dominating Decree] (Post Evolution)

Holder: Akechi Hideyori

V8Extra2

The level of power was only obtained after he sacrificed both Takeru and Emi.

Able to make things other than other human beings follow his order.

It’s possible to use the Gift to completely erase someone’s will.

There were depictions of Emi in the game where deep inside she was scared of death but with the complete erasure of will, she would not feel that and would be acting like a robot instead.

This power level was only obtained because it was an extra chapter.

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S Rank (Highest)

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Yoru Hiru’s Gift

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User: Yoru Hiru

V9C6

She said that she can throw away her Gift……..?

It is uncertain whether her Gift is related to [Anti-Gift].

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[Character Creation]

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User: Hosokawa Seiko

V6C27

A Gift that can alter and create any kind of appearance like you are creating a game’s character.

The true form of StarChild.

>Reason why her breasts were smaller when she debuted.

When she transformed into StarCha, she was worried about her small size so she tried to puff up a little bit.

She felt better after that so she kept gradually increasing her size and as a result, she became a busty Idol before she knew it.

The first fan to notice her growth was [Real_Honnouji]

This happened before he met the person herself.

She feels that she’s gone too far but she can revert to her small size any time she wants.

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A Rank (Advanced)

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[Dominating Decree]

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User: Akechi Hideyori.

V1C1

Can command and control people using only his voice.

Very simple but strong.

A Coward’s Gift.

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[Steal Anything] Gift.

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User: the thief who stole the sword from Irene von Lest

V5C44

Can steal anything in sight.

Since it can even steal Gifts within his vision, its ability work in a similar way to Seki Shou’s [Copy any Gifts in Sight] Gift 

The Gift doesn’t allow the stolen ability to be shared so it’s not necessarily that strong.

An ability that’s too dangerous for a mob who didn’t even appear in the game to have.

An example of an ability that I came up with when the novel’s setting was still relatively loose and turned out to be a cheat ability.

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[Energy Drain]

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User: Mishima Haruka

V8C17

A powerful Gift that can turn a sickly body healthy.

In exchange, it absorbs the lives of those around the user.

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B Rank (intermediate)

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[Anti-Gift]

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User: Juumonji Takeru

V2C2

An ability that can nullify the ability of S-rank and lowers Gifts.

Ineffective against Conceptual Class.

To be frank, it can be both the strongest weapon and a trash-tier ability at the same time.

It has the advantage of not receiving debuffs from Gifts but it’s also a disadvantage to not receive any buffs from other Gifts.

Due to Takeru’s personality, he doesn’t use Gift-related buffs but utilizes his Siscon buff and Hideyori Buff instead.

The effectiveness of Yoru Buff is still rather low.

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Fukamori Mitsuki’s Gift

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User: Fukamori Mitsuki

V8C14

The ability itself is so strong that it could be called a cheat.

However, its rank is rather low because the activation conditions are somewhat strict.

In the situation where the conditions are met, it would be boosted straight up to S-Rank.

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[Copy any Gifts in Sight]

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User: Seki Shou

V9C8

In hindsight, a pretty weak ability since the user has to start at the stage of Non-Gift Holder.

The more copies he makes, the more cheat-like it becomes so it depends on whether he’s on the upper or lower end of B-Rank.

Incidentally, he can use the Gifts he’s copied indefinitely.

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C-Rank (Lesser class)

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[See through both Truth and Lies]

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User: Akasaka Otoha

V9C15

An ability that renders a lie detector obsolete.

The constant activation made the user unable to trust people.

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Juumonji Risa’s Gift

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User: Juumonji Risa

Nope.

Not yet.

Actually, Risa herself misunderstood the ability of her Gift.

However, there was no one to point that out including Hideyori and Madoka (Yoru knows what it is)

In fact, the number of times Risa’s Gift was activated is greater than the times our Hideyori used his Gift (I think)

The Gift itself is rather special so it’s still undecided whether it will be revealed in the main story.

**Yes, those were hints.

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[Isolated space creation]

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User: Tanuma Seiji

V8C13

Sealing spaces by creating barriers in the gaps between doors, and staying in the isolated room will cause those inside to suffocate.

A very limited Gift.

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D Rank (Low Class)

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[Ice Blade]

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User: Uematsu Yurika

V7C12

A Gift that shoots blades of ice.

Can not be used to freeze a target, specialized in throwing/shooting.

The limitation resulted in a drastic drop in rank.

If it’s an ability that can freely manipulate ice, it would have been in A rank.

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Sasaki Emi’s Gift

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User: Sasaki Emi

Nah

Not yet

She has activated it several times already.

V6C1

Hideyori claims that he has used his Gift on her so much that she became a pseudo Gift Holder

It looked like he was giving a long explanation to Takeru but it turned out to be a lie.

In the first place, the fact that the original Towa, whose memory should have been erased and Hideyori’s Gift still in effect, didn’t show the same result in the test already debunks his explanation.

With that reason, the original Emi’s result should have come up negative. The fact that it came out positive meant that she was Gift Positive from the beginning.

It’s likely that the original Hideyori was aware of what Emi’s Gift was.

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[Creating flames on palm]

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User: Shouji

V9C8

The ability can also be used to throw the flame that was created on the user’s palm.

It’s very likely that a superior version of this Gift is out there.

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[3-digits instant calculation]

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User: Hideyori’s analogy

V5C25 

There seems to be someone with a superior version that can calculate up to 5 digits in the world.

3-digits is just too pitiful.

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[Perfect Voice Copy]

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User: A guy on an online video site.

V1C4

An inferior version of [Character Creation].

Can not imitate appearance but can imitate another person’s voice and even create an imaginary voice.

I mean, StarCha is just that good, there’s nothing wrong with this Gift at all.

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E Rank (Trash)

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[Sketch anything in sight with the accuracy of a photograph]

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User: Mob

V1C1

Just take a picture, dude.

Perhaps the effective use would be for the user to join the police force.

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[Control matchstick flame]

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User: Mob

V1C1

Just buy a match or lighter, man.

Unlike Shouji’s Gift, the user has to create the spark themselves so it’s completely inferior.

Although it’s a trash-tier Gift that can not generate flame out of nothing, it can manipulate small/weak flame the size that can be generated by a matchstick so there’s some use to it.

The earlier Gifts are so trash.

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[Turning Saliva into Coffee]

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User: None(Sakuya’s imagination)

V4C4

She would be even more pitiful if she gets this kind of Gift so it’s better to not have it at all.

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[Forced Suicide] 

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User: Alechi Hideyoshi

V4C5

A purposeless garbage Gift that it’s better not existing at all

Moreover, it’s a completely inferior version to his son [Dominating Decree].

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It’s been a while since we talked about Irene von Lest so let’s do a Q&A

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Q. Will the Cheat Thief come back?

Q. It’s been 135 chapters since the Cheat Thief appeared and 3 years have passed but what happened to him after he got captured by Irene-something-something-san’s subordinates?

His fingers broken, his teeth were pulled, and his eyes also got smashed so he can never use his Gift again.

After that, he was handed over to the authorities to atone for his crimes.

He’s not dead yet.

Q. Can he steal an invisible Gift like [Dominating Decree] or [Anti-Gift]?

Seki Shou’s [Copy any Gift in Sight] works under the same condition.

The point is to recognize it. With Juumonji Takeru’s [Anti-Gift] and Mishima Haruka’s [Energy Drain] in the state of constant activation, he would be able to see them at work but he can not copy it unless he understands their effect and how it works.

Q. Will the Thief appear in the game’s timeline?

Q. By the way, is Irene-something-something-san married? Is she single?

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That concluded the Q&A.

It’s a Q&A to answer the burning questions of the thief who stole the swords from Irene von Lest.

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Next time, Scumbag Best Friend, that man makes a move.