Chapter 7: Oni Chichi and Sora no Iro
"Let me out… I want to go home."
The girl began to cry. Tears spilled like a broken necklace of pearls, pattering onto the floor.
Takumi quietly savored the aftertaste of that kiss from moments ago.
That… had actually been his very first kiss.
He'd always imagined a deep French kiss would be incredibly difficult, yet somehow his body had just instinctively figured it out.
The imprisoned beauty—Nao—really did taste surprisingly sweet.
If this were the real, three-dimensional world, who knows when Takumi would ever have gotten the chance to kiss a girl—let alone someone this stunningly beautiful.
In terms of looks, Nao wasn't inferior in the slightest to the class idol back at school—Ryūko.
Takumi had always insisted he had zero interest in real-life girls, but Ryūko was an exception.
Half-British from childhood, she had that unexpected golden hair.
In a sea of black-haired people, she gave off serious 2D vibes.
That was the only reason she'd ever caught his attention.
But when 2D becomes reality… the visuals turn into full 3D depth.
There would never be that perfectly flat anime character aesthetic.
Still, the overall feeling remained completely different from the real world.
At the very least, hair color and eye color would be preserved flawlessly.
The girl in front of him—Nao—had that golden hair, and her pupils were a soft, pale red.
Thanks to his heavy 2D influence, Takumi had always been especially fond of unusual eye colors and heterochromia.
Although Ryūko also had golden hair, her eyes were still ordinary black.
So he'd never really paid her much mind.
"Is home really that wonderful?" Takumi asked gently.
"Of course it is! Anything's better than being trapped with a pervert like you!"
"You're not happy?"
"How could I possibly be happy?!"
"That makes me kind of sad… I'm actually really happy when I'm with you. I even gave you my first kiss just now."
"…"
Nao finally got it.
This guy was beyond reasoning with.
Talking to him would only slowly break her down.
So she gritted her teeth, refused to say another word, turned her face away, and stopped looking at him entirely.
Takumi spoke slowly, "Since you hate being with me that much… I guess I'll just leave then."
He tapped his forehead lightly.
The Demon Crest immediately shone.
In the next instant, Takumi vanished from the sealed room.
Just as abruptly as he had appeared.
The girl didn't even flinch at the supernatural sight.
It was almost as if he had simply walked out through an ordinary door.
Back in the real world, Takumi sat once more in front of his computer.
He exhaled deeply.
Crossing dimensions felt… indescribable.
Like the heart-pounding drop on a roller coaster—sharp and piercing, all the blood rushing to his chest.
His goal had been to acquire magical power.
The first step was already accomplished.
Although the second… and especially the third step were incredibly tempting,
in the end, his conscience held him back just a little.
He didn't think of himself as a good person,
but he also wasn't the kind of trash who would force himself on a 2D virgin just to lose his own virginity.
It just… didn't sit right.
The icon for 'kankin shoujo [re:union]' was still glowing on his desktop.
But everything inside had changed.
All the game menus and options had disappeared.
The 2D illustration had turned into what looked like a real-time camera feed.
After he left, Nao was frantically looking around the room, searching for something.
Soon her expression collapsed into disappointment.
She simply sat there, crying in silence.
"What the hell… The game icon basically became a surveillance camera. It's showing me exactly what happened after I left."
The Demon Crest transmitted the explanation instantly, answering his confusion.
Takumi startled.
"Time is synchronized?! Then if I stay away too long… won't she starve to death?!"
"…Understood."
Takumi murmured.
Then he began checking the other accessible icons.
He quickly realized that not every eroge or dark h-anime was available.
Many of his treasured classics were locked.
For example, the legendary 'Honoo no Haramase: Tenkōsei', where the protagonist impregnates the entire class of beautiful girls.
Or the ultra-sadistic 'Shintaisou: Kari'.
Or the immoral MILF classic 'Enbo'—about a young wife who marries into a new family; her husband is always buried in work, but her handsome stepson… one day she accidentally catches him doing something… and begins having wicked fantasies about a boy her own age.
And of course the uniform-fetish masterpiece 'Night Shift Nurses'.
All inaccessible.
Takumi pondered for a moment.
The Demon Crest soon transmitted the answer.
"Then what about 'Ane Haramix'? There are only two heroines, and I still can't enter."
'Ane Haramix' was about a boy who harbors lewd fantasies toward his beautiful, non-blood-related older sister (a childhood friend) who lives with him.
The sister is vaguely aware of his dirty thoughts but never points them out.
Then one day, a beautiful winged demoness appears and tells the protagonist he is going to die.
The only way to survive is to impregnate a woman and generate life energy.
To save him, the sister reluctantly agrees to his outrageous demands.
In the end, even the demoness joins in.
A proper plot-driven meat work. Takumi quite liked it.
Takumi could only fall silent.
He carefully examined the remaining options.
In the end, his gaze settled on two favorites that were glowing and accessible.
The first was the ultra-famous erotic masterpiece 'Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro'—character design and original art by the legendary TONY.
Even the heroine Mizushima Asa had won the top spot in a fan poll and appeared on the cover of 'Ciel All Characters' as the undisputed number one.
Takumi didn't own the game.
He only had the OVA h-anime version, which he used… for personal relief.
But the character designs and art quality were god-tier, so it was one of his most carefully hidden treasures on the E drive (the one his little sister frequently purged).
The other accessible legendary title was 'Oni Chichi I'.
The story of an evil father—a respected teacher—who extends his demonic claws toward his two beautiful daughters.
Also adapted from an eroge.
Again, Takumi only had the OVA anime.
The game itself was too dark and sadistic, so he never played it.
But that didn't stop him from loving 'Oni Chichi'.
"Both 'Sora no Iro' and 'Oni Chichi I' only have one main heroine each… yet entering them costs a whopping fifteen points of energy. What a rip-off. But honestly, rather than diving into some cheap, low-quality, art-collapse pure-fuck h-anime… I'd much rather enter these premium works."
Takumi made his decision.
However, since each entry required fifteen points and he currently only had fourteen…
He resolved to fully conquer 'kankin shoujo [re:union]' first.
Only then would he have enough magical power to enter those two legendary titles.