After promising to go to the training grounds in the future, I parted ways with Kokuyo and headed for the yabusame field while admiring the darkening sky.

Today, my purpose is to get the reward for the perfect score of 1000 that I got two days ago.

It was not yet past 7:00 p.m. I should have a spare time, so I decided to spend the rest of the day at the yabusame arena.

Theres a lot of people here even though its dark.

< Its all lit up.>

< Isnt it because tomorrow is the weekend?>

< Theres not much lighting in this oni village.>

Maybe its because the time in the real world and the time in this world are usually synchronized, but if youre a member of the working class, its probably getting dark when you log in after you get home from work.

Thats why the players have been given a minimum standardized night vision, and the big cities have a fair amount of lighting.

But from the viewers point of view, they dont have such a thing, so we need to use the cash option here.

The only lights source in the oni village are the lanterns scattered around, so its pretty dark at night.

Yabusame field, the screening screen itself was mysteriously glowing, the area around the archery target was well lit, and the rail hoses always took a certain route regardless of the brightness. Hence, it seemed to be able to operate despite a certain level of darkness.

And if you looked closely, the view through the screen seemed to have the same night vision effect as the charged option, so people playing yabusame could see clearly even in the dark.

I took a quick look at the crowd enjoying the game at the yabusame field, and Id say about 70% of the 22 people there were players.

We had about an hour until 7:00, so everyone would probably be here to place the bet.

The betting system here requires you to guess the exact score, but you get paid ten times your stake if you manage to hit the jackpot.

You can only bet up to 3,000 Iris, so the bettor wont go bankrupt, and the promoter wont lose much money. It seems to be just supplementary entertainment in yabusame.

Two days ago, Himiko bet 2,000 iris on me, betting that I would hit a perfect score, and she said happily that she won 20.000 iris.

Youre Sukuna, arent you? Its been a while since weve met well, no, it was the day before yesterday.

Ah, Meguru. Good evening.

As I was quietly following the tail end of the crowd, a familiar face suddenly appeared.

Its Mememe Mememe Mememe Meru, who is a [Douji] player like me. Also known as Meguru. We had defeated the hidden boss of the Ancient Ruins of Flame together two days ago, and he was also my benefactor who guided me to the oni village.

That day, he told me that he was a nekama player, and his avatar was a beautiful female oni, but his voice is a stern male voice.

[If Im going to use it, Id rather use a cute avatar,] he said. Everyone has their own style of play, right?

I heard that you got a perfect score the day before yesterday.

Haha, rumors spread fast. I wonder how many times Ive heard that in one day.

You cant put a lid on that, you know? its already become number one gossip in this village, so I guess its only natural that people talk about it.

Sukuna-tasso!

TEE!!

Ab-ugh!

I grabbed the arm of a player who jumped at me from behind while I was chatting with Meguru and gently redirected her trajectory, so she fell face-first to the ground.

The player crashed to the ground with a spectacular sound.

Himiko, what are you doing?

Meg-chan, I dont want you to look at me like Im a piece of trash. I was just trying to give a hug when I saw Sukuna.

Oh dear, you cant blame me for reporting you for harassment.

The name of a player who crashed to the ground is Himiko. Well, even if I didnt look, I already knew it was her from the voice and footsteps.

Probably because theyve known each other for quite some time in this village, their conversation didnt contain even a bit of reservation.

Its been two days since I last saw you, Himiko. Hows the leveling going?

Thanks to money I won from the bet, I can change my weapon, so todays hunt has been pretty good! Well Im in death penalty now.

Every time I saw her inside the village, she was always under the death penalty.

It cant be helped! I cant win with half the stats of the proper level!

Himiko started her crocodile tears after she said that.

I dont know her reason, but Himiko is a person who was carried to this village by a friend when she was still at a low level, and after that, she was stuck here.

It seems that she is slowly raising her level and will escape the oni village soon. However, it seems that she is still below the appropriate level for now.

If youre good at manipulating avatars and used to fighting, you can override the level difference to a certain extent, but Himiko doesnt seem to be very good at that either.

But because she is aware that she cant fight well, she avoids head-on combat and uses a rare skill called [Trap Master] to fight.

This was taught to Himiko by an NPC who saw that she was getting beaten up by monsters too much. [Setting traps is a hassle, but I cant fight without it.] that is what she is always saying.

It may sound rude, but for better or worse, its a rare skill that Himiko could acquire because shes weak.

Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Sukuna?

Im here to get my yabusame reward. I didnt have a chance to get it last time.

I see. So you didnt come here to do yabusame?

Meguru looks a bit disappointed as he said that.

And Himiko didnt miss that. She immediately jumps on this chance to tease Meguru with a very annoying gesture.

Meguru didnt see it? I saw it with my own eyes!

Hou, I see that you are eager to fight right now.

I-I dont think its a good idea to resort to violence so quickly.

<It only took two frames for her to back off LOL>

<Dangerous.>

<I honestly love this little shit Himiko.>

<Understandable.>

Oh well, I still have some free time, so why dont I give it a go?

Are you sure?

You saved me.

When I send a rescue boat to Himiko (who actually deserved that punishment), Megurus expression brightened along with it.

Well, I wont go anywhere until Yabusame is over, anyway.

Ill go sign up for it.

<Oh, youre doing it again?>

<Its the first time Ive seen it.>

<The difficulty may have increased.>

<Its nice to see, so do it every as many time as you want.>

I cant do it every time, okay?

But as a streamer, I have to enjoy showing off what Im good at.

Uncle, let me do it too.

Oh, youre the girl from back then, arent you? I was secretly expecting you to come yesterday.

I had to go visit a grave.

Well, thats also important. Youll come for it later, right?

Yeah. So I thought Id kill some time.

Okay. The queue is three people right now, so youll have to wait.

I finished telling receptionist uncle yabusame that I wanted to participate and that I would come later to collect the other days prize and returned to Himiko and Meguru.

He said there are three people in the queue.

Im sorry, I feel like Im forcing you to do this.

Its okay, I owe Meguru a lot, and above all, yabusame is fun.

By the way, it was still bright the last time, wasnt it? Do you think you can hit a target in this darkness?

Hmm, I can see about the same in day or night. Well, actually, darker is better because it easier to see without backlighting.

Huh?

I mentioned earlier that the players were given a minimum amount of night vision, but I am not affected by darkness regardless of that.

Its a little late to say this, but strangely enough, the five senses of the player have directly reflected in the VR space quite accurately.

This is apparently the result of some kind of virtualization-related perception. unfortunately, I couldnt explain further than that, and Rin-chan, who explained it to me, didnt really understand it either, so I can only assume that its a very complex technology.

The important thing now is that I am also night-visioned in this world, though not as much as in real life.

Just watch me. Ill hit everything.

When I smiled, Meguru and Himiko both put their hands over their eyes and looked up at the sky.

What kind of reaction is that?

They gave me a reaction that Ive never had in my life, and I couldnt help but be taken aback.

===.

A note:

Meguru & Himiko: Kuhh (her innocent smile is too dazzling).

Both of them are her viewers. They cant help it.