Chapter 480: The most painful time in life

Li Mo was a strange person. Every other day, you could sense obvious changes in him. It was like... like a foreign cartoon he had seen before, probably about a child who woke up every morning transformed into a prince, a dragon boy, or a superhero, leading to a new adventure each day. The core appeal was that every morning brought a completely different story.

Hikigaya Hachiman couldn't quite remember the name of that children's cartoon. But it didn't matter—he started seeing Li Mo as the protagonist of that story, facing a new narrative every day.

That was just the kind of person Li Mo was—someone who constantly brought a sense of novelty.

Soon, Hachiman shifted his attention away from Li Mo.

One guy staring at another for too long could easily be misunderstood. The image of a classmate named Ebina Hina flashed through his mind. She was a fujoshi, and if two guys acted even slightly close, she'd immediately assume *that* kind of relationship. The tricky part was, she knew how to keep it subtle, so it wasn't too annoying.

Anyway, Hachiman was confident in his heterosexuality... unless it involved Totsuka. After all, that was *Totsuka*! An angelic existence.

He wondered what Totsuka was doing right now.

When immersed in a game, people tend to ignore their surroundings.

That was true for Hachiman—and for Li Mo as well.

Arcade games tested reflexes, but for someone like Li Mo, it was trivial. A game meant for humans was child's play for a non-human. Fighting games were all about mechanical skill rather than strategy, and with his natural abilities, he was practically a master.

Someone approached from behind.

Li Mo turned his head and saw a naked snake-woman raising her hand to tap his shoulder.

—Wait, that was Jashin-chan. Would she really act like a normal person and tap someone's shoulder?

Was she planning some kind of prank? She *was* a demon, after all—her thought process was anything but ordinary.

Li Mo knew Jashin-chan feared no threats. Just look at how she interacted with Yurine—she was the type to never back down, no matter what.

Though tempted to assume the worst, Li Mo held back and asked, "Jashin-chan, what are you doing here? This isn't your usual hangout spot, is it?"

Yurine and Jashin-chan lived in Jinbōchō, and Jashin-chan rarely ventured outside that area.

After a pause, Li Mo added, "And this isn't a pachinko parlor—it's an arcade. Why are you here?"

He noticed the pouch of money hanging around Jashin-chan's neck. It was a necessary solution—since she didn't wear clothes, she had no pockets to carry things. And she wasn't the type to carry a bag around.

"What, in your eyes, am I only allowed in pachinko parlors?"

"A demon who goes out to buy groceries but ends up wasting all the money at pachinko—is there anything you *wouldn't* do?" Li Mo retorted.

This wasn't the first time Jashin-chan had blown grocery money on pachinko, only to get beaten to a pulp by Yurine afterward. She never learned—as if she had no brain at all.

"Slander! That's slander! I didn't *waste* the grocery money—I just *borrowed* it! I paid Medusa back later!"

"And that makes it better?"

Li Mo couldn't help but scoff.

"At least I paid it back! The groceries still got bought!"

"Sure. But no matter what, Yurine still beats you up."

"You're the worst." Jashin-chan snorted. "Whatever. I'm not gonna argue with you."

With that, she walked off, presumably to find an arcade attendant.

Li Mo pulled out his phone and checked Yurine's contact info. Unsure what she was doing right now, he hesitated to call and instead sent a tentative LINE message.

Hachiman asked, "Was that... a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, why?"

"...She wasn't wearing clothes. Doesn't she get cold?"

Li Mo blinked. "Hachiman, your focus is weird. Shouldn't you be more concerned about the fact that a woman wasn't wearing clothes?"

"Oh, right. That Jashin-chan *was* a woman." Hachiman realized belatedly.

The "filter" was in effect.

It was a self-defense mechanism built upon humanity's collective subconscious—a safeguard created by gods and powerful beings. When humans encountered supernatural phenomena, they simply didn't find it strange.

Li Mo understood it as something like turning blood green in a video game.

But while Jashin-chan's snake form wasn't odd, wasn't her lack of clothing weird? Think about the other monsters he knew—Medusa, Tohru—they all wore clothes in their human forms. Jashin-chan was the only one who refused.

Then again, Tohru didn't wear clothes in dragon form either.

Still weird...

After briefly indulging Hachiman's curiosity (which was rare to begin with—he wasn't the type to obsess over answers), Li Mo turned back to his game.

But soon, Jashin-chan returned. She picked a machine near Li Mo and started playing. Unsurprisingly, she was terrible—skipping the tutorial and jumping straight into online matches, button-mashing her way to defeat.

The sheer spectacle was so entertaining that Li Mo abandoned his own game to watch.

"Pay up!"

"?"

After witnessing a few rounds of Jashin-chan's disastrous gameplay, Li Mo was met with this absurd demand. "Give me a reason."

"You watched me play and laughed—don't I deserve compensation? I'm being generous here—just cover my gaming expenses for today! If you don't..."

Jashin-chan grinned and clenched her fist.

*Girl, do you realize I could spin you like a top with one hand?*

Clearly, Jashin-chan had no sense of self-preservation—or any thoughts at all, really.

Li Mo tossed her his remaining coins, and she happily resumed her losing streak. Meanwhile, he checked his phone.

Yurine replied that she was currently working but would take time off to come immediately after hearing about Jashin-chan.

Li Mo could already picture the murderous aura around her.

Hanazono Yurine's efficiency was terrifying. She arrived in no time.

After getting the full story on the way, Yurine punched a hole straight through Jashin-chan's stomach, forced an apology out of her, and dragged her away.

Whatever happened to Jashin-chan afterward was none of Li Mo's concern.

Though... watching Yurine punch through Jashin-chan's stomach gave him déjà vu. He absentmindedly touched his own abdomen.

Back when he fought Akaza to the death, he had trapped the demon's arm in his gut to deliver the finishing blow.

That was probably the most pain he'd ever felt in his life.