Chapter 1: Starting Today, I’m a Loli (Two-in-One)

sorry for the late update, my internet was down all day yesterday

For the eighth time traversing worlds, the girl had already built up a resistance to the dizziness caused by dimensional travel.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a dense, primeval forest.

Ancient trees soared into the sky, their interwoven branches forming a lush green canopy overhead, allowing only sparse rays of sunlight to filter through the gaps in the leaves.

Taking a deep breath, the scent of earth and nature filled her nose and mouth, bringing with it a sense of relaxation.

A few steps away from the girl, a tranquil lake lay quietly. The surface of the water was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the surrounding trees and sky.

The girl walked over and leaned toward the water, catching sight of her current appearance.

It was a face as delicate and childlike as a porcelain doll, adorned with big, transparent blue eyes like sapphires. Combined with her unreadable expression, she looked like a real living doll— adorable and lively.

Her wavy blue hair was hidden under an oversized bunny-eared hoodie. She wore a pure white dress, a green coat resembling a raincoat, and pink socks tucked into rain boots, giving the impression of someone hiding their true self beneath a protective shell.

On her left hand, she wore a comical bunny hand puppet, complete with a pirate-like eyepatch and a clownish scarf. The puppet bore a wide, goofy smile that never changed no matter the situation.

The girl naturally knew the name of this Spirit.

Yoshino Himekawa.

The Spirit who controlled ice, snow, and frost.

She was innately gentle and timid, afraid of strangers. She hated hurting others and being hurt, so the powerful ice abilities she possessed were used only for self-defense, making her the strongest shield among the ten Spirits.

Her basic stats even ranked fourth overall. In terms of speed alone, only the Yamai sisters were slightly ahead of Yoshino.

In other words, when facing most crises, even if she couldn't resolve them, she could at least escape.

Although she wasn't strong offensively, her defense and speed were among the best, making her a Spirit whose strengths made up for her shortcomings.

However, just because her power wasn't a problem didn't mean she was easy to portray.

Yoshino personality was one of the more troublesome among the ten Spirits. Due to her extreme timidity, she had developed a second personality named Yoshinon, which was expressed through her bunny hand puppet.

Though the puppet couldn't speak on its own, Yoshino, skilled in ventriloquism, would bring out Yoshinon voice when her second personality appeared. So no matter the situation, it was always Yoshinon—the external and second personality—who appeared. The internal and primary personality, Yoshino, would stay hidden.

In other words, to properly portray Yoshino Himekawa, the girl had to act as two people simultaneously.

And not just any two people—two people with completely different personalities.

Compared to the shy and timid Yoshino, Yoshinon was the complete opposite.

Outgoing, lively, and overly friendly—she had zero regard for personal boundaries.

Two words summed her up: social butterfly.

What Yoshino didn't dare say, Yoshinon said. What Yoshino didn't want to say, Yoshinon said. What Yoshino didn't know how to say, Yoshinon also said.

This was the girl's first time portraying a dual-personality Spirit.

"Playing two roles at once—one a socially autistic loli, and the other one is a seasoned old seductress who is no purer than Aunt Tohka— This is definitely the most difficult depiction so far."

Just as the girl was muttering to herself, a glowing screen from the system appeared before her eyes.

[Personal Info Updated]

[Current Role: Yoshino Himekawa]

[Current World: Akame ga Kill]

[Processing World Intelligence…]

[Main Mission Issued]

Main Mission: Operate in the shadows. Maintain secrecy and vigilance as the Hermit.

[Side Missions Issued]

Side Mission 1: Act without revealing your identity in this world. (Lower notoriety = higher mission rewards)

Side Mission 2: Collect Imperial Arms (Teigu). (More collected = higher mission rating)

Side Mission 3: Accelerate or hinder the Revolutionary Army's revolution. (Greater impact = higher mission rating)

"Akame ga Kill?"

Upon seeing which world she had landed in, the girl's expression turned strange.

It wasn't because this world's combat power was especially high.

Although some Teigu in this world had strange or powerful abilities, posing a certain level of threat, for Yoshino—known as the strongest shield—it wasn't really much of a danger.

In fact, this world wasn't even as dangerous as the Chainsaw Man world.

Her complicated feelings stemmed more from how mismatched Yoshino seemed with the tone of Akame ga Kill.

"Putting the most timid of Spirit girls into a world where only two out of ten in the protagonist group survive—something feels off." The girl scratched her head. "I thought the system would place Yoshino in a relatively peaceful world… I guess I still overestimated it."

Still, the girl only grumbled a bit internally.

Although the stark contrast between the dark, cruel world and Yoshino gentle personality was huge, completing both the main and side missions would be relatively easy thanks to her power.

At the very least, it was much easier than the last world.

She didn't need to worry much about survival—only about how to portray her character well and complete her missions.

She then turned her attention back to the tasks assigned by the system.

The main mission suited Yoshino non-confrontational nature well. It didn't specify what exactly needed to be done to complete it—just maintaining her role as the Hermit would be enough.

But this kind of mission also had its downside.

Compared to clearly defined objectives—like becoming a popular idol in the Asterisk War world, or ending a divine war in No Game No Life Zero—this mission left her uncertain of what level of performance would count as "complete."

As for the three side missions, they each had their own difficulty:

Side Mission 1 asked her to keep a low profile. This was easy—Yoshino never acted ostentatiously, so as long as she stayed in character, this mission could be completed perfectly.Side Mission 2 required her to collect Teigu, which was much harder.

If she remembered correctly, this world contained 48 Imperial Arms.

Roughly a thousand years ago, the Empire's founding emperor—wielding unimaginable wealth and power—gathered the top artisans from around the world. Using legendary dangerous beasts as materials, rare metals like orichalcum, and numerous lost mystical techniques, they created 48 unique and irreplicable weapons.

Each weapon had miraculous and powerful abilities and possessed its own consciousness.

If one earned the weapon's recognition, even a weak and untrained person could instantly become a top-tier powerhouse.

These mighty weapons were known as Teigu.

Most of them were controlled by the Empire. The rest were either scattered across other nations, lost to time, or had been one-time-use weapons that disappeared after use.

Since the system didn't specify how many Teigu she had to collect to fully complete the mission, the girl would just have to collect as many as possible.

Side Mission 3 involved accelerating or hindering the progress of the Revolutionary Army. While not difficult, for someone like Yoshino to naturally insert herself into a revolution, she'd first need a proper reason.

Analyzing the missions and formulating a plan, the girl opened her spatial inventory.

With a thought, a prop card appeared in her hand.

It was a Fabricated Identity Coupon she had just obtained.

Given Yoshino passive nature and reluctance to interact with others, if she were to portray her directly, the most in-character move would be to hide in the forest and do nothing.

But hiding in the forest as a hermit wouldn't complete any of the system's missions.

And finding an appropriate entry point into the world with Yoshino personality would be extremely difficult.

Her best option now was to use the Fabricated Identity Coupon to create a false identity—allowing her to blend into the world naturally while also giving her more room to operate.

"Use it."

After weighing the pros and cons, the girl decided to use the card.

[Confirming use of item card: Fabricated Identity Coupon]

[Modifying world memory…]

[Inserting fabricated life…]

[Construction complete]

With the use of the card, fragmented memories began flowing into her mind.

A fake yet utterly realistic life was inserted into this world by the system's power, like a butterfly flapping its wings—causing both subtle and dramatic changes throughout the world.

As she processed the incoming memory fragments, the girl lit up with joy.

"As expected, this identity is pretty useful for me!"

After digesting part of the fake memories, she gained a decent understanding of her new life.

In this world, she was a villager from the same hometown as Tatsumi.

In her recent memories, she had left her village with Tatsumi, Ieyasu, and Sayo to seek fame and fortune in the Capital—and to one day repay their heavily taxed village.

But on their journey, they encountered a Special-Class Danger Beast, and the four of them were separated in the chaos.

Looking down, the girl saw that a travel bag had appeared at her feet at some unknown point.

Opening it, she found not only a large sack of copper and silver coins, food, and clean water, but also keepsakes and talismans from her village meant to protect her from harm.

"This time, the sense of immersion is even stronger than the last two times."

Looking at the villagers' farewell gifts, the girl couldn't help but think to herself.

In her memory, when the four of them left the village, all the villagers—young and old—came out to send them off.

Especially the funds prepared for them: almost every villager gave all the savings they had, just hoping the four youths could find success in the Capital.

She could even recall their sorrowful and reluctant faces as they departed.

Even though she knew the identity and memories were fabricated by the system, she still felt a bit of emotion for these villagers she had never truly met.

[Main Mission Changed]

Main Mission: Become the Hermit who leads the Empire's transformation from the shadows

As before, the change in her identity led to a change in the main mission as well.

Seeing the newly updated main mission, the girl twitched at the corner of her mouth.

While the previous main mission had been vague, she felt it was still acceptable.

As for this one…

Last time, when she portrayed Nia Honjo, using a Fabricated Identity Coupon caused the main mission to change to "Spread the gospel in Tokyo in the name of a nun."

At the time, she thought that asking an introverted shut-in to spread religion was already ridiculous. But she'd underestimated the system—now, it wanted a socially withdrawn little loli to lead a national revolution…

No, saying "socially withdrawn" wasn't quite right.

While Yoshino was an innocent and adorable child, her second personality Yoshinon was a seasoned old flirt.

As the embodiment of Yoshino desire to avoid the outside world, Yoshinon wasn't just a second personality—she was Yoshino ideal self.

In other words, everything Yoshinon said was what Yoshino really wanted to say in her heart.

Yoshino was absolutely not as simple as she appeared.

Ask yourself—could an innocent little loli really come out as champion in the Spirit Battle Royale?

Little Shino, truly hiding her strength!

"Caw—!"

While the girl was lost in thought, a sharp bird cry suddenly rang out in the distance.

"Awoo—!"

Several wolf howls followed, as if signaling their pack to join the hunt.

The girl flew into the air and looked toward the source of the noise, where she saw a pack of black wolves battling a giant two-headed bird.

Not only her—other nearby Danger Beasts had noticed the commotion and were beginning to converge on the area.

"I better get out of here first."

Only then did the girl remember that she was still in the primeval forest, where powerful Danger Beasts roamed freely.

In this world, Danger Beasts were categorized into seven levels: Super, Special, First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth.

The strongest—Super-Class Danger Beasts—could shake the foundations of nations. The weakest—Fifth-Class—could be handled even by ordinary people.

Though Yoshino could easily handle even a Super-Class with her power, her personality wouldn't allow her to engage. She'd just bury her head and run away.

Just like how she had fled when she, Tatsumi, Ieyasu, and Sayo encountered a Special-Class Danger Beast on the road.

"No need to waste time here. I should head to the Capital and see if I can find Tatsumi and the others."

The girl patted her cheeks, shook off her distractions, and slipped fully into character.

"Yoshino, it's time to go!"

The bunny hand puppet on her left hand waved its tiny arms. With ventriloquism, it sounded just like it was speaking.

"Let's head to the Capital!"