The Pecuniary Predicament of Doraemon

"Do you truly believe that the fate of the Lord God's program no longer concerns you?"

Nagato Yuki spoke with unhurried calm. "You must understand—each death among the new recruits provides vital energy for the restoration of the system. The reason the damaged Lord God was able to generate the grotesque crossovers of Alien and The Grudge in the house of Shinnosuke Nohara in Kasukabe—albeit crudely—was precisely because several storylines had yet to conclude. With each passing death, a flicker of power returned to the system."

"If the current trend of rookie deaths continues unchecked, the Lord God may well restore itself in full, unleashing monsters of increasing power… no longer the laughable, softball-sized alien beasts or the feeble female wraiths who can barely frighten a house pet, but true abominations and interstellar invaders. Of course," she added lightly, "they would still be no match for beings like Haruhi Suzumiya, Shinnosuke, or Doraemon. Haruhi could erase them from existence with a mere sentence; Shinnosuke would turn tragedy to slapstick with a mischievous grin; and Doraemon… well, his arsenal defies logic."

"The real problem," she went on, her gaze steady, "is that once the Lord God fully restores itself and reactivates, it will begin purging those returnees who retained memories of the system and leaked its secrets. And we've already exposed the existence of the Lord God to far too many—Shinnosuke's family, Nobita's household, Kyon, Koizumi, Asahina… even the children in Shinnosuke's kindergarten might know. It's likely Nobita's entire class has heard."

"In such circumstances, the Lord God—though still weak—might not be able to harm Haruhi, me, or Doraemon… nor even Shinnosuke. But you, Aki-kun? You're an easy target."

"Whether or not you choose to reenter the Infinite World and rescue the trapped novices—to shut down the system once and for all—is up to you. As for me, I must remain by Haruhi's side to monitor any disturbances. I have neither the time nor energy to involve myself further."

Upon hearing her words, a cold sweat drenched Wang Qiu from neck to spine.

...

As he stumbled out of the café, mind adrift, it felt as though ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his head.

The troubles of the Lord God Space were far from over.

Over a hundred novices remained trapped within their first respective story-worlds.

Each death among them hastened the Lord God's restoration, enabling it to summon new monsters, replicate narratives, and spark chaos.

At first, these anomalies had been laughably weak—like those comical creatures encountered in Shinnosuke's home—but as the body count rose, so too did the strength of the horrors. The crises they would spawn could grow catastrophic…

Had it all remained confined to the worlds of Doraemon, Haruhi, and Shinnosuke, it might have been manageable. After all, those prodigious beings could rewrite reality at whim. To them, the Lord God's threats were little more than casual distractions.

But according to Nagato Yuki, there existed a chilling 20% chance that the next generated storyline might manifest… in Wang Qiu's world.

Yet that was not the true disaster.

No, the true calamity lay in what followed—the strange, residual energy from the deaths of the rookies would feed the Lord God's automatic recovery.

And once the system rebooted, it would inevitably execute its prime directive: to eliminate any and all who had exposed its secrets.

Given the Lord God's cowardly nature—quick to attack the weak and avoid the strong—it was unlikely to go after the likes of Haruhi, Shinnosuke, or Doraemon.

But Wang Qiu?

He was the proverbial soft persimmon.

The only leaky vessel among titans.

And so, he'd be first on the Lord God's kill list.

Oh, heavens above! How was he supposed to live like this?!

Nagato Yuki had made it clear: she was powerless to intervene. The Lord God Space had been obliterated—her data manipulation skills and Haruhi's reality-altering commands had nothing left to anchor upon. There was no target for their powers to strike.

To fully shut down the Lord God system, there was only one path forward: extract every surviving novice before the system reactivated.

And Wang Qiu's only tool for this seemingly impossible task…

Was the portable command sphere—reborn as a heavy, leather-bound tome dubbed The Book of Passage—which Haruhi had modified.

Through it, he could re-enter the shattered Infinite World and help each stranded rookie earn 50,000 reward points in a single narrative arc.

It was madness.

And worse still—it had to be done repeatedly.

As he stared gloomily at the so-called "Book of Passage," Wang Qiu, a battle-scarred veteran of four completed story arcs, felt the weight of despair settle once more.

He knew all too well the brutal truth: behind every fantastical world lurked unspeakable danger.

In his desperation, he turned to the idea of recruiting allies.

Alas—Haruhi had plans for the summer and couldn't commit.

Nagato, as always, would stay close to her.

Shinnosuke? Wang Qiu dared not even consider taking that chaos incarnate into a delicate mission—he'd likely perish from sheer frustration before any plot was resolved.

That left Doraemon and his band of spirited schoolchildren—resilient, capable, adventurous, and perhaps most importantly… sane.

If he could persuade the gadget-laden robot cat to lend a hand, perhaps there was hope.

The only question was: How?

Would one hundred dorayaki suffice as a bribe?

With such disordered thoughts swirling, Wang Qiu stepped into the shared room of Nobita and Doraemon—

And was immediately met with pandemonium.

The space was in total chaos.

Doraemon and Nobita were running circles around a bizarre machine, tears streaming, wails echoing through the cluttered room.

"A catastrophe! An unbearable catastrophe is upon us! Someone save us!"

"Search the place! Anything we can sell—find it now!!"

...

Generally speaking, Doraemon was a laid-back, somewhat indolent robotic cat.

He spent most days lounging on tatami mats, sipping tea, snacking on dorayaki, and reading manga or newspapers—

That is, unless Nobita sparked some new calamity or, God forbid, a mouse appeared.

With this logic in mind, Wang Qiu paused at the doorway, scanning for signs of vermin.

No mice on the ceiling or tatami… but he did notice a suspicious pile of cash.

Quite a hefty stack—easily several hundred thousand yen.

Clearing his throat, Wang Qiu spoke in as even a tone as he could manage.

"Umm… Doraemon? Nobita? Just what on earth is going on? Why are you both in such a panic? And what's with all this money? Nobita, when did your allowance get this generous?"

To his surprise, Doraemon blushed furiously and refused to speak.

It was Nobita who, puffing his cheeks in exasperation, glared at the robot cat and shoved a black envelope into Wang Qiu's hand.

"Doraemon, you've already done it—why pretend otherwise?

sigh Wang Qiu-kun, he's been overspending like crazy lately—he maxed out three hundred credit cards!

Now the banks are furious. They just delivered this letter—an official ultimatum.

The enforcers from the Interdimensional Debt Collection Agency are arriving in three hours!"