Hachiman made a solemn promise, clenching his right fist over his heart.

"My older brother, lost in philosophy, is beyond saving..."

Komachi, standing by, watched helplessly and changed the subject.

"Tenya brother, and all the sisters. Let's go browse the other stalls together." Komachi led everyone around.

"I sense magic!"

"I sense it too!"

Rikka and Ruri, sharing the same chuunibyou attributes, became friends, appreciating each other.

"Miko, I can't go on..."

"I'm so hungry!"

"Didn't you just finish a bag of bread and milk?"

Miko took Hana to the restaurant service area.

"Excuse me."

"Can you help take a picture?"

"Thank you. Is it okay to add you?"

"No need, thank you."

Tenya politely declined the advances of several female cosplayers.

"That's quite a surprise, Tenya-kun actually refused?" Utaha was very surprised by this.

"Although I'm a lover of all, I'm also picky, okay?"

In fact, Tenya was looking at the system. Women without treasure chests were worthless.

"Huh?"

"That exhibition booth..."

"Aincrad, the full-dive game that just came out recently." Eriri cast a curious glance.

"Full-dive game?" Megumi tilted her head, looking puzzled.

"That is a mysterious magic tool that allows ordinary people to enter the dark world." Rikka explained seriously.

"Sorry, I didn't understand..."

Rukia retorted, your explanation is worse than no explanation at all.

"I see." Ruri, however, understood.

"Black Cat-chan, what does this mean?" Michiru was completely bewildered.

"Look at the helmets over there."

"Built-in five-sense sensors and precision scanners..."

"It allows consciousness to enter a virtual world." Ruri explained.

"Oh!"

"It looks pretty similar to VR gear."

Michiru had played a similar VR game with friends. To put it simply, it was human-computer interaction.

"That person..."

Utaha's eyes narrowed slightly.

At the Aincrad game booth, a slightly familiar bespectacled man was eloquently explaining and introducing the game to passing customers.

"This is not a simple game. Aincrad carries the dreams of the vast number of otakus."

"The door to a new world is right before your eyes!"

"Don't you want to go and see that colorful other world?"

After giving up on game development, Tomoya, in order to repay his previous loans, began using his online status to live stream and sell games produced by manufacturers.

In the realm of otakus, Tomoya had quite a bit of skill.

Under his fervent promotion, it resonated with many otaku at the scene, who eagerly paid to purchase.

"It's actually Tomoya?"

"Isn't he making a bishoujo game?"

"He kept saying it was his dream, but in the end, didn't he give up himself?"

Eriri recognized her former childhood friend at a glance.

"I knew he wasn't reliable!" Michiru also showed a look of disdain.

Back then, Tomoya had tricked her and freeloaded off her labor. Fortunately, she hadn't been foolish enough to stay.

Otherwise, she would have worked hard to create the game music, only for him to quit, wouldn't all her effort have been in vain?

"That game helmet is a bit interesting."

Through Spiritual Sense, Tenya discovered that every single helmet of Aincrad contained a mysterious and eerie aura.

He had seen many eerie entities possessing human bodies.

But this was the first time he had encountered an eerie entity attached to an electronic product.

What exactly did the mastermind behind this want to do?

With a hint of curiosity, Tenya went up and purchased a game helmet.

"Aincrad, it looks like it's going to be very interesting."

Rikka and others, out of curiosity, joined the purchasing line.

"Tenya..."

"I sincerely hope you can enter Aincrad."

"The competition between us has just begun!"

Tomoya pushed up his glasses. The reflected white light made it impossible to see his expression at that moment.

"Heh heh."

"Compete with me?"

"Who are you?"

Tenya smiled indifferently.

Even if he knew there was something eerie in this game, he didn't take it to heart.

...

The winter comic convention concluded successfully.

"Ughhh... I'm tired, let's call it a day..." Eriri looked exhausted, yawning repeatedly.

"Sawamura-san, could it be that you were so excited you couldn't sleep since last night?" Utaha exposed the latter's secret with a single sentence.

"Shut up! It's none of your business!" Eriri gave a classic tsundere denial.

"Heh heh~" Utaha smiled without saying anything.

Actually, she also had dark circles under her eyes today, but she had covered them up with makeup. Being able to last until now was entirely due to sheer willpower.

The two tired individuals left first.

"Yoshida-kun, I'm having dinner with my band friends tonight."

"Then we're going to karaoke all night, do you want to come?"

Michiru enthusiastically extended an invitation.

This music outsourcing job had earned her a good amount of money, enough to splurge for a while.

"Maybe next time. I want to go back and try this." Tenya lifted the game helmet set in his hand.

"Mhm."

"I'm really looking forward to the adventure in the dark world!" Rikka nodded excitedly.

"Me too!"

"A full-dive game, the experience must be very novel." Ruri's small face showed strong interest.

The Gokou family wasn't wealthy. There was no way she could ask her parents for money to buy expensive equipment like a game helmet.

Now, through game programming outsourcing, she had earned her big income in life, and spending her own money was perfectly fine.

"It's just a game, is there a need to be so excited?" Rukia, on the other hand, wasn't very interested in this.

Compared to fighting and killing in a game, she had already fought bloody battles against Hollows in reality.

"A game? That's not necessarily true." Tenya revealed a meaningful smile.

"Could it be that this game has a problem?" Megumi's eyes darted, keenly catching the key point.

"I also felt something strange about this thing, so I didn't buy it."

Miko, relying on her special eyes, could vaguely see the black aura in the game helmets.

She couldn't judge specifically, simply because this was the first time she had seen an eerie aura attached to an electronic product.

"But you still bought it!"