Chapter 245: Surprise Dad?!
Since everything had been settled at today's meeting, Ryū had no further obligations for the next two weeks — no more conferences, no more sessions. The only standing appointment was turning up at the Hokage Building dining hall at mealtimes.
Physically speaking, his current constitution was such that going several days without food or sleep after a non-combat period would cause him essentially no problems at all.
But if free meals were on offer, why wouldn't he show up every single day and eat his fill?
It wasn't as if he was freeloading for nothing, either. This morning he'd helped Minato keep Danzō and the rest of the old guard pinned in complete silence for the duration of a multi-hour meeting. That counted as a contribution, however minor.
And on top of all that, he'd taken on the sideline role of… Chūnin Exam judge, or something to that effect.
"Specifically to supervise the brats' sparring matches — meaning the tournament stage from the original storyline needs me standing there with a flag."
Ryū lay on his bed with the flat resignation of a man contemplating a mildly unfair fate. All he wanted was to be a horse that grazed in peace and never had to run.
The world, as always, declined to accommodate this.
He slipped his awareness into the Chat Group, opened Sakura's private message window, and sent the little girl a red packet worth exactly 1,000 Points.
It was, technically, the largest single red packet he had ever sent.
If it were being spent on something pointless, he'd have felt it. 1,000 Points was never a small number in the Chat Group's economy — he wouldn't trade even 100 Points for a hundred million in real money. The Chat Group's currency had no real-world equivalent, full stop.
But spent on something meaningful — on helping a member — the sting was absent entirely.
Sakura was simply too young and had never participated in a single group quest. She had no way to make waves in the Fate world on her own, and expecting Chat Group members to burn 1,000 Points every time she ran into danger was unreasonable for everyone involved.
Bringing her over was the cleanest solution available.
And Yukari and Sakura already got along like sisters. Letting Yukari look after her was no imposition.
Even if the gap youkai sage had no idea how to handle a small child — Sakura's psychological maturity ran well ahead of her age anyway. And there was always Ran to fill the gap. Ran looking after Sakura? Zero concerns on that front.
["RawrSoFierce" has sent a regular red packet. Please claim within the valid period.]
RawrSoFierce: Go ahead and claim it. You'll never scrape together 1,000 crossing Points through sign-ins alone at your rate. Pay it back whenever you've grown into it — no rush.
RawrSoFierce: Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Treat it like any normal day. It's not as if you'll never see your family again.
Little Sakura of the Tohsaka: …Mm! Thank you for looking out for me, Admin-sama.
RawrSoFierce: I've opened your crossing permissions and enabled receiving access on Yukari's end. Cross over whenever you're ready.
Little Sakura of the Tohsaka: I'm planning to cross tonight. But I want to say goodbye to my family first — even if they might not really understand what I'm telling them.
RawrSoFierce: That's fine. Say your goodbye, let them get used to the idea.
RawrSoFierce: As for whether you let slip anything about the Chat Group — honestly, it doesn't matter.
Little Sakura of the Tohsaka: …Mm, mm!
["Little Sakura of the Tohsaka" has claimed "RawrSoFierce"'s regular red packet.]
"…"
Seeing the claim notification, Ryū breathed out quietly. That matter was settled, at least for now.
The Chūnin Exams were in two weeks.
Which meant two weeks of being a salted fish.
Not that he could actually survive lying on a sofa for a fortnight straight — if he had that kind of patience, he'd have gone off to try some cultivation system long ago. He was not a person built for boredom, and frankly neither was anyone else in the Chat Group. Every member behaved as though they were online twenty-four hours a day.
His gaze drifted to the bags sitting on the coffee table — various discs purchased in the Iron Man film-verse, plus a laptop from that world. Solar-powered, for practical reasons: he hadn't wanted to risk blowing out Konoha's wiring by plugging in something from the Marvel world's voltage standards. He already had a laptop from the One Punch Man world, but cross-universe hardware compatibility was anyone's guess.
He opened the Marvel-world laptop and extracted a disc from one of the bags.
The text on the packaging was hard to miss. Amid various lines of English, the most prominent marking was: 18+
It was, to be clear, not that kind of game. The cover described it as a horror title. A young stepmother transforms into a vengeful spirit. The player controls her adopted son, who must survive her supernatural torments.
…
The two weeks passed in roughly this fashion.
Home every day. Gaming until mealtime, walking over to the Hokage Building dining hall to eat his fill, walking back to game some more. When games lost their appeal, he switched to anime — he'd bought an unreasonable quantity of discs from the Marvel world. Daily Chat Group sign-ins and general chatting were never missed.
Over those two weeks, sign-ins alone accumulated another full 1,000 Points — neatly replacing what he'd sent Sakura.
During those same two weeks, Sakura had made the crossing to Gensokyo and successfully settled into life with Yukari. Remarkably well, in fact, for a five-year-old. Her psychological maturity sat closer to a twelve-to-fifteen year old's by any honest assessment.
Being raised under Yukari's daily philosophical instruction tended to do that to a child.
"Hm… two weeks already. Minato mentioned yesterday that the Chūnin Exam opening ceremony is at noon — four hours from now."
Ryū glanced at the alarm clock, yawned with the energy of a man who had done very little for fourteen days, and slipped back into the Chat Group.
Business as usual. Despite it being early morning in Konoha, the Chat Group was buzzing at full volume. Nobody in the group seemed to require sleep in any meaningful sense — the weakest member could go three days without sleep or food and come away with little more than a slight headache. Sleep was for processing thoughts, not for survival.
Eternally Seventeen: Little Sakura-chan's magical aptitude is absolutely unreal. I feel like it won't take long before I've cultivated a genuine mid-tier combatant for the group — and without even needing that many Points to do it.
Eternally Seventeen: She and my Ran have also been getting along wonderfully. Ran turns out to be unexpectedly fond of children, which surprised me.
Kaguya-sama: Come to think of it, a human child suddenly appearing in Yukari-nee's home — didn't your shikigami find that strange?
Eternally Seventeen: Not a problem. I came up with an excuse on the spot and told her Sakura-chan is my illegitimate daughter with a human man.
Ying Zheng The Sovereign: …This excuse. This sovereign finds himself at a loss for words.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — so Sakura has been formally adopted as a daughter?
Eternally Seventeen: Ran didn't believe a word of it, for what it's worth. She demanded to see a photo of the father, said she'd sooner die than accept the story without one.
Eternally Seventeen: So I magically rendered a copy of this image and showed it to her.
Eternally Seventeen: ［image］ Here. This one.
Kaguya-sama: …That's — that's the photo from the Mid-Autumn festival group activity. The one where we were all drinking milk tea together, Yukari-nee.
Kaguya-sama: And why does the photo only have you, Admin-sama, and little Sakura in it? Where am I? Where are Umaru, Tornado-nee, and Eriri?
Crazy Diamond: I'm fairly confident Yukari-senpai edited everyone else out.
Crazy Diamond: @RawrSoFierce — congratulations, Admin-sama! Surprise dad!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: @RawrSoFierce — congratulations, Admin-sama! Surprise dad!
Roar of the Evil Dragon: What's "surprise dad"? Doesn't matter — just repeat what everyone else is saying, can't go wrong. Congratulations, Admin-sama! Surprise dad!
RawrSoFierce: …Pfft. Old hag, you didn't actually use that edited photo and trot out that embarrassing story — and your shikigami just accepted it? She didn't question whether the photo was real?
Eternally Seventeen: As everyone in Gensokyo knows — there is no Photoshop in the fantasy realm, therefore the photo cannot possibly be fake!
RawrSoFierce: …That actually worked?!
"…"
☆☆☆
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