Chapter 312: Yukari's Resolve?
Kaguya-sama: @Eternally Seventeen, speaking of which, Yukari-nee, did you finally awaken your Ki sense? Last I heard you said you were only two or three days off, and it's been five days now with zero updates.
My True Form Is Cola: Yukari-senpai's face just tensed up slightly. Being a youkai's hard sometimes, please don't call her out on it.
Eternally Seventeen: Pfft, "hard" my ass. This humble self already awakened it yesterday, actually—just never got around to mentioning it in the chat.
Eternally Seventeen: Admin-sama wasn't online yesterday, and honestly, what's the point of showing off if there's no one to show off TO?
RawrSoFierce: ...What exactly gives you the confidence to try showing off in front of ME, of all people? Need I remind you I awakened my Ki sense way before you did.
RawrSoFierce: At this point I've already got both Kamehameha and Thunderclap Fist down cold.
Eternally Seventeen: Tch! That's just a temporary head start. Give me one more month and I'll absolutely surpass you, you eternally single dog!
Eternally Seventeen: This humble self's talent is genuinely unmatched. Admin-sama, your reign of smugness won't last much longer.
Street-Corner Illustrator: I have a strong feeling Yukari-senpai's going to say this exact same thing again in another month.
Terrible Tornado: Pfft...Eriri's not wrong there, that's uncomfortably accurate.
Eternally Seventeen: Ugh, do you all really think that little of me? Sure, Admin-sama's genuinely impressive, but as the #2 Permissions Hound, I can't be that far behind him either!
Eternally Seventeen: One month from now, I WILL prove you all wrong! Going into seclusion! Deep cultivation mode! See you all in one month!
RawrSoFierce: Eh? Seclusion again? Sure, no problem. See you tonight, then.
Eternally Seventeen: Pfft...does literally NOBODY believe my oaths anymore?
RawrSoFierce: Because this isn't the first time you've sworn to go into seclusion, and every single time you've caved and come back within half a day, unable to resist popping back into the chat.
Kaguya-sama: I mean, the chat group's genuinely addictive, lol. Yukari-nee's basically got a full-blown internet addiction at this point.
Kaguya-sama: And judging by the symptoms, sounds like a pretty advanced case too—the kind you just can't quit.
Eternally Seventeen: (▼皿▼#) Damn it, THIS time I really am going into seclusion, and I absolutely will NOT be back out by tonight!
RawrSoFierce: I see...alright then. See you tomorrow morning, I guess.
Eternally Seventeen: PFFT!! Admin-sama's underestimating my resolve YET AGAIN!
[...]
Yukari was so furious her teeth practically ached—she wished more than anything she could cross dimensions right then and there, grab a certain someone's head, and grind it against a keyboard until it spat out complete gibberish like "ygbkvtzhv."
Only something like that could possibly release the pent-up frustration and irritation currently boiling inside this particular youkai sage.
Except the current circumstances made that flatly impossible. She wasn't some second- or third-tier version of herself with the ability to leap between dimensional worlds on a whim.
Being able to move around within roughly a tenth of a single solar system's worth of space was already the absolute limit of her current abilities.
As for actually breaking through the barriers between dimensions and personally crossing over to Admin's world under her own power? Yukari figured, at her current level, that was simply beyond her reach.
Possibly beyond her reach for the next century, or even the next thousand years. So the idea remained exactly that—a stray fantasy she could only daydream about idly in her head.
If she genuinely tried to cross over right now, she wouldn't manage it even if she put every last ounce of strength into it.
Letting out a small sigh, ignoring Ran's visibly worried expression nearby, Yukari muttered to herself, "This time, I am absolutely going into seclusion for a full month. Really give that bastard Admin's smug face a proper slap. Surely a youkai sage like me can manage one measly month of seclusion, can't I?"
"Before joining the chat group, I used to go into seclusion for decades, even centuries at a time, no problem whatsoever. A mere single month now? Please. Not an issue. A youkai sage fears nothing. Breaking this internet addiction, once and for all—one full month of seclusion, starting now!"
...
Exactly how much genuine resolve Yukari actually had behind all this, Ryū obviously had no idea.
Not that it would've mattered even if he did—he'd have written off every bit of her internal monologue as complete nonsense anyway.
Because when it came to this particular youkai sage, aside from her gender, there really wasn't a single thing about her anyone could reasonably trust.
At this point, Ryū pulled his consciousness out of the Dimensional Chat Group—it was evening now, 7:30 PM in Konoha, the sun having long since dipped below the horizon, night settling quietly over the village.
Tonight, he decided against just staying cooped up at home, since today was January 1st in the Naruto world—one of the Land of Fire's grandest annual celebrations, shared across most of the other Great Nations as well.
Even with night having fallen, the lively streets outside were still clearly visible through the open window.
"Feels like it's turning colder out there...if it drops just a bit more, Konoha might actually get snow. Last time I saw snow here was right after I first got transmigrated into this world."
Of course, this bit of chilly weather registered as basically nothing to him. Even if you dropped Ryū straight into a glacier, he wouldn't feel the slightest bit cold.
Given that his body could shrug off temperatures in the millions of degrees, a little seasonal chill hardly registered at all.
Ryū didn't linger at home for long. The moment he stepped outside, the full liveliness of the evening hit him at once—something that reminded him faintly of Lunar New Year back in his past life.
Only faintly similar, though—the scale here obviously didn't come close to matching Lunar New Year back on Earth, given how China's population alone dwarfed the Land of Fire's many times over.
Even though Konoha ranked as the largest hidden village in the entire Naruto world, its total population still didn't measure up to a single county back on Earth.
Given how sparse the population actually was, Konoha managing this level of festive energy tonight was honestly quite impressive in its own right.
"Fried meatballs, piping hot fried meatballs, thirty ryo a skewer, three skewers for a hundred!"
"Fresh-baked pastries, cherry blossom flavor, vanilla flavor...we've got it all!"
"Mom, I want candied hawthorn, I want a whole bunch of candied hawthorn!"
"Eating too much candied hawthorn will give you cavities, and cavities really hurt, you know!"
"Coming through, coming through, the fireworks show starts in three hours, don't want to miss it!"
[...]
A cacophony of cheerful noise flooded his ears, and everyone passing by wore genuine, beaming smiles.
Vendors of every kind lined the streets, and customers of every kind mingled among them, the whole scene buzzing with life.
"Well...guess I'll just relax and enjoy myself tonight. Fireworks show's apparently starting in three hours."
Muttering to himself, Ryū walked straight over to a stall selling grilled meatballs.