kscans

Chapter 91 - Unintended Pursuit

"...I never expected everyone to run out of their pocket money faster than me." ≪Ehehe≫

When I grumbled in exasperation, everyone responded with embarrassed smiles. You know, I had decided to go with the same energy I had when I was young, so I was planning to spend money without thinking about the consequences. If I wanted something, I'd buy it immediately! That kind of approach. I was even thinking that I wanted the kids to learn from my bad example as adults...

Despite that, everyone except me ran out of their money faster than I did. It's not completely zero, but they only have a few thousand yen left.

The first to run out was Sarna-chan. She got completely hooked on gacha and spent everything. Her win rate was... well, you can guess from her luck stat. That said, it's not like she got nothing at all, and she seems satisfied, so I think it's fine. I often hear about foreigners getting addicted to gacha machines, and she's still a kid.

"But... Takahashi, Suzuki, you two..."

These guys tied for second place in emptying their wallets. No, these two used to spend money as recklessly as I did back in the day. But this is different. It wasn't like me, where I intentionally decided to do it, but they genuinely got blinded by material desires and before they knew it... that kind of thing. It's not like they were trying to be a cautionary example or anything. If anything, I think these two are the only ones who are truly hopeless. Kids need to make those kinds of mistakes sometimes, and Chika-san is usually serious.

"Repent, will you?"

"...Getting lectured by this guy is infuriating as hell."

"...Yeah. It makes me want to reflexively slap him."

You hopeless people...! It's always been like this. In the end, I'm the voice of reason and the stopper in this trio. Good grief, what troublesome pig and kappa they are. Being the big brother Goku is really tough.

"Well, everyone seems satisfied, which is what matters."

"But hey, we've used up our war funds, so what do we do now? Are you going to flex your adult financial power?"

"No way! I said we'd go with the old vibe today. No additional budget except for the clothes we bought at the beginning."

"So we're disbanding?"

"Nah? Even if we say we have no money, we still have about two thousand yen left excluding transportation costs, right?"

There are still ways to have fun with that. There are plenty of ways to play without spending money. Though, it's damn hot today.

"Let's lazily watch movies."

I don't mean watching movies at a theater. I mean rentals. Recently, streaming services are the norm, but following the old ways, we'll rent from a physical store. A privately owned one at that. Recently, those rental shops have started to decline, but there are still several stubbornly hanging on near my parents' place.

"Oh, a movie battle?"

"? Takahashi-san, what's a movie battle?"

"At the rental shop, everyone picks something they think is good, and we compete to see who found the best one."

"There were various conditions, right?"

"Yeah. Movies you know are out. This doesn't just mean ones you've seen, but ones you only know by name were also forbidden, right?"

"Right."

Come to think of it, I saw it in a commercial before. Come to think of it, I heard this movie has a good reputation. Such indulgence isn't allowed in movie battles.

"Um, Hideo-san. Wouldn't that increase the probability of getting a dud...?"

"That's right. In fact, I've hit movies that weren't even at the level of crap, just empty void movies, more than once or twice."

"Then..."

"But that makes it all the more exciting when you do hit a winner."

Masterpieces you'd never encounter in your lifetime if you didn't choose this way. The joy when you hit one of those is incredible.

"Plus, with a large group, even crap or void movies can be enjoyed somehow."

Complaining to each other like "This is seriously unbelievable. What was the director thinking?"

"I kind of understand that."

"Right?"

"By the way, Hiro-kun, is there a prize for winning the battle?"

"Glory and... if we don't disband when night comes, maybe the right to choose dinner too."

Plus a little sense of superiority. Ha! Sorry for having such good taste!? You get to boast like that.

"So, what do you think?"

"I'd like to try it."

"Me too."

"Same here."

I got the kids' agreement. Takahashi and Suzuki go without saying, and Chika-san should be fine too. Originally, it was a request to play the way we used to play when we were young.

"Since we have a lot of people, let's make it team battles. Let's split into groups of 2, 2, and 3."

"How do we decide?"

"Rock-paper-scissors should be fine, right? Making lots would be too much trouble."

Rock-paper-scissors... it's been a while since I've done that...

≪Rock-paper, go!!≫

The result: The beautiful witch trio of Chika-san, Takahashi, and Suzuki. The protagonist and heroine combo that might have been, Rika-chan and Hikaru-kun. And me and Sarna-chan formed the gold-silver combo.

Strike while the iron's hot, we took the train to the station nearest my parents' house. Entering the rental shop a short walk from the station, we split into teams and began browsing. The time limit was one hour, and we could choose two movies.

"So, what should we do?"

"...Since it's summer, how about horror?"

"Ooh, a challenger. Horror has a lot of crap, but... I like that spirit."

Deliberately taking the thorny path has its charm. That said, when you say horror, there are many types. From occult stuff like ghosts and zombies to human horror... hehe, I'm trembling with excitement.

"...Come to think of it."

"Hmm?"

While browsing movies in the horror section, Sarna-chan opened her mouth with a serious expression.

"These kinds of curses actually exist too, right?"

In Sarna-chan's hand was a DVD that seemed to be themed around curses. Ah, she really is serious. Even at a time like this, she doesn't forget her learning spirit. Though it's also surreal, holding a DVD with an exquisitely cheap design that reeks of cheesiness.

"They exist. I use curse techniques to some extent myself."

"...Then you also know countermeasures for when you receive such curses?"

I want to say to ask the Mutual Aid Society's curse breakers or freelance curse breakers. But that's not what Sarna-chan is asking about. It's about preparing for emergencies. What to do in situations where you can't rely on anyone.

"I know. There are various methods, but the quickest is to rely on holy power."

Even ordinary shrines or churches can eliminate or reduce weak curses if you take refuge there. Places with a long history that are truly spiritually efficacious would be even more effective.

"If you have the aptitude to grasp the outline of a curse instinctively, there's also the method of directly attacking the curse with a holy sword or spirit blade."

People with that kind of sense usually possess holy weapons. It's cheaper to exorcise things yourself. The level you can handle differs based on the quality of the weapon and the skill of the wielder though.

"...I see. Satou-san, if you don't mind, could you put a curse on me sometime?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, if I want to confirm whether I have such aptitude, it would be faster to actually receive a curse."

"You're quite the challenger. Sure. If that's the case, let's do it during the next training session."

"Thank you. By the way, if Satou-san were to seriously curse someone, what would be needed to break that curse?"

"Ah, if I seriously cursed someone, those kinds of methods probably wouldn't work in the first place."

It would devour holy power and cause the curse to grow larger instead. It's designed so that the more you interfere with the curse, the stronger it becomes. You know how wild beasts sometimes go berserk when you clumsily try to touch them? It's like that image-wise.

"If you tried to break it by force, I think you'd need someone stronger than me."

"I, I see..."

"Yeah. Now, serious talk is fine, but let's get back to choosing movies."

"...You're right."