Upon seeing Dazai Osamu accept the commission, a look of joy appeared on Natsumi Kyouno face.
For her, as long as Dazai agreed to take the job, there was no problem.
As for what kind of payment he wanted, that wasn't something she considered.
Naturally, the government would handle the payment for the commission.
"Because your ability No Longer Human nullifies other powers," Natsumi Kyouno said, "entering the dimensional passage directly would cause it to collapse."
"To prevent that from happening, you can use that technique of stopping your heart for 0.5 seconds. During that time, I can throw you through."
"Mm, that's no problem at all."
Dazai nodded, indicating he understood.
But very quickly, a curious expression appeared on his face as he looked Natsumi up and down.
"However, that said, there's something I'm a little curious about."
Rubbing his chin, Dazai asked in an intrigued tone, "Since you're from another world, why do you know so much about me?"
"You picked up on that quite quickly."
Natsumi wasn't particularly surprised, nor did she try to hide it. She replied bluntly:
"Because in that world, you're a fictional character, someone from a novel called Bungou Stray Dogs."
"I'm fictional?"
Dazai eyes opened slightly wider. Even for him, he hadn't considered such a possibility.
But rather than shock or doubt, his expression was more of delight.
Because he knew that Natsumi had no reason to lie to him.
All he needed to do was reach that world, look it up online, and he could verify the truth of what she said.
If it were a lie, it would be utterly meaningless.
"Bandaged-San, it looks like I really do need to thank you for saving me during that last mission," Dazai said with a chuckle.
"Otherwise, I would've missed out on this unexpected and wonderful adventure."
With that, as if unable to wait any longer, he patted his left chest.
"I can stop my heartbeat at any time," Dazai said. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Alright then—three, two, one…"
Dazai began to count down.
Taking a deep breath, he focused all his attention on his heart and consciously controlled the surrounding muscles.
Then, his heart, which should have been beating, came to a brief stop.
In that fleeting moment, he entered a state of suspended animation.
Natsumi seized the perfect timing and pressed the Unsealer against his chest.
"Seal!"
Obviously, 0.5 seconds was not enough time for her to throw Dazai into the dimensional passage.
If she really tried to do so, Dazai might have ended up lost in chaotic dimensional turbulence.
So instead, she chose to use the Unsealer to freeze time for Dazai, keeping his body in that suspended animation state.
"Alright, next up is sealing his memories."
Muttering to herself, Natsumi now pressed the Unsealer against Dazai forehead.
Before arriving in the world of Bungou Stray Dogs, she hadn't expected to return to the world where she had previously played the role of Tokisaki Kurumi.
Because of Tokisaki Kurumi appearance, and Bandaged-San joining the Armed Detective Agency, the plot of this world had already diverged significantly from the original storyline.
Once this world's Dazai arrived in the Re:Creators world, he would no doubt do as other fictional beings had—read the entirety of Bungou Stray Dogs.
But in doing so, he would realize something strange.
In the original Bungou Stray Dogs, there was no Tokisaki Kurumi or Bandaged-San.
Yet both of these characters originated from another anime entirely—Date A Live.
Natsumi wasn't sure how this version of Dazai would react upon discovering this, but one thing was certain—the difficulty of continuing to play Bandaged-San would increase significantly.
Therefore, to spare this clone of Dazai, who had already suffered enough, further hardship, Natsumi had no choice but to seal all his memories related to Tokisaki Kurumi and Bandaged-San for the time being.
As for whether the memory seal would lead to inconsistencies that might raise Dazai suspicion, Natsumi wasn't worried about that at all.
Because in the original work, Mukuro Hoshimiya had sealed the other spirits' memories of Shido Itsuka in order to monopolize him—and the other spirits didn't notice anything off.
So she could reasonably assume that after the Unsealer erased a certain part of someone's memory, the human brain would automatically fabricate a plausible false memory to fill the gap.
"Alright, that should do it."
After sealing Dazai memories of Tokisaki Kurumi and Bandaged-San, Natsumi grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the dimensional passage.
Stepping out of the passage, she once again returned to their familiar base.
Seeing that Natsumi had successfully brought back Dazai, the creators and fictional beings waiting there showed visible signs of happiness.
"At last, the core figure of our plan is here."
Kikuchihara from the Tachibana Corporation, who had been anxious, finally relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.
Natsumi then used the Unsealer's "Open" command to release Dazai from his suspended animation state.
In the next moment, Dazai tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open.
He sat up from the ground with a start and looked around his surroundings.
"Hello, Mr. Dazai."
Government represTachibanative Kikuchihara Aki was the first to greet him, speaking politely:
"Thank you for accepting our commission and being willing to save our world."
"No need to thank me. Helping others is the core principle of the Armed Detective Agency."
Dazai stood up from the ground and shook hands with Kikuchihara Aki in return:
"Besides, serving a beautiful lady is my honor."
"You really do know how to talk."
Kikuchihara Aki smiled and maintained her professional demeanor as she continued:
"Then, Mr. Dazai, please take a seat for a moment. We still need to summon two more fictional beings. Once they arrive, I'll explain the specifics of the commission."
"In fact, we only need to summon one more," Kikuchihara from the Tachibana Corporation interjected.
"Originally, we planned to invite someone with a group invisibility skill to conceal Dazai whereabouts. But since Little Nana brought Bandaged-San here, we can just place Dazai inside the Shadow Space."
"Indeed, whether it's invisibility or Shadow Space, the effect is the same."
Kikuchihara Aki nodded in understanding and then looked at the final recruitment list they had drafted.
"Then, there's only one left."
The Next Day.
Japan, Tenguu City.
In an uninhabited corner of the city, a dark and profound spatial tunnel suddenly appeared.
From within the tunnel, Natsumi Kyouno stepped out into the world of Date A Live.
Immediately following behind her was a girl who looked exactly like her.
That was none other than the second Natsumi Kyouno, commonly referred to by everyone as Little Tsumimi, who had been pulled into the real world by Altair.
"Next, we'll proceed as planned."
Natsumi turned around and looked at Little Tsumimi seriously. "If anything happens to me, everything will depend on you."
Little Tsumimi nodded nervously, tightening her grip on the Witch of Copy.
Yesterday, Natsumi had already pulled all three of the creations into reality, preparing to ambush Altair at any time.
However, Altair still hadn't shown up.
So they had no choice but to proceed with the original plan. After Natsumi had taken a day off to recover her spirit energy, which had been exhausted by continuous world-crossing, everyone watched as she headed into the Date A Live world.
Originally, Meteora and the others had intended to come along.
However, their combat power wasn't high. Although they could offer some support if they came along, if Mio Takamiya noticed something and targeted them, it would only slow Natsumi down. So only Little Tsumimi followed her.
Their plan was simple:
Let Natsumi investigate the truth behind Altair disappearance.
If Altair had already joined forces with Mio Takamiya, then everyone would go on the offensive—fully infiltrate the Date A Live world and look for an opportunity to ambush Altair.
If Altair had merely been captured and imprisoned by Mio Takamiya, then Natsumi would find the place where she was being held and create a chance for her to escape.
But if the worst-case scenario occurred and Natsumi was captured by Altair or Mio Takamiya, then Little Tsumimi would turn her Copy Witch into Zafkiel and use the Twelfth Bullet to return to the past and warn Natsumi, restarting the entire plan.
"Well then, let's see what that Altair is really up to."
Natsumi summoned the Witch of Copy.
With a flash of light, the petite girl suddenly grew taller, transforming into the long-absent mature "onee-san" form.
She had no intention of investigating secretly. While that was the safest method, it was also the least efficient.
And if she acted too secretively and Mio Takamiya noticed, it would only raise her suspicions.
Since that was the case, it was better to act openly from the very beginning.
And the first step of action was to trigger a spacequake and attract the attention of Ratatoskr.
"Little Tsumimi, by the way, do you know how to trigger a spacequake?"
Only at that moment did Natsumi realize she didn't actually know how to cause a spacequake.
According to the setting, a spacequake was a natural phenomenon produced when the Rinkai and the Present World made contact and collided.
However, since other worlds didn't have a Rinkai, Natsumi had been unable to cause spacequakes during her previous impersonations.
But since this was the Date A Live world, as a spirit, she should theoretically be able to cause one.
Upon hearing Natsumi question, Little Tsumimi blinked.
"Actually, I'm not too sure either, since I've never deliberately triggered a spacequake."
Little Tsumimi scratched her head in frustration, trying to explain it in her own way: "But when I descended into the Present World, if I instinctively reached out to the Rinkai, then the spacequake would occur at the same time I arrived."
"Reaching out to the Rinkai…"
Natsumi pondered thoughtfully.
After arriving in this world, she could feel the existence of another world beyond it—one she could reach at any time with just a thought.
That must be the Rinkai.
She calmed her mind and focused on the faint connection to the Rinkai, imagining an invisible hand trying to grasp the thread-like, illusory link.
Then, she slowly drew that thread closer to herself.
"Woooooooooooo—!"
Immersed in this strange sensation, Natsumi didn't know how much time had passed before a siren suddenly exploded in her ears like thunder.
It was the alarm for a spacequake.
To deal with the natural disasters brought by a spirit's arrival, the people of this world had long established a complete and mature evacuation system and underground shelters.
At the same time, upon hearing the alarm, the residents of Tenguu City immediately stopped whatever they were doing and headed for the nearest shelter.
"Not too hard, thankfully."
The first step of the plan was successful. Natsumi shifted her gaze to the sky above Tenguu City.
"Next, it's time to deal with Ratatoskr."
Directly Above Tenguu City.
A massive floating battleship hovered within the high clouds, completely concealed by invisibility technology so that no one could detect it.
Inside this airborne warship named Ratatoskr, the commander and crew members sat at their respective stations, monitoring for any unusual occurrences as usual.
They were all members of an organization called Ratatoskr.
Unlike AST or DEM, which viewed spirits as enemies and aimed to eliminate them, Ratatoskr was an organization that sought peaceful resolutions to the spirit problem. It advocated friendly communication with spirits and aimed to resolve the disasters caused by spacequakes through peaceful means.
In fact, compared to AST and DEM—who got beaten to a pulp every time they went into battle with spirits and never achieved any results—Ratatoskr's operations had already started showing success.
That was because one of their members, Shido Itsuka, possessed the ability to seal a spirit's power and neutralize them, turning them into ordinary humans.
So far, several spirits had voluntarily agreed to be sealed and were now living normal lives under Ratatoskr's supervision.
"Still nothing?"
From the commander's seat, Kotori Itsuka bit through her lollipop in frustration and asked her subordinates.
"Apologies, Commander. There are no anomalies whatsoever."
"No fluctuation in spirit energy detected either."
"All indicators remain normal."
Normally, this would be good news.
Everything being normal meant no disturbances were occurring.
"Ugh..."
But Kotori let out a deep sigh.
Almost at that very moment, the monitors each crew member was watching suddenly changed simultaneously.
One alert after another appeared on the screens, immediately notifying them that a spirit had descended.
"This spirit energy reading—it belongs to... the Witch!"
Upon seeing the spirit energy signature matched by Ratatoskr' AI, Kotori instantly shook off her irritation and became energized.
"Hurry! Get Shido teleported here—we're launching the capture mission right now!"