A Saiyan's Journey

"Alright! This guy has nothing to say now, right?!"

Gabriel, seeing how Shin effortlessly defeated the opponent, was so excited that she practically threw herself onto Shin, hugging him and cheering.

If one didn't know better, they might think Gabriel herself had won the match—when in reality, she had just been watching Shin's moves from the sidelines the entire time. "Alright, that should do it. I guess I'll head back now~," Shin said, still with Gabriel hanging off him, as he sat up from the bed, speaking to her with a hint of resignation.

He had come all this way just to help Gabriel bully some random player in a game—if it weren't for the fact that Gabriel had sold him the Doomsday Horn earlier, he wouldn't have bothered making the trip.

"Satisfied! Thanks a lot, you Zuke!" Gabriel said with a content smile, finally letting go of Shin.

Shin summoned the "Black Bird" once again, slipping into the alternate dimension before transforming into an electric current using the power of "Red Hot Chili Pepper," exiting through the socket in Gabriel's room.

However, after Shin left, Gabriel didn't immediately go back to gaming. Instead, she turned her gaze to the Ethernet cable connected to her laptop.

Although Shin had secretly used "Black Bird · Red Hot Chili Pepper" to teach the other guy a lesson through the internet, Gabriel could faintly see the shadow of his Stand.

So, she had actually noticed when Shin's Stand slipped into the Ethernet cable—even though Shin hadn't mentioned it, Gabriel could guess what he had done.

He must have followed the cable to give that rude guy a little lesson. After all, if she had the ability to track someone through the internet, Gabriel felt she would have done the same.

"...That was really satisfying," Gabriel muttered, lying down in front of her laptop, right where Shin had been earlier—the sheets still carried his warmth, and Gabriel felt a cozy sensation.

But these strange thoughts only lasted for a moment. Soon, Gabriel was fully immersed in her online game again—men would only slow down her monster-slaying speed!

...

"Eriri, aren't you asleep yet?"

Late at night, as Sayuri Sawamura passed by Eriri's room, she was surprised to find the light still on.

She softly called out through the door, and after receiving no response, she gently pushed the door open and entered the room.

There, she noticed Eriri, dressed in her pajamas, lying on the desk, already asleep.

Sayuri knew that Eriri had been rushing to meet a deadline these past few days, so it seemed she had been so exhausted from working on her drafts that she had fallen asleep.

"Don't overwork yourself..."

Sayuri was quite open-minded. Being an otaku herself, she naturally didn't oppose Eriri's hobby of drawing doujinshi like some parents might.

However, seeing Eriri collapse from exhaustion at her desk made Saori's heart ache.

She picked Eriri up, placed her on the bed, and tucked her in, making sure she could sleep peacefully. Then, she turned her attention to the drafts on the desk.

Compared to the drafts Sayuri had seen a couple of days ago, a few pages had undergone significant revisions, with the female characters' expressions drawn more vividly.

Having read countless doujinshi herself, Sayuri could tell that this one would likely be well-received—though she wasn't sure why Eriri had suddenly made such a leap in her ability to depict expressions.

Underneath the nearly completed drafts, Sayuri also found a sketch that had clearly been drawn recently.

"What's this? Is this the theme for the next doujinshi?"

Sayuri picked up the sketch with curiosity—this wasn't an invasion of her child's privacy, but rather a parent's concern for her child's work.

After all, Sayuri was the one who helped sell Eriri's doujinshi at conventions. Which one hadn't she seen?

But when she took a closer look at the sketch, Sayuri's expression suddenly turned very peculiar.

The sketch depicted a man and a woman engaged in an indescribable act, and the girl's appearance, no matter how you looked at it, was unmistakably Eriri herself.

The golden twin tails, the seemingly enhanced bust... and who was the guy with Eriri in that situation?

Since the girl was clearly based on herself, Sayuri believed the guy in the sketch must also have a real-life counterpart.

"From the sketch, he seems like a pretty handsome guy... Is he her classmate?"

Sayuri glanced at Eriri, who was sleeping soundly, somewhat surprised that Eriri had taken an interest in a boy.

After all, Eriri hadn't shown any interest in boys since she became an otaku. This seemed to reveal something quite unexpected.

However, this sketch didn't seem to be the theme for the next doujinshi, as Eriri wouldn't likely use herself as a prototype for her work.

Still, Sayuridid didn't connect this to the night Eriri had gone out a couple of days ago. She simply noted it in her mind and quietly left Eriri's room.

Though she was curious about the guy in Eriri's sketch, now wasn't the time to ask Eriri about it.

...

Shin had no idea that Eriri had drawn a strange sketch based on him, and that Sayuri had already seen it.

By now, he was already lying in bed, with Sayu Ogiwara and Irisviel both sound asleep, satisfied.

The Saiyan physique gave him plenty of stamina, but without the various power boosts from the "Infinite Terror VR Game," he would have been completely drained by now.

Closing his eyes, Shin prepared to enter the Dragon Ball world for some serious training.

Tomorrow was the weekend, so he didn't have to go to school. Perhaps after the 8-hour anti-addiction limit, he could spend some extra time exploring the mission world.

Although any gains after 8 hours would be nullified, if he didn't care about the rewards, he could still stay in the mission world and take some special actions—like gathering information, for example.

[Respected Zuke, please select the mission world you wish to enter: 1. "Dragon Ball" (time not adjusted); 2. "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" (time not adjusted); 3. "TYPE-MOON" (main quest generating)]

[Respected Zuke, you have 2 remaining entries for today.]

The main quest for the TYPE-MOON world was still generating, so without hesitation, Shin entered the Dragon Ball world.

To be continued…

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