Riku stepped out of Afterlife Bar onto the streets of Night City. With a bit of time to spare, he mentally ran through a checklist to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.
A mask, ear covers, and sunglasses were must-haves to hide the "holes" in his body. Even though he'd undergone a full-body cybernetic reskin, it wasn't that thorough. If sunlight somehow slipped through his ears, who knew if it'd fry his brain? Riku wasn't about to take that gamble.
Gloves and a parasol were backup precautions. For convenience during eating or combat, his hands had a one-tap armor-removal function, but if that glitched out, gloves could cover any mishaps. The parasol? A daily essential. It didn't do much, but it wasn't like carrying it cost him anything, and it gave him a little extra peace of mind.
Everything Riku prepped was for self-protection. As for gear to deal with oni (demons), he'd thought about it, but there wasn't much that worked. UV lamps were a no-go—he'd learned that when the Kamado siblings tracked him down in that cave. It was already daytime, just snowy with thick clouds blocking the sun. Clouds didn't stop UV rays, though.
Even so, on cloudy days, Riku could step out, but without his reskin, he wouldn't dare. The weather in Night City—or anywhere—was as unpredictable as an anime plot twist. What if the sky cleared up out of nowhere? Dying to a sudden "cloudy-to-sunny" shift would be way too pathetic.
Riku had studied his sunlight weakness thoroughly and concluded it was simple: "No direct sunlight." Anything else was fine. Pretty mystical, but that's how it worked.
As for whether oni had other weaknesses, that was one reason for this trip back. He was dying to find out.
Strolling along, Riku reached his small apartment just before dawn. He'd picked up a compact backpack on the way, stuffing it with essentials. Not having a "2D storage dimension" was a hassle.
For weapons, knowing he was heading to a Japanese setting, he'd bought a katana. It was nothing fancy—decent quality, but cheap at just 150 eddies. Compared to firearms that easily cost thousands of euros, blades, even high-quality ones, were a steal.
Besides the katana, he also packed a handgun—spoils from a previous job—tucked into his bag. Slipping the katana across his back and shouldering the pack, Riku pulled up his system interface.
"Return to the Past."
Without hesitation, he activated the jump.
The [Return to the Past] menu popped up with world selection options. Riku picked Kimetsu no Yaiba—not like he had other choices.
[Jump Complete]
[Current World: Kimetsu no Yaiba]
In a flash, Riku vanished from his apartment and reappeared in a familiar spot—the same place he'd jumped to last time.
"Hiss!"
The moment he arrived, Riku sucked in a sharp breath. He wasn't indoors, and it was daytime, with the sun just rising. Golden rays filtered through sparse tree leaves, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor. The warm, glowing light should've felt comforting, but it sent a chill down his spine.
"I thought I'd finally get to enjoy some sunlight, but this feels like forcing someone with acrophobia to stand on the edge of a thousand-foot cliff," Riku muttered, shuddering. He checked his thermal converter—body temp was a normal 36.5°C. The chill was all in his head, born from a primal fear of death.
"Talk about facing mortality every second," he quipped, easing his nerves as he scanned his surroundings.
"The snow hasn't fully melted, but the monkey corpses are gone?"
The mountain still had patches of snow, suggesting only a few days had passed. But the twenty-something monkey corpses he'd left behind? Vanished. Riku didn't dwell on it—maybe wild animals dragged them off, or some villagers scavenged them for a stew. Both were plausible.
"Gotta check the time flow between worlds," he noted. Time dilation was critical when hopping between realities. The snow and dried blood stains suggested not much time had passed, but he needed to be sure.
Wasting no time, Riku headed down the mountain. He'd swapped into a plain Western-style suit beforehand, fitting for Japan's Taisho era. The only thing that stood out was his modern sunglasses. While sunglasses probably existed by then, they weren't exactly common yet.
The glasses didn't do much beyond placebo protection—his modular cybernetic eyes ensured no light leakage. Still, they helped him feel less exposed.
Soon, Riku reached "the place where the dream began"—the street where he'd encountered Muzan Kibutsuji and been turned into an oni. The village below the mountain wasn't bustling, but it had a lively, lived-in vibe. Early morning, doors were already opening, and people were starting their day.
"Hey! You, the weird guy! What're you doing?!"
Riku was standing on the street, lost in thought about his "lost humanity," when someone called out to him. Not just one person, either—a group, including a guy with a gun. Not a katana or spear, but an old-school bolt-action rifle.
"Uh…" Riku blinked, confused. He double-checked—his optical camouflage was definitely hiding the horns on his head. These villagers couldn't possibly see through it. No way they were like those Fallout villagers sharing nuclear fusion tech secrets!
"Don't move, or I'll shoot!" the rifle-wielding man shouted, visibly nervous. His buddies gripped sticks, looking more like a militia than police.
"Sorry, but what did I do wrong?" Riku asked, exasperated. All he'd done was stand there, quietly mourning his "lost life." Who'd he piss off?!
"Too suspicious! Hand over that blade on your back!" the man barked, flanked by his stick-wielding posse.
"…"
It finally clicked for Riku. This was the Taisho era, and the "Sword Abolishment Edict" from the Meiji period banned carrying weapons openly. Parading around with a katana made him look like a total sketch.
"Suspicious guy coming down from the mountain! Did you kill the Kamado family?!" the man added, leaving Riku dumbfounded. What kind of random blame was this?!