"KAGERO!"
"KAGERO!"
"KAGERO!!"
The crowd ecstaticly chanted his name, each member of the audience punching their fists in the air as tears filled their eyes.
Kagero closed his feet together and opened up his arms, basking in the glory of his exaltation.
"Remember that name— for I am the King of Dance and Tunes!"
After proclaiming these words, Kagero ran over to the edge of the stage. He then leaped onto the audience.
Like a human bridge, the crowd broke his fall, and they stretched their hands, moving him from one person to the other until he could reach the floor.
"Who knew you had a knack for dancing, let alone singing?" Gami approached Kagero with a smile.
He distanced himself from the stage, heading towards her with a hand wave.
"Well, let's just say I'm a natural— Whoa!"
"KAGERO!!!!!" Goth interjected into their convo by embracing the Super star, bags of gold held tightly onto his chest.
"We made more money than I could ever imagine."
Despite being a Bartender, Goth was indeed the owner of the Dutchman's tavern. And even more than he loved the smell of wine— this Shinigami loved money!
This meant that whatever the audience rewarded to the performers was also partly his, and there would be a split amongst the two parties regarding the money tossed.
However, since Kagero wasn't planning on staying in that world more than he had to, he didn't really care much about the heaps of money.
"I believe that's enough to cover the scroll right?" Kagero wiggled out of his hold.
Goth smirked, dropping the bags as he hastily reached for his pockets.
"Of course, it's more than enough even."
Kagero grabbed the scroll, showing Gami with a proud grin. The lady placed her palms together, and cocked her head with a warm smile.
"Hey, what about the rest of your cut of the money?" Goth inquired from Kagero, sniffing the gold coins while blushing blissfully.
Kagero placed his finger on his lip in thought, before snapping his finger and pointing it towards Gami.
"Just give her the rest."
"Heh?"
Gami jolted.
"Huh?"
Kagero responded.
He then leaned in closer to her ear, explaining his actions to her.
"I'm gonna leave, so I won't need it, remember?"
"Ohh." Gami lifted her eyes in remembrance.
"Thanks a bunch."
A smile appeared on her face as she leaned in closer to Kagero.
"I sure hope you're not going to ask me for anything in return." Gami's scarlet eyes gleamed under her mischievous smile.
"O-Of course not..."
Kagero hastily replied, but stopped himself in his tracks as his mind raced through an innumerable amount of thoughts.
'Hold on, hold on just one minute.' He peeked at the enchantress, scrutinizing the meaning behind her words.
Kagero's face immediately grew red, his jaw hanging at his hypothesis.
'Is she talking about?—'
"Just kidding."
She teased him, placing her finger against his forehead to withdraw him from his thoughts.
'This woman!' Kagero internally gritted his teeth. 'She's toying with me isn't she?'
"Hahahaha!" Goth laughed.
"Don't be so easily flustered— stand firm!" He patted Kagero hard on his back, letting off a fatherly chuckle.
Kagero was about to bicker over the Bartender's claims, but refrained the moment his eyes met a particular group approaching him.
"Big Buster's come to apologize." He and his goons came with their heads lowered.
Kagero raised a brow.
"Sorry for calling you a meat bag— Ya truly are a proud Shinigami!" He beat onto his chest, vocalizing his words.
"Big Buster could tell from your sweet moves."
A bodacious grin spread through Kagero's face. He had managed to finally sway everyone's belief in him. Now all they had to do was locate the King and get him back to Konoha.
His mind relaxed under that thought.
'Things are finally looking up.'
"Come on, give him the handshake of peace, King of Dance and tunes!"
The crowd coerced him to take the giant's hand, knocking Kagero back to reality.
"Alright." Kagero smirked, stretching his arm forward. "I accept your apology—"
But before he could finish his sentence, a cloud of purple energy faded away from him.
WHOOSH!
Kagero grew pale, his face darkening as he observed his body.
'I'm back to being human?!'
Gami's Jutsu had expired!
"Hehehehehehe— hehe."
Kagero nervously chuckled. He ended it abruptly after realising that everyone just stared at him blankly.
Not even a single soul in the tavern found it funny.
BOOM!
Kagero and Gami burst through the tavern's doors, speeding away like their lives depended on it.
Because it did.
Right behind them, a large multitude of monsters, Ghouls, Shinigamies and other ugly creatures chased behind them, vengeance clouding their vision.
"Get back here you human scoundrel!"
"We'll cut you into bite-sized pieces!"
The horde cursed behind them, the very force of their feet causing the ground to quake.
Kagero's eyes bulged.
"What is it with you guys and eating me?!" He tightened his buttocks, running for his life.
"Gami?!" Kagero stared at her, a vein throbbing at the side of his head as he witnessed her smile.
"What the hell are you smiling for?! We're about to get killed!"
She turned to him with a flustered grin.
"I know right? Exciting isn't it?"
Kagero's head slowly creaked forward, turning his vision away from the strange lady.
'You— you're crazy!'
The instant bystanders heard the chaser's accusations, they stopped their actions and each one of them started to join up the crowd in a bid to catch the fleshy human.
'Damn it!' Kagero's shoulders fell. He put a break on his motion, pausing on realizing that they were surrounded.
Like a spherical hedge of melancholy, the creatures encircled them, closing the gap by the second.
'We're completely surrounded!'
"So whatcha know!" The annoying voice of the problematic giant rang out once more.
"Big Buster was right all along, see? Ya all see?—"
"Let's torture him before we kill him!"
The crowd interrupted the glory hungry baldy, each suggesting more and more agonizing punishments.
"Hey now." Kagero put on a friendly smile and tried to soothe the horde. "Why don't we all calm down and talk about this?"
"The time for talk is over oink!"
Kagero's soul almost transmigrated once more the moment his eyes met the approaching entity.
The Pig-Man chef that Kagero had previously encountered before marched forward, a cleaver grasped so tightly in his arm that his veins started popping.
"Now it's time to feast!" The crowd followed the Pig's words with a roar.
'System! Is the integration complete?' Kagero asked with desperation, only to get a disappointing answer.
'[What part of it will take more time don't you possibly understand?]' The System's voice was cold and mocking.
'[Try to not die for now— well, it's not like you have a choice.]'
'Try not to die?!… I'm about to get turned into mystery meat'' Kagero staggered backwards.
'Is this my repayment for all those times I ate barbecued piglets?' A tear drifted down his face.
'They were tender and tasty! And cheaper to buy too! You can't blame me for that!'
Kagero's eyes widened as he saw the crowd leap forward, their speed unlike anything he had ever seen before.
'I'm done for.'
But right before the hoard could cut through them both.
A reassuring voice resounded through his hearing.
"Didn't I promise you— that I would help get you home?"
He felt Gami hold onto his arms, and in a flash.
WHOOSH!
Large wings sprouted from her back, the very winds from their emergence sweeping the crowd away from them.
Her wings were angelic, yet bore a somewhat infernal look. Silver feathers patterned with hints of crimson light constituted her wings.
Kagero observed her with bewilderment as she brought him close to her chest.
The scene looked like a prince carrying a princess. But in this case, the roles were reversed.
"Hope you're not sky sick." She asked him with a gentle smile, holding onto him in her arms.
Kagero swallowed hard.
"Shouldn't you have done this earlier— whoa!"
Gami blasted into the sky, flying past their assailants until they were just a dot behind them.
"Kagero."
Her eyes remained locked before her. And for a moment, it seemed like she took a second to prepare for the weight of her next words.
"It's time to visit the King of the Death gods."