A day passed in the blink of an eye.
In the bedroom Lisa Lisa had arranged for him and Meruru, Shin turned the "Ultimate Red Stone of Aja" over in his fingers — the stone that, slotted into the Stone Mask, could transform its wearer.
"And just like that, it's in my hands. They really do trust a Pillar Man quite readily."
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned — if anything, more smoothly than he had expected.
He pinched the stone between two fingers and held it up to the light, mimicking the way one might appraise a famous gem. The Red Stone of Aja glittered in the lamplight from within its silver pendant setting — at its center, just barely visible, a cross-shaped pattern. Whether that cross had formed naturally or been shaped by a craftsman's hand, he couldn't say.
"Makes sense, I suppose — in the Eyes of Heaven storyline, the Stone and the Stone Mask aren't particularly important anymore. No wonder even old Mr. Joestar didn't object."
"I wonder where the Saint's Corpse is right now. I'm fairly sure the Corpse can also awaken a Stand in someone, can't it?"
Turning over the plot in his mind, Shin thought through his next move.
The plan he had laid out to Lisa Lisa wasn't complicated. It was a classic bait-and-switch — lure the prey into the trap.
Executing it did carry a few technical challenges. For instance, Shin had already made a phone call imitating Esidisi's voice to contact Kars —
In the original story, it was precisely not receiving that call that tipped Kars off to Esidisi's death, prompting him to begin making alternate arrangements.
Now Shin had fed him false information instead — letting Kars believe the Red Stone had been secured, but that Esidisi had been gravely wounded in the process and was lying low somewhere on the island, waiting for rescue.
[Moon Princess]: Hmm, I think I've seen that red gemstone somewhere in the group store before — was it called "Red Stone of Aja"?
[Moon Princess]: Little one, do you know what it does? I've always been curious why it was listed at 500 points~
A message from Kaguya drifted through Shin's awareness — the only one who had nothing better to do and had been watching the stream the entire time, even now that Shin was just sitting alone in a bedroom doing nothing in particular.
The other group members clearly weren't online. Everyone had things to keep them busy — not everyone had Kaguya's particular brand of free time.
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: It's a gemstone capable of amplifying light energy. It even has the power to trigger a volcanic eruption by stimulating ley lines.
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: It can also be used in certain very specific ways — with the right method, it can even cause a living being to evolve. I imagine that's the reason for its value in the store.
Shin chose to respond using his main account.
For one thing, this kind of factual explanation was harmless to send from the main account. For another, he wanted to work on improving the "petty and sharp-tongued" image his main account had somehow acquired among the group.
And naturally — it served as a convenient piece of in-universe motivation for his behavior in the livestream.
[Moon Princess]: Oh? You know about this, newcomer?
Of course he knew. Classic all-knowing oracle performance, chat group style.
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: Yes — I happened to come across an ancient text that documented this stone's properties, so I picked up a bit of background on it.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Oh? Could you elaborate, if it's not too much trouble?
That message was sent by Shin using the Great Witch's account, naturally.
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: Just a moment, let me look... ah, found it!
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: Young man, you only need to inlay this stone into a mask called the "Stone Mask" — and you'll be able to use it to enhance your own bloodline and gain a power boost beyond imagination!
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: Have a look around in your world — you might well find one.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Thank you so much!
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: I was told by my mother that you were a cold and frightening person, and that I should do my best to avoid you — but reading this, it seems she may have misjudged you.
[Aspiring to Be the Perfect Human]: Not at all. A misunderstanding cleared is all that matters.
Switching between accounts with practised ease, Shin had just successfully brokered a "reconciliation" with himself.
You might ask — with Kaguya as the only witness, who was any of this performance actually for? Well — there were always the chat logs.
Shin was beginning to get a feel for what the admin, Mutsumi, must deal with on a daily basis. The self-dialogue aspect was spot-on — but this particular two-person act had served its purpose.
[Moon Princess]: Oh? You two wrapped that up fast — I barely had time to squeeze in a word before it was over.
[Moon Princess]: So that's all the red stone does? "Evolve a living being's bloodline"... hmm. Not sure how it'd work for others, but it's definitely useless for me.
Kaguya offered her commentary, then set it aside. Having swallowed the Hourai Elixir, her state of existence had been "locked" at the precise moment she drank it.
Her body never changed. Neither did her soul. Even if a star collapsed, even if the universe burned itself cold and dark — her existence would never fade. Any kind of "change" simply could not take hold of her — and that naturally included a Stone Mask inlaid with the Red Stone of Aja.
Knock. Knock.
Just as Shin was about to say a few more words to the Moon Princess, someone rapped lightly at the bedroom door.
"B-big brother — are you asleep?"
A girl's voice from outside — slightly timid.
"What is it, Meruru?"
Shin opened the door. Outside stood Meruru in her sleepwear, a book tucked under her arm. The thin fabric did nothing to hide the generous curves beneath it.
"This is a novel Suzi Q recommended to me... but I haven't learned the language here yet, sob — could you possibly translate it for me...?" Meruru shifted her weight from foot to foot, looking a little awkward.
Ah, right — he'd neglected to mention: the group chat granted task executors the ability to converse across language barriers, but that didn't extend to reading written text.
Which was why Meruru could speak but couldn't read. Shin, on the other hand, was different — as a Pillar Man, no matter how complex the language, one look was all he needed to master it completely.
That said — coming to him late at night just to read a book. Meruru was getting stranger and stranger.
"Alright. Let me see..."
Shin took the book Meruru held out to him. One glance — Italian edition of Mansfield Park.
— The other classic novel by the author of Pride and Prejudice. The one about cousins falling in love.
Shin: ?
Suzi Q — was that deliberate, or just a coincidence?
But at that very moment, Meruru made her move.
While Shin was still staring at the cover, she slipped past him into the bedroom — and with a sharp click, latched the door shut behind her.
"I've finally found my chance — heh... sob, big brother!"
Meruru let out a dizzy little laugh. The figure beneath that thin sleepwear pressed forward with a kind of reckless resolve.
"This is the mission the Great Witch entrusted to me before we left — please, big brother, you must forgive me...!"
The sound of the door locking was followed, shortly after, by sounds of a rather different nature drifting from inside the room.
And at that same moment, far away in the Lunar Capital of some other world entirely, Kaguya of Hourai Mountain had fallen into quiet contemplation.
...Should she perhaps remind the other party that they had forgotten to turn off the livestream?
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To be continued…