When Takashi went to the front desk to pay the bill, he noticed Kotonoha and her family of four.
He didn't disturb them.
After settling the bill, he left with Eriri, not even greeting Chizuru.
She was working, after all. It wasn't appropriate to interrupt.
Of course, it definitely wasn't because he was afraid of making Eriri angry again and having to coax her.
Compared to his date being a beautiful girl, Chizuru had it much worse.
Her date this ti was a typical otaku.
As for his looks… emmm… at best, he could be described as human.
Takashi silently mourned for her for a second.
People always say it's wrong to judge others by their appearance, but how many can truly ignore looks?
Even novel writers nowadays understand—protagonists can't be ugly.
If you write about an overweight and unattractive otaku as the main character, no matter how exceptional your writing is, very few would read it.
Takashi once thought he was soone who valued money above all else.
Right after graduating from college, his father introduced him to a girl from a wealthy mining family—assets worth over a billion. Her parents were very satisfied with him.
The only downside was that she weighed 200 pounds and was… unattractive.
His father spent days trying to persuade him.
Takashi thought about it for days before ultimately blocking his father.
He never expected that he still had so unshakable principles in him.
Sure, good looks won't feed you, but you can't be so unattractive that people lose their appetite.
Forget about pretending appearance doesn't matter—sorry, but it really does (T ^ T).
So wealth just wasn't ant for him to enjoy.
No wonder host guys make so much money.
Akihabara, commonly known as AKIBA, is located in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward.
It's often referred to by ani fans as a paradise for otakus, a sacred land of the second dinsion… but in reality, it's just okay.
It's just a bit more crowded, has a better atmosphere, and has more figures and rchandise. Nothing particularly extraordinary.
Sure, there are a lot of people, but most of them dress pretty normally.
"Whoa, it's Arlecchino!"
As soon as he stepped out of Akihabara Station, Takashi saw a massive screen displaying a poster of the Fatui Harbinger, the Knave.
Of course, it wasn't just a Genshin Impact ad.
Right across from Arlecchino's poster, another building featured a massive advertisent for Wuthering Waves.
This kind of blatant competition felt like an open challenge to Genshin.
Besides these two gas, if you turned your head after exiting the station, you'd see another building displaying ads for Girls' Frontline and the upcoming Zenless Zone Zero.
When it ca to advertising, HoYoverse spared no expense.
As Takashi walked along, he also noticed that even the trucks on the road and the streetlamp poles were covered with posters of female characters from Genshin and Honkai.
What puzzled him, though, was that almost all of HoYoverse's female characters were censored.
Not only were their chests and legs heavily pixelated, but even their armpits and belly buttons were obscured.
What the hell?
Is Japan implenting a Vision Hunt Decree now?
"Since when did Japan beco so conservative?" Takashi was baffled.
Was this still the Japan he knew?
The levels of degeneracy in Japan's otaku culture were far beyond imagination.
"What's wrong?"
Eriri had been to Akihabara before. She had visited a few tis, but usually alone.
"Why are these images censored?" Takashi, following his rule of always asking when he didn't understand sothing, pointed at the heavily pixelated artwork of Fireworks.
Eriri casually replied, "To stop people from licking them."
"…Huh? Licking?"
Takashi wondered if he had misheard.
"Licking the posters?"
Eriri, unfazed, said, "Yeah. Why are you so surprised?"
"…I take back what I said before."
People shouldn't… at the very least, they shouldn't…
"We're here."
Snapping back to reality, Takashi looked up and slowly read out the store's na: "animate?"
"This place is—" Eriri started to introduce it, but Takashi cut her off:
"No need to explain, I know. It's the largest ani rchandise chain in Japan, with stores in all 46 prefectures. They sell character goods, books, CDs, DVDs, gas, art supplies, and more."
Eriri looked at him in surprise. "Huh? How do you know that?"
She had known Takashi for a while.
She was aware that he didn't really follow otaku culture.
Of course, he always listened carefully and rembered when she talked about it.
But there was no way he would have researched this on his own.
'Because Utaha brought here before,' Takashi answered in his mind. But could he actually say that?
He knew that if he ntioned Utaha, Eriri would probably throw a fit again.
Honestly, he sotis didn't understand—he was just a substitute.
She didn't even like him, so why did she get so mad whenever he ntioned or looked at other girls?
Whenever he suspected that Eriri might actually like him, he would check his system's interface to see if her secret crush had changed to his na.
Takashi figured that Eriri stuck so close to him not just because he resembled soone else when he put on makeup, but also because she was simply getting used to his presence.
If you chat with soone of the opposite sex every day and share your daily life, you'll get addicted to it, even if you're not a couple.
You'll unconsciously start relying on that person, getting used to their presence, no matter how rational or self-disciplined you are.
Because habits are terrifying things.
They slowly and silently take hold of you, making you dependent on soone.
Even if reason tells you not to, emotions will drive you to make choices against your better judgnt.
At that point, self-control doesn't help.
Once dependence forms, leaving becos like quitting an addiction.
So many guys make the mistake of thinking a girl likes them just because she's bored and looking for soone to chat with.
She just happened to pick them, and after talking for a while, they think they've found their destined partner and dive in headfirst.
That's why Takashi never took the initiative to ssage anyone. If soone didn't want to talk about sothing, he wouldn't pry.
Even if they received a ssage or call from soone they liked during a date, he would act like he didn't see it.
He never begged for anyone to enter his life, nor did he place expectations on anyone.
Takashi firmly believed that by keeping expectations low, he would never be disappointed.
So, he wouldn't let anyone disrupt the balance he had carefully maintained.
'Looks like it's about ti to wrap this up.' Takashi was already considering how to make his exit.
He just wanted to earn so quick cash, not ss with anyone's feelings.
The only issue was—once he cut ties with Eriri, who would replace her?
Finding a rich and generous benefactor wasn't easy.
Despite all these thoughts running through his mind, Takashi never let them show on his face.
He smiled and nudged Eriri forward. "Just sothing I happened to hear. Alright, let's go in."
Eriri didn't question him further, and the two of them stepped into the world's largest ani store.
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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: Anything For Money]
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