In Adachi District, outside the fresh market in Kita-Senju, the sll of fish filled the air. It offended the noses of those who disliked it.
Few girls could tolerate the sll of a marketplace.
But Hojo Shouko was accustod to the various slls wafting through the air: the fishy scent, vegetables, at, and the odor of sweat emanating from the sumr crowd.
It might seem odd at first, but once accustod to it, the sll ceased to provoke unpleasant feelings; instead, the marketplace felt lively.
The cleanliness of the market was passable at the start, but as more people arrived, the roads and storefronts began to look a bit dirty and disordered.
In such an environnt, Hojo Shouko stood out remarkably, her skin pale as scallions, wearing a green dress that exuded a youthful vibe.
Her chest had developed more fully than so adults’ had.
And that small mouth of hers, so clever when it ca to haggling, left a deep impression on the market vendors.
"Hojo, do you want so fresh cutlassfish today?"
"No need, Uncle Hiroshi. We’re not having fish at ho today."
Hojo Shouko shook her head.
The uncle with the stubbly beard took a glance at the young man behind her and expressed his surprise, "Is this your boyfriend?"
"No, he’s Aozawa-senpai from school. We’re just shopping for groceries together."
Hojo Shouko quickly clarified, then stole a glance at Aozawa behind her only to see that his expression remained unchanged.
She sighed with relief inwardly but also felt a tinge of disappointnt.
Indeed, in Aozawa-senpai’s heart, she was like a little sister character.
Hojo Shouko had her thoughts, but her facial expression didn’t change a bit as she continued to carry the groceries they had bought out of the market.
Aozawa stepped forward to walk beside her and said, "Shouko, let treat you to a milk tea."
"Aozawa-senpai, there’s no need for that. If anything, I should be the one treating you after all you’ve done for Brother and Little Sayuri," Hojo Shouko insisted.
Hojo Shouko already knew that her Brother and Little Sayuri were officially a couple and understood that Aozawa-senpai had played a significant role in that.
Aozawa patted her shoulder, adopting a firm tone. "Alright, don’t argue with your senpai about this. What kind of milk tea would you like?"
"Then let’s go with bubble milk tea."
Seeing that Aozawa was insistent, Hojo Shouko relented.
If Aozawa’s hands weren’t full with groceries, he would have lifted one to ruffle her hair. "That’s a good girl. Let’s go find a nice milk tea shop."
...
After delivering the bubble milk tea, Aozawa sent Hojo Shouko to the train back ho, then he caught the train to Ayase Station himself.
The sunlight falling from the sky was too bright, making the streets seem reflective.
Aozawa walked onward, listening to the cicada songs drifting from sowhere unknown as he returned to the villa.
He opened the door and entered the foyer.
The Shadow Emperor ability activated. The shadows on the ground suddenly stretched forward. Glob-like slis erged from them, then compressed inward to form figures resembling those from the world of Conan, except their eyes were blood-red, giving them a sowhat murderous look.
Under Aozawa’s control, the shadow figures transford, creating the illusion of armored individuals based on the darkness of their forms and the alterations of their body shapes.
Shadows were no different from water; they could be freely molded into any shape he desired.
Their hands could morph into claws or transform into swords and hamrs. Aozawa could make them adopt any form he wished.
But Aozawa didn’t need them for combat at the mont—he needed them to clean the villa.
The villa was three stories high, including the basent. With such a large footprint, cleaning it daily was a hassle.
Conjuring fifty Shadow Soldiers, Aozawa commanded, "Clean the villa thoroughly for ."
The fifty dispersed quickly. They moved by running along walls or as a shadow streak across the floor.
Aozawa summoned four more Shadow Soldiers and handed over the groceries, "Wash and cut these."
Just by thinking, he could command them, but he preferred to give orders out loud.
The Shadow Soldiers were quite intelligent when it ca to following orders, understanding how to clean and how to wash and cut vegetables, and they were fast at it.
Observing their swift and precise movents as they cleaned the villa, Aozawa deduced they were very agile, although he was yet to gauge their combat prowess.
Based on their current display, they might be able to wipe out an entire army.
That is assuming the army’s firearms were ineffective against them.
Aozawa, not wanting to walk, let eight Shadow Soldiers carry him in a shadow-made palanquin around the villa—upstairs, downstairs, and even to the basent. He found every room perfectly clean, without a speck of dust.
In the kitchen, the at and vegetables were all washed and cut by the Shadow Soldiers. Aozawa nodded in approval. This ability was more useful in everyday life than Telekinesis and was a must-have for a lazy person’s household chores.
He tossed his phone, letting a Shadow Soldier catch it and return it to the bedroom. Then he willed it, and the Shadow Soldiers dissolved their human forms, converging on him like a whirlwind. They enveloped him entirely before rging into the Shadow World.
...
Invisible darkness shrouded the palace from outside.
Because the shadows inside the palace were a lighter shade, they were visible as distinguishable forms against the pitch-blackness of the Shadow World.
Dark flas flickered between the pillars of shadow.
Aozawa seed to descend from the do above, landing on the iron throne which sat atop nine steps. His gaze fixed on the world outside the palace as he pondered how to use this ability to leap to other places.
Go directly...
Aozawa made a decision. He intended to try the Shadow Soldiers’ thod of movent: silently transforming into a beam of shadow and racing toward the darkness outside the palace.
In the Shadow World, he rushed forward. He was unable to discern direction—up from down, left from right—or even perceive his own speed. Everything was veiled by the shadows.
After feeling like he had covered so distance, he tried to surface from the shadows but stopped abruptly. Aozawa wanted to test if he could use the Catalyst sensing ability within it to observe the world outside the shadows.
After all, the Shadow Emperor ability only allowed him to see clearly within the Shadow World, not to directly peer outside of it.
He used the Catalyst sensing ability, his vision seeming to elevate, his spirit reaching a state of desirelessness.
Within a kiloter radius, every place that cast a shadow fell within his sensory range.
This allowed Aozawa, hidden within the Shadow World, to observe the outside world—devoid of people and cities, seeing only a forest with animals running and cicadas chirping on the trees. Where was this?
The thought flashed through Aozawa’s mind. He realized that although the Shadow Emperor was indeed a global skill, his inability to distinguish direction made Global Travel or Schrödinger’s Cat feel more convenient.
Or maybe he should keep using Catalyst Induction to stealthily navigate the Shadow World?
Thinking this, Aozawa did not switch off the Catalyst sensing ability. Instead, he maintained it and stealthily moved as a shadow. In an instant, countless images and sounds flooded in. It was only when using Catalyst Induction to see clearly outside that Aozawa realized the speed of moving as a shadow was so fast.
It couldn’t compare to the nearly instantaneous movent of Schrödinger’s Cat or Global Travel, but Aozawa estimated shadow stealth to be at least forty to fifty tis the speed of sound. This also confird to him that he had ended up in a Mandarin-speaking country, having unwittingly run out of Japan.
Being familiar with his own country was one thing, but it was more convenient to use Global Travel in unfamiliar nations, avoiding the issue of speaking past each other. The Shadow Emperor did not include a language translation ability.
As he thought this, Aozawa used the Global Travel ability and directly leaped to another country to test the combat capabilities of the Shadow Emperor.
...
New York, Queens.
Ever since the new mayor, David, took office, all kinds of asures had been implented in this leading cosmopolitan city of the world.
Aozawa used the Global Travel ability, jumping directly to the streets of New York, hiding in the shadows of buildings, and using the Catalyst sensing ability to observe the world outside the Shadow World. From the buildings on both sides, it was clear that this area was once a slum. The houses were visibly dilapidated, with so showing remnants of shattered windows.
But the ground was completely different. There were no needles or trash strewn about, nor the tents commonly seen beside the streets. The streets looked clean and tidy, like the districts where the wealthy lived.
Aozawa had seen these changes through short videos on TikTok and YouTube.
After all, New York was too famous.
So praised the series of asures implented by David, while others felt that such actions were sowhat lacking in freedom and democracy. After all, David did not simply let the holess and drug abusers be. He offered jobs to the forr instead of plainly distributing relief food.
Those who had grown accustod to laziness naturally resented such changes. They were used to not needing to work, rely queuing for relief food, having long since disregarded their dignity. As for the latter, David took a forceful approach to regulation, pushing them to kick their drug abuse habits.
He even considered taxing charitable organizations and auditing them, bringing them under the municipal governnt’s jurisdiction for true charity work. Those drastic reforms were changing New York, regardless of how many were actually implented.
Could he find his experintal subjects here?
A doubt flashed through Aozawa’s mind, yet he decided to circle around New York to see for himself. He didn’t quite believe that David could have transford New York from its core in such a short ti.
Aozawa proceeded at a slower pace, different from the initial burst forward. After realizing the speed of shadows, he gained a certain understanding that allowed him to adapt to the velocity of the shadows. This prevented him from accidentally ending up sowhere unknown.
Aozawa hadn’t even made a full circle around New York when he already spotted his desired experintal subjects.
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