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[Hakurei Reimu]: What is this thing? Why does it keep making noise? It's so annoying!
[Shiraori]: Oh oh, the newbie finally speaks~
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Nagami glanced at Shiraori, who was curled up on the bed clutching the dragon egg like she was socially withdrawing from life.
Me in real life: quiet and reserved. Me in the group chat: full-on power punch.
But as soon as Shiraori instinctively replied in the chat, she froze.
Right—she wasn't alone anymore.
Her head turned stiffly, and sure enough, Nagami was looking at her with a smirk that was somewhere between amusement and disbelief.
Her cheeks flushed red.
With the beauty filter still active, Nagami could clearly see the rosy hue spreading across her soft, round face.
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[Nagami]: Try reading the group announcement. This thing has nothing to do with Gensokyo.
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As the group admin, Nagami felt it was his responsibility to guide new members.
It wasn't like there was an official rule—just a personal sense of duty that came with holding the admin role.
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[Hakurei Reimu]: Too many words. Not interested. I just want to know how to make this thing shut up.
[Akemi Homura]: …
[Itsuka Kotori]: That's the aura of a real pro!
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Nagami let out a long sigh.
Suddenly, he didn't feel like saying much anymore.
It wasn't that this shrine maiden with zero moral compass was hard to deal with—just that brute force wouldn't help here.
So instead, he brought out his ultimate weapon…
Cash power.
Using the chat group's image-upload function, he searched his memory and found an image from his time in the Honkai Impact world: him holding several thick bundles of yen.
He took a screenshot and uploaded it.
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[Nagami]: Image
[Kiana Kaslana]: Is that yen? Nagami, why are you sending this?
[Hakurei Reimu]: !
[Hakurei Reimu]: !!
[Hakurei Reimu]: !!!
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…
The chat quickly got spammed with exclamation marks. Everyone stared at Reimu's reaction, utterly confused.
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[Nagami]: So, are you going to check the group announcement now? If you've got enough points to invite me to Gensokyo, then consider this my donation to your shrine~
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Nagami's crisp, clear voice echoed in Reimu's mind—not scaring her, but sounding instead like an angel whispering in her ear.
The shrine maiden practically sprang to her feet, scrambling like a cartoon character.
Her dark eyes sparkled with newfound motivation.
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[Hakurei Reimu]: I'll read it right away! And… please visit our shrine when you have time! I'll personally prepare everything to welcome you!
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Based on his voice, Reimu easily figured out Nagami's gender.
Thinking back to the incident with those troublesome youkai a few days ago, she shamelessly added:
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[Hakurei Reimu]: Our shrine also offers friendly chat with cute youkai girls. We guarantee a relaxing experience~
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Nagami smiled at the screen.
That little bundle of yen in the photo? At least a few million.
More than enough to make Reimu auction off all of Gensokyo's remaining dignity.
To Reimu, that was basically getting a free few million yen.
After all, add as many zeroes as you want—zero is still zero.
Or worse… it might even go negative.
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[Shiraori]: ???
[Kiana Kaslana]: ???
[Akemi Homura]: ???
[Itsuka Kotori]: ???
[Kal'tsit]: ???
[Inori Yuzuriha]: Um… what's going on, everyone?
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Aside from Inori, who didn't quite grasp the deeper implications, everyone else was stunned.
Even Accelerator, silently lurking as usual, couldn't help but freeze.
Had they all just hallucinated?
Nagami had previously explained that with environmental bonuses, a new group member could very well be the strongest among them.
They didn't fully understand what "environmental bonuses" meant, but to them, Reimu had always seemed like a top-tier powerhouse.
And yet…
This was it?
This was the great Reimu?
After comparing anime profiles that Nagami had uploaded earlier, everyone unanimously agreed:
Accelerator—unstable or not—was the current strongest in the chat group.
Of course, Nagami wasn't part of the ranking.
Even though he always claimed to be a "weakling among weaklings," no one really believed him.
Well, except for Inori.
She took every word Nagami said as gospel, something he found both touching and slightly worrying.
Because honestly? These "cute" chat members weren't just adorable… they were also total clowns.
Fortunately, Inori trusted Nagami way more than the others.
Otherwise, pulling her away from the path of meme-ification would've been impossible.
So why did Inori trust and admire Nagami so much?
Simple—Nagami DM her relentlessly.
Dual-core multitasking allowed him to be active in the main chat while also chatting up Inori on the side.
If this group had a "Top Poster" role, he'd be it—no question.
And now, the group's supposed strongest had just bowed down for a few million yen?
"That's like… paying a hundred thousand yen and getting a top-tier powerhouse to sell their soul! It's absurd!"
The voice came from Shiraori, who was lying nearby.
She turned to C.C. with a look that said, "Come on, this joke is hilarious, right?"
But the green-haired girl didn't give her the expected laugh.
Instead, she rested her chin on her hand, lowered her head, and furrowed her brows in thought.
"…Honestly, maybe that really would work."
Her calm, elegant tone made the earlier hesitation in her words sound pointless.
"Huh?!"
Shiraori's hand froze mid-head-scratch.
Her entire face screamed, What did you just say?
"Hold on, I'll upload the Gensokyo info to the group," Nagami suddenly said from the sofa.
He'd been sifting through Touhou Project materials with his eyes closed.
The lore was so messy and old-school, organizing it took time.
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[Nagami]: "Touhou Project"
[Nagami]: All right, everyone—stop guessing. Once you've read through this, you'll get a much clearer picture of who Reimu really is.
Also, @Hakurei Reimu, this is for you too. There's a lot you can use here.
[Hakurei Reimu]: No problem. Looking forward to your visit to Gensokyo~ I'll cover your travel card when the time comes.
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Clearly, Reimu wasn't very interested in the group's shop.
Points didn't mean much to her. If she could, she'd exchange them all for cash and stuff her shrine's donation box to the brim.
And as for traveling to other worlds and learning about different cultures?
Reimu couldn't care less.
She didn't think any world could out-weird Gensokyo.
Of course, when it came to invitations from rich folks like Nagami, that was a whole different story~
Reimu's world was full of intriguing info, and the group chat went quiet for a while—everyone had gone off to devour everything about the Touhou universe.
Well, everyone except one person...
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[Kiana Kaslana]: Nagami, I'm all set on my end! Ready to head into Honkai Impact 3rd anytime. How much longer do you need?
[Nagami]: I'm still short on a few points. It'll take a few more days before I can hit 100. Just wait for my signal.
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Honestly, if they waited for Kiana to gather the 100 points herself, it'd probably take forever.
That's why Nagami offered to cover her travel cost this time—it was a favor, after all.
And for him, these points were no big deal. He could earn them back in a few days.
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[Kiana Kaslana]: Got it! I'll definitely pay you back once I save up the points.
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Even though Nagami had said she didn't need to repay him since he was the one asking for help, Kiana could tell—he was just being considerate.
To her, the opportunity to get real-time intel from a parallel world was more than worth the trip.
Sure, calling Honkai Gakuen 2 and Honkai Impact 3rd "parallel worlds" wasn't exactly accurate, but without more details, that was the best way she could understand the connection for now.
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[Nagami]: …It's up to you, really.
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Maybe it was because he already liked her, or maybe because she was a pretty girl in trouble—either way, helping her out came naturally to Nagami.