KyokaSuigetsu
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Chapter 54: The Power of the String-String Fruit | Tohru: “Hayashi-san should just lie back.”
🕑 Added 2025-05-01 07:05:55 +0000 UTCSpider-Man’s webs only had durability going for them.
But the strings from the Ito Ito no Mi? The abilities you could develop were limitless—even in their normal state, you could play all kinds of tricks with skill alone.
The threads weren’t just insanely durable and immune to blades—they were absurdly sharp, sharper than actual knives, and could be shaped into any form.
The most basic combo moves?
Definitely Five-Color Strings, Whip String, and Spider Web techniques.
Hayashi tested it and confirmed he could control the string’s color.
Invisible when needed, bright red when desired.
“Nice. Even comes with... visual flair.”
“Let’s try the other techniques.”
Next up was the Whip String—channeling energy and flicking it like a whip.
Wherever the whip struck?
Clean slice.
Hayashi pulled out a steak from the fridge, stood it upright, and flicked a thread toward it.
A wave so thin it was barely visible moved through the air.
Swish!
He reeled the thread back in through his fingertip.
At first glance, nothing happened.
But then—the steak’s fibers shifted subtly.
At a 45-degree angle, gravity began pulling the upper section down...
Plop!
It landed flatly on the table—cut clean in half.
“Damn, this stuff’s good. And practically invisible.”
Hayashi leaned in to examine it.
The cut surface was glass-smooth, perfectly clean.
Holding it up for a closer look, he muttered:
“Incredible.”
He placed the steak back down and began trying out more patterns and applications.
Like weaving a net for defense, or setting up traps for objects to fall and slice themselves—testing sharpness.
Each one worked flawlessly.
“Excellent.” Hayashi was thoroughly satisfied.
Now the only issue was developing more advanced applications.
His next goal: mastering String Bullet, String Wave, Birdcage, and similar techniques.
All of those required practice.
If you didn’t know how to weave, these threads wouldn’t do anything fancy—just lash and slice.
Hayashi nodded thoughtfully. “So Doflamingo was basically a master knitter. He could retire and run a sweater business. He’d make bank.”
“Tohru~”
At that moment, Tohru came in after finishing the cleaning.
Peeking through the kitchen door, she curiously asked,
“Hayashi-san, I thought I heard you cooking something. Are you having a midnight snack?”
“No, I’m testing a new ability.”
Hayashi shook his head and put away the sliced steak—it could be seared into cubes later.
“Perfect timing. Help me test the thread’s tensile strength, durability, and sharpness.”
Tohru: “?”
Curious, Tohru followed Hayashi to the backyard.
It wasn’t big, maybe a few dozen square meters. Just a grassy area with a few tables and chairs.
There, Hayashi flicked out a red-colored thread, made it visible to the naked eye, and cut it.
He stretched it taut between his fingers and passed it to Tohru.
“Be careful, Tohru. This thread is insanely sharp. Try seeing if you can pull it apart—use your dragon strength if needed.”
“Ooh~! Really!?” Tohru lit up at the chance to use her dragon strength. “Let me try!”
The thread, like before, was extremely thin—almost invisible.
Only the faint red shimmer made it noticeable.
Tohru carefully took the thread from Hayashi.
With her thumbs and index fingers pinching both ends—like a Korean heart gesture—she gave it a gentle tug.
Zheng~
The thread vibrated, but didn’t break.
Tohru blinked in surprise and looked up at Hayashi.
“Hayashi-san… this thread’s toughness is insane.”
That was her “gentle pull,” mind you.
And this was Tohru—she could casually punch through a skyscraper. Her gentle pull was measured in tons.
Hayashi nodded. “Try putting in a little more force. But be careful.”
“Okay.”
Tohru gradually applied more strength.
Both of them focused intently.
As she kept pulling, the thread grew tauter and tauter.
Gentle strength turned into slight effort.
Still, the thread didn’t snap.
Tohru looked up, amazed.
But before she could speak, Hayashi added:
“Keep going. Try using your normal dragon strength.”
Daily Strength—just your normal, casual movement strength.
Tohru nodded. “Alright, but I can’t use more than that. If I do, Hayashi-san’s shop might be gone.”
“Mhm.” Hayashi nodded.
He was well aware of that.
If Tohru really used her full force and the string snapped, even an aircraft carrier wouldn’t survive the recoil from her elbow—let alone his little shop. It’d become instant rubble, and he could forget about renovation costs.
Tohru continued to apply pressure.
Her body slowly began to dragonify.
Her pupils turned vertical, her hands morphed into claws—classic dragon traits began to show.
At this point, she was using the normal strength of a dragon.
Tohru exerted herself.
"Zzzzz~~!"
Finally, the red thread let out a strained hum.
But it held.
“It didn’t break!” Tohru looked up in surprise again.
Her dragon features faded. She picked up the thread and examined it—it looked exactly the same.
“Hayashi-san, what kind of thread is this? It’s so strong. If there’s enough of it, it might even be able to restrain a dragon.”
Hayashi took the thread back, satisfied with the test results.
The thread dissolved back into his fingertip, vanishing completely, which earned another curious look from Tohru.
“This is my new ability. It’s powerful, but I’ll need a lot of training to really master it.”
Tohru nodded enthusiastically. “It’s very strong!”
Just that alone could easily slaughter ghouls and devils in this world.
Unless you were an SSS-grade ghoul or a top-tier hell-class devil…
You couldn’t resist this string’s cutting force or its absurd durability.
It was the perfect contradiction—overwhelming offense and defense.
“Not bad. I’m really happy with it.”
Hayashi retracted the thread and decided he’d go buy some knitting books from a bookstore soon.
Start with the basics.
It was already past midnight—about two hours left before the shop officially closed.
Hayashi and Tohru sat by the window seats, chatting and sipping drinks.
Outside the yard, the streets were completely silent.
Tohru leaned on the windowsill, gazing at the stars, then perked up her ears.
“Hayashi-san, there’s no one out there. Not a soul. How long do you think until things get back to normal?”
Hayashi scrolled through his phone. “Isn’t it kinda nice, having no customers?”
“I guess it is... but with literally no one, it gets boring.” Tohru glanced at the pitch-dark street and alley. “There’s not even a single sound out there.”
“Well, the Leech Devil caused too much destruction. If it weren’t for Pochita, this place might’ve stayed abandoned for weeks. But at this rate, I’d say three to five days, tops.”
“Three to five days?” Tohru turned to him in shock. “It’ll bounce back that fast?”
“Of course.” Hayashi nodded. “In today’s fast-paced, information-overloaded society, people forget yesterday by tomorrow. The shopping district will be back in business ASAP. No worries.”
Tohru was still amazed. “That’s... super fast.”
In her old world, if a town was wrecked like this, it’d take months to return to normal.
People were scared. Infrastructure was slow to rebuild.
But not here—not in modern society.
Heck, sometimes a city could be at war next door and nobody would bat an eye.
Everyone just got used to it.
At that moment, Hayashi’s phone buzzed with a message.
He opened it.
It was from Makima.
She’d sent a photo from her home.
She was sitting on the sofa, surrounded by her dogs—all breeds, sizes, and shapes.
Only her smooth thighs, calves, and feet were visible in the pic.
Which implied she was likely only in lingerie.
Caption: “I’ll be moving with all my dogs. But still… they’re not as cute as Pochita.”
Hayashi replied: “Dogs are all cute.”
Makima: “I think so too.”
And that was it. She probably went to bed.
Hayashi closed the chat and was just about to switch over to watch some Shibuya influencer videos.
Then suddenly—he got a message from Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Attached was a photo filled with draft pages.
Her hand flashed a peace sign in front of the camera—
—and in the background, her legs clad only in black stockings.
Message: “The new chapter’s almost done! I heard there was a devil incident near you—are you okay, Hayashi-kun?”
Hayashi replied: “Something did happen.”
Utaha: “! Really? Are you hurt? What hospital are you at? I’ll come right away!”
Hayashi: “Not enough black stockings. Please send more pics.”
Utaha: “......”
Utaha: “Die! Baka!”
She stopped replying.
“Man, I’m a messaging genius,” Hayashi chuckled.
He switched apps again to browse some thirst traps.
Suddenly—Utaha spammed more messages.
Utaha: “Image.jpg”
Utaha: “Image.jpg”
Utaha: “Image.jpg”
Three in a row. Bam-bam-bam!
Hayashi opened them.
“Oooh~”
All three were black-stocking pics.
One with her legs together.
One hugging her knees.
One cross-legged.
Too good. Those legs!
Hayashi: “Thanks Utaha, I’ve got tonight’s ‘content’ sorted.”
Utaha: “?? What do you mean content? Don’t do weird stuff with my photos!!”
Hayashi: “Too late. Already saved.”
Utaha: “HENTAI!!!”
Still—he did save them.
Two gorgeous ladies' leg pics in one night?
Hayashi felt completely satisfied.
And on top of that, he’d just secured that airhead beauty Power’s body as collateral.
Hayashi figured maybe it was time to lean into a slightly more indulgent lifestyle.
Just looking wasn’t enough.
“Yeah. Time to start tasting.”
If the feelings are right and the moment’s perfect—why not go for it?
You mock Makoto for dying early—Makoto laughs at how little you lived.
Suffering first doesn’t guarantee joy later, but pleasure now is always sweet.
Later that night…
The shop stayed dead quiet.
Hayashi checked the time and told Tohru to close early.
“Are we really closing?” Tohru asked.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Hayashi confirmed.
He also wanted to test if closing early would affect his clock-in rewards.
Tohru walked over and flipped the sign to “Closed.”
The system instantly responded:
[Clock-in successful: Gained 6 Business Hours Points]
[Business Hours Points: Collect 8 hours to redeem 1 Multiverse Food Lottery Ticket]
“Oh?” Hayashi raised an eyebrow at that.
He honestly wasn’t expecting the system to let him clock in without meeting full business hours.
He thought it would fail and was just testing the boundaries. If it didn’t work, no big deal—lotteries were RNG anyway.
But to his surprise, the system tracked hours and allowed accumulation toward a draw.
That was basically shard collection.
Pretty nice.
Now if any emergencies popped up, he could just shut the place and handle things.
Fair and logical.
“Alright, let’s go upstairs and game.” Hayashi waved casually.
Tohru immediately dashed up ahead.
The two of them headed up, washed up, and got ready.
Meanwhile, Rize Kamishiro was out on the balcony, lounging on a recliner in a long dress, legs crossed, reading under the moonlight.
Hayashi’s vision was sharp, and the book Rize Kamishiro was reading was none other than: How to Become a Yamato Nadeshiko.
Not a bad choice at all.
Hayashi had to admit—if Rize could really learn something from that book, even if she didn’t become gentle, considerate, or morally upright, as long as she showed even a trace of improvement, he’d be willing to treat her like a normal person.
How they interacted didn’t matter. As long as she didn’t go crazy, it was fine.
That said, Rize was already doing better than before.
Ever since she’d developed an aversion to eating raw meat, she’d only eaten the cooked dishes Hayashi prepared—steak, pork chops, lamb, barbecue, anything as long as it was purely meat.
Her gluttonous nature had subsided, and her bloodlust had significantly weakened.
So, for now, there weren’t any major issues.
Aside from the occasional urge to… lick him.
When Hayashi came upstairs, Rize closed her book and greeted him.
Hayashi knew she hadn’t eaten today.
“You didn’t eat today? No midnight snack, alright?” Hayashi reminded her. “Don’t go gnawing raw stuff in the kitchen.”
Rize shook her head. “I didn’t have an appetite today. Honestly, one of your meals is enough to satisfy a ghoul for a whole day. With food that delicious, why would I want to eat anything raw?”
Hayashi nodded in relief and patted her on the shoulder.
“That’s good. Get up early tomorrow—I’ll make you egg fried rice. You can try something new.”
Rize was about to refuse. She was a hardcore carnivore.
But since it was Hayashi’s suggestion, and it was egg fried rice, she nodded in agreement.
Back in the bedroom…
Tohru had already powered on the console and was browsing for games.
When she saw Hayashi return, she immediately handed him the second controller. “What are we playing today, Hayashi-san? I want something fun!”
“Sure, I’ve got just the thing.” Hayashi grabbed the controller and quickly browsed. “This one’s co-op too, but it’s puzzle-platformer. Super interesting.”
The game he chose was It Takes Two.
As soon as it launched, Tohru was hooked.
They both started button-mashing furiously.
Hayashi was half-lounging on a bean bag chair; the floor was covered with a thick rug that was comfy enough to sleep on.
Tohru had changed into her green dinosaur pajamas from earlier that day.
She curled up in Hayashi’s arms while playing, even asking him to hold her while they gamed.
The D+ bust pressing against him made Hayashi… a little restless.
It was like a line of spearmen, with their spears too long and poking the person in front.
Still, it was a good sign—any man who doesn’t react in this situation might as well be dead inside.
“Hm?” Tohru felt it and wriggled. “Hayashi-san, your phone’s poking me.”
Hayashi still had his arms around her, making it hard to adjust.
So Tohru reached for it herself.
But when she touched it and realized how hot it was, she paused—then her face flushed, and she said softly,
“Hayashi-san… so full of youthful vigor. Of course, you’d have normal desires~”
“Ugh…” Hayashi sucked in a breath. “Then how about letting go first?”
“Nope~” Tohru kept her grip and even snuggled closer. “I read on a forum that fulfilling the master’s needs is part of a head maid’s duties.”
“Wait, what kind of forums are you even reading?”
“Hayashi-san, just lie back and let me handle everything~~”
