December 24th.

Light snow.

Christmas Eve.

Akihabara, the holy land of otaku.

There was a long line in front of the Bentendo store.

A reporter held a microphone and randomly interviewed people in the queue.

“When did you start queuing here?”

In the camera, a boy with blond hair and blue eyes appeared. He was wearing a red scarf and half of his face was covered with a white cat mask endorsed by Atong. He was wearing a beige coat and seemed to have been standing here for a long time.

Facing the camera, he was stunned for a moment, then answered obediently: "Around 4 o'clock in the morning."

"Oh! You are indeed the one in front of me! You have been waiting in line for 14 hours! Why are you waiting in line here?"

"Oh, because I want to buy Owee. My son really wants it."

"Son?!"

The reporter looked very surprised.

"How old are you this year?"

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy said seriously, "How rude! How can you ask the age of a Heroic Spirit? The age of a Great Swordsman of the Universe is of course measured in light years."

The reporter hesitated and asked, "Wait, aren't light and light-year units of length?"

Al looked innocent: "So I'm the Great Swordsman of the Universe."

Reporter: “…”

I totally, totally don't understand! Is this the legendary cross-server chat?

The reporter was confused. She stood there holding the microphone for a long time, not knowing what to do. Then she turned to face the camera and smiled awkwardly but politely. "It seems that this guy is cosplaying a character in the second dimension. Let's not disturb him. Let's interview the next person!"

...In a sense, she was right.

Then the camera turned, and a young man wearing black earrings, strange bangs, and a yellow scarf entered the camera.

The reporter asked enthusiastically: "Hello, when did you start queuing here?"

The black-haired boy replied, "Ah... me? Same as this guy."

The reporter suddenly realized: "So you two are together, then you are the one who is helping this guy queue up to buy a game console... Uh, son?"

The black-haired boy choked: "No."

At this time, the blond boy from before squeezed into the camera again and said seriously: "It's not him, it's another son. After all, I have quite a lot of sons."

Black-haired boy: “…”

He pushed the blond boy out of the camera expressionlessly and was about to say something when a voice interrupted him.

"What are you doing, Jay, Al, get in line!"

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes, snatched the cup of steaming oden from the man, and said to the reporter, "Hey, this is his son, you can interview him."

The camera turned again, and a white-haired boy wearing sunglasses and a girl with short brown hair appeared.

The short-haired girl handed the oden in her hand to Al, waved her hand, and walked out of the camera, indicating that she refused to be interviewed by the reporter.

So the reporter asked the white-haired boy in the camera, "I heard that this foreign boy is your elder, what's going on?"

"What a mess."

Gojo Satoru said impatiently, "I'm here to buy Owee, and they're the ones who are waiting in line for me. Do you have any other questions?"

His attitude was very bad, but it seemed that he just had a bad temper and did not have any ill will towards reporters and cameras.

The reporter blinked and said, "Then this young man said you are his son..."

Gojo Satoru said perfunctorily: "Cosplay, Cosplay, all otakus are like this."

The topic finally returned to normal, and the reporter finally had the opportunity to get to the point. She asked with great concern: "There is a rumor that Bentendo only has 100 Owee in stock, and each person in the queue can only buy one. Are you confident that you can get an Owee?"

The white-haired boy was stunned, "Wow, is this true?"

He glanced up.

"…Hey, this is bad, Jie. We've been waiting in line for so long and we're only the 103rd one. Doesn't that mean we can't buy it?"

The black-haired boy said tiredly, "Really? Then let's just go back to school. It's ridiculous to be queuing here to buy a game console on Christmas Eve."

The white-haired young man said unhappily, "This is my birthday wish. The birthday star is the biggest in the world - that's what you said."

The black-haired boy sighed: "But that was half a month ago."

“Birthday wishes are always available!”

"Really? Then my birthday is in two months. How about I make a wish in advance that I won't have to queue up to buy a game console on Christmas Eve?"

"Are you stupid? How can a birthday wish in February be valid in December?"

"Ah? Who are you calling the idiot? Hey, we've been waiting in line with you for fourteen hours!"

"You also said that we have already waited in line for fourteen hours. Only an idiot would want to go back now!"

"I was just joking!!"

The reporter and the photographer looked at each other and retreated silently, deciding to interview a woman in the front. The woman wearing black cat ears was furious: "What do you mean by otaku's favorite? I don't like such disgusting things. I'm here to buy game consoles on behalf of others, and I can earn 20% of the purchase fee!"

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

She lit a cigarette silently.

"There really isn't a single normal person here."

The two male classmates behind her were arguing so fiercely that the people around them automatically backed away. After waiting in line for fourteen hours, Ieiri Naoko felt exhausted. She asked tiredly, "When will the Bentendo store open?"

Al took out his phone and took a look. "There's still half an hour left, but if there are really only 100 seats available, we probably won't be able to get a spot."

Ieiri Naoko sighed, "Gojo will definitely not give up. This crappy game has been repeatedly delayed, and now it's being sold at a desperate price. He's already obsessed with it, and he'll definitely make a scene if he can't buy it."

Al thought about it and felt that it made sense.

After all, it's Go-chan's birthday wish, so let's think of a way for him. If we catch up with the first sale, there should be special gifts or something.

He patted a man in front of him in the queue.

The man standing in front of him turned his head with headphones on and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Al handed him the steaming hot oden and asked, "Want some?"

man:"……"

His stomach made a timely rumbling sound.

People who queue up in a group like Al can take turns to go to the nearby supermarket to buy drinks and food, but those who queue up alone can only stand there motionless until the game console goes on sale, and he has actually been hungry for a long time.

"Can I?"

"Okay, but we have to change positions."

The man glanced at Ieiri Naoko, Kagome Gakuen, and Gojo Satoru behind Al and asked hesitantly, "Should I trade with you, or with you guys?"

These four people are wearing scarves of different colors, but at first glance they are the same style, so they must be in the same group.

Al said frankly: "Of course it's just me."

The man breathed a sigh of relief and readily switched places with him.

——The steaming oden, wow, so touching!

Al silently raised his hand in a cheering gesture.

"Yeah, we moved up one position!"

Ieiri Shoko, who was lucky enough to watch the whole process, said: "…Is this really okay?"

Al said confidently, "Well, of course. 102 and 103 are both over 100, so there is no problem using the food meter. For Go-chan's game console, I sacrificed my favorite food!"

"...Indeed. But even if it's 102, we still can't get Owee."

"Well, you're right."

Al observed the people in front and quickly locked onto a new target: "Glass-chan, help me keep an eye on the location."

He trotted forward a few steps and patted a woman on the shoulder.

This woman was the one who just shouted to the reporter that she was here to buy on behalf of others.

Al showed a harmless expression and whispered, "Sister, can I pay to buy your place?"

The woman was stunned, and then decisively refused: "Huh? Do you know how long I have been waiting in line here? I came here to queue at midnight, how could I give up my seat to you!"

Al said: "I will pay ten times the purchasing fee."

“…”

"Twenty times."

“…”

Al turned and walked away: "Forget it if you don't want it."

"Wait!" The woman grabbed him and smiled enthusiastically: "Sell it! But the purchasing fee is twenty times the price, and I want it now!"

She held up five fingers, and Al nodded calmly: "Wait a moment."

He turned and walked to Gojo Satoru, pulled Gojo Satoru's clothes, and calmly stretched out a hand: "Go-chan, wallet."

Gojo Satoru, who was having a passionate confrontation with his best friend: "..."

He was stunned for a moment, took out his wallet from his pocket and handed it to Al with a suspicious look on his face. Al took the wallet, took out a few of the largest bills from it and handed them to the woman.

The woman counted the money and gave her seat to Al without saying a word.

——If you can make more money and spend half an hour less in the cold, only a fool would refuse it!

So Alshit ranked 72nd.

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Xia Yujie: “…”

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

Jiaru Nishiko slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

"While some idiots are only able to engage in elementary school quarrels, some Heroic Spirits have already successfully advanced to the upper ranks."

Gojo Satoru & Kayuki Kagome: "..."

They felt deeply ashamed and stopped quarreling at the same time.

Half a month ago, Al finally got rid of the personality of "Minamoto no Raikou" and turned back into a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, but the strange thing is that he did not change their names back to Master, but kept the names of "Go-chan", "Jie-chan" and "Nose-chan" under his mother's personality, and occasionally called them sons.

When Xia Yujie asked curiously, "Why do you still call us sons?", Al answered very calmly, "You have always been my good sons. Dad will always love you."

Xia Yujie: “…”

Here it comes, here it comes, this familiar feeling of not wanting to communicate normally, is this guy simply a master at playing dumb? He only communicates normally when he wants to!

Gojo Satoru suddenly turned around and asked, "What? Is there a fire?"

Geto Suguru and Naoko Ieiri also looked back and saw that a bonfire had been lit about a dozen people away, and the familiar trio of Gintama High School were sitting there warming themselves by the fire.

The staff of Benten asked in embarrassment: "Hey, guests, can you please not warm yourself by the fire here? Everyone is waiting in line, and you will scare other guests."

"Ah? We've been waiting in line for ten hours and we can't even make a fire? We just want to keep warm!"

"No, this is not just heating, this is already a small fire."

“…”

Kagome complained, "Are all the idiots in Tokyo concentrated in Akihabara? Is this some kind of idiot concentration camp?"

Ieiri Naoko laughed at him, "It's good that you know."

Summer Oil: "..."

Al asked them, "What happened, Jerry?"

Geto replied, "Nothing serious, except that some people from Gintama High School appeared in the team behind us."

Gojo Satoru analyzed, "They are deliberately creating chaos. From what I know about them, they are probably trying to take advantage of the chaos to cut in line."

As expected, Sakata Ginpachi from Gintama High School brought a group of his students to cause trouble, including bonfires, hot pots, baths... all kinds of things. Upon closer inspection, it was found that he brought more than two or three students this time, and the number of stupid students increased several times.

The order of the team was thrown into chaos by the Gintama High School guys, and they took the opportunity to squeeze forward, and soon they were behind the high school trio.

Sakata Ginpachi stretched out his claws towards them again, "Hey, little brothers and sisters in front, you have been waiting here for a long time, right? Do you need a baby warmer to keep warm?"

Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko turned their heads at the same time and looked at Sakata Ginpachi with expressionless faces.

Sakata Ginpachi: “…”

The silver-haired young teacher was stunned for a moment, then said enthusiastically: "Hey! It's you! Really, is Akihabara some kind of idiot concentration camp? All the idiots in Tokyo are gathered here!"

"..." The three senior college students said in unison: "It's good that you know."

Sakata Ginpachi: “…”

Xia Yujie said sternly, "Anyway, give up. Your evil ways have come to an end. Everyone, line up properly."

Sakata Ginpachi scratched his hair and said helplessly, "I say, don't be so rigid. You guys are not in the top 100, why don't we join hands and drive away the guys in front of us? In this way, the 100 limited Owees will all be in our pockets. If we resell them, we will definitely make a lot of money."

“…Is this what a people’s teacher should say?”

"Teachers also need to make some extra money. Who can I support with my meager salary? Owee is the favorite game of young people. I can sell it to my dear students..."

"Be careful or we'll record and report you, you bastard teacher."

Kagura looked ahead and said, "The people ahead seem to be experienced experts. It's hard to defeat them. Gin, what should we do? Do you want me to rush over and vomit?"

Xia Yujie: “…”

Gojo Satoru held her head expressionlessly, "Don't cut in line, especially don't cut in front of Al. My Owee is almost certain to win, don't mess with me."

Al?

Just as they were about to crane their necks to see who Al was, the door of Bentendou suddenly opened, and a staff member in work clothes shouted, "Time is up, Bentendou's Owee is now on sale! Please follow the arranged order, don't rush or run, and follow the staff's instructions. Each person can only buy one, and Owee is limited to 100--"

“Go!!!”

Sakata Ginpachi rushed in first.

Kagura and Shimura Shinpachi followed closely behind, and under their bad influence, more people in the line behind them rushed into the store without a care.

"Hey! What are you doing!" The staff member asked in panic, "Are you listening to us?!"

"Who cares about you! The rule of this world is the survival of the fittest!!!"

The scene suddenly became chaotic.

The reporter shouted excitedly: "The scene is in chaos! The scene is in chaos! The battle for the limited edition Owee has begun. This is too dangerous. This is too dangerous! The war against otaku has begun!!!"

Xia Yujie curled his lips and said, "This is no longer just chaos, it's simply a riot."

Gojo Satoru said confidently: "Don't worry, Al will not lose."

Sure enough, Al's figure was no longer there.

Ieiri Naoko avoided the chaotic people around her and hid between two male classmates. The two male classmates, who were 1.9 meters and 1.8 meters tall, were natural fortresses. No one was brave enough to bump into them.

She complained: "The game released on Christmas Eve caused a riot on Christmas Eve. After the incident, Owee might stop releasing the game."

Gojo Satoru: “!!!”

"What should I do?" He hesitated for a moment and was about to rush into the store to join the melee when the lights in Bentendo suddenly went out.

"?"

Inside the store, a middle-aged man dressed as Doraemon appeared in an elevator and shouted, “Hahahahahahahahahahaha – do you guys want Owee so badly?!”

Gojo Satoru narrowed his eyes, "Who is that?"

Xia Yujie hesitated and said, "Uh... maybe, it's the store manager?"

The store manager who was cosplaying as Doraemon said excitedly, "Since you are so enthusiastic, I have no choice but to change the original rules for you! Games - should be won in the form of games, this is what real players do! Come on, join my gambling, let us select customer representatives and have a game duel on the spot, and the winner of the bet can get the right to purchase Owee -"

Al punched Doraemon on the head.

Bang--!

The store manager who was cosplaying as the blue fat man fell to the ground. Before he could even scream in pain, someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy said expressionlessly, "What a joke! I'm the 72nd one, so it's only natural that I can buy Owee. Give me Owee right now, right now, my son is still waiting to play the game."

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Xia Yujie: “…”

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

This scene, this speech, this momentum, who wouldn’t want to shout “Dad” after seeing this!!!

The store manager whose hood was knocked off shrank back and said, "Hey, hey, please don't use violence against the store manager..."

Kagome also said: "...Well, Al, I support you 100%, but please don't bully the weak."

Although Al had obviously been very very very very very restrained, but, but——

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy grabbed the store manager with one hand and stepped on the blue fat man's headgear. He turned around and said righteously, "But Doraemon is not a weakling."

Xia Yujie: “…”

Al: "Are you looking down on Doraemon, Jake?"

Summer Oil Jie... Summer Oil Jie is silent.

——No one can look down on Doraemon! No one!!!

So Al turned his head back to face the terrified store manager and said calmly, "Give me Owee and my companions. We are all in the first 100, so we need one each, or I will kill you."

Store manager: “…”

High school students: “…”

Al, Al!! Did this cosmic swordsman Al have this kind of irritable personality before?! And we are not even in the top 100, don’t lie to him seriously!!!

Five minutes later, the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy walked out of the Bentendo store with four boxes of Owee. The three high school students followed him helplessly and silently. As they walked out, they heard a quarrel behind them:

"We also want to buy Owee according to the original rules, you bastard store manager who goes back on your word and does marketing!"

The store manager was so angry that he shouted, "Shut up! You nerds who only know how to play games! Go to school! Go to work! Don't stay at home playing games all day long! You are just a bunch of idiots who only know how to spend your mother's money!"

High school students: “…”

After they walked a long way out, Gojo Satoru patted Al's shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Al."

Al gave him a thumbs-up.

"I told you I would definitely fulfill Go-chan's wish."

Gojo Satoru was rarely moved.

Since removing the personality of "Minamoto no Raikou", the blond-haired and blue-eyed heroic spirit is still the original nerdy swordsman, but they vaguely feel that something has changed.

It's not the superficial change, but the deeper change of the core.

Al felt it himself.

After fulfilling Gojo Satoru's birthday wish, Al's obsession finally subsided a little, and he regained his previous peace of mind.

Al stopped and looked at the huge creature in front of him.

"...A bronze statue of Gundam?"

The three high school students looked up at the same time and saw a huge bronze statue of Gundam standing in the square of Akihabara. It was covered with Christmas decorations, including snowflake lights, star lights, sock pendants, Santa Claus pendants, and reindeer dolls...

Ieiri Naoko complained: "Why do you hang these on the bronze statue of Gundam?"

Gojo Satoru analyzed: "After all, this is Akihabara, so maybe they used a bronze statue of Gundam instead of a Christmas tree."

As expected of you, Akihabara, the holy land of otaku!

Al asked them, "Masters, do you want to take a group photo?"

The four high school students looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, so they quickly moved under the bronze statue of Gundam and happily took a photo with this strange "Christmas tree".

"eggplant--!"

Click.

After looking at the photos, Kagome asked, "Don't you think it would be great to replace the bronze statue of Gundam with a statue of Pikachu? Pikachu is cuter at Christmas, after all."

Ieichiro Nishiko took out a cigarette from his pocket.

"I think you're too deeply poisoned by Pikachu."

Al patted Geto's shoulder and encouraged him, "How about this, if Geto doesn't want to be a sorcerer anymore, you can try to run for mayor."

"…Huh? Running for mayor for what?"

Al said seriously, "When you become mayor, you can replace the bronze statue of Gundam with Pikachu. Well, Jerry, I'll wait for you for ten years!"

Gojo Satoru laughed heartily and said with great emotion, "Jay, I'll give you ten years too. After ten years, you must come back to us as mayor, okay?"

Ieiri Naoko couldn't help but laugh: "Well, you have great ambition, Geto."

Xia Yujie complained: "Don't run for mayor because of such a boring thing. Besides, this is not the mayor's business."

Al's eyes were sparkling. He raised his head slightly, looked at the fine snowflakes falling from the sky, and stretched out a hand.

"What I mean is, we should spend Christmas Eve together ten years from now, Masters."

This was the first time he spent Christmas Eve with his “family” since he turned twelve.

Gojo Satoru said, “Nonsense.”

Xia Yujie also said as a matter of course: "Of course."

Jialiu Nishiko lit a cigarette and said coolly, "Well, if there is no overtime, there will be no problem."

Anyway, the four of them are very strong. Even after ten, twenty or thirty years, they will definitely be alive and well.

Al said expectantly, "Merry Christmas Eve, Masters."