Yukari Yakumo had no hesitation going completely silent—aka lurking. At the moment, she was in a state of existential crisis. Or more accurately, youkai-life crisis.
Getting only 1 point from her first check-in could be dismissed as bad luck.
But missing out entirely during a red envelope grab?
That couldn't be chalked up to coincidence anymore.
It wasn't just the group admin or that planetary consciousness that beat her to it—even Kaguya, a mere human girl, managed to grab something. How embarrassing was that?
Yukari seriously began to suspect that someone back in Gensokyo had placed a curse on her!
And not just any curse—one that drains luck.
Totally plausible, actually.
Gensokyo wasn't exactly a land of eternal peace. Yukari did have a few enemies. Like, say... that person from Eientei.
As for Haruto Kisaragi, he wasn't too bothered. He hadn't interacted much with the Touhou Project world, but he'd picked up a lot from fanfics—especially the ones that featured Gensokyo's characters.
Because of that, he wasn't too sympathetic to Yukari's current sulking.
A gap demon who's lived God-knows-how-long sulking like a teenager?
Even if she was genuinely having a breakdown… give it a few hours and she'd be back, lively as ever.
Never overestimate Yukari Yakumo's dignity.
AwooSuperFierce: "@Edward Newgate – May I ask what exactly this Paramecia-type Devil Fruit does?"
Edward Newgate: "Please wait a moment, Group Leader. Let me go check my Devil Fruit Encyclopedia."
Edward Newgate: "I think I left it… oh! Here it is! Let me see…"
Edward Newgate: "It's a Paramecia-type... Decomposition Fruit!"
Haruto blinked in surprise after reading that.
"Decomposition Fruit? That definitely never appeared in the original One Piece story, right?"
It was a fruit that never showed up in canon.
But that wasn't really surprising. No one knew exactly how many Devil Fruits existed—not even a Yonko like Whitebeard.
Forget Logia and Paramecia—just take Zoan Fruits alone. If there were Devil Fruits for every single animal species, the number would easily hit hundreds of thousands.
Haruto looked down at the hefty Decomposition Fruit in his right hand, which was roughly the size and weight of a cantaloupe. He turned his attention back to the chat.
Edward Newgate: "The last known user of this fruit was a famous pirate. But twenty years ago, he was killed by the Marines somewhere in the New World."
Edward Newgate: "If I remember correctly, this fruit grants the ability to decompose objects… or something along those lines."
Lady Kaguya-sama: "Decompose objects? Um… what about living things?"
Lady Kaguya-sama: "If it works on living things, then wouldn't that be broken? Like, you could instantly turn a person into a pile of loose cells!"
Edward Newgate: "I'm not entirely sure. I didn't know the previous user personally—just picked up the info secondhand."
Wandering Little Planet: "Decompose objects… Can it decompose a planet?"
Edward Newgate: "Probably not. Decomposing a whole planet would be… a bit much."
After closing the chat window, Haruto weighed the fruit in his palm.
Shaped like a melon, weighty and oddly warm—it really did feel extraordinary.
"Even though I suck at science, I do know that all matter is made of molecules, atoms, and… something else ending in -on or -tron."
If this fruit allowed the user to break matter down into those fundamental components, then its power would be on par with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Of course, the real potential of a Devil Fruit still depended on the user's development of its abilities.
"There's no such thing as a weak Devil Fruit—only useless Devil Fruit users."
With the Nine-Tails rampage approaching fast, Haruto had to gain enough strength to survive. Even with the drawbacks of a Devil Fruit, it was better than being cannon fodder.
"I don't even mind being cannon fodder," Haruto thought. "The problem is—this particular background character might die anytime."
Which meant… his survival had become top priority.
Haruto mentally prepared himself to take a bite. Just then, a private message popped up in the chat group.
Yep—this chat group really was just like QQ.
Members could send private messages to each other.
But to Haruto's shock, the message wasn't from any group member.
The sender's prefix was five characters long: [Group Feature Notification]
[Group Feature Notification: Group Leader "AwooSuperFierce," would you like to spend 1000 points to eliminate the Devil Fruit's weaknesses—namely, its vulnerability to seawater and Seastone? Yes / No]
Haruto blinked.
He vaguely recalled seeing this "Group Feature Notification" when organizing the chat group functions earlier—but he hadn't paid it any mind.
And now it popped up on its own?
So this was an automated assistant feature that offered tips?
"Wait, I can remove the Devil Fruit's two main weaknesses with just 1000 points?!"
That was insanely tempting.
But the biggest problem was… Haruto only had 100 points.
He'd only had the Dimensional Chat Group for half a day, after all.
"No choice. I'll just save up the points later. First, I need to eat this fruit and start experimenting with the ability. I need power before the Nine-Tails incident hits."
With his decision made, Haruto no longer hesitated.
He didn't even bother to peel or wash the thing. He just shoved it into his mouth and bit down.
Without chewing, he swallowed.
It was still useless.
Haruto's face twisted.
"It tastes like someone shoved a pile of crap into my mouth."
There was no way to describe that disgusting flavor.
Even without chewing, just biting into it had nearly made him gag.
Had he chewed it, he probably would've needed to brush his teeth a few hundred times.
Haruto set the fruit—now missing a small bite—on the table.
There was no need to eat the whole thing. One bite was enough to awaken a Devil Fruit's power.
As for the remaining fruit?
It turned into an ordinary, albeit weird-looking, piece of produce.
Even if someone else ate it, they wouldn't gain any powers.