The “Fever Slot Buckle”, though he doesn’t really know what that means.

In moments a beige-colored box marked with the cat emblem visible on Lenny’s ID Core appeared in his hands, and he opened it to reveal a gold Raise Buckle that looked like a slot machine.

“… this gold one looks super rare, do you understand now? Mara-san told me you normally can’t buy Raise Buckles in any format, but my power lets me exchange numbers on a screen around and let me do that sort of thing. Nothing godly about it.” Leonard explained to Girori, who was speechless.

After a moment of contemplative silence, Girori puts the tablet away, saying “Don’t ever do that again.” gravely.

“But—”

“Don’t. The merch was a complementary gift from my own personal funds, and from the sound of things you bought a little over a thousand of them for your power to work. I agree it’s an incredible ability, but I have no intention of letting you **** it on my own dime.” Girori explained. “Now, I have an idea for how you can get back your toy, but it’s not going to be easy. Essentially, you’ll have to fight Geats with the block on the line.”

“… gonna level with you, that sounds impossible.” Leonard sighed. “He’s the main character of the show.”

Undaunted, Girori replied “Your show, yes. But that doesn’t mean he’s invincible, only formidable.” with as plain a face as before.

“Well, uh… do you mind if you hear any, uh… spoilers?” Mara asked.

“As someone designed from the ground up to be a DGP Game Master, my memories are already easily consolidated and edited. Though, I will say I’ve never had to do so due to dealing with a VIP from a higher layer of reality before.” he further explained. “Talk away.”

“Well, uh… Ace is eventually gonna win so much that you decide he’s too OP and that the game’s in danger while he can still play and snoop around. Then you’ll plot to **** him to lose, and end up getting shafted from your position and replaced while he’s allowed to keep playing.” Mara explained, probably in disbelief that this sort of thing is genuinely happening.

Girori put a hand on his chin, saying “Yes, that sounds right. That definitely seems like the course of events that would follow, provided Ace wins with his current Desire granted.” before holding up one of the “Desire Cards”, one saying “A World Where The DGP Staff Members Are My Family”.

“… wait, so if one of us somehow won, then our wish would really happen? For real?” Lenny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah. It’s the central conceit of the show. Why, what did you wish for?” Mara asked.

“Well… uh… I’m not sure it’s—” Lenny started, before being cut off as he noticed Girori pulling out the Desire Card he had written in, showing the words “I Dunno, Maybe A Way For Me To Stop Knocking Up So Many Women? Or Like, At Least A Way To Financially Support All Of The Women I End Up Impregnating? Whatever. I’m Tired. I Wanna Go Home And Get To Bed…”.

Everyone got kinda quiet after that, at least until Erica said “I didn’t trust it, so I just wrote that I didn’t want anything.” with a nervous chuckle, before Angie nodded to express she had had the same sentiment with her own Desire Card.

“I wished for a way to sharpen my skills and improve myself.” Rena added.

“Mine was for Ace-sama to get his desire granted, and for him to become the Deza Shin in my place… I didn’t figure I could win against him, but still…” Mara also mentioned, blushing a little.

“Either way, these are unnecessary. You five aren’t Players anymore, so these won’t be fulfilled. You’d only lose the desires associated with the cards’ contents if these remain ungranted when the final Deza Shin gets crowned.” Girori said, before pulling out the other four mentioned Desire Cards and making them disintegrate into light particles with a wave of his hand along with Lenny’s card.

“Alright, fair enough. But you still didn’t answer our question, how can we beat Ace-san if you won’t even be able to beat him in the future?” Leonard asked, raising an important question.

“That won’t be an issue. At this early stage of the DGP, he won’t be powerful enough to rival me. And provided you five are more than clueless tourists, this will be training enough.” the white-suited man replied, sighing as he pulled a suitcase from somewhere Lenny couldn’t see. Opening it revealed a black and red device that looked like a different model of transformation belt than the “Desire Driver” currently equipped to the five in Leonard’s party.

Girori then placed the item at his waist; equipping it as it made a noise that presumably declared itself to be a “Vision Driver”. With a calm statement of “Henshin”, Girori then scanned a card his belt and turned into some kind of eye-themed Kamen Rider that shared his belt’s black-and-red-with-purple-accents coloring.

“You all will test yourselves against a crucible no DGP Rider would ordinarily face, and when you’re done one of you should at least be strong enough to beat him here and now.” the transformed Girori explained, as the surroundings shifted to an empty room with Desire Grand Prix logos emblazoned on the walls. “If not, you’ll just have to return from whence you came empty-handed.”