Chapter 810

Success!

A strong sense of pleasant surprise surged into his heart.

He suppressed his excitement and began to conduct more tests.

With another thought, the cash in his hand decreased by another 5,000 yen.

The number on the panel immediately updated to 【15,000 yen】.

Then, he tried the reverse operation—take out.

Mumbling in his heart, specifying to take out the 5,000 yen he just stored.

The light flashed slightly, there wasn't even a "flashing" process, and the 5,000 yen banknote appeared intact in his other empty palm.

The panel number synchronized back to 【10,000 yen】.

After several quick operations of storing, taking out, and mixing,

Natsume Chikage happily confirmed a few points:

First, storing and taking out are completed almost instantly, without any delay, as soon as the thought arrives, the money appears.

Second, the number displayed on the panel can be accurate to the single digit, and the amount of money stored and taken out is completely free.

Third, and most importantly—the storage space seems to have no upper limit, or rather, the upper limit is so high that he cannot test it at all at present.

He tried to store all the remaining cash in his hand at once.

The number on the panel jumped smoothly, finally settling at 【150,000 yen】.

And his hand was already empty.

This means that this "Leather Wallet" is essentially an infinitely capacious private bank bound to him personally and absolutely safe!

From now on, he no longer has to worry about cash being lost, stolen, or attracting attention because of carrying a large amount of cash.

All wealth can be turned into intangible numbers, hidden in this system space that only he can access.

Although for now, this ability seems useless in many situations.

But Natsume Chikage immediately thought of its wonderful uses—especially in certain special situations, such as needing to suddenly pay a large amount of cash, or like now, needing to keep property absolutely secret, it is simply priceless.

Of course, for the current Natsume Chikage, the first "practical" scenario he thought of was teasing his sister Ruri.

Imagine...

Making money appear out of thin air in front of Ruri...

Or pretending to lose his wallet, and when she is worried, taking the money out of "thin air" with a grin...

The corners of Natsume Chikage's mouth couldn't help but curve upward.

That girl's reaction would definitely be very interesting.

Just thinking about it made him feel happy.

He took out all the cash again, put it back into his ordinary wallet properly, and tidied up his clothes.

He calmed down the excitement of obtaining a new ability.

Then, he opened the stall door and walked out.

Natsume Chikage, who returned to Furukawa Masahiro and others alone, was immediately surrounded by the people who had been waiting for a long time.

Various blessings and exclamations came one after another.

Horikawa Kashi was the first to step forward, a look of disbelief still remaining in her eyes, her tone full of pleasant surprise:

"Natsume-kun, congratulations on your victory!"

She shook her head slightly, seemingly still finding it incredible.

"I... I really didn't expect your strength to be so strong, you actually even beat the semi-pro Suzuki Takayuki."

Asahina Akatsuki also followed closely, her beautiful face filled with sincere joy, looking at Natsume Chikage with burning eyes:

"Yes, I didn't expect it either... you actually really beat Takayuki."

In her words, besides surprise, there seemed to be a trace of another, softer emotion.

Tanabe Yuto's complexion was much more complex.

He adjusted his glasses, trying hard to squeeze out a natural smile, but it still looked somewhat reluctant.

"Me too... congratulations, Natsume-kun."

Natsume Chikage took in everyone's reactions, a faint, polite smile appearing on his face.

"Thank you all."

Suzuki Takayuki, standing on the side, hummed lightly when he heard this, turned his face away, but finally turned back, his tone somewhat stiff:

"He... really has a bit of strength."

"Really has the level to compete with me."

Immediately, he couldn't help but add another sentence, carrying obvious dissatisfaction:

"However... if I hadn't made that mistake, who would win and who would lose is still another matter."

Fukuda Shi crossed his arms, looking Natsume Chikage up and down, the sense of scrutiny in his eyes much less than before, replaced by a bit of recognition.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin, and finally, he spoke, his tone carrying a sense of affirmation from a senior to a junior:

"Still... played quite well, kid."

"I also didn't expect you to really break through this fifth round."

He paused, admitting:

"It seems... I still underestimated you."

"Didn't expect you to hide semi-pro level strength."

Furukawa Saio was unhappy as soon as she heard this.

Like a little cat protecting its cubs, she jumped out from her grandfather's side, put her hands on her hips, puffed out her small chest, and said crisply:

"I already said so!"

"Big Brother is very amazing! He even..."

However, before the "won against" after the word "even" could be said—

An aged yet swift hand reached out from the side, precisely covering her little mouth.

"Mmph! Mmph mmph!"

Furukawa Saio's remaining words turned into vague whimpers.

Furukawa Masahiro's old face flushed, and cold sweat seemed to seep from his forehead.

While covering his granddaughter's mouth, he coughed twice, trying to cover up the embarrassment, and quickly took over the conversation:

"Ahem... haha..."

"Yes, yes, Natsume-kun is indeed very strong."

"Saio meant... even an old man like me admires him, haha..."

He laughed dryly, quietly glared at his granddaughter, signaling her not to talk nonsense again.

Fukuda Shi didn't delve into the little girl's unfinished words, his attention was more on Natsume Chikage himself.

He rubbed his stubble, his gaze fell on Natsume Chikage again carefully, carrying inquiry and some confusion:

"Natsume-kun... you hid it deep enough."

He directly raised the question in many people's minds.

"With this strength, why not join the Shogi Association earlier?"

"If so, you could have obtained stable match prize money through the association's internal matches and activities long ago, right?"

"Why wait until now to participate in this kind of public, cruel-format competition?"

This question clearly also hit Horikawa Kashi's heart.

She nodded quickly, a look of concern and urgency appearing on her beautiful face, and suggested:

"Yes!"

"Natsume-kun, with your current strength, I highly, highly suggest you join the Shogi Association."

"If so, you would be equivalent to having a formal, and potentially huge 'job'."

"You can obtain a more stable source of income, and also get more systematic training and match opportunities."

Furukawa Masahiro nodded slightly when he heard this, expressing agreement.

Everyone else around, Asahina Akatsuki, Tanabe Yuto, and even Suzuki Takayuki, who had just turned his face away, also looked over.

They all knew or guessed Natsume Chikage's embarrassed family situation to some extent.

They also understood that economic problems might be one of the important reasons why he refused to start a relationship. ===== CHAPTER 811 =====