” “Go to school.” “Don’t go to school.” “Go to school.” “Don’t go to school.” …
Buyuan was sitting on his bed muttering to himself about whether or not to go to school.
“If you can’t decide, just compromise.
Go in the morning and skip the afternoon.
Problem solved.” Makoto watched Buyuan, who had been acting possessed ever since checking his phone that morning, with a mix of exasperation and concern.
Still, she offered a suggestion.
“Fine!
That’s what we’ll do.” First thing that morning, Buyuan had seen the goodnight message Ellen had sent last night.
He felt the sting of a guilty conscience.
“Then I’m off to school.” Seeing time was running short, Buyuan didn’t have time for breakfast.
“Makoto, if I don’t message you, just cook for one.
If I do, make it for two.” Before Makoto could even respond, Buyuan was already gone.
At that moment, Buyuan, hurrying on his way, didn’t notice his phone vibrating like crazy.
“Could he still not be awake?” Qingyi tapped the table in frustration.
“How did Section 6 get their sights on him too?” Qingyi’s head was starting to hurt.
“Senior, do you think Kamen Rider will fall for it?
If he doesn’t, they’ll definitely suspect PubSec has a mole.
If he does, Section 6 certainly won’t let him off easy.” Zhu Yuan was also troubled.
“Let nature take its course.
Fortune favors the blessed.” Qingyi was a bit helpless too.
Meanwhile, Buyuan just barely managed to arrive at the classroom the instant the bell rang.
“Weren’t you not coming?” Ellen looked at the panting Buyuan beside her in surprise.
“Thought it over and figured I’d come for the morning at least.
It’s rare for Ellen to come to class.
Wouldn’t it be a shame if I didn’t show up?” Buyuan teased Ellen.
“I was working.” “So was I when I didn’t come.” Buyuan replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Whatever.” Ellen ignored him, turned, and laid her head on the desk, ready to sleep.
Perhaps because every time he came, his tail inevitably ended up in Ellen’s hands, Buyuan quite expertly swung his tail over and laid his head down to sleep.
“….?” At that moment, Ellen stared at the tail now resting in her hand, her head nearly overflowing with question marks.
‘What evil scheme are you plotting now?’ Ellen eyed the prone Buyuan with considerable wariness.
‘Is he really being this nice?’ She tentatively stroked his tail.
Only after confirming he truly had no reaction did she finally lay her head down at ease and go to sleep.
Just like that, in that familiar sensation, Buyuan — despite having only just woken up — was still able to continue sleeping.
The moment the bell rang, the two of them rose like Jaeger pilots from Pacific Rim, stretching and yawning.
“Want to this afternoon…” Buyuan’s words died in his throat as he looked at the messages on his phone.
“Want to what?” Ellen looked at the suddenly serious Buyuan, completely puzzled.
“Nothing.
Got something urgent to take care of this afternoon.” Buyuan sent Makoto a message saying he wouldn’t be back.
“Need help?
If you really can’t bear to use that voucher, it’s not like I can’t help out.” Ellen’s tone was light, laced with a bit of teasing.
“No need.
This time, you really can’t help with this one.
Don’t worry.
I’ve already figured out when I’ll ask for your help.
Just look forward to it.” Buyuan smiled at Ellen.
“Anyway, I’ve gotta go now.
See you tomorrow.” With that, Buyuan hurriedly left.
At that moment, his phone screen displayed: Qingyi: You’ve been marked by Hollow Special Operations Section 6.
They’ve set an open scheme — a fake arrest operation posted online, already made public.
Given Kamen Rider’s track record, you wouldn’t miss something like this.
But if you don’t show, they’ll suspect PubSec has a mole.
My advice: ignore it.
Right now, no one at PubSec can trace anything.
I’m a special case — they can’t trace it back to me.
But either way, I want to hear your thoughts.
Buyuan made his way to the school gate, then slipped into an alley near the PubSec station.
Buyuan: Do you know who’s coming?
Qingyi: Just woke up?
Buyuan: Just got out of class.
Qingyi: I keep forgetting you’re just an eighteen-year-old high schooler.
This time, it’s Section 6’s Deputy Chief Tsukishiro Yanagi.
Soukaku and Asaba Harumasa are on a mission in Hollow Zero.
Chief Hoshimi Miyabi is at a high-level meeting.
“?!
You call this ‘just Tsukishiro Yanagi’?” Buyuan was a bit speechless.
“How could a Hollow mission possibly just be those two?
Knowing Miyabi’s personality, she’d have charged in already.
Plus, Hoshimi Miyabi actually attending a meeting?!” Buyuan’s tone was a bit indignant.
Buyuan: Time and place.
Qingyi: You’re going?
Buyuan: Yeah.
Buyuan already knew the worst-case scenario: all of Section 6 would be present.
But with Clock Up, the only one who could possibly stop him was Miyabi going all out.
But from what he knew of Miyabi, she mostly just wanted to spar with him.
Qingyi: Core area of the Crete Companion Hollow on 14th Street.
1 PM.
This operation is just a smokescreen.
So once you’re inside, you should only run into Section 6 members.
Buyuan: I have just one request.
If you don’t hear news of me being taken down by Section 6, and I haven’t sent a message by 4 PM, come fish me out of the Hollow.
Qingyi: Very well.
“What a pain.
Can’t bring Belle along for this job.
Getting out of the Hollow will have to rely on either Qingyi or Section 6.” Buyuan felt rather helpless about being directionally challenged.
Buyuan flagged down a taxi and rushed over.
After all, classes ended at noon.
“No time to change my look.
I’ll just transform directly.” Buyuan completed his transformation the moment he stepped into the Hollow, though he didn’t Cast Off.
He didn’t encounter a single Ethereal along the way.
Buyuan understood — the Section 6 members were likely already waiting for him.
With no Ethereals to slow him down, he relied on the Carrot data to locate rifts for travel and quickly arrived at the core area.
“Nagi!
He’s here.” Soukaku had been sitting idly at the front, dozing off.
Bleary-eyed, she spotted a figure appearing directly ahead.
“Chief?” Yanagi adjusted her glasses and turned to look at Miyabi.
…
“Chief…?” Seeing no response, Yanagi called out again.
“…” Miyabi didn’t answer.
She merely nodded continuously.
“Perhaps Chief Miyabi is undergoing training to communicate without speaking,” Asaba Harumasa offered uncertainly.
“…” Miyabi remained silent, simply nodding away.
“Why now, of all times.” Yanagi massaged her temples with a headache.
The individual they were about to face wasn’t easy to deal with.
Having her own chief pull this was truly troublesome.
“You all seem somewhat troubled?” After drawing closer, Buyuan spotted the adorable Soukaku, the pained Yanagi, the weary Harumasa, and the oblivious her.
“My apologies for choosing such a place for our first meeting.” Seeing her chief was in no state to communicate, Yanagi had to take the lead herself.
“No w…” CLANG!
The clash of metal swallowed Buyuan’s words in the wind.
“It seems your intentions are less than friendly?” Buyuan put on a serious expression, gazing at Miyabi before him as he flicked the Kunai Blade in his hand.
“Chief?” Yanagi felt her headache worsening.
“…” Miyabi said nothing, merely shaking her head.
“If that weren’t the case, you wouldn’t have attacked outright.” Buyuan looked at this less-than-sound-of-mind Void Hunter and spoke.
“…” Miyabi shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again.
She simply sheathed her blade, then drew it once more.
“…” For a moment, no one understood.
“So it’s a spar…
You could’ve just said so.
A sudden attack is easily misunderstood.” Buyuan also settled into a stance, ready to fight this youngest Void Hunter.
“Let’s be clear beforehand.
Just a spar, so no hard feelings.” Terrified she might use the same slash on him that she’d used on Bringer, Buyuan hurriedly reminded her.
“…” Miyabi nodded, her long ears swaying.
“Nagi!
How can he understand what the chief is saying?” Little Soukaku, little brain, could not fathom the tacit understanding between adults.
“Perhaps it’s a meeting of minds between the strong?” Harumasa mused thoughtfully.
….
On the field, Buyuan was getting beaten down by Miyabi.
Without Cast Off, he was too sluggish.
But since she wasn’t fighting seriously either, the damage wasn’t significant.
“…” Miyabi stopped a short distance from Buyuan and drew her blade from its sheath.
A faint blue flame wreathed the blade.
“Understood.” Buyuan pulled the Zecter’s horn.
“Cast Off!
Change Beetle!” Miyabi casually cleaved through the flying silver-white armor plating and lunged forward.
Buyuan understood full well that his combat awareness and experience couldn’t match hers.
Without any hesitation: “Clock Up.” As everything around him gradually slowed, Miyabi’s speed likewise became trackable.
“Then I’m making my move.” Buyuan charged at the now extremely slow-moving Miyabi.
He discovered that Miyabi, contrary to his expectations, was not able to parry him under Clock Up.
Then he realized his stamina was plummeting at an alarming rate.
“Oh crap.
It drains stamina based on the opponent’s strength!” Alarm bells blared in Buyuan’s mind.
He hurriedly rushed forward and, under Miyabi’s stunned gaze, disarmed her of her blade.
After releasing Clock Up, everything returned to normal.
Yanagi watched the scene in astonishment.
Her chief’s blade had, in an instant, appeared in the opponent’s hand.
“…” Miyabi seemed to desperately want to say something, but because of her training, she couldn’t.
Her exquisitely indifferent face flushed slightly red.
“I know what you want to say.
Something about how this blade can’t be casually touched.
How I broke the rules, something like that.” Buyuan curiously examined the blade in his hand.
“…” Miyabi nodded, then shook her head.
“That doesn’t count as breaking the rules?
I used power beyond the scope of a spar.” Buyuan looked at Miyabi with some surprise.
“…” Miyabi shook her head again.
“I’ll come find you again.
I will undergo training to match your speed.” Miyabi’s sudden words caught everyone off guard.
“My training to communicate without speaking is now complete.
It was a success.
You understood my meaning.” Miyabi walked slowly towards Buyuan.
“Tailless is very dangerous.
Give it here.” Miyabi reached out and took back the Tailless that Buyuan handed over.
“It seems…
afraid of you?” Buyuan watched the blade in Miyabi’s hands with keen interest.
“…” Hoshimi Miyabi was also somewhat puzzled.
“How did you do it?” She looked up at Buyuan again.
“You’re afraid of me too.
Would you believe that?” Buyuan knew perfectly well the sheer suppressive force a nine-tailed fox held over ordinary youkai.
Though he wasn’t actually sure if Thirens counted.
At the very least, if he emitted a nine-tails’ aura, ordinary people couldn’t withstand it either.
Yet, for some reason, it didn’t work on Ethereals.
Perhaps that was the greatest weakness of creatures possessing souls.
“Why?” Miyabi was deeply puzzled.
“Before that, I need to ask you all something.” Buyuan looked at Yanagi and the others.
“What is your stance towards me?” Buyuan naturally wasn’t foolish enough to trust them without asking anything.
“We bear no ill will.
The higher-ups did issue orders for your capture, but that has nothing to do with Section 6.
This operation was solely because the chief wanted to spar with you.” Yanagi understood the importance of her answer and spoke with clarity.
“I understand.” Buyuan naturally knew their characters well, so he openly and unreservedly released his transformation.
“You!” Yanagi was astonished at how much trust Buyuan placed in them.
“No need for that expression.
Would the renowned Void Hunter really need to use such schemes to capture me?” Buyuan waved it off.
“My name is Mo Buyuan.
Call me whatever you like.” “I can feel a faint sense of suppression emanating from you.
It has nothing to do with your strength.” Miyabi’s expression was one of shock.
“Why?” In all her years, Miyabi had never encountered something so absurd.
“Not telling.
Who’d share something like that with someone they just met?” Buyuan actually held quite a favorable impression of Miyabi, but he hadn’t even figured it out himself yet.
“Well then, everyone?
Planning on staying here forever?
The little miss over there is already dizzy with hunger.” Buyuan glanced at the wilting Soukaku and pointed out.
“Let’s go out and eat together.” Yanagi had also noticed Soukaku’s state and led everyone out of the Hollow.
The entire way, Miyabi kept her eyes closed, silently following behind the group.
“The chief is always like this.
She enjoys all manner of strange and peculiar training.” Yanagi noticed Buyuan studying Miyabi and explained.
“Very interesting.” Buyuan was rather intrigued by Miyabi’s training.
It had an odd kind of gap moe.
Along the way, Buyuan got along quite well chatting with Yanagi.
The mature and steady deputy chief had a broad range of knowledge, and this visitor from another world knew a little bit about everything.
This made their conversation flow rather congenially.
After getting into Section 6’s car, Buyuan also discovered their car stereo was playing Blue and White Porcelain.
“I just realized, your voice sounds a lot like this Fate Not Arrived.” Harumasa pointed out, then realized something was off.
“Uh, don’t tell me it IS you?” Harumasa found that the username fit Buyuan unexpectedly well.
“Mm.
Yeah, that’s me.” Buyuan didn’t hide it.
This kind of thing was clearly a goodwill booster.
After saying this, he unexpectedly noticed Yanagi’s gaze towards him turn strange.
Miyabi and Soukaku as well — but theirs were different from Yanagi’s.
Then he recalled some information about Yanagi.
She was apparently tone-deaf but didn’t want to lose face to other departments at certain department gatherings.
It seemed once he got more familiar with Yanagi, she’d come to him for singing lessons.
Harumasa parked the car at the Lumina Square parking lot and led everyone to a hot pot restaurant.
Come to think of it, doesn’t New Eridu have any other suitable places for gatherings?
Comment it and let me know.