Chapter 24: Senior Jiang, go on a date with me.

“The Provisional Act on Supernatural Crime was promulgated recently, making our country the first in the world to legislate abnormal incidents…”

Ka—

In the dim basement, an old CRT television went dark, the capacitor discharging with a sizzling sound.

“Ah… Long Yin, why are we still hiding out in a place like this! Didn’t we just pull off a big job?!”

The green-haired man with a ponytail threw the remote aside, sitting on the cot with his back against the uneven wall.

“GPRI has already been destroyed, and we’re still acting like rats… How shameful!”

The red-haired man called Long Yin fiddled with electronic components in the dark, ignoring his companion’s complaints.

“Ah, Long Yin, didn’t you hear me?”

The green-haired man, Beiye, stretched out his foot and poked Long Yin, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.

“Shut up!”

Long Yin’s voice was hoarse.

“Beiye, are you an idiot? Do you really think everyone in GPRI is dead?”

Long Yin set down the electronic components, sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Do you know how many GPRI bases there are in Tokyo Metropolis? And how many in all of Japan? Not everyone foolishly went down with the base.”

“There was only an inferior researcher left at Fengzhou Market. I bet the rest are about the same level, right?”

Beiye looked completely unconcerned.

“Beiye, if you want to die, don’t drag me with you.”

Long Yin’s pale gray eyes were icy cold.

“Our mission is already complete. What comes next has nothing to do with us…”

Beep, beep, beep—

Suddenly, the old-fashioned flip phone in Long Yin’s pocket chimed.

Beiye, who had been about to retort, fell silent.

Long Yin took out the phone.

Electronic components were taped to the back, making it look like some sort of bomb.

He read the message, then put the phone back in his pocket.

“A new mission came in.”

“What, what? Is it targeting that genius?”

Beiye looked excited, leaping up from the bed.

“I really want to test that guy’s strength…”

“Too bad, it’s not him.”

Long Yin bit his finger, falling into deep thought.

“Then what is it?”

Beiye sounded disappointed.

“Jiang Jian Yue. Investigate her background.”

“Eh— That girl who was with the genius before? Ah~ Boring.”

Beiye flopped back onto the bed, utterly disinterested.

“Isn’t she just a ‘half-Tunjiti’? Is it really necessary for us to probe her?”

Long Yin was silent for a moment.

“She doesn’t have any mutant traits on her. And it’s not confirmed she’s even a Tunjiti. All Tunjiti show -1 on the Detection Device. But she…”

Long Yin looked complicatedly at the Detection Device lying on the floor.

Compared to the GPRI’s, their Detection Device was bigger and operated with physical buttons.

“So it’s a Modified Parasite, huh? Changed her own data to -100 for fun~”

Beiye shrugged indifferently.

“I hope it’s just that.”

Long Yin lowered his gaze, noticing his hand on his leg was trembling.

He grabbed it with his other hand, only to find both were shaking, sending a chill through his whole body.

“What’s wrong?”

Beiye noticed his companion’s strange behavior, raised his head, and squinted at him.

“The message said…”

Long Yin spoke slowly.

“This mission was personally assigned by the Leader.”

“Eh—”

Beiye’s pupils shook.

After a dramatically loud gasp, fear finally appeared on his usually flippant face.

“Leader? Seriously?”

“That means… this mission is extremely dangerous!”

***

After stepping out of the bathroom, the extremely dangerous Jiang Jian Yue wrapped herself in a bath towel and flopped onto the sofa, chatting with Yuki Asahi on LINE.

“Senior Jiang, I visited the Victim and just got home.”

“Oh? How did it go?”

“Inoue’s mother is very haggard. I feel like telling her about her son’s death was too cruel.”

Inoue was the other Victim in the Kuninori Tsuruoka case.

“It might be better to wait a while longer, right?”

Jiang Jian Yue replied without much thought.

“It depends on Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu’s arrangements. When will they decide on Kuninori Tsuruoka’s sentence?”

Fresh out of the bath, with her brain nearly smoothed out by the heat, she asked, “Wasn’t Kuninori Tsuruoka already dead? Sentencing a corpse www”

“How did Senior Jiang know Kuninori Tsuruoka was dead?”

Jiang Jian Yue’s heart skipped a beat.

Then she remembered this wasn’t a logic battle drama, and lied smoothly.

“I have special sources.”

“I see.”

Yuki Asahi didn’t doubt it at all, and even felt like his question was unnecessary.

“What about Maeda?”

“Maeda’s father is a drunk. He doesn’t care if he’s dead or alive.”

“…Honestly, after realizing that, I felt relieved.”

“Scary, right? Maybe I’ve always been a bad kid.”

Even through the screen, Jiang Jian Yue could feel Yuki Asahi’s bitter smile as he slipped back into self-deprecation.

What a troublesome adolescent.

“The person was killed by a Knife Tip Worm. The worm was released by Kuninori Tsuruoka, aiming to stop Devourer G. And you? You’re just a lucky one freed from pain.”

“There’s no need to burden yourself with psychological pressure.”

The other side was silent for a while before replying.

“Senior’s words always make so much sense.”

Why does it sound a bit sarcastic?

But that guy probably didn’t mean it that way.

That’s the trouble with chatting online—you can easily misunderstand the other person’s intent.

Jiang Jian Yue rolled around on the sofa, lips pursed, the bath towel quickly coming loose and hanging off the edge.

Her young body was exposed to the air, but she didn’t care, carefully choosing every word of advice she wanted to send next.

***

Yuki Asahi lay on his single bed.

The lights in the bedroom were off, and the screen’s faint glow illuminated his somber face.

“Don’t be bound by pointless emotions! Courage-kun!”

Ah, another pun?

Yuki Asahi couldn’t help but smile, and the heavy mood lifted.

For some reason, talking with Senior Jiang was always relaxing.

Is this what being friends feels like?

That kind of “Friend” like Maeda Kaiichi… doesn’t really count as a true friend.

Suddenly, he remembered what Kaori Onishi had said to him that morning before they parted.

“Yuki-kun, Senior Jiang might like you~”

What the heck, bringing up Jiang Jian out of nowhere.

And guessing at people’s feelings like that, how rude.

Yuki Asahi vaguely sensed she was just enjoying the thrill of playing matchmaker.

Kaori Onishi isn’t the Sun. She’s bloodthirsty and likes to watch interesting things happen.

But we’re really just friends…

His gaze lingered on Jiang Jian Yue’s last message, unable to move on.

Suddenly, Yuki Asahi sat up, holding his phone in both hands, and tapped out a message with his thumbs.

“Senior Jiang, can we go on a date tomorrow?”

His hand trembled, and he accidentally sent it.

Yuki Asahi immediately slapped the phone face-down onto the blanket and banged his head with his hand.

I must be possessed!

Damn you, Kaori!

The phone vibrated under the blanket—Jiang Jian Yue had replied.

He didn’t dare look.

He took several deep breaths, his heart pounding faster than when facing Devourer G.

At last, face red, Yuki Asahi gritted his teeth and flipped open the phone.

Eh?