“Huh? All night?”
Upon hearing the news from the pink-haired little maid, Akimoto Miki’s expression changed slightly.
“Yes, the monitoring room discovered that since Yuki-kun entered the office… he hasn’t come out yet… it’s been… fourteen hours.”
The pink-haired little maid reported in a soft whisper, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“They’re probably just asleep, right?” Akimoto Miki forced herself to steady her mind, deceiving herself this way. But she’d heard these superpower users were supposed to have pretty strong stamina.
Thump!
The tightly locked office door suddenly made a sound of impact, startling the two people in front of it. They looked at each other.
This… it couldn’t be…
Could it be…?
The commotion inside the office continued until the sun was high in the sky.
Jiang Jian Yue, dressed in new clothes, walked out from the restroom inside the office’s side door.
With a flushed face, she sat back in the boss’s chair and relaxed completely.
“Couldn’t you have been gentler?! That outfit… it was the dress I wore on our first date! It had sentimental value!”
“I’m sorry…” Yuki Asahi lowered his eyes, his voice somewhat dejected.
“I’ve said it so many times, I hate hearing ‘I’m sorry.’ You should say ‘I’ll do it again next time!'”
“Huh?”
Yuki Asahi spoke dazedly, “Tsuki-chan… you… your speech… isn’t… stuttering anymore…”
He had thought her speech was only smoother when the side effects were active.
“Huh… really.”
Jiang Jian Yue rubbed her chin, her eyes gradually brightening—finally… finally, she wasn’t stuttering anymore. She didn’t need to maintain that aloof act!
The aloof act was just a means to cover up her stuttering (firmly convinced).
Jiang Jian Yue’s consciousness sank into the Light Bug Space. Compared to before, there was much less energy stored here, but she wasn’t here to look at that.
Beside the floating fragments, a broken bowl floated alongside them.
Based on the characteristics of the Light Bug ability, Jiang Jian Yue now fully understood how to use this broken bowl.
It could cover a maximum area of two hundred and fifty thousand square meters.
Anything covered would be transferred to the bowl’s internal world. Spatial abilities couldn’t escape from this bowl either.
It wasn’t just about covering something; it was about transferring it to another world. Digging a tunnel would naturally be useless.
Because she wasn’t an Emergent Body… or rather, because Jiang Jian Yue wasn’t part of the Mind Bug System at all, using a Manifested Heart Weapon came with an activation cost.
Emotional Stripping—the more it was used, the more inhuman she would become. Jiang Jian Yue didn’t want to turn into a cold, heartless person.
Jiang Jian Yue yawned, looking somewhat listlessly at Yuki Asahi, who was still full of fighting spirit. “Darling, aren’t you tired?”
“Right now, I feel… I could still keep fighting.”
Yuki Asahi flexed his wrist—after absorbing positive emotions all night, he felt he still had fuel in the tank.
The ox wasn’t dead yet, but the field was about to be ruined.
Knock knock knock—
A knocking sound came from outside the door, followed by Akimoto Miki’s voice. “I’m very sorry to disturb the two of you, but there’s a very urgent matter.”
“Come in!”
Jiang Jian Yue first sniffed herself to see if there was any strange smell—but as the saying goes, those involved are often blind, so it was hard to smell that particular scent.
Akimoto Miki entered holding a tablet. Seeing Yuki Asahi standing inside, her cheeks turned slightly red.
She looked at Jiang Jian Yue and noticed the “Divine Halo” that usually surrounded the Missy seemed to have weakened.
She cleared her throat a few times. “Ahem, Missy, regarding the decision you issued yesterday afternoon… should we retract it?”
?
“Yesterday afternoon…” Jiang Jian Yue thought. What did she do yesterday afternoon?
Oh, right. It was cooperating with the Self-Defense Force to complete the disarmament of the DRG Japan Branch… and some of the orders tying their own hands.
Damn it!
“Retract it!”
Jiang Jian Yue felt that this side effect seemed even more troublesome than a rampage. “Any losses?”
“Uh… no.”
Akimoto Miki shook her head and continued her report. “Morita-san felt the orders you issued in that state weren’t quite appropriate, so he had us delay execution by a day.”
Morita, you saved this household…
Jiang Jian Yue didn’t feel Morita had overstepped his authority.
She clearly understood that as a leader, she wasn’t mature enough yet. It was better to give Morita more power.
“Also… I’ll just show you the video directly.” Akimoto Miki turned the tablet around and placed it on the desk.
On the tablet was a news video playing about a major news event across the sea—in South Korea.
A large-scale sacrifice conducted by cult members had been completed in Seoul.
Currently, the entire city of Seoul was in a strange state. From a distance, the sky flickered with a purple light.
Currently, the Korean military was trying to retake Seoul. The sound of intense artillery fire continued nonstop, making one think the General was marching south.
Before fleeing Seoul, an eyewitness captured footage of the suspected attacker’s appearance—brown-red long hair, an athletic build, purple flames… wasn’t this Pluto?
“What?”
Cold sweat nearly broke out on Jiang Jian Yue’s forehead.
If Pluto hadn’t plunged headfirst into the Vision World, and without the help of the Backtrack Backup System, Tokyo would have definitely suffered heavy losses.
But why… wasn’t Pluto dead?
“Pluto’s corpse has been recovered and is still in storage. There’s been no resurrection… According to the Strategy Department’s speculation, this Pluto might be a special ability user with some kind of dual-body trait. The GSAC contestant database this time also has similar abilities.”
Akimoto Miki analyzed further. “Additionally, the Strategy Department speculates the General will most likely take this opportunity to march south, which might facilitate the establishment of a ‘New Covenant.’ Asia will likely… face war within the next two years.”
Jiang Jian Yue felt a headache coming on.
Why, why, in this shonen anime-esque world view, couldn’t these countries just settle things with superpowers, like in a certain Gundam series?
Jiang Jian Yue crossed her arms in front of her chest, her gaze shifting sideways to Yuki Asahi, who seemed uneasy upon hearing this news.
“Is there anything else important?” Jiang Jian Yue asked without shifting her gaze back.
“Not for now. There are some less important matters already sent to your tablet.” Akimoto Miki understood she shouldn’t stay any longer and quickly added.
“Then leave for now.”
After Akimoto Miki left the office, Jiang Jian Yue got up, walked around the desk, took Yuki Asahi’s hand, and led him to sit on the sofa.
Jiang Jian Yue’s actions left Yuki Asahi somewhat confused.
“You heard that just now, right? What do you think?” Jiang Jian Yue narrowed her eyes, tightly holding Yuki Asahi’s hand as she spoke.
“Uh… war… is bad.”
Yuki Asahi stammered. He didn’t have any strong political leanings; it was just a subconscious reaction.
“If the country needed you, would you go to the battlefield?”
Upon hearing this question, Yuki Asahi clearly froze.
He was just an ordinary high school student, even if he was a high school student with superpowers.
Words like “war” and “country” were too heavy and distant for him.
He instinctively lowered his head, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the sofa. Images of the artillery-filled scenes from the news flashed through his mind.
As a Japanese person, a complex emotion churned in his chest.
He took a deep breath, looked up, his eyes carrying the seriousness and a hint of confusion of a youth, and spoke clearly. “If… if the country was truly being invaded… I think… I should go to the battlefield.”
After saying it, he seemed to feel the weight of his own answer, his shoulders slumping slightly.
Jiang Jian Yue looked at his earnest yet somewhat fearful expression and sighed softly in her heart.
She understood this instinctive reaction based on ethnic and national identity, especially for a youth who hadn’t experienced much of the world.
However, she didn’t criticize him much or even show dissatisfaction. She just tightened her grip on his hand slightly before relaxing it again.
“Hmm…”
Jiang Jian Yue let out an ambiguous hum, accepting his answer based on “greater righteousness.”
“Then… if DRG and the Japanese government completely fall out, even to the point of opposition…”
“Darling, which side would you stand on?”
Jiang Jian Yue knew she was putting Yuki Asahi in a difficult position with this question, but she still wanted to ask.
Unconsciously, she had become like a woman too.
Yuki Asahi barely thought about it.
Or rather, the moment he heard the question, his body reacted more honestly than his brain.
He gripped Jiang Jian Yue’s hand back, his grip so tight it was as if he feared she would disappear the next second.
“I’ll stand by your side.”
The youth’s answer was resolute, without the slightest hesitation or wavering.
If it were the old him, he might have struggled with “justice,” “law,” or “social order and morals.”
But after experiencing everything, after his worldview collapsed and reformed time and again, his anchor point was now only one.
“Right or wrong, wherever you are, Yue, that’s where I’ll be.”
Yuki Asahi looked at her, his eyes shining with an almost stubborn light. “I’m your sword. Isn’t that what we agreed on?”
He thought this answer would reassure Jiang Jian Yue, or at least make her smile.
However, it did not.
Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes dimmed in that instant.
She gently withdrew her hand, turned her head away, and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the bustling Tokyo scenery.
“Is that so?”
Her voice held no discernible joy or anger, but it carried a clear note of disappointment.
“Even if I’m wrong? Even if I’m pushing this country into an abyss? Even if what I want to do… is that kind of utterly wicked act?”
“Yue wouldn’t do that kind of thing,” Yuki Asahi protested urgently. “You just saved sixty thousand people. You’re kind…”
“That was just weighing pros and cons! Too many deaths would affect DRG’s reputation!”
Jiang Jian Yue suddenly turned her head, interrupting him with somewhat失控ed emotion. “Yuki Asahi, can’t you have some thoughts of your own?!”
“Don’t blindly follow me just because you like me! You should have your own judgment.”
Yuki Asahi was stunned.
He looked like a child who had done something wrong, mouth agape but unable to make a sound.
He completely didn’t understand why, after expressing his determination to stand with her even against the world, he was met with such criticism.
A deathly silence fell over the office.
“Ha…”
In her mind, Meiguan’s voice chimed in appropriately, dripping with thick sarcasm.
“I say, aren’t you being a bit too contradictory? My daughter.”
“Shut up,” Jiang Jian Yue retorted irritably in her heart.
“What did the kid do wrong? He chooses to live and die with you. Isn’t that his ‘thought’ after careful consideration?”
Meiguan clicked her tongue in disbelief. “You insist on forcing him to stand against you, even hoping he’ll oppose you for the sake of some so-called ‘greater righteousness’ just so you can feel secure?”
“What kind of masochistic mentality is that?”
“You don’t understand!”
Jiang Jian Yue argued back in her heart. “He was supposed to be that kind of shonen manga male lead, an ally of justice, someone who fights to protect everyone! He shouldn’t become my appendage, and he definitely shouldn’t… for someone like me… someone like…”
“For a schemer like you who intends to establish an ‘Enterprise Nation’?”
Jiang Jian Yue’s pupils constricted sharply.