Chapter 358: Grudges and Resentments |
By the time they finished speaking, they had reached their destination. Hoshino Gen parked the car in the lot before answering Kiryu Wakaba's earlier question. "This one will do. It's quite nice."
......
Knock, knock—
After two raps on the door, it was pushed open from the outside.
Shimizu Yu, who was mopping the floor in the living room, turned her head in a great hurry, only to see an incredibly striking figure walk inside.
"...Rin-chan?"
Calling out the visitor's name, Shimizu Yu widened her eyes slightly in surprise.
"Good afternoon, Yu-chan." Hoshino Rin found her exclusive cartoon shark slippers in the shoe cabinet by the door and slipped them on. She greeted Shimizu Yu as she walked inside, her gaze sweeping around the interior of the antique shop. She could not help but ask curiously, "Why don't I see my brother?"
"..." Shimizu Yu subconsciously pouted and replied, "He went out on business earlier."
Shimizu Yu shook her head and muttered, "He would never tell me something like that..."
Observing Shimizu Yu's demeanor and expressions, Hoshino Rin blinked thoughtfully. She probed with a hint of hesitation, "Yu-chan... did my brother bully you?"
"No," Shimizu Yu shook her head.
She certainly was not lying to Hoshino Rin. After all, both the objective facts and her own subjective feelings pointed to the same conclusion. It was not bullying; at most, she had just been slightly disdained.
And thinking about it carefully, this was not the first or second time Hoshino Gen had given her the cold shoulder. Yet, she herself could not understand why it made her so exceptionally sad this time.
"Really?" Hoshino Rin tilted her little head slightly, staring at her for a moment before suddenly flashing a smile. "How much of your work is left, Yu-chan?"
Shimizu Yu blinked and pointed at the floor. "I just need to mop it one last time."
Hoshino Rin looked down at the wooden floor of the antique shop. "It is obviously already very clean!"
She looked up and grinned at Shimizu Yu. "Let's just skip the rest of your shift!"
As she spoke, she stepped forward and linked her arm through Shimizu Yu's. "And then, Yu-chan, your new job will be keeping me company while I go shopping, okay?"
......
"Speaking of which, Senior, what have you been up to lately?"
In the corner of a magnificent French restaurant, Kiryu Wakaba tasted her cream mushroom soup with a spoon while gazing at Hoshino Gen across the table with burning curiosity. "Do you have any interesting stories you can share with me?"
"No." Hoshino Gen took a bite of the pan-seared foie gras on his fork. Although it met the passing standard of melting in the mouth, the texture was a bit too greasy. Propping his cheek on his hand, he ate while lacking interest.
Kiryu Wakaba naturally noticed Hoshino Gen's lack of enthusiasm. She pondered for a moment before suddenly smiling. "Since Senior doesn't have anything to share with me, then I'll share something that you will definitely find interesting!"
Hoshino Gen raised his eyes to look at her.
"Recently, a very powerful big shot who is extremely famous in the international mystic side has arrived in Tokyo."
Hearing this, Hoshino Gen indeed grew interested. He lowered the hand propping up his cheek and asked, "When you say big shot, are you referring to their status, or their strength?"
"Their strength, of course! Although their identity is highly likely to be extraordinary as well, no matter how noble their status is, if they didn't have any actual power, Senior wouldn't be interested at all!"
Hoshino Gen remained silent, simply staring into Kiryu Wakaba's eyes, signaling for her to continue.
Kiryu Wakaba proceeded to explain, "The other party's name remains a mystery for now. We only know her codename is Hacker 01. She's a highly dangerous wanted fugitive who fled here from Italy!"
At this point, Hoshino Gen knew exactly who Kiryu Wakaba was talking about. Even though he had never met her, knew little about her, and had not paid any special attention to the matter, he had previously heard Asaba Shinichi mention it in passing.
—He had mentioned that a hacker from Italy had offended him.
Hoshino Gen had a fairly clear understanding of what kind of person Asaba Shinichi was, and he was even more intimately aware of his strength. Without any exaggeration, if the two of them went all out in a life-or-death battle, there was a very high probability of mutual destruction.
Leaving aside their base states, when he fully activated the Ouroboros Bracelet and unleashed his Orochi Skeleton Mode, he was virtually evenly matched with Asaba Shinichi using his Shadow Orochi. As for Tamamo-no-Mae... the little fox's shikigami contract had been jointly forged by him, Asaba Shinichi, and Takasugi Yusuke. The Nine-Tails State he could use by fusing with Tamamo-no-Mae could equally be used by the other two.
—If an internal conflict broke out among the three of them, under the influence of the contract, the little fox would be entirely unable to help anyone.
Therefore, Asaba Shinichi's strongest state was on the exact same echelon as Hoshino Gen's own.
Offending someone was heavily dependent on one's level. Ordinary people lacked the qualifications to even offend Asaba Shinichi. Yet, that hacker from Italy had managed to offend him and then walk away unscathed, even prompting Asaba Shinichi to warn him to watch out for her. From this alone, one could deduce just how terrifying the opponent's strength truly was.
"S-Rank, or SS-Level?" Hoshino Gen asked.
"Personally, I lean more towards the former. After all, judging by her appearance, the target is just a teenage girl! However, the mystic side is full of infinite wonders. She might have some magical item or ability that grants eternal youth... Nobody can say for sure!"
"But didn't she also cross paths with Senior Asaba? To be able to escape safely from Senior Asaba's hands, and even cause him to suffer a minor loss... Even if she really is just an S-Rank, she is definitely among the absolute strongest of that rank."
Hoshino Gen thought for a moment before asking, "Since she is a wanted fugitive, her route into Tokyo definitely wasn't officially approved. So, regarding this 'big shot', does your Special Affairs Group have any plans to capture or eliminate her?"
"Hehe..." Kiryu Wakaba giggled. "Whether or not we have a plan for someone of that level, it's a highly classified secret!"
Hoshino Gen slightly raised an eyebrow, but Kiryu Wakaba had already shifted her tone, lowering her voice to a whisper. "But for Senior's sake, breaking the rules is nothing!"
"The capture operation targeting Hacker 01 is already being drawn up. If everything goes smoothly, we might initiate the strike within a week, or perhaps even in just three days."
......
"Are you playing this game again?"
In the flat apartment bedroom, the moment Shirayanagi Ayaha pushed open the door, she saw Carole sitting in front of a rather extravagant multi-monitor computer setup. She was using her mouse to scroll through a gaming ranking list displayed on the main screen, though it was unclear what the rankings were for.
She stepped closer for a better look and noticed that Carole had clicked into the personal profile of a player with the ID "Y".
This ID looked somewhat familiar to Shirayanagi Ayaha, but given how simple the nickname was, duplicates were perfectly normal. She did not overthink it and simply asked, "Did this player mess with you?"
Carole chuckled lightly. "It's fine, not exactly messing with me. It's just that they stole my boss earlier and swiped the gear I had been dying to get."
"..."