"Eh?! Why isn't Zerozaki-san coming with us for yakiniku?"
Marui Bunta was somewhat surprised, but even more worried.
Ever since they learned that Zerozaki Hajime rarely ate proper meals and kept an erratic schedule, the regulars had felt uneasy about her.
Although Zerozaki Hajime looked like a remarkably formidable Order Officer, in certain ways she was no different from Kirihara Akaya.
"I have to track down a monster. If I'm late, something might go wrong, so you guys don't need to worry about me."
Zerozaki Hajime could tell they were worried about her, so she kept her tone as light as possible to set their minds at ease.
Before they could reply, seeing that there was no one else around, she smiled at Marui Bunta standing right in front of her.
"Give me your hand, Marui-san."
Marui Bunta was stunned for a second, but still did as she asked and held out his hand.
Zerozaki Hajime grasped his arm, activated Stealth Mode, and transformed back into her adult form right in front of them.
With her adult height—further accentuated by the tall white high heels on her legs—she rivaled Yanagi Renji's towering 185 centimeters. Wrapped entirely in her white uniform, she appeared even taller and straighter.
Before they could voice their awe, Zerozaki Hajime let go of Marui Bunta's arm, tossed her long hair over her shoulder, turned, and gave them a wave.
"I'm heading out first. Have fun, everyone."
With that, she vanished from their sight in an instant.
"Zerozaki is... so beautiful..."
Kirihara Akaya's face flushed slightly as he stared blankly at the spot where Zerozaki Hajime had just disappeared.
"Puri, the adult version of an Order Officer is probably right up Yagyuu's alley when it comes to mature beauties."
Niou Masaharu suddenly brought Yagyuu Hiroshi into the conversation.
Yagyuu Hiroshi glanced at Yukimura Seiichi, adjusted his glasses, and fired right back without hesitation,
"Niou, if I recall correctly, you're quite fond of women in military uniforms."
"My, my, hit the nail on the head~"
Niou Masaharu replied with a carefree expression.
"Still, Zerozaki-san's figure is... really quite nice..."
Jack Kuwahara had always favored fair-skinned types, and as for figure—well, any man appreciated an hourglass shape.
Sanada Genichirou gave a few coughs to signal them to stop discussing Zerozaki Hajime's appearance, noticing that Yukimura Seiichi beside him was looking down with his chin in his hand, deep in thought.
He had to admit, the moment Zerozaki Hajime turned to leave, Yukimura Seiichi had wanted to reach out and catch her, but she had left far too quickly.
"Sanada, take everyone ahead to eat. I'm going to find Zerozaki-san."
Yukimura Seiichi's sixth sense told him he had to go after her.
"Ha?! The Captain isn't coming with us for yakiniku?!"
Kirihara Akaya was utterly shocked, and the others were more than a little surprised as well.
Only Sanada Genichirou and Yanagi Renji were unsurprised. Sanada Genichirou crossed his arms, watching Yukimura Seiichi as he prepared to leave alone.
"Yukimura, let's all go together. Both you and Zerozaki are important."
Yanagi Renji nodded as well.
"The probability of Zerozaki-san needing assistance is 66.99 percent. Many hands make light work."
Yukimura Seiichi looked at the others; they all nodded in agreement.
Marui Bunta blew a bubble with his gum and narrowed his eyes.
"Even though Zerozaki-san is strong, she's just like Akaya—not someone who lets you relax, huh~"
"Hey! Why is Marui-senpai talking trash about me?!"
Kirihara Akaya stared indignantly at Marui Bunta.
Niou Masaharu looked at Kirihara Akaya and let out a soft chuckle.
"Marui is spot on, puri."
"How come Niou-senpai is joining in?!"
Kirihara Akaya complained to Niou Masaharu off to the side.
Yagyuu Hiroshi pushed up his glasses and looked at Yukimura Seiichi.
"Yukimura, make your decision. It takes time to get over there, too."
Yukimura Seiichi looked at them with a helpless smile. Originally, Zerozaki Hajime's business today was supposed to be handled together with him tomorrow afternoon.
Now that an unexpected situation had popped up on her end, not only was he rushing to Genjiyama Park ahead of schedule, but with the prefectural tournament right upon them, it wasn't really practical to leave everyone behind either.
Still, since she had run into trouble, there was a genuine possibility she couldn't handle it alone, and having more people around had its advantages.
Yet there was a downside too: in the worst-case scenario where Zerozaki Hajime couldn't hold her own, them rushing over would only mean getting in the way.
After hesitating for a long time, Yukimura Seiichi ultimately agreed to let them come along to Genjiyama Park to find Zerozaki Hajime, deciding he had to trust in her strength.
By the time Zerozaki Hajime arrived at the entrance of Genjiyama Park, it was already past five in the afternoon.
On a Saturday, the park still held a fair number of visitors.
Glancing at the map on her system interface, she located the monster sighting closest to her.
The monster's location was deep within the park, and since it was getting late, practically no one was hanging around this area.
Zerozaki Hajime therefore deactivated Stealth Mode to conserve some energy.
Looking around, she raised her head and spotted juvenile monsters—spawned by the Ball Monster—floating in midair a few hundred meters away. True to form, since they weren't moving, they hadn't finished growing yet.
No wonder the Ball Monster had been desperately trying to block her tracking; it was buying time for its spawned offspring to mature.
Without hesitation, Zerozaki Hajime unleashed a beam of light that obliterated the still-growing juvenile minion.
Her action startled the other small monsters, and they began to stir, attempting to flee Genjiyama Park.
It was useless. The Ball Monster's energy could not sustain them far beyond the park boundaries. Zerozaki Hajime cleared out all the small monsters shown on the map with effortless ease.
When Yukimura Seiichi and the regular team members hurried over to Genjiyama Park, Zerozaki Hajime was in the midst of searching for the Ball Monster itself.
After modifying her detection code earlier today, she had deduced that the Ball Monster's location was likely around the Genji General Statue.
As luck would have it, the moment Zerozaki Hajime reached the statue, she spotted Yukimura Seiichi and his group standing right beside the bronze figure.
Zerozaki Hajime looked at them in bewilderment.
"How did you know it was in this spot?"
Seeing Zerozaki Hajime, Yukimura Seiichi curved his eyes into a happy smile.
"I guessed."
She remembered that while she had been writing code and looking at the map, Yukimura Seiichi had been standing right beside her; he must have figured it out from seeing her screen.
Zerozaki Hajime nodded, choosing not to press further, and simply said,
"Since you're here, help look around for any tennis balls."
Now that the immediate danger of monster attacks was gone, Zerozaki Hajime wasn't afraid to let them stay here.
The group nodded and set to work searching.
"I found a tennis ball!"
Kirihara Akaya scooped up a soggy, moss-covered tennis ball on the face of his racket.
Zerozaki Hajime and the others walked over to him. She emitted a beam of light that enveloped the tennis ball, and with a flick of her finger, the ball levitated into her palm.
Frowning, she realized something was off about this tennis ball.
Nearby, Niou Masaharu knew that the Ball Monster was supposed to move on its own, and asked with a puzzled expression,
"Why isn't it moving? And it's not trying to escape either?"
Zerozaki Hajime shook her head. Using a beam of light, she cleaned the tennis ball in her palm; within moments, the ball became as spotless as brand new.
She casually handed the tennis ball to Yukimura Seiichi and walked back toward the bronze statue, gazing around the surrounding area.
Suddenly, a male voice echoed from the bronze statue.
"Long time no see, 001."
Zerozaki Hajime and the entire Rikkai group were momentarily stunned.
Then, a Faceless Man coalesced in the air above the statue. Before Zerozaki Hajime could speak, the man unleashed a dozen beams of light straight at her.
"Watch out! Zerozaki-san!"
The Rikkai members behind the statue shouted out.
Zerozaki Hajime nimbly dodged the beams, though one grazed her cheek, leaving a streak of blood.
Wiping her face with a finger, she glared coldly at the faceless man hovering in midair.
"So it was you."
In that case, leaving him alive was out of the question. Without wasting words, Zerozaki Hajime condensed a dozen beams of light in her hands and sent half of them flying toward the man.
The Faceless Man dodged the attack and immediately dove straight at her. Zerozaki Hajime evaded while greeting him with the rest of her light beams.
The Rikkai group off to the side knew by now that these beams of light wouldn't harm them—in fact, they themselves served as an energy source for this alternate world.
Even so, watching Zerozaki Hajime fail to completely overpower the Faceless Man filled them with anxiety.
As Zerozaki Hajime gradually gained the upper hand, the Faceless Man realized he couldn't win and suddenly lunged toward the Rikkai group.
Kirihara Akaya happened to be standing closest; the Faceless Man hijacked his body, replenished his own energy, and charged at Zerozaki Hajime using Kirihara Akaya as a puppet.
"Aah! What on earth is going on here?! Why can't I control my own body?!"
Watching his own hands and feet go blow-for-blow against Zerozaki Hajime, Kirihara Akaya felt his mind completely melt down.
The others were equally astonished—stunned on one hand by the supernatural possession trick of the Faceless Man, and on the other by Zerozaki Hajime's otherworldly combat prowess.
To avoid hurting Kirihara Akaya, Zerozaki Hajime was forced into a purely defensive stance, blocking and dodging the attacks while still finding time to mock her opponent.
"Trash! Aside from possession, what else can you even do?!"
Fortunately, Zerozaki Hajime was far more powerful. Before long, her light beams battered the Faceless Man to the brink of spiritual disintegration, forcing him to scramble out of Kirihara Akaya's body.
Zerozaki Hajime had known all along: while possession allowed the Faceless Man to recharge, it also turned him into a sitting duck, unable to dodge her light beam attacks.
After all, this wasn't the Faceless Man's own body, rendering it far too clumsy.
Dashing and dodging every which way, the Faceless Man fled with Zerozaki Hajime hot on his heels all the way to the Kamakura coastline, only for her to realize her remaining energy was no longer sufficient to annihilate him.
Seeing the glow of the light beams in her hands gradually dimming, the Faceless Man let out a loud laugh.
"001, looks like you've been weakened too! Why bother? Your comrades have already abandoned you—how about you and I join forces to conquer all these worlds instead?"
"Scum. There's no reasoning with you. Go die!"
Even with her light fading, Zerozaki Hajime refused to stop pelting him with light beams. Though she couldn't directly eradicate the Faceless Man at the moment, he couldn't harm her either.
When the Rikkai group finally reached the shoreline, they heard Zerozaki Hajime hurling insults at the Faceless Man and couldn't help cracking a smile, though they remained deeply puzzled by his claim that she had been abandoned by her comrades.
Humiliated by her taunts, the Faceless Man glanced back to see the Rikkai members catching up, and lunged toward them once more, hoping to harvest their energy to finish off Zerozaki Hajime.
Naturally, Zerozaki Hajime wasn't about to let him succeed. Seeing him target Yukimura Seiichi, she moved a step faster, grabbed Yukimura Seiichi, and pulled him behind her for protection.
The moment their bodies made contact, her energy surged back to peak levels. Without missing a beat, Zerozaki Hajime unleashed a barrage of light beams at the Faceless Man, beating him back so thoroughly he didn't dare come within ten feet of her.
The Faceless Man wasn't completely brainless. Realizing he couldn't replenish his energy and couldn't beat Zerozaki Hajime either, he immediately drifted out toward the deep sea.
Zerozaki Hajime opened her system interface, ready to give chase, only to discover she had no way of pursuing him across the surface of the ocean. She could only watch helplessly as he escaped.
Retreating to the sandy beach, she stared at the receding figure of the Faceless Man and clenched her fists tightly.
"Damn it!"