In an unknown space.
Not a sliver of light illuminated the surroundings.
From the depths of the black mist, someone's laughter echoed.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! You cannot cage me. I will be out soon."
"Everything you do is in vain!"
...
"Ah, you're awake already."
"Well, I can hardly... hold on much longer."
Unmasked exhaustion laced the entity's voice.
Its gaze drifted toward a certain spot.
"So, what is your choice?"
"Are you ready?"
The voice reverberated through the space until it faded away.
...
"Where... is this?"
Complete darkness.
"Is anyone there? Don't leave me all alone!"
No one answered.
Terrified though he was, he had no choice but to walk on tirelessly.
How much time had passed? Perhaps a day, perhaps a year, perhaps...
He could no longer tell time.
"Ahead... is there light?"
Within the boundless darkness, even the tiniest glimmer felt precious and warm.
Hope, finally in sight.
He hurried forward.
"Huff, huff... just a little more."
Just a little more and he would be able to touch the light!
Yet just as his fingers were about to brush the radiance, a dark shadow blocked his path.
"Huh? Who are you?" he asked, utterly bewildered.
"You... are... you... cannot..." The stranger's voice was hoarse, sounding half like laughter and half like weeping.
"Cannot? Why not?"
Clearly, clearly he was only a hair's breadth away!
"Who on earth are you?!" he demanded.
"I... I am you."
He heard that sentence clearly enough, but how could that be? How could he possibly believe it.
As if reading his mind,
the shadow asked, "You don't believe it? Then tell me, who are you?"
He prepared to reply, but suddenly choked, unable to utter a single syllable.
Eh? Who... was he again?
Out of nowhere, black tentacles emerged, binding his hands and feet.
Impossible to break free.
He was dragged back into the depths of the darkness.
He couldn't... breathe anymore.
"Am I going to die?"
Even knowing he couldn't reach it, he stubbornly stretched out his hand toward that distant light.
Is there... no one?
His hand slowly dropped.
Suddenly, a figure caught him, pulling him tightly into an embrace.
His eyes refused to open; he could not see the other's face.
A very warm embrace.
He heard the person whisper, "Don't be afraid. I'm here. Sleep now. When you wake up, everything will be fine."
...
I think... I touched the light.
That was his final thought.
...
"Hey, wake up, Ling Luo! Don't fall asleep here."
"Who's... calling me?"
"Well, look who's up." Ling Luo stretched lazily, sounding somewhat disgruntled.
"What's wrong with you? Falling asleep in a place like this—didn't you sleep well last night?" Moroboshi Dan asked.
Around them was the hum of lively voices, mingled with the mechanical whir of amusement park rides.
Seeing the other person zoning out again, Moroboshi Dan reached out and flicked him on the forehead.
"Ow! What are you doing, Dan~?" Ling Luo covered his head in protest.
"You're the one spacing out." Moroboshi Dan looked mildly displeased.
"Eh?"
"Honestly, wasn't it you who dragged me out here to play? Yet the moment I stepped away for a brief second, you actually fell asleep."
That seemed to be true. After seeing the amusement park's promotional ads yesterday, he had thought it looked nice and decided to bring Dan along for some fun.
It was also to make up for having neglected him recently.
"I say, you aren't coming down with something, are you?" Moroboshi Dan said, raising a hand as if to check.
"No way, Dan~!" Ling Luo scrambled to his feet, dodging the hand.
Shoving Dan forward, he urged, "Let's go, let's go! There are still so many rides we haven't tried."
Now that he thought about it, Dan had been utterly thrilled when he issued the invitation earlier, practically glowing from head to toe.
Right now, he was a limited-edition, sparkly bunny~
He couldn't let his own issues ruin today's plans.
...
"Ha, ha! I can't take it, I'm dying of laughter, ha, ha, ha!" Ling Luo stood nearby, clutching his stomach as he laughed.
"All right, all right, that's enough. You've been laughing for a solid three minutes," Moroboshi Dan grumbled, deeply unhappy.
"It was just the tone that staff member used, ha, ha, ha! Too hilarious."
"And whose fault was it that you wanted that balmy balloon?!" Moroboshi Dan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, it must be because Dan is so pretty." Ling Luo finally stopped laughing, taking the sunflower balloon from the other's hand.
Moroboshi Dan turned his head away without answering, but a closer look revealed the tips of his ears flushed a delicate red.
"Ah, Dan~ The show's about to start, hurry, hurry!" Ling Luo checked the time, then grabbed Moroboshi Dan's hand and bolted.
...
Perhaps they had played too hard; Ling Luo felt rather tired and slumped onto a bench, reluctant to move an inch.
"Dan~ I want ice cream." Ling Luo pointed at an ice cream parlor.
"Fine, fine~ Wait here for me." With a sigh that carried more fond indulgence than exasperation, Moroboshi Dan turned and walked away.
Autumn was gradually setting in, and the temperature was dropping. He wasn't particularly hot; he just had a craving for sweets.
Ling Luo sat waiting, growing a bit bored as he counted the leaves on a nearby tree.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over him, accompanied by a stick of candied hawthorn extended toward his face.
Ling Luo looked up. The owner of the hand wore a full-face mask, concealing every feature entirely.
"Want some?" the stranger said. "No charge. It's yours."
Ling Luo didn't take it, nor did he make any other move.
The stranger possessed endless patience, simply holding the candied hawthorn out in silence without another word.
What a strange person, Ling Luo thought.
After a standoff lasting several minutes, Ling Luo finally accepted the treat and murmured, "Thank you."
He wanted to see what the person was up to.
Besides, even though the stranger had deliberately lowered their voice, Ling Luo found it strangely familiar. Could they actually know each other?
Just as Ling Luo's mind raced with wild guesses, the stranger watched him take the treat and abruptly turned to leave.
Wait, what?
Ling Luo frowned, racking his brain to recall whose voice that was. He had definitely heard it before.
Thud!
Wasn't that his own voice?! Although disguised with a lower pitch, it was unequivocally his own.
Damn it, his brain must be fried today—only now did he realize it.
He glanced around. Despite the bustling crowd, Ling Luo locked eyes with his target instantly, gave chase, and ducked into a blind spot away from security cameras, whisking the candied hawthorn and balloon into his spatial storage.
Meanwhile, our dear Moroboshi Dan returned cheerfully with the ice cream, only to find an empty bench.
"......"
Wait, where was he? Where did such a big person go?
His heart skipped a beat.
Disregarding the melting treats in his hand, Moroboshi Dan hurriedly searched everywhere.
After scouring the area for a long time without spotting that familiar figure, Moroboshi Dan finally confronted a grim reality.
Damn it, he had lost him.
The ice cream slowly melted, dripping onto the ground.
Moroboshi Dan tossed the treats into a trash can and forced himself to calm down.
Right—he had once given Ling Luo a fragment of his light, which meant he could sense his location.
How could he almost forget he was an Ultraman? Why was he trying to find someone using mortal methods?
Suppressing the urge to slap his own forehead, he knew time was of the essence.
He refused to believe he had managed to lose the person; Ling Luo wasn't a child. Who could possibly lure him away with a couple of candies?
"I hope nothing happened," Moroboshi Dan muttered.
He projected his telepathic energy across the entire amusement park, searching relentlessly until he finally caught a reading not far away.
"Why on earth did this guy run over there?"
That said, Moroboshi Dan quickened his pace in that direction.
As he drew closer to the source of the light signature, Moroboshi Dan finally let out a breath of relief.
"Never fails to give me a headache."
Yet he quickly realized he had relaxed far too soon.
Right where the signal originated lay a lone, abandoned bracelet.
He couldn't describe what he felt at that moment, but it felt as though the sky itself had collapsed.
There was no time for despair; the bracelet was intact, and its self-defense system hadn't been triggered, which tentatively ruled out an attack.
Still, with the person missing, anxiety clawed at his chest.
His messages to Ling Luo had gone unanswered. Left with no choice, Moroboshi Dan had to turn to external backup.
He just hoped Ling Luo still had his phone on him.
After explaining the situation briefly to Ozora Daichi, he begged the latter to help track him down.
Moroboshi Dan didn't sit idle either, continuing his search guided purely by instinct.
True to form, Ozora Daichi managed to pinpoint the phone's location in no time.
It was still inside the amusement park, right at the spot where they had separated.
Learning this, Moroboshi Dan hurried back the way he came. There was no help for it—he seemed to have gone completely in the wrong direction.
Momensions after Moroboshi Dan departed, a faint ripple of spatial energy swept through the clearing and quickly dissipated.
Even with precision instruments, the energy fluctuation was far too faint to detect without a targeted scan.