Moroboshi Dan returned to the base—yes, hugging a rabbit plushie.
"What?!"
This gave the New Generation Heroes a tremendous fright.
Just look at what they were witnessing.
Though they had long heard rumors that Moroboshi Dan loved cute things, like the Pigmon body pillow in his room, those were just rumors! Now, the rumors had become reality!
Warning them all with a glare, Moroboshi Dan bolted back to his room with a flurry of footsteps, slammed the door shut, and locked it in one smooth motion.
A full minute passed after Moroboshi Dan went into his room before anyone found their voice.
"Whoa, Cousin was actually hugging a rabbit plushie, though rabbits really are cute." This was Taiga, who had just returned from the Land of Light.
"Indeed, and it looked like he blushed just now, too." This was Asakura Riku, who was much more observant.
"A contrast moe? Awesome!" This was Kurenai Gai, arriving at a conclusion.
The group continued discussing along these lines.
Only Ozora Daichi stared at Moroboshi Dan's closed door, deep in thought.
Nobody paid any attention to him, however.
......
A pitch-black night with not a cloud in the sky—truly a splendid time to harvest emotion points.
......
"Hey, keep it down. Don't go attracting the Bureau people again."
"I know, I know. What a pain."
"Weren't you the one who wanted to come?"
"Could we afford not to? The rest of us are almost out of food."
"S-Say, what… what if we run into tha… that guy?"
"Tsch, I'm not scared at all. Those cowards just made that up to scare people."
"Exactly, exactly. I can take two by myself. Hurry up and pack those things so we can finish early and head back."
"Alright, let's go—Ow! Who? Who kicked me?"
"Who kicked you? I'm watching right here, don't lazy off."
"I… I didn't see anything either."
"That's strange. Someone definitely kicked me."
Suddenly, he felt someone patting him on the shoulder from behind. "Are you… looking for me?"
…
"A-A ghost!"
Thud—one went down.
Ugh… do aliens actually still get scared of ghosts?
It must be because they're simply too cowardly. Yes, exactly that.
Never mind the fact that he was wearing a full black cloak, hiding in the shadows, suddenly appearing right in front of them, and speaking in a slightly low voice.
If you aren't terrifying, who is?
"Hm~ He was very obedient and didn't make me lift a finger. So, what about you two~?"
"D-Don't try to pull any spooky tricks. Ta… Take this!"
"Oh, still a little stutterer, are you?" Easily dodging the punch, Ling Luo couldn't resist teasing him.
"Let me take a crack at you."
The other party pulled out some unknown gadget, and suddenly, a blinding flash of light shot out.
Ling Luo blocked his eyes with his cloak, waiting for the attack to land.
Huh? Where are they? They ran?!
Ling Luo was speechless. You shouted so loudly I thought you were capable of something big, but this was it?
He dealt with the stutterer in a couple of moves, sending him to lie flat on the ground alongside his companion.
"Run? Ha, let's see how far you can get."
…
"Phew… phew, I… I think we lost him. I'm exhausted."
"Damn it, don't let me ever run into you again."
"Oh? And what if you do?"
"Then I'll…" He turned his head and locked eyes with Ling Luo.
"Then what? Hm? Why'd you stop?" Ling Luo tilted his head and smiled.
"You… you forced my hand!" Retreating sharply a few steps, he pulled out another strange gadget while speaking.
My, you certainly have quite a collection of tricks.
Ling Luo thought to himself: *They're all mine now.* \ψ(｀?′)ψ/
A laser beam shot toward him. Ling Luo rolled aside to dodge, but a tree behind him wasn't as fortunate.
Tree: ****
Ling Luo: ?(ˉ?ˉ?)
"You actually hurt the flowers and plants? I can't possibly let you off now."
Rolling away from another attack, Ling Luo hoisted a wooden stick he'd picked up by the roadside and brought it down squarely on the opponent's head.
Ah, judging by the sound, that was a solid hit.
Done~
Even a level-one Stealth technique is quite useful.
Points -100
Acting on orders about abnormal energy fluctuations in the area, Harukawa Haruki and his teammates had rushed to the scene only to witness this exact moment.
"Ossu, that's amazing!"
Was that the point?!
His teammates concluded that Haruki was unreliable and decided to handle it themselves.
"Who are you? Drop your weapon and put your hands up!"
Ling Luo said nothing. He tossed away the stick he had held for less than a minute, calmly snapped his fingers, and instantly, everything around them froze in time.
Ling Luo nodded, then walked away with effortless style.
Why did he snap his fingers, you ask? Because it looked cool, of course.
It didn't matter if nobody saw it; as long as he thought it looked cool, that was enough.
After he left, time resumed its flow around them, and only then did they realize the person was gone.
"Huh? Where did he go? He just vanished."
"Report, Captain, the suspect is gone."
After reporting the situation at the scene, waiting for staff to take the three guys on the ground away, and confirming no other anomalies nearby, they returned to their squad.
Elsewhere.
…
"Oh my, looks like I'm surrounded~"
Watching Kudo Hiroyuki and the Minato brothers block the front and back exits respectively, Ling Luo could only think: *Tsch.*
Who could understand his pain? He had just walked past that way, ready to go home and sleep, only to get cornered right here.
He could only be grateful he hadn't taken off his cloak yet.
Well then~ time to play with these kids for a bit.
When it came to emotion points, who would ever complain about having too many?
"Don't worry, we aren't going to do anything to you."
Kudo Hiroyuki pursed his lips, adding another sentence as if afraid the other party wouldn't believe him.
"Those aliens haven't been causing trouble nearly as much lately. That's because of you, right?"
Adhering to the principle that saying less prevents mistakes, Ling Luo stayed silent and simply nodded.
"Even though you haven't done anything bad and even helped us reduce the trouble, we still need to figure out where you stand," said Minato Katsumi.
There was no help for it; the person was far too mysterious. At the very least, they needed to figure out his motives. They had a responsibility to protect others.
"Would you mind telling us…" Before Kudo Hiroyuki could finish, the other person interrupted him.
"Catch me, and I'll tell you~"
The few of them exchanged glances. "As you wish."
The three little Light Giants acted as cheerleaders—huh? You ask why they didn't step in?
Please, what could little guys like them possibly do? Hiroyuki didn't even need to transform.
Besides, it was three against one; surely they couldn't lose.
Pity that ideals were full and reality was bone-dry.
The three of them failed to coordinate well. Specifically:
Minato Isami stepped on Minato Katsumi's foot while retreating; Minato Isami and Minato Katsumi crashed into each other; Minato Isami lost his balance and dragged his older brother and Kudo Hiroyuki down with him in a tumbling heap…
"Ah, buddy, you alright?"
Truly living up to your reputation~
"Tsch tsch, how tragic."
"Hm? Have they arrived?" Ling Luo curled his lip. "I'm off. Bye-bye, little kids~"
Ignoring the three groaning figures and the tiny Light Giants running around in a panicked scramble, Ling Luo made a sharp turn and vanished around the corner.
"Huh?"
Just after Ling Luo left.
"Catch anyone?" Moroboshi Dan's voice came from nearby.
Turning around, they saw the three tumbled and stacked on top of each other on the ground.
"H-Help…" Minato Katsumi, crushed at the very bottom, signaled that he was about to perish.
"Were you guys… playing human Jenga?"
......
The group gathered in a circle.
"You didn't manage to get anything out of them?" Gai asked.
The three of them stared at the sky and the ground, stubbornly avoiding everyone's gaze.
"So, it was time powers, right?" Ozora Daichi turned his head to look at Moroboshi Dan.
He had been the first to detect the black-robed person's presence. No wonder the aliens had been keeping such a low profile lately; the only ones still daring to swagger around were either extremely confident or had nowhere left to run.
"That's right, it was definitely a fluctuation of time," Moroboshi Dan confirmed.
Possessing the Shining Form, he was far more sensitive to the power of time.
"What about those three thieves?" This was Gido Hikaru, who hadn't made it to the scene in time.
"Haruki just messaged me saying they've all been caught and handed over to the Bureau without any abnormalities," Moroboshi Dan replied.
Damn it, if he had just been a bit faster back then—he was awfully curious about that fellow.
After discussing it for ages without reaching any conclusion, they had no choice but to give up.
"It's getting late. Everyone should head back to rest; staying up late is bad for your health," Xio offered his advice.
"True, hah—" Asakura Riku let out a yawn. He was so sleepy; he was still just a child, after all.
"Let's go, Brother." Minato Isami was already too tired to keep his eyes open, and sleepily dragged Hiroyuki away with him.
Kudo Hiroyuki: ?
Minato Katsumi: Hey, wait!
......
Meanwhile, Ling Luo teleported back to his own villa and threw himself onto the bed.
Running out to cause mischief in the dead of night had completely worn him out.
He had originally wanted to play with the kids a little longer, but Xiaoyou had given him a heads-up that Moroboshi Dan was approaching.
The others were fine, but he didn't dare show up like that in front of him.
After all, that was just an ordinary cloak, and he couldn't be sure if Moroboshi Dan might see right through it, leaving him no choice but to make a hasty retreat.
After resting for a while, despite feeling overwhelmingly sleepy, Ling Luo dragged himself to the bathroom for a quick shower before finally turning in for the night.
"Ding! Emotion points +36. Automatically converted to points for the host at a 1:1 ratio. Current points: 49."
......