After the assassination attempt on Kura, a small group of teachers began to take care of him until they could find the killer. Soon, he was put into more classes during that time. He particularly hated the idea of having more classes and less free time—mainly because his brother was left alone more often while a maniac was still on the loose inside the military base.
— Geez... well, what am I supposed to do now?
Arold said that while walking alone, feeling a bit lonely without his brother to walk with him and, at the same time, slightly worried, thinking he could be the next one attacked by that man. He thought about meeting Itadaki to talk about the incident, but he couldn't find him, not even in the cafeteria, which was where he usually spent most of his time.
— Huh, he's always here. Did something happen today?
He stayed there for a while, until Aki showed up in the cafeteria. Itadaki wasn't with him, even though they were great friends, which caught the attention of the explosive boy, who started walking toward him, waving:
— Heyyy, Akkii!
The man waved back and moved slowly toward the boy, very calm:
— What's up, Arold, you alright?
They did a quick "high five" to greet each other. Right after, the question that had been bothering the young man came out without hesitation:
— I'm fine. Hey, Aki, where's Itadaki?
That made the man pause and think—he didn't know where his friend was. In fact, he had gone to the cafeteria with the goal of meeting him there, but ended up realizing he wasn't around.
— Huh, he's not here? Well... I don't know where he could be either. Maybe he went out on a mission or patrol.
Arold, just like Aki, found it strange that Itadaki wasn't anywhere to be seen—they hadn't even been told about any mission or patrol time for him that day. But there wasn't much they could do except wait until rest hours to try asking a superior if their friend had any duty for the day.
Arold spent some time chatting casually with Aki, things like, "Did you know the lunch lady spits in the food of people who speak rudely to her?" and also, "Have you had the class about the Miraijins and what their birthmark means?" and, since they both came to the cafeteria for the same reason, they couldn't help bringing him up: "Hey, have you noticed Itadaki's hair is getting more and more blonde?"
That was their conversation until they each went their separate ways. Our protagonist went for a walk through a tree-filled area inside the base, where he liked to go to calm down and feel relaxed. In the background, he could hear a sound—something that caught the young man's attention, as there weren't even animals there to make such a noise of footsteps. He stayed alert and aware of everything around him—he didn't want to suffer a surprise attack like his brother, or get startled by someone he knew.
"Hmm... there's something fishy going on here. I swear I'll blow up whoever comes at me!"
He kept looking around, but the attack came from above—from the top of one of the trees—the same lightning bolt that had been launched at Kura. However, Arold managed to dodge the attack just barely, suffering only a small cut on his left cheek. In the moment of distraction, the infiltrated man hurled a gigantic tree trunk down to crush the boy. Arold reacted by closing the fingers of his right hand into an "OK" symbol, placing his thumb in the middle of the circle and focusing a gigantic explosion, launching it like a "beam" that pierced through the trunk with ease and hit the enemy, causing a huge explosion.
— Bastard! Don't think I'll die that easily!
The explosion's noise caught the attention of the director, who happened to be passing nearby, making him run toward the "forest" to see what was going on. Meanwhile, in that fight, the villain didn't seem hurt by the boy's explosion, using the smoke from the blast to hide his face. Arold advanced toward the man by creating a small explosion under his shoes, making him "fly" and get closer to the enemy, managing to hit him with a massive point-blank explosion that blew up his entire head and the left side of his body. Unexpectedly, the man regenerated and covered his face with his right arm while using his left—just freshly regenerated—to deliver a deadly punch aimed at the soldier's head. Arold made a massive explosion to counter the punch that came at full force and speed. It didn't stop the strike, but it weakened it enough to only send him crashing to the ground, nearly knocking him out.
— Now, go to hell!
As the enemy was about to fire another "lightning bolt" at the younger brother, he was suddenly shot in the hand and right forearm by two shotgun rounds—fired by the director. The damn maniac knew that if he fought against the man and the soldier, he would be defeated and have his identity revealed. So, he stomped hard on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust to help him escape.
— Damn it... that bastard ran off like a rat. Hey, kid, you okay? Let's get you to the infirmary, now.
The man, puffing on his cigar, picked up Arold and threw him over his shoulder, taking him back to the base so they could treat the young man and later ask him what had happened there.