Near Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda.
Chinese Union Embassy.
Li Yizhou, who had been somewhat puzzled upon hearing the rumble of thunder, suddenly felt the ground begin to shake. Running to the window to look outside, he saw a towering pillar of fire rising from the direction of Kasumigaseki.
Staring at the flames that had nearly scorched an entire side of the Kasumigaseki Building, Li Yizhou first froze, then felt a surge of delight, before frowning and saying:
"What happened?"
Just then, the door burst open with a crash as military attaché Lin Qi rushed in and announced:
"Ambassador, please follow me to take shelter immediately."
"Understood."
Li Yizhou quickly returned to his seat, grabbed important documents and stuffed them haphazardly into his suit, then rushed toward the door while asking:
"What exactly is happening?--"
At that moment, Lin Qi, who was escorting Li Yizhou, promptly explained:
"Unidentified individuals are attacking Kasumigaseki."
Hearing this, Li Yizhou's heart sank, and he said anxiously:
"It's not our civilians doing this, is it?"
Lin Qi glanced at the thunder-filled clouds outside the corridor window while explaining:
"The situation isn't clear yet. Kazuma has gone to investigate."
As he spoke, a gust of wind blew in through the window, forming the likeness of Kazuma Yagami in mid-air.
Seeing it was Kazuma Yagami's wind clone, Li Yizhou immediately asked:
"Have you confirmed the situation?"
Hearing this, Kazuma Yagami's expression turned particularly strange, almost as if he didn't know how to describe it.
Seeing that odd expression, Lin Qi asked in surprise: "Is the situation that bad?"
"For us, probably not, but for America, that might be different."
Kazuma Yagami landed as he spoke, showing the expression of a country bumpkin who'd never seen the world:
"I don't know if they're impostors, but I just saw Apostles of the American Union attacking Kasumigaseki."
As his words fell,
Lin Qi and Li Yizhou were instantly dumbfounded, speaking in unison:
"Eh?!!" x2
Seeing their reaction, Kazuma Yagami instinctively said, "It's true, I'm not joking."
Hearing this, Li Yizhou and Lin Qi stopped and looked at each other.
"Should we still take shelter?"
"Shelter from what? Don't you want to see the situation on site?"
"Exactly, exactly. If we miss this chance, who knows when we'll ever see such a spectacle again."
"Pfft, that's true."
Hearing this, Kazuma Yagami scratched his head and suggested:
"How about I send a few surveillance feeds over there so we can all watch the situation together?"
"It's decided!!"
-
Akihabara District.
Hidden Management Department garrison.
"So tonight's main course is sliced noodles..."
Luo Shu, sitting at the desk, looked at the bowl of soup noodles placed before him, then raised his head to look at Kisara, who always wore a smile, and the beaming Mira Tsubakihara beside her, feeling that these two might be plotting something unpleasant.
Thinking this, Luo Shu paused and tentatively asked:
"You didn't add anything to the noodles, did you?"
"No, no." Kisara quickly shook her head in denial, but the motion only made Luo Shu more suspicious.
Meanwhile, Mira Tsubakihara clapped her hands cheerfully and said:
"I added the latest developed alchemy potion inside, it's very effective for zinc supplementation!"
"Won't you give it a try, Luo Shu?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu's face twitched, and he said in a somewhat unnatural tone:
"I believe zinc supplementation is supposed to support kidney function, right?"
Luo Shu tried hard to blink at Mira Tsubakihara:
"Are you sure it's a kidney-tonifying alchemy potion?"
"Of course~"
Mira Tsubakihara wore a smile, but her narrowed eyes sent a chill down Luo Shu's spine:
"It's only because you've been so busy lately that little Kisara came to me, asking me to give you a proper tonic~"
"Exactly, exactly." Kisara nodded repeatedly in agreement beside him, while also stealing a glance at Luo Shu's face, then puffing out her cheeks with a hint of jealousy: "If we don't replenish him soon, there won't be any left for us."
"..."
Faced with such remarks, Luo Shu sighed, looked down at the seemingly normal bowl of noodle soup before him, and eventually picked up his chopsticks.
Once the noodles were in his mouth, Luo Shu found the taste rather acceptable. Apart from his body feeling somewhat warm after eating, everything else was tolerable.
However, just as Luo Shu was being watched by Kisara and Mira Tsubakihara while finishing his meal...
Thud!
The door was suddenly pushed open, and Yukino Yukinoshita rushed in carrying a stack of documents, calling out lightly:
"Excuse me."
Before the stunned Luo Shu and the other two could respond, Yukino Yukinoshita quickly approached and said to Luo Shu:
"The intelligence department has sent an urgent message. Japan's official agency, Kasumigaseki, appears to have been attacked."
"Such good news?"
Luo Shu was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled, unable to suppress his amusement:
"What organisation is so bold in Tokyo, actually attacking Japan's official agencies?"
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita gave Luo Shu an extremely complicated look, then said quietly:
"According to confirmation from personnel on site, among the attackers, there seem to be Miss Takatsuki Izumi and Miss Shizuka Hio."
After saying this, Yukino Yukinoshita asked Luo Shu, whose smile had frozen, with some uncertainty:
"Director, are you certain you didn't give them any special orders today?"
"I... probably didn't, right?"
Luo Shu spoke with great uncertainty, but then immediately wondered:
"What's that madwoman Takatsuki Izumi doing attacking Kasumigaseki for no reason? And why did she bring Shizuka Hio along?"
"Didn't I tell them to develop peripheral forces?"
Saying this, Luo Shu quickly finished the noodles before him, stuffed them into his mouth, stood up, and, while chewing, said:
"Call Origami and Kurumi. Let's go to Kasumigaseki to assess the situation on site."
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita was stunned:
"Are you certain you're just going to assess the situation?"
Luo Shu personally leading the team was one thing, but bringing along Origami Tobiichi and Kurumi Tokisaki, two Demigods...
Are you sure this is about assessing the situation, and not conveniently wiping them out?
Hearing this, Luo Shu, who had already run out of the room, immediately replied:
"I'm going to see if they've destroyed Kasumigaseki."
"If they have, I'll go break up the fight."
"If they haven't, I'll just lend a hand."
"Really, those two fools didn't stop to think - with their level of skill, how could they possibly kill anyone?"
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita fell silent.
Why did she feel that, compared to Takatsuki Izumi and Shizuka Hio, who were already attacking Kasumigaseki, this guy Luo Shu was the one most eager to take action?
Was this her misconception?