"Captain Hibiki, come and choose one. I prepared a flyer for you as well."
Yu Zhou noticed Captain Hibiki standing behind the others, eyes filled with envy, and called out to him.
"There's one for me too?"
Captain Hibiki's face immediately lit up with joy. As the captain of Super Victory Team, he was still very much a man of passion. To say he had no interest in alien technology would be a lie—being gifted a personal craft like this was nothing short of amazing.
"Of course." Yu Zhou smiled and nodded. "Everyone in Super Victory Team gets one, whether you're a member or the captain."
Overjoyed, Hibiki stepped up, selected a flyer, and joined the rest of his team in the sky.
As elite members of Super Victory Team, all of them were top pilots. It didn't take long before they had mastered the alien flyers and were streaking across the night sky with ease.
"Yu Zhou-senpai, this feels incredible!"
Shin Asuka was the first to get airborne, his adaptability remarkable. Within minutes, he was already darting and weaving recklessly through the air.
"As long as you're happy."
Yu Zhou chuckled helplessly. Asuka was still young and impulsive, always chasing fun without restraint.
The others were just as thrilled, though they flew more cautiously, carefully controlling the speed of their crafts.
Before everyone's eyes, Yu Zhou calmly stored away his massive starship into his space ring, then gestured for Captain Hibiki to land.
Seeing Yu Zhou stash away an entire spaceship left Hibiki shocked, though not overly surprised.
Over ten years ago, Yu Zhou had lent his spatial bracelet to Captain Megumi for study. By now, Earth's researchers had achieved some results with spatial storage. While their technology couldn't match Yu Zhou's—capable of holding something as enormous as a warship—they could at least create compartments the size of a suitcase.
"Could Earth's storage tech fit one of these flyers?" Yu Zhou asked.
Hibiki glanced at the craft at his feet and shook his head. "We've made progress, but storing something this large is still beyond us."
"In that case…" Yu Zhou thought for a moment, then reached into his pocket and produced a handful of space rings. He handed them to Hibiki. "Distribute these to your team. Each one can hold a flyer, or anything else you might need."
Though not as vast as the one containing his ship, these rings had more than enough capacity for the flyers.
"Yu Zhou-senpai, you're the best!"
Asuka had just landed and overheard. His face lit up with joy.
To be given both alien flyers and space rings—only Yu Zhou would be so generous.
"It's nothing. Just a small gift." Yu Zhou waved it off lightly.
After all, he fully intended to drag Asuka into his world for future adventures. As a senior, it was only natural to look after his juniors.
Later that evening, when Yu Zhou returned home, he saw a woman waiting at his door.
She stood beneath the dim porchlight, dressed in a flowing white dress. Her presence exuded an almost dangerous beauty.
"Camearra… what are you doing here?"
Yu Zhou froze. He recognized her instantly—the beautiful dark giant who should have been sealed in R'lyeh.
Yet here she was, at his doorstep.
"What? Am I not allowed to come?"
Camearra turned her head and smiled faintly, her voice like velvet.
"Y-yes… of course you can…"
Yu Zhou stammered, utterly confused about her intentions.
"Walk with me."
Without waiting for his reply, Camearra slipped her arm through his and tugged him away.
Yu Zhou tried to resist, but to his dismay, even with his enhanced physique he couldn't free himself from her grasp. He finally gave up, allowing himself to be led.
As dusk deepened, the two of them strolled the streets like a pair of lovers.
Camearra's breathtaking beauty drew countless stares. Her allure was overwhelming—at least ninety-nine percent of pedestrians turned to look. The other one percent probably didn't have eyes.
But seeing Yu Zhou at her side, many couldn't help but shake their heads in disapproval. Though Yu Zhou was not unattractive, in their eyes he didn't deserve to walk beside such a goddess.
"What a waste… like a pig eating cabbage," some muttered.
"…Excuse me?"
Yu Zhou's enhanced hearing picked up every word. The insults stung, and for a moment he seriously considered beating those strangers bloody just to show them who the real pig was.
But with Camearra clinging to his arm, he could do nothing but swallow his pride and walk on.
"So… is there something you wanted from me?" he asked after a while, unable to contain his confusion.
"Nothing," Camearra replied with a serene smile.
"Nothing? Really?"
"You don't find this… comfortable?" She tightened her hold on his arm, making Yu Zhou's heart skip uncomfortably.
"I-I guess…"
The truth was, it felt dangerously nice. But Yu Zhou also knew: if this continued, Ultraman Tiga would kill him.
Camearra wasn't just anyone—she was Tiga's wife. And Yu Zhou, though he could transform into Tiga, wasn't the original. He was doomed if this misunderstanding went on.
"Thirty million years ago, you held my arm just like this, walking down crowded streets…" Camearra murmured wistfully, gazing up at the cloudy night sky.
"That wasn't me," Yu Zhou protested weakly. "That was Tiga himself."
But no matter how many times he tried to explain, she refused to listen. She only squeezed his arm tighter.
"You clung to me, refusing to let go… just like now."
Yu Zhou sighed helplessly.
"Camearra, that really wasn't me."
Yet a traitorous part of his heart whispered that it didn't feel entirely bad. He quickly shook the thought from his head. No. Dangerous. Very dangerous.
"When I first saw you, I didn't believe you were him," Camearra said suddenly, stopping to stare into his eyes. "But your words, your manner… they're the same. Almost identical."
Yu Zhou blinked. Wait… what?
Wasn't Tiga supposed to be cool and aloof? How could his own half-serious, half-foolish demeanour resemble that?
"Camearra, you're mistaken," he tried again, throat dry. "I may resemble him in some ways, but I'm not Tiga."
"No—you are."
She seized his other hand, locking eyes with him.
"If I really were Tiga, wouldn't I look like him?" Yu Zhou countered.
Camearra admitted with a nod, "Yes, your face is different. But that aura of his—that presence—no one else could ever copy."
She raised her hand to touch his cheek. Yu Zhou flinched back in alarm.
"Lots of people share similar traits," he said quickly. "It doesn't mean—"
"You're special." Camearra followed, reaching for him again.
Yu Zhou dodged, heart pounding.
"Your eyes…" she whispered, gazing into them. "They don't hold the same love they once did for me. But I can still recognize you."
Unnoticed, their walk had led them far from the crowds, into a quiet, lonely street.
A cold wind swept through. Yu Zhou, despite his resilient body, shivered.
Camearra also noticed, her expression darkening.
"That mirror… broken, and no one bothers to fix it."
Yu Zhou, desperate to change the subject, pointed at a shattered roadside mirror. Cracks spread across it like a spider's web.
But his attempt only deepened the awkwardness.
"Do you know what I've thought about for the past thirty million years?" Camearra asked softly, ignoring his words.
"What?" Yu Zhou asked cautiously. "Revenge? How to destroy the world?"
It wasn't unfair speculation—after all, in the original Final Odyssey, Camearra, Hudra, and Darramb had indeed tried to annihilate humanity.
"No." She shook her head. "Though I hate you—for choosing the light and sealing me away—my love for you never faded."
Yu Zhou almost choked. "That's… love and hate all tangled up. But—again—that wasn't me! That was Tiga!"
Still, her words pressed on him like a weight.
"Why? Why did you seal me? Why so heartless?" Her grip on his hands tightened, growing almost painful.
"How should I know…" Yu Zhou groaned. I wasn't even there!
"Why did you listen to that wretched woman's words—why did you abandon me for the light?!"
"Wretched woman?" Yu Zhou blinked. She must mean Yuzare.
He sighed. "I doubt Tiga turned to the light just like that. There must've been another reason."
"Then tell me—what reason?" Camearra's eyes searched his desperately.
"I don't know."
The truth was, Yu Zhou had no answers. Maybe someday he could use Charija's time machine to travel back thirty million years and ask Tiga himself. But Camearra could never know that, or she would rush to the past and change history beyond repair.
"What I can't forgive most…" Camearra's voice trembled as she lowered her gaze. "…is that when you turned to the light, you didn't bring me with you."
Her words fell like ice.
If, thirty million years ago, Tiga had chosen to take her along, perhaps none of this tragedy would have happened.
The light had accepted him. Surely it could have accepted her too.
But instead, he had abandoned her—sealed her away.
To Camearra, there could be only one explanation: Yuzare, that hateful woman, had lured Tiga away. Otherwise, how could he have cast her aside so cruelly?