I'm so stupid. Truly, profoundly stupid.
Inside Zero Hollow, Eous (Belle) lifted her lifeless little eyes and continued.
I knew—sure, I knew—Zero Hollow had opened a new investigation program, and that you had to pass the Association's assessment to become an officially certified investigator.
But I did not know the "assessment" was going to be this dangerous!!!
A titanic Ethereal drifted overhead—shaped like some kind of queen bee, except a real queen bee was, what, the size of a thumb?
This one was a mountain in the sky.
Belle trembled so hard you could practically hear the rattling, and Nsergia, who'd entered the Hollow with her, had lost all the swagger it had shown earlier—when it caved in the armored shell of an Armored Hati with a single elbow strike.
Now it was a wilted eggplant.
Two tiny Bangboo huddled together in silence.
On one hand, the giant Ethereal's sheer oppression was enough to make anyone shut up.
On the other, they were also trying not to expose anything in front of the examiner hiding nearby.
After all, a Bangboo that could communicate wasn't unusual.
But inside a Hollow, even Defense Force signals suffered interference.
And as the gold standard of "civilian tech repurposed for military use," Phaethon's hardware was even more advanced than the Defense Force's own.
Inside a Hollow, that showed up as Eous' navigation capability—
and Nsergia's absurd martial strength.
Navigation was one thing.
But a Bangboo with martial arts strong enough to make examiners double-take?
That was the kind of thing that made people wonder when New Eridu had started manufacturing civilian tactical Bangboo this terrifying.
In the end, the examiner didn't bother reporting it.
Ordinary working people had a simple philosophy: living your life well mattered more than extra paperwork.
After escorting Belle in and giving Captain Roland a brief round of questioning, Wise had driven straight back home to beg Fairy to look into Chiya's situation.
Heaven help Wise—this time, he had to strip Chiya down to the bone and find out what he'd been hiding.
For once, even Belle—who normally sided with Chiya whenever it was "Wise vs. Chiya"—nodded firmly in agreement:
Sneaking around with outside women without reporting in, then getting counterplayed so hard you ended up needing a rescue?
This was no longer "regular Chiya."
This required a heavy hand. A hard crackdown.
And what made Wise and Belle angriest was this:
When they asked Lei how she'd even met Chiya, she refused to answer.
But when they asked how many times Chiya had gone into Hollows behind their backs, Lei answered instantly, smiling:
"Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?"
"What?!"
Seeing their shock, Lei chuckled.
"I'm joking."
"Truth is, Chiya hasn't gone into Hollows that many times."
"And when he does go, it's only with people he considers trustworthy."
"So you don't need to worry about that."
"Though honestly—you two dig into everything. Even between parents and children, people keep a few secrets, don't they?"
"Now," she said, waving them off, "go finish your assessment."
Miss Lei.
Is this what you call "simple and easy"?
Why are Ethereals of that caliber roaming around?!
Don't tell me "not getting pulverized by a giant Ethereal" is part of the test?!
Belle was screaming internally so hard that, through Eous, it physically manifested as both tiny hands clutching its face in a silent, distorted The Scream pose.
Fortunately, the giant Ethereal came fast and left fast.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished from view.
The examiner, Eous, and Nsergia finally dared to breathe and creep out to scout.
But just as Eous and the examiner stepped out from the stairwell, bracing themselves against a signboard to peek around—
Nsergia's eyes sharpened.
In one clean twist, it lightly tapped Eous' little head—like a dragonfly touching down on water—then launched upward in a gorgeous leap, gathering momentum like a meteor about to slam into the earth, and punched toward a bee-like grunt Ethereal that had somehow appeared behind them.
And then—
In the space of a heartbeat, an overwhelmingly powerful presence closed the distance.
A presence that felt… weirdly familiar.
Another expert?!
Nsergia wanted to react.
But as everyone knew—force has materiality. You can't separate it from the body.
Even if its senses screamed "danger," Nsergia could only cross its arms and brace for impact.
"Hm?"
A soft sound of surprise.
And then New Eridu's youngest Void Hunter—
Section 6's chief—
the so-called "Six-beans-three-charges immortal"—
the next head of the Hoshimi family—
Hoshimi Miyabi—
snatched Nsergia midair like she was grabbing a melon, drew her blade, flicked out a clean flourish, and the grunt Ethereal disintegrated on the spot.
"So… so cool…"
Belle stared, entranced.
Even Eous' pupils turned into hearts.
The examiner beside her wasn't any better.
But despite the two scorching gazes behind her, Miyabi didn't respond.
She sheathed her sword, kept hold of Nsergia, turned away without a word, and in a few breaths had already bounded onto a towering building.
She watched the giant Ethereal—now nearly out of sight—for a moment.
Then she chased after it.
Only then did Belle snap out of it.
That fox she'd never even met—
just took Chiya's Nsergia!!!
Belle was about to contact Nsergia when footsteps thundered up behind her.
She spun around—
and saw several people in uniforms similar to Miyabi's arriving at the scene:
A pink-haired, glasses-wearing office lady whose whole vibe screamed "competent married woman."
A black-haired, gold-eyed boy with a relaxed expression and a yellow headband.
And a small oni child who kept rubbing their stomach.
"Chief! Remember to keep a safe distance from the target!" the pink-haired woman called out urgently.
"And—were you just holding something white that looked kind of like mochi? I'm pretty sure you didn't have that before the mission!"
"Ah, Miss Tsukishiro," the boy sighed, "save your breath. We can't catch the chief when she's moving at full speed."
Belle was still trying to figure out who these people even were when the examiner—like a tutorial village elder—blurted it out on her behalf:
"That uniform… H.A.N.D.?"
"And not just anyone—Special Operations Department executives?!"
Hearing that, Tsukishiro Yanagi gave a small nod.
"Section 6 of the Hollow Special Operations Division is currently executing an emergency suppression mission."
"This area has seen the appearance of an extremely dangerous Ethereal individual of unknown status."
"Regardless of what task you were conducting…"
Yanagi adjusted her glasses, her tone turning formal and severe.
"I require you to assist as a mobile support unit."
"This is an official requisition order, issued in my capacity as Deputy Chief of Section 6."
Inside Scott Outpost, Belle quietly contacted her brother—back home—asking for his judgment.
"Brother, what do you think?"
"Uh—Belle, agree first," Wise said quickly. "I'm still sorting the intel on my side."
"I'll hang up for now—this isn't me stalling. There's just a lot I have to verify one by one."
"Don't panic. Fairy will help you."
"Okay…"
With that decided, Belle (through Eous) looked up at Yanagi—
and heard the examiner announce:
"Special circumstances. Original task terminated."
"Objective adjusted to: Provide full support to H.A.N.D. operations."
Then the examiner added, pointing at Eous:
"This Wistar Society guiding Bangboo—I need it to continue serving as navigator during the operation. No objections, right?"
"Mm neh…?"
After ending the call, a flicker of guilt crossed Wise's eyes.
But it vanished almost immediately—replaced by a kind of aimless dread he'd never felt before.
He stared at the screen, at the information Fairy had compiled—things he'd never heard of in his life—
and after a long silence, he finally whispered in a voice as light as falling feathers:
"Chiya… why?"
"Why would you hide all of this?"
"Why… aren't we family?"
"Assistant Three," Fairy said, "for your current predicament, I have a sentence to offer you:
'Sometimes, the deepest love is silence—and wounds kept hidden.'"
"Interpretation: Concealment can be a form of love. To protect the beloved from pain or worry, one chooses to bear it alone. Therefore, Assistant Two must have his reasons."
"What do you know?!" Wise snapped.
"It's because we're family that we should carry it together!"
"No matter how much pain is waiting in the future, we should bear it side by side!"
"We're the children of Helios!"
"We survived that disaster!"
"But Chiya's secrecy was never what we wanted!"
"We endured the ignorant Old Night era together!"
"We licked each other's wounds and swore we would never hide things from one another—never carry that pain alone!"
"Detected," Fairy replied calmly, "a sharp increase in Assistant Three's adrenaline, thyroxine, and norepinephrine secretion."
"Inference: Assistant Three is currently in an extreme state of anger."
"Fairy," Wise said, voice tight, "call Chiya."
"I have a lot I need to say to him."
Wise drew a long breath, already rehearsing how he'd force himself to be harsh with Chiya—
and then the line connected, and the words were about to spill out—
when a woman's voice, faintly familiar, came through the speaker.
"Hello. Whoever you are—please hang up, alright?"
"Chiya-chan is very tired."
"…Trigger?"
"Lord Phaethon?" Trigger sounded mildly surprised. "Did you change your number?"
"N-no. Uh… actually, wait—are you with Chiya right now?"
"Yes," Trigger answered simply. "I'm on Chiya-chan's bed."
"Sleeping with him."
"…."
"...."
"Huh?!!!!!!!!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 120)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 85)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter85)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter81)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter60)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter66)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 40
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 50
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