Chapter 135: Shovelers Unmatched / Maskless but Driver (2/2)

He recalled what Hera had said to him when they met. The conversation at the time was weird, and a smile appeared on his mouth.

「And, are you still doing that training?」

「Training?」

「Wearing a jacket, discarding it, picking it up and wearing it again. That training.」

「What are you, Jackie-Chan!?」

「Or opening and closing windows.」

「Wasn’t it wiping them!?」

「There was that time, yeah.」

Taiyou smiled, remembering Youran’s words that night.

Right before they infiltrated the facility, what he did in order to raise his level even if slightly.

Take off the jacket, then put it on.

Open the window, then close it.

Both of those actions were meaningless to regular humans, but for Taiyou they were actions to raise his power experience points.

And it also had another meaning.

At that point in time it didn’t have any kind of meaning, but as of now it was different.

――Memories.

Memories with Youran. Memories existing between the two of them and only with them.

「……」

「……」

Silence fell over the mobilizing half-broken limousine.

Their eyes met each other, gazing.

Taiyou had something he wanted to ask her, something he wanted to say.

That was the next objective for coming to this・・・・island, but as of this moment, the order of precedence had been swapped.

His eyes were no longer looking at anything but her.

And Youran as well――

「Two and one is two――Two and two is four――Two and three is six――」

All of a sudden, Leticia began reciting the multiplication table.

It was so abrupt and cryptic.

But on the contrary that was a good thing. Taiyou and Youran quickly snapped out of it, and the atmosphere that was developing between the two of them flew off at once.

「W-What are you saying all of a sudden?」

「Huh? It ain’t nothing. I’d just been skipping out on my studies so I’m reviewing, is all. Three and one is――」

She said, then beginning the three’s.

It was certainly something, and it was clear that she was insinuating.

But Taiyou as well as Youran couldn’t say anything. After all, they had created that atmosphere without discerning the situation.

「Huh? Ya ain’t gonna reflect on what ya did?」

「I will not! And there wasn’t even anything to reflect on in the first place!」

「Welp, go ‘head and do it slowly later. I’m Japanese, but even I can read the air.」

「――Ngh！」

Youran’s face turned red, letting out an inaudible groan. She wanted to retort but understood that no matter what she said it would be digging her own grave, so she couldn’t say anything.

Taiyou was the same.

Averting his eyes from Leticia who had started to relax, continuing to push the car silently.

The presence of those behind them gradually got further away, and he thought they would be able to completely throw them off at this rate.

「Stop!」

「――Ngh！」

Reacting to Youran’s yell, Taiyou grabbed the car body that he was pushing, stomping his feet into the ground and putting on the brakes. The soles of his shoes had been worn down by the great force, but he somehow managed to stop it.

He didn’t even need to ask what was wrong. Raising his head, he soon understood the reason for Youran’s yell.

Ahead of the road, a helicopter was flying.

「That’s an armed helicopter, isn’t it?」

「Jeez, it just never ends.」

「Hey, this is your fault, you know? Because if you hadn’t come then you wouldn’t have had your life targeted.」

「Is that the way you talk to a close friend who came to save you?」

「Hey you, dump this girl in that cesspool over there. That way this attack will cease.」

「If anythin’ you should leave this girl here. If they capture her alone then that’ll be enough to save the two of us.」

「No no, come on everyone…」

Taiyou made a strained laugh.

「So what’ll we do?」

「Nothing but observing their approach o’course. There are even people getting off like SWAT or something.」

Just as Leticia had said, men in special corps outfits were using the rope one by one descending the helicopter.

「True…Maybe we should get out of the car.」

「Right.」

The two of them said, opening the door and getting out of the car. Taiyou stepped forward so as to protect said girls.

Taiyou firmly gripped the shovel, and a reliable sensation transmitted.

He felt that as long as he had this, he could do anything.

Right when he was starting to think of possibly even launching a preemptive strike…

「It’s a visit from Maid-chan.」

「Michiyo……」

He could hear the voices of the two girls from behind. Unlike the lighthearted banter from earlier, these were tones with weight to them.

As he looked, he certainly did see one maid disembarking from the helicopter.