Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

“Pito…” Aiba Yu said expressionlessly, “Something’s wrong with him.”

……

"Huh? I'm perfectly fine!"

Kinoshita Kei was struck by lightning when the door opened. When he saw what was sitting in the dormitory, he even went back to the door to check the room number.

"Something's not right with you!" Kinoshita Kei slammed the door shut. Even though he knew that probably no one in the base could see Xianyu, he couldn't help but close the door tightly. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst through his skull and send him flying.

Pito was wearing a modified bathrobe with an extremely short skirt and bandages instead of underwear. One shoulder was loosely covered by the garment, while the other was exposed. Her sideburns were like clouds, and her eyebrows were like distant mountains. She was looking at him with a pair of phoenix eyes, and her thin eyeshadow was applied lightly, yet as beautiful as a begonia.

He was beautiful, of course, but the thought that he used to be a muscular man made Kinoshita Kei lose all interest. He felt as horrified as if he had seen Professor Fukui in women's clothing when he was visiting a funeral!

Pito left the empty chair in the dormitory unused. Just like the female protagonist in "The Swordsman," he sat on the table with his legs crossed, his long white legs facing him. Kinoshita Kei knew that those legs were not only beautiful but also incredibly ruthless—have you ever heard of the deadly scissor kick?

"P-P-P-Tuo, what are you doing here?" Kinoshita Kei pressed himself against the door, trying to get as far away from Him as possible.

“Your new opponent won’t chop your head off with a single blow. I’ll use my fists, which is perfect for someone like you…” The long-legged, mature woman walked over, her wooden clogs clicking on the floor. She stretched out her hand, covered with a thin layer of calluses but still exuding charm and long, slender joints, and gently stroked his face: “Perfect for someone like you who can’t even use weapons properly, let alone light-based techniques—good boy.”

The female protagonist of "The Swordsman" usually wears a high ponytail. The figure sculpts her ponytail in a free and flowing manner, as if a breeze is blowing in her face. The figure perfectly reproduces its characteristic of moving without wind, so when she walks over, every strand of hair is strangely suspended in mid-air. This reminds Kinoshita Kei of the goddess Manshin in the movie "The Bloodstained Bun".

Most importantly, he saw Pito's feet wearing wooden clogs.

For a figurine to stand upright, it usually has a hole in the bottom to connect to the base. Pito observed this very carefully and made a perfect replica.

So Kinoshita Kei watched as a woman with a strange, large hole in the sole of her foot walked over and touched his face, feeling the familiar touch of the resin material.

Don't restore this characteristic!!!

The plastic figurine coming to life should have been a cause for celebration, but Kinoshita Kei felt like crying. Pito, seeing his deeply moved expression, happily mimicked a classic scene from a manga, wrapping his arms around Kinoshita Kei's neck, slowly leaning closer, his breath sweet as orchids:

"Dad will always love you."

"You're a woman, a woman..." Kinoshita Kei didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Pito said "Oh," and "Okay, I love you to death."

The large bow around his waist moved without any wind, and it was completely devoid of any softness. It had the texture of high-grade resin, like ivory, and was positioned close to him, directly across Kinoshita Kei's entire abdominal muscle, almost making him vomit up the food he had just eaten.

"Thank you for your love?" Kinoshita Kei felt that Xianyu must have put a lot of thought into it, so he was too embarrassed to say what he found strange. He held back the question he cared about most: "So how are you planning to train in combat? This stiff uniform is killing me."

……

"boom--!"

The mixture of ice and snow powder exploded, the long-legged mature woman withdrew her fist, and chased after her so-called good son with her high ponytail that always maintained its original arc even when she ran.

"Don't run! How did you turn combat training into a long-distance race again! Charge at my fist!" He shouted loudly, his fair, jade-like fist tearing through the flying snow. The howling wind came, and Kinoshita Kei ran even faster.

"My fist is made of flesh! Yours is a solid, hard thing! Genuine quality control! Top-notch quality! I must be out of my mind to fight you to the death!" Kinoshita Kei ran while looking at Aiba Yu, who was standing aside as if it were none of his business: "Hey, you should do something about this, someone's going to die, someone's going to die!"

“You run much faster than before, and the results are remarkable,” Aiba Yu said without changing his mind. “You said that Ultra Warriors have many forms. If you practice more and run more, maybe you can directly develop a speed type.”

"Fellow villager, your lame joke isn't funny at all..." Kinoshita Kei suddenly changed his tune, dodging the heavy punch aimed at his back: "Aaaaaah, you dog Earth, stay away from me!"

Pito stopped halfway through his run, looking displeased. Kinoshita Kei quickly seized the opportunity to run to the edge of the space, panting heavily, looking like an innocent poultry about to be caught and plucked.

The long-legged mature woman sat down on the ground, turned her foot over, and poked the hole in the sole of her foot—it was covered with ice and snow, some of which had even overflowed and hardened into a ball. Pito felt his foot slipping and had to stop to check the situation.

Kinoshita Kei watched with a conflicted expression as his goddess sat there picking her toes.

The Swordsman, he really is

He liked it, really liked it, but ever since Pito "catered to his tastes," he felt his liking gradually fade.

He never imagined that the muscular, scarred protagonist would be so pitiful, hugging his knees and crying. He also never imagined that his goddess would be in such a pure, pristine world of ice and snow, bending her long white legs and earnestly picking her toes.

The way she punched him was really cool, and the way she shouted while chasing him was also very pleasant. Actually, he felt a strange excitement when he heard the goddess refer to herself as "old lady." All of these things combined should have made Kinoshita Kei incredibly happy. But now he felt like crying, more heartbroken than if the goddess had broken his bones without any mercy.

“Pitto…” he said his most sincere words: “I really like King Mermaid, I like King Mermaid the most.”

Chapter 41 Hidden Worries

As it turns out, even though Gaia was temporarily unable to contact Takayama Gamu due to the upgraded defenses at the Ariel base, her growth was still much faster than that of someone who received special attention but couldn't even get close to the light.

It wasn't just that he discovered a way to predict EyeQ's trajectory; it was also because, after being sucked into EyeQ's body during the battle, he broke through it from the inside, resolving the crisis. The geological research team, who were being criticized for submitting a mystical report on EyeQ's formation, suddenly found themselves praised after the monster was defeated. The geological research team's tracking data became their hero, and the criticism turned into praise. The entire team could finally enjoy a few peaceful days.

"Let's keep the monsters out of sight." Kinoshita Kei's beginner village quests have progressed from learning the basic structure to mastering the key tasks, and Nakai Ryo has also set a sequence for him to avoid him learning in a disorganized way.

Now he's back in the large equipment maintenance workshop, and Nakai Ryo has also been called away by Team Leader Fukui. This time, he's being led by Nasiri, a black man from Burkina Faso who is in charge of testing insulation materials.

The base broadcast a message announcing the elimination of EyeQ, and those who had been silently monitoring the situation breathed a sigh of relief.

Kinoshita Kei felt the same way. Knowing the script was one thing, but ever since he escaped from under Goff and Mezad's feet, he had come to understand the public's fear of monsters. The idea that he used to only focus on Ultraman fighting monsters when watching TV had faded a lot. Now he was more concerned about how many people had been evacuated and whether anyone had been caught in the crossfire and lost their lives.

"I hope no monster comes. I'll go home and open my coffee shop, where I can bask in the sun and get a good night's sleep when the weather is nice," Kinoshita Kei muttered to himself as he took notes.

“If none of you come, then we’ll have to disband,” Nasiri said, wiping his hands with the towel hanging around his neck. He always sweated easily, so he almost never took off this yellow towel when he was working. He said to Kinoshita Kei, “If we disband, I can only go home, um… go home and farm.”

“You’re an expert in thermal insulation materials, why would you be farming? People will come to you to ask for your services,” Kinoshita Kei said, popping a mint into his mouth, the cool air hitting his head. “Why wouldn’t those aerospace engineers want you?”

“My country has no space program,” Nasiri stated as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. “Burkina Faso, you can see it on the list of least developed countries. If the GUARD is dissolved, I don’t want to serve other countries, so I’ll go back… and teach my fellow villagers how to farm and raise livestock. They can’t read, but I can.”

Kinoshita Kei looked up from his notebook, but the black man remained as calm as still water, as if what he had just said was none of his business. Kinoshita Kei quickly said, "It's a good thing there are no monsters. GUARD won't disband easily; we still need it to venture into deep space."

Nasiri just smiled at his words: "That's good, but...you know what? Before the prophecy of 'Destruction' came, few people paid attention to my hometown. It used to be a colony, with the most beautiful fields, but also coups and famines. I hope someone will go and see it, but if you want to travel to that continent, I wouldn't recommend it."

"We jointly founded GUARD, and my talents finally found a place to be put to use. Do you know that feeling of returning from studying abroad, eager to make a name for yourself, only to find that people are still starving? These insulation materials use rare metals and mediums that are only produced in laboratories. The price of gold is nothing compared to them—and these materials are nothing compared to food."

Kinoshita Keimoto wanted to say something more, but Nasiri's words made him swallow back what he wanted to say.

“GUARD gave me this job, and under the prophecy of ‘destruction,’ the country, caught in the middle, could relax its nerves. War, at least open war, was no longer allowed,” Nasiri said. “We have ushered in ‘peace.’”

Kinoshita Kei understood what he meant.

The appearance of the monster was undoubtedly a disaster, especially for those living under its feet, but it also changed some things. Faced with the oppression of a powerful external enemy, people began to seek unity. In some less-discussed areas, local communities were finally able to shift their focus more towards improving people's livelihoods.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have talked about this kind of thing with a newbie,” Nasiri said, taking off his helmet as he walked outside. “Wait here. I’ll go back to my office and find my old notes from when I was a new student. You should be able to use them.”

The joys and sorrows of people are not the same, and Nasiri's complex feelings about the "destruction" prophecy and the monster disaster can perhaps only be understood by himself. Kinoshita Kei felt that his words were, in some ways, similar to the "dreams" that Nakai Ryoya had talked about.

The Geo base was enormous; the amount of money and resources consumed is perhaps only known to the chief engineer from back then. Everyone who entered...

People are carefully selected. Even someone like Kinoshita Kei, who considers himself a "good-for-nothing," is a student of Professor Fukui at Jonan University, using a cheat code to start his life over and carrying the halo of "number one" all the way.

They are all "worker ants" within this vast system; viewed from a broader perspective, they are but a drop of water in the ocean, a grain of sand in the wind. Faced with the grand scheme of things, the power of an individual is insignificant. Even if one can clearly see the problem, what can one do? Unless one is a figure who can manipulate events with a single hand, but even such a figure will have times when they are not in control of their own destiny.

Kinoshita Kei watched as he retrieved the notebook and his tall, muscular body walked into the passageway. The passageway was brightly lit, the lights illuminating the underground fortress as if it were daytime. Yet, Kinoshita Kei noticed a shadowy figure lurking in every crevice and every corner of the surveillance cameras.

The construction of the Ariel and Geo bases must have been an epic undertaking. Almost everyone who enters is filled with excitement as they explore this place that so generously displays man-made wonders. But once the excitement cools, newcomers will eventually discover that some things are different, while others remain the same.

The light of the sky always appears to help humanity in times of crisis.

Kinoshita Kei remembers the man in the spacesuit slowly reading a letter to the children amidst the desolation.

Kinoshita Kageyuki was convinced that the "crisis" would be resolved.

But what about the real "crisis"? Can Nakai Ryoya's dream, Nasiri's cherished hometown, be solved simply by defeating the monster?

“Uranus,” he asked in his mind, “why were you on that desolate mountain? Why did people see you wrapped in a spacesuit? Was the starry sky you saw a warning about ‘destruction,’ or a future that leads to destruction even after overcoming ‘destruction’?”

And the song the man was singing, with its mountains, rivers, and a beloved, should have been a lyrical and cheerful tune, but the man sang it slowly and poorly, which made Kinoshita Kei hear the atmosphere of a lament, which contrasted interestingly with the desolate surroundings.

"You heartless fellow countrymen..." he thought to himself, "How many things are you still keeping from me?"

Chapter Forty-Two: Returning Home

While Kinoshita Kei was pondering some questions he hadn't considered before, Aiba Yu secretly slipped out of the base again and returned to Kinoshita Cafe.

Salty Fish, with her long white legs spread apart, was reading upside down in the dormitory. Her anti-gravity ponytail still maintained its smooth and flowing shape. When she saw Aiba Yu leave, she couldn't help but say a line from "The Swordsman": "Go ahead, I'll wait for you here."

This is a famous line from the female protagonist who often refers to herself as "this old lady." The background is that the male protagonist is going to an appointment where he is likely to be beaten to death and have his bones turned into beads. She said this in the background of falling flowers and a cold, desolate wind.

Aiba Yu stared at the manga he was currently reading for a while, realizing that the lazybones had once again succumbed to his copying tendencies, and said speechlessly, "You're hopeless."

"Didn't I learn it well?!" Pito stomped his foot angrily, leaving several gray marks on the pristine white wall. "Do you know what this means when you've turned this page so many times that the corners are all rough? When I deliver his lines, it'll be a fatal blow! It'll move him to tears, father and son... ugh, mother and son, they'll definitely open the door to each other's hearts! In this emotional upheaval, maybe we can even awaken Uranus!"

Even a beautiful woman's furrowed brows are pleasing to the eye, but Aiba Yu only has eyes for his former dead fish eyes beneath those dark brows: "If you switch back to the muscular protagonist and say that line to him again, it will make him even more excited, he will cry."

His reply came from a flying wooden clog, its bare leg exposed, pointing at him with its foot riddled with holes: "I am from a highly qualified, highly intelligent planet of success. Only a fool would believe your nonsense!"

"Make a bet?"

"I'll bet you! I'll say this line and I guarantee he'll cry and call me 'Dad... no, Mom!'"

Aiba Yu and the salted fish made another bet: one would say that the line would only have the opposite effect, while the other would point to the line that would start a new chapter. Then, Aiba Yu followed the road that led to the base, bypassed the highly sensitive instruments on the outside of the base, and returned to Kinoshita Cafe.

He came here to confirm one thing—the owner of the letter. Since Uranus was involved, he was determined to investigate.

Kinoshita Kei thought it was most likely a coincidence. After all, Onodera Hitomi wasn't a name so unique that no one else had it. Besides, the handwriting on the letter was that of a child, which seemed like that of a college student today, spending all their time petting cats and shopping. It didn't fit the description of Onodera Hitomi, who claimed to be traveling for business.

Aiba Yu didn't think so. Maybe it was intuition or just psychological? He hadn't paid much attention to her in the coffee shop before, but now that he had been observing her for a while, he felt more and more that there was something inexplicably off about her.

It was the off-peak hours for the shop, and apart from Hitomi Onodera, there were no other customers. She wasn't just there for coffee today. She brought the same cardboard whack-a-mole toy she'd used to be buried in the desert in Mezad, and was having a blast playing with her fat cat named "Snowcap," occasionally sneaking a few strokes of its fur, looking as content as Jerry chugging milk.

Two unopened pieces of dark chocolate sat on the table, and the coffee was steaming.

After playing with the "snow-capped peak" and washing her hands, she returned to slowly sip the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee brewed by Michiko. Because of its high price, few people in the shop drink it, which may be why Onodera Hitomi's movements were very gentle, and she stirred the coffee with an almost reverent devotion, perhaps indicating she is a true enthusiast?

She got a new pair of glasses, and there was a thin layer of dust on the lenses.

The fog.

“This coffee has a rather unique flavor. If you like it, you might want to try the Kona coffee from Hawaii next time. It has a cinnamon spice flavor.” Michiko brought her sugar cubes and milk.

"Is that so?" Hitomi Onodera glanced at the store's menu, seemingly looking for the item Mieko had mentioned: "Kona from Hawaii?"

“It’s grown on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Valarai, and only those located in the Kona region of Hawaii can be named ‘Kona’,” Michiko explained. “The yield is low, and we’ve only been able to source it in recent years because we’ve gained some recognition and funds. It has a caramel sweetness and a refreshing taste…”