Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Actually, even without him saying it, Aiba Yu would have noticed this.

It is true that there are friendly individuals among the extraterrestrials, but they also possess powers that are no different from "superpowers" in the eyes of Earthlings. Whether out of malice, instinct to protect themselves, or even good intentions gone wrong, these abilities may harm others.

He wasn't actually worried about the GUTS team; Daigo wouldn't abandon his teammates in danger. He was more concerned about the ground guards who were spreading out to search for aliens throughout the streets and alleys, and the local police station that was assisting in the investigation.

Taking their current main research direction as an example, to the Lebikians, also known as the Crow People, these investigators are nothing short of "living subjects" delivered to their doorstep.

“I will do my best,” Aiba Yu said.

"Good brother!" Sato gave a thumbs up, unaware of the "996" or even "007" promises Aiba Yu had made. He only knew that his silly vice-captain had found a powerful ally, and said cheerfully, "I'll treat you to pudding!"

Aiba Yu was stunned: "How did you know..."

“The cafeteria made this last month, and I saw you staring at it the whole time,” Sato said with the sharp eyes of a veteran detective. “But because we were last in line, the pudding was gone by the time it was your turn, and I heard you sighing.”

"From then on, every time you went to the cafeteria, you would first look at the baking window, but unfortunately the chef fell in love with baked bread and fancy cakes."

Sato spread his five fingers as Aiba Yu stared blankly into his eyes: "You repeated this for five days, and only on the sixth day did you give up."

“It’s like falling in love with a girl you’ll never see again,” Sato sighed. “She boards a transoceanic plane, leaving you with only a fleeting glimpse at the ball… It’s so tragic, so tragic I want to laugh.”

"Your junk food is gone," Aiba Yu said dryly.

"No, we can switch. If the chef changes his mind and decides to bring the 'good girl' back next time, I'll give you information so you can go line up early and still have a chance to get close to her."

"...Watch your word choice."

“I’ve been very careful, much friendlier than last time,” Sato laughed so hard the ceiling seemed to shake. “It’s okay if you don’t agree, I promise I won’t tell anyone about you going to the library to borrow sewing textbooks.”

Chapter 73 Don't do it unless you're sure of it.

In high spirits, Sato finally agreed to go out for a walk.

"The cafeteria? You're so rigid!" Sato exclaimed when he heard that Aiba Yu was buying so-called "junk food" to take him to the cafeteria. "You haven't been stuck in the base all this time and haven't even been to the surrounding shopping district?"

“A supermarket at the base is fine too,” Aiba Yu replied.

"Huh? You mean that swindler who sells it for 1000 outside and doubles the price inside? If you have a lot of money in your account, you can share some with me. I need to support my family," Sato quickly stepped forward and became the one leading the way: "Let's go, let's go!"

Sato's steps were quick and hurried. He didn't say anything, but judging from the strange looks he received from those around him who knew him, Aiba Yu knew he was extremely uncomfortable—the first person caught red-handed violating the regulations and demoted, the chicken used as a warning to others. His actions wouldn't have caused any trouble before the new year, but now that he was being punished, it served as a lesson to everyone else.

So, amidst all sorts of subtle gazes, many looked at him as if he were a textbook, a walking, moving statue. Sato couldn't take it anymore, cursing himself for not waiting a few more days until things calmed down before going out. He walked and almost jogged, rushing towards the underwater tunnel.

TPC's Far East headquarters is located at sea, without a land bridge. However, the transportation of supplies and personnel cannot rely solely on ships and airplanes, so an underwater tunnel was built to reach the sea.

The exit for personnel is hidden beneath the rocky beach. The exit for supplies is disguised as a factory, located on the outskirts of the city, wide enough for eight trucks to drive side by side. Sometimes, when shipping capacity is insufficient, aircraft parts are also delivered through this passage.

For example, right now, Shinjo and Daigo crashed their planes in the battle with Rigadron, leaving behind a pile of scrap metal that would give the logistics team a heart attack. The already precious engine is another story.

Shinjo and Daigo worked in the logistics department for three days because of this. The older brothers saw that they were sincere and that no one wanted the plane crash. They believed that the culprit was Rikkadron, so they let them go. They even said a lot of good things to the captain of the Victory Team, Iruma Megumi, such as not being too harsh on the team members.

Now, the engine of the Flying Swallow No. 1 is slowly driving out of the supply channel. It is being pulled side by side by widened and lengthened trucks, and the rumbling thunder echoes in the channel. It doesn't look like it is transporting goods, but rather like armored vehicles rolling on the road.

Aiba Yu and Sato turned towards the personnel passage and saw two figures standing by the supply passage, pointing at the engine that was as big as a behemoth.

“Sousuke?” Aiba Yu recognized one of them; the other was a woman in a wheelchair being pushed by Fujisawa Sousuke.

When Fujisawa Sosuke saw the Flying Swallow, he jumped three feet high, like a fan bumping into their idol. The woman seemed even more excited than him, patting her wheelchair so hard she almost slipped off. Fujisawa Sosuke, on the other hand, became the more reserved one.

He was holding onto the wheelchair with one hand and blocking people with the other.

Yu Aiba recalled what Sosuke had said about "the researcher Kamimura who has difficulty walking," who was the younger sister of the owner of a dry cleaning shop outside. Sosuke got to know the owner by playing with his teru teru bozu, and then got to know the researcher Kamimura. It must be her, right?

"Sousuke! Sosuke! This is the aircraft we've been researching!" Aya Kamimura slammed her hand on the wheelchair handle, saying repeatedly, "Aircraft engine, model NKI-18003. NK is the name our team leader gave it, nomikomu, swallow. With this, the Flying Swallow No. 1 will be able to soar through the sky like a real swallow!"

Fujisawa Sousuke grabbed her shoulder: "I know you're excited to see something you developed, but... don't slip off, buckle your seatbelt."

"You'll pull me along, won't you?" Aya Kamimura turned around, her excitement still lingering, shining like a shimmering lake bathed in sunlight. When she saw someone who also loved the Flying Swallow but was now focusing on her, those eyes sparkled even more brightly.

Her colleagues rarely saw her so radiant. The researcher, confined to a wheelchair, entrusted her hopes for freedom to the Flying Swallow.

The last time they were this audacious was when the Flying Swallow No. 1 was officially commissioned and handed over to the Victory Team. Piloted by Rena Nanase, the aircraft slowly taxied through the water gate, the rainbow woven by the water mist like a dream. Not only Aya Kamimura, but the entire research and development team—the aero-engine group, the concept design group, the fuselage and aerodynamic framework group, the composite materials group, and so on, more than a thousand people, just a part of the team, crowded from the door and windows onto the deck, eagerly waiting.

A Flying Swallow slowly approached the sea of ​​people. The Victory Team stood in formation on one side, their red and white uniforms standing out against the gray deck. Opposite them stood the leaders of various research and development groups, with the chief designer of the Flying Swallow in the lead.

The cheers that day resounded through the sky. The chief designer, with graying temples but still full of energy, handed over the child that he and his entire team had carefully nurtured to the Victory Team, saying only, "Make good use of it." Aya Kamimura was being taken care of by her colleagues at the time, squeezed into a spot by the window. She pulled herself up by the windowsill, almost sticking to the glass. A colleague supported her waist, and she laughed wildly, banging on the window.

"Later, we had some wages deducted because of the damaged window," she told Fujisawa Sosuke. "Some people were so engrossed in watching that they almost fell in, so we had a safety lecture for an afternoon."

Fujisawa Sousuke looked helplessly at her worn-out, battered wheelchair armrests and advised, "You can pat them gently when you get excited."

Aya Kamimura blinked: "Actually, we often have to grind screws and other parts ourselves. There's no mass production during the R&D period, and going to the factory is too troublesome... I've already lightened the weight, it's just not sturdy enough."

“Okay, okay, the composite steel pipe isn’t sturdy,” Fujisawa Sousuke felt a throbbing in the back of his head. “Do you even have enough money to cover the cost of damaging the equipment? What if it falls apart?”

Aya Kamimura just laughed: "If you fall apart, you can catch me."

Sato, who saw the two of them from a distance, shuddered and said to Aiba Yu, who seemed a little absent-minded, "Your teammate is dating, can you smell it?"

“I can smell it,” Aiba Yu nodded. “The engine has been oiled, and the new factory smell is stronger than before…”

“Sometimes I really wonder if you and I are not the same species,” Sato shook his head. “How can you smell engine oil from this far away? Your team members and researchers are hanging out together! Isn’t this training time? Didn’t you notice they’re slacking off?”

Aiba Yu replied calmly, "It's alright, we can do extra training. The entrance monitoring system can see the time before and after. According to the aviation team's rules, if you are absent for less than two hours, you will have to make up for three hours of training. If you are absent for two to three hours, you will have to write a review and make up for five hours. If you are absent for more than three hours, it will be equivalent to half a day of unexcused absence... You will have to write a review, doubling the training, be responsible for cleaning for a week, and be given an extra test. I will decide the test content by throwing darts. If you fail, the extra training will be recalculated."

Sato's gaze changed: "How's your dart-throwing skill?"

“The target is spinning, it’s all about luck,” Aiba Yu said. “It’s fair.”

Chapter Seventy-Four: The Two-Faced Man

The TPC Far East headquarters has a large number of personnel, and living facilities such as canteens and supermarkets are set up in various areas, but even so, it is not enough to cope with the endless stream of ideas people have.

For example, there's definitely no place to eat skewers at the base. If you're not afraid of dying and have an open-air barbecue on the deck, before the charcoal grill is even set up, the surveillance office, having been alerted, will drag you and the grill away and make you vomit while they drink tea.

As a result, a commercial street gradually developed along the coast, attracting not only tourists and local residents but also staff from the base. Many of the owners of the old shops are related to the base staff in some way, because in the early years, before the base was built, only insiders could obtain information about the site selection.

Man Island Dry Cleaning is one of them.

When "Bowling" returned, it was already late at night. The dry cleaning shop was a combined business and residential building. The staff were sleeping soundly in their rooms on the first floor, snoring loudly. The owner, Kamimura Sho, slowly walked upstairs, the old wooden steps creaking under his weight.

I met a very interesting person!

As he walked, Kamimura Aya scrolled through his phone. Messages from his sister, Kamimura Aya, had been ringing non-stop since the afternoon. He had already read them twice, and this was the third time.

"I can watch it a fourth time before I go to sleep," he thought, then suddenly sighed, "Dead people don't need to sleep."

[His name is Fujisawa Sosuke, he's a pilot, and he loves the Flying Swallow. He knows every single component like the back of his hand!] Aya Kamimura's happiness.

It almost overflows from the screen.

He gave me a badge, saying it had brought him good luck. It's an old air force badge, and the workmanship and design are excellent! I'll show it to you later!

“Design…” Kamimura moved himself to the second floor, but instead of going to his room, he went to the side door. Starlight seeped out from the crack in the door. He unlocked the loosely hanging horizontal lock, and the door creaked open. The starlight and moonlight shone on his bowling ball-like body, making his belly, wrapped in a coat, appear even rounder.

Since the new energy development center and other research teams achieved technological breakthroughs, even in coastal industrial cities, pollution has gradually decreased, and the starry sky, unseen for many years, has once again come into view for city residents.

Kamimura can see things much farther away, such as the Orion Nebula, which others need a telescope to see clearly, the rings of Saturn, and the night sky many years ago before it was obscured by pollution.

【Brother, why don't you go abroad to study design? You love it so much…】 As the text message continued to scroll down, Aya Kamimura began her eleventh attempt at persuasion this month.

"I can take care of myself, and the salary is high. You can hand over the dry cleaning business to your employees and go find the life you want. Oh, when are you going to bring me a sister-in-law?"

“Dead people don’t want a life.” Kamimura turned off the screen. There was a ladder behind the door that connected to the attic of the dry cleaner. “Bowling Ball” slowly moved up the ladder, and the phone screen lit up again. He looked down and cursed the “foreman” who would call the dead even at dawn.

"You went back?" Sanada Ryosuke's voice came through the microphone.

"How am I supposed to raise research and development funds for you if I don't come back? Do you know you're a money-devouring monster?" Kamimura said irritably.

“I just want to remind you that it’s best to keep your actions low-key,” Sanada Ryosuke said. “The funds need to be circulated around a few times. TPC has been cracking down hard lately, and the organization is also very nervous because of TPC’s actions. If anyone finds out, it will cause trouble. If you don’t want to hide in the deep mountains with me.”

Kamimura cursed, "You still want to go to the deep mountains and forests after something happens? Just wait to be filled with cement and sunk into the sea! I don't like sea burials, and I'll be careful even without you telling me! As for you, stop experimenting on yourself. Don't let me get into trouble before you lose control and get bombed on the head by the GUTS team in their planes!"

“The first place winner wouldn’t make such a mistake,” said Ryosuke Sanada. “I see a broader path ahead. Fighter jets and armored vehicles are relics of the last century in the face of the new era. I will let the Kirielod people know the meaning of raising a tiger that will eventually become their own enemy.”

"Very well, you're the best in the world!" Kamimura sneered. "I'll be relying on you to sleep in my golden coffin. Let's have a pleasant collaboration!"

Ryosuke Sanada was already used to his tone and simply replied, "It's a pleasure working with you."

Kamimura hung up the phone, but his expression wasn't as angry as he'd sounded. He deftly deleted the call log. A moment later, "Bowling Ball" moved up the escalator, the attic door opened by itself, and a small figure stood by the door, waving a delicate white hand at him: "Hey, welcome home!"

Kamimura looked down at him: "Even if you imitated the human's 'Welcome Home,' I wouldn't be happy."

The short man, with a lollipop in his mouth, mumbled, "It's okay, as long as I'm happy."

"When did you come out of this brat's body? Have you become addicted to eating and loafing?" Kamimura entered the room, and the two of them sat in the dark without turning on the lights. The shorter one accurately picked up the cookie box and handed it to Kamimura.

"The cookies from the shop next door are better in chocolate than cheese, and better in sea salt than chocolate," the short man chuckled. "They're just a bit more expensive."

Kamura Chi glared at him.

Seeing that Kamimura didn't do anything, the short man took a biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth. When he took out the lollipop, there was only the stick left. He chewed the candy and the biscuit together, his teeth grinding together with a "crunching" sound.

Kamimura was waiting to see him make a fool of himself, and sure enough, the crisp sound turned into a cracking sound, and the short man covered his teeth and bent over deeply.

“You’re in the process of losing your baby teeth,” Kamimura sneered. “How many have you lost? If you throw them upwards, they’ll grow straight; if you throw them downwards, they’ll be crowded together.”

The short man spat a few times and mumbled, "I'll change tomorrow! This brat's body can't stay here!"

"If you're going to change, then get out of here. I don't want to feed another mouth. Sanada's side is waiting to burn my money." Kamimura saw him spit out two broken teeth, the saliva reflecting in the dim moonlight, and he moved away in disgust.

“I’m not leaving. The last family had a kid under three years old. I had to make him formula every day, otherwise he would cry. After he was full, all he knew was to call ‘Daddy, hold me.’ It was such a hassle!” the short man cursed. “The one before that, I don’t know how he got along. Several women would call him every day. If I didn’t answer, they would keep calling. I got so annoyed that I smashed the phone. Those women actually came to my door and started fighting! I had no choice but to run away and live on the streets!”

"You humans are sick!" The short man covered his mouth. "I'm walking around in this body, and every now and then a policeman comes up and asks me all sorts of questions like 'Where do you live?' I say I live on Earth, and those policemen tell me 'Don't be naughty.' I'm naughty my ass!"

After listening to his complaints, Kamimura knew he would have to keep up with the man's grumbling. The short man remained silent after his outburst, and after a moment of silence, Kamimura spoke up: "Sanada is researching incorporating Ebloon cells into his own body. If he succeeds, do we have any means to control him?"

The short, Kirieloid snorted, "Success is good enough, isn't it? Why control him? Keep giving him money and equipment as he asks, and let him enjoy the fun of scientific research."