Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

A slap, accompanied by a biting cold wind, landed squarely on Tomat's cheek, making a crisp sound. Although Tomat's head barely moved, he remained in a dazed, blank expression, as if his brain had shut down.

Even Skadi was momentarily taken aback, seemingly unable to understand why Katz, who was standing next to Tomatt, was so agitated.

Froststar's hand, which had slapped her, was still raised high, but it was trembling slightly, a reflection of her wavering emotions.

She was very disappointed, not only with Tomat, but also with herself for having harbored such an unrealistic expectation.

Frostnova often wore a serious and angry expression, though her mood had never been like this before.

It was even less likely that a few icy tears of shame and indignation would have formed at the corners of her eyes.

"What...what is all this about?!"

A few seconds later, Tomat seemed to realize what was happening, looking back and forth between Frostnova and Skadi, shouting in confusion and annoyance.

"I just used my qi to sense her physical condition!"

Tomat shouted at Frostnova.

Tomat was quite surprised, since when Skadi said "what she did to my body," he realized that she could also sense the aura.

But what surprised him even more was Frostnova's inexplicable slap.

"You were also penetrated by him with something strange just now?"

Skadi, too, spoke with a subtle hint of confusion as she asked Frostnova a question.

[Main Text] Siesta's Hottest Holiday: Chapter Twenty-One - Bob's True Colors Unknown

People with keen intuition can subconsciously spot those who are staring at them from blind spots.

As a battle-hardened warrior, one can naturally detect such undisguised spying in a timely manner, which is why techniques such as concealing one's presence or aura have been developed.

But the "spying" that Skadi experienced before, which came from who-knows-where, was different from any she had experienced before.

It wasn't a gaze or intention cast with murderous intent or other emotions, but rather like some formless, alien entity that enveloped me, then penetrated my body without hindrance, sweeping over every cell and completely devouring me inside and out without reservation.

It felt as if someone had touched me all over and then dissected me in detail.

Clothing offered no concealment; flesh and bones could not prevent that power from penetrating deeper, even reaching the soul—it was as if it had been spied upon.

This feeling is certainly not "pleasant".

It wouldn't be surprising if it were mistaken for an attack by some unknown Originium Arts.

Skadi's keen senses led her to the suspect who was inducing these feelings in her: an ordinary man dressed like any other tourist, who was constantly getting closer to her.

Feeling strangely manipulated by others, coupled with the fact that while sitting on the carousel, she still preferred the giant sea monster sign, the two unpleasant feelings combined led her to throw the doll at them without caring about her image.

"This is the first time someone has been able to detect that I am using my qi to sense things."

There are many pavilions facing the sea in the amusement park, and the group of people, whether it is Frostnova and Tomat's group or Skadi and the other two, are gathered under one of the pavilions.

The atmosphere is no longer tense. After all, the two who had the conflict didn't initially intend to make things too big. Skadi simply asked Tomat to stop his aura sensing in a rather serious manner.

While expressing his surprise, Tomat continued to apologize to Skadi, and also offered each of the three of them an ice cream—the shaved ice brought by the man in the bomb suit had melted while they were watching Skadi.

The other two didn't understand what had happened, but seeing Skadi take the ice cream and eat it without saying a word, they didn't refuse.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm, I just sensed it out of habit."

"...Please don't do that again. It makes me feel very uncomfortable."

Since Tomat showed remorse and Grani reminded her that he was also a "colleague" on Rhodes Island, Skadi didn't press him to continue doing anything.

There was one thing that puzzled her, but she didn't pursue the matter further.

Because the person involved is currently asking questions about this matter:

"So Frostnova, why did you hit me? Don't you have any sense of aura at all? How did you know I was using aura to sense her? And even if you did know, it's not like there's anything wrong with it. I've sensed a lot of people's auras before, and they don't react at all. She's the first one like this."

I'm not so much upset as I feel bewildered.

Before she could fully process what was happening, Frostnova slapped her across the face, leaving her stunned.

It couldn't possibly be because of Skadi's misunderstanding, could it?

She was too agitated and showed too little trust in her own character.

"...It's okay, just pretend my hand slipped."

If Tomat's mind was filled with "confusion," then Frostnova's mind was now filled with "shame."

I was so agitated by just a few words that I even slapped someone in shame and anger because of something I didn't say clearly.

What kind of emotion drove me to imagine those things and hear those words, ignoring the fundamental power difference and not caring at all whether the other person would get angry and scold me?

Froststar no longer wanted to think about it any further.

If this continues, she probably won't be able to remove her hands from her face anytime soon—because people will see her pale face with a distinct blush.

Feeling ashamed of past actions, melancholy about the emotions they evoked, and at the same time, comforted by the confirmation of the current situation.

Although she wasn't considered Tomat's girlfriend, at least she didn't have the kind of relationship Skadi imagined, and there was no intimate past that could be misunderstood.

After she sorted out her thoughts, she asked herself again—really, why am I happy about these things?

"Also... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you without knowing the facts. Right now I really want to dig a hole in the beach and bury myself."

Froststar covered her face; the intense mental activity had made her ears droop. As for the ice cream, she sandwiched it between her legs, waiting for her face to calm down before continuing to eat it.

"Then when we're harvesting watermelons, we'll bury you again."

Instead of accepting Frostnova's apology directly, Tomat mentioned another activity that Frostnova didn't quite understand.

"Although I don't know what it is, I'll accept it anyway."

Frostnova covered her face while nodding in agreement and learning the details of the activity.

"...You still have watermelon to eat?"

Skadi looked up, rubbed the icing off the corner of her mouth with her thumb, and asked with a rare hint of interest.

"Yes, just now, Winter and the others said in Rhodes Island's group chat that they won a lot of watermelons in the cooking competition and invited everyone to eat them."

Tomat pulled out a communicator, and a person with the Ursusian ID "Glory or Death" sent what appeared to be a selfie.

Inside was an Ursus girl with brown hair, wearing a one-piece swimsuit and a touch of red highlights on her forehead. Behind her was a beach in ruins, as if it had been in an explosion, and mountains of watermelons.

"Bonebreaker lost? Well... his cooking is terrible, only slightly better than Talulah's. Misha's help probably won't be of much use to him."

Although she still didn't remove her hand, Froststar, who was standing nearby, understood the general situation just by listening.

Tomat also extended an invitation to Skadi and the others, saying:

"Let's go eat watermelon later, since she's treating us all. Frostnova, remember to prepare a watermelon-smashing game."

The girl named Grani also made the suggestion to Skadi, and she could tell that Skadi seemed to be somewhat interested in watermelons as well.

"We occasionally get together with everyone for a lively get-together, Bob's in too?"

Skadi remained silent, tacitly agreeing to the arrangement, while the man in the riot suit shook his head and said apologetically:

"I'll be at a hotel this afternoon and evening to discuss beer business with clients, so I won't be able to keep you company. Have fun, and we'll get together again later."

Bob said he couldn't continue playing with everyone on Rhodes Island, but at this point, Thomas raised his hand and voiced the doubts that were on everyone's mind.

"You...are you really planning to keep wearing this outfit? How did you manage to eat that ice cream just now?"

[Main Text] Siesta's Hottest Holiday: Chapter Twenty-Two - Cook Candidate List

"That big boss with such peculiar fashion sense just now, he's not an operator from Rhodes Island, is he?"

Siesta is a good place to do business; at least in a city with plenty of food and entertainment and no natural disasters, conducting business here makes you appear very sincere.

The man called Bob chose this place for the same reason, but by a series of coincidences, he ran into Grani and Skadi, whom he had met briefly in another city, and that's why he strolled around the amusement park with them.

However, running into an old acquaintance shouldn't delay their main purpose. After repeatedly expressing his regret, Bob looked at the time and left the group without directly addressing why he was wearing such a stuffy and conspicuous bomb suit.

So what's underneath the bomb suit?

"Bob's identity is a bit special... but telling you shouldn't be a problem."

Faced with Tomat's suspicion, Grani hesitated for a moment before finally choosing to confess.

"He was a cadre of the Reunion Movement in Kazimierz, although he has already left the movement."

Being a cadre in an armed group of infected individuals is indeed a sensitive position—but in the context of the now-defunct Reunification Movement, it's not so serious, mainly because Terra has not formed a globally unified force to sanction terrorism or international law.

Most countries will not focus too much energy on an organization that is less of a threat than it used to be, since they have a lot more to deal with than these leaderless terrorists.

Moreover, the people Grani is informing are all colleagues from Rhodes Island. Rhodes Island itself has also recruited many people who left the Reunion Movement. As long as they are not the masterminds or have committed any clearly heinous acts, mentioning them will not cause too much of a problem.

Froststar right before our eyes is the best example.

"I thought 'the bomb suit is actually a limiter so you can't take it off' or something like that."

Rather than the fact that the other party was part of the Reunion Movement, Tomat seemed somewhat disappointed because his assumptions had not come true.

“Mr. Bob isn’t like that, but I heard him mention another friend who becomes stronger after taking off her armor, though I never got to meet her.”

Grani then mentioned another Reunion Movement cadre whom he had heard of but was not present at the scene.

"Bob?"

Although she had mentioned the man in the bomb suit's name more than once before, Frostnova did not think of the high-ranking officer she should have some recollection of because of the common name.

After all, she had been a high-ranking officer who worked alongside Talulah at the Reunion Headquarters, so she could still remember things like the list of officers.

Now that her complexion had calmed down, Frostnova stopped covering her face and instead licked the increasingly cold ice cream without any expression, trying to calm herself down from the situation more quickly.

"Could it be Big Bob? He's quit too. It seems that after Talulah was captured, everyone has scattered, and not many will actively seek out Big Daddy to participate in the current Reunion Movement."

She remembered Bob's full code name in the Reunion Movement, and then thought about the various things the Reunion Movement had experienced recently, so she wasn't too surprised that he gave up his cadre status to go into business.

Actually, this is quite good. Giving up the name of integration is better than continuing to use it to do evil. This way, it won't bring too many problems to the patriots who are leading the integration movement.

However, after the Longmen incident subsided, many people rushed to withdraw – the thousands of elite soldiers personally commanded by the leader were wiped out by weapons of mass destruction before they could even move for a few minutes.

If people find out about this, how many will be willing to continue working with the Reunion Movement?

After all, many of them were simply swayed by emotions and joined the integration movement to vent their grievances, without any strong beliefs or firm stances.

"Yes, but now he prefers to call himself Bob."