I created a foundation

The woman with her back to her seemed to stiffen slightly, but she still didn't turn around.

Busujima Saeko's hand never left the hilt of her sword. She stayed at a safe distance of about five meters from the opponent. This distance gave her enough time to react if the opponent suddenly attacked, and also allowed her to launch a fatal slash at the fastest speed when she needed to.

Her voice, like her current state of mind, was calm, yet filled with unquestionable vigilance.

"who are you?"

"This is not the place for you."

As soon as the words fell, the alley fell silent again.

Only the flickering emergency light was still diligently doing its job, making the atmosphere between the two people even more tense.

The woman still had her back to her, motionless, as if she hadn't heard her question.

Just when Busujima Saeko thought she needed to take further action, the woman's shoulders trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.

She seemed to let out a long sigh.

Then, under Busujima Saeko's highly alert gaze, she slowly turned her head back.

Chapter 152: The Bartender of Seventh Heaven

The dim light cut out flowing light and shadows on the woman's body the moment she turned her body.

The subtle sound of leather rubbing against each other was infinitely amplified in this silent alley, like a taut string that could break at any time.

Busujima Saeko's pupils shrank slightly at that moment.

Her sight, like the most sophisticated scanning instrument, takes in every detail of the other person.

It was an impeccable, even stunning face. Soft Eastern features blended miraculously with Western contours. Her long black hair was like the finest silk, and her eyes were like the deepest night sky, reflecting the single, faint light at the alley's entrance.

But it was not this beauty that attracted Busujima Saeko.

But it is the amazing sense of power hidden beneath the beauty.

The woman was wearing a white, navel-baring tank top, which perfectly displayed her flawless waist and abdomen, as well as her well-defined, explosive abs. Her exposed arms were well-proportioned with smooth lines, brimming with the beauty of strength.

On her hands, she wore a pair of bright red combat gloves that were full of traces of battle.

This is by no means a decoration.

The tiny scratches and wear on the gloves all tell of the fierce and brutal battles their owners have experienced.

This is a fighter.

A top fighter who has trained his body to the extreme.

Every breath she took, every subtle shift of her center of gravity, was imbued with the rhythm of a warrior. Standing there, she looked like a black female leopard, claws retracted, yet still radiating a dangerous aura.

Elegant, and deadly.

"Who are you?"

The black-haired woman's voice rang out, clear yet slightly hoarse. Her eyes were filled with vigilance, and she stood with her feet unsteadily, adopting a combat stance that combined both offense and defense.

Her gaze fell on Busujima Saeko's hand pressing on the hilt of the knife, and her eyes became more serious.

She could feel that the seemingly slender purple-haired high school girl in front of her also had a sharp aura that she could not ignore, like a sheathed blade.

"I should be the one asking this question."

Busujima Saeko's voice remained calm, but an invisible sense of oppression spread throughout the alley as she spoke.

The air between the two seemed to freeze.

The flickering emergency light became the only thing still moving in this frozen space and time.

Silence spread during the confrontation.

In the end, it was the black-haired woman who broke the silence first.

She seemed to judge that although the person in front of her was dangerous, he didn't seem to have any intention of attacking her immediately. Her tense body relaxed a little.

"My name is Tifa Lockhart."

She spoke, her tone filled with barely concealed confusion and a hint of distress.

"As for where this place is...to be honest, I don't know either."

Tifa's brows were tightly furrowed, as if she was trying to recall something, her eyes full of confusion.

"Just a second ago, I was in the Seventh Heaven bar in Midgar, wiping the bar..."

Her voice was soft, as if she was talking to herself.

"In the next second, in the blink of an eye, everything around me changed. The bar, the customers, Claude and the others... all disappeared."

“Then, I showed up here.”

"Seventh Heaven?"

"Midgar?"

Busujima Saeko silently repeated these two unfamiliar place names in her mind.

Almost at the same time, her brain, which had been tempered by thousands of times, began to work at high speed.

[Foundation internal database search... Target location: Midgar.]

[…Search failed, no matching results.]

[Target location: Seventh Heaven.]

[…Search failed, no matching results.]

[Switching to the Global Open Geographic Information System...]

【…Search failed.】

In just 0.5 seconds, Busujima Saeko had reached the conclusion.

The look she gave Tifa suddenly changed subtly.

The initial vigilance and scrutiny were gradually replaced by a sense of understanding.

It turned out to be the case.

"Drifter from another world."

This word, which was defined by Chairman Lin Qing himself and classified as highly confidential within the foundation, emerged clearly in her mind.

Just like Nico Robin before.

The powerful fighter in front of you named Tifa Lockhart is also a visitor from another world who accidentally fell into this world due to unknown time and space disturbances.

This conclusion loosened the tension in Busujima Saeko's heart a little.

At least, they weren't the Sarkic cultists the Foundation was trying to eradicate, nor were they the malignant anomalies that needed to be eliminated immediately.

According to the first version of the contact plan formulated by the Foundation for the [Drifters from Another World], the first principle is - assessment, contact, and guidance.

Rather than directly eliminating it.

Of course, the premise is that the other party is worthy of communication and does not have the tendency to cause large-scale harm immediately.

The Tifa in front of me clearly meets these two points.

After realizing this, Busujima Saeko's fingers, which had been pressing on the hilt of the knife, relaxed slightly.

The fierce murderous aura that lingered around her, as if she would draw her sword and kill people at any time, slowly receded like the tide.

This subtle change was immediately caught by Tifa, a top fighter.

She could clearly feel that the threat from the purple-haired girl opposite her, which almost made her hair stand on end, was weakening.

This made her even more confused.

"You...seem to know something?"

Tifa asked tentatively.

Busujima Saeko didn't answer her question directly.

She just looked at the other person quietly, her eyes as calm as water.

"There is no malice in you."

She spoke slowly, stating a fact.

"However, your existence itself is an anomaly to this world."

"abnormal?"

Tifa chewed on the word, the confusion on her face growing even more intense.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

"You'll find out soon enough."

Busujima Saeko took a step forward.

It was this step that made Tifa, who had just relaxed a little, subconsciously tense up her body again and put herself back into the most perfect defensive posture.

"take it easy."

Busujima Saeko stopped and kept a distance that showed sincerity while being within a safe range.

"I have no ill intentions."

Her voice lost its initial coldness and gained a touch of the calmness that befitted her peers.

"Miss Tifa Lockhart, right?"

Tifa nodded, but the wariness in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

"My name is Busujima Saeko."

She gave a brief self-introduction...

"The organization I belong to specializes in dealing with incidents like the one you encountered, which cannot be explained by common sense."

"In other words, we can help you."