“You secured the culprit!?”
“We did, but we didn’t get useful information. He was just a disposable pawn from the start.”
Jinba called Yuugo after questioning the culprit, and told him what he learned.
But as he prefaced, the man did not have much information to give. All Jinba could report was what he figured was more or less important.
“Apparently this man received the exprose and chemicals from what I guess we can call the real mastermind. I think he knew what would happen, but… That’s probably all he knew.”
“Real mastermind… Does it involve Lost or Drop!?”
The word mastermind made Yuugo turn pale as he yelled a question at Jinba.
He questioned if the people he encountered before and were involved in several incidents were behind this one, but Jinba denied it.
“No, not them. It was Zaraki who gave him what he needed.”
“The wanted criminal from Yamato?”
Jinba confirmed it, and continued.
“I’m sure you’ve heard it, but Black Veil… Garland, was silenced by Zaraki. But I don’t think he’s painting the whole picture.”
“I agree. The real mastermind must be behind Zaraki.”
Yuugo did not know much about Zaraki, but he figured he was not the type to create items that turned people into monster armor beasts.
There were people turning into monster armor beasts before Zaraki ran from Yamato, and they knew it was Lost and Drop who instigated them.
Furthermore, Zaraki killed several people in Yamato. He was more of a perpetrator. If he were to make items that turned people into monster armor beasts, would he not use them on himself, rather than distributing them?
Also, Lost and Drop personally went out to pick who they would turn into monster armor beasts. It was unlikely they would need Zaraki as an intermediate.
Yuugo also remembered what he heard from the Yamato diplomat Koumaru Sakai, as he told Jinba his thoughts.
“Zaraki supposedly received help to run from Yamato. Isn’t that person the one behind all this?”
“He was helped in his escape, and in return, he spread around items made by this person… It fits.”
It was vague, but the plot was coming to light.
The siblings in the insectary, Garland who turned into Black Veil, and now this hospital incident… Behind Zaraki, who had a hand in it all, stood the one they could call the real mastermind.
It was likely Lost and Drop were not involved, and someone from another group was behind it. But as he thought about their goal, he shook his head and spoke to Jinba.
“There’s a lot I want to talk about, but now’s not the time. Let’s talk after we get out of here.”
“Yes. Let’s focus on the problem at hand.”
The giant monster armor beast above Yuugo meant it was no place for a calm conversation.
First, he needed to escape the hospital and settle the incident. Jinba agreed, and Yuugo continued.
“We’ve collected all the bombs. And Raiha says there are no additional bombs.”
“Okay. Then we’re going to freeze the gigantrose with ice magic. It will get a bit cold, but bear with it.”
Yuugo and the others finished collecting the bombs while the ones outside caught the culprit.
Upon hearing this, Jinba did what they were planning.
After freezing the gigantrose and confirming it had stopped, all that was left was to rescue the people inside.
As they ended the call, Yuugo caught his breath, as all he had to do now was wait. But Phi and Yui spoke to him.
“You did it big brother! Now everyone can leave!”
“Wonderful work, Yuugo!”
“It wasn’t just me, we all worked together.”
“Eh…!? I didn’t expect something so admirable from you.”
“You really have changed. I’m actually very surprised.”
Velda and Peewee’s voices were a mixture of praise and surprise, bringing an awkward smile to Yuugo’s face.
But it made sense from their point of view, and since there was no malice behind their words, Yuugo figured it was fine.
“Your help really made the difference. Thanks.”
“No, thank you. We were saved because you’re here. It would’ve been a tough fight without you.”
“Yes. Someone as crude as you would have set off one or two bombs, right?”
“Isn’t that too far!?”
Said Velda in response to Peewee’s teasing, and they all laughed.
Yuugo thanked them again, and they left to organize the group awaiting rescue, which included Phi and Yui.
“Thank you too, Raiha. If we didn’t know where the bombs were, we couldn’t have executed this plan. We’re all safe thanks to you.”
“No, I just did what I could… But I’m glad everyone is safe.”
Lastly, Yuugo thanked the one who contributed the most to this plan, and she nodded with a smile.
She not only scouted and detected the bombs, but was also in charge of protecting the others. This surely put a big strain on her nerves, meaning she was more mentally spent than if she had fought a monster armor beast. And as Yuugo thanked her, he suddenly remembered something.
“Come to think of it, didn’t you want to talk about something? What was it?”
“Ah… That’s true…!”
They forgot all about it when this incident broke out, but Raiha went to the hospital to talk to Yuugo.
Yuugo asked her, figuring they should continue where they left off… But Raiha seemed troubled.
“…What? A sudden large magic energy spike? What is…?”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Raiha continued to probe through the hospital just in case, and whispered as she noticed something.
Yuugo noticed something was not right, but as he asked a question, Raiha looked up and yelled.
“Up there! Something is coming!!”
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