Chapter 130: Hitching a Ride

After more than twenty hours of interstellar travel, Hiroyuki and his companions finally reached the surface of Earth. Although it was over twenty cosmic hours, due to Taro’s incredible flight speed, it felt like a journey of no more than three hours to Hiroyuki. Near Neptune’s orbit, they had even encountered Geed; from the perspective of Taro and his group, it looked as if Geed was “slowly” drifting toward Earth in the vast, dark expanse of space.

It was not that Geed’s flight speed was slow, but rather that Taro’s was simply outrageous.

Taro’s group slowed down to greet Geed, and upon confirming that their destinations were the same, another passenger was added to Taro’s travel orb. Riku thanked Taro repeatedly for the ride, and Taro politely brushed it off, saying it made no difference to bring one more person since he was already carrying two.

Thus, Riku shifted into his human form, sitting in a row with Hiroyuki and Hikari in the palm of Taro’s hand.

“...Pardon the intrusion.”

Riku smiled sheepishly as he greeted the other two passengers, then carefully knelt down beside Hiroyuki.

“Hello, Senior Asakura. I am Hiroyuki Kudo. Please take care of me.”

Hiroyuki greeted him promptly. In the world of Ultraman, especially among the New Generation, seniority is generally determined by the order of broadcast rather than actual age. Since *Ultraman Geed* aired before *Ultraman Taiga*, Hiroyuki addressed him as a senior, even though he was a year older than Riku.

“Hello, Mr. Kudo. Nice to meet you, please take care of me as well.”

“Please, Senior, you’re too formal. Just call me Hiroyuki.”

“Then... please call me Riku.”

The two young men, similar in age, exchanged polite pleasantries with a hint of awkwardness, which Hikari found quite amusing to watch.

Once the introductions were complete, Riku turned his gaze toward the person sitting next to Hiroyuki. He was a complete stranger; Riku did not recognize him.

“I am Hikari. Long time no see, Geed.”

It was Riku’s first time seeing Hikari’s human form. He was stunned for a moment before realizing who it was and nodding a greeting.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at their destination. At Riku’s original flight speed, the trip would have taken nearly two hours, so he felt very fortunate to have hitched a ride with Taro. Another thing he felt lucky about was meeting Hiroyuki. During the twenty-minute journey, Hiroyuki had briefly explained the situation at their destination—information he had already shared with Hikari, now being recounted once more.

This Earth was truly unique, a place where humans and aliens lived together.

“...However, most aliens operate in society in human form. Of course, there are some situations to be aware of...”

After listening to Hiroyuki’s introduction, Riku thought for a moment and looked at him: “Are you human?”

“...I am.” Hiroyuki paused for a heartbeat, then added, “I am Taiga’s partner.”

“Taiga...?” Riku recalled the battle with Tregear briefly. “Oh! Taiga! Is he alright?”

“Yes, he’s fine, though he cannot return to his original form for the time being.”

Riku’s expression turned thoughtful. He asked, “...He can’t return to his original form?” He then directed an inquiring look at Hikari.

Hikari understood Riku’s gaze and nodded. “Taiga’s condition is different from yours, Riku. We are still researching the reason he cannot revert, as well as... a solution. But there should be progress soon, so don’t worry.”

Hiroyuki nodded along. “Yes, I’m just doing what I can, doing my best.”

“We can’t just stand by and watch, right?” Riku smiled, naturally reciting his signature line. The familiarity of it made Hiroyuki smile as well, nodding firmly. Riku’s tone made the phrase sound more like a mantra than the slightly stiff slogan it sometimes appeared to be in the show, and Hiroyuki didn’t find it out of place at all.

Just as Hiroyuki nodded, a line of text visible only to him appeared above Riku’s head:

Bond Level +1.

Hiroyuki: “...”

They hadn’t even known each other for ten minutes yet.

No, it probably didn’t have much to do with the duration of their acquaintance. This was likely an example of gaining bond points through conversation. The trigger was probably getting Riku to say the “correct” keyword or establishing a certain level of connection until he said, “We can’t just stand by and watch,” which fulfilled the condition for increasing the bond level.

Looking back, Tregear’s “Interesting” in front of the milk tea shop... it seemed that inciting Tregear’s curiosity and interest in him was the key to gaining bond points, rather than simply having him say the word “interesting.”

Hiroyuki gratefully accepted Riku’s goodwill.

This was his tenth bond point. Hiroyuki had hesitated slightly on how to use it. The enhancement provided by the Taiga Spark Lens had already exceeded his expectations; adding to “Attack Speed” seemed pointless, as his reflexes were already so fast that most enemies couldn’t dodge them. After careful consideration, Hiroyuki added this point to his Critical Hit rate.

“The coordinates, they should be here. Zero sent them to me.”

Riku reported the coordinates to Taro, and Hiroyuki added, “Our destination should be the same as Senior Riku’s.”

It was easy to guess that Pega, Zero, Senior Homare, and the Captain were all together now.

They masked their energy fluctuations and physical forms to avoid detection by sensors and radar, descending quietly through the atmosphere to avoid creating sparks that might lead someone to mistake them for a shooting star.

Soon, they realized their destination was an island. Hiroyuki recognized it from a distance—wasn’t this the very island used for the location shoots of Tsuburaya’s tokusatsu shows? The coordinates were likely correct.

The four of them, including Taro, took on human forms and appeared together on a reef by the sea.

“...”

It was already the end of June, and the sun was shining perhaps a bit too brightly. The sea breeze, the waves, the island, the seagulls—the saturation of the natural scenery was so high that for a moment, the four of them didn’t know which way to go and stood there looking around. Riku shielded his eyes with his hand, spotting a corner of a white building roof to the front-left. Just as he was about to suggest they check it out, a fluttering white hem appeared in the distance.

A white figure was parkouring agilely across the jagged rocks by the sea, rapidly approaching the four of them. The hem of the white garment seemed long, trailing behind him not like a regular shirt, but more like a cape.

When he got closer, Hiroyuki saw that the white garment was actually a lab coat. Hikari frowned; he sensed something keenly, and when he looked at the approaching figure, his suspicions were confirmed.

Hiroyuki and Hikari took a step back in unison.

They had been standing in a line, so Hiroyuki and Hikari’s retreat left Taro and Riku in front, both of whom were still bewildered. Taro, a beat slower, finally caught a familiar energy fluctuation from the person. Before he could speak, the man reached them and grabbed his shoulder firmly.

Riku was also grabbed. He was the most confused of the four; he still didn’t recognize the person, nor did he know why he was being held onto. His face was a mask of pure bewilderment.

The man, whether from anger or exhaustion, had a flushed face. He gritted his teeth and said, “Come help me move things!”

Taro: “...??”

Riku: “...??”