Chapter 132: Moving Day

Captain Serizawa looked somewhat puzzled. "Are you not going to drink it?"

He remembered Hiroyuki telling him that Tregear liked milk tea—or rather, that he had a fondness for sweets. Tregear was quite the connoisseur of all sorts of snacks and treats; once he started on the subject, he could go on and on. This was no exaggeration; Hiroyuki had been stunned after witnessing the tea parties of various dark forces. Just looking at the villainous acts Tregear committed, one would never guess he had such a personality.

However, the Tregear before him seemed completely indifferent to the milk tea in his hand, remaining agitated. "...I am going to tell them that you have the ability to manipulate minds, so they’d better be careful."

The Captain gave a wry smile. "Actually, it wouldn’t matter if they knew... but please, keep it a secret for me. I’m counting on you, Tregear."

Tregear nodded instinctively, then paused, his irritation flaring up again. When people are annoyed, they instinctively want to do something that might cheer them up, so he lifted the milk tea and took a gulp.

"..."

It was good.

The taste was completely different from the instant kind. The tea used was Assam black tea, and the milky aroma was mingled with a rich, malty, and rose-like fragrance. The flavor was bold, a refreshing, non-cloying sweetness. It was delicious.

"Are you ever going to stop, Zoffy!"

Tregear almost dropped the cup in his hand. Was it fun to toy with him like this?!

"Ah, please, call me Serizawa, or you can call me Captain. Yes, just call me Captain."

"It’s not as if you haven't called me..."

"My apologies, it just slipped out. I'll be more careful next time."

The Captain rummaged through the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a small metal case, handing it to Tregear.

"For me?"

Tregear didn't reach out to take it.

He had seen this case before. That day, when Captain Serizawa took out his business card from a drawer, the card had been kept in a case just like this one. Tregear remembered the moment the defector official from the Interstellar Alliance took that card; the man had gone unnaturally slack, and in all likelihood, became a fool who would spill everything he knew shortly after.

"..."

He didn't really want to become that kind of fool.

"Take it. These are the business cards I had printed for you. I’ve nearly finished recruiting everyone here, so I had cards made for all of you. Although researchers don't usually have much use for them, I had to send the order in anyway, so I just did them all at once. Take it."

The Captain placed the small metal case on the table and pushed it toward Tregear.

"What did you have printed on mine?"

Tregear was just about to press the latch to open the lid of the metal case when the white clouds in the sky shifted in a bizarre way. This immediately caught their attention, and they both looked toward the source of the anomaly.

There was nothing there but the usual blue sky and white clouds.

The atmospheric transparency near the island was truly high.

If one had to provide an example of the anomaly they had just witnessed, it would be this: imagine the blue sky and white clouds were printed on a flat screen; just a moment ago, the screen had been rippled by a gust of wind, causing the image of the sky and clouds to distort subtly.

Tregear didn't say a word and immediately activated his telekinesis to scan the entire island. Captain Serizawa, however, could only watch; with all the equipment nearby, he didn't want a telekinetic sweep to accidentally fry all the precious gear.

"...There are certainly a lot of them. They’ve arrived just in time."

Tregear gave a dry laugh. "I recall Geed is a child of the Silver Tribe, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he is still a child, and you..."

Before the Captain could finish his sentence, Tregear bolted, disappearing in an instant.

The Captain: "..."

Looking at the milk tea on the table, only one sip taken, and the business card case, the Captain shook his head helplessly and went back to sipping his coffee.

When Hiroyuki and Hikari arrived at the scene, they saw two giants being directed by Tregear to move this and that, while nearby, a human—or rather, a humanoid being—sat calmly sipping coffee. The several giants stomping around a few hundred meters away seemed not to affect him in the slightest.

"Captain!"

Hiroyuki hurried over and saluted.

"Hiroyuki Kudo reporting back for duty today. Mission accomplished, as ordered."

As he spoke, Hiroyuki took the bracelet off his wrist and handed it to the Captain. The Captain set down his cup, took the bracelet, and smiled. "You’ve worked hard. Go and get some rest."

With that, the Captain looked at Hikari, who was strolling over leisurely. "Long time no see."

"It hasn't been that long," Hikari said, ignoring the chaotic moving company scene nearby, and looked around. "Is this the base you prepared?"

"Yes, though it’s being temporarily repurposed as a research base for you all."

So the laboratory was just a makeshift shed, meaning it was intended to be dismantled at any time.

"It’s quite good," Hikari nodded, looking up at the sky. He noticed that there was more than one layer of camouflage shield deployed around the island, ensuring that whatever happened here would not be detected from the outside. "A very quiet place."

"Do you have a mission here?"

"Not exactly a mission. It’s about Taiga; I want to conduct an in-depth study, and the upper echelons agreed. But since you snatched the equipment away first, I had no choice but to follow."

Hearing this, Captain Serizawa smiled. "Then you should talk to Tregear. It was his equipment that caused this situation, but it exceeded his expectations, so he is quite interested as well."

Hikari looked hesitantly toward his former colleague, who was standing with his hands on his hips, shouting orders but doing no heavy lifting. "Is that guy... going to be alright?"

"For now."

The Captain’s tone became uncertain. "At least, it seems we have him stabilized for the moment. It’s just... Hiroyuki might have a hard time."

Hiroyuki, who was listening nearby, was momentarily stunned when the Captain singled him out. He only knew that interacting with Tregear required extreme caution, so calling it "hard work" was accurate, and he nodded along, completely unaware of the double meaning in the Captain’s words.

At this moment, the expression on Hikari’s face was ambiguous and non-committal. Blue and silver specks of light gathered in his left hand, forming a short blade, while a blue arm guard appeared on his other wrist.

"I’ll go give them a hand as well. Installing the equipment is quite troublesome, and it’s too much for Geed and Taro."

The blue giant rose from his crouched position and walked toward the bustling moving site.

The Captain beckoned Hiroyuki over, intending to take him to the island’s staff dormitory to claim a room. Hiroyuki, not wanting to climb stairs, pointed directly to an empty room on the first floor right next to the Captain’s.

The Captain patted Hiroyuki on the shoulder and said, "Rest here for two days. The day after tomorrow, a ship will come to take you back to the mainland. During these two days, you can assist those two with their research."

Hiroyuki: "...?"