When Meira parked her car in the large paid parking lot next to the apartment building, Yuto and the others got out of the car and looked up at the high-rise apartment building in front of them. Although it was already before 8pm, the area around the apartment was brightly lit with many streetlights and lights, and the exterior of the apartment was clearly visible.

''Du Du, can you wait for a moment?　I was waiting in front of the school gate when I received a call from someone from Shitennji. It looks like they're sending Omine and the spirit messenger from before the gods here as well.

''Ah, yes, thank you. Kamizen-san, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't ask you to help me so much, but...

You can call me Mingliang, Mr. Du.

'What?　Ah, yes, then, Akio-san. Then, I'm fine with Yuto too.

All right. And what do you mean by that?　Yuto. The other party is after Marion-san, the guest of the Shitennji family, right?　This is a challenge to the Shitenji family. We have a strict order from Lord Zhu Yin to teach our enemies a good lesson in that area...''

　Saying that, Meira laughs.

''Haha........''

''Well, though, this is just like Zhu Yin-sama said. We're angry too. There are a lot of followers in our company who are friendly to Marion-san. Besides.....

　Yuto saw Meira's smile turn into a fearless one.

''I have to make Mizuho-sama.......regret messing with you. This is the consensus of the Shitenji family.''

....

　That's what Meira said, taking out her phone and turning her back to Masato.
　It was as if he could see another face of the Shitendera family, a very famous family even among people with abilities, in Akera's soft face, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

''It's here, isn't it?　Yuto.

Ah....Mizuho-san. Yeah, it seems this is the place. Wait a minute, I'll call my people before I go in.

"Companions" are not contractors?　

'........another female outsider?　Yuto. What is it this time?　Are you a little girl?

'What?　This is a man, Mr. Marion. And he's a very busy man!　I'll introduce you again!

　While saying that, Yuto distanced himself from Mizuho and the others and called Gaston's cell phone.

'Yo, what's a little girl?　Marion.

'Oh!　It's nothing. I might be overthinking things.

'What do you think too much about, little girl.... Marion is a bit, well, funny these days, isn't she?　They're starting to have DVDs with cute illustrations and stuff like that...

'It's not funny!　Mizuho doesn't understand the value of that!　And a little girl is the most dangerous of them all...

　There was an answer on Yuto's cell phone as cold sweat poured from his back as Mizuho and Marion's conversation came from behind him.

"Oh, mister, have you arrived?"

"........how far do you go with little girls?　Kurama and Tsukuba ... where are they?

"What?　A little girl?　What are you talking about?　Sir......"

Oh, Gaston!　It's nothing. Oh, hon!　So, what do you think?　I just arrived downstairs.

"Well, yes, you can come here any time you want. The place is on the 29th floor. It's one floor down from the top floor."

'What?　Where are the guards?

"We've taken care of that area here. It looks like we've been cutting back a lot of personnel, though."

"Personnel?　It's supposed to be an important hostage, but it's...

"Yes, they probably assigned personnel to attack the husbands. They were already in a hurry when I went in, so they were already in a hurry."

'Well it looks like they're going to set it up tomorrow morning ... or at the earliest tonight. But I couldn't sense any sign of the enemy.

"Yes, I think that would be better. There may be some people with such abilities, who are good at locating and tracking locations. It's an ability that a state organization would love to have, for example. Of course, I'll follow up on that, too."

Yes, please. Thank you for everything, Gaston.

"What are you talking about? It's nothing like this, sir."

'Well, when we get up there, are we just going to go straight to the children who are being held hostage?　How many people are there?

"Yes, there are about twenty people in all. I've let Shihira-san, who's the oldest and the one who's responsible for putting it all together, through to some extent, so I'm sure she'll understand as soon as we meet."

'What?　Is that what you're doing there?

"Yes, but the problem is where to take them out. It's still a good number of people, so we'll need people to hide them."

'I think that's okay, I've told the agency about it. Besides, if the worst happens, I'll talk to Meira and the others about it. Okay, I'll go upstairs now, and Gaston will have to leave the place.

"I understand."

　As Yuto hung up the phone, Akera approached him.

''Yuto-kun, it seems our people are already arriving. What do you want to do?

Yes, then I want a car for the hostage children and a place to hide them. And I'd like you to be aware of your surroundings, just in case. The enemy seems to be moving in a hurry, and they may try something.

Hmmm, all right. So what's the headcount?

There are about 20 of them.

That's a lot. Yeah, let's get this done as soon as possible. I'll call the branch managers and let them know we're on our way.

Thank you, Mr. Meira. For everything.

''As I said before, don't worry about it, Yuto-kun. The Shitendera family has decided to back you up with all their might this time. First of all, all you have to do is do what you want to do, Yuto-kun.

'Yes, I understand!　Then Mizuho-san and Marion-san will go to the apartment with me. It seems that some of the children being held hostage are small, so please lead us out of there when you take them out.

Okay.

I understand.

　Yuto and the others nodded to each other, and Marion let out a relieved voice as they each started to move.

''So now........you won't have to fight with that dead bird, right?

　Mizuho looked at Marion and grinned in agreement. Yuto silently headed to the front door of the apartment building.

Hopefully, he might be able to draw them over here.

　Yuto unconsciously stroked his left shoulder, which had been damaged by Stopwater.
　And then he thought of the stop water that had played out in a fight to the death this morning.

(There's no doubt that Tsubame-Tsui has instigated the confrontation between Dark Night No Leopard and Agency. But wasn't that an attempt to put the agency and Dark Night No Leopard at odds, to create a situation where they either collapsed together or couldn't be bothered with hostages?　He may have thought about getting the hostage back and fleeing on that basis. If you think about it that way, it makes sense in some ways. (But then why...)

　Yuto enters the number of the room that Gaston gave him on the intercom at the entrance of the apartment building.
　

"You.........are you from the agency?"

'Yes, my name is Du Du. I've come for you guys.

"........."

　Shihira, the owner of the voice, didn't reply, but the magnificent main door on the side of Yuto and the others opened automatically. After confirming that, Masato, who walked out towards the elevator hall, spilled a small word.

''Why ... that guy ... laughed ... at that time.''

　This uncomfortable feeling persistently stuck in Yuto's mind.