Chapter 841

Uesugi Muneyuki also realized his voice was a bit too loud, and he impatiently pushed aside Senior Student Mai.

The two of them had already become one lotus together born, with no barriers between them and no mutual distrust; Senior Student Mai could not possibly harm him, for that would be equivalent to harming herself, but even so, he still felt annoyed that Senior Student Mai was hiding some things from him.

We're already like this, and you're still hiding things—what's the point?

"So that means the whole Kamen Rider thing is real?" Uesugi Muneyuki said somewhat impatiently, his voice kept low, but his speech was much faster than usual—this was his effort to keep himself from roaring: "Kamen Rider. Not some roadside stall sticker, but the real, glowing-in-the-cold-storage kind of Kamen Rider. This kind of thing—you at least should"

"Should what?" Shirakawa Mai's tone remained that unhurried, unflustered, like a cat licking its paw.

"Should tell me!" Uesugi Muneyuki's voice rose a little, producing a faint echo in the cramped break room.

"I told you, and then what?" Senior Student Mai crossed her arms, the radiant aura between her brows and eyes clearly unable to be concealed; seeing Uesugi Muneyuki push her away, her pair of sparkling beautiful eyes also became somewhat serious: "And then what?"

"Then I'll have more time to prepare!" Uesugi Muneyuki said impatiently.

"Prepare? Junior Student, then I can't help but ask—are you really ready?" Senior Student Mai glanced at his reddening ears, the curve at the corner of her mouth widening a little more.

She took half a step forward, shortening the last distance between them, reached out, and gripped the lower end of his tie—deep blue, silk, chosen for him that morning by Minami.

Shirakawa Mai's fingers lightly rubbed the silk surface of the tie twice, then tightened, looping the tie around the back of her hand: "Are you really ready to join the Inner World's struggle for supremacy?"

"What do you mean?" Uesugi Muneyuki frowned.

"I mean, are you ready to encounter weirdos all day, ready to fall into danger all day, ready for the people around you to possibly be attacked, ready to face the pressure from that side of the Inner World?" Senior Student Mai grew slightly impatient, she tugged at Uesugi Muneyuki's tie: "Never mind that—Ishihara Mikoto is already pregnant, right? You're so brave—aren't you afraid she'll encounter danger?"

Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent upon hearing this: "I can protect her."

"Come on, you know my meaning isn't that—I mean……when you haven't yet come to understand certain things about the Inner World on your own, and when you don't proactively ask me about them, the best outcome is simply that you don't know—for example, a typical example, Junior Student, you've absorbed so much po and spirit power—are you ready to enter the next stage? That is, to go into the Inner World relics and welcome glorious evolution? You evolve—then what about your family? What about your Ooku?" Senior Student Mai said with a light laugh: "Are you ready to completely change your current life?" "I don't need to change my life; ……""But when the time comes, you won't be able to avoid changing!"

The two voices sounded almost simultaneously.

"You don't know anything now, or at least you pretend not to, and the Public Security system will protect you—but if you want to get involved in this, not only will all kinds of trouble come knocking, but you might also be studied, your current life will be shattered, and that's not even counting—I ask you, are you ready to formally join the Inner World, become a member of it? Ready to abandon the Metropolitan Police Department side and battle the Kansai New God?" Senior Student Mai said with a hint of advice: "Junior Student, you at least need all seven wheels complete, right? How many have you got so far?"

"Four." Uesugi Muneyuki replied.

"So some things aren't that I'm not telling you—it's that you haven't yet reached the time when you should know."

"Just like that Night Come Hui—essentially, she's already preliminarily awakened the power of the Inner World; she absorbed the emotions of tens of thousands of women alone and formed a follower network similar to that of An, but she just doesn't know how to control or digest it—too much negative emotion drove her mad, making her seek compensation, and in the end she collapsed! If I told you, you'd be discovered by those Public Security people, while you know nothing, they're actually trying to help!" Senior Student Mai said seriously: "And later, when you retrieve her power or soul, everything will be seamless!"

……………」Uesugi Muneyuki's tone softened, being pulled by the tie, his neck slightly bent forward, his posture looking like a large dog unwillingly but not truly resisting, held by its owner's collar.

"Then……is it now?" Uesugi Muneyuki said helplessly.

Shirakawa Mai felt the change in his breath, the corner of her mouth lifting into a victorious, yet slightly tender arc—only visible to Uesugi Muneyuki—she loosened his tie, but only loosened the finger-winding, the tie still clenched in her palm.

She didn't wait for his answer: "Wait until your seven wheels are complete."

She pulled the tie, lifting him from the wall, turned around, and walked toward the folding bed.

"Trust me, Senior Student—I'll still lie to you?"

"Hmph~ lying every day!" Uesugi Muneyuki said with a cold laugh.

But his body wouldn't obey him.

Detention Center, Tokyo, Katsushika Ward.

Night Come Hui has been detained here for some time already.

Her lawyer hasn't come, her family hasn't come, no one has come at all.

Her close circle's account was banned, her INS account deleted, her Twitter account frozen.

The network she built on social media—years in the making, worth over 100 million yen annually—was dismantled completely in this incident. Her trainees quickly exited all group chats after the event, deleted all chat logs, and canceled all accounts. No one spoke up for her, not a single person.

The interrogation room is a windowless small room, gray walls, gray table, gray chairs. A fluorescent light hums on the ceiling, light shining on the desk surface, on Night Come Hui's face, making her face look pale.

She wears a gray tracksuit, no makeup, hair scattered over her shoulders, unwashed.

She looks over ten years older than when she was on the podium, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes, once hidden by foundation, now clearly etched like a dried riverbed on her face.

Kanjou Wataru sits opposite her, eyes behind silver-frame glasses showing no expression. He has no notebook, no voice recorder, no phone—nothing at all. He doesn't need those things; his mind works better than any recording device. He leans back in the gray chair, one leg crossed over the other, posture relaxed as if watching TV at home, but his gaze is contracted, focused, like an unsheathed sword. "Shirakawa Mai." Night Come Hui says this name, voice hoarse, but each word crisply enunciated: "I want to see Mai-sama! You let me see Mai-sama, and I'll talk!"

Kanjou Wataru tilted his head slightly—not a large angle, but expressing interest, not surprise.

"Why?"

Night Come Hui's pale face lit up with an almost devout glow, like a believer mentioning their god.

The corner of her mouth lifted slightly, fine lines radiating from her eye corners like sunlight.

That expression sent a chill down Kanjou Wataru's spine—he's seen many expressions, but none have made his spine Stopped like this.

"She is a truly independent woman." Night Come Hui said, voice dropping, as if sharing a secret only she could hear: "She doesn't need to rely on men—she herself is the brightest star in all of Japan. She achieved what I've dreamed of achieving." "She is a true feminist! Her life needs no men!"

"But I can't—I'm too weak!"

"But at least before I die, I want to ask her—I want to know, exactly how did she do it?"

Kanjou Wataru fell silent for a few seconds: "Do you think she'd want to see you?"

Night Come Hui lifted her head to look at him, the light in her eyes brighter, almost painfully bright: "She wants to see me. She definitely wants to see me. We are the same."

Kanjou Wataru relayed this situation to Uesugi Muneyuki.

That night, Uesugi Muneyuki sat alone in the office for a long time.

Yeah, I really am ready or not?

Just then, the air in the break room suddenly turned cold.

That was an abnormal cold.

Not the physical cold of air conditioning temperature, but a deeper, welling-up-from-the-depths-of-consciousness chill, like something approaching when you get that bone-chilling cold.

He stopped moving.

【You really aren't ready yet.】Arimura Hana, in plain white komon kimono, holding an oil-paper umbrella, smiled softly: 【That female cockroach is obviously smarter than Pickle, the clown is just secretly killing human babies under the moon god's protection—takes weeks to prepare, weeks to execute, and still needs a ritual at the end.】

【At this rate, when will we be able to kill all humans?】

【But I found that promoting women's rights works—it can make you humans actively or passively sterilize yourselves—this one woman exterminating cockroaches has the effect of 114514 Pickles!】

【Village Flower Palace, stop causing me trouble!】Uesugi Muneyuki said helplessly, forcing a bitter smile.

Arimura Hana gave no reply.

Her gaze withdrew from outside the window, fell on Uesugi Muneyuki's face, the corner of her mouth lifting into a chilling arc. 【I'm serious—that woman, Night Come Hui.】She spoke.

Her voice was deeper than when Uesugi Muneyuki had last heard it, as if coming from a very distant place, a call through a layer of water. 【Her soul is delicious.】

【Countless women worship her as an object of admiration and a spiritual totem; her soul has been nourished for too many years by those women's desire, admiration, jealousy, fear, and anger. The mixture of those emotions has made her soul large, fatty, and juicy.】 Arimura Hana said this, sticking out her tongue and slowly licking her own upper lip—a gesture animals at the top of the food chain make when they smell prey, an instinctive, uncontrollable action.

【Don't rush to eat.】 Uesugi Muneyuki said.

The voice was not loud, but each word struck the air like a nail.

A flicker of hurt and resentment flashed in Arimura Hana's eyes, deep as an ancient well.

She looked at Uesugi, like a little girl told by an adult not to eat candy, her mouth slightly pouting, her brow slightly furrowed, her entire frozen face writing the three words "why."

No one will care about the food's feelings.

【It's not time yet.】 Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head: 【The case isn't over, the trial hasn't begun. She still has to appear in court, still has to face the victim's family, still has to be hounded by the media asking those questions she doesn't want to answer. Wait until this society has completely drained her dry.】

He paused for a moment.

【Wait until she has absorbed more broth and negative emotion, then you eat her.】

Arimura Hana stared into his eyes, silent for a long time. Then the corner of her mouth lifted again into that chilling smile, but this time, something else was in that smile—one thing, not warmth, but patience.

【Good!】 Village Flower Palace said satisfied: 【We've thought of the same thing.】

【Uesugi, now you're like us, not like them.】

Then she disappeared.

The temperature in the office returned to normal.

The hum of the fluorescent lights returned to the ears, the night view of Tokyo outside the window remained brightly lit, and they knew nothing.

And Uesugi Muneyuki in the office remained silent for a long time, nodding his head.

Indeed, I am not yet prepared.

Before I am prepared, rash action will not only make me lose everything I have now, but will also bring trouble to those around me!

Before the Seven Wheels are gathered, what I must do remains to humble myself and keep my place, waiting for the right moment!

Don't rush.

Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly laughed.

For the existence of the inner world, he has time, he has much time.