Chapter 158

Chapter Fifty-Two: Two People’s Chat

“Mana, this is so interesting!”

Regina, with her childish nature, saw Ai and Ash chatting and was feeling bored when she suddenly became interested in a sculpture of a famous painting that appeared to be “shouting.” She ran off quickly without a trace.

“Ai, don’t run so fast… ah, she’s gone.”

Seeing that Regina had run off, Ai awkwardly retracted her hand and went back to Ash.

“Why isn’t Mr. Ash appreciating the sculptures like everyone else?”

As Ai tried to talk to Ash, she also put back the Bluetooth earphones that had fallen out of her ears. They were watching the newly popular show, “Ultraman Tiga,” together.

Of course, she was still curious why he wanted to see tokusatsu shows in an art gallery, like going to a Japanese restaurant but ordering a bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles instead of sushi or ramen.

“The sculpture craftsmanship here is quite impressive. Isn’t this one cool?”

Ai stood up, patting the Ultraman sculpture that had shielded them from the sun, and couldn’t help but touch its chest, which was as plump as it could deflect lightning.

“I’m not Hipolithian, I don’t really care about sculptures.”

Looking up at Aoido, who was still groping around, Ash went back to his tokusatsu obsession.

Thinking about it, if even Shin Ultraman, whom he had met and transformed with a Spark Lens a few times, had been observed, what was the point of looking at sculptures?

Looking at the photos on her phone of Ribbon Light interacting with his missing partner, Ash’s memory of Ultraman was triggered once again.

He could still remember this because the world of Ultraman Tiga was one of the happiest places he had ever visited. After striking a deal with Ryukialda to become the host and obtaining the Dark Spark, he had virtually transformed every Ultraman, monster, and alien using the Dark Materialization. Driving various “mechas” to bully the main characters was incredibly fun, though he always got defeated by the real Tiga in the end.

Unfortunately, since he was the host, he couldn’t extract the core from Ryukialda. With the successful collection of all the Dark Echoes and returning them, there was no more fun for him then.

“Do you really enjoy watching tokusatsu so much, Mr. Ash?”

Being a man, Aoido understood how attractive this kind of cool thing can be to other men, and thus understood Ai perfectly.

“Haven’t you fought with Dragonfang twice? Shouldn’t I ask you this question?”

Facing Ai’s foolish look, she scratched her cheek, feeling shy.

“It’s still hard to believe. Heroes coming out of TV to fight us, it seems a bit surreal.”

“You can transform into a Pretty Cure yourself. Why are you still worried about such things?”

“Pretty Cures are legendary warriors, so it’s different.”

But thinking about it, wouldn’t Pretty Cures possibly exist in Kamen Rider world as something similar to Tokusatsu or cartoons? Hmm, if that’s true, maybe I have many fans elsewhere as well. How amazing!

On her phone screen, Ribbon Light’s manipulated monster was smashed onto the ground, and then the usual summoning process for the invincible Tiga began.

“This isn’t great,” Ash said with a displeased expression. “Why is the TV version so weak? I distinctly remember it being stronger.”

Is it because without me opposite, the growth rate of power slowed down due to lack of pressure?

“Don’t say that, Mr. Ash. Ultraman is fighting hard.”

“It has nothing to do with whether he’s trying or not. If it’s not good, it’s just not good.”

In the middle of this, Ai noticed that Ash seemed to view things differently from most keyboard warriors; his voice was so genuine, almost like he experienced it or had personal knowledge.

“Um, Mr. Ash,” Ai cautiously asked, “Is there really an Ultraman in this world?”

“As long as you believe and try until the very end, Ultraman will come.”

“What a typical Ultraman answer.”

Unable to comment, Ai remembered from the battle with the robot, the miracle light tool floating out of his hand looked somewhat familiar, like a prop taken directly from a film set of Ultraman.

“Mr. Ash, could it be that besides being a Kamen Rider, you are also an Ultraman?”

Seeing the smile he gave her, Ai hesitated to continue asking.

“Hahaha, no way! TV’s Ultramen are always embodiments of goodness. It couldn’t be like Mr. Ash, who seems mischievous.”

“It’s not impossible. After all, there have been evil Ultramen shown in films, and even the Land of Light has its share of villains, probably a couple over thousands of years.”

“Whaaat?!”

A startled Ai cried out, even dropping her Bluetooth headset. “How… how could you… know what I’m thinking?! Are you reading my mind?”

“That’s right, now I’m using my Ultraman thought to read your mind.”

Idiot, everything is clear on your face. It’s obvious, no need to guess.

Hearing this, Ai jumped away.

“Mana, we found clues—Mr. Ash is here too?”

Upon seeing Ai pointing tremblingly at Ash in defiance and a standoff, Rikka called their friend’s name.

“Hold it, Rikka! Don’t come over! Something bad will happen!”

“Mr. Ash, you’re bullying Mana!”

Ignoring Ai’s warning, Rikka stood between them, hands on hips, looking slightly angry at Ash.

She immediately guessed he had said something inappropriate again, treating girls like an annoying elementary school boy.

Wait, could it be a lie? Seeing Rikka’s reaction, Ai realized only now.

“Besides fighting, this is actually quite amusing.”

Especially watching others react is fun.

“As a mature adult, please don’t turn this into a joke!” Rikka sternly rejected.

“Come on, Mana. Let’s ignore him.”

Already unafraid of Ash, Rikka dragged the still uncertain Ai away. As Ash was about to continue watching, he discovered they were quarreling and the episode ended, beginning to air the credits.

If this was in the past, he might have forced them into a showdown. But after yesterday’s confrontation and Yamato’s words, he was in a sage mode and didn’t want to fight.

Opening the system’s collection panel, the increase in Dark Echos seemed temporarily stalled. Without a massive influx of Darkness to break through, he simply had to wait. This made him feel even less compelled to act.

“Whatever, let’s just follow along.”

Joining them, he intended to see what they discovered, only to see an unexpected person. The blond man with a ZUN-like hat, holding a child, was someone he had met before, Jo at the hospital.

“It’s you!”

Jo, who had just introduced himself to Regina, became serious upon seeing Ash. After all, Ash hadn’t left any favorable impressions.

To him, Ash was undoubtedly more dangerous than even a Selfish Organization officer, compelling him to remain wary.

In contrast, seeing this person, Ash simply raised his eyebrows and waved.

“Bonjour! I remember your name….”

“Orb Ring, right?”

“What’s this? That’s not a human name!”