Chapter 548

Chapter Sixty: The Critical Moment Fails

Seeing that he was unmoved by her words, Akane simply put down her schoolbag and sat opposite the man munching snacks alone, her face resting on the table as she stared at him. Without any care, Ash kept eating his biscuits, allowing her to watch.

*Crunch—crunch—*

*…*

• A unique staring contest commenced.

If they say that legendary girls eat snacks with another stomach, Ash was no different now, gorging on chocolates, cookies, and other snacks like they were meals, shocking Akane to no end as he stuffed them all in his mouth.

“Wait—those were things we prepared for ourselves! You’re almost done!”

Seeing him pull out and devour even the senbei (rice crackers) she had been keeping, Akane stood up abruptly.

“Just a couple bites! You’re eating like you’re avenging us with your entire meal! These were things we prepared for us, right?”

Halting momentarily, Ash cast her a puzzled glance.

“What’s wrong? It’s just two snacks. What’s the problem?”

“But I’m a companion now, aren’t I? So why wouldn’t I be able to eat?”

However, he suddenly wanted more out of curiosity over the unusual taste, and before he knew it, he was wolfing down the snacks recklessly.

“If you’re eating, then do so… but at least put your own snacks back.”

“Mmm… Is that fair? Well, then it should be fine.”

Next time, he would bring something special from another world?

He popped the last biscuit into his mouth and licked his fingers, still tasting the novel “sharing” experience thoughtfully.

“Haha…”

The usually domineering Ash nodded dumbly, making Akane unable to hold back her laughter.

His mouth was full of biscuit crumbs; carefree like a child… Wait, what was that beside his cheek?

The bloodstain on the man’s face reminded her of a recent memory. Akane’s mouth opened as if to say something but shut again, hesitant. Tiptoeing footsteps sounded under the table. Akane suddenly addressed him gently, in a tone uncharacteristic of her.

“Um… Ash, was your body hit by all that glass back then? Are you okay?”

At Akane’s worried voice, Ash paused. He wiped his mouth with his pants and proudly pulled up his bulletproof vest custom-made by his grandfather.

“My old man made me this bulletproof vest. Jealous?”

“No, no, normally girls don’t get jealous over something that looks like a bulletproof vest. But perhaps a pretty dress…”

Amused despite herself, Akane placed her hand to her forehead. His face was clearly saying, “Look how cool I am, jealous?”

But at least he wasn’t hurt.

Walking up to Ash, Akane peeled open something in her hand and placed it on his face, right in front of his puzzled eyes.

Only then did she realize what she had done and quickly turned away, running off without looking back.

“In any case, that’s it—tomorrow, if anything goes wrong with what you said today, don’t blame me!”

Ash, confused by her escape-like rush and her final breathless utterance, touched the rough object on his face.

This seems to be…a band-aid?

Could it have been caused by a card scratch? Blood should’ve stopped already, but oh well.

“Pfft…”

Seeing his stunned agreement, Akane struggled to stifle a laugh.

His mouth was covered in cookie crumbs; childishly indifferent… Hey, what’s that next to his cheek?

A blood stain revived her memory of earlier. Akane opened her mouth, as if to speak, but then shut it again. A shuffling sound echoed under the table. Akane asked gently in a tone unrecognizable to her:

“Um…Ash, remember when all that glass hit you? Are you alright?”

Hesitantly worried, Akane watched as Ash paused, wiping the crumbs from his lips onto his pants, then proudly pulled at the collar of his bulletproof jacket.

“It’s my old man’s custom bulletproof vest. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Not really,” Akane said, shaking her head. “Most girls would probably prefer a pretty dress instead.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Still, it was good he wasn’t hurt.

Walking up to him, Akane peeled the object in her hand and stuck it on his face in front of his bewildered eyes.

Realizing what she had done, she quickly averted her gaze and ran away without a second look.

“At least now it’s settled. If you mess up tomorrow with your big talk today, you can’t blame anyone else!”

Ash, puzzled by her sudden flight and her final breathless words, touched the bandage on his face in confusion.

This looked like…?

Was it because of a card scratch? The bleeding should’ve stopped by now… Never mind.

“Haha… How adorable.”

That night, fate had determined that the sleeplessness was inevitable.

Some stayed up worrying about the impending end of the world, others made firm resolutions to fight on the next day, and some sat meditating in a trance-like state. Meanwhile, one simply went to bed and fell asleep, while the worries persisted in their dreams.

As for Ash…

He remained just as awake as he had been over the past five days.

It was the second day of the weekend, and the girls reluctantly bid farewell to their weekend plans. They met Ash at an uninhabited hillside as arranged.

While they shivered from the cold wind and complained about the desolate location devoid of shelter that Ash had chosen for some reason, he appeared from behind and replied to them.

“Because what’s going to happen next needs this vast uninhabited spot for the show.”

Ash appeared confident—so much so that he seemed ready to sniff the air for answers.

Up until now, he had mostly followed commands from various commanders. Now, as the one giving commands, he excitedly explained his plan to the girls.

“The key now is this sprite!” Borrowing Sugar from Miyuki, he demonstrated with deft skill, coaxing the reluctant sprite into a contented, squinting state. “You need to use the elf’s sensitivity to dark power to locate the root cause of drawing Ni-bi Lu closer to Earth and neutralize it.”

“Meanwhile, I will take care of deflecting the asteroid from its orbit to save the planet. I’m calling this mission ‘Targeter.’”

“But isn’t that asteroid supposed to be strong?” Naoko asked, echoing everyone’s concern. After all, although Kamen Rider’s power had left a deep impression, it didn’t quite seem like something that could blow up stars.

With a confident grin, Ash unveiled his true source of confidence.

“The Big Bang!”

Yayoi’s eyes sparked with anticipation as Ash aimed the closed gear gun at the specially prepared barren ground.

“Haokaitar!”

Seeing the astonished expressions of the girls, Ash shook the closed gear gun proudly, though he felt blood rush to his cheeks inside—he realized he had nearly used up all the demon energy given by the princess.

Of course, this shouldn’t have been unexpected. In the previous world, protecting Earth from destruction meant summoning robot celebrities, depleting the generosity of Lady Lei.

Now, to push this original form of life back to its proper place, he was forced to consolidate the remaining energy from scattered gears onto his strongest gear, the Haokaitar. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to call up the professional Gear, Kyurenja, or to deal with such a minor catastrophe!

“Just see, this is mine—”

“What…” Hot breath swept over her face, and Akane pointed at something behind Ash, freezing her expression between laughter and tears. “Is this your preparation?”

“Looks… quite special…”

“Why not let it work?” he asked, puzzled by their reactions. “Isn’t it clear? Haokaitar —”

Before he could finish, he noticed something himself, turning ashen with surprise.

“What…”

Facing the Haokaitar, which was now burning fiercely with flames that periodically ignited explosive blasts, Ash felt a chill run through him.

This was like having built a powerful machine to show off to a friend, only for it to crash right as he started showing it off.

Had it, like during the final battle with Zan, been destroyed in the hands of the pirates…?

No, it had been repaired afterward! Why is it broken again? Did someone destroy it? Pirates, with no honor at all!

In any case, why wouldn’t the doctor fix it—

“This is a joke, right?”