Chapter 386

Chapter 121: Should We Defeat It Then?

“The conductor, this is…”

Holding Kuron in her arms, Lily, who had officially become part of the electric train crew after regaining her composure, began to use her observation skills. She noticed the demons playing around, the enthusiastic female crew members greeting her, and the conductor showing no surprise at her arrival. Her eyes darted around the suspicious-looking train.

Although she had believed it without evidence, it was natural for anyone to be surprised by such facts.

“This place… I feel like I’ve been here before.” But what surprised Lily even more was that she felt déjà vu about this place.

After a thorough mental search, Lily successfully traced the clue back to the tokusatsu series that Ash often watched in the store. There seemed to be one about a train story?

“I remember, it’s called Den-O, right? Even though it’s just a TV show, it seems to be part of the Kamen Riders?”

Ignoring the shouting of “Wow, she actually knows about Den-O!” from Momotaros next to her, Ash sat up from his lying position on the seat.

“It’s surprising. I thought girls weren’t interested in tokusatsu shows.”

“But since you’re the store manager, isn’t it normal for me to know about it?”

Facing Ash who was trying to make a face at her, Lily sensed a slight change in his opinion despite his seemingly humorless smile.

“However, generally speaking, TV characters don’t appear in real life, do they?”

“What is reality, what is a TV fiction?” The corners of Ash’s mouth curved further as he tapped the metal sole of his shoes, making a dull sound. “Or does Lily think she is still in the usual situation despite having traveled to the past?”

He never intended to explain; he simply let Lily suspect on her own.

“I want to know more about the manager.”

Although it’s not good to pry into others’ secrets, Lily still hoped Ash would answer.

Ash was a detached freestyle who seemed uncaring about the sales figures and unwilling to work hard for business prosperity. Moreover, he preferred going out for no reason, saying it was part-time work, which resulted in receiving high pay with little actual work. No wonder Momoka said he just supports her…. Err, digressing.

Therefore, including their fairies, the three store employees had once speculated about the manager’s secret. Lei guessed that the manager was a playboy maintaining relationships with several beautiful women. Erika said the manager was actually a masked hero who appeared at night. The most absurd guess came from Wuki, who thought the manager was secretly Timons… but none of these theories were ever confirmed.

“Would you like some coffee? I’m quite confident in mixing coffee.”

After thanking him for the coffee from Amitaru, Lily only slightly frowned at its taste but finished the overly sweet part anyway.

Compared to the manager’s whimsical taste like an exploding Mars, it didn’t seem so bad.

“However, please don’t use the childlike excuse that the characters in tokusatsu shows will come help you because you enjoy watching them.”

“That’s right, I do love watching tokusatsu shows.”

Said with a couple of coughs afterward, Ash no longer met Lily’s gaze, instead lowering himself back onto the hard leather seat.

“Manager, please take this seriously.”

“What? Isn’t this a reason?”

After regaining his pudding from Kintaros, Momotaros chuckled upon hearing their conversation.

“Young lady, you might not understand yet. This guy has always been like this, indifferent to complex matters and unable to read the air, which even annoys me.”

“No, I understand.”

Ash’s inability to read the atmosphere is something I comprehend.

But…

Looking at Ash who was resting his hands behind his head, staring at the dark eyes the color of the universe as he looked at the train’s ceiling, no one except the System knew what he was thinking.

His own affairs, Erika’s matters, Lei’s matters, and even Wuki’s matters. His performance wasn’t smooth exactly, but it wasn’t a total mess either…. Yet, there were times when he did exceptionally well.

Such a person, is he unable to read the atmosphere, unable to see… or does he simply not care and not want to spend any effort on these things.

How did he grow into such a person?

The current Tsukikage Lily could not know now….

[Train arrives — Destination: Heart Tree!]

Following instructions from Kuron in her arms, the electric train successfully found the floating island hiding the Heart Tree.

As soon as they got off, Ash held Lily’s garment to shield her from the light, hiding her in the shade of the train.

“Dang dang dang—!”

With a slight jolt, Lily saw countless light projectiles hit the train armor and explode near the barriers opened by the Heart Tree.

“This… Could this be an attack by the Desert Apostle?! But no, they shouldn’t be able to find us here!”

“Look closely; that guy.” Ash peered outside from behind the train, and Lily narrowed her eyes in shock upon seeing the grotesque bat-like demon—the contracted Demon God!

“The Desert Apostle’s Desert Beasts are much cuter than this thing… Heh, targeting the Heart Tree? Not even a Precure is here yet at this time, right?”

Not just for the past in the Kamen Rider world, but even for other worlds’ pasts, huh? Kaai would surely be proud if he saw this.

“Yes, so what should we do?”

The man’s gaze swept over Lily to the Heart Tree.

“You go to the Heart Tree first, I’ll distract the attention.”

“How can you say such a thing!” Lily clung tightly to the man’s sleeve, fearing he would run away. “He’ll kill both of us! How can I leave you here, if we go, it’s together…”

“It’s fine.”

With a wicked grin, Ash pointed at the panic-stricken four demons jumping off the train.

“Now I am with a Kamen Rider.”

Lily understood Ash’s decision and prepared herself mentally for whatever followed.

“I understand. Afterward… A Precure will certainly arrive soon.”

“Ah, I’m looking forward to seeing that… However.”

Ash stood up boldly and completely diverted the vampire bat demon’s attention to himself.

“Is drawing attention not also allowing us to defeat this guy?”