Chapter 16 016

The battlefield between Motojiro Iwai and Vladimir.

Both of them looked exhausted at this point—one was tired from throwing lemons, and the other was mentally exhausted from watching the guy outside frantically throwing lemons.

Later, exhausted, Motojiro simply sat down next to the Eiffel Tower with two baskets of lemons, relying on the fact that he wouldn't be hurt by the lemon bombs, and began to guard Vladimir.

Vladimir, who couldn't see anything due to the periscope's angle but could roughly guess what Motojiro was up to: ...

That's a really cheap trick of yours, you know?

One wielded a shield with extremely high defense, while the other had so many bombs that it seemed like they didn't need them. The two were once again locked in a stalemate.

Leaving aside how bad Vladimir's mood was inside the Eiffel Tower, Motojiro Iwai, sitting naked (his clothes were completely blown off) at the foot of the tower, rubbed his chin and felt something was off.

At a normal pace, the Port Mafia's reinforcements should have arrived long ago.

Thinking back to the three foreign ability users who had invaded headquarters that he had learned about before being hastily dispatched here, Motojiro Iwai felt that things were not going well.

If they don't arrive by now, this team is probably doomed.

↑ With his headphones blown to bits, Motojiro Yui just realized that even the Port Mafia's backers knew about this.

Holding his two baskets of lemons, Motojiro once again felt that something was wrong.

After all, he was just an ordinary mafia member who loved research. His fighting ability relied entirely on ordinary lemon bombs, and his superpower was a bizarre ability that made him immune to lemon bomb attacks. If he were to encounter a particularly strong superpower user, he would probably be defeated.

How about taking this opportunity to die and see what death is like? But then again, forget it, I can't write research records after I die.

Just as Kijiro was squatting by the big iron tower, idly tossing lemons around, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a pale golden figure out of the corner of his eye.

It really is a pale gold color.

The scarf was light gold, the hair was light gold, and if you look closely, the pupils were also light gold.

Standing in the sunlight, even his skin seemed to have a faint golden halo.

He caught the lemon that had been tossed into the air and raised an eyebrow.

Reinforcements?

They look really young.

Perhaps only a year or two older than Izumi Kyoka, Motojiro thought that the child in front of him was probably only a year or two older than Izumi Kyoka, a child that Ozaki Koyo had recently taken in (a child he rarely saw after becoming an adult).

"Although I don't think it's possible for any innocent civilians to come after such a horrific explosion, I'll ask anyway."

Motojiro Iwai pointed to the Eiffel Tower behind him with the finger holding the lemon.

"Are you here to see this guy?"

The golden-haired child glanced at Motojiro Iwai, who was only wearing tattered strips of cloth, before nodding.

"Yes, that's Vladimir."

He explained it very clearly, word by word.

"Barry said that even though he was a psychopath, he still wanted to save him."

Motojiro: ...Why did you specifically emphasize that he's a pervert? As he spoke, the child glanced at Motojiro again.

"Are you trying to steal from Vladimir's enemies?"

Motojiro had a feeling that the child opposite him wasn't trying to stall for time or anything, but was simply asking questions very seriously.

But he still felt a little confused.

"Are you talking nonsense?"

Could this situation have occurred with someone else here?

"Oh." The child blinked, puzzled. "Then why aren't you wearing clothes?"

Motojiro Yui: "I was just blown up by that guy behind me."

"Oh, has Vladimir gone mad again?"

Vladimir, still inside the Eiffel Tower, twitched his face.

Even if he's a total pervert, he wouldn't go and pull off the clothes of someone with a bowl cut.

"Exupéry, you knocked him out completely!"

Vladimir angrily smashed the wall inside the Eiffel Tower.

"Don't try to trick people into telling you what they believe!"

However, it is obvious that this incredibly thick iron tower does not have the function of transmitting sound.

The sound transmission channel (similar to a rudimentary telephone) could only barely allow one to hear sounds from outside.

Feeling he couldn't continue the conversation, Motojiro looked at the clueless guy opposite him who had suddenly realized something, and tossed him three lemons.

Let's test the waters first, no matter what.

The guy opposite him just stood there dumbfounded, watching the three lemons in Motojiro's hand arc through the air and land at his feet. Instead of dodging, he crouched down and tried to poke the lemon closest to him.

Just as he crouched down and reached out his hand, the lemon exploded.

So the child opposite him didn't even have time to change his expression before he was instantly engulfed by the explosion.

Having witnessed everything, Motojiro Yui asked, "Is this a comedic character?"

Vladimir, who had also witnessed everything, slammed his fist against the wall: "Exupéry, you're an absolute idiot!"

Vladimir was in a fit of impotent rage.

"If it weren't for your special ability, you would have died a hundred and eight thousand times over!"

Feeling like he'd been tricked, Motojiro suddenly realized something and looked up in the direction of the smoke and dust after the explosion.

As the smoke cleared, the child known as Exupé remained in the same position as before the lemon exploded, squatting motionless in place.

If you look closely, you might find that the clothes don't even have a single wrinkle.

He even blinked, looking slightly puzzled.

It was only at this moment that Motojiro Yui realized that the child had only blinked twice since he appeared.

One time was when I asked him why he wasn't wearing clothes, and the other time was when I was faced with an explosion.

The impression given was that... none of those were physiological blinks, but rather some kind of action deliberately performed to express confusion.

"Ah, it exploded."

Exupé brushed off his clothes and stood up, looking again at Kijiro Iwai, who had two baskets of lemons beside him.

"Is this your special ability? Or are lemons actually just designed to explode?"

What a brilliant question!

"It's clearly a superpower, Exupéry!"

In mid-air, another child, who had just heard the explosion and rushed over, shouted complaints.

"Lemons don't explode!"

Exupéry pointed at Motojiro Iwai and said, "Barry, you're wrong. His lemon just exploded!"

"That's why I said it's a superpower!"

“But Barry, you said lemons don’t explode, but just now that person’s lemon exploded.”

Excellent, full marks for correcting grammatical errors.

The child in the sky, known as Barry, choked and then retorted confidently.

"I said regular lemons don't explode! Exupéry, you misheard me!"

Upon hearing this, Exupéry's eyes widened slightly before he nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, I see. My hearing is getting worse and worse. I keep misunderstanding what you're saying, Barry."

Barry nodded in satisfaction. "That's it!"

The handsome guy next to him, Motojiro Iwai: ...So you're a comedy duo?

The Forgotten Vladimir: ...Why did Christie send you two idiots?!

Oh, Vladimir suddenly realized that it was probably because no one else wanted to bother with him.

Because he's a pervert, a pervert, let me repeat—a pervert.

In a situation where his life was not in danger (and it was his own doing), not many UN members would be willing to make a special trip to save him.

Perhaps only these two carefree guys are thinking about having fun and wouldn't care about such things.

—They didn't come to rescue people; they came out for a trip and happened to rescue someone on the way.

Or, while he's having fun, you can make fun of him.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's special ability name: The Little Prince

James Barry's superpower name (Neverland)