Chapter 222 The Enemy Appears

What does it feel like to ride a roller coaster?

To be honest, I had no idea what it was like before because I had never been outside the main castle and had never been to an amusement park. But today, I finally know what kind of thrilling experience it is.

Atsu-kun was like a speeding car. Even holding him, the feeling of weightlessness was so intense that I could even hear the whirring of the wind in my ears!

But thanks to him, the physical discomfort was greatly alleviated.

"Atsushi-kun, are you sure you saw Mr. Tanizaki?"

"Why do you ask?"

I hugged his neck tightly: "I'm afraid it's a trap."

His pace slowed down slightly.

"Look ahead!"

Mr. Tanizaki disappeared behind the door of a warehouse.

To go in or not to go in?

Before I could react, a black blade and a white shadow flashed by, and the warehouse door was cut into pieces.

"You can't get a tiger cub without learning the tiger's acupoints. Let's play by the rules."

"Humura, Kyoka-chan, if anything happens later, you two go first. Akutagawa-kun and I will cover your retreat."

Wait! How come they were so tense just now, now that they're in danger, they're so in sync?! Mr. Akutagawa, why don't you even refute Atsushi-kun? You're just acquiescing like that?!

"But……!"

"Kyoka-chan doesn't want Homura to get hurt, right?" Nakajima Atsushi squatted down and put me down. "It's okay, we'll be fine."

Wow, that's really high, Atsu-kun! Stop talking!

However, Mr. Tanizaki was nowhere to be found in the warehouse. I took a quick look and saw several strangers lying on the ground in the corner.

“There’s someone there!”

"Huh? Those people are from the Port Mafia—"

“Who is it?!”

At the moment when we were distracted, the murderous aura around Mr. Akutagawa suddenly erupted, and the dark Rashomon turned into a roaring monster, rushing straight towards a certain point in the air!

In an instant, under his attack, the originally empty place was like a curtain being torn open, and a black shadow rushed out and gently landed on the high platform deep in the warehouse.

"Mr. Tanizaki?! No...that's not right, who are you?!"

The other party laughed and looked down at us: "Huh? It was exposed so quickly. It seems that people with special abilities have very sharp senses."

He was clearly Junichiro Tanizaki from the Armed Detective Agency, but when he opened his mouth, his voice was that of a girl.

It was Longyue's voice.

"Never mind, let's leave it at that." As soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Tanizaki's figure, standing on the dais, gradually faded like a hazy shadow. A brown-haired girl in a strange white dress suddenly reappeared where he had disappeared. "This ability still has many flaws. By the way, I remember complaining to you about it, didn't I? 'Mirages aren't real after all.' What was your response then, Homura?"

…What is she talking about?

"Huh? No way, have you forgotten me? It's me, Haborozuki, Mizusawa Haborozuki, your classmate and best friend of Mao's!"

My head suddenly started to hurt violently, and many things suddenly emerged in my mind. They were scenes that I had never experienced before, but were extremely familiar to me.

Among them, there is her figure.

"...Even if it's a mirage, it's real to an enemy who doesn't know the truth."

"Yes, yes! Did you remember? I'm so happy!"

"W-What's going on?! Does Homura really know that girl? But this is impossible...!"

"Human Tiger, what do you mean?"

“Because… because…”

Atsushi-kun and Akutagawa-san stood side by side, blocking Kyoka and I. Although his back was turned to us, his expression was unclear, but his voice was filled with disbelief.

"Huh? How did outsiders know about this? Yan, have you told anyone?" On the podium, the girl calling herself Mizuzawa Longyue frowned, then narrowed her eyes and smiled gently. "If you tell outsiders that you killed your best friend, won't they think you're a monster again?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about this, or else..." Before she could finish her words, the girl on the platform disappeared. Then, her gentle voice rang in my ears. "I'll be very sad."

I could even feel someone's gentle breathing and a cold touch on my cheek.

"Varied……?!"

“So fast!”

“Stay away from her!!”

The three psychics around me attacked at the same time, but Jinghua pulled me hard and I fell to the ground, out of their attack range.

However, Longyue just chuckled, and her figure disappeared again, returning to the platform where she had just stood.

"Hmm, is this the psychic from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia? Nothing special, humans are just so weak after all."

……wrong.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking people with special abilities?" Atsushi's voice echoed in the warehouse, becoming somewhat muffled.

"Well, as you can see, I'm just a 'friend' who came to Homura to catch up on the past."

"Friend? You were the one who disguised yourself as her, right? Is this something a friend would do?!" This was the first time I saw Jinghua so angry.

"Why not? She's my murderer. I wanted to get rid of you and then slowly reminisce with Yan. Well... it's not too late now!"

wrong.

“…You are not Longyue.”

I saw the smile on her face freeze.

"Longyue would never say such a thing."

Yes, she wouldn't say such disrespectful words, treating human life as worthless. To Mizuze Longyue, life is a very precious thing. She works so hard, so hard, and her wish, built up with sweat and tears, is nothing more than protecting ordinary people.

It is precisely because we have experienced loss and weakness that we know the unwillingness and pain of an unarmed person when facing a strong person and losing his life.

"I forbid you..." My breathing was a little difficult, my brain was buzzing, but I still gritted my teeth and stood up, raised the iron pipe in my hand, and stared at the person standing on the platform. "I forbid you to say such things with her appearance, you fake!!"

"..." "Long Yue" on the high platform looked at me expressionlessly and smacked his lips. "Your memory hasn't fully recovered, but your intuition is quite accurate, little girl."

"No point in saying more! Man-tiger!"

“You don’t have to tell me—!”

Akutagawa's Rashomon and Atsushi turned into two afterimages and rushed towards the platform together!

They were moving so fast that I could only see black and white afterimages.

“Too slow.”

However, the two men's attacks, one in front and one behind, were blocked at the same time by the girl in white.

"Didn't I tell you that even for a mutant, the human body is too fragile."

In her hand she held a Japanese sword that gleamed with a cold light, and the blade blocked Rashomon's attack, while her free hand held off Nakajima Atsushi's tiger claws.

"But your souls are delicious."

"Go, Yasha Shirayuki!"

I saw Jinghua's supernatural power appear beside "Longyue", and at this moment she couldn't free both hands to resist this sudden attack.

"So I said--" The white figure moved.

Blood spurted before my eyes.

"You are too weak."

The imposter was so fast I didn't even see what she did before blood started to bloom on Nakajima Atsushi's body and Akutagawa Ryunosuke was struck hard, sending him flying. Meanwhile, Yasha Shirayuki missed her attack and returned to Kyoka's side, but a large piece of her sleeve was missing.

"Oh? That's a nice ability, and it's fast enough, but it's not yours, right?"

“…It has nothing to do with you!”

The man with the face of a hazy moon laughed. "Even after your companions have been defeated, you're still standing guard? I'm amazed. Humans have become much stronger."

"From... from just now on, you kept talking about humans..." Nakajima Atsushi returned to our side without us noticing, "You make it sound like you're not even human."

"Well... not really. Maybe I was just like you before," she said, spreading her hands. "But now, I've become a more advanced creature, constantly evolving to escape eternal suffering, and you—"

"It will become the cornerstone of my evolution."

At this moment, a loud noise erupted from the platform. "Nonsense...!" Akutagawa Ryunosuke roared hoarsely as black blades enveloped his entire body. The platform where the man in white stood suddenly collapsed, and Nakajima Atsushi was once again in motion!

"Break the roof! That guy is hiding from the sun!!"

Following Akutagawa's shout, Yasha Shirayuki and Nakajima Atsushi moved at the same time. At the same time, Jinghua hugged me and the two of them fell in the opposite direction of what happened.

There was a loud rumbling sound beside my ears, and the sunlight suddenly shone into the dim warehouse, and the smoke and dust obstructed my vision.

“You…you…?!”

"What?"

"Oh my, you've noticed in such a short time that we're afraid of sunlight?" The man in white stood in a warehouse with a large hole in the roof. "It can't be helped. The modern world is just so troublesome. Even with that guy's power, our movements during the day are still quite restricted." There was only one person standing there, but we heard two voices. "Come on, you guys, have you seen our faces?"

In an instant, before I could even scream, two strong gusts of wind blew past me, and then I heard the dull thud of something hitting the wall.

"Atsushi-kun! Akutagawa?!"

The two people who were working together with all their strength just now were knocked against the wall behind me.

“You…you…what the hell are you…!”

"Didn't I tell you that?"

"We are not human."

The smoke and dust gradually dissipated, Shuize Longyue disappeared, and standing in its place was a tall and strange creature.

He had a human body, but his head was a glass cylinder resembling a giant inverted test tube. A metal ring connected the cylinder to the body, and the cylinder was filled with an unknown red liquid.

"But I'll reward you for now, humans."

"This is the first time we've revealed our true appearance to ordinary humans."

Two small, round heads were soaked in the red liquid. One of them had a low voice, and the other a high-pitched one. They were constantly talking to us.

"Yaronilo Eluluyeli, remember this name."

"Feel honored, humans."

The author has something to say:

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Aaroniero Eluruyeli, the 90th Espada. If you're unsure who the 90th Espada is, you can search Baidu. In the original story, he transformed into Shiba Kaiyan, the vice-captain of Division 12, to provoke Rukia during the Hueco Mundo arc, but was ultimately defeated. His ability to transform into Kaiyan stems from devouring a high-level Hollow that Kaiyan had previously assimilated with.

In order to avenge his wife and teammates, and to assimilate with the Hollow, Haiyan finally willingly submitted to his own death and died at the hands of Rukia, which also became a hurdle in Rukia's heart.

So here comes the question: in my eyes, he has become another person, which means the deceased was someone else. So where is Vice Captain Haiyan? (Desperately hinting)