"We're not going anywhere..." Logan said, then felt something was wrong, and glanced at Olivia up and down, "Senior, what's with that outfit?"
"Oh, I changed real quick." Olivia tugged at her black clothes and smiled with satisfaction. The dark ensemble made her look both cool and a little dramatic, "This way, I can match your operation."
The corner of Logan's mouth twitched, 'Match my operation? What kind of nonsense was that?'
He corrected seriously: "Senior, you think too much."
As the car maneuvered through the maze of city streets, Olivia waved her hand nonchalantly, "That address you gave the driver… Do you know Japanese?"
It was hard not to be impressed by Logan's sudden display of fluent Japanese. Yu Xiaobai nodded implicitly, "I know a little bit, I'm self-taught."
Olivia showed an expression of sudden realization, and Logan looked at her blankly, 'It was so exaggerated. Did she actually believe me or not?'
Olivia knew some Japanese herself, but only basic conversational phrases. At her insistence, Logan repeated the address in English.
"A high-end apartment? What are we doing there?" Olivia was like a curious child. Ever since their cooperation became clear, she had a lot of questions. Now, with this new mystery, it was the perfect chance to dig deeper.
Logan glanced at her before casting a subtle look at the driver, making sure he was focused on driving and unlikely to understand English, and said, "I want to meet someone."
Olivia also looked at the driver, then lowered her voice as if they were spies exchanging classified information, which ironically making them look even more suspicious, "Who?"
"...I'm not telling you." Logan shut down the conversation quickly, avoiding the awkwardness of feeling like a secret agent.
Olivia was clearly unsatisfied, but she didn't push it. She knew Logan would keep some things from her. Instead, she switched topics, "By the way, how did you stop that bus last time?"
That question had been bugging Olivia for a while, "Aside from the lame explanation of Karate class, what really happened?"
Logan coughed twice and answered: "I just use a technique that ordinary people can't master..."
"Like what?"
"A kind of energy inside the human body."
It was vague and mysterious enough to sound impressive. Olivia had already expected such vague answer and nodded with an expression of half-understanding. Fortunately, it wasn't too outrageous like unlocking genetic potential.
Logan watched her listen so seriously, like he was revealing the secrets of the world, and he had to resist the urge to laugh.
"Alright, I've already answered the questions we 'agreed' on before we came to Japan." Logan said, "From now on, if you ask me something, I'll answer if I want to, but if I don't, you can't keep pressing me like before."
Olivia was stunned, 'That's it?'
Logan gave her a confirming, 'That's it!'
It sounded reasonable, but Olivia quickly realized something was off. Conditions had shifted. Their cooperation had progressed a few steps further than before. She had just gotten a taste of this mysterious unknown, so how could she be satisfied with just that?
Olivia frowned slightly, and Logan instinctively leaned toward the car door, putting a noticeable gap between them.
Pretending to admire the scenery, Logan expected her to press on. He knew his answer earlier lacked sincerity.
Yet, to his surprise, after waiting for a while, the car remained silent.
The vehicle rolled into the bustling downtown area, neon lights flickering past the windows. The nightscape kept changing in color, painting shifting reflections onto the glass.
It was still a long way to their destination. The silence stretched for over ten minutes.
'Did I actually make her mad? That would be bad… I still needed her help to cover for me.'
After thinking about it, Logan turned his head, only to see Olivia resting her chin on her hand, gazing quietly out the window.
It was… unexpectedly peaceful.
Feigning casualness, he asked: "By the way, Senior... did you come up with a reason for leaving?"
Olivia snapped out of her thoughts and gave him an OK gesture and said, "It's done."
Seeing this, Logan let out a breath of relief and said, "Ah, that's good."
'So she wasn't mad after all. Senior was indeed reliable. Maybe I had been overthinking things.'
Feeling reassured, Logan relaxed and turned back to the view outside mind.
After a while, Logan was already immersed in the quiet atmosphere and began to think about what happened after arriving at the Manga Author's home, when a voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Logan, you have superpowers, don't you?"
Olivia's tone was hesitant, like she was confirming a guess she had already made.
Logan sighed and turned back, 'Do we really need to go over this again? I had already admitted it when you asked about stopping the bus.'
"Yeah."
"Can I learn it? That whole 'energy inside the body' thing..."
This time, Logan didn't even look at her and replied flatly: "Probably not."
Leaving aside the fact that she had likely missed the optimal age for training, Logan seriously doubted someone as privileged as Olivia could endure the sheer hardship it required.
Even if she could extract chakra, the intense physical training alone would eliminate most modern people before they even got started.
Silence followed. She was either processing this disappointing fact or weighing whether he was just brushing her off.
Not long after, Olivia asked, "Does it improve your looks?"
"..."
Logan closed his eyes in surrender, refusing to respond. He suddenly realized all his previous concerns had been completely unnecessary.
The moment of quiet had been a false alarm. Olivia had simply switched to a new signal, and her endless curiosity had been reactivated.
And once she realized Logan wasn't entertaining her questions anymore, she tried a few more times before giving up.
They passed through intersection after intersection. Finally, when Logan's ears were blessed with peace once again, he exhaled subtly. Their destination was close.
The roads weren't jammed, but the sea of cars still stretched endlessly under the traffic lights. The Manga Author, Masashi Kishimoto, lived in a high-end apartment complex. Security would likely be tighter than usual. Logan wasn't even sure if the guy was home, how many people lived there, or what his daily routine was.
Without his shadow clones feeding him intel, this mission would be trickier than expected. Should he scout for any messages left by his clones first, or just go straight in for observation.
"Is there an Eagle Division?"
Olivia suddenly asked again.
Her sudden question made Logan's grip tighten around his knee. He turned his head slowly, forcing a stiff smile, "Yeah, there is. How did you know?"
"Really! Then how's your organization structured?" Olivia asked, completely missing his strained reaction. Instead of backing off, she looked even more excited.
"Why don't you just go look it up online?!" Logan finally lost his patience.
…
At long last, they arrived at Iwamotocho in Chiyoda Ward. After stepping out of the taxi, Logan watched the vehicle drive away, then glanced at Olivia, who was already looking around curiously.
Despite her occasional cluelessness, he was actually glad she had come along.
'Sure, she was a bit eccentric, but it was natural to be interested in the reality of superpowers. More importantly... Why the hell are taxis in Japan so expensive?'
'It was simply daylight robbery...' Logan still had lingering dread from watching the meter climb at an outrageous rate. (A/N: it was more expensive in the evening). If Olivia hadn't been there, he might have actually considered bailing mid-ride.