The underground base was in ruins. After War Rabbit's emotional outburst and near-demolition of their hideout, it was Long Wo who calmly suggested they all go upstairs to the café to settle things.
They gathered in the cozy coffee house above the wreckage. The atmosphere was thick with tension.
"Now then… what were you saying just now?" the boss—Mr. E, master of diversion—asked casually while brewing coffee like nothing had happened.
"Don't play dumb!" War Rabbit slammed the Pandora Panel onto the counter. "This was stolen from the Eastern Capital Advanced Research Institute! Don't tell me you're not with Faust!"
"You think I'm with Faust?" Mr. E cackled with theatrical flair. "Ahahaha! Absolutely not!"
Even Misora joined in his laughter, albeit with more confusion than conviction.
"I mean, come on, how could a bad guy look this good?" he added with a dazzling smile.
Long Wo and War Rabbit: "…"
Shameless. Completely shameless.
"And how do you explain this panel?" War Rabbit pressed on.
"Oh, that's easy," Misora chimed in with wide-eyed sincerity. "I was kidnapped by Faust because of my purification ability. He came to rescue me and snatched it on the way out!"
"Yeah, exactly." Mr. E nodded, quickly syncing with her. "Grabbed the panel, a few bottles—bit of chaos, but you know how rescues are."
"Dad used to do... other work," Misora added, squinting at her own cover story.
"Riiight." War Rabbit narrowed his eyes. "So this photo…" He pulled up a picture of an astronaut from his phone. "That's you, isn't it?"
"Ding ding ding!" Mr. E stuck out his tongue playfully. "Caught red-handed."
Pfft! Long Wo choked on his coffee. "Y-You guys keep going. I'm just an audience here."
"You're the one who brought the Pandora's Box back from Mars! You triggered the Sky Wall Disaster ten years ago!"
"Yeah, that… that was a rough time." The boss rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Some weird force possessed me or something. Totally not myself."
"Then why make me Build?"
"Because I can't forgive Faust for what they did. They toy with human lives." His expression turned solemn. "I wanted to fight them. But Misora and I were powerless. Then we found you. You had the potential to wield the Fullbottles and fight back. So... you became Build."
"And you didn't just tell me all this… because?"
"We didn't know if you'd believe us. Better to let you discover the truth yourself."
"Is that why you sent me to the Eastern Capital Research Institute? To accidentally find the Pandora's Box?"
Misora smiled sweetly, and the boss gave an innocent shrug.
War Rabbit: …I got played.
"Let's celebrate the misunderstanding being cleared up!" Long Wo raised his cup. "Cheers!"
"Cheers!" everyone joined in.
Pfft! x3
"This is awful!" x2
Mr. E, despite clearly suffering himself, insisted: "You all have a problem with your sense of taste!"
"Wait, Long Wo—why aren't you reacting!?" Misora and War Rabbit turned to him.
"I did drink it. Didn't you see me spit it out?" Long Wo grinned mischievously.
"You knew it was bad and still let us drink it?!"
"Well, suffering is best when shared~"
"GET HIM!" x3
Later, little reporter Sayu brought new information—possible intel on War Rabbit's true identity. But Long Wo couldn't care less. The original face behind War Rabbit, some "Taro Sato," didn't matter to him.
"I'll skip the identity drama. Let's get barbecue tonight," he said, prioritizing meat over mystery.
Meanwhile, without Long Wo's involvement, War Rabbit independently tracked down a lead—Faust's base. Whether it was plot inertia or Mr. E's deliberate manipulation, who knew?
That investigation brought an even more absurd revelation:
Apparently, in the murder case where Long Wo had been framed, the victim—Katsuragi Shin—might have been killed by… War Rabbit himself.
War Rabbit: "Meow? I killed… myself?"
Following a hunch (and a subtle push from Mr. E), War Rabbit sought out Katsuragi's home for more data.
Long Wo joined him. Together, they crossed through a gap in the Sky Wall into the Northern Capital and visited Katsuragi's mother.
Unfortunately, because Long Wo was the publicly accused murderer, Katsuragi's mother was understandably hostile. Cooperation was out of the question.
And as always, when things hit a wall, BloodStalk appeared on cue.
"Stalk! Why are you here!?" War Rabbit snapped.
"Heard you were looking into Katsuragi, so I thought I'd stop by and play."
Then, with zero hesitation, he grabbed a random kid off the street, injected him with Nebula Gas via his Smoke Sword, and transformed him into a Smash—right in front of the grieving mother.
"Now this is a proper invention!" Stalk gloated, twirling the weapon.
"That's not an invention! That's a crime!" War Rabbit growled.
[Ninja! Comic!]
[Best Match!]
[Are you ready?]
"Transform!"
[Ninja Entertainment Home!]
[Ninnin-Comic!]
[YEAH~]
War Rabbit entered his Shinobi Manga Form, armed with the newly developed Four-Panel Ninja Blade. Pressing a button, he created a clone and launched a simultaneous assault on both Stalk and Smash.
[Fire Style! Flame Cut!]
Smash went down quickly—probably weakened due to the child's low tolerance. But Stalk easily dispatched the clone, leaving only the real War Rabbit.
Long Wo, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to purify the Smash, rescuing the unconscious child and Katsuragi's mother.
"Impressive fight!" Stalk complimented War Rabbit sincerely. "You're getting stronger. I like that."
Then, he assembled the Smoke Gun + Smoke Sword = Smoke Rifle and slotted in the Rocket Fullbottle.
[Rifle Mode!]
[FullBottle!]
[Steam Attack!]
A tracking rocket burst forth, spiraling through the air and relentlessly chasing War Rabbit. After a brief chaotic chase, it struck him, knocking him into the sky and forcibly ending his transformation.
"War Rabbit!" Long Wo reacted quickly.
He threw a small mechanical dragon—the Cross-Z Dragon—toward War Rabbit to protect him. It was an autonomous flying device that War Rabbit had recently developed just for him. With it, Long Wo could finally transform with only a single Fullbottle.
In other words, if Long Wo wanted to transform into Cross-Z, he could now.
And yet, he didn't.
Not yet.
Let War Rabbit finish what he started. When the time came, Long Wo would step forward—not as a side character, but as himself.
According to his own calculations, that time wasn't far off.