Chapter 331: Penacony Arc 『 Part Twenty-six 』, The Indestructible Ledger of the Penacony
「 After Clockie expressed his gratitude to Trailblazer once more, he departed alongside Misha.
"Follow me. And try not to be lured away by any 'invisible friends' this time…" Hotaru turned away, letting out a soft, dainty huff.
The air of Penacony seemed to carry a faint scent of vinegar… surely, it must have been an illusion?
The two took a Pinball Machine to a certain café. Hotaru gestured, indicating they had arrived.
"This is the secret base?" Trailblazer scanned the surroundings, watching the crowds bustle to and fro. It certainly functioned as a landmark, but there wasn't anything particularly 'secret' about it, was there?
"N-No…" Hotaru's face flushed as she pointed awkwardly at a manhole cover behind her. "—It's down here."
This was a bit of a predicament. Trailblazer instinctively lowered her voice. "But people are watching…"
"It's fine! Anything can happen in a dream. People fall from the sky every day—the pedestrians are long past being surprised. I'll go first to show you. It'll be a bit dark at the start, so stay close to me."
With that, the young girl lifted the lid right before her eyes and slipped inside with practiced grace.
"…"
Crawling into a sewer with a beautiful girl… this was certainly a first-time experience. Thoughts raced through Trailblazer's mind, but since she had come this far… 」
「 ..... 」
〜Gintama World〜
"It's not already at full capacity in there, is it?"
"Gin-san, nobody here knows how to teleport."
In front of the Yorozuya coffee table, the trio stared at the screen displaying the scene of Hotaru and Trailblazer descending into the sewers.
Gintoki was sprawled on the sofa, his dead-fish eyes devoid of emotion.
"Ah… my heart is dead. Not as a metaphor—it's actually stopped beating out of pure envy."
Kagura chewed on her pickled seaweed, tilting her head.
"Huh? What's there to be jealous of about crawling in a sewer? It's stinky, and you'll run into rats, aru."
"The sewer isn't the point!"
Gintoki suddenly sat bolt upright.
"It's the fact that they're crawling into a sewer together! This is youth! This is romance! This is—"
"Your version of youth and romance smells a bit heavy…"
Shinpachi adjusted the glasses that served as his true form.
"Besides, don't you guys find it strange? Why do they have to go through a sewer to get to a secret base? This is clearly Hotaru's little scheme!"
"Gin-san, you're just jealous, aren't you?"
Kagura swallowed her pickled seaweed in one gulp.
"If you're really that envious, why don't you try crawling into one with Hijikata-san next time—"
"Shut up! This is a respectable shonen manga! Not some BL doujinshi!"
—
「 A young girl with black twin-tails suddenly halted by the roadside. She planted her hands on her hips and spoke abruptly: "Hey, let me ask you something…"
"Is your way of getting a girl's attention really just following her around so brazenly?" She looked back, her twin-tails swaying slightly with the movement. "It's been nearly half a system hour."
Aventurine stepped out from the shadows with an air of nonchalance, speaking calmly: "Forty-five minutes, to be precise. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?"
The girl let out a scoff. "Heh, little peacock… You certainly have a pair of pretty eyes. Are you from Sigonia?"
Aventurine rested a hand on his hip. "Would you like a further hint? For instance, am I an Avgin?"
"Hmm… my eyes might not be as colorful as yours, but I'm not blind…" the girl mocked coldly. "—Is there anyone in the universe who doesn't know about you Sigonians? Natural-born liars, thieves, socialites… honey-tongued and treacherous, just as the stories say."
"If you ask me, you're better suited for a spot under a manhole cover than in a dream…" The girl glanced around and, sure enough, spotted a lid nearby. She gave Aventurine a playful, mocking wink. "…Ah, there's one right there. Off you go~"
"No need. Dark corners don't really suit my aesthetic. This beautiful dream is a much better fit—frivolous, vain, and superficial…" Aventurine seemed entirely unfazed by the girl's aggressive remarks, the smile remaining fixed on his face. "…And it doesn't rain! This outfit of mine is quite delicate, you see. It can't handle the wind and the rain."
She tilted her chin up slightly, making no effort to hide the biting sarcasm in her voice. "Cut it out and go home, you slick talker. We are Fools, but we aren't stupid. We aren't interested in playing the friend game with the lapdogs of the IPC." 」
「 ..... 」
〜Runeterra World〜
"This Aventurine guy gets shut down everywhere he goes. I'm telling you, his temper is way too good—if it were me, I'd have slammed a fist right into that girl's face to see if she'd keep talking like that—"
In a park square in Piltover, Vi and Caitlyn were sitting side-by-side on a roadside bench watching the skyward screen.
When she saw the black-haired girl insulting Aventurine without restraint, she instinctively clenched her fist—only to forget she was holding a beer can, spraying herself with the liquid.
Caitlyn sighed helplessly, pulling a stack of tissues from her pocket to hand over.
"You're always like this, hoping to solve everything with violence. From where I'm sitting, it's not that he has a good temper…"
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
"It's that… he's used to it."
"Used to being a punching bag?"
"Believe me, no one makes it to a P45 position in the IPC by being a punching bag."
Caitlyn shook her head, her long blue hair fluttering in the warm sunset breeze.
"Perhaps to some, his Sigonian identity is a shameful secret that just needs to be torn out into the light to humiliate him. But to the man himself, being a Sigonian might just be another card in his hand. As long as it can be played at the right time… whether it's an insult or not doesn't matter. It's like how my mother always brings up being a 'daughter of the Kiramman house.' I hate it, but I have to admit… It's also one of my cards. At least in certain high-society circles, playing that card saves me a lot of unnecessary trouble."
"As for that girl in the mask…"
Caitlyn smiled faintly.
"I think she's simply trying to provoke him. Perhaps for the Masked Fools, watching someone fly into a rage is part of the fun."
Vi chuckled.
"But she didn't expect Aventurine wouldn't care at all."
"Mm. I suspect this isn't Aventurine's first time dealing with the Masked Fools; he's very familiar with their games,"
Caitlyn nodded.
"The more she tries to humiliate him, the less he takes it to heart. Still, I don't know what he's thinking, trying to cooperate with the Masked Fools in the first place."
"Cupcake, you seem pretty familiar with these Masked Fools… how do you know they can't cooperate?"
Vi cast a puzzled look at Caitlyn.
"I wouldn't say familiar, but do you remember the part about the Masked Fools in the Swarm Disaster records…?"
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