"Waaah... You... you already finished the interrogation? That was fast! You really are an elephant!"
Startled, Nicole accidentally blurted out exactly what she was thinking.
Miyabi, however, failed to understand what she meant and answered seriously.
"An elephant? I am a Fox Thiren."
"That's not important! What were the interrogation results? Didn't I already tell you? There's a conspiracy behind Vision Industry, and Inspector Bringer is the mastermind!"
As Nicole spoke, Yanagi, the true leader of Section 6, adopted a professional tone.
"You filed a criminal accusation against Inspector Bringer, but the information provided by the informant only suggests that the primary culprit may be someone else. The implications of those two possibilities are vastly different."
"Oh, oh, oh~ Thank you for your professional opinion, Miss Squad Leader, but throwing around incomprehensible explanations isn't helping us figure out what to do next!"
Nicole's rebuttal was just as sharp, and Miyabi, standing nearby, nodded in agreement.
"I also don't understand Yanagi's professional explanation, but I trust her judgment unconditionally. The conspiracy behind the Vision Industry case requires further investigation."
"Hmph..."
Yanagi let out a soft chuckle as she adjusted her glasses, failing to hide the faint smugness on her face.
Nicole noticed immediately.
"You're secretly laughing, aren't you? You just gave me an 'I won' look and laughed inside, didn't you?!"
"Not at all. I merely adjusted my glasses. You must have imagined it," Yanagi replied calmly, though the faint smile lingering on her lips betrayed her.
Seeing Nicole at a disadvantage, Nekomata couldn't help but jump in.
"Hmph! You definitely didn't have many friends in school, nya!"
"Hahaha, I also think the Deputy Chief was the kind of top student only teachers liked back in school~"
Harumasa joined in with a cheerful grin, but at that moment, Anby suddenly spoke in a sharp voice.
"Enough."
"Oh? Does this young lady happen to like the top student type very much? My apologies~"
Harumasa still tried to joke his way through it, but Anby mercilessly cut him off.
"I'm telling you not to move any closer. Twelve o'clock, nine o'clock, six o'clock... Ever since this conversation started, you've been deliberately positioning yourselves around us. I don't like that. If you don't have hostile intentions, then stand somewhere safe. Stop intentionally avoiding my blind spots."
Anby's calm yet serious warning instantly changed the atmosphere.
The noisy bickering came to an abrupt halt, replaced by eerie silence.
After a moment, Harumasa broke it with a deliberately relaxed tone.
"Oh my... so perceptive. Then I suppose the Iron Man keeping his hand on his holster this whole time wasn't a coincidence either?"
"As soon as the top student Miss takes her hand off that retractable grip, I'll take my hand off my holster..."
Billy's voice had lost its usual carefree tone, and even Nekomata looked visibly tense from the sudden shift in mood.
The slowest person to catch on was, naturally...
"W-What? What Anby said is true? Hey! Martial Arts Fanatic Fox, are you planning something shady?!"
Faced with Nicole's accusation, Miyabi remained calm.
"As I said earlier, the conspiracy behind the Vision Industry case requires further investigation. Besides Perlman, we also need to take this person in."
The youngest Void Hunter in Eridu slowly turned her head, her sharp gaze landing on the center of the group.
"Eh? You... want to take me?"
Wise pointed at himself in surprise.
Truthfully, after noticing the atmosphere shift earlier, he had already been preparing to step in and mediate. Instead, he somehow became the target.
"It truly was unexpected to meet you here, Wise... or should I say, Proxy?"
Yanagi's expression turned complicated, though she still showed no hostility toward him.
Seeing that, Wise felt a little guilty.
"Well... actually, I'd been thinking about how to tell you about this, Yanagi..."
"Haha, I knew it! How could the Independent Investigation Team's technology be so advanced? Turns out it came from years of moonlighting. Hm... actually, Hollow Zero investigations are probably the side job, right?"
'Harumasa, nobody would think you're mute if you stopped talking for once! Damn it... I'll upload every embarrassing video of you as a Bangboo later!'
Wise gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"So if this hadn't happened, how much longer were you planning to keep it secret?"
Yanagi ignored Harumasa's teasing and looked directly at Wise, waiting for his answer.
"My original plan was to tell you after joining Public Security. I didn't want to put you in a difficult position. But things have changed now, and we urgently need your help."
Wise's explanation eased some of Yanagi's concerns. More than anything, she had feared he'd kept it hidden because he didn't trust her.
Hearing that made her feel considerably better.
Nicole, on the other hand, felt much worse.
"Wait a second! What do you mean, 'after joining Public Security'? Wise! Are you planning to abandon the darkness for the light... no, wait, that's not right... Are you betraying our friendship?!"
Nicole sounded genuinely shaken. After all, neither Hollow Raiders nor Proxies were exactly respectable professions.
Now she had suddenly learned that her trusted Proxy intended to join Public Security.
How could she possibly stay calm?
The person who had originally planned to defend him immediately switched sides and started interrogating him instead.
"Calm down, Nicole, I..."
"Don't 'calm down' me! You're coming back with us later and explaining everything properly! Let's go!"
Nicole reached out to drag Wise away, but before she could, Yanagi stepped forward and stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Nicole. I understand your feelings, but according to Perlman's confession, a Proxy was deeply involved in the Vision Industry scandal. We also discovered traces of suspected Proxy involvement in the Belobog Heavy Industries construction site incident, the Public Security witness airship case, and even the Outer Ring disturbances."
Yanagi paused briefly before continuing.
"Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, the Outer Ring recently held an important traditional ritual competition. Wise just so happens to be a Proxy and also happens to be here at the same time. That is difficult to dismiss as mere coincidence."
"I-It really is just a coincidence! Wise is just an old acquaintance who works with our Cunning Hares! He seriously has nothing to do with any of this!"
Nicole desperately tried to argue back.
Meanwhile, Soukaku casually waved her hand.
"Don't worry! Usually, they just investigate your background a little and let you go afterward! They definitely won't do anything bad! Uh...! Big sister with two tails, could you maybe stop glaring at me like that?"
Soukaku shrank back nervously under Nekomata's fierce stare.
In Soukaku's eyes, Wise was obviously a good person, so there was no way anything bad would happen to him.
However, her innocent reassurance reminded Wise of a very serious problem.
If Public Security truly investigated his background thoroughly, then aside from his identity as Phaethon, even the fact that his teacher had once been a criminal wouldn't survive close scrutiny.
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Zenless Zone Zero: The Almighty Incubus of Sixth Street
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