Only when you're suffering do you realize how cruel time can be.
In ordinary days, minutes slip by unnoticed. But when you're trapped in torment, time turns into a pot that hasn't dried yet—rolled into scalding oil and thrown onto open flame—each second sizzling, each moment spattering anxiety onto your skin until it itches.
Inside the train, Cunning Hares were waiting.
Outside, Perlman's men were waiting too—powerless, tense, and growing uglier by the minute.
But waiting always ends. The only difference is the length of the "cooldown."
The squad leader felt his subordinates' agitation rising. He gritted his teeth and dialed another number—someone who, in theory, should have been beneath Perlman.
A "tiny secretary."
The call connected.
"Speak."
"…Ms. Sarah, we've encountered an emergency! Officer Perlman has been taken hostage by criminals calling themselves Cunning Hares! We still have the advantage in manpower, firepower, and supplies, but—"
"Attack."
"…Huh?"
"I said, break in. Don't worry about Perlman's life. And as for Cunning Hares… I just checked."
"A notoriously disreputable 'odd-jobs' agency."
"Which means…"
Her voice became smooth, unhurried—like she was outlining a menu.
"White Pledge Heavy Industries, bitter over losing a project bid, seeks to sabotage Vision Corporation's costly engineering effort."
"They choose sabotage by using the large quantities of high-purity industrial Ether explosives Vision purchased."
"And they hire Cunning Hares—'a gang with a long list of misconduct'—as their muscle."
"A cheap pair of hole-riddled gloves, meant to cover up the real culprit."
"During the incident, to protect our company's critical assets and reputation…"
"Vision's chief representative bravely fought the criminals, and tragically fell in the line of duty."
"His sacrifice deserves… at least half a day of company-wide work stoppage in mourning."
"That outcome," she concluded, "I'm sure Mr. Perlman will accept with tears of gratitude."
On the other end, the squad leader trembled.
He'd always thought he was rotten.
But this woman decided Perlman's life and death the way someone casually picks up a napkin to dab their lips.
That… that was pure evil.
…I'm still not evil enough, he thought feverishly.
Yes. This is it. This is the kind of evil we need! Following someone like her—abandoning trash like Perlman—we can truly build Vision into greatness!
Even villains need a villain's savior!!!
Sarah's voice cut through his delirium.
"What? Do you need me to write your excuse too?"
"Or are you going to disobey my order?"
"N-no! I wouldn't dare! Lady Sarah!"
"I… I offer you my heart!!!"
He ended the call shaking—mind and body alike.
Under the mask, his expression was almost worship.
And when he looked back at the train car, the hesitation in everyone's eyes had vanished.
They wanted to shoot Perlman through the heart like animals.
"Captain! Give the order!"
He raised his hand.
Three fingers.
"Three!"
Inside the cab, Billy was a hair away from ramming both pistols into Perlman's temples.
"Hey! Start being useful, you little jerk!"
"If we get riddled with bullets, this whole place turns into a dye factory—black stuff and red stuff everywhere!!!"
Outside—
"Two!"
Inside—
Nekomata muttered, voice hollow:
"Maybe our souls will cling to this train…"
"And every time someone drives it… they'll have to pay with their life to soothe our resentful ghosts, nya…"
Outside—
"One!"
Inside—
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" someone screamed. "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!!"
Outside—
"Attack!"
Nicole's shoulders sank.
"…We miscalculated. Chiya… you lied to me…"
In the chaos, Anby stayed silent.
She simply tightened her grip on her blade.
Then—like she sensed something—she loosened it again.
And, unbelievably, began to hum.
"Dun… dun-dun-dun-dun… dun… dun-dun-dun-dun…"
Billy's despair snapped into theatrical resolve.
"Anby, are you doing entrance music for the hero?"
"If we're doing that, we should use the Starlight Knight theme!"
He puffed his chest, began to sing dramatically—
"♪ I'll be the vanguard! To protect the future everyone prays for—♪
♪ To protect hope—no matter how many times, I will stand up again—♪
♪ Even if I'm wounded, I won't regret it—♪"
Nicole, Anby, Nekomata… I'll protect you until the last second, he vowed.
He strode to the train door, inhaling the stale air inside like it already smelled of gun smoke.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three…
Time, which had felt painfully slow, now sped up into confusion.
The shouted "attack" felt like an awful joke—like some self-deceiving April Fools logic of "if they don't charge, it means zero cost."
Billy slowly holstered his guns. He leaned one hand on the cab door, the other at his waist, legs crossed like a tilted Pisa tower, and turned back.
"…Uh. Maybe they changed their minds."
"Still, we should probably keep protecting this guy—"
"HOLY—!!!"
In the instant he turned his head, a spinning chainsaw tore in with a roar—like a hot knife through butter.
Billy flopped backward onto the floor, yanking out his "ladies" (his pistols) and aiming at the breach—
But what he saw wasn't a mob in stolen Public Security uniforms.
It was…
A soft, adorable maid with green hair, violet eyes, and a faint, inexplicable blush on her cheeks.
A head poked in first, then she spoke in a small, gentle voice:
"Um… hello."
"I'm Corin, employee of Victoria Housekeeping."
"The enemies outside have already been dealt with."
"You can come out now."
"YES! Thank goodness! You came in time!!!" Nicole shouted.
"Nyah… I thought that little pretty boy was an unreliable liar," Nekomata said. "Looks like I misunderstood, nya!"
"Good! Good!" Perlman blurted, emotion surging. "Those traitors who betrayed me deserve—"
"Ughk!!"
(He got silenced immediately.)
Nicole beamed, then turned.
"See?! I knew Chiya wouldn't let me down!"
"Anby! Why aren't you saying anything?"
Anby stared calmly at Corin, who was still smiling with her head poked through the hole.
"Miss Corin," Anby asked, "how long do you plan to hold that pose?"
Corin blinked.
"Ah—sorry. It's just… Corin has a question."
Nicole slapped her chest confidently.
"Any question! I, Nicole, will answer!"
"…Some answers cost a little money, but since you saved us, go ahead!"
Corin's smile didn't change.
But the feeling did.
The shy restraint from earlier was gone.
Now she looked at Nicole like a crocodile that had finally found its prey—mouth open not for laughter, but for a death roll that would strip flesh from bone.
She stared.
Then lowered her head slightly and asked, very softly:
"Excuse me, miss."
"You are Nicole… yes?"
"…Uh. Yeah. It's me. Why?"
Corin's smile deepened.
"No reason."
"Actually…"
"That's wonderful…"
"Wonderful?" Nicole said, suddenly uneasy. "What's 'wonderful' supposed to mean…?"
"It's wonderful," Corin said sweetly, "because…"
"Miss Nicole, I've finally found the fanatic who dared to offend Doctor Chiya."
"I was a little worried before."
"But after using those outside—those thugs pretending to be Public Security—as practice…"
"I've gotten my hand back."
She lifted her face again, smiling like matcha cake—sweet, thick, and cloying.
And she restarted the chainsaw.
The heavy door, already dying, finally gave a long metallic moan—
…and collapsed.
"As payment for saving you," Corin said, voice syrupy, "Miss Nicole…"
"Please accept a tiny criticism from me, you cunning rabbit, okay?"
"Mm. Corin doesn't have a ruler."
"Corin doesn't have bamboo strips either."
"Corin only has… a saw."
"So…"
"It's fine for Corin to 'teach' Miss Nicole with a saw…"
"…Right? Heehee."
"GWAAH!" Nicole shrieked. "Anby! Billy! Chiya! Save me!!!"
"Wait—Miss Corin! Please calm down!" Nicole cried. "Be rational!"
"Rational…" Corin whispered.
"What do you expect Corin to use to be rational?"
"Corin can't be rational right now…"
Nicole's scream turned into a wail of despair:
"WHY ARE ALL THE WOMEN CHIYA KNOWS THIS HEAVY?!"
Meanwhile…
"I didn't expect that among the women Chiya knows," Ellen said coolly, "there'd be a boar king as heavy as you, Miss Lucy."
"My business, not yours!"
Lucy snapped.
"Shark!"
"Um—p-please," Corin pleaded, "you two guests… don't make Doctor Chiya worry…"
Lumina Square — LiCha Tea Milk
After a fierce brawl, Lucy and Ellen sat gloomily on blue high stools, one on each side of Chiya, pinning him in the middle like a hostage.
Both turned their faces away so he could press ice cubes to their bruises.
A neat, round red mark bloomed on Ellen's cheek—proof that one of Lucy's little boars (A-Cao, A-Mu, A-Zhuan) had landed a hit.
And Lucy had a long welt across her face that looked suspiciously like the print of a shark tail.
Fortunately, both of them still had a shred of restraint, so Chiya didn't need to mix medicine.
Ice and rest would do.
But even after the fight ended, the war of words didn't.
The shop clerk, Coco, quietly prepared Ellen's requested "Sky-Blue-Blue Heart-Poop-Poop Thump-Thump Ding-Ding Dang-Dang Special Drink", and Lucy's "Full-Sugar Lava Milk-Cap Caramel Tea Milk."
She glanced at Chiya's troubled expression and finally couldn't resist chiming in—
"Ha?! You too?!"
Ellen and Lucy both snapped their heads toward her, suddenly on guard.
"…An enemy… has increased again…" Ellen murmured.
Chiya sighed, pushed his half-finished lemon tea aside, and waved downward.
On the floor, three little red boars that had been quietly sniffling instantly brightened and hopped up onto him, squealing happily.
The reason was simple:
They respected Lady Lucy.
But tsundere ladies were everywhere.
Someone who knew how to massage boars properly?
That was rarer than a Bangboo who could speak human.
And besides—
He spoke nicely.
He was gentle.
And he might become their future male master.
Therefore, A-Cao, A-Mu, and A-Zhuan concluded they were doing nothing wrong.
Also, very few people could recognize them and call their names as cleanly as Lucy did.
Like now.
"Snort-snort—snort-snort—"
"A-Cao, you want a drink too?" Chiya asked. "What about A-Mu and A-Zhuan?"
"SNORT! SNORT!"
"Alright. Coco, sorry to trouble you. One lemon tea per boar."
"Okay, Chiya."
Lucy ground her teeth, utterly furious at her boars' early "betrayal."
Ellen, meanwhile, turned and casually pinched one little boar up by the belly.
"Snort?!"
"Ellen, are you still angry?" Chiya asked carefully. "I'll apologize to you on A-Cao's behalf?"
"I'm not angry anymore," Ellen said. "My face just got a little red."
"I'm just… curious."
"Curious?"
Ellen narrowed her eyes.
"Earlier I didn't have time to think. But now, seeing these three boars… and then seeing this so-called 'Lucy' the boar king…"
"I suddenly remembered a missing-person notice I saw."
Lucy's proud expression stiffened.
Ellen, entirely unbothered, fished a lollipop out of Chiya's pocket like she'd done it a hundred times, tore open the wrapper, and popped it into her mouth.
"Luciana… Oxis… Theodore… de… Montef…"
"Mmm. What a long name."
"If I hadn't been using my brain these past few days for that awful 8 a.m. memorization drill, I probably wouldn't remember."
"Also," Ellen added, eyes cool, "the ransom-like amount on that notice helped."
Lucy snorted.
"So what? You want to blackmail me with it?"
"No." Ellen's voice grew heavier. "I'm just wondering why someone like you would abandon a privileged life and run."
"And I'm even more curious about one thing."
Chiya opened his mouth, trying to mediate.
Ellen yanked the lollipop out and shoved it toward his lips—silencing him preemptively.
Then she turned back to Lucy.
"You…"
"How exactly did you meet Chiya?"
If you want, I can translate Chapter 27 next (same formatting, no ads/watermarks, full English only).
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 74)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter20)
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