"Wait—if we go to senpai's place, won't the Defense Force get suspicious?"
Halfway there—Reno looked at the nearby hospital. Suddenly thought of this problem.
All three—hospital patients. Currently missing status.
"This... even if we return to the hospital, we'll still be suspected, right?" Kafka looked down at his already-healed leg. Scratched his head.
What happened—really hard to find excuses.
"The cast's still on, senpai. Just pretend a bit." Reno pointed at his leg.
"True..." Kafka nodded thoughtfully.
"But there's another problem now." Natsuki spoke up.
"If nothing unexpected—I'm currently undocumented."
He stated a fatal issue.
Illegal entry—generally criminal. Though not sure how entering from another universe gets judged—definitely would attract Defense Force attention.
"Undocumented... right, aliens are undocumented!" Kafka belatedly realized. Eyes full of wisdom.
"But Natsuki-san looks no different from Earth people." He examined Natsuki's vacation outfit up and down. Saw no difference from humans.
"This is mimicry. Um... very advanced kind." Natsuki crossed his arms.
"Identity problem is indeed serious." Reno pondered. Also internally sighed—why were both their identities so special?
Facing this thorny problem—
Natsuki gave up thinking.
"Whatever. Things being what they are—let's eat first." He covered his growling stomach. Suggested.
Unity with humans—unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't use it.
Last time with Shinji—sudden circumstances. Shinji's actions truly moved him. Shinji was severely injured then. Unity was the best way to sustain life. That boy didn't disappoint afterward.
"At a time like this, you think of eating!" Reno looked at Natsuki. Eyes wide in disbelief.
Is this alien logic?
"Can't help it. Haven't eaten once since arriving in this world." Natsuki said righteously. "Don't abuse the elderly."
In human form—he felt thirst and hunger. When not eating enough—even affected combat strength.
Taro—during his Earth mission years ago—nearly fainted from hunger once.
"Elderly?"
"But you look barely older than me." Reno—just turned eighteen—looked at Natsuki without even stubble. Voiced his question.
This guy looked nothing like elderly.
"I'm exactly nineteen thousand years old this year." Natsuki used the most casual tone to state the most shocking number.
"Huh?"
Question marks simultaneously floated over Reno and Kafka's heads.
Aliens live this long?
Nineteen thousand years—not looking old at all?
Kafka thought he was the old-timer in their team. But the real old-timer was someone else. He at most counted as middle-aged.
Oh—also Reno the youngster.
Complete set.
Three generations under one roof.
"So... what if the Defense Force discovers you?" Reno asked hesitantly.
He seemed completely unafraid of identity exposure.
That's an alien. If identity exposed—sent to an experiment table—what then?
Wasn't he afraid of being dissected for research?
"What do you mean 'what if'?" Natsuki asked back. Said seriously. "I'm not a bad person. Won't randomly harm humans."
"No..."
"I mean—what if they capture you? You might be sent to an experiment table. After all, aliens are quite rare." Reno explained.
Natsuki: "?"
"Send me to an experiment table?"
"Who?"
Natsuki—nineteen thousand years old—only once on an experiment table. When Hikari strapped him there. That was to research repairing his body.
He was curious—what kind of logic would think of sending an Ultraman to an experiment table?
Really treating a nineteen-thousand-year-old Ultra veteran as a rookie?
"Uh... right." Reno suddenly remembered—this guy just looked somewhat human. Too hasty.
"No problem. Defense Force people finding me saves me trouble."
"Maybe I can even get a position inside." Natsuki rubbed his chin.
He figured—Defense Force higher-ups, no matter how incompetent—after understanding his lack of malice and the power gap—should understand him.
No conflict of interest between both sides. Brain-damaged to think of sending him to an experiment table.
"Um... about training." Kafka saw Natsuki wasn't planning to accompany them tonight.
"Don't worry. I'll find you tomorrow. Tonight—rest well. My training intensity is quite high." Natsuki waved his hand. Flip-flops clicking—left. Prepared to find somewhere for a full meal first.
"Ah... he left."
"Really mysterious." Kafka watched Natsuki's departing back. Said dazedly.
"Wait—does he have money?" Reno again discovered the key problem.
Meanwhile—
Underground parking garage. Inside a black sedan.
"How'd it go? Got intel?" The brown-haired man in the driver's seat—wearing sunglasses—asked the blonde man who just sat in back.
"As we expected. Those guys haven't acted yet. Everything developing normally."
"Kafka Hibino already obtained kaiju power. Defense Force currently hunting his kaiju form." The blonde man in back—arms crossed—said. "Going to latch onto him?"
"With our starting identity—basically locked for elimination."
"Tch..."
"Seems... no choice." The brown-haired man in the driver's seat seemed somewhat unwilling.
"Us failures—to survive—can only secure top two seats."
"Ten people. Remaining eight all eliminated. That's the price of failure."
Hearing this—the man in back didn't look good either.
Them in this world—all Travelers with poor prior performance, about to be eliminated by the system. In this ten-Traveler battle royale—eight destined for elimination. The remaining two—continue collecting Space-Time Source Energy for the system.
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