"What just happened?"
The two of them were completely astonished when they saw the apple disappear upon touching the mirror.
"Just a magic trick."
"Magic? Then make it come back," Tenten demanded.
"Are you sure?"
"If you can make it come back, I won't ask any more questions about what just happened."
"Alright then. I'll make two come back." Arata shrugged, completely unfazed.
Peter and Tenten stared with wide eyes, waiting for the apple to return.
"Hocus pocus, abracadabra," Arata pretended to chant an incantation, then pointed both index fingers squarely at Tenten's chest and declared, "Transform!!"
"You..."
Tenten's face flushed bright red again.
She hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest and squatted on the floor. "You... pervert!"
With just one joke, he completely derailed the conversation.
It successfully stopped Tenten and Peter from asking where the apple had actually gone.
"Master!!"
Denji, standing outside, heard someone yell "pervert" and immediately rushed in, wanting to see if something spicy was going down.
"Hey, don't run around!"
The civilian Devil Hunter responsible for guarding Denji also chased after him.
When the two of them saw the scene inside the room, their jaws instantly dropped to the floor.
"So many women!"
"So many women!!"
Their words were exactly the same.
But Denji's tone was full of pleasant surprise.
The civilian Devil Hunter's tone was sheer terror.
"Arata just rescued all the missing women," Tenten chimed in before either of them could ask their next question.
"Miss Kudo Ran!!" Seeing the missing young lady had returned, the civilian Devil Hunter was both overjoyed and astounded.
"So that means he isn't the killer?"
"If you call my apprentice a killer one more time, I'm going to punch your upper jaw clean off," Arata warned.
The civilian Devil Hunter hastily turned and bolted for the door—not out of concern for his upper jaw, but to deliver the good news to Kyuichi Kudo.
"Mr. Kudo, Miss Kudo Ran has returned!"
"What!! My daughter is back?!"
Upon hearing this, Kyuichi Kudo instantly jolted with energy.
For a father, there was no better news in this exact moment than knowing his daughter had returned.
"Quick, pull me up!"
Kyuichi Kudo rushed over to the destroyed staircase, demanding the men above pull him up.
In a flash, he bolted into the room to search for his daughter.
"Ran!!"
"My daughter!!"
The moment Kyuichi Kudo entered, he shouted and scanned the room frantically.
He had eyes for no one else but Kudo Ran.
When he spotted her, he immediately ran over, swept her into his arms, and burst into uncontrollable sobs. Crying, he asked, "Is my daughter alright?"
"They are all fine. They just passed out from extreme fright," Arata explained.
"Who saved my daughter?"
"Ahem." Arata cleared his throat.
"Thank you... thank you so much! I will absolutely praise you highly in front of your superiors."
"Just praise?"
"I will also give you 20 million as a reward."
"Thank you, Mr. Kudo. Will that be by card or cash?" Arata was not about to put on a fake front of humility, saying 'Oh no need, this is what heroes do.'
He absolutely would not let money that had landed in his hands fly away.
And he needed to get it fast.
Verbal promises of money could take until the monkey year or the horse month to materialize. Only when the cash was firmly in his hands could his heart truly rest easy.
"Arata, something's wrong!" Tenten suddenly yelled from the side. "Look! A bunch of wounds have appeared on Tsurugi's body!"
"Almost forgot about Tsurugi." Arata swiftly moved to where Tsurugi and the green-hatted man lay. He gently tapped his finger against both of their foreheads.
The two grown men, who had been struggling violently in their sleep, suddenly snapped awake and sat up.
The moment he woke up, the green-hatted man instantly scrambled to his feet and sprinted wildly out of the room, looking as if he still hadn't escaped the Mirror Dimension.
Pant... pant... pant...
Tsurugi sat on the floor, gasping heavily for air.
"Tsurugi, are you okay?" Startled by Tsurugi's reaction, Tenten instinctively grabbed onto Arata's arm.
"Run... run quickly..."
"No need to run anymore. You guys are already out."
"Arata!!" Hearing Arata's voice, seeing his face, and then seeing Tenten actually clinging to Arata's arm, Tsurugi was instantly enraged. He shot up to his feet.
He immediately pulled his right hand off, swiftly transforming into his sword-devil form.
Swish!!
Twin blades slashed forward.
Arata casually leaned back, dodging effortlessly.
Following that came a vertical downward strike with a single blade.
Clang!!
Tenten leaped in front of Arata and blocked the strike with her kunai.
"Tsurugi, stop!"
"Get out of the way! I'm going to kill him!"
"Tsurugi, calm down!"
From behind, spider webs rapidly bound Tsurugi's body.
Denji also revved his chainsaw and charged at Tsurugi.
Seeing the three of them gang up to deal with him, Tsurugi was genuinely bewildered.
"Denji, stop," Arata commanded.
The revving chainsaw halted a mere two centimeters above Tsurugi.
"Master, he was trying to kill you," Denji said, retracting his chainsaw.
"He doesn't have the skills to." Arata didn't take Tsurugi's attack seriously at all. If he wanted to, he could disarm Tsurugi with a mere wave of his hand.
"Arata has already rescued all the missing people. Take a look around!" Tenten reminded him.
Prompted by Tenten, Tsurugi finally took in the room.
"If I were really an accomplice, I wouldn't have bothered coming to support you guys. Moreover, I could have just let you die in the Mirror Dimension instead of bringing you out," Arata said flatly.
"If you still don't believe me, ask these women."
Arata kept one hand in his pocket. He raised his other hand and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, all the women lying on the floor were awakened.
"Father!!" Kudo Ran slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Kyuichi Kudo, she immediately burst into loud sobs.
Father and daughter embraced, tears streaming down their faces.
As for the others, they were completely disoriented.
After taking a moment to recover and looking around, they finally realized they had been saved.
Under the questioning of the civilian Devil Hunters, the rescued victims recounted the truth one by one.
Tsurugi and the green-hatted man, who had suspected Arata at the very beginning, both lowered their heads in guilt.
Tsurugi even got on his knees in front of Arata to beg for forgiveness.
After all, he had looked down on Arata previously, feeling that Arata was completely unreliable and placing absolutely no hope in him.
Yet, Arata managed to solve the case in a single afternoon.
This point undeniably filled Tsurugi with deep admiration.
If Tsurugi had actually witnessed Arata obliterating the Mirror Devil, he would definitely be prostrating himself in utter worship.
"Since Miss Kudo Ran has returned safely, we will be taking our leave now, Mr. Kudo."
"Please stay for dinner. I must treat you all properly."
"That won't be necessary. Mr. Kudo should probably find someone to fix the stairs first."
After bidding farewell to the Kudo family, the other two missing young women were also safely escorted back to their respective homes by Division 3.
Upon seeing their missing daughter return, only Miss Kimura's parents appeared unnervingly calm.
As for the Kimura family's internal affairs, Division 3 had no authority to intervene.
By the time they wrapped up the mission, it was already evening.
The group caught a taxi back to the Nara Public Safety Headquarters.
In the car, Tsurugi couldn't wait to call Kiko Natsume. He recounted every little detail of what happened that afternoon to her.
His expression and tone of voice as he spoke on the phone were exactly like a guy talking to his girlfriend.
When Kiko Natsume heard that Arata had solved the case in just one afternoon, she was so excited she sat up from her hospital bed, insisting on properly thanking Arata no matter what.
Arata simply waved his hand dismissively in the car, telling Kiko Natsume to focus on healing up. A grand feast to show her appreciation could wait until later.
Halfway back, Arata requested to be dropped off.
The reason was that he saw a hot spring bathhouse with a very creatively designed storefront. He insisted on going in for a soak to relax.
Originally, it was just going to be the two of them taking a bath.
But Tenten insisted on tagging along, claiming she was the most familiar with the area.
It just so happened that Arata had no immediate plans to return to Tokyo anyway, so he decided to let Tenten be their tour guide.
The group set off together to enjoy the nightlife of Nara Prefecture.