'Why do you want to save Mr. Pomerni so much?'
It was a question Noah had asked me during a casual conversation. From their perspective, perhaps they felt it was a strange, heavy resolve for a mere child to carry.
I don't have enough power to say with any confidence that I can successfully pull off a rescue. There are countless dangers to consider. Even if I were to throw in the towel and say it was impossible, no one would blame me.
We aren't even close enough for me to risk my life for him. He has taken care of me in many ways, but we only met in person once at the very beginning; after that, we only spoke over the phone a few times.
So, why do I wish to save him so strongly? It is because I owe him a debt. It isn't just about him helping me become an iTuber. I am grateful for that, too, but the underlying emotion is something much simpler.
Before I met him, it had become second nature for me to move while erasing my presence using ZETSU. I didn't know if I was a thing that was allowed to exist in this world. I was simply afraid of being seen. Despite that, I felt a contradiction within myself when I realized I was walking through crowded city streets.
A person who has severed their aura with ZETSU remains visually recognizable, but their presence becomes ambiguous. People become indifferent to them. Unless someone is a masterful martial artist or a Nen user, they cannot see through the concealment of ZETSU. Blade looked at my ZETSU and praised it, saying it was so precise he couldn't believe I was a beginner.
But when I first met Pomerni, he saw through my ZETSU. He is neither a master nor a Nen user. It must have been for only a fleeting moment, a sensation so vague that even he couldn't be certain. Yet, he never dismissed my existence as a mistake.
If I hadn't met him, if I hadn't started my activities as an iTuber, I might still be wandering the streets like a ghost with my presence erased. I was the same as everyone else, trying to remain indifferent to my surroundings. I was trying to build a wall and shut myself inside. Pomerni was the one who found me and acknowledged my existence.
I have a debt I must repay. If there is a reason to save him, that is it.
We reached our destination. The room in the warehouse area Milky had told us about was right before our eyes. The cargo entrance was blocked by a heavy door, but the staff entrance was left wide open, unlocked.
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready whenever. How about you, Grandfather of the Galaxy?"
"Don't worry, I'm not thinking of running away at this stage. I've steeled myself."
I also gave a firm nod in response to Blade's final check.
"Then... let's go!"
Blade burst through the gap in the door first. His aura reinforcement rate had dropped to one-fifth of his normal strength, but his precision remained unchanged. His techniques for manipulating aura were the same as always, and in addition to his natural observation skills, his detection through GYO was fully functional. There was no change to the initial plan for him to gather information first.
The problem was what came after. To cover for the weakened Blade, those of us following couldn't just stand around. We immediately entered the room to confirm the situation inside.
"Yo, you're late."
And then, we witnessed it. Pomerni lay weakly on the floor, and beside him sat a figure.
"You're... Simon?!"
The Black dancer, J.J.J. Simon. He was an iTuber who was supposed to have already been eliminated from the game. Before wondering why he was here, we needed to check on Pomerni's safety. We heightened the aura surrounding us, preparing for combat.
"Wait, don't be so bloodthirsty. You seem to be misunderstanding something, but I'm not the enemy. Just wait a sec, the treatment is almost done."
Despite his words, Simon paid us no mind and continued doing something while touching Pomerni's body. Looking closely, I could feel a flow of aura moving from his hands into Pomerni. He was pouring his own aura into him.
There was no clear malice in the act. As we watched Simon's movements in confusion, Pomerni, who had appeared unconscious, began to stir.
"Ugh... wh-where am I...?"
Pomerni stood up unsteadily.
"Simon...? And Noah, Grandfather... even Six?! Hey hey heeeey! What's up, everyone's all here! Don't tell me... has the fan meeting already started?! Did I... did I oversleep?!"
As Pomerni began to check his watch in a panic, Simon, standing next to him, punched him right in the face.
"Ouch!! What was that for, brother?!"
"Shut up! You had me worried sick...!"
Pomerni showed no signs of being under the influence of a Manipulation ability. I suddenly felt the strength leave my body and slumped to the floor.
Thank goodness. I had considered that the worst could have happened. I might have been faced with despair the moment we burst into the warehouse. I didn't possess the kind of resolve Blade had talked about. I would have been in such shock that I wouldn't have been able to recover. I was truly glad.
"What happened to the people taken hostage?!"
"I already saved them."
The massive cage made of reinforced plastic that had been set up in a corner of the warehouse was destroyed, and the captive people had been safely rescued.
"Parneck! You're safe!"
"Oh, hello... By the way, who are you?"
Blade's apprentice, the amateur Hunter he had been worried about, was there as well. Blade was tapping Parneck on the shoulder while shedding tears of joy, but the apprentice himself looked bewildered. He probably hadn't seen Blade in his weakened form before.
"Fuoohhh!! It's the real Six-chan again!! Look, Rock! Our beloved Six-chan has come to save us!"
"A-uuu..."
The members of the Silver Team were there too. I was happy to see that those who had declared themselves fans were safe. I was a little concerned about one of them who seemed unwell, but the other two were staying close and supporting him.
"Eh? So, is everything resolved then? Is it over?"
"It seems so. It's a bit of an anticlimax... but it just shows how much Mr. Simon accomplished. Truly impressive!"
Apparently, Simon had been defeated by Jack High and knocked unconscious once, but he had woken up afterward. Arriving here ahead of us, he had defeated and neutralized the manipulated Pomerni, rescued the hostages, and even released the manipulation placed on Pomerni—all by himself.
"He seemed to be controlled by a rather troublesome medium, but my ability can mimic NEN EXORCISM. I forced it off of him."
Nen Exorcism is the ability to remove special effects or influences caused by Nen. Strictly speaking, Simon wasn't an Exorcist, but he was perfectly suited to deal with Pomerni, who was being controlled by a Manipulation ability.
One thing that bothered me was how Simon had found this place.
"Hm? That's because the digital signage had very clear directions written on it... didn't you guys come here after seeing that too?"
In other words, Simon had reached this place through the administration's guidance. Come to think of it, the Grandfather of the Galaxy had also said he ended up near here by following the evacuation route displays.
Did the administration want to lead the iTubers to this location? My relaxed feelings tightened again at this new doubt.
"Hey hey heeeey?! What is this?! What's going on?!"
"Explanations later. For now, the objective is achieved. There's no point in staying here. Let's move."
"Oh, stay a little longer. The fun is just about to start."
The voice answering Simon's suggestion came from a speaker. A light flickered on a large electronic billboard installed on the warehouse wall.
As expected, it wasn't going to end in a simple happy ending. The administration was interfering. Furthermore, while they had used Pomerni as a messenger on the front lines until now, the situation was different this time. How exactly would the enemy react?
The person projected on the monitor was a man wearing a mask with a skull pattern printed on it.
"Captain Trail...?"
"Ding dong! Correct! I was the mastermind behind this game all along!"
I recognized that mask. One of the Official Pomerni Children, the immovable number two, the game-streamer iTuber, Captain Trail. The man who was supposed to have been shot by Tsukuteku with a tranquilizer gun and eliminated from the game was standing right there.
"That was a body double. I've never done a face-reveal stream, so no one knows my real face, right? There are plenty of ways to fake a voice. Preparing a replacement is easy-peasy."
"...And? What are you planning, showing your face like this now?"
"I figured it was about time. Before the 'real game' begins, I've prepared a little game for all of you who made it this far. Here's the subject, check out the title!"
Trail held up a flipboard so we could see it. It said: 'Quiz! Who am I?'
"Who... am... I? Whoever figures it out, please kill the person you believe to be me."
A shudder ran through the room at that demonic quiz. The iTubers immediately heightened their vigilance toward their surroundings.
"Hey! Trail, what kind of joke is this?! Someone, please explain it in a way I can understand!"
"Like I said, I'm among you. You have to find Captain Trail and kill him. There's no specific time limit, but the moment even one person leaves this warehouse, the game ends. You'll lose your chance to kill me."