Ultraman: This Belial only wants to make money.

Chapter 64. The Confused

Icy.

Shaking.

Consciousness rose from the chaos, as if he had been pulled from the deep sea. His temples throbbed, and a dull pain throbbed from the back of his head.

The last image in his mind froze on the young man in the corridor, who was scrutinizing him with a strange look. Faced with this unfathomable being, he instinctively sent out a telepathic attack, only to find himself crashing into a wall forged of darkness. And then… nothing more.

Like the memory loss after a hangover, it might be the brain's way of protecting itself, so it's best not to think about it.

But... where exactly am I?

"hiss--"

He gasped, his fingers unconsciously gripping the leather of the chair beneath him, feeling an unparalleled softness that sent the cheap mattress in the bedroom flying.

He subconsciously looked up, adjusted his glasses, and saw the scenery outside the car window rushing past. Sunlight shone through the brand-new lenses, dividing the world into bright geometric shapes, clearer than ever before.

Am I... in a moving car?

He suddenly felt a sense of unease, took off his glasses, and discovered that the glasses that had been with him for who knows how long, but which he couldn't replace because he was short of money, had become something new. The feel of them, the exquisite frames, and the sparkling lenses... it seemed to be something he couldn't afford even with a year's salary.

Just then, a voice came from the front seat of the luxury car.

"Your name is Kirino Makio, you are 36 years old, live in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, are currently unmarried, do not have a stable job and work odd jobs for meager wages, so your work and rest schedule is very irregular. If you go to see a doctor, he will probably advise you to get some rest."

who is it? !

The sudden sound startled Kirino Makio, and the content of those words made him feel... chilled to the bone.

Makio Kirino is a genuine esper, not just someone with the petty trick of bending spoons. His abilities are powerful and comprehensive, including but not limited to precognition, knowing weaknesses, telepathy, and telekinesis.

In the past, with just a glance or a single look, Kirino Makio could accurately obtain information about his target's family, life experiences, and deep-seated past; no secret could be kept hidden.

The human heart is merely a bus stop for him to come and go as he pleases, but he is not a voyeur. Under normal circumstances, he will not do such a boring thing unless necessary, just as a person will not open a boring book.

Today, however, hearing his personal information revealed in such detail and comprehensiveness by another person, for the first time in thirty years, Kirino Makio experienced what it felt like to be "mind-read."

This is probably a case of the one who opens the box eventually getting their own box opened.

Kirino Makio sighed and remained silent.

At that moment, another voice came from the front seat.

"Aren't you curious, Kirino? Aren't you curious where this car will end up?"

What other place could it be? A detention center or prison, for the crime of trespassing.

Kirino Makio was prepared for the worst before the invasion.

He collected detailed information about Toei Company and learned that most of the company's personnel were current employees of TPC. Although it appeared to be an ordinary commercial company, its importance was no less than that of a typical military base, only it lacked formal backing.

Kirino had already anticipated the consequences of trespassing.

As if all my strength had been drained, my whole body slowly sank into the soft cushion.

Why did I hack into Toei Company?

Kirino couldn't help but ask himself.

Was it a momentary impulse? A whim? Or perhaps a combination of both?

But the deepest purpose...

They probably want an answer.

Kirino Makio was a loser, an idle person, just a month ago.

Although this middle-aged man's body possesses superpowers unimaginable to ordinary people, Kirino hides them and lives quietly among the crowd like an ordinary person.

The reason for this is related to his childhood experiences.

Children are naturally inclined to show off, to flaunt things that others don't have—novel toys, colorful crayons, or sparkling glass beads. These things can make an ordinary child stand out from the crowd, satisfying their simple and transparent vanity.

But what Kirino showed in his childhood was something that children couldn't understand.

No, it's not just children; perhaps even adults can't understand why a child can move objects with their mind, predict whether it will rain tomorrow, or see through the contents of a box and what frightens them most...

How can one see through the human mind?

Kirino once took out his precious treasure like a child, hoping to gain praise from his peers, but what he received in return was a deep and unfathomable malice.

"Monsters, monsters! Monsters, monsters!"

"I'm not a monster, I'm a human!"

The children's malice was the clearest yet the most unfathomable. The punches and kicks that landed on him, the mud they threw, his glasses falling into the rain—from that day on, he could never see clearly again.

What should a normal person do?

So, when faced with reporters who came to hear about him, Kirino learned to lie.

He couldn't see what was inside the box, nor could he hear the voices of the human heart. He could foresee the future, but the future he could see was so bleak.

Kirino became a "normal person" and spent more than thirty years in this normal world in solitude.

Until... the appearance of that giant.

Ultraman Tiga, with a body as huge as a mountain and the power of a god, possesses a power that is thousands or even tens of thousands of times stronger than that of humans.

But such immense power didn't garner doubt and fear, but rather praise—countless praise. People surrounded Ultraman Tiga, offering him colorful flowers, and those heartfelt smiles were so blinding to Kirino—

Why?

Why?

On what grounds?

We're both outcasts, and you're even more capable than me, so why are you showered with flowers and applause while I have to lie in the mud, enduring insults and abuse?!

After the Abbas trial, Kirino looked at those guys running around in the streets, celebrating humanity's victory and showing off its power, and felt it all was so unreal.

"Why can you so openly take pride in human power, yet... show such fear of my abilities? Aren't I human? Don't we share the same blood and speak the same language?"

Confusion and bewilderment fermented in his heart, and Kirino couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

All of this finally reached its climax after the miracle on Halloween night—

In order to find the answer to this question, he wanted to find the only person in the world who could give him the answer, an alien who had not shown his true face.

Piloting a white dragon named Galactron, he is the president of Toei Company and a figure who fights alongside Ultraman Tiga. He must know the truth about Tiga.

However, such high-ranking and powerful figures are not people you can meet whenever you want.

However... his superpower, which had been hidden for 30 years, was activated again. Despite the heavy security at Toei Company, it was no match for the superpowered individual who was operating at full power. Using the information he had read, he made his way to the top floor of Toei Company as if no one else was there.

I brushed past a young man.

P.S. This is a fun, stacked-box game.

If a vote were held to select the strongest human in the Ultraman Tiga universe, then the champion would definitely be Keiryu Ida.

But just how strong is it?

People lack a reasonable understanding and may think that Sukuna-ki is the limit of Iryu.

No, no, no.

Ida Kageryu could kill Gatanothor with a single slash.

Please don't think I'm joking; this is a reasonable argument derived from official data.

It is known that the wandering samurai Ida Kagetatsu has slain countless demons and monsters along the way, including Ryomen Sukuna and the infamous Koishiki.

The variant of the Love Demon, Love Demon Crimson Knight, once suppressed Ultraman Orb's original form.

Orb's original form is the one who single-handedly defeated Gatanothor thousands of years ago.

Therefore, we can conclude that: Ida Keiryu > Koishi Gurenki > Orb Original Form > Gatanothor.

The argument is perfect and flawless.

Ida Kojuro Keiryu, you're so powerful!