Since Zaigorg had already been destroyed, Yu Zhou simply took off into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
"Yu Zhou as Tiga really is strong…" Zero stood on the ground, arms folded, watching the giant figure vanish into the horizon.
A streak of light descended beside him. When it faded, Yu Zhou appeared in his human form.
From his pocket, he pulled out the Ultra Capsule he had just obtained. Looking closely, his eyes widened—
the image on it was Dyna!
"Besides Tiga's capsule… there's also Dyna's?!"
Yu Zhou was stunned. Back in Hikari's lab, he himself had made a Tiga capsule. Dyna had been with him at the time… maybe after Yu Zhou left, Dyna too had been tempted by Hikari's "cheat-like" technology, and created a Dyna capsule.
The powers this capsule carried were super strength and psychic ability—fitting with Dyna's Miracle and Strong forms.
"But then why isn't Tiga's capsule ability just Power and Speed?" Yu Zhou frowned. Both Tiga and Dyna had multiple forms. By logic, if Dyna's capsule contained super strength and psychic power, then Tiga's should have been strength and agility.
Yet Tiga's capsule turned out to have the ability to revive stone statues instead.
Yu Zhou shook his head. No point overthinking it. The important thing was—he had the capsule. That was enough.
Soon after, the shopkeeper and Laiha returned, telling Yu Zhou and Riku that their borrowed superpowers had faded.
"Shopkeeper, do you miss it? That brief moment of having psychic powers?" Yu Zhou teased with a smile.
"It's a pity it's gone, sure." The shopkeeper nodded, then chuckled. "But Tiga protected my Galaxy Supermarket. If giving my light to Tiga helps, then I'm more than willing!"
"You've got the right mindset," Yu Zhou said approvingly.
Meanwhile, in the Nebula House underground base, the floating AI sphere RE.M. flickered as it explained:
"AIB is the organization that manages aliens. On Earth, it's a classified agency. Because of that, they may consider Geed to be a potential threat."
Riku had already resolved the other monster incident, sending the heartbroken kaiju back into space. But in the process, his secret—being Geed—was discovered by Moa.
And Riku learned that Moa wasn't really working for an insurance company or health office. In truth, she was an operative of AIB, a shadowy organization.
"Moa… she knows my identity now," Riku admitted after a moment of silence. "She's a member of AIB."
He turned to Yu Zhou. "Did you know about this already?"
Yu Zhou nodded. "Yeah. Back when we fought Eleking, Zena tricked me into admitting I was Tiga. He's sly like that. And I also found out Moa worked for AIB. She asked me not to tell you, and I gave her my word."
"I see…" Riku sighed, understanding. An AIB agent couldn't just reveal her identity freely. And besides, Riku himself had only been unmasked as Geed today when he rescued Moa.
"But Moa also told me this," Riku added, smiling faintly. "That I am who I am. She won't judge me the way AIB does."
Since childhood, the two had trusted and cared for each other. That bond wouldn't be broken.
What did surprise Riku was that another Little Star had appeared—and once again, it attracted monsters.
Yu Zhou also found Fukude Kei's actions puzzling. Why summon monsters when Riku wasn't even there?
After all, Kei's usual method was to release a monster in the presence of a Little Star, to pressure its host into praying to Geed… which would then grant Geed a new capsule.
The grand scheme of Belial and Kei was to have Geed collect Ultra Capsules, only to seize them all in one strike.
But earlier, Riku wasn't even at the Galaxy Supermarket. By releasing monsters there, Kei could only force the shopkeeper to pray to Tiga or Zero.
That meant Yu Zhou or Riku would gain the capsule instead—an outcome Kei surely didn't want.
"Unless… Kei assumed I'd hand the capsule over to Riku, like Zero did?" Yu Zhou scratched his head. It wasn't impossible. After all, Zero had already passed the Cosmos capsule to Riku. And Yu Zhou, as Riku's partner, didn't even use a Riser. It would be easy for Kei to think Yu Zhou just gave everything to him.
"Or maybe… Kei decided if he couldn't get the capsule, he'd rather destroy it?"
That had happened before. The Little Star inside Laiha had been erased by Kei.
Yes, it was entirely possible Kei would rather obliterate something than let it fall into others' hands.
Yu Zhou thought it through: If Kei believed Yu Zhou had already passed both Zero's and Dyna's capsules to Riku, then from Kei's perspective Riku already had eight capsules.
And in the original timeline, once Riku reached seven, Kei couldn't resist making his move—even before the eighth was collected.
Which meant, right now, Kei might be preparing to strike at Riku any day.
After all, Riku was just a tool Kei had created with Belial's genes—a tool meant to gather capsules. Even if that tool rebelled, it didn't matter. Kei would still snatch the capsules back by force.
That night, as Yu Zhou lay in bed, he made up his mind. Kei would wait for the moment when both he and Zero were off-world, investigating Belial's dimensional hideout. That would be the time Kei attacked.
"In that case… it's time Asakura Sui passed the Father of Ultra capsule to Riku."
In the original story, Kei had fused King Joe and Zetton capsules to create Pedanium Zetton, crushing Geed. It wasn't until Riku gained the Father of Ultra capsule and fused it with Zero's that he evolved into Solid Burning form, overwhelming Pedanium Zetton and reclaiming the capsules.
So Yu Zhou's plan was simple: bring Riku to Asakura Sui ahead of time, let him receive the Father of Ultra capsule, and unlock Solid Burning early.
That way, Yu Zhou and Zero could go investigate Belial's lair without worrying.
The next day, Yu Zhou asked Riku to request leave from the shopkeeper, saying there was something important to do.
"Yu Zhou, what's this about? Is it really that important?" Riku asked as they pedaled down the street on their bicycles.
"It's very important," Yu Zhou replied calmly. "We're going to meet someone."
"Who?" Riku tilted his head.
"Your father."
Riku nearly fell off his bike. "???"
"My father?! You mean… Belial?! We're going to see Belial?!"
If so, that truly would be urgent—but how could Belial possibly be on Earth?
"Not him," Yu Zhou corrected quickly. "I mean your other father."
"My… other father?" Riku blinked in confusion. "I only have one father, and that's Belial."
"Riku, do you know who gave you your name?" Yu Zhou asked as he pedaled on.
"I… don't." Riku shook his head.