"Riku, Laiha, Leito, Pega… it's time for me to go."
Feeling the pull of the space vortex swirling open behind him, Yu Zhou turned toward his companions and spoke calmly.
"Take care…"
Riku's voice trembled as he waved, sadness welling in his eyes. He was still young, still far more emotional than he wished to admit.
"What do you mean, 'take care'? You make it sound like I'm going off to die." Yu Zhou chuckled lightly, breaking the mood.
"Oh, and one more thing—after I'm gone, the house and the money in my bank account… they're all yours, Riku. Better that than letting them sit around unused."
Riku only lowered his head, silent.
To him, Yu Zhou had been like a senior guiding light during this whole ordeal. Time after time, Yu Zhou had taken responsibility, stepped in to help him fight monsters, and even taught him how to battle properly.
Yu Zhou had warned him from the start: I don't belong to this universe. One day, I'll return to my own world.
But Riku never imagined that day would come so soon.
"Goodbye, everyone."
Yu Zhou raised his hand one last time in farewell, and the vortex swallowed him whole.
"Goodbye, Yu Zhou!"
Laiha and the others shouted together, waving desperately.
"Goodbye… my Tiga-senpai!"
Riku murmured under his breath, eyes fixed on the vortex as it disappeared before him.
When Yu Zhou opened his eyes again, he was lying in his own bed, staring at the all-too-familiar ceiling. A surreal sensation washed over him, as if he'd lived through an entire lifetime elsewhere, only to wake in a place unchanged.
The time he spent in other worlds was always random—sometimes just a day or two, sometimes years.
His stay in Ultraman Geed's world had been a long one. Yet here, in his own world, only about an hour had passed.
Reaching for his phone, Yu Zhou checked his messages.
A flood of unread notifications, all from his mother, popped up on WeChat—trivial questions, reminders, and of course, talk about the upcoming school holidays.
He glanced at the calendar. Just one month until the end of the semester, when he'd head home for break. Coincidentally, it aligned with the day of his next scheduled journey.
That meant he'd have to buy his train ticket a month early, or risk it selling out.
The final stretch of the term would be busy—final reports, papers, practicals, and exams all piling up at once.
But Yu Zhou wasn't worried. Even while in other worlds, he had kept up the habit of reading, studying whenever he had spare time. For him, exams were hardly an obstacle.
"Yu Zhou, how come you never look like you study, but when the exam starts you finish in no time?"
His classmate Wei Feng, who often chatted with him, leaned over after one test with genuine curiosity. Wei Feng still remembered when they'd spoken in a Japanese elective, and now Yu Zhou seemed to have turned into a straight-up honor student.
"I just… understand the material, that's all. Makes the questions quicker to solve," Yu Zhou answered casually. All that learning in other worlds had paid off, after all.
"Damn, impressive. Next exam, I'm sitting next to you."
"Suit yourself."
"…."
And so the last month of exams passed in a blur. Soon enough, the semester was over—and the day came for Yu Zhou both to return home and to travel once more.
He'd bought a train ticket for the afternoon. After all, his world-hopping always took place in the morning. No matter how long he spent elsewhere, only an hour would pass here.
The night before departure, the little girl in the red dress appeared by his bedside.
"So now you just show up directly, huh?" Yu Zhou muttered, reaching out playfully, tempted to pinch her cheek. She looked almost too cute for the words that came next.
"Young man, the crisis of this world is about to arrive."
Yu Zhou froze mid-motion.
"When? What kind of crisis?"
He grew serious at once. All his travels, all the battles in different universes—everything had been preparation. Training to sharpen his strength and gain experience.
And all for this: the looming crisis of his own world.
Now the little girl was telling him that time had finally come.
Yu Zhou's heart tightened. This wasn't just any world. This was his world. And here, he was the only one capable of transforming into an Ultraman and fighting.
If an enemy appeared that even he couldn't handle… then this world's fate would be sealed.
"Whatever it is, the crisis is almost here. You need to be ready to fight," the girl warned, eyes locked on him.
"…Alright. I understand."
Yu Zhou exhaled slowly. What was destined to come would come eventually. The only question was when.
At least, he still had one use of Shining Power and one use of Darkness Power stored up. Whatever this crisis might be, surely he'd find a way to overcome it.
"One question, though…" Yu Zhou paused, then asked, "Can I bring people from other worlds into my own?"
If he could, he'd be able to call in reinforcements—more Ultramen, more allies.
"Yes," the girl nodded. "It's possible."
Yu Zhou let out a breath of relief. Good. If it comes down to it, I'll summon a whole team of Ultramen. That crisis won't stand a chance.
The girl gave her cryptic warning, then vanished as suddenly as she appeared.
Lying back down, Yu Zhou stared at the ceiling, his mind a whirl of plans and worries until sleep finally claimed him.
The next morning, right on schedule, the vortex opened.
Prepared, Yu Zhou stepped inside without hesitation.
When he landed, his body felt strangely light.
He scanned his surroundings: he was indoors, in some sort of structure.
"Where… am I?"
He walked to a window. Outside stretched an endless barren landscape of red earth—dry, lifeless, utterly devoid of greenery. Even the sky was tinted a dull crimson, without a trace of the blue of Earth.
"Don't tell me… this world's Earth has already been destroyed?" Yu Zhou muttered, frowning at the desolation.
But then—what was this building he had landed in?
Determined to investigate, Yu Zhou began exploring.
It wasn't a lone structure, but a complex, connected by tunnels that branched off in many directions.
Eventually he found what looked like a factory, filled with machinery and people working diligently at their stations.
Yu Zhou didn't approach. Better to observe quietly for now.
He kept exploring until he stumbled into a greenhouse-like chamber filled with flowers and familiar plants.
"A botanical garden…?"
He blinked in surprise, stepping inside.
And there—holding a watering can, tending to the flowers—stood a figure Yu Zhou knew all too well.
"Daigo!"
Yu Zhou couldn't stop himself from calling out.
"Yu Zhou-kun!"
Daigo turned at the sound of his name. For a moment he froze, then his face lit up with pure joy.
Hearing Daigo's voice, Yu Zhou instantly understood—this wasn't just any Daigo. This was his Daigo, the one he knew.
Which meant… he had likely returned to the world of Ultraman Tiga.
He'd already visited Tiga's original world, and the Final Odyssey world.
That left only one possibility—the world of Ultraman Dyna.
And this greenhouse Daigo was working in… it must be the botanical experiment base on Mars.
"So… I'm on Mars right now?"
Yu Zhou finally understood why the sky outside had been so red, and the land so barren.
He wasn't on Earth at all. He had been transported straight to Mars.
"Eight years, Yu Zhou-kun," Daigo said at last, his expression complicated as he set down the watering can. "It's been eight whole years. And now… you've finally come back."