"Is she still not awake? Should we take her to the hospital?"
Suguru Geto looked at the unconscious Riko Amanai and suggested.
"If only we could use Reverse Cursed Technique like Shoko!"
"Impossible. Shoko's explanation was literally gibberish."
"Forget it. Let's just take her to the hospital. If she got brain damage from the fall and it affects the merger, it'll be our fault."
Satoru stepped forward to pick Riko up. Just as he was about to move, her eyes snapped open.
"Eh? She's awake?"
Riko Amanai stared blankly for two seconds, then suddenly raised her hand.
"Take this!"
SLAP!
Satoru, who couldn't keep his Infinity active automatically 24/7 yet, took a full-force slap to the face.
"Hm?!"
Souma, prepared as always, whipped out his magenta camera and snapped several high-definition photos of Satoru's stunned face from an unseen angle.
Riko jumped up, hands on her hips, and shouted at Satoru, "You bold thief! How dare you harm this lady!"
Satoru growled, clutching his cheek. "You brat! We're not with the people who attacked you!"
Geto explained patiently, "We were sent by Jujutsu High to protect you."
Riko looked at them suspiciously. "Lies! You have the face of a con artist! Your bangs and that bun are super weird! And those two white-heads look like total delinquents!"
Souma, who got dragged into the insult for no reason, looked bewildered. "Natural hair color. Is that a crime?"
"What natural white hair? Are you sure it's not premature aging? You three don't look like good people at all!"
The trio's faces went dark.
Satoru and Geto stepped forward, grabbing Riko's wrists and ankles respectively, lifting her into the air.
Then, with perfect synchronization, they twisted in opposite directions, wringing her out like a wet towel.
Souma produced a feather duster from nowhere and ruthlessly attacked Riko's armpits.
"Hahaha... bastards... hahaha... stop it..."
Ding!
The elevator doors opened. Misato Kuroi rode out on a large beetle-like curse.
Seeing the scene in the room, Kuroi gasped. "Please... please stop!"
Riko saw Kuroi and teared up immediately. "Misato! Save me!"
Seeing the guardian arrive, the trio let go. Riko flopped onto the floor, rubbing her butt and crawling up pitifully.
Kuroi explained, "Miss, these three are indeed the bodyguards sent by headquarters to protect you!"
"Ha? Why did they send these scum to protect me?!"
Riko protested, then her eyes lit up as she pointed at the curse Kuroi was riding.
"What is that ugly-cute thing?"
Kuroi smiled awkwardly. "You'll have to ask... uh... Mr. Bangs."
Geto's mouth twitched, but he couldn't get angry at the maid. He explained patiently, "This is my technique, Cursed Spirit Manipulation."
"Can you summon Angewomon?"
"That's a Digimon, not a curse!"
"What about the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox?"
"No!"
"Yamata no Orochi?"
"No!"
"What the heck! Your ability is useless!"
Geto smiled with his eyes closed, but a vein was throbbing dangerously on his forehead.
As if to prove himself, Geto waved his hand. A cute little cat walked out of the shadows.
Riko's eyes sparkled. She scooped up the cat and started petting it.
"What is that?"
Souma whispered. He didn't believe Geto would collect a useless curse just for cuteness.
"It's a shapeshifter. Its original form is... let's not talk about it."
"...Nice."
Satoru watched Riko playing with the cat and sighed. "It's impressive she's so energetic. I thought she'd be depressed knowing she has to merge with Tengen."
Hearing this, Riko stood up and scoffed. "That's exactly how scum like you would think! Listen well!"
Riko puffed out her chest, her face full of pride.
"After I [Merge], my consciousness, my heart, and my soul will become one with Master Tengen! In other words, I am Master Tengen, and Master Tengen is me!"
"Eh! Did you change your wallpaper?"
"Yeah. Inoue Waka!"
"Lil bro, you have good taste. But I think Akina Nakamori is perfection."
"HEY! Are you three bastards even listening to me?!"
Riko roared, hair bristling. The trio just rolled their eyes at her.
"Talking like that... she probably doesn't have any friends at school."
"Agreed."
"Shut up! I talk normally at school... wait! School! Oh no, I'm going to be late!"
Kuroi tried to dissuade her. "Miss, it's dangerous outside right now. Maybe you shouldn't go to school?"
The trio nodded. School was a massive security risk.
But no one could out-stubborn Riko. In the end, they had to let her go.
After all, the mission condition was to satisfy the Star Plasma Vessel's requests as much as possible.
Souma suddenly turned to Kuroi. "Miss Kuroi, why don't you stick with us from now on?"
"Eh? Why?"
Souma explained, "Judging by your relationship with Riko, you must be like family to her, right?"
Kuroi nodded, eyes reddening slightly.
Her family had served the Star Plasma Vessels for generations. Since Riko's parents died when she was young, Kuroi had raised her. They were closer than most blood relatives.
Knowing Riko was about to die (merge), Kuroi was heartbroken.
Souma sighed. "Since you and Riko share such a deep bond, I'm worried the enemy might target you as a hostage."
"Even if they don't capture you, using you to distract us is a viable tactic. So it's best if you stay within our sight."
Kuroi realized the danger and nodded firmly. "Understood!"
...
At a boat racing track.
"Shiu Kong has contacted us. Are you satisfied with this price?"
A cold voice came from the phone, making the man frown.
"Two Six Eyes, and one rare Cursed Spirit Manipulation user. Total offer: three hundred million!"
Toji chuckled. "As far as I know, those two Six Eyes brats had a bounty of one hundred million each when they were kids. It's been years. Hasn't inflation hit the bounty market?"
"You mean..."
"You gotta pay more!"
"..."
Silence on the other end.
Toji popped a takoyaki into his mouth and spoke while chewing. "Don't think I don't know. The Star Religious Group might not have combat squads like Q..."
"But you guys are loaded."
"Heh heh heh. Fine. If you succeed, we are willing to raise the price to five hundred million!"
"Deal."
"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Zenin!"
"Not Zenin. It's Fushiguro. I married into my wife's family. My name is Toji Fushiguro now."
Toji sneered. "I killed quite a few Zenin clan members back in the day. It'd be a miracle if they still let me use that name."
"Besides, I don't give a damn about it."