Takumi Inui and the Strange Underwear

The next morning, as soon as it was light, Hozer opened his eyes and saw Takumi Inui standing up, preparing to leave quietly.

He made no move because Sonoda Mari had also woken up. Seeing Takumi Inui trying to leave, she stepped forward to stop him. The latter could only sit back down helplessly by the extinguished campfire.

Hozer then took out three metal lunch boxes, retrieved oatmeal and powdered milk, and lit a fire to make breakfast.

Before long, the aroma drew the gazes of Sonoda Mari and Takumi Inui.

"Come on, skipping breakfast is bad for your health." Saying that, he handed over two lunch boxes. The two thanked him and accepted them. Takumi Inui then began blowing on the hot oatmeal porridge to cool it down.

While eating breakfast, Sonoda Mari launched a verbal attack on Takumi Inui.

"Your reaction is not normal at all. Wouldn't a normal person ask what that monster was?"

"Why can you transform after putting on that belt?"

"Why do I have these things, and questions like that?"

"What is your name? I'm Sonoda Mari, and he is Hozer."

"But actually, even if you ask me these things, I don't know. My father sent all of these to me from Tokyo, and this motorcycle is the same. I plan to go to Tokyo to ask him."

"What kind of person are you, not saying a word? If you blow on it like that, it will get cold and won't taste good..."

The muscles on Takumi Inui's face twitched slightly. He turned his head to look at Sonoda Mari. "You're so noisy."

Sonoda Mari was choked up. She glared at Takumi Inui, snorted, and angrily ate her oatmeal in large gulps.

Finally getting some peace, Takumi Inui breathed a sigh of relief and continued blowing on his breakfast.

"Pfft." Hozer, who had been watching the two, couldn't help but laugh out loud. The two immediately looked at him in dissatisfaction and said in unison, "What are you laughing at?"

Hozer quickly waved his hand and said, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry. Let this be my apology."

Taking out a cup that looked like a thermos from his bag, Hozer poured two ice cubes from it into Takumi Inui's lunch box.

"You must have a cat tongue, right? Adding ice will cool it down faster."

"...... Thank you."

Sonoda Mari picked up the cup. Looking at the cold air rising from inside and the thumb-sized ice cubes, she looked at Hozer with amazement. "You even brought this?"

"Yes, just in case. For example, when drinking soft drinks, adding ice makes them taste better."

Sonoda Mari was temporarily speechless. Who would specifically bring this outside?

Hozer smiled and lowered his head without speaking. Could he tell her that this was specially prepared for Takumi Inui, bought deliberately to increase his favorability, and that he had run through several shops to find it?

"Right, I haven't asked you yet. Why is your motorcycle identical to mine?"

"What is your relationship with my father?"

Hozer had already thought of a reason and said casually, "This is a prototype motorcycle that Smart Brain hasn't officially released yet. I liked it very much, so I asked a friend with connections to help me buy one."

Sonoda Mari nodded half-believingly. After all, it was just a motorcycle. Compared to the belt, it was nothing.

Afterward, Sonoda Mari and Takumi Inui kept bickering, preventing him from leaving, until the latter received a call from the police station.

The three went to the police station. Takumi Inui retrieved his bag, and Sonoda Mari also learned his name.

Because he had to state what was inside the bag, when Takumi Inui mentioned that there were red and yellow underpants inside, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"So your name is Takumi Inui. But a cat-tongued guy like you actually wears such flashy underpants."

These words made Takumi Inui lose his composure. He said unnaturally, "Are you even a girl? Why are you paying attention to whether a man's underpants are strange..."

"So you know they're strange."

Outside the police station, watching Sonoda Mari laugh heartily, Takumi Inui turned and walked away with a cold face. "Don't follow me again."

"No, those monsters are targeting the belt. You must protect me. You can transform, so this is your duty."

"Duty? Don't use that kind of thing to bind me. This is not my duty." With that, Takumi Inui left directly. Seeing this, Sonoda Mari took the black bag in her hand and threw it directly at him.

Takumi Inui frowned and threw the bag back. The two kept throwing it back and forth like this.

Consequently, Takumi Inui missed a catch once, and the bag fell right by his feet.

Seeing Sonoda Mari's smug look, Takumi Inui got angry. He picked up the black bag and threw it far away.

"You!"

However, Takumi Inui's plan failed. Hozer took two quick steps, leaped forward, and caught it.

"Hahaha, thank you, Hozer." Sonoda Mari laughed, ran over to take the bag, and was about to throw it to Takumi Inui again when Hozer held her back.

"Aren't you going to open it and look?"

Sonoda Mari froze. Seeing Hozer's meaningful smile, she unzipped the bag. When a pair of red underpants caught her eye, her expression instantly stiffened.

"...... This is not my bag."

"Give it back to me!" Takumi Inui stepped forward and snatched the bag, stuffed the red underpants inside, zipped it up, and turned to leave, only to be held back again.

"What on earth do you guys want? Stop pestering me!"

Hozer reached out to stop Sonoda Mari. "Inui, do you have the heart to watch Sonoda get killed by monsters?"

"That has nothing to do with me. Trying to threaten me with this is impossible. Besides, if she's afraid of being killed, wouldn't it be better to just return the belt to them?"

Hozer shook his head slightly and said, "What if they still have no intention of letting Sonoda go? That guy Hiroshi Izawa wanted to kill me first before taking the belt. This shows they don't care about human lives at all. Handing over the belt and killing Sonoda on the way wouldn't surprise me in the least."

Takumi Inui frowned. Obviously, he also realized this possibility existed.

"You seem to care a lot, so you should protect her."

"No, I can't use this belt. Yesterday, while you guys were asleep, I tried it secretly, but I couldn't transform." Sonoda Mari looked at Hozer with some anger. However, since he was helping her speak right now, she endured it, turned her head, bit her lip, and looked at Takumi Inui with pitiful, puppy-dog eyes.

However, Takumi Inui was obviously a straight-as-steel man. Completely unwilling to accept this trouble, he said nothing and turned to leave.

Sonoda Mari wanted to chase him, but Hozer held her back. "He's just talking tough. Just follow him. If a monster really comes, he won't sit by and watch."

Hearing this, Sonoda Mari felt it made sense. She thanked him and jogged to catch up.

Thus, Hozer and Sonoda Mari followed behind Takumi Inui.

Takumi Inui noticed them behind him and accelerated, but with Hozer's help in pointing the way, the two did not lose track of him.

At an empty pier, Takumi Inui couldn't take it anymore. He rolled his eyes, stopped his bike in frustration, took off his helmet, and got off.

"What on earth do you guys want? Stop pestering me!"

"Inui, something is coming." Hozer suddenly looked to the side.

"Huh!" Takumi Inui was startled and turned to look.

He saw a young man wearing sunglasses, a long tea-colored coat over a bare upper torso, walking over.

"Give me the item."

While speaking, this person transformed directly into the Elephant Orphnoch form, his killing intent toward the three of them completely undisguised.

"So troublesome." Sonoda Mari gave Hozer a "you're amazing" look, ran forward with the belt, and put it on Takumi Inui's waist. "Stop talking nonsense, Henshin quickly."