When it came to his duties, he would do them flawlessly.
Outside of his responsibilities, the less he did, the fewer mistakes he made. If he did nothing, he made no mistakes.
If they wanted to learn, they could come learn. If they did not, he would not force them. Everyone had dreams, and everyone could shine in their own way.
Mamoru Shirogane felt that Qi Ming was being perfunctory and shirking responsibility, which might ruin a child's promising future.
Qi Ming craved comfort and was passive and slack. Mamoru Shirogane would just have to help out more himself.
After getting the student's home address from the dean of students, he went to find him with his cane.
"I'm terribly sorry to trouble you." When Akio's mother opened the door and saw Mamoru Shirogane, she, like the dean of students, felt that sending the captain of the Defense Team over such a small matter was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Mamoru Shirogane said, "This was originally the duty of one of my subordinates, but he is somewhat indisposed today, so I came in his place."
Akio, who had shut himself in his room, immediately became excited when he saw the Defense Team captain whom he normally could only see on television.
The thirteen-year-old eagerly said, "Captain Mamoru, you're the captain of the Defense Team, so you must know what planet I came from, right?"
Mamoru Shirogane observed him carefully for a while and confirmed that he was just an ordinary Earth boy. "Child, you are an Earthling. You should be proud of that."
Akio refused to believe it. "No, I came from a planet beyond Earth. Please tell me the truth, or I'll be miserable."
His resolute tone and gaze even made Mamoru Shirogane doubt himself. Could I really have misjudged him?
He scrutinized the child once more, and he really was an Earthling through and through.
His words left Akio dejected. "Captain Mamoru simply doesn't understand what's in my heart. That's because you're an Earthling, while I'm an alien."
At those words, Mamoru Shirogane's expression became extraordinarily colorful for a moment.
Akio continued, "One day, I'm going back to my own planet. My happiness isn't on this Earth."
Hearing that, Mamoru Shirogane could only give an awkward yet polite smile.
The child was not his team member, so he could not just slap him awake. Besides, his eloquence was somewhat lacking at the moment...
It seemed he would still need to send in the silver-tongued Qi Ming to make the child face reality.
Meanwhile, Qi Ming finished teaching two classes and waved goodbye to the reluctant students.
"Teacher, can we take a photo with you?" Doctor, the bespectacled student, stepped forward.
Qi Ming said, "Of course. But there's really no need for you to start taking commemorative photos already."
"I haven't finished this lesson's material yet, and since someone is covering for your math teacher, he took leave to go home and visit relatives."
"If no monsters come out to tear down the city tomorrow, and no aliens launch an invasion, I'll still come teach another two classes."
He had already prepared the lessons, so he might as well finish teaching them.
As soon as he finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted. The female students were all so excited that it was as if Christmas had come early.
When Qi Ming walked out of the classroom, he found a group of female teachers who had long been waiting at the corner of the corridor. They did not dare meet his eyes and could only sneak glances at him.
"Go on, Ms. Kyoko. You're the only one who might be able to win him over!"
"Get him!"
Urged on by the other female teachers, Kyoko Aihara covered her face and walked up to Qi Ming.
She said she had two tickets to Chris Maya's concert and asked whether Qi Ming would like to go with her.
Chris Maya... the female singer from episode twenty-nine of Ultraman Tiga, "Memories of a Blue Night"?
Qi Ming said, "Sorry... the singer I like is Hatsune Miku."
A blunt rejection would not be good, so he came up with an excuse that left the teachers staring in shock.
"Oh my god, the new teacher is into 2D!"
Under the astonished gazes of the teachers, Qi Ming strolled away.
After returning to TPC's Sea Base, he lay down on his bed and began scrolling through the news.
"This place is still better," Qi Ming remarked.
After turning fourteen, he had hardly known any peace and quiet.
When he was at home, some of his father's colleagues and superiors would always come to visit with their daughters or granddaughters.
Then it would be, "The adults will talk in the living room, while the children go play together in the room."
Play together, my ass. Could they even make sense of Dream Journey to the West 3?
For Qi Ming, the only times he could enjoy peace were when he followed the old professor named Sima Hui to archaeological sites, or when he went to the sanatorium where that elderly British lord lived.
Now, there was one more place far from the clamor—his room at the base.
Although the Defense Team had two female members, Nagi Saijo was like a rock, while Team Member Emi was also highly self-disciplined.
TPC was a quasi-military organization. Even if some female staff members were interested in him, they would not chase him all the way to the dormitories.
"This place has its advantages too." As Qi Ming spoke, he scrolled through the news on his phone and discovered that there had been quite a few missing-person cases lately.
Has it started again...
Before long, Mamoru Shirogane returned to the base and came to find Qi Ming, telling him about the child named Akio.
Once he mentioned it, Qi Ming remembered. This child seemed to be from episode six of Ultraman Taro, "The Boy from Another Planet."
Qi Ming said, "He just hit his chuunibyou phase a year early. No need to worry."
As Qi Ming remembered it, just as the dean of students had said, the child simply fantasized that he was an alien in order to escape reality.
But later, he even came to believe his own nonsense and became unhinged.
Even when the monster released by the spaceship fired lasers at him with lethal intent, he kept shouting, "It's me! I'm Akio, your companion! Let me board your UFO and take me to your planet!" while telling Taro not to stop him.
He was courting death himself and still left Taro scrambling.
In the original story, Taro went to great lengths to persuade him to come to his senses.
But Taro had come to Earth willingly, driven by his passion to save it, while Qi Ming had been passively brought into this world.
Mamoru Shirogane said seriously, "This child needs help."
Qi Ming said, "There are plenty of people in this world who need help. Smoking is harmful to health, for example, and drugs have even been legalized in America. Why don't you go persuade them to quit for the sake of their health, Captain?"
Mamoru Shirogane was instantly speechless. After a long while, he forced out, "We can't ignore the person right in front of us. Yes, Qi Ming, you definitely have the ability to persuade him."
Qi Ming was speechless. Didn't Ultramen say they wouldn't interfere with humanity's choices? Seven, why are you so persistent?
"Fine. After I finish teaching tomorrow, I'll go talk to that student while I'm at it."
For the sake of some peace and quiet, Qi Ming agreed. He planned to let the child experience the methods his homeroom teachers had used when he was a student.
But that night, something "miraculous" happened.
Before you continue