Fake? Hearing Kotetsu's words, Hada Ichiba's furrowed brows seemed to loosen slightly as a doubtful thought flashed through his mind.
Fake as in real or fake? Come to think of it, hadn't he said the same thing before? Then, his slightly loosened brows furrowed again, even tighter than before.
"Fa... fa... ke... ke..."
Just then, Kotetsu's head, twisted ninety degrees to the side, began to turn back little by little. His creaking neck made a teeth-grating sound.
His words were still broken and intermittent, as though every syllable were stuck in his throat and could only be forced out with great difficulty.
Impostor?
I remember his last words were, "Fake."
Fake...
Fake...
Hearing those words, a grave expression immediately appeared on Hada Ichiba's face.
"Crack... crack..."
At the same time, as the grave look surfaced on his face, brittle cracking sounds came from his crossed, sunken hands. It was as if something were changing within the bones of his broken arms beneath the flesh.
This should be referring to my substitute...
Then, as the bones cracked, Hada Ichiba began to ponder carefully.
Scenes from the last time Kotetsu had spoken rose one after another in his mind.
At the time, he had spoken just as Hada Ichiba's substitute had been pierced through and suspended. Clearly, "fake" and "impostor" referred to his substitute.
He meant that the one who had been pierced through and hung up was not his real body, but a substitute.
Clearly, Kotetsu had seen through the fact that he had used the Substitution Technique, swapping himself with the substitute he had prepared when he leaped down from the tree. The impostor referred to his substitute.
Here, it had been Hada Ichiba himself who leaped down. He had merely activated the Substitution Technique he had prepared beforehand at