Premonition and the Unfathomable

This was... a Smoke Bomb!

As Raijin Maki looked at the hazy gray fog before him, his expression changed drastically. The smile he had been unable to suppress at the turn of events froze instantly, and the joy in his heart turned to astonishment in a flash. His heart even skipped a beat. What are they trying to do? Why use a Smoke Bomb at a time like this? What are they planning? At that moment, his heart was full of suspicion and confusion.

He had considered all sorts of actions they might take after growing anxious. For example, splitting up, which was what he most wanted to see; or desperately beginning to search for him, which he considered the least likely possibility; or pretending to split up while actually lying in ambush, and so on. He had thought of countless possibilities, but now...

A Smoke Bomb? What were they trying to do? He had never expected it, and he could not imagine what a Smoke Bomb could accomplish. Were they trying to guard against his surveillance?

And then what? Once they blocked his line of sight, what could they do? Split up? Pretend to split up?

Indeed, after blocking his view, splitting up or pretending to split up could, to a certain extent, slow his pursuit or assassination. But in the end, he would still find them.

Since he had set up this psychological trap, he naturally had ways to keep them restless, even wipe them out.

They should have understood that clearly.

They were not idiots. Even if they intended to split up or fake it, they would not use something as psychologically reassuring as a Smoke Bomb to block his view.

A Smoke Bomb? That absolutely was not the sort of response they would make after becoming