Inside a meeting room on Herta Space Station.
Yan Huan, who had just thought he could finally lie down and play dead, was summoned here directly. Everything around him was pitch-black, with only a single spotlight shining down on his head.
"...?"
Up ahead, Asta said anxiously to Screwllum:
"Mr. Screwllum, this was a premeditated attack...!"
Screwllum replied calmly:
"Conclusion: the enemy's target was the Space Station, but their methods... are still unknown to us."
"That's right." A man who looked exceptionally imposing stepped out from the side and said in a deep voice:
"That is also why we need him."
He stared at Yan Huan's face and said gravely:
"The last person to see Herta's Automaton before it was attacked... was you."
"What the hell? How could it have been me?"
Sitting in his chair, Yan Huan retorted:
"And your voice sounds awfully familiar... You're that damn Plaster Head from the Containment Section, aren't you?"
"After I came back from there, I went straight to the train. What kind of mood would I have had to steal a Herta Automaton?"
"Besides, wasn't Herta in a meeting with Screwllum at the time? Why aren't you suspecting him?"
"An explanation is a cover-up, and a cover-up is the truth," Plaster Head Man said flatly.
Asta introduced him to Yan Huan:
"Um... Mr. Yan Huan, this is the company's academic representative, Mr. Ratio of The Academy of Scholarly Pursuits."
"Who cares who he is? Though he really does look pretty ratioed!" Yan Huan shot Plaster Head Man a disdainful look.
Plaster Head was not angered. He merely said with contempt:
"He has only just finished his work, after all. His mind is not yet clear. I am willing to offer him a little more patience."
"...?"
As he looked at the three