Tools Inside the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket

Honestly, floating high in the sky, Sherlock's face was so red it looked ready to bleed. At that moment, the thing he regretted most was giving in to a malicious whim and permanently attaching a sound-effect buff to the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket whenever it took out a tool.

Although Sherlock was flying through the air with the Bamboo Copter, he felt like he had suffered a complete social death. The only thing driving him to continue this humiliating performance was the price Tony had offered.

Though Sherlock felt as if his sense of shame was about to explode as he floated in midair, Pepper, standing on the ground, clearly did not care about his so-called embarrassment. She stared in disbelief at the Fourth-Dimensional Pocket on his stomach and the Bamboo Copter on his head.

After all, the existence of those two things had utterly overturned the worldview she had built over the years.

Once Sherlock finished his demonstration and landed, Pepper almost instinctively rushed over, snatched the Bamboo Copter off his head, and began examining it.

Yet no matter how closely Pepper looked, it was nothing more than an utterly ordinary aluminum-alloy Bamboo Copter, aside from a suction-cup-like base at its root.

Even if she wracked her brains, Pepper could not understand how such a tiny propeller could carry a full-grown person like Sherlock into the air.

More importantly, when Sherlock had flown just now, Pepper had not sensed the slightest disturbance in the airflow!

Seeing Pepper practically bursting with curiosity, Sherlock finally recovered from his embarrassment and said to her rather sheepishly.

"Would you like to try it, Sister Pepper?"

The instant Pepper heard that, her gaze toward Sherlock lit up with a brilliance that even startled Tony. It was the first time Tony had ever seen Pepper so excited.

Pepper's excitement made Tony look at Sherlock with a faint touch of jealousy. But Sherlock completely ignored him. After briefly explaining how to use the Bamboo Copter, Pepper excitedly fixed it onto her head.

Then, like a child, she began "test-flying" around the underground parking garage.

The sight made Tony even more jealous. His eyes were filled with resentment as he looked at Sherlock. Others might not know it, but Tony, who had spent a month with Sherlock, knew perfectly well just how serious this brat's bizarre sense of humor was.

Take the Bamboo Copter on Pepper's head, for instance.

With Sherlock's skills, he could have made it into any shape he wanted. It could have been wings, a button, or even a ring or necklace if he felt like it. Yet he had specifically made it into a Bamboo Copter!

And that was not all. Those alchemical creations Tony did not understand, even that extremely powerful Japanese sword, had been named something like a Zanpakuto, and it even had an exclusive title: Zanka no Tachi.

Tony could sense Sherlock's intense, bizarre sense of humor in every one of his creations, as if these things had long existed as established concepts.

Of course, Pepper knew none of that. After flying around for a while, she returned and waited eagerly for Sherlock to show her more alchemical creations.

Seeing how enthusiastically Pepper was playing along, Sherlock temporarily forgot the embarrassment of having his otaku side exposed and openly began showing off his results.

The Reflecting Cloak, Enlarging Flashlight, Air Cannon, Sleep Gun, and even the grand finale, the Anywhere Door, were all pulled out by Sherlock.

Looking at the tools from Doraemon's pocket spread out before her, Pepper truly felt as though a dream had come true. She eagerly picked up and played with nearly every one of them.

Both Sherlock and Tony kept glancing at her. It was only then that Tony remembered that Pepper had always kept a Doraemon doll hanging from her keys!

In other words, Pepper was secretly a Doraemon fan too?

That discovery made Tony's look toward Pepper extremely strange, while his gaze at Sherlock became filled with resentment.

Damn it, Sherlock had stumbled into the right answer by sheer luck!

Naturally, Sherlock had no idea about Tony's inner turmoil. He was simply glad that he would not have to clean up, so of course he had to properly cater to Pepper, the "strongest" person present.

After playing with nearly every tool, Pepper finally pointed at the Anywhere Door and asked Sherlock.

"Can this Anywhere Door really be used?"

Sherlock was not entirely certain about Pepper's question either. After all, the thing had been made based on the principles behind Kamar-Taj's portals.

There was a bug with Kamar-Taj's portals: they could only take someone to places they had visited or seen. If they had never been to a place, the more detailed their mental image of it was, the greater the chance of opening a portal there.

So Sherlock pondered Pepper's question for quite a while before choosing the safest answer.

"In theory, it can take you anywhere. But in practice, it's most convenient for going somewhere you've been before."

Hearing that, Pepper gripped the Anywhere Door's handle without the slightest hesitation. When she opened it, her office was clearly visible on the other side, and Pepper let out a delighted cry.

Seeing that, Sherlock immediately seized the opportunity and said in an especially ingratiating tone that since she liked them, he could give them all to her.

Pepper was delighted by this, but she only chose the Sleep Gun, Anywhere Door, and Bamboo Copter as collectibles, returning everything else to Sherlock.

With that ingratiating performance, Sherlock successfully earned the right to avoid cleaning. Pepper told him to go take a shower and get himself cleaned up properly.

Sherlock was both shocked and overjoyed to hear that. He hurriedly declared that Pepper was the most generous sister he had ever met. Then, without hesitation, he pulled off his mechanical arm and, under Tony's furious glare, smugly walked around Tony, who was bent over cleaning, before running upstairs to tidy himself up.

After Sherlock left, Tony's gaze at Pepper was full of grievance.

Tony really wanted to tell Pepper that Sherlock had made far more than these seemingly harmless tools over the past month. He had also created plenty of bizarre nonsense.

But whenever Tony tried to speak, Pepper, who was using the tools to play with doro, glared him down.

Tony felt like crying without tears, silently swearing that he would build a robot capable of cleaning automatically later!