A breather after the escape

Rongcheng Hero Association Headquarters.

The intensive care ward was brightly lit. The staff on duty stood on full alert, armed to the teeth, while several S-Rank heroes waited nearby, ready to provide any support necessary.

As for why the Hero Association was taking this so seriously—

"...Say, they've been lying there quietly for almost three hours now. Are you sure they're okay?"

[Steel] Frank gave a deep yawn. Leaning back in an armchair, he looked at the hospital beds and the little figures beside them, then spoke to the girl next to him.

"You'll get used to it. This is a special case, after all. It's perfectly normal for them to stay a little longer." Messiah grinned, showing none of the exhaustion of staying up late. If anything, she looked quite energetic.

"Still...they've been in there longer than any of the previous times. Maybe they found some important clue?"

"Hard to say, but it's possible," Frank replied.

He let out another long yawn, his eyelids drooping, then waved a hand, stood up, and headed toward the ward's door.

"I'm dead tired. You keep watch for now. Call me when they wake up."

"Sure, go get some sleep."

But just as he stepped out of the ward to find somewhere to sleep, he suddenly heard perfectly synchronized screams coming from behind him:

"""Aaaaaah!!"""

"?!"

In the dead of night, screams like those could wake an entire floor of patient attendants, perhaps even the staff sleeping in the duty room.

Luckily, Frank, one of those staff members, had yet to fall asleep.

Whoosh!

"What happened?!"

Frank hurried back. The moment he entered the ward, he was greeted by a sight that almost made him black out:

Hellcat was down on all fours, tail puffed up, body taut, and back arched high—a thoroughly