"Baimu? Where's Baimu?"
"That Coordinator who said he was going to take the championship?"
"Ah! Mr. Baimu! I'm your fan!"
One sentence from Iris sent the crowd, which had been ready to disperse after enjoying the gossip, into an uproar again.
The people present looked around in surprise, curiosity, and even excitement, some of them screaming as they turned toward the direction she had called out to.
Yet all they saw was a flustered green-haired boy.
Their gazes shifted accordingly.
The panic on Wally's face vanished. He casually turned his head and said, "Baimu! That girl is coming straight this way!"
A slightly muffled voice immediately came from the shadow beneath his feet.
"It's fine. Just keep walking. Go somewhere without people."
Hearing that, Wally glanced at the Dark-skinned Girl being surrounded by people asking where Baimu was. After a moment of hesitation, he turned and hurried away.
Still busy explaining herself, Iris saw Wally leaving and anxiously shoved aside the people pestering her. She leaped into the air, grabbing the trunk of a tall tropical plant serving as a roadside barrier amid the crowd's cries of alarm, then swiftly climbed to its highest point.
Then—
Like Tarzan, she nimbly jumped onto the top of another tropical plant, repeating the process as she continued hopping forward. Before long, she had already gone far away.
Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at Iris's retreating figure.
"D-Did that girl evolve from a Vigoroth or something?"
Even Vigoroth weren't that agile, were they?
The noisy crowd gradually dispersed. Since they could not find Baimu, there was naturally no reason to remain.
Elsewhere.
Wally slipped into the woods at the edge of the venue. Only after making sure no one was nearby did he call down at his shadow, "Baimu? Baimu!"
"Phew!"
Baimu poked his head out