With the game over, Kenjaku and Mahito rose at the same time. Staying in this dim place too long grew uncomfortable.
They only came here now and then to play the villains. Normally, they just splashed around in Dagon's Innate Domain.
Too bad Jogo's body had grown back. Otherwise, they could have played another round of beach soccer.
As they pushed the door open, a ray of sunlight gently fell across Mahito's face. But that warm-looking light held nothing but a sinister chill.
After all, this was no beach in any real sense, but a false landscape shaped by an ugly cursed spirit.
How could a fake possibly do what the real thing did?
Used to it, Mahito and Kenjaku stepped through the doorway one after the other. The moment the door shut, only the beautiful scenery remained.
That modern door was nowhere to be seen...
"Yo~ Minna-san, Geto and I are back! Did you miss me?"
Mahito laughed, spread his arms, and ran freely across the beach, shouting as he went to announce his arrival to all his companions.
Soon... Jogo's angry roar rang out.
Kenjaku chuckled without saying anything.
At first glance, they might have seemed like the closest of friends, but each alone knew the schemes lurking behind that friendship.
Just as Kenjaku was about to join the others, Hanami emerged from underground. Standing behind him, she transmitted a message straight into his mind with her extraordinary brain waves:
"That woman woke up."
After a brief silence, Kenjaku smiled benevolently.
"I see. You didn't frighten her, did you?"
Rather than respond to Hanami's report immediately, he asked whether she had frightened that poor woman.
Hypocrisy at its finest...
"...Why not kill her and pin it on that red monster afterward? That's what you've always done, anyway."
Hanami