The entrance to Havarie Hollow lay on New Eridu's eastern outskirts, in a stretch of ruins cordoned off with caution tape.
This had once been the Old Capital's industrial district. Now, only twisted rebar and shattered concrete remained.
A faint, scorched ether smell hung in the air, as though something had been burned here over and over.
Outside the cordon sat over a dozen modified off-road vehicles, their paint jobs a jumble of styles, some bearing mercenary insignias and others the personal symbols of Hollow Raiders.
A group of people in assorted clothing gathered at the entrance, talking quietly.
Lin Shuo and Yuzuha stood in the shadows a little farther away, observing the situation.
"More people than I expected."
Yuzuha spoke softly, a lock of red hair peeking from beneath her hood. "That TOPS bounty really drew in plenty of desperadoes."
Lin Shuo nodded.
He wore a black tactical mask that left only his eyes exposed. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan glowed dark red in the shadows as he rapidly scanned the crowd.
By a rough estimate, there were at least thirty people.
Their equipment varied in quality, but all of them carried weapons.
Several had strong ether signatures, clearly experienced Hollow Raiders or former mercenaries.
"They're after the Two-Tails too."
Lin Shuo said quietly, "But we can't force our way through."
"Then what do we do?"
Lin Shuo looked deeper into the ruins.
Havarie Hollow had more than one entrance. The authorities had sealed off the main entrance, but large Hollows like this always had a few "back doors" dug out by smugglers.
"Follow me."
Taking Yuzuha's hand, he silently skirted the crowd and slipped into a concealed alley.
At the end stood a half-collapsed wall, with abandoned shipping containers piled behind it.
With practiced ease, Lin Shuo shifted a few containers aside, revealing a gap just wide enough for one person.
"How did you know about this place?"
Yuzuha asked in surprise.
"Lao Mo gave me the route."
Lin Shuo squeezed through first, with Yuzuha close behind.
Beyond the gap was a downward passage, its walls covered in traces of ether corruption, as though something intensely hot had scorched them.
The farther they went, the hotter it became.
The air began to warp, and blue specks drifted through the darkness: free-floating ether particles fluorescing in the heat.
"Two-Tails Matatabi..." Yuzuha murmured. "Her ability is blue fire, right?"
"Yeah." Lin Shuo nodded. "The Nekomata's flames are extremely hot, and they can burn ether itself."
He paused. "But her personality... she's supposedly very gentle."
"Gentle?" Yuzuha blinked. "A fire-breathing cat? Gentle?"
"Tailed beasts have different personalities," Lin Shuo explained. "One-Tail Shukaku is hot-tempered, Two-Tails Matatabi is humble, Isobu is laid-back, and Four-Tails Son Goku... has a terrible temper."
"Then why come looking for the Two-Tails first?"
"Because she's easy to talk to."
The two continued deeper inside.
The passage gradually widened, eventually opening into a vast underground space. This had once been the factory's smelting workshop; now, only broken equipment and slag strewn across the floor remained.
At the center of the space, a mass of blue flame burned quietly.
No, it wasn't a flame.
It was a cat.
Her whole body was covered in eerie blue fur. She was a size larger than an ordinary house cat, but not excessively so-roughly the size of a medium-sized dog. Most striking were her two long, slender tails, each tipped with blue flames that swayed gently in the dark.
She sat atop an abandoned furnace, her emerald eyes quietly watching in Lin Shuo and Yuzuha's direction.
"So, you're here."
The voice was gentle, with a slightly languid resonance, and rang directly inside their minds.
Yuzuha jumped. "Sh-she can talk?!"
"Telepathy," Lin Shuo explained, then looked at the Two-Tails.
"Matatabi."
"You know my name."
The Two-Tails tilted her head, the motion as graceful as a real cat's. "Interesting. People in this world shouldn't know it."
"I come from another world," Lin Shuo admitted.
Of course, to Yuzuha, his words sounded like nothing more than a bluff to fool her.
The Two-Tails' eyes widened slightly.
She hopped off the furnace and landed lightly, her two tails swaying slowly behind her.
"No wonder... the energy fluctuations coming from you are strange. You're like the people of this world, yet unlike them."
She took a few steps closer and stopped three meters from Lin Shuo, studying them carefully.
"Is the girl beside you from another world too?"
"No, she's from this world," Lin Shuo said.
"But she's very important to me."
Yuzuha flushed slightly but said nothing. She only tightened her grip on her umbrella, its muzzle-tipped point lifting slightly, ready for anything unexpected.
The Two-Tails noticed her movement and chuckled.
"No need to be nervous, little girl. I mean no harm-at least not to you two."
She turned and paced a few steps, the blue flames on her tails lighting the ground around her.
"I've been in this world for seven days. I've been searching for a way back, but... there doesn't seem to be one."
There was a faint note of loss in her voice.
"This world is rejecting me. I can feel the ether corroding my body. It's slow, but constant. Unless I find a solution, I'll eventually dissipate-or become what you call an 'Ethereal.'"
Lin Shuo fell silent for a few seconds.
"I have a way."
The Two-Tails whipped her head around. "What way?"
"Become a Bangboo."
Lin Shuo took Shukaku, in his Bangboo form, out of his backpack. Little Shukaku was still asleep, his metal rabbit ears drooping and his orange-yellow tail curled into a ball behind him.
The Two-Tails stared at Shukaku for a long time, then...
"Pfft."
She actually laughed aloud.
"That Shukaku... turned into a rabbit? A mechanical rabbit, no less?"
Her laughter was soft, but the schadenfreude was unmistakable.
Woken by the laughter, Shukaku instantly switched the eyes on his screen to an angry expression.
"Who?! Who's laughing at the great me?!"
He leaped from Lin Shuo's hands and landed on the ground, his Bangboo body puffing up in indignation.
Then he saw the Two-Tails.
"...Nekomata?"
"Long time no see, Shukaku." The Two-Tails flicked her tails gracefully. "That look of yours... quite distinctive."
"Shut up! I did this to adapt to this world! You think I wanted to?!"
"But you seem to be adapting quite well."
The Two-Tails circled Shukaku. "At least this world isn't rejecting you anymore, right?"
Shukaku choked on his words.
He turned his face away and muttered, "...More or less."
The Two-Tails looked back at Lin Shuo.
"So you're saying I can turn into this... Bangboo form too, to avoid being rejected by the world?"
"Yes." Lin Shuo nodded.
"But I need your consent. I can only assist with the transformation, not force it."
"You can do that?"
"It's a little complicated to explain," Lin Shuo said.
"You can think of it as a... I have a kind of support mechanism."
The Two-Tails sank into thought.
She sat down, curling her two tails in front of her, her emerald eyes fixed on the slag on the floor.
After a long while, she spoke:
"What's the price?"
"What?"
"The price of becoming a Bangboo." The Two-Tails raised her head.
"Shukaku may talk tough, but I know he wouldn't submit to anyone easily. What did you trade for his loyalty?"
Lin Shuo looked at her, then answered honestly:
"I never demanded his loyalty. He stays with us because he wants to-because he has family here, warmth, and people he cares about."
The Two-Tails' ears twitched.
"Family?"
"Yeah." Lin Shuo looked at Yuzuha, then at Shukaku. "We might be noisy, and we argue a lot, but... we're family."
Shukaku's screen face reddened slightly, but he didn't argue.
Yuzuha crouched down and gently stroked Shukaku's head. "Little Shukaku is always calling himself a tailed beast, but he actually takes good care of Little You and Xiao Yue~"
"I-I do not!" Shukaku protested, but his tail gave an honest wag.
Watching this, the Two-Tails' emerald eyes flickered with a trace of complexity.
"...In my world, I had no family."
Her voice was very soft.
"From the moment I was born, humans feared me, sealed me away, and used me. There were a few Jinchūriki I got along with, but in the end... they weren't family."
She paused, then added, "So after coming to this world, I actually felt a little... glad. Even if I was being rejected, at least I was free."
"But now you've realized that freedom has a price too."
Lin Shuo said.
"Yes." The Two-Tails nodded.
"If this continues, I'll disappear. But if I become a Bangboo, I'll lose my freedom again-and become someone's possession."
"Not a possession," Lin Shuo corrected.
"A companion."
He looked into the Two-Tails' eyes. "You can choose to stay, or you can choose to leave. Becoming a Bangboo is only so you can survive in this world. As for where you go afterward, that's your decision."
The Two-Tails stared at him for a long time.
"You're different from other humans."
"Maybe."
"Why?"
"Because..." Lin Shuo thought for a moment.
"I was once rejected too. In the past, many people looked at me with fear or pity."
He paused. "So I understand how you feel."
The Two-Tails fell silent.
Only the faint glow of drifting ether particles and the distant whisper of wind from deep within the Hollow remained in the workshop.
Suddenly-
BOOM!!!
The ground shook violently.
Explosions sounded in the distance, along with people's shouts.
"Over there! The blue-fire cat demon is over there!"
"Quick! Surround it! Don't let it escape!"
"TOPS said they'd pay double for a live capture!"
The Two-Tails' ears pricked up, her gaze sharpening.
"Those people... they're back."
Her voice turned cold.
"They've chased me four times in these seven days. Every time, they talk about 'capturing' me, treating me like merchandise."
She stood, her blue fur bristling slightly as the flames on her tails burned brighter.
"I don't want to hurt them, but they're forcing me."
"Matatabi," Lin Shuo said.
"Come with us."
The Two-Tails looked at him.
"Become a Bangboo and leave this place with us."
Lin Shuo said, "We'll protect you. We won't let anyone capture you."
"Why?" the Two-Tails asked.
"We've only just met."
"Because..."
Before Lin Shuo could finish, Yuzuha suddenly spoke up:
"Because that's just the kind of person you are, Lin Shuo~"
She walked up to Two-Tails and crouched, looking earnestly at her with her green eyes.
"Though he always wears a stern face, and though he's very blunt, he's actually very gentle.
He wouldn't ignore someone who needed help-or a cat."
She paused, then smiled. "Besides, we already have a tsundere tanuki Bangboo at home. Wouldn't adding an elegant kitty Bangboo be nice?"
Two-Tails froze.
Then she chuckled softly.
"Little girl, you're very interesting."
"My name's Yuzuha~ Ukinami Yuzuha~"
"Yuzuha..." Two-Tails repeated the name, then looked at Lin Shuo. "Your name is Lin Shuo, right?"
"Yes."
"All right."
Two-Tails stood up, the flames on her tails slowly dying out.
"I agree to become a Bangboo. But I have two conditions."
"Go ahead."
"First, if a way back is found someday, you can't stop me from leaving."
"Agreed."
"Second..."
Two-Tails looked at Yuzuha. "I want this girl to be my 'Jinchūriki'-or rather, my partner."
Yuzuha blinked. "Me?"
"Yes." Two-Tails nodded.
"You have very high Ether aptitude, and... you're very pure-being with you probably won't be boring."
Yuzuha looked at Lin Shuo.
Lin Shuo nodded. "It's your decision."
Yuzuha thought for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Sure~"
She held out her hand. "Then... I look forward to being your partner, Matatabi~"
Two-Tails looked at her outstretched hand, hesitated, then raised a front paw and gently touched her fingertips.
"I look forward to being yours, Yuzuha."
[System notification: Two-Tails Matatabi has agreed to Bangboo conversion] [Execute now?]
Lin Shuo silently answered in his mind, Yes.
A soft white light shone from Two-Tails.
Her body began to shrink and change shape-just as Shukaku's had, gradually taking on the form of a Bangboo.
But unlike Shukaku's metallic texture, the Bangboo Two-Tails became had a translucent pale-blue shell, as though carved from blue crystal.
The rabbit ears on her head were a gradient of spectral blue, with delicate flame patterns at their tips.
Most distinctive of all was her back-two slender mechanical tails, each with a blue flame nozzle at its tip.
The conversion was complete.
Bangboo Matatabi stood on the floor, raised her "hands" to examine them, then sighed.
"As expected... I've become a rabbit."
Her voice still had that same gentle resonance, but it had become a Bangboo's electronic voice.
Yuzuha crouched and curiously stroked her head. "So pretty! Like a sapphire!"
"Thank you for the compliment." Matatabi nodded gracefully.
"But we should leave now-those people are almost here."
No sooner had she spoken than a jumble of footsteps came from the workshop entrance.
A dozen or so Hollow Raiders rushed in, carrying all kinds of weapons-Ether rifles, net guns, and even modified civilian hunting shotguns.
"There it is! The blue-flame cat demon-huh? Where's the cat demon?"
Their leader was a man whose face was covered in scars. His eyes widened as he stared at the empty center of the workshop, seeing only Lin Shuo, Yuzuha, and...
Two Bangboo?
"What's going on?!" the scar-faced man roared.
"Where's the cat demon?!"