Lin Shuo: What does Hollow Special Operations Section 6 want with me?

When a young soldier in a Defense Force uniform appeared at the ramen stall's entrance, his expression as solemn as if he were attending a funeral, Lin Shuo's first reaction was-

"Sorry, we're closed today."

He was teaching Little Mu how to control Boil Release steam with chakra-more precisely, how to tie a perfect bow with her steam tails.

Little Mu was trying hard, but she clearly lacked a concept of "aesthetics." Her fifth tail was always a little shorter than her fourth.

"I'm not here for ramen."

The soldier stood at attention and saluted.

"Senior Lin Shuo, Hollow Special Operations Section 6 requests your presence."

The ramen stall instantly fell silent.

Shukaku's Bangboo screen turned into a question mark, Matatabi tilted her head gracefully, Isobu rolled over and pretended not to hear, Xiao Kong stared at the soldier's sidearm as though studying whether it could be modified, and Kokuō muttered, "Hollow Special Operations Section 6... sounds so official..."

Lin Shuo put down the towel in his hands and swept his Three-Tomoe Sharingan over the soldier.

No genjutsu, no disguise. The credentials were genuine, and the Section 6 insignia on his uniform reflected the sunlight.

"What's the reason?" Lin Shuo asked.

"Orders from above. I'm not at liberty to disclose the details."

The soldier sounded like a robot. "Please report to Section 6 headquarters within the hour, senior."

With that, he handed over a metal envelope-the old-fashioned kind that required both fingerprint and iris verification to open.

Lin Shuo took the envelope. As his fingertips touched the cold metal surface, a system notification sounded in his mind:

[High-clearance military directive detected. Content encryption level: A+. Issued by: Hollow Special Operations Section 6 Deputy Chief Tsukishiro Yanagi.]

Tsukishiro Yanagi?

That pink-haired girl with glasses, Section 6's actual manager, Hoshimi Miyabi's "interpreter" and nanny?

Lin Shuo frowned.

His dealings with Section 6 were so few that even five fingers were too many to count them on.

Before retiring, he had occasionally encountered them on high-risk missions-usually deep inside a Hollow, where the two sides would exchange nods from several hundred meters away and call that a greeting.

After retirement? Zero.

So why come looking for me now?

The first possibility that sprang to mind: Qian An.

Section 6 had suffered a major setback in Lemnos Hollow, and Hoshimi Miyabi had been badly injured. They were surely gathering every scrap of related intelligence like mad now.

And Lin Shuo, as Qian An's former "friend," as someone who had personally experienced that laboratory accident over a decade ago, as someone who had recently faced Qian An head-on twice...

He stood out far too much.

So much that it would have been strange if Section 6 hadn't come looking for him.

"Understood." Lin Shuo put away the envelope.

"I'll be there within the hour."

The soldier saluted and left, his footsteps fading down Lumina Square's flagstone road.

Yuzuha poked her head out from behind the counter, her green eyes full of worry. "Lin Shuo... will everything be okay?"

"It should be," Lin Shuo said.

"They most likely want to ask about Qian An-Section 6 must have uncovered our past connection."

"Then will you tell them?" Lucia held Little Mu, her blue hair shimmering in the morning light.

"I'll tell them what I should. As for what I shouldn't..." Lin Shuo paused.

"They won't get it out of me."

This wasn't confidence. It was fact.

The resistance to genjutsu granted by his Sharingan, combined with years of special forces counter-interrogation training, gave him confidence that he could evade every sensitive question without lying.

Such as the system, the Tailed Beasts, and... his daughters from parallel timelines.

"Need me to go with you?" Lao Mo's voice came from outside.

At some point, he had appeared at the ramen stall's entrance, carrying a freshly cleaned tuna-probably using "delivering fish" as an excuse to come find out what was happening.

His dark gray eyes swept over the envelope in Lin Shuo's hand, his gaze sharp.

"No." Lin Shuo shook his head.

"You'd only complicate things-those people in Section 6 are far more wary of a 'former test subject and underground information broker' than a 'retired soldier.'"

Lao Mo fell silent for two seconds, then nodded. "Watch out for Tsukishiro Yanagi."

"Hmm?"

"That woman..." Lao Mo paused.

"She looks gentle, but she's actually harder to deal with than Hoshimi Miyabi-the way she asks questions... is very particular."

"Particular how?"

"She doesn't press you or threaten you. She just makes small talk-but as you keep talking, you'll realize you've told her everything, whether you should have or not."

Lin Shuo raised an eyebrow. "You've experienced it?"

"Once." Lao Mo remained expressionless.

"Three years ago, she was investigating a batch of stolen ether crystals and came to 'consult' me. After half an hour of chatting, I'd lost the coordinates of three safe houses, plus the locations of two stockpiles."

"And then?"

"Then she smiled, said, 'Thank you for your cooperation,' and issued me a legal business permit-that's how I got my fish stall's current license."

Lin Shuo: "..."

That move was indeed very "Tsukishiro Yanagi."

A gentle blade, cutting flesh with every stroke.

"I'll be careful."

Lin Shuo said.

He turned and went into the back room, changing into relatively formal casual clothes-a black shirt and dark trousers.

Before leaving, he hesitated, then took half a honeydew melon out of the refrigerator.

He wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in a paper bag.

Yuzuha watched in bewilderment. "Lin Shuo... are you going to a meeting or visiting a patient?"

"I'm preparing for both," Lin Shuo said.

"If things go smoothly, this melon will be a courtesy gift. If they don't..."

He hefted the paper bag. "It'll be a gift for the wounded-wasn't Hoshimi Miyabi hospitalized with serious injuries?"

"But she should be at Section 6 headquarters now, shouldn't she?"

Lucia tilted her head. "The news said she's already been discharged. It's just that her left arm is still in a cast."

"All the more reason to bring it, then." The corners of Lin Shuo's mouth lifted slightly.

"A chief who insists on working just after recovering from serious injuries is bound to feel a little better when she receives a get-well gift."

Lao Mo snorted from the doorway. "You're going to negotiate, not socialize."

"Negotiation takes strategy too."

Lin Shuo waved.

"I'm off. Look after the shop."

He pushed the door open and left, the melon in the paper bag gleaming an inviting emerald green in the morning light.

Hollow Special Operations Section 6's headquarters was an unremarkable-looking gray building in central New Eridu.

But Lin Shuo knew the building had at least five underground floors, each housing military equipment and ether technology sufficient to make TOPS envious.

There was no sign at the entrance, only two guards in plain clothes, standing as straight as javelins.

Lin Shuo handed over the envelope. One guard took it and confirmed his identity with a scanner.

"Senior Lin Shuo, please follow me."

The guard led him inside, down a long, dimly lit corridor, and finally stopped before a heavy blast door.

There was a sign on the door, handwritten so neatly that it looked printed:

[Section 6 · Temporary reception room]

(Note: As the chief accidentally destroyed the original reception room while testing a new weapon last weekend, this room is being used temporarily. Please excuse the limited furnishings.-Tsukishiro Yanagi)

The corner of Lin Shuo's mouth twitched.

Hoshimi Miyabi blew up the reception room while testing a weapon... very "Void Hunter."

The guard swiped a card to open the door and gestured for him to enter.

Lin Shuo walked inside.

The room really was bare-just one table and three chairs, without so much as a clock on the wall.

But the person sitting at the table made Lin Shuo pause.

It wasn't Hoshimi Miyabi.

Nor was it Tsukishiro Yanagi.

It was a black-haired, golden-eyed young man who looked eighteen or nineteen. He wore a Section 6 uniform jacket, but no tie, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone.

He was looking down at his phone, his fingers swiping rapidly across the screen as if he were playing some game.

Hearing the door open, the young man looked up, revealing a handsome but languid face.

Asaba Harumasa.

Section 6's problem child, a sufferer of ether aptitude decline syndrome, a sickly genius reputed to "never work when slacking off is an option."

"Yo, you're here."

Asaba Harumasa put his phone away and yawned. "Been waiting ages for you-sit."

Lin Shuo pulled out a chair and sat down, placing the paper bag of melon on the table.

Asaba Harumasa's gaze fell on the bag, and he raised an eyebrow. "Honeydew? For the chief?"

"A courtesy gift," Lin Shuo said.

"Wasn't she injured?"

"The chief's doing rehab in the training room next door-one-handed push-ups with her uninjured right hand. She's already on her two hundredth." Asaba Harumasa shrugged. "Want to take it over now? She'll probably keep going while saying, 'Thank you for your concern, but I am currently undertaking the discipline of performing push-ups with my uninjured arm.'"

Lin Shuo: "..."

That certainly sounded like something Hoshimi Miyabi would say.

"So," Lin Shuo looked at Asaba Harumasa.

"Deputy Chief Tsukishiro asked you to receive me?"

"More or less."

Asaba Harumasa yawned again. "Sister Yanagi's gone to a meeting with the Defense Force higher-ups, and Soukaku's in the cafeteria eating her fourth breakfast-so that leaves me."

He paused, then added, "But don't worry. I'm not here to interrogate you-I just wanted to... have a chat."

"About what?"

"Qian An," Asaba Harumasa said bluntly.

"Your relationship with him, your experiences in the laboratory, and your two recent encounters."

Lin Shuo had been prepared for this and replied calmly, "An old acquaintance, but we parted ways long ago-the laboratory is a private matter, so I'm not at liberty to discuss it-as for our encounters... the reports should be quite clear."

"Reports are reports." Asaba Harumasa propped up his chin.

"I want to hear the 'Lin Shuo version'-for example, when you sliced through the chitin on his right arm, what expression did he have? Anger? Pain? Or... was he smiling?"

That was a tricky question.

Lin Shuo fell silent for two seconds before saying, "He was smiling."

"Oh?"

"A sort of... twisted, relieved smile."

Lin Shuo recalled the scene. "As if he'd finally reached the moment he'd been waiting for, finally had a legitimate reason to hate me."

Asaba Harumasa narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like your relationship is a lot more complicated than 'old acquaintances.'"

"It is complicated," Lin Shuo admitted.

"But that has nothing to do with Section 6 trying to capture him-I want to catch him even more than you do right now."

"Because he went after my family on my turf." Lin Shuo's voice turned cold. "That's the line."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

Asaba Harumasa suddenly smiled, with something in that smile that resembled... appreciation?

"Not bad. I like straightforward people."

He stood, walked to the mini fridge in the corner, and took out two canned drinks-one coffee, the other a dark liquid of indeterminate identity.

He handed Lin Shuo the coffee, then opened his own can of dark liquid and took a sip.

Lin Shuo accepted the coffee without drinking it. "So, are we done talking?"

(PS: Please leave comments, request updates, and recommend the book-please!!!)