*
The moment Gru stepped into the bathroom stall, the hamster transformed into the form of a child.
Veillark, his expression hardening in human form, immediately snatched away the bell.
"Veiyi, what's wrong?"
"I smell that Potato guy here."
"Potato guy?"
"The guy I met back during PE class."
"Ah…."
It seemed he was talking about his Potato friend, the one he'd eaten lunchboxes with in the potato field.
And the major criminal who was also the target Gru planned to sell out this time…!
"Then is Potato friend here?"
"He must be. I thought he seemed suspicious somehow all this time. But to think he'd use a ghost artifact like this."
"An artifact?"
"A ghost artifact. It's a tracking fox."
When Veillark spread his hand wide, an opaque fox the size of the bell poked its face out slightly.
"I've been feeding the fox inside this bell for hundreds of years now. It's a ghost artifact I wouldn't even use to find just anybody."
"Hundreds of years?!"
It did look incredibly old, but… Gru shook the bell, yet it didn't ring.
'Dad didn't seem to know the bell rang either either….'
Most likely, the bell would ring once it found the person being sought.
"Then… was Potato friend looking for Gru with the bell?"
"It could be me he's looking for. After all, I'm right beside you."
"But back then, I promised to keep Veiyi's identity a secret…."
It didn't seem like a lie.
"Well, maybe he suddenly changed his mind."
Veillark furrowed his brow, seemingly still unsettled by something.
At this, Mephisto, who had been listening quietly, spoke as if singing.
"Peep peep— Pee— Pee—"
"What?"
"If he had to use a bell like this to find someone…."
While Gru asked back, Veillark relayed Mephisto's words instead.
"…He's saying that he must have been looking for someone whose identity he didn't know."
Someone whose identity he didn't know?
But the two had met before, and he had even left Gru a gift called SSPED.
There was no way he didn't know Gru, and no way he couldn't guess where she was.
But if Gru was the identity-unknown person he had urgently needed to find, to the point of using a centuries-old bell, then….
At that moment, a flash of light went *ping* across her mind.
It seemed Veillark was thinking the same thing; the two met eyes and spoke in succession.
"What he's looking for is…."
"Jjapsso."
Gru, who had spoken the answer, took a breath.
"Whyyyyy!"
Why would a major criminal be looking for Jjapsso?
"It won't be for a good reason. Seeing as he's using something like this to find him."
"Peep peep—"
At Veillark's words, Mephisto nodded repeatedly.
"…Can't we just break the bell?"
"No. Touch something like this carelessly and you'll be cursed."
"…!"
Veillark, who had been brooding for a moment, spoke in a whisper.
"…Should we kill him?"
Huh?
Gru jumped in surprise and lifted her head—
"Peep."
Mephisto nodded as if in agreement.
"W-wait! No!"
Gru stopped Veillark and Mephisto.
"Why? If we leave him be, it'll come back to haunt us."
"Peep peep!"
Mephisto, too, seemed to be saying they should kill him quickly, furled his wings, and raised them up high.
"T-there's a… better idea… Gru has."
When Gru spoke her opinion in a small voice, Veillark and Mephisto furrowed their brows.
"Rejected."
"Peep—"
"You two are noisy, let's go to the toy aisle."
Gru, pouting, was leading Veillark out of the bathroom stall.
Just then, a mother and daughter who had entered the bathroom spotted a boy in the women's restroom and opened their mouths wide.
Gasp!
Gru's eyes darted around.
Seeing the mother's face turn fierce, this could turn into a big problem.
It could even lead to parents being called!
Unable to leave it at that, Gru dusted off Veillark's pants and improvised.
"Now you have to go by yourself, Veiyi."
"…?"
"Next time, you go to the bathroom alone without big sister, okay?"
"Huh?!"
The flustered Veillark's face turned bright red.
Fortunately, on the other hand, the mother's expression softened as she guided her young daughter toward a bathroom stall.
"I—I didn't go!"
Veillark protested that he hadn't gone, but Gru dragged the child along and headed for the toy aisle.
*
Jurim, who had received a meal kit from Reiji, tilted his head languidly.
"Is this one better?"
"See here. Doesn't it have a longer expiration date, too?"
"Your Korean has improved a lot?"
"I've always been passionate about learning. Though more than half of it is thanks to a translator, truth be told."
Reiji tapped the earpiece in his ear.
["It can be turned on and off in real time."]
As the saying went, thanks to the translator, almost all of Reiji's words were flowing out translated in real time.
It wasn't that Reiji's Korean had become proficient, but merely the advancement of technology.
At his banter, Jurim checked his watch.
"I'll give you five seconds from now."
"Oh, how generous."
"Try to explain yourself while I'm still feeling generous."
Jurim, forcefully calming his restless heart, clenched his left fist tightly, and Reiji smirked slightly.
"I've heard that you looked for me. There seems to be a misunderstanding; as you can see, I'm not good at Korean. I simply asked a friend of mine to write a letter."
"Some friend whose identity I don't know tried to screw me over? That's not very convincing. It's not like you."
"I have no reason to be hostile to you. But unfortunately, you have many friends who aren't so friendly. Moreover, if I had mocked you and left, I wouldn't have come before you of my own accord, yet here I am facing you like this. How about it, is the explanation sufficient? What about the eggs?"
"Make it ten."
Reiji took out ten of the most expensive animal welfare eggs and put them in the cart.
"And, I don't take particular pleasure in provoking the guardian who looks after my son."
"You do kill them, though?"
When Jurim mentioned the deaths of the relatives who had abused Kazuki, Reiji smiled thinly.
"There was a good reason for that. Surely you're not the same?"
"If anything, I'm the one being bullied by Kazuki."
"That's welcome news."
"Enough small talk. What business do you have? Say it quickly and disappear before my daughter arrives."
"Aren't you going to ask who the friend that wrote the letter is?"
"Will you tell me?"
"No."
The way he spoke in circles and seemed to enjoy turning everything upside down was exactly like Kazuki.
"…I have no intention of prying. I have my own circumstances as well."
Jurim repeatedly opened and closed his left hand.
The master of the 99th floor, who had been running rampant trying to devour him for some time, had quieted down somehow.
If he counted back the days, it was likely from when he had honestly confessed to Gru the reason he went out every night.
He felt like he could somehow guess why.
The master of the 99th floor had reacted to Gru's emotions. To those emotions of worrying about Jurim and feeling anxious not knowing what would happen to him.
Truly as if it had become Gru's protector.
To maintain his current stable state, there was no need to go around looking for opponents who would unnecessarily shake him emotionally.
'That was dangerous just now, too.'
Meanwhile, Reiji looked at Jurim's left hand with a meaningful gaze, then smiled thinly and spoke.
"It seems my business isn't with you, but with the other side."
"The other side?"
Just as Jurim asked back in puzzlement.
Thump thump thump thump—
Gru and Veillark were running over.
"Gru, you shouldn't run in the mart."
When Jurim spoke sternly, Gru screeched to a halt and slowed down.
Jurim, confirming that Gru was walking over, glanced sideways at Reiji once.
Reiji had a strange expression, seeming both pleased and puzzled to see Gru.
Jurim hadn't separately warned Gru about Reiji.
Because he didn't want to worry her needlessly.
Actually, just in case, he had checked the sports day video filmed by the person Onsu had put on him.
Far from harming Gru, Reiji had been playing a ridiculous game of house with her, making secrets and promises despite the two not even being able to communicate properly.
Therefore, he had thought it would be better for Gru to simply remember her meeting with him as a fun memory with a friend.
In other words, while Gru should be happy to see a friend, something like this shouldn't be happening.
"U-under arrest!"
"…?"
Jurim opened his mouth.
A toy handcuff was hanging from Reiji's hand. Whether he had just picked it up from the toy aisle, the handcuff even had a price tag attached.
"I've been caught."
As Reiji smiled widely, Gru wiped the sweat from her forehead after cuffing his left wrist.
"Whew, case closed."
"…."
Jurim's face went blank.
The criminal Amakusa Reiji, who had never been caught even by nationwide joint investigation task forces, had ended up captured by plastic handcuffs brought from the toy aisle.
*