Chapter Twenty-Seven: I Thought I Was

"Hey, Renyi? Where are we heading next?"
No matter how reasonable the excuse hastily concocted sounded, it could not mask Fang's odd behavior.
Cardassia knew him too well.
In the end, she saw through it.
"...!"
Shigure Renyi almost wanted to confess then and there, but the setting was far from ideal.
No sane man would ever tell a girl, "I want to go on a date with you today," while standing before baby cribs in a furniture store.
With the truth already exposed, should he keep spinning his lies? Gongsun would shamelessly carry on in front of any girl, but Renyi could hardly keep up such bravado before Cardassia.
This was, without doubt, the most difficult mission he had ever undertaken... Most frustrating of all, his usually nimble mind was now completely stalled.
Shigure Renyi was never good at charming girls! If he had been, how could he have spent three and a half years with his crush without making the least progress?
"Anyway... Just trust me, Cardassia, alright?"
He had to find a way to muddle through... use this time to slowly, bit by bit, come up with a plausible, logical, and characteristic explanation!
"I trust you, Renyi~"
He could hardly bear to meet her smiling gaze. The situation felt like walking a tightrope—one misstep, and he would plunge into the abyss!
"So, what's next~?"
This time, Cardassia wasted no time; she all but dragged her friend out of the furniture clearance, her eyes sparkling with a familiar light—the very look the suited young man saw whenever the girl encountered something that piqued her curiosity.
She was full of anticipation for what would come next, which might be good news, but whatever she was plotting in her heart was another matter Renyi would rather not explore...
With an embarrassed expression, Shigure Renyi and the golden-haired girl, humming a tune, stepped out of the furniture store. The first thing he saw at the exit delivered another merciless blow to his already fragile stomach.
He saw an adult-sized pink teddy bear.
It braced its legs, its torso trembling as if it had just finished a strenuous workout, panting heavily.
When it saw the two emerge, the pink bear quickly straightened up, putting on a spirited act, and spoke in a cute voice:
"Hello~! Hi there~! I—I am, the gift-giving Q—pink Bear Kuma for couples!"
Thank you, Miss Qila.
It must have been hard for you to rush to the furniture store's exit before we arrived.
In such a short time, you not only managed to procure a third costume that didn't exist, but also bought movie tickets, all for someone you've only known a few days... truly, truly, thank you.
But, Miss Qila, there is one thing, one matter that cannot be ignored, no matter what.
"You two, so loving~ Pink Bear Kuma wants to give you a little gift~"
Shigure Renyi couldn't bear to look at the bear waving movie tickets.
—Your voice hasn't changed at all!!!
"Haha! Pink Bear Kuma is adorable~" Cardassia giggled, "But Renyi and I aren't a couple. Doesn't that mean your gift can't be given?"
"..."
The pink bear seemed utterly unprepared for such a retort.
It stared at Shigure Renyi with its large, dark eyes, pitifully asking, "Wh—what should I do?"
Don't ask me!!!
Shigure Renyi suppressed the urge to cover his face with his hands, enduring Cardassia's amused gaze, and insisted, "Pink Bear Kuma is friendly to friends of the opposite sex too, right?"
"Y-yes, that's right! Kuma! These two movie tickets shall be given to you as a token of friendship!!"
The suited young man quickly reached for the tickets, hoping to end the awkward performance as soon as possible.
"Not so fast, Renyi."
Cardassia grabbed his wrist.
The golden-haired, hat-adorned girl leaned toward the plush bear, grinning mischievously, "Sorry, we're not planning to see a movie today! Why not give these tickets to some other lucky pair? Or perhaps, you have another gift~?"
"..."
Pink Bear Kuma looked again at Renyi.
"What—what should I do?"

So stop asking me!!!
Unable to contain himself, the suited young man finally covered his face.
"Cardassia, don't make things hard for her..."
"Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!"
In stark contrast to her crestfallen companion, the hat-wearing girl laughed like a villain.
"Thanks, little bear~ Then Renyi will take the tickets, alright?"
"O—oh, okay."
Renyi took the tickets, utterly devoid of hope.
Perhaps it was just his mood, but the tickets felt especially heavy in his hands.
"Wow! They're universal tickets for any movie—nice~ Which floor is the cinema, Renyi?"
·
The cinema was on the fourth floor.
For convenience, Renyi's team had hidden their props in a clothing store on the fourth floor the previous night—thanks to Gongsun's persuasive tongue, convincing the staff to hold onto two mascot costumes had been no trouble.
Now, two hurried superhumans were scrambling in the fitting room to change into their mascot suits. Most of Gongsun's body was already inside the blue bear costume, only the head remained. He spoke into the communicator for the umpteenth time, "Hey? Miss Qila, are you there?"
"I'm here, I'm here!" For once, he got a reply; the pink-haired girl's flustered words crackled through his earpiece. "I..."
"What are Renyi and Cardassia doing right now? How far has the plan progressed?"
"Shigure Renyi and Cardassia are headed to the cinema! Sorry, I made the furniture-store plan happen early, but it didn't seem to work..."
"No need to apologize, it's not your fault. Leave the rest to us!"
Gongsun felt deeply regretful.
He really should have anticipated Miss Qin's reaction and prepared the next step before making a move. The chain reaction after Shigure Zero was eliminated had entangled all subsequent plans into chaos; how could Miss Qila handle such a situation alone?
Fortunately, they still had backup plans. Miss Qila said those two were going to the cinema, but she didn't have the tickets, which meant...
"Miss, Qila has steered them to the cinema! I just appeared once, and Cardassia might recognize me, so the ticket-delivery task falls to you!"
The fitting room door opened, and Miss Qin, dressed in a red mascot suit, stepped out. Without a word, she donned the giant bear head, and took the two tickets from the blue bear—Gongsun's—paws.
With the head on, Qin Qianbai's voice sounded muffled.
"Ace will assist as needed."
"Leave it to me!"
The red and blue bears burst out of the clothing store under the amazed gazes of customers, running for their friend's love!
·
Meanwhile, across from the clothing store, a thoroughly unlucky middle schooler was facing the peak of his misfortune.
Three muscular men in black, with villainous faces, cornered him. The leader, a blond thug, growled, "Kid, do you know who we are?"
Miles' gaze swept over their black clothes and the wing-shaped tattoos prominently displayed.
He immediately recalled his senior's warnings about those terrifying superhumans, and the "organization" some of them had founded.
The boy in the baseball cap shivered as he replied, "You... you're... D-Death's Wing..."
"Good, you have some sense." The blond flexed his fingers. "Tell me, where's the long-haired man? Where did the boss's music player go?!"
The middle schooler burst into tears.
"I don't know! He's gone!! The music player was taken by the bear! The toy bear took it! Th-the bear turned it into two movie tickets, I don't know how!!"
The three Death's Wing members exchanged glances. The crew-cut muscled man asked kindly, "Are you saying the music player turned into movie tickets?"
Miles nodded frantically.
"And a big toy bear took it?"
Miles nodded even harder: "It—it said it would return it right after using it! Please wait a bit, it'll—it'll come back..."
The crew-cut man's smile widened, and Miles' voice grew softer.
"Okay, okay. Looks like Death's Wing hasn't acted for too long—even a brat like you dares to lie to us. No worries, a little pain will make you tell the truth—"
"Look! Look!!"

The crew-cut man's words were cut short by the big driver pounding his back.
"What the hell are you—"
He turned, mid-curse, and all three fell silent, stupefied.
They saw two adult-sized toy bears sprinting down the aisle with lively speed, as if they were plush sprinters.
Two slips of paper fluttered in the red bear's paw, looking much like movie tickets.
The three Death's Wing members had sharp vision. They stared and stared, finally confirming: those were indeed two connected movie tickets.
The big driver shouted, "Bear! Toy bear!!"
The blond thug kicked him in the backside: "Chase! After them!!"
The three muscled men in black rushed out, the boy in the baseball cap yelling, "No, not that one! It's the wrong bear!!"
·
The two superhumans ran toward the cinema, hearing an increasingly loud commotion behind them.
Miss Qin (in red bear form) glanced back.
"Stop right there, you bastard!!"
"Wrong bear! Wrong bear!!"
Behind them, three men in black charged with murderous expressions, as if they'd encountered their father's killer from ten years ago, trailed at a distance by a panting middle schooler desperately trying to hold the thugs back.
The blond pointed at her, "Hand over the movie tickets!!!"
What was happening? In that instant, Miss Qin rapidly pieced together the information she had just acquired.
Death's Wing had three members.
She held two tickets.
The boy behind was robbed of something.
Therefore—
"Ace, some thugs trying to sneak into the movie are after our tickets."
Swoosh! The blue bear spread its arms wide, blocking the three men in black like a descending titan!
"Calm down, gentlemen. I believe there’s been a misunderstanding—"
"Get lost, this has nothing to do with you!!"
The blond pulled out a pistol! The crew-cut man brandished nunchaku! The big driver growled as he activated his power! Intimidating!
The blue bear's tone lost its friendliness.
"I showed my willingness to resolve things peacefully, and this is your response? As expected of Death's Wing—after all these years, you haven't changed a bit. Even grade-school brats know more about manners than you three adults."
The three Death's Wing members exchanged a glance.
"Oh, manners, huh?"
The big driver and crew-cut man burst out laughing, the blond thug pressed the gun barrel to the blue bear's head, sneering.
"Idiot, you think you're some sort of demon?"
The boy in the baseball cap finally caught up.
He overheard the last exchange and recognized the voice from inside the bear suit.
"He—he—he..."
The blue bear took off its head.
The men in black's smiles faded, their hands and legs began to tremble, just like the middle schooler who had been cornered earlier.
Miles whispered, as faint as a mosquito: "He really is..."
You are a genius. Remember it in a second: Red Sweet Spring: