Chapter 70: Adolescence - 24

"How about an exchange, Pro Hero Midnight?"

Before she could even get a word out, right in front of her, a familiar face appeared, unconscious.

’Pop!?’

It was Pop☆Step.

Her entire body tensed, the sudden appearance of Pop was completely unexpected. But how she appeared told her more than she could ever imagine.

’So the person in front of me was Blink?!’

It had to be said, the number of sightings of Blink was zero .

Even though the person in front of her with the distorted voice was invisible, and the voice itself was ever changing, preventing her from being able to profile Blink at all, it was still technically the first ever sighting of Blink.

The tension suddenly rose.

After all, she wasn’t entirely confident she could get Pop away from Blink.

Rather she had no confidence at all.

Her eyes shot a glance at Pop☆Step’s unconscious body, scanning it up and down. But other than her flushed skin, she seemed fine.

’...What do they want from me? Do they know about my relationship with Pop?’

"So... what do you want from me?"

At the very least, Blink didn’t seem to be particularly hostile.

So for both her mental health and for the situation, it was better to at least act confident.

But it seemed Blink didn’t want her to calm down at all.

"You’re close to her."

That distorted voice cut in immediately after she asked the question, preventing her from even getting a semblance of downtime.

The moment that sentence finished, a chill went through her body, and her body became even tenser, something she didn’t even know was possible.

Her entire body was taut like a bowstring, just waiting for Blink’s next words.

After a pause, they only said a single word.

"Perfect."

’Perfect? What was perfect about it?!’

"Do you want to help her?"

’...Am I about to make a deal with the Devil?’

It wasn’t unusual for Midnight to feel that way.

An invisible enemy who outclassed her in every single way possible.

A complete unknown, both in appearance and voice.

There was nothing to the being in front of her that she could even remotely classify as a being other than that they spoke Japanese.

And now, just when she was completely alone, they appeared with no prelude, proposing a deal with something she had nearly no control over.

For a moment, she wanted to refuse.

But right after, she snapped out of it.

Not only was Pop someone she was close with, she was also a Pro Hero, someone who saved people.

Her next sentence was the sentence that required all of her courage but paradoxically none at all to say.

"...What do you need me to do?"

"Simple. Free the girl of her Villain status."

Before Midnight could ask how, right next to Pop☆Step was a floating plastic bottle.

Midnight squinted her eyes to look closer, and saw what looked to be a bee with a large abdomen, resting at the bottom of the plastic bottle.

’...Pop controlled exploding bees to commit the terrorist attacks. Was it this bee that was controlling her?’

"This was in her right eye."

Well, that all but confirmed it.

"...So she was under this bee’s influence?"

She mumbled. That made sense.

For her, the terrorist who bombed Naruhata with a crazy smile on her face while attacking innocents was completely different from the enthusiastic girl she met and had gotten to know over the years.

Maybe she was just looking for an excuse for the sake of a friend, but even that might have been fine.

The next moment, the plastic bottle disappeared.

To Midnight, that plastic bottle was the only thing that could prove that Pop☆Step was under its influence.

’...So the bee was the negotiation chip all along?’

"If you agree, I will hand over both the bee and the girl."

’So the bee wasn’t the chip then...what is happening? Am I hearing this correctly?’

She heard everything Blink had said, but she didn’t understand what they were trying to do at all.

...Where was the catch?

In order to free Pop☆Step from her Villain status by proving she was under the influence of an outside power, she needed both the bee and her, and Blink was going to give both.

But the unusual part was that Blink’s request was to free the girl of that Villain Status, and once she agreed, they would give both the girl and the bee.

There was zero downside to this deal.

Rather, all that would happen was Midnight getting Pop☆Step and also helping her at the same time.

It was a deal that made no sense.

Did she miss any underlying meanings...?

Midnight step by step went through the conversation she just had with Blink, if she could even call it one, but came up empty handed.

Unfortunately for Midnight, she was overthinking.

Blink, or Isshun, only needed a guarantee that Pop☆Step would be exonerated of her Villain status by the Police Force.

He didn’t need anything else.

If Midnight didn’t agree, he would make the same exact deal to the next Pro Hero that fit all the conditions he was looking for.

All he needed was to confirm it with the Pro Hero while he was recording with his phone, and then he’d have enough proof that he had ’saved’ Pop☆Step, completing his end of the deal.

"...That’s it?"

Midnight asked.

"Yes. Your response?"

"...Then I will."

"Then the deal is complete."

Her tension slowly relaxed.

The plastic bottle containing the Queen Bee reappeared right in front of Midnight, soon affected by gravity.

Midnight quickly took her arms out of her coat to catch it, safely securing the evidence.

’Is it over...?’

Her tension relaxed further.

She glanced towards Pop☆Step, who was still floating in the air.

"But."

Her entire body froze, as if in the hands of something— or someone —who could kill her in an instant.

It wasn’t metaphorically frozen, but physically frozen, as her movement towards Pop☆Step came to an abrupt halt.

"If she is not exonerated in the next 24 hours and the news is not released publicly..."

The voice did a pause, which felt like it lasted hours.

"Judgment will be delivered."

Her heart dropped.

’Judgment? What kind of judgment?’

But she could feel it.

That judgment would be unlike anything she would ever see.

Her body was released, with Pop☆Step now fully set on the ground, but her body still wouldn’t move.

"Response?"

"You’ll get your news! Wouldn’t dream of not following it!"

She said immediately, trying to convey her sincerity as much as she could.

"Good."

Midnight waited for more, but after a minute had passed with no sounds other than the whistling of the wind, her tension finally released.

She could feel cold sweat soaking her back, and as her muscles relaxed she realized how taut she really was.

’I need to get her back as fast as possible!’

She immediately pulled out her phone to contact a familiar detective, and one of the Police Force members leading the Pop☆Step capture operation.

She could feel her heart beating through her head as the phone rang.

Beep.

He answered, but before he could even say anything, Midnight immediately stated what happened.

"Tsukauchi! I found the girl! But—"

—Judgment will be delivered.

"Something happened."

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A/N: Putting his dialogue into the glitchy thing felt like an actual pain, cause bro has so much more dialogue this Chapter so im just removing it.

Also, yall hit the 3500PS goal, so you’ll get your extra chap this weekend.

Im actually surprised we even hit it, since i only posted 2 Chapters last week. Same PS goals this week tho.

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3000 - Not Complete.

4500 - Not Complete.