: Want to pull off a big heist?

Inside the bus.

The warm yellow reading light cast a soft halo, dividing the carriage into two worlds.

Outside the window, the city night view zooms in rapidly, while inside, two pairs of eyes stare intently at you.

Hikawa Homura leaned against the back of the seat, her head lolling in front of Miyagi Ryosuke, her red ponytail hanging down, almost brushing against his shoulder.

"So what! So what? What did that evil god look like at the end, boss? Was it particularly terrifying? What was its reaction after you flipped the table? Why did it let us go? What did you say to it in the end?"

A barrage of questions came at him, and Ryosuke Miyagi could even feel her hot breath on his face.

Matsushima Yukio sat beside her, and although she didn't speak, her chestnut-colored eyes were filled with curiosity.

Momose Sena huddled in the corner, hugging her knees, with only her eyes showing, but those eyes were surprisingly bright, like two little stars.

Ryosuke Miyagi leaned back in his chair, his right hand empty, holding a matte-colored revolver assembled from parts.

Spirit—[Gun].

The matte black gun body gleamed with a restrained metallic luster under the light, and the three bullets in the cylinder lay quietly, one gold, one red, and one pink.

"An evil god..."

He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts.

"His name is Cangxi Shou. As for what he looks like, I don't know. We eventually made some deals."

"A deal?!" Hikawa's eyes widened even more. "You made a deal with an evil god? Have you lived too long?!"

Ryosuke Miyagi glanced at Hisakawa.

"If I had any other choice at the time, I wouldn't have risked making a deal with an evil god."

"Furthermore, through our conversation, I seem to have guessed some information about the Cangxi Guardian."

Ryosuke Miyagi turned his revolver, his tone as calm as if he were telling someone else's story.

"It was probably a deity erected by some hypocritical worshippers in Dolphin Bay, but because they witnessed too many dolphins being hunted, their resentment accumulated and they eventually fell into depravity."

"But before he flipped the table, he gave me a choice? Want to know?"

"What choice?"

Ryosuke Miyagi glanced at Hisakawa.

"Call me 'boss,' and I'll tell you."

Without the slightest hesitation, Hisakawa sweetly called out, "Boss~"

Ryosuke Miyagi could feel that the connection between him and Hisakawa had become very deep, reaching the standard of a contract.

Before getting on the bus, he had seen information about Himawari's successful hiring of a maid in the Witcher's Hunting Manual.

④Hikawa Homura, Level 4, Occupation - Magical Girl, Monthly/5 Silver Coins (AFK Income, Daily/1 Silver Coin). (Special Training Available) (Feedback Not Activated).

The same applies to special training.

Currently, the Witcher's hunting manual only contains one hunting information.

Before hunting rhinoceros beetles, he can choose one of the magical girls for special training.

He already had a plan.

Special training is naturally the weak point in the team—Matsushima Yukio.

He regained his composure and continued to recount the events of that time.

"One of you must stay. The other may leave."

Himawari paused for a second.

Then she sat up abruptly, slamming her hands on the armrests of the chair with a sharp "smack".

"What the hell?! Why should we choose?! We came together, so of course we'll leave together!"

"So I flipped the table."

Ryosuke Miyagi retrieved the revolver into his palm, black slime swirling around it as he put it back into the Witcher's Handbook.

"I told it—choose your mom, if you can't reach an agreement, then don't bother talking."

The carriage was silent for two seconds.

Then Hikawa burst out laughing, laughing so hard she was doubled over, her ponytail swinging back and forth.

"Hahahaha! Boss, you're so cool! You flipped the table at the evil god and said, 'If we can't reach an agreement, then let's not talk about it'?! What courage! Hahahaha!"

Matsushima Yukio couldn't help but smile slightly, but quickly regained her composure.

"And then?"

"Later..." Ryosuke Miyagi thought for a moment, "I told it a story."

"story?"

"Yes. It's about a mother pig and her calf. How those people killed the mother pig, how they knocked the calf unconscious and threw it into a bucket. Before the mother pig died, she kept turning her head to look at the bucket, wanting to see her child one last time."

His voice was flat, without much variation.

But the laughter in the carriage stopped.

Hisawa slowly suppressed her smile, Matsushima Yukio lowered her eyelashes, and in the corner, Momose Sena buried her face in her knees, revealing only her two bright red ears.

"The cub woke up later," Ryosuke Miyagi continued. "It was put in another pool with other dolphins. It will be trained, it will perform, and it will live for many years. But it will never know where or how its mother died. It will only suddenly become agitated, suddenly stop eating, and suddenly bang its head against the wall at a certain time of year."

"It didn't know why. It only knew that the color of the seawater changed during that period."

The carriage fell completely silent.

The only sounds were the very faint hum of the bus as it moved and the neon lights rushing past the window.

After a long while, Hisakawa finally spoke softly.

"That evil god...it cried?"

Ryosuke Miyagi nodded.

"It understood."

"And then it let us go?"

"It gave me a deal."

Ryosuke Miyagi took out the pen and the stack of papers from the inside pocket of his coat.

"Within six months, go to Dolphin Bay and retrieve two things for it—the bloodstained harpoon and the rusty iron hook."

"That's it?" Hikawa blinked. "It's not going to kill us?"

"Um."

"Isn't that simple? Just go to Dolphin Bay and bring back two things."

Ryosuke Miyagi glanced at her.

"You think it's easy?"

"Isn't it simple?"

"Dolphin Bay is a training base; it has security guards, surveillance cameras, and fences. What we're looking for could be evidence, locked in a warehouse; or it could be relics, sunk somewhere on the seabed. And..."

He paused.

"That place is the source of the evil god's birth. Why don't you think it goes and take it itself?"

Himawari was stunned.

Matsushima Yukio frowned slightly.

Hoshina Momose, who was in the corner, looked up and whispered, "Because... there's something it's afraid of there?"

"That's right." Ryosuke Miyagi put away his pen and paper.

"The fact that even an evil god fears this, and that he's targeting the 'Lone Ranger' spirit, already indicates that this spirit's abilities will greatly aid him in retrieving those items. Therefore, we have six months to prepare. After six months, we'll fulfill this deal."

Ryosuke Miyagi touched the revolver he was holding with his right hand with his left hand.

"So, what about the past six months...?"

"Do what you're supposed to do for the next six months."

Ryosuke Miyagi leaned back in his chair. "Let's deal with the matter at hand first—that rhinoceros beetle."

The driver, "Ku," glanced at his owner and the young magical girl in the back seat through the rearview mirror, and a slight smile curved his lips.

He recalled many years ago when he drove an old bus, shuttling through the same streets every day, carrying different passengers and listening to different stories.

He did the same thing back then, looking at the passengers through the rearview mirror.

There were high school students who had just finished evening self-study, young couples who had just finished their dates, office workers who had worked overtime until late at night, and mothers holding babies.

Some laughed, some cried, some remained silent, and some argued.

But no matter which one it is, he will drive steadily and take them to their destination.

Then they would get off the bus and walk into their own night, never to meet again.

And now...

He glanced at the young faces in the rearview mirror.

They will get off the bus.

But they will come back up again.

again and again.

This must be what "home" feels like.

Kong looked away and gently pressed the accelerator.

The bus sped across the ground like a yellow lightning bolt, heading into the depths of the night.

……

Ryosuke Miyagi leaned back in his chair.

He turned the cylinder of his revolver, watching the three bullets gleam faintly in the light.

[Bomb No. 1 - Floating Bomb] - Makes the target lose balance and float in the air for 2 seconds.

[Bomb No. 2 - Fake Bomb] - Clears all abnormal statuses on the target for 10 seconds.

【Series 3 - Retrograde Series】 - Guaranteed hit, forces the target to return to its position 1 second ago.

Three bullets.

It has moderate offensive capabilities, but its effectiveness is very strong.

He suddenly remembered that line of small print:

"You must not fall before all three shots are fired."

"Boss."

His thoughts were interrupted by Hisakawa's voice.

He raised his head.

Hikawa leaned against the back of the seat, tilting her head to look at him, her red ponytail hanging down, her eyes sparkling.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Hisakawa grinned. "I just feel like hanging out with you is actually quite fun."

Ryosuke Miyagi looked into her eyes.

There was only pure excitement and anticipation inside.

"The most interesting part is yet to come."

He put the revolver back into his palm.

"Want to pull off a big heist?"