Chapter 910: Ch 909: The Green Trash Can Is...

The bar was dead silent.

"She... she said it..."

A muscular lion-headed beastkin, with a few cat girls clinging to his arms, spoke in a trembling voice.

"She actually said it out loud..."

A two-digit Name. And she'd said it like an insult.

Then someone screamed. "RUN!"

In an instant the packed bar emptied. The crowd smashed the door clean off its hinges, even though it was inscribed with conceptual power, and it didn't crash to the floor until a good ten seconds later.

Sun Wukong's mouth twitched. She looked at the dozens of footprints sunk into the stage floor, then at the couch ripped in half with stuffing spilling out, and sighed.

A moment ago this place had been thriving. Now it was wrecked, and the sight killed most of her good mood.

"Seriously, what's the point of pulling a stunt like that?" she said to Shiroyasha, exasperated.

Then she noticed Ryo next to her, face buried in his hand with a pained look, practically radiating regret.

'Huh? Looks like there's some inside story that this kid knows and I don't...' Wukong was just about to start guessing when Shiroyasha spoke up.

"It saves time! In a few minutes, those undying old fossils will find out I sent Shaka a gift. Isn't that great?"

"You mean that green trash can you sent him?" Wukong couldn't help rolling her eyes. "You stole the Buddha's merit box, too. Aren't you embarrassed that everyone's about to find out?"

Shiroyasha rolled her eyes right back and started cursing. "What do you know?! That was a grand gift! He'll have to give me one in return. And if it's anything below Bodhisattva rank, I'm not taking it!"

'A gift like that trash can...' Wukong's face twisted into an expression Ryo had seen before, on a certain meme.

"Hey, what's in that can, anyway?" Sun Wukong finally asked, scratching her hands curiously.

"Guess~" Shiroyasha put on a very mischievous grin.

Wukong resisted another eye roll and turned to Ryo. "Do you know anything?"

"...Haaah," Ryo let out a long sigh, then turned to Shiroyasha with a deadpan look. "I overestimated you."

He'd assumed she would leak the Kalki affair quietly. Maybe through a spy inside Thousand-Eyes, or by letting the Ouroboros buy the intel, or by passing it along through someone they both trusted.

But he never, ever imagined that Shiroyasha would walk into a bar like this and just say it out loud.

What the hell?! This is what "leave it to me" means? That's "leaving it to you" in the sense of laying my heart on the floor for you to stomp on!

"I'm an idiot." Ryo covered his face and laughed bitterly at himself. "I should never have come to this bar."

"Hey! What's with that, you little brat? You really wanted me to take the fall alone?" Shiroyasha clapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "Don't be dumb, kid! After all the times you've set me up with your sneaky tricks, you think I'd just take the blame by myself?"

She couldn't help adding, "Honestly, with your background and strength, you can handle this. And even if I said anything, you think those old fossils wouldn't notice?"

"So why bother being so sneaky about it?"

'Because I want to be safe, you idiot... There are five one-digit beings hiding in Little Garden, you know...' Ryo barely held back from cursing her out.

This dog of a woman had been way too reckless back then and offended way too many people. She'd really believed she was the second strongest in Little Garden after End Emptiness. Then she got stuffed under the Twin Goddesses and spent years learning manners.

And now, after all these years, with her losses forgotten, she was getting cocky again.

Ryo was seriously starting to suspect that if Shiroyasha weren't strong enough to be two-digit herself, she'd have ended up no better than Algol.

No, scratch that. To the upper echelons of Little Garden, Algol and Shiroyasha had always been the same kind of problem child.

"Hey, hey, what are you two talking about? You've left me hanging for ages! Explain it to me already!"

Wukong kicked Ryo's leg. He didn't budge, and she went sliding sideways on her stool instead.

Ryo turned to look at her, his expression slowly turning to pity. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Wukong rolled her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? Talking to your elder like that? You want me to raise hell in Arcadia?"

Ryo fell silent.

By seniority, he really was a generation below her, since he was bound to marry Kurousagi someday.

"Seniority is a killer," he muttered, then gave her the hint. "Kalki. That should be enough for you to work it out."

"Kalki? Isn't that what the Ouroboros people..."

Wukong blinked, and cold sweat suddenly beaded on her forehead and cheeks. "Wait, wait. You're not saying that busted trash can has Kalki inside, are you?"

Next to her, Shiroyasha burst out laughing, gleeful at her misfortune. "Oho, so you didn't notice? Looks like the Sealing Gift I got from the boss works pretty well!"

"..."

Wukong looked at Ryo, then at Shiroyasha, then thought of the meaningful smile the Buddha had worn when he sent her off.

Finally, she gave a rueful laugh, took the peach juice the bartender who hadn't fled handed her, and downed it in one go. Then she sighed. "You two have really screwed me over!"

"And that crone of a buddha! If you wanted me to stop this, just say so! Instead you let me walk right into the trap and commit a huge oversight!"

"This is payback. It has to be payback! He knew I wouldn't dig into it, so he deliberately set me up!"

As she ranted, she snatched Ryo's tea and Shiroyasha's drink, both set out by the bartender, and chugged them down before exploding.

"Hey! You two screw-ups!" She grabbed a bottle of whiskey and rammed the neck into Shiroyasha's mouth. "Today it's either you go down or I do!"

"Haaah." Ryo sighed and rubbed his face. He looked at the bottle in Wukong's hand and the threat in her eyes, thought for a moment, and held out his hand on his own.

Whatever. Just drink. Shiroyasha had pulled him into this out in the open anyway.

...

..

An Ouroboros stronghold, East District—

A one-eyed raven sat on a staircase, staring at a mountain of black parchment documents.

"A-class, give it tomorrow."

"B-class, send to the Second Union Leader."

"C-class? They sent this junk too? Just let the Third Union people handle it."

Then the raven started cursing. "Damn it. If the Heavenly Army hadn't gone and hit our supplies and wiped out a bunch of intel personnel, would I, the great god Loki, be stuck here doing overtime sorting documents?"

"Screw you, Indra! I hope your concubine gives birth to a son who's born knowing Zeus's dick size!"

After grumbling for a while, Loki kicked at the pile with his foot and dug out a golden scroll.

"S-class?" Surprised, Loki unrolled it and peered inside.

"Kalki... Ryo, is this... Wait, Shiroyasha actually... This..."

Loki stared blankly at the intel, then gulped.

Not long after, a raven carrying a golden scroll in its beak rose from the old castle and shot rapidly into the sky.

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