Jin’s POV
   After leaving Shino at the hospital, Jin flies back to the lab and enters it through the entrance.

   The first corpse he sees used to be a woman. She was sitting down on a chair behind a reception counter. Both her eyes are closed, and both her hands are on the armrest of the chair. Not a single drop of blood is seen at her body nor her clothing, which consists of a simple white shirt, black pants and lab coat. Her face isn’t contorted into one that belonged to someone who faced unseen horror before dying. If Jin didn’t know any better, he would have mistaken her for merely being asleep. Jin walks pass through both the corpse and the counter and reaches an elevator.

   On the side of the buttons is a piece of paper. The paper itself is being fixed to the spot by using a cellophane tape. The note reads: “All of us are waiting for you at the LG floor.”, so that’s where Jin decides to head.

   As written by the note, the entire gang is waiting in front of the elevator. There are a large number of people here as well: men and women of all size, shape and age. The youngest one is in his or her teenage years, while the oldest one is around seventy to eighty-years-old. All of them are wearing a simple white hospital gown.

   “I take it that the rescue was carried out safely?” Jin asks Fukuma.

   The boy nods. “There wasn’t anyone who stopped us, for starters. All of the guards and researchers were dead when we arrived.”

   “With no one to stop me, I managed to download loads of evidence, although no one might be left to put behind bars.” Mika adds.

   “Just keep them. They might come in handy later. By the way, I saw the dead receptionist up there. Is everyone working here being killed the same way?”

   Tatsuma nods.

   “Yup. All of them looked like they were sleeping at first glance, but are actually dead.” he replies.

   Jin takes a quick glance at the crowd of people. All of them look scared and exhausted, but doesn’t seem to be hurt in any way.

   “Are all the trapped people accounted for?” he asks no one in particular.

   “I asked some of them the same question. They said that everyone is still here.” Fukuma reports.

   “Good.”

   Audrey comes closer to him.

   “Say, Minase-san. What do you plan to do with them?” she asks him with a soft voice that could only be heard by the two of them.

   “Hmm…”

   Jin activates his Eyes of Truth and scans the crowd once more. As he has half-expected, some of them have mana stored inside them. A few are probably genetically modified like Fukuma was. Although Jin has no means of finding out unless he asks.

   “I’ll seal off the mana of those who have mana inside their body. As for those who have their body modified, I’ll make do with putting an ice Spell on them that freezes them if they ever transform, whether willingly or not.”

   “The mana-sealing part aside, is not the second part a bit cruel?”

   “You got a better idea than that?”

   Audrey couldn’t answer that.

   Jin looked at the crowd for the third time and explained the situation to them. Some of them go pale when he mentioned the second part of his plan. Looks like they know who they are.

   “What are you going to do to those who got frozen up?” one of them asks fearfully.

   “I’ll do my best to make you go back to normal. If that fails-” Jin replies.

   He shrugs.

   Audrey glares at him.

   “What?” he demands.

   “You should have said that in a less fear-inducing way!” she chides.

   “You’re welcome to help me out with it.”

   “It is too late for that!”

   “What a shame.”

   “Say, what if I give them lessons on how to control their body better?” Fukuma spoke up.

   “I appreciate your offer, but you’re not even supposed to be out tonight.” Jin points out. “You were meant to stay in your cell, remember?”

   All his other allies turn their neck to look at him.

   “I would love it if you could give us more context on that, Silver Wolf-san.” Audrey requests.

   “Don’t wrap your pretty little head around it. It’s no big deal. More importantly, we need a place to hide all these people until we know what to do with them.”

   “I could give them shelter at our place. We have lots of empty rooms there, anyway.” Tatsuma offers.

   “I guess that’s one thing that got settled. Anyone have any objections to that?”

   No one has any.

   “We’ll call it a night, then. I’ll leave things here to you guys.”

   “Do you have some other business to take care of?” Ayumi asks.

   Jin takes out his phone from his Vault. He always sets it to vibrate mode whenever he’s outside, and it’s vibrating right now. As expected, Sergeant Wakaba is the one who’s calling him.

   “I’m going to get lectured,” he informs.

   “Ah.”

   “Chimera, make sure that you go back to your cell after this.”

   “Course I will.”

   Jin waits until he’s outside the lab before he answers the call. During that time, his phone has never stopped vibrating.

   “Hello?”

   “Good evening, Minase-kun. Are you done with whatever business that you were taking care of?”

   “As a matter of fact, I was just done.”

   “Good. I want to speak with you face to face. Right now.”

   Her tone is cold and doesn’t allow a single shred of disobedience. Jin could easily imagine her smiling her emotionless smile at the other side of the phone.

   “I take it that you’re in your house right now.”

   “That’s right.”

   “Please give me five minutes, then.”

   “Five minutes and no longer.”

   In less than five minutes, Jin has arrived in front of the house where the Wakaba family resides. Wakaba opens the gate for him when he rings the doorbell.

   “What exactly did you do this time?” she asks while the two of them are heading inside the house. “Onee-chan is quite upset, and that’s really saying something considering how much headache you gave her previously.”

   “Hmm, I don’t know how much she knows, so I think it’s better that I keep my mouth shut for now.”

   “...Seriously, what exactly did you do?”

   Sergeant Wakaba is waiting for him at the living room, and she’s standing in front of a sofa while wearing casual clothes. Estyshana is sitting on the left side of the sofa while holding a bag of crisps. Upon seeing him entering, Sergeant Wakaba exhales sharply, while Estyshana opens up the packet gleefully.

   “Do sit down, Minase-kun.” Sergeant Wakaba tells him with a tone close to a teacher who’s about to give her student a stern lecture. “You can put away your armor too.”

   Jin stores away his armor in his Vault and sits down in front of her as told. He then looks at Wakaba who’s looking on with a concerned look on her face.

   “Can I have a drink? Preferably something with ice.” he requests.

   “In case you haven’t realized it, Minase-kun, I’m about to give you a lecture here!” Sergeant Wakaba tells him with barely concealed anger.

   “I do realize it, sergeant. The thing is, I had a long, tired night. I would love some simple refreshment, even if it’s just a glass of water.”

   She lets out a long, tired sigh.

   “Get him a glass of ice green tea.” she tells her younger sister.

   Wakaba gets up from her seat. “Sure.”

   “Don’t bother with the straw.” Jin says.

   “Got it.”

   “Come on, get to the lecture already!” Estyshana demands.

   Sergeant Wakaba turned her neck so that she could glare at her.

   “Why are you even here? This has nothing to do with you!”

   “It does too! It’s not often I get to see a Hero getting lectured and scolded!”

   Sergeant Wakaba lets out another tired sigh.

   Soon, Wakaba got Jin his iced tea. He accepts the glass from her hands and takes a sip from it. Ah. Pure bliss.

   “May I start now?” Sergeant Wakaba asks as Wakaba sits down next to Estyshana.

   “Just one thing. Is it okay if your younger sister do it instead?”

   Sergeant Wakaba furrows her eyebrows. “What difference does it make?”

   “I mean, if I have to be lectured, I might as well be lectured by a mother-”

   A cushion comes flying at his face. He dodges it easily by slightly tilting his head. Naturally, Wakaba was the one who threw it, and she’s puffing up her cheeks angrily. Her elder sister clears her throat.

   “...Let’s just do this. Why did you let Fukuma out of his cell?” she begins by asking.

   Jin shrugs. “I figured that it’s better for him to take part in the operation that I was also a part of.”

   “And what kind of operation were you taking part in, exactly?”

   Before Jin could answer, Sergeant Wakaba’s phone rings. She takes it out from her pocket and stares at it for a few seconds.

   “...Should I answer this?” she asks eventually. “I’m scared, to be honest. Real scared. If I listened to what they have to say, my hair might turn white from all the stress.”

   “Go on Sergeant Wakaba, it’s not that bad.”

   “So it’s bad news nevertheless…”

   She takes a few deep breaths before finally pressing the Answer Call button. She then puts the phone near her ear.

   “Hello?”

   Whoever it is at the other side of the phone spoke for a few seconds. Sergeant Wakaba lets out a gasp of surprise.

   “What? All of them? How did our colleagues even find out about it in the first place?…Ah, I see…”

   She glares at Jin.

   “He’s right here with me. I was giving him a stern talking to for releasing Fukuma. Yes…thank you for your report, and thank you for your hard work.”

   Sergeant Wakaba lets out a sigh once more and puts away her phone.

   “Good news sergeant, your hair didn’t turn white at all.” Jin reports casually.

   She was too busy massaging her temples with her hands to say anything for a while.

   “...Of all the crazy things you did so far, this one is the one that really takes the cake. What on earth happened?” she asks once she was done with her massage.

   “Well, you know, stuff.”

   “Yes, and you better start filling me in before I lose my temper.”

   “Say, can Chifuyu and I have some context here?” Estyshana requests. “We’re starting to get lost.”

   And so, Jin has to explain everything from scratch: him hearing about Shimada’s brother from Watanabe and how he got involved with the Ryuuzaki Group, how Jin happened to meet their leader Tatsuma and his sisters while he was stopping a scam, how they ended up forming an alliance and raid the UCI lab at Roppongi, how Austin is involved in all this and that King Alistair Atwood is planning to invade Earth in a few months’ time-

   “Wait wait wait, hold on.” Sergeant Wakaba interrupts.

   “Yes?”

   “King Atwood is the one who’s ruling the human kingdom at Ifezan, right? You told me so when we first met.”

   “That’s right.”

   “And he has plans to declare war against our world.”

   “Yup.”

   Sergeant Wakaba covers her face with her hands.

   “On the bright side, at least I wasn’t the one who started it.” Jin comforts.

   “Thanks, that makes it so much better.” she growls.

   “Will we really get involved in a war?” Wakaba asks while looking really concerned.

   “Most likely. I didn’t spend that much time with that man and get to know him really well, but I know him enough that he won’t joke about this kind of thing.”

   “Is it me, or you don’t sound concerned at all?”

   Jin shrugs. “What happens, happens.”

   Estyshana, who has been wriggling her index finger at empty air for a moment now, speaks up.

   “Bad news. I’ve been trying to open a portal to Ifezan, but I can’t. Someone or something is preventing me.” she reports.

   “I assume that it’s the work of our Grand Magus.”

   “And who’s that supposed to be?” Sergeant Wakaba asks.

   “Alyshia Oatwolf, a woman in her twenties. She has brown hair, blue eyes, and she’s around your height.” Jin describes.

   “I’ll make sure to pass words around so that we could be alerted if she ever shows up.”

   “Much appreciated. And while you’re at it, I hope you can pass words around in case you find this person. Her name is Beatrice Atwood.”

   Sergeant Wakaba furrows her eyebrows at the name.

   “Atwood, you say?” she repeats.

   “Yes, she’s King Atwood’s daughter. According to Austin Graylock, she tried to revolt against her father and was disowned as a result. She was reported to be missing, but she could be in this world for all we know.”

   “She knows you, right? If that’s the case, wouldn’t she have tried to find you if she was really here?”

   “Maybe she tried but failed, maybe she has difficulty in doing so. In any case, please have your colleagues keep their guards up.”

   “Of course. What does she look like?”

   “She’s around my age, has blond, curly long hair and brown eyes. She’s slightly shorter than me.”

   “Understood. And speaking of Austin Graylock, didn’t you tell me that he was dead?”

   Jin shrugs. “He was revived just like how the Four Demon Marquis and the Demon Lord were.”

   The mere mention of them makes both Wakaba sisters look at Estyshana. The demon looks back at them impassively.

   “Don’t you two worry, I’m fine.” she assures them.

   Even though she said that, Jin could tell that she’s just acting tough. He can’t really gauge how much she hates him right now, so he refrained himself from getting up and pats her head.

   “Revived mad scientist and demons, a king from another world declaring war. This is a lot to take in…” Sergeant Wakaba mumbles while shaking her head. “Your surprise alliance with the Ryuuzaki Group seems mild compared to all those things you said.”

   “There’s one more thing that I haven’t told you.”

   “There’s more? How much worse can this get?”

   “Actually, this one is pretty mild in comparison to the ones before.”

   “Really?”

   “Yes. My younger sister was at the lab.”

   “...Wait, what?”

   The two sisters stare at Jin like they couldn’t believe what he just heard. Even Estyshana has stopped eating her crisps.

   “It’s true. She was being experimented on too, although I didn’t ask her about the experience.”

   “Um, I need some explanation.”

   “Of course.”

   And cue another storytelling time.

   “...So, you just left her at the hospital? Just like that?” Sergeant Wakaba asks after he is done.

   “Sergeant, even I’m not that heartless as to leave her to die.”

   “You were heartless enough to beat her up.” she reminds him pointedly.

   He shrugs at that. “It was necessary to stop her.”

   Sergeant Wakaba rolls her eyes.

   “Of course it was…” she mumbles sarcastically.

   “Um, do the two of you not get along well?” Wakaba asks Jin.

   “Totally. We hate each other a lot.” he replies.

   “I, I see…”

   “Not every sibling has a good relationship like you and your sister, Wakaba.”

   “I know, I know. Still, you can try to fix it, right?”

   “Yeah, not a chance.”

   Wakaba looks away while looking slightly depressed.

   “By the way, are you going to do something now that she knows your true identity?” Sergeant Wakaba asks.

   “Does it matter at this point? If she spreads it around, she would either be branded as insane, or I’ll be avoided like a plague by most people around me. Either scenario is fine by me.”

   “There’s her ability too. Are you sure that it’s fine if you don’t seal it off?”

   “Eh, it’ll be fine. For starters, she needs her hatred towards Silver Wolf as fuel if she wants to use it.”

   “And you think that the hatred has diminished now that she knows the two of you are the same person? She hates you, remember?”

   “Well, yeah, but not as much as she hates Silver Wolf. I mean, we had a little talk last night, and she was being quite meek.”

   Suddenly, Wakaba puts on a hopeful expression. Estyshana looks at her.

   “Is this what you humans call “tsundere”?” she asks.

   “Yes! That’s exactly it!” Wakaba replies gleefully.

   “No, it’s not.” Jin contradicts.

   “Deny it all you want Minase-kun, but it’s still the truth!”

   Jin decides to give up since he doesn’t want to waste his breath. Sergeant Wakaba clears her throat.

   “In any case, I still need to send someone to keep an eye on her. Which hospital is she in?”

   “The Sanno Hospital.”

   Sergeant Wakaba immediately excuses herself to make multiple phone calls.

   “Say, tomorrow is a Saturday. You’re going to pay your sister a visit, right?” Wakaba asks Jin while her sister is gone.

  Jin stares at her.

   “...Why?”

   “For starters, to apologize to her for beating her up.”

   “Yeah, no. Apologies are used when someone did something wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Jin says stubbornly.

   “Let’s meet up in front of the hospital at 10 in the morning tomorrow.” Wakaba decides arbitrarily.

   “Oh, dear. Someone has been upgraded from mother to grandmother. Look how her hearing has deteriorated.” Jin mutters.

   Another cushion comes flying at him. He dodged this one with ease as well.