"Mm, what is it, Tohka? Is living in the tower uncomfortable? Do you want me to help you find another house? Or did you have a fight with that little girlfriend of yours? Come on, just tell me what's going on—I'll definitely help you sort it out." As soon as the call connected, Tohka heard Tony's teasing voice.
"Forget it, it's nothing—pretend I didn't say anything. Also, you'd better be careful." Hearing Tony sounding so cheerful, Tohka swallowed back the words she'd been about to say. Judging by his tone, he was living quite comfortably and even had the mood to joke with her. If that was the case, Tohka simply said this one simple sentence. Anyway, the guy had his own energy shields protecting his house, so it shouldn't be that easy to blow the place up—at least he'd have time to react.
"Eh? That's all?" Miku Izayoi looked at Tohka in surprise. She hadn't expected her to end it so quickly—or more accurately, to basically say nothing at all. This was very different from how she'd acted before.
"Don't worry about that guy—let him do whatever he wants." Tohka lazily glanced at the just-hung-up phone and had no intention of warning him further. After all, she didn't plan on playing prophet—sometimes it was better not to spell everything out.
"Tohka-sama, there's a courier downstairs who says he has a package for you." Just then, Jarvis's voice suddenly sounded.
"A package? For me?" Tohka froze when she heard that. They'd received plenty of deliveries, but they were always for Miku Izayoi's fans—those packages were full of all sorts of random things, including a few sets of lingerie and unmentionable items. But this was the first time anything had come addressed to her. After all, her circle of acquaintances was mostly a bunch of unusual people, and none of them would be mailing her things.
"Hold on—I'll go get it." She gave Miku Izayoi a quick explanation and then simply jumped out the window. Yes—she literally jumped. The two of them had gotten so used to saving time that they almost never used the front door. In the beginning, the neighbors and delivery personnel had been scared stiff. But gradually everyone got used to it. This time, the courier didn't even bother going to the main entrance—he was just standing underneath their window, waiting.
"Hello—Ms. Tohka, this is your package." With a loud thump, the crater in the ground got a little deeper. Then Tohka walked out of the rising dust cloud. The delivery guy calmly held out a pen and a box to her.
"Mm, thanks." She signed her name casually, tucked the box under her arm, bent her knees, and with a single push leapt back up to her room.
"Hey, Tohka, what is it? Open it and let's see!" Seeing Tohka arrive holding a box, Miku Izayoi was a little curious. She couldn't help it—back when she received all sorts of weird gifts from her fans, Tohka had laughed at her for ages. Now she was already imagining that this might be something interesting so she could gleefully make fun of Tohka in return. After all, Tohka was a superhero—surely she had her own fans, so maybe this was a fan gift.
"Mm… all right, let's have a look." Tohka glanced curiously at Miku Izayoi—who for some reason seemed rather excited—and didn't think too much about it. After all, she was also quite curious about what was inside. Under Miku Izayoi's expectant gaze, she swiftly opened the outer box.
"Eh? What's this?" But to Tohka's confusion, there was another box inside. And somehow, this smaller box felt odd—she couldn't explain it, but she sensed some sort of special energy from it.
"Mm, come on, hurry up and open it. Maybe there's something strange inside—who knows, maybe it's a ring someone sent you." Miku Izayoi didn't overthink it. She just cheerfully speculated. After all, she'd gotten gifts like that before herself.
"Mm—it is a ring. But why does it feel… strange?" When she opened the smaller box, Tohka really did find a ring inside. But something about it felt wrong. She picked it up and examined it closely.
"What is it? Is there something wrong with the ring? Don't tell me someone mailed you a bomb? Though that shouldn't be possible—the couriers always check." Miku Izayoi had been about to tease her further, but when she saw the expression on Tohka's face change, she swallowed her words and just stared at her with a puzzled look.
"No—this thing seems… Be careful." Tohka murmured, and instinctively channeled her power into the ring. Instantly, she felt it destabilize. There was no time to explain—she wrapped it in spirit energy and hurled it away.
BOOM. Just as it left her hand, a huge explosion shook the tower. Even Stark Tower's specially reinforced glass wobbled and rattled—but thankfully didn't shatter.
"What was that? That really was a bomb! But bombs are usually on timers or something—how could it be triggered by your spirit power?" Miku Izayoi's face turned grim as she stared at the site of the explosion. She could feel the intense magical residue.
"There's… also a letter. And Jarvis—let them know I'm fine. This was just an accident." Tohka's face darkened. She glanced at the damage, then spoke to Jarvis via the computer. Then she picked up the envelope that had been inside the box. If the explosion had been triggered by her power, this had to be something from the "mystic side"—no wonder normal security hadn't detected it.
"This is… Chinese characters? 'One week from now, Dragon Valley, China—fight to the death. The Mandarin.'" Reading the note, Tohka's expression turned ugly. She realized the man on TV really was a fake—the real Mandarin was someone else. After all, the true Mandarin wasn't some Middle Eastern caricature—he was Chinese.
"What's that—Chinese?" Miku Izayoi was also peering curiously at the note. She could recognize the characters—since Japanese still used quite a few Chinese kanji.