At the Kikuchi Laundry.
Keitaro found the shop empty shortly after returning and was puzzled. "Where did Takumi run off to? Mari should be back soon, right?"
Just then, he received a phone call from Mari, and he finally understood what had happened. He quickly drove to the scene and found Mari with Takumi.
Though Takumi had regained consciousness, his body was too weak to move. Keitaro and Mari quickly helped him into the car and drove back to the laundry shop.
"What on earth happened? How could Takumi get beaten up this badly, and even lose the Driver?"
In Keitaro's mind, Takumi, even if defeated as Faiz, shouldn't have been injured so severely and definitely shouldn't have had the Driver stolen.
"Was it that Horse Orphnoch from last time?" Keitaro immediately thought of Yuji Kiba, who had withstood the Crimson Smash and knocked Takumi away that night. After all, he was the only Orphnoch who had genuinely hurt Faiz; the others were easily eliminated, like chopping vegetables.
"No... it wasn't him. This time it was a... very strange guy..." Takumi managed to say with difficulty. "He didn't seem to be an Orphnoch."
"Not an Orphnoch?" Keitaro was confused.
"Yeah. Anyway, that guy was incredibly strong..." Takumi shared his perspective.
Mari, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up: "Actually, thinking back, if that Kaijin hadn't shown up, I probably would have been attacked by the Orphnoch already."
Having calmed down, Mari was finally able to put the pieces together. While Raven's gruesome, hand-to-hand dismemberment of the Orphnoch had truly terrified her, he had saved her. The subsequent events only happened because the arriving Takumi had mistaken him for an enemy.
"Wait, so besides Takumi, there's someone else fighting the Orphnochs?" Keitaro guessed, realizing from Mari's words that the person who hurt Takumi had also killed an Orphnoch right before the fight.
"It was all my fault, that's why Takumi..."
Mari was incredibly regretful. If she had been calmer and less fearful at that moment, she might have been able to communicate with Raven.
"Mari, don't blame yourself. Maybe that guy only came for the Driver," Keitaro offered comfort.
"But now that the Driver is gone, what do we do if we run into an Orphnoch again?" he suddenly added.
Even though Keitaro couldn't use the Driver himself, he felt a quiet satisfaction in helping Takumi retrieve it and fight the Orphnochs to protect the city. Now, even that small sense of fulfillment seemed to be gone, which disappointed him.
"We can't do anything about it. Let's just hope that now that the Driver is gone, the Orphnochs won't show up anymore," Mari said, trying to be optimistic. Without the Driver, maybe she could finally return to a normal life. She had originally come to Tokyo to find her father at the Smart Brain company, but she was rejected before even meeting him. She just wanted to stop dealing with all this mess and pursue her own dreams.
....
At the Smart Brain headquarters.
Smart Lady, who was monitoring the location of the Faiz Driver, suddenly noticed that the belt was no longer at the laundry shop. Instead, it was showing up in an unusual place.
"Why is it here?"
On the screen, the satellite positioning system showed the final coordinates pinpointed to the Amazon Café and hadn't moved.
After confirming the situation, Smart Lady's mouth curved into a subtle, sinister smile. "Perfect. I can have the Lucky Clover teach this guy a lesson."
....
On the other side.
Kyouji Murakami drove away from the company building and headed to a discreetly located bar. This was the main hangout for the Lucky Clover members.
Murakami walked through the door and familiarly approached the bar counter. Sitting nearby were a tall, thin man with a cold gaze, sipping a drink, and a black man petting a small dog.
"It's been a while, Mr. Takuma and Mr. Jay."
Murakami greeted the two men politely. Neither of them looked up, merely offering a perfunctory response, remaining absorbed in their own worlds.
To ease the awkward silence, a seductive female bartender stepped forward and spoke to him directly:
"President Murakami, you're a busy man. What brings you to our humble establishment?"
The speaker was Saeko Kageyama, the Lobster Orphnoch, the only female member of the Lucky Clover and second only to Kitazaki in power.
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