Chapter 104: Rest Assured, It Won't Wear You Out Completely

“Could there really have been this many times!?”

Mita had never carefully counted before, but now looking at the records with time discrepancies, there were no less than ten instances.

The first occurrences of mismatched times dated back to the Defense Force era.

During training, communications would be cut off for several minutes, yet the fighter’s timer would show over an hour had passed.

“What’s going on here?” Chiba still couldn’t quite understand.

Ishimuro stared thoughtfully at the main screen’s records and said, “Could it be that whenever there’s a time discrepancy, it means Falcon Squadron encountered that enemy?”

“That’s exactly right, and it happened more than once,” Jotetsu, who wasn’t well-versed in science, couldn’t explain it clearly, so he added, “Imu has done research on spacetime.”

“When he returns, have Imu develop a device to counter spacetime travel and install it on Falcon Squadron’s aircraft.”

“That way, if that guy comes after Falcon Squadron again, we can immediately expose his whereabouts.”

Saying this, he looked at Mita and the others: “Captain Mita, you’re not fighting alone. Don’t forget, you have comrades in XIG!”

“But—” Mita wanted to say something.

Ishimuro pressed a hand on his shoulder: “There’s no ‘but.’ XIG won’t let any squad be sacrificed easily.”

Though Chiba still didn’t quite understand, he knew Jotetsu already had a solution, and the details didn’t matter.

He only remembered the anti-spacetime device that could reveal that enemy’s trail.

“Mita, trust your comrades. XIG isn’t just Falcon Squadron; there’s also Lightning Squadron and Cool Dragon Squadron.”

“Besides,” Chiba glanced at Noe and with a teasing smile said, “Cool Dragon’s Noe really can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt.”

His playful words made Noe blush.

Everyone around laughed heartily, their eyes exchanging knowing glances between Noe and Mita.

Though Noe was a girl who appeared valiant and heroic while piloting a fighter jet, these looks still made her feel shy.

She quietly glanced at Mita and found he was looking at her too, causing her to lower her head slightly.

Atsuko watched this scene and said to nearby Joker with envy, “How wonderful, I want to have a sweet romance with a pilot too.”

Joker, clearly aware of Atsuko’s secret, leaned in and whispered, “It’s Captain Kajio, isn’t it? Haven’t you made up your mind yet?”

“You’re going to kill me—don’t say that out loud!” Atsuko’s expression panicked.

She quickly looked toward Ishimuro and the others, relieved no one was paying attention to them.

Lowering her voice, she muttered, “I don’t know why, I just don’t feel that way about Kajio anymore, but I’m still a little unwilling.”

“Oh?” Joker’s face showed understanding, curiously asking, “Is it because after spending so much time with Imu, you’ve started having feelings for him?”

---

“Don’t say nonsense! How could I possibly like someone younger?” Atsuko’s eyes flickered with panic. Annoyed by the teasing, she snapped, “Why don’t you go after Jotetsu?”

“Every time you meet, you call him ‘Jotetsu-kun’ so affectionately,” Joker teased.

Atsuko’s words made Joker flustered, who quickly covered her mouth.

Their eyes instinctively shifted toward Jotetsu, only to find him looking their way.

“Stop it!” Joker, flustered, hurriedly gestured for Atsuko to be quiet, as if they’d been caught.

The two turned back to face the monitoring screen, pretending nothing had happened.

With Jotetsu’s hearing, of course he had heard every word.

Atsuko was clearly attracted to Imu.

But probably having secretly liked Kajio for so long, she was still struggling to decide.

Having settled the Falcon Squadron matter and the plan, Tsutsumi sternly looked at them: “I’m very disappointed in you three this time!”

“Since there are three of you, handwrite a 30,000-character self-criticism and submit it by tonight!”

“And for disobeying orders, copy the pilot code one hundred times!”

Mita, who had been exchanging glances with Noe, stiffened at this.

“Ah? Director Tsutsumi, maybe we could change that…”

He could accept almost anything else but this would really make him lose his hair.

Tsukamori and Hayashi also widened their eyes, looking at Tsutsumi expectantly.

Just hearing it already gave them headaches.

“No other options!” Tsutsumi refused mercilessly, ordering, “Falcon Squadron will execute immediately!”

The three of them lost their smiles, their faces stiffening.

Tsutsumi knew what they were thinking: compared to physical punishments, brain-draining tasks left a deeper impression.

The three of Falcon Squadron left the command room, their expressions pained.

It was nearly afternoon, and there wasn’t much time left today.

They wondered what else Tsutsumi would make them do if they couldn’t finish.

Noe almost laughed but held it back.

Jotetsu suddenly recalled something and reminded Ishimuro: “Right, when Imu returns, have him modify the XIG fighters’ weaponry.”

“The current fighter attack power is a bit weak, lacking decisive firepower.”

Looking at the enemies they had faced so far,

None could be defeated by air force firepower alone.

Of course, the monsters had tough hides and high defense—sometimes even Ultramen couldn’t break through—so it wasn’t fair to say human fighters were weak.

XIG’s fighters were already very advanced.

Besides, one couldn’t hold XIG to the same standards as the KOT team.

Who would have thought a single ‘Sky Monkey’ could take down Zetton?

In the KOT era, space was truly the domain of the wild frontier.

It was unclear why Earth’s defense forces had become weaker over time.

It was almost like while civilian technology advanced, military tech regressed; only with Mebius did things improve somewhat.

After briefing Ishimuro about Imu’s tasks upon return to base, Jotetsu left the command room and piloted the EX aircraft away.

Researching the spacetime conversion device, upgrading the air force’s weapons, and installing the anti-spacetime device for Falcon Squadron—

Imu’s workload was suddenly full.

He’d likely have to work overtime for a long time to complete everything.

Would it tire Imu? He had already mastered the Ripple technique.

With the Ripple’s recovery mechanism, going three days without sleep was no problem.

Jotetsu had experienced this firsthand.

During his own training, he went a week without sleep or food and still survived.

He remembered this clearly.

Lisa, that old woman, despite her pretty face, had a truly black heart!

Jotetsu gritted his teeth at the thought.

If he ever had the chance to return to that world, he’d definitely go back to ‘settle the score’!

He felt confident about this—once he had the ability to traverse parallel universes, with enough tries, he was sure to succeed.

Besides, the star-shaped birthmark on his shoulder was a coordinate!

(The End of this Chapter)