Chapter 155: Ready

During the past two days, Uncle Oda had thoroughly rested and prepared himself, Hiroyuki had basically completed his dream adaptability training, and Tregear had made a series of preparations of his own.

Tonight, therefore, was the time for everyone to inspect the results of their efforts.

After dinner, everyone gathered in a conference room—even Tregear was present. When the others walked in and saw him, their expressions were more or less awkward. After all, in their memories, they had been fighting this notorious cosmic villain only a short while ago, yet here they were, sitting in the same room for a tactical briefing.

The atmosphere felt somewhat delicate and subtle.

In the conference room were Mr. and Mrs. Kujo along with Titas, Soya Hozuma and Fuma, Riku and Pega, Hiroyuki, as well as Taro and Tregear. A video conference line had also been dialed, showing the great scientist Hikari, Uncle Oda, and Little Black King on the screen.

It was a lineup so luxurious it could easily anchor several theatrical feature films.

Yet, because this was merely a television production set, not everyone could possibly take the field. Limited by the available space, only three people would be heading into action, and one of them had stated right off the bat that he was merely passing by and couldn't even be bothered to join the excitement.

"I will not be acting with you," Tregear waved his hand, effectively brushing aside the sidelong, suspicious glances wondering if he harbored ulterior motives.

"Once I enter the dream, I shall go about my own business. It will not interfere with you, provided you do not get in my way."

Following his conversation with Tregear at noon, Hiroyuki had immediately gone to report to the Captain. Since Tregear had informed him of this in advance without asking for secrecy, it clearly meant he intended for the Captain to know.

...Of course, had Tregear demanded secrecy from Hiroyuki, it would only have prompted Hiroyuki to report to the Captain even faster. In any case, given the Captain's wisdom, no scheme could ever be concealed from him; Hiroyuki merely needed to recount precisely what Tregear had said. Ever since arriving in this script-driven world, Hiroyuki had mastered various ways of averting death flags, refusing to let simple matters be needlessly complicated just to give the author an excuse to drag out another dozen chapters.

Tregear had said that encountering Noah's dream trial to select a Dunamist was the opportunity he had sought for so long.

Through the data he had spent years gathering everywhere, Tregear had learned that every dream contained an entrance leading to the abyss. In truth, the phrase "every dream" wasn't entirely accurate; biologically speaking, all dreams existed in the same place, merely overlapping one another like a multi-layered pastry, yet remaining within the very same space.

Hiroyuki instantly translated the concept in his mind and understood at once: wasn't this essentially mirror technology? It was the kind commonly used in online games, where players were clearly in the same location yet completely invisible to one another. The scenery within each individual space could differ, but they fundamentally occupied the exact same space.

And the entrance to the abyss was hidden right within that dream space.

The Bakugon optical ring in Tregear's possession was something he had prepared long in advance. However, when he used the optical ring to infiltrate other people's dreams, he encountered a major problem: dreams were unstable. Leaving aside the constant, erratic scene shifts, sometimes a mere rustle in the outside world—or occasionally nothing at all, for no logical reason whatsoever—would cause the dream to abruptly snap. It was difficult enough for Tregear just to stand firm, let alone search for the so-called entrance to the abyss.

Yet this dream, used by Noah to screen for Dunamists, was rumored to remain stable for over five hours, or even longer... Wasn't this precisely what he had been dreaming of?

On the other side of the screen, Uncle Oda was also prepared. Having slept soundly for two days with the aid of equipment to build up his energy, he was ready to face tonight's trial. He had arranged a comfortable bed and even set up a small nest for Little Black King right beside his pillow.

As for Hikari, he would continuously monitor Uncle Oda's vital signs. Should any anomalies occur, he would directly wake Uncle Oda up and terminate the trial, depending on the circumstances.

No trial was ever more important than a human life.

The same applied to Hiroyuki, who had been repeatedly and earnestly admonished by everyone that if any accidents occurred in the dream, he should not hesitate to pull the ring and evacuate immediately.

"...So, what are we actually here for?"

For a moment, Riku felt somewhat bewildered. A similar confusion enveloped Pega and the Kujou couple. Seeing several people already swarming around Hiroyuki, they felt it inappropriate to wedge themselves into the commotion; adding to the chaos when help was needed least would be unfortunate.

"Didn't I say? It's a vacation."

The voice coming from behind made Riku shrink his neck in a start. Turning around, he saw the Captain walking over carrying steaming hot coffee and familiar little cakes.

...Those little cakes had also been brought from the mainland; Riku had been the one tasked with procuring them, running several kilometers with a shopping list before finally finding the bakery.

Riku murmured his thanks, accepted a cup of coffee and a small cake, and only after taking a sip did he realize: serving them coffee at this hour meant they were expected to pull an all-nighter.

"I also called you here to help keep an eye on them."

Too lazy to keep holding the tray, the Captain set both the coffee and the cakes down on a nearby low cabinet. By now, the aroma of the coffee and the sweetness of the pastries had already caught the attention of the others. Since it was the prime late-night snacking hour when hunger easily struck after dinner, everyone hurried over to grab some food.

As the clustered group dispersed, the three people originally trapped in the center were finally revealed.

Hiroyuki's jacket was half-open, with vital sign monitoring equipment placed nearby and over a dozen electrodes attached to his body. This setup left Hiroyuki somewhat baffled—wasn't he just sneaking into the dream to check out the situation? If danger was a concern, the primary test subject, Uncle Oda, should have been the one in danger. Why was everyone acting as though he was about to drop dead on the spot? It made Hiroyuki inexplicably nervous.

Meanwhile, Tregear sat with an amused expression on a nearby cot. He had moved his own bed down from his dormitory and placed it right beside Hiroyuki's.

Standing nearby was Taro, whose face was dark as thunder.

Because as soon as Hiroyuki unbuttoned his shirt, it revealed the restraining harness he wore underneath. Taro recognized it at a glance as the exact same model Tregear wore, and assuming its function was identical, his face instantly darkened.

In his view, Tregear's rationality and kindness had been locked away in the deepest recesses of his mind by such a device, leaving only madness and unreasonableness exposed to the outside world. How could he possibly accept the sight of that very same confinement appearing on Hiroyuki?

Even though Hiroyuki explained that the Grimdo fragment inside him was an expedient measure taken by Tregear to save his life, and that this set of restraints came from the Science Technology Bureau—making it safe, reliable, and guaranteed—Taro was not entirely placated, and his expression remained grim. Hiroyuki and Tregear, however, simply treated the topic as concluded and moved straight on to the next subject.

"What do you mean, optimized? Isn't this just built using my old blueprint? You didn't even change it!"

After inspecting the restraints on Hiroyuki, Tregear immediately tossed them aside with a loss of interest. He had only come over out of curiosity because Hiroyuki praised the Science Technology Bureau for optimizing his past design into a remarkably effective finished product, prompting him to take a close look.

And yet, this was it?

"How can you say that? I noticed there are far fewer components, and there's no mask!" Hiroyuki was puzzled as well. He only wore three pieces of equipment in total, whereas Tregear used to be bound from head to toe. Surely simplification counted as optimization? Was Tregear just being a bad loser?

"..."

Tregear opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped. That mask wasn't actually part of the restraints; it was an extension of his transformation device, the Tregear Eye. After pondering for a long moment, he frowned and asked Hiroyuki suspiciously, "...Don't you feel like something is wrong?"

"Wrong?" Hiroyuki was bewildered. He found it worked quite well, didn't he?

Meanwhile, the disgust on Tregear's face was nearly impossible to conceal: "I mean, don't you feel that having one piece tied to your left arm and another to your right thigh looks completely asymmetrical and deeply aggravating?"

Hiroyuki: "............"

What on earth was this? Obsessive-compulsive disorder?!