All of Li Bei's decisions were made in an instant. By then, the flying coke hadn't even traveled far. Just at that moment, an orange plastic tray suddenly blocked the path of the coke and burger, intercepting all the splashing soda.
"Kobeni, be careful."
Aki Hayakawa silently put down the tray he had casually grabbed from nearby. As one of the most elite members of the Public Safety Devil Hunters, this level of reaction was mere child's play for him. After all, unlike others who relied on devils, his greatest strength lay in his own combat skills.
As for why he didn't use devil powers... Honestly, Aki didn't know either. He clearly had a powerful contract devil, the Future Devil, and using it didn't even require any payment from him anymore. Yet he always disliked using devil abilities.
"S-S-S-Sorry!"
Nearly dumping food onto a customer's head, if not for Aki's intervention, Kobeni would likely have been fired again. But even after escaping this disaster, Kobeni was still terrified into a quivering mess, only able to tremble and apologize profusely.
Li Bei naturally waved it off generously. After her panic subsided, Kobeni finally regained her composure and continued working clumsily.
Aki sat down at the table behind Li Bei, also waiting for his food.
While he wanted to chat with Kobeni, his former colleague, it was better to let her work peacefully under the current circumstances. After all, compared to the busy Kobeni, he was much more idle now.
Perhaps it was Kobeni's usual bad luck striking. Not long after she left Public Safety's Special Division, the Public Safety system underwent significant restructuring—long story short, the entire Public Safety was now basically under Makima's management.
The benefits and treatment for the Special Divisions improved considerably, and the workload decreased significantly. Though still highly dangerous, it was much better than the previous life where one constantly risked their neck.
Unfortunately, Kobeni, having already resigned, couldn't enjoy the current benefits.
And he, along with Denji and Power, received even more special treatment. For some reason, Makima gave them exceptionally little work, even meeting them only a handful of times, as if she didn't want to see them.
Aki didn't know why this was the case, but he was quite happy about it. At least he didn't have to worry about Denji and Power dying in battle against devils someday.
These current days, like a father caring for two rowdy children, though mundane, were quite blissful for him. If there was one small imperfection, it was that whenever he truly felt happy, a sense of emptiness always lingered in his heart.
But that shouldn't matter anymore, right? Life was good now; perhaps some things didn't need to be forced out of memory...
"Ahehe, so there's such a thing... Hahaha! Interesting, interesting—Aki Hayakawa, the future truly is interesting!"
A figure like a withered branch appeared in Aki's vision, the branches on its body trembling with excitement. "Indeed, the future is the best!"
"Future Devil, what nonsense are you spouting now?"
Aki subconsciously covered his eyes.
The Future Devil allowed him to see the future and predict enemy movements during combat, making it an excellent ally. And unlike other devils, Aki no longer needed to pay a price when using it, because the Future Devil seemed to have already collected something—although neither of them remembered what it was, the contract still existed.
The biggest drawback of such a perfect devil was its noisy mouth and occasionally erratic personality. Since it often spouted strange things others couldn't understand, Aki had grown somewhat accustomed to this situation by now.
"Hehe, nothing at all. I just remembered some things I should have remembered anyway, that's all~"
The Future Devil's voice lowered, like an audience member waiting to watch a play. "And you'll remember soon too... For now, why not take a look at our current location?"
Location? The Future Devil's words made Aki subconsciously look up. He glanced left and right, finding it was just an ordinary family restaurant. If there was anything special, it was probably that the shop's mascot was particularly ugly. "There's nothing spec—?!"
However, the moment he saw the street scene outside through the glass window, Aki's pupils abruptly dilated. He quickly pressed against the window, rapidly scanning the street outside.
Wrong. The street outside wasn't the place he came from—more accurately, it was a place he had never seen before!
The street is so wide, so many cars... This isn't Tokyo! Where is this place? And how did he get here?!
Aki shot up abruptly. The sudden movement startled Kobeni, who was just walking over with a tray, causing her to fall directly to the ground, the coke on the tray drenching her. But Aki couldn't be bothered with such minor details now.
He quickly rushed out the door of the family restaurant, standing at the entrance, looking around in bewildered uncertainty.
Yes, the surrounding scenery had changed. Th-This... What exactly was going on? Was he under attack by a devil?!
Instinctively taking two steps back, Aki returned inside the restaurant. He then instinctively prepared to ask someone if they saw the same thing, to determine if he was under a hallucination attack.
But when he subconsciously turned to look for the young man who had been sitting behind him just now, he found the other person had disappeared at some point.
"Kobeni, where did the person sitting behind me just now go?!"
"Um, um... He already packed his things and left."
...Not an attacker, just someone purely here to buy a burger?
"Kobeni, the situation has changed! We might be under attack by a devil! Stay put here; I'm going out to investigate the situation—"
Just as Aki, without looking back, instructed Kobeni while drawing the nail from his back, preparing to cautiously step onto the street to investigate, Kobeni tugged at his sleeve from behind. "Hayakawa-kun, you haven't, haven't paid yet..."
Aki: "..."
---||---
Unlike Aki, whose mood was complicated by being chased for payment by his junior, Li Bei felt much better walking down the street.
Perfect escape!
So what if they were Unit Two's old acquaintances from daily life? They still couldn't find him~ One could only say everything went according to his plan.
Sitting on the way home, Li Bei sensed a spatial fluctuation from above and to the side. Unlike the sudden appearance of Aki and the family restaurant earlier, this time Li Bei could clearly capture the entity arriving from the other world.
This situation made Li Bei feel somewhat helpless; after all, inconsistent senses were sometimes more harmful than no senses at all...
Just like now. Because Li Bei sensed the spatial fluctuation, he subconsciously glanced in that direction.
And then met a pair of suddenly appearing golden eyes.