74 Chapter 73: Odd Reunion

"The labyrinth huh..." Zenkichi blankly muttered as he stared at the empty white hallways, knowing this was the first floor of the underground facility and the biggest one of all.

As he passed through the Door of Rejection and entered this place, he couldn't help but recall how Medaka had been brainwashed and fought him like a wild beast.

The thought of it made him more anxious to get back to them.

"I didn't think I'd see you so soon," A familiar calm voice sounded, snapping Zenkichi from his thoughts.

'That's...' Zenkichi's eyes widened.

Takachiho, wearing a long white lab coat over his casual boxer clothes, stood before him with a exuberant grin.

"What's with that face? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Takachiho snorted, his eyes glinting with mischief.

In that moment, Zenkichi remembered the previous timeline.

Instead of a enthusiastic and healthy looking Takachiho, the image of his lifeless body slumped against the wall flashed through Zenkichi's mind. The sight of blood pooling around him and his lifeless, terror filled eyes staring off into nothingness made Zenkichi let out a deep sigh.

"Oh you don't know the half of it."

"Hm?" Takachiho raised an eyebrow.

Zenkichi waved his hand, "Trust me, you don't want to know. Look man, I'm in a hurry so you either get out of my way..."

Zenkichi raised his head, a cold icy glint flashed in his eyes. Killing intent seeped out from him, causing the atmosphere to turn heavy.

Takachiho shivered and without thinking he lowered his knees, and went into a fighting stance.

'What is this feeling?' He thought, a bead of cold sweat rolled down his face.

All his life, he had never considered himself as special–but as a freak. As he never known the fear of death.

He'd been scared and terrified before, when his parents and younger sister died and only him had survived.

The reason why he had joined this project wasn't because he wanted to control his Abnormality, but because he wanted to find someone stronger than him and finally make the sadness and despair in his heart disappear.

But the man in front of him, Zenkichi, just with a cold stare made his Abnormality, Auto-Pilot, go into overdrive.

"...or I'm going to put you to sleep."

'He isn't kidding...' Takachiho nervously gulped, smirking.

But despite the fear, he smirked.

Wasn't this what he was searching for all these years?

"Nah." Takachiho took of his lab coat and started stretching his limbs. "I think I'm gonna stay here."

Zenkichi stares at him.

Takachiho stared back.

"...You're a good man, Takachiho-senpai."

There was a beat of silence as Takachiho's eyes widened, Zenkichi disappeared in front of him in a flash, his Auto-Pilot obviously went to defend the attack that was coming for him–

He was too fast.

"...Heh. S-Son of a bitch..." Takachiho's eyes slowly closed as his knees went weak, his body swayed before falling forward. "W-Why show killing intent when..."

Then he fell down on the ground with a loud thud, unconscious.

Zenkichi smiled, rubbing his left hand. "Hey, I did say I was going to put you to sleep. Now then," He turned around and vanished into thin air.

...

Itami Koga was just your average, everyday cyborg hot gal that was minding her own business as usual. She was feeding and patting the augmented cute animals in her floor, the Zoo.

They were all like her. Former normal animals, living their everyday normal, boring lives. But they were all remolded into something better by her best friend in the entire world! Naze-chan!

It was just like any other day for her... So imagine her surprise when a handsome, foreigner looking dude came into the door with a serious expression on his face.

'...Damn he's hot.' Although she was turned into a cyborg, there was a reason she still kept her flawless and revealing big tits, milky white skin, and long athletic legs.

A girl needs wants some relief once in a while.

Though unfortunately, there'd been no guy that caught her attention.

Well there was but... they were just either fucking weird or had something wrong in their head.

'Ah! The handsom guy's staring at me now! Be cool, be cool...' Itami took a deep breath before smiling cheerfully at the handsome guy.

In any normal situation, people would've at least questioned why there was some unknown guy walking into their door.

Especially if they looked handsome! 8 out of 10, the guy is a criminal.

But this was a girl that had been stressed for far too long now, to the point she got desperate enough to wear less clothes to get a worthy catch.

And also because she was confident, as the Flask Plan's strongest woman, she had never known defeat.

Unfortunately however, she met the strongest high school student in history.

"Hi! Welcome to my floor, which as you can see, is the Zoo! Hehe." Itami greeted, her voice slightly flirtatious. "Name's Koga Itami, but you can call me Itami~" she said, saucily winking at him.

The foreigner looking guy blinked, which was Zenkichi, his serious expression softening slightly at the sight of her.

There was no way he didn't remember her, she was Naze's best friend and the first person he'd ever seen being blown into pieces in the previous timeline.

"Zoo, huh? Interesting."

"It sure is! We've got all sorts of animals here, but they're not your typical animals. They've been enhanced with Naze-chan's amazing technology!" Itami explained, proudly showing off the animals in the room.

He nodded, his eyes roaming around the room. "Impressive. So, you're Itami Koga, right? The strongest woman in the Flask Plan?"

Itami grinned, leaning against the railing. "That's right. You've heard of me?"

"I've heard stories. Seems like you're quite the force to be reckoned with," he replied, a hint of intrigue in his voice.

She laughed, flipping her hair playfully. "Well, I have my moments. So, what brings you here? Looking for some excitement?"

He chuckled, his eyes sparkling. "Actually, I'm looking for an old friend. And I think we share the same friend, judging by the intimate tone of voice you had when you said her name."

Itami's eyes widened, "Eh? You're friends with Naze-chan?!"

A mysterious glint flashed across his eyes, he chuckled. "More or less."

"But... she never mentioned about anyone like you before." Itami furrowed her brows, rubbing her chin. "No, wait. Actually, she never really mentioned anything about her past because she lost all her childhood memories. Are you...her childhood friend!?" She dramatically gasped, shocked.

Oh no, and so the childhood friend appears!

Itami had seen a lot of stories in her life; anime, manga, games, etc. So this kinda cliché situation was extremely familiar to her!

A protagonist in a story meets a long forgotten or distant childhood friend, who now wants fo fulfill long-lost promise of love or seek revenge or something. It was all so exciting!

'Gasp!' She inwardly gasped, realizing another possibility. Was this...a romcom?!

What if Naze was the story's main character, and she the obvious side character best friend, and Zenkichi was the love interest?!

'But wait! Childhood friends or sweethearts almost never end up together in a story!!'

Itami's mind short-circuited for a moment.

Zenkichi chuckled at Itami's excitement, finding her reaction amusing. "Well, you could say that."

"Oh my god, this is so exciting! I can't believe I'm meeting Naze-chan's childhood friend!" Itami squealed, grabbing Zenkichi's arm, not noticing the surprised look of the latter and mouthing: "childhood friend?"

"You have to tell me everything! How did you meet? What kind of adventures did you have together?"

Zenkichi couldn't help but smile at Itami's enthusiasm. It was a refreshing change from the seriousness and intensity of the situation.

'So this is Naze's so called best friend... huh. I never expected her to be so... cheerful? Full of excitement and being the best bundle of happiness and joy?' His face turned blank for a moment.

'How did they even become best friends?!'

"Well, it's a long story." He softly said after a moment of thinking.

"I have time, don't worry!" Itami insisted, pulling Zenkichi towards a nearby bench. "Sit, sit! Tell me everything!"

Zenkichi shook his head and gently pull off her grip. "To me however, I don't. I'm sorry Itami but I have to go and meet Naze."

"Eh? What's so important that you have to go talk to her?"

"..." Zenkichi was silent for a moment, a look of hesitation appeared on his face before he let out a sigh. "Coming to meet Naze... isn't the sole reason why I'm here."

"Itami, I'm here to dismantle the Flask Plan project."

Itami stared at him.

Zenkichi looked back at her.

Itami tilted her head, the corners of her mouth curled into an innocent smile.

"...I know what you're about to do, and I am advising you not to–" Zenkichi didn't even manage to finish when Itami threw out a straight punch with all her strength, only for Zenkichi to divert her punch with the back of his left hand and strike her abdomen with a powerful palm strike, sending her flying to a wall with a loud crash.

And yet despite feeling like she was hit by a truck and letting out a groan of pain, Itami looked fine.

Well, that was to be expected. This is because Naze remodeled her, transforming her body into that of a cyborg, and making her near invincible. Koga's modified body allows her to bend in unnatural ways, heal at unnatural speeds, and grants her inhuman strength and speed.

Her project name of Best Pain is a reference to the nature of her modifications: her pain receptors were not only kept, but enhanced, making her extremely sensitive than the average human.

She didn't dressed less just to look good y'know!

'Aiya~ I knew it was too good to be true.' Itami pouted as she weakly smiled at Zenkichi. 'A mysterious hottie just coming into my doorout of nowhere and knowing about Naze-chan, and then revealing that he wants to dismantle the Flask Plan? This is turning out to be a much more interesting day than I expected.'

Zenkichi looked straight at her, his expression serious. "On the account of Naze, this will be your only warning. Get out of my way, or I'll put you to sleep."

'Naze told me about her best friend's modifications before and it'll be extremely hard to knock her out unless I unleash a lot of electricity using Weighted Words.' But due to her modifications, Itami's body is highly resistant to electricity, making it hard to accomplish or he'll straight up kill her. Zenkichi knew he would have to come up with a different plan to subdue her.

Itami chuckled, standing back up and dusting herself off. "You think you can put me to sleep that easily? That's adorable, but I'm afraid you're underestimating me."

She cracked her knuckles and assumed a fighting stance, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I've fought plenty of tough opponents in my time, and I've never lost. So, bring it on."

Zenkichi frowned, not expecting such resilience from Itami. He knew he couldn't hold back if he wanted to subdue her, but he also didn't want to cause her any serious harm.

"Fine, if that's how you want it," Zenkichi said, his voice steady and determined.

'30% should be good enough that I wouldn't kill her... maybe.' He inwardly thought as he roused the spiritual power in his body, blue circuit-like lines appeared across his body.

A wide, bright grin split across Itami's face. Although she doesn't understand why Zenkichi's body had those strange blue lines and a suffocating aura, she couldn't help but feel thrilled at the prospect of facing off against such a formidable opponent. It was an opportunity to test her own strength and see just how far she had come since her transformation.

Without wasting any more time, Itami lunged at Zenkichi, her movements fluid and incredibly fast. She unleashed a barrage of powerful punches and kicks, each strike carrying an incredible amount of force. But Zenkichi was equally as agile and skilled, easily evading her attacks and countering with his own.

The two of them moved with incredible speed, their movements a blur as they traded blow after blow.

'She's better than our previous battle.' Now that he was against a more lucid and sane Itami compared to her previous incarnation, Zenkichi could easily tell how she earned the title as the strongest woman.

However,

"Gah!" Itami gasped, a muscular fist buried itself deep into her solar plexus, rattling her artificial internal organs and breaking a few of her steel bones.

she was still mortal. Cyborg or otherwise.

Zenkichi softly sighed as he looked down at her wheezing figure, "You are strong, Itami. A truly invincible being among the normal and Abnormal populace. However, you've got limits."

"H-How... did you...!?" Itami stuttered as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I observed your movements and calculated the timing," Zenkichi explained, his voice calm and composed. "You have impressive strength and speed, but your body, or the energy that's fueling your physical capabilities and healing factor, still has its limits. And I found the perfect opening to strike. Plus, Naze kinda filled me in about you a bit."

"...You really do know her."

Itami gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with determination. "Still, I won't... give up... that easily."

Zenkichi raised an eyebrow, impressed by her tenacity. "You don't know when to quit, huh?"

"I'll show you... the true extent... of my power!" Itami exclaimed, her voice filled with determination.

"Enough, Koga-chan." However, a soft emotionless voice interrupted their fight, causing Itami to freeze and Zenkichi to sigh. They turned to see Naze standing at the entrance of the Zoo, arms crossed, her expression blank and devoid of any emotions.

"Naze-chan!" Itami exclaimed, relief washing over her face. "You're finally here!"

Naze's gaze however, were on Zenkichi. Her hands clenched tightly against her arms.

She gritted her teeth, "Zenkichi... What the hell is going on here? Where's Ryota? And what the hell was that, that thing?!"

Zenkichi blinked.

"Huh?"

....

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