Ultra: Heroes Don't Ask Where They Come From

"Xia Long, you are so gentle."

"what?"

Sora touched his chin with his hand and said in a deep voice;

"I don't know why, but I feel like you've become more gentle recently. Is it because you've been living a leisurely life all day? I feel like you've retired, eating and drinking like an old man, taking walks and raising fish every day. So your fierceness has decreased sharply!"

"I haven't encountered anything that requires me to be fierce, right?"

Xia Long helplessly evaded Sora's idea, but as if a flash of inspiration had occurred to him, he said;

"Do you know how easy it is to become a warrior?"

"Become a warrior?"

"Although it is difficult in reality, when the opportunity really comes, it can be done very easily." As he spoke, Xia Long pondered for a while.

"...There was a time in the past when I worked very hard to survive, and I thought about becoming a guerrilla fighter, or maybe it was possible. But in the end, I didn't do that, because fighting... when misfortune catches up with you, you are caught off guard. You don't even have time to let go of your fear, you have to move forward."

"This, is it from the fight with Ultraman Ace?"

"No, I'm not one of the Yabo people who invaded back then. There's no way I could have fought with Ace, right? Although it's convenient to think of me as a Yabo person, strictly speaking, I'm not a Yabo person either."

"Hey, what does that mean?"

"I am nobody. I have lost my sense of national identity. If I must say, I am a 'time traveler'."

"What about you, Sora? Do you think strength is important?"

"Important, but not very important, right?"

"Hmm~?"

"I like exploring the universe, but it's impossible to explore all the time. In fact, when traveling in the universe, most of the places we go to are populated, which means everyone has to communicate with others. Most people follow a rule. Everyone is willing to follow this rule because it allows everyone to live a better life. Xia Long, the power you mentioned refers to the power of a person himself, right? The power of violence?"

"Yes."

"But when following the rules, people don't need the power of violence. Everyone uses something that contains many values ​​to communicate with each other, including materials, interests, things that are useful to you and me, or things that we like. Even if the universe is vast and there are dangerous monsters, big monsters and alien monsters, most people are still willing to abide by the rules, so at that time, the power of violence is not needed."

"Correct."

"However, there are a few cases where we encounter dangerous people, evil people, pirates, monsters, and unexpected disasters. But in most cases, among people who abide by the rules, this is a minority. When we need to use violence, most of the time it is social violence. The same is true for humans, right? When monsters appear, the defense team will definitely attack. In other words, if you encounter a robbery, you may be killed. However, generally speaking, social violence is the most common. In society, it is not that there is no time when violence is needed, but most of the time it is not used. There are very few civilizations that use the strength of violence to prove the right or wrong or legitimacy of something in society, right? Even if there is such a garbage civilization, it will not last long!"

"Really? That's right."

"That's why I said that strength is important and unimportant, because sometimes we need strength, but in the end, most of us don't have access to strength in our daily lives. But these are just my personal opinions, and I don't talk about the system. Don't worry about it, Xia Long."

"That's very well said, Sora. I never knew you were so wise."

"Hehe, although I am very small among humans, I am also considered a, well, well, not a genius, but I am a wise person, an elite!"

"Ha ha!"

"Captain, why would you do that?!"

The camera turned and arrived at the base of the Set team.

This large base in Tokyo, staffed by the Defense Forces, is both a spectacle and a anchor for protecting the city.

Vice Captain Araki looked embarrassed when asked about Kitajima's question.

Previously, Kitajima’s childhood sweetheart wanted to come visit the Set team, but was finally rejected and stopped by Vice Captain Araki.

The Sete team's base is certainly not open to anyone, but it is not as strict as previous bases. This can be seen from the fact that they dare to set up a base in the center of Tokyo. They have also held charity events such as inviting children from orphanages to visit. If relatives of team members come to visit, they just need to follow the procedures and it is not that strict.

Kitajima saw the embarrassment of Vice Captain Araki, and because of past experience, he asked in confusion;

"Can't you?"

"No, this matter..."

The dilemma for Vice Captain Aragaki is that he believes that Kitajima's childhood sweetheart is not just a simple childhood sweetheart. That childhood sweetheart has lost contact with Kitajima since childhood. Moreover, as a person related to a team member, it is a bit unreasonable for him to want to visit the base of the Set team so urgently. Ordinary people would not want to visit a military base so much, right?

What's even more unreasonable is that Kotaro used an instrument to extract...

But these are just suspicions, not conclusive evidence, and this person is an important person to Kitajima who values ​​feelings, so although Deputy Captain Araki is hesitant, he cannot take action immediately, and even finds it difficult to speak out.

"Why not? She's just an ordinary person. Why are you so harsh on her, Captain?"

"Well, Bei Dao, there are many reasons for this."

"I don't understand why you are targeting her, vice-captain! If that's the case, I will resign from the Set team!"

"I'm sorry, Mari. Team Set was so rude to you, but don't be angry. Higashi Kotaro and Vice Captain Aragaki are both good people. There must have been a reason why they were so rude to you at that time."

Facing his childhood sweetheart, Kitajima explained again. With his hands in his pockets and wearing a white sweater, he walked with Yamakawa Mari in the garden where they walked together when they were children.

But the truth said nothing, but her eyes seemed to contain thousands of words.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't let you go on the visit that day. Don't worry, if you can't go in the end, I won't go to the Sete team. Think about it carefully, I have been working for so many years, and I should relax occasionally."

"Tetsuya!"

Mari Yamakawa couldn't help but scream out loud, and she threw herself into Kitajima's arms. Kitajima was startled by Mari calling his name and rushing towards him.

"What, what happened?!"

Yamakawa Mari raised her head, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, Bei Dao, I lied to you. I'm no longer a human being. I'm a monster transformed by aliens!"

"What--"

Since childhood, Kitajima Tetsu has lost contact with Yamakawa Mari.

That was more than ten years ago. At that time, the Delz people from the universe came to the earth and captured some human children. These children were taken to the outer space and eventually transformed into monsters through human experiments. Mari Yamakawa was one of the successful ones, a biological weapon.

The Delz people wanted to use Mari Yamakawa as a way to test the power of mankind and the earth, because they had set their sights on the Set team. Mari Yamakawa was sent for this reason. She has a time-limited device on her body. When the time is up, she will automatically turn into a monster and cause destruction.

However, Mari Yamakawa was moved by Kitajima's sincerity and took the initiative to tell the truth.

However, at this time, the time limit device had reached the final stage. Mari Yamakawa asked Kitajima and the Set team to kill her before that, but it was too late. In front of the Set team and Kitajima, Mari Yamakawa turned into a monster.

Taro transforms and fights him.

After turning into a monster, Mari Yamakawa should have lost her wisdom, but during the battle, the monster still showed a trace of humanity. Taro discovered this, and out of concern for Kitajima, he wanted to send the monster into outer space.

[It is better to kill a human who has turned into a monster than to let him wander in space, Taro. ]

[Or do you have some compassion in your heart, and think that a trace of humanity might be revived and eventually restored in the wandering of the universe?]

Moist sea air appeared in Tokyo, and in the hugeness of the behemoth, the black man used telepathy to Taro.

【Who are you! 】

[I can only admit that even I can't restore this monster to its original state. However, I have a more thorough method than that. ]

The black man jumped from a height of several hundred meters, and then jumped a thousand meters in the middle. In front of him were two members of the Set team, including Vice Captain Araki and Tetsuya Kitajima. The two men were covered in soot, and it was unknown how they had parachuted down during the battle, as if they had rolled in the scorched woods.

The moist sea air revealed the original form.

That was, the fangs as fast as lightning, biting off the body of the monster that Yamakawa Mari had transformed into in an instant, and then retracted.

"—"

"Don't worry."

Xia Long's hands were moving, one hand stretched out like a paintbrush, and in his hand, the face that had become familiar to Bei Dao during this period was appearing. As if woven out of thread, the woman's body appeared little by little, a woman's body composed in the light.

"When the gatekeeper falls asleep, you turn around with the storm, and what grows old in your embrace is the rose of time."

Bei Dao took a step forward with tears in his eyes.

“When the bird path defines the sky, you look back at the sunset, and what appears in the disappearance is the rose of time.”

Deputy Captain Araki's face changed drastically, and he looked like he wanted to watch but didn't want to. He had no choice but to raise his gun and fix his eyes on the demonized Xia Long.

"When the knife bends in the water, you cross the bridge to the sound of the flute, and it is the rose of time that cries in the conspiracy."

The huge Taro tilted his head, then realized that he couldn't turn his head, and stared at the small piece of land with his Ultra Vision. But he seemed to be forcing himself.

Xia Long raised one hand with his palm facing upwards, and a black stream of smoke appeared in his hand, which he then pushed and merged into this new body.

The light around the already intact woman disappeared, and she seemed to lose her strength all of a sudden, and collapsed to the ground, but she woke up after a while, her baby-like eyes gently blinked, opened in confusion, and looked around. She saw Bei Dao, and it seemed that her vague will was anchored, and her thin lips gently uttered in confusion;

"... Tetsuya...?"

"truth!"

Kitajima Tetsuya rushed forward and hugged Yamakawa Mari quietly. In the eyes of Taro whose red lights kept ringing, in the embarrassed and somewhat moved eyes of Vice Captain Araki, and in the confused eyes of the other Set team members who came running over, Kitajima Tetsuya and the naked Yamakawa Mari hugged each other tightly on the grass.

“When the pen draws the horizon, you are awakened by the gong of the East, and the rose of time blooms in the echo.”

"The mirror is always the present moment, and the present moment leads to the door of rebirth, and that door opens to the sea, the rose of time."

Xia Long finished reading the poem and said;

"This is a poem by Bei Dao, a poet from another world. You may encounter many unexpected troubles in the future. I hope you can be together. After all, Mari Yamakawa died more than ten years ago."

【etc! 】

Taro, who had held on until now just to wait for Xia Long, quickly stretched out his hand, trying to keep him.

【Who are you...?】

[I am nobody, Taro, and I wish you good luck. I just hate tragedy.]

He disappeared without a trace, as if his existence just now was just an illusion.

But the air where he was seemed to still retain some warmth.

At night, Xia Long and Sora were lying under the slightly cool night sky, and Xia Long asked;

"Sora, do you want anything else? I have some extra spaceship materials."

"No more transformation, no more transformation!!"

Sora said in panic, then complained;

"Xia Long, how come you have so many spaceships?"

"Well, some travelers are very interested in Taro. Sun has dealt with those, and I picked up the rest." Xia Long supported his head with his hands. "But it's not always there. If there are aliens who have been on Earth for many years, I can't guess who they are, or they are hiding very well. This is not impossible."

"Humph."

The Eridanus man hums softly in response to his friend.