[Teased by Tail like that, Huohuo finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing with a "pfft."]
["They're all just forced back after you possessed them, right?" Huohuo wiped her tears messily with the back of her hand, but her lips curved upward. "It's not like they really came back…"]
["Ugh, come on—just say if they're back or not?!" Tail's flames flared up with a whoosh.]
[Huohuo suddenly reached out and gently covered the pale blue flame. Warmth spread from her palm, like grasping a ray of sunlight again.]
["Tail, you're not my illusion… You're the real Tail! You're really back! Where have you been all this time? I thought… you were already…"]
["Already dead? I haven't had it easy either." Tail explained everything after the explosion one by one, but deliberately omitted hiding in Hanya's gourd. Tsundere as ever:]
["I was planning to run off originally, but—I couldn't just leave you like that. Came specially to check if a coward like you could handle it, if you'd improved at all?"]
[Huohuo lowered her head guiltily: "Sorry, Huohuo hasn't improved at all."]
["No, you're underestimating yourself way too much. Improved? You've got guts the size of the sky! Daring to do something this dangerous alone? I suspect you don't lack courage—you just lack brains!"]
["…Th-Then what can I do?" Huohuo mumbled softly, looking even more aggrieved. "I felt like Cirrus was lying to me too, but what if I missed the chance and couldn't find it anymore?"]
["Don't bring that up anymore. Huohuo, is it really because of me that all these people left you?" Tail suddenly asked seriously.]
[Huohuo's tone was firm: "At least now, Tail is willing to come back for me. I'm already very satisfied."]
[Tail gave a soft laugh: "Since you put it that way, this great one won't feel guilty."]
——
Delicious in Dungeon.
"Phew—"
Marcille sat on her pack, staring intently at the Celestial Screen where Tail comforted Huohuo, unconsciously showing an auntie smile: "Those two finally reunited! Made me worry about Tail for nothing all this time."
"Ahh, seriously!" Seeing this, Marcille couldn't help complaining about Tail again. "This guy clearly cares about Huohuo super—duper much, yet insists on acting like 'this great one doesn't care at all'! Such a stubborn pride!"
"Dead?" Laios was focused on gnawing a grilled monster steak, sauce still on his horn as he looked up. "Dead? Who died? A monster? The type that needs bleeding first?"
"Laios!" Marcille stomped her foot in anger. "You weren't paying attention to Tail and Huohuo at all, were you? I'm talking about their relationship!"
"Who said I wasn't? I've been trying to understand what kind of species a heliobus is, okay?" Laios swallowed his chewed meat seriously. "An immortal, indestructible monster—rare in any world. I've been wondering if meat grilled by a heliobus would have a different flavor…"
"Hmm…" Senshi raised an idea too. "Or let it possess the ingredients directly—could it season the meat automatically instead of marinating?"
"Wait! You two switched to food talk way too smoothly?!"
"More importantly…" Chilchuck narrowed his eyes. "Marcille, you've been glued to Huohuo and Tail these past few days—even forgetting meals. Don't tell me… you're jealous?"
"Wha—! N-No way!" Marcille's face flushed instantly. "I just think… as companions, if everyone could be like them—able to reunite even after separating—that'd be wonderful!"
"Yeah, true." Senshi nodded. "But our party's still far from splitting up, right?"
"Who knows." Chilchuck shrugged. "If Laios suggests eating bug-type monsters again, I'm out first."
——
[The priority now was getting out. With a furious roar from Tail, he ordered the heliobus occupying Huohuo's body to get out. Scared by Tail, the heliobus panicked and fled wildly.]
[Huohuo reacted quickly, immediately stuffing the defenseless heliobus into the gourd.]
[Once Huohuo regained clarity, everyone quickly analyzed the situation: Though Cirrus didn't know Tail's location, it had figured out how to divert everyone's attention—tricking the group to Cloudford with one sentence was indeed its diversion tactic.]
[Hanya urged everyone to head to the Seat of Divine Foresight immediately and summon the General—the "endgame" he had been delaying was coming early.]
[Back in Fyxestroll Garden, Cirrus had reassembled all the previously collected heliobi around itself. It spared no mockery toward Tail and, learning from its last failure, completely abandoned any plan involving Tail. In its view, a Tail with excess emotions was nothing but trash no matter how strong.]
["The Ten-Lords Commission's array is still active. Heliobi cannot leave Fyxestroll Garden. Your so-called clever move is just a cornered beast's struggle." Hanya reminded it coldly.]
["I never intended to leave. I awoke from the furnace and came to Fyxestroll Garden for one thing only—to battle your Luofu's General." Cirrus spoke unhurriedly: "Your General loves stalling tactics, so I went along with it—advising and scheming for everyone, gathering the heliobi here to become my aid!"]
——
Gintama.
Gintoki lounged lazily on the Yorozuya sofa, setting aside his Shonen Jump. His eyes locked onto Cirrus's smug, arrogant face on the Celestial Screen.
"As expected, this guy's a textbook shonen manga villain!" Gin suddenly sat up, his gaze unusually serious for a moment. "That 'even if I die, I must fight' obsession isn't too bad."
"It's bad as hell!" Shinpachi muttered from the side. "This guy's schemed against everyone—even its own kind!"
"Scheming is scheming, but at least it's not lying to itself." Gintoki shrugged. "Compared to those hypocrites with pretty words and backstabbing knives, this 'I'm here just to throw down' villain type… tch, how do I put it? Feels a bit relatable?"