Daigo hurriedly let go of Jovian's hand. His face was pale with alarm, his forehead drenched in sweat, his chest rising and falling like a small animal that had just been badly frightened.
"Daigo, that was very rude. Apologize to Dr. Jovian at once."
Megumi Iruma stepped in front of Daigo after he flung Jovian's arm away. Supporting him with one hand, she reprimanded him in a cold voice.
"I…"
Daigo wanted to say something, but when he looked up, all he saw was a pair of gentle eyes.
Of course Iruma had noticed that something was wrong with him. She knew Daigo was not the kind of person who would act like this for no reason. If he had reacted that strongly, then there could only be one explanation: he had sensed something unusual about this American doctor named Jovian. But Jovian was talent personally brought in by the Director General, so she could not start openly suspecting him right away. The only thing she could do was signal Daigo to admit fault first and avoid leaving a bad impression in front of the Director General.
In that instant, Daigo understood a great deal from Iruma's look alone. He immediately swallowed the explanation he had been about to give.
"Dr. Jovian, I'm sorry!"
"That was rude of me…"
Daigo bowed to Jovian in apology.
"Daigo has been busy lately investigating all the strange climate phenomena happening across Earth, and he hasn't been sleeping well. He's been under a lot of mental strain, which is why he acted so rudely. He normally isn't like this at all, so I hope you and the Director General can forgive him."
After Daigo apologized, Iruma explained the situation to both Jovian and the Director General.
"I understand."
Jovian smiled and nodded, while giving Daigo an extra look or two. He had not expected Mr. Daigo, the man with the genes of an Ultra-Ancient warrior in his body and the future human host of Ultraman Tiga, to be this sensitive to the power of darkness. He considered his disguise pretty solid, at least ordinary Ultra warriors would never have noticed him.
"Even as a member of GUTS, you can't spend all your time working. You need rest too. So how about this…" The Director General stood with his hands behind his back, still wearing his usual kindly expression. After thinking it over, he said, "Give Daigo a few days off so he can recover properly."
"What?" Daigo's expression changed at once, and he immediately looked at Iruma. "Captain!"
It was obvious he wanted Captain Iruma to persuade the Director General to take back the order.
"No. This is my decision."
The Director General's tone was firm.
"Officer Daigo, take a few days and get some proper rest."
Iruma knew the Director General well. Once he had made up his mind, there was nothing they could do to change it.
"Ah…" Daigo clenched his teeth, then finally nodded helplessly. "All right."
"Hahaha…"
"Why do you look so unhappy when I'm telling you to rest?"
"Paid leave is the kind of blessing plenty of people would kill for."
Seeing how reluctant Daigo looked, the Director General could not help laughing.
"No, of course it's a good thing! Thank you, Director General, for giving me this opportunity!"
Daigo looked like he wanted to cry.
"I heard you wanted to visit the Geological Research Institute before, but never had the time, right?"
"Well, now you do."
Seeing how unwilling Daigo was to leave his post, the Director General walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and spoke quietly.
"So you knew…"
Daigo froze for a moment after hearing that. He had not expected someone as high up as the Director General to have been paying attention to him all along.
"Ahem…"
"In any case, make good use of it."
The Director General gave a light cough, turned, and started walking toward the exit of the GUTS base.
"Thank you for making it possible, Director General!"
Daigo immediately bent at the waist and thanked him respectfully.
"This kid…"
At the doorway, the Director General smiled to himself when he heard the voice behind him. Ever since Daigo had saved his life, he had kept an eye on him. He thought very highly of Daigo. On the road upward, the only thing Daigo still lacked was the seniority to command the respect of others.
"Oh, right!"
"Dr. Jovian, stay here and speak more with Captain Iruma. Learn more about your work going forward."
Just as he reached the door, the Director General seemed to remember something. He turned to look at Jovian and spoke seriously.
"Leave it to me."
Jovian still wore that easy smile.
"Good…"
"From here on out, it's a matter for you young people."
"We're getting old."
The Director General looked at Jovian, who was flawless from head to toe, so perfect he almost seemed like a machine, smiled faintly, then turned and left with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Take care, Director General!"
Iruma and Daigo both bowed respectfully toward his departing figure.
Jovian, meanwhile, just smiled as he watched everything in front of him. He clearly wanted to laugh, but did not quite dare, which made holding it in genuinely painful.
"From today on, let's enjoy working together, Captain Iruma and Officer Daigo."
After the two of them straightened up, Jovian smiled at them and spoke.
"Uh…"
"All right, Dr. Jovian!"
Hearing Jovian's calm voice, Daigo could not help recalling the horrifying vision he had seen when they shook hands earlier. Instinctively, he lowered his head and did not dare meet Jovian's eyes.
"Dr. Jovian, you've only just arrived at the Far East Base from America, and there's still a lot here you're unfamiliar with. Why don't I show you around the base so you can get acquainted with it?"
Iruma seemed to notice that Daigo was afraid of Jovian. She took a step forward, placing herself between the two men and separating them, then addressed Jovian seriously.
"All right."
Jovian still carried that air of someone treating the world like a game. He nodded without concern.
"Daigo, go back to the dorms, change clothes, and get some fresh air."
Only after Jovian agreed did Iruma issue an order to Daigo behind her.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Daigo snapped a salute at Iruma, making it clear that he would absolutely carry out her order.
"Mm."
Iruma nodded lightly to him, then smiled as she stepped in front of Jovian and led the way.
"Hahaha…"
"I see, so that's how it is…"
Talking and laughing together, Iruma and Jovian left the room and headed outside the base.
"Ugh…"
"I really made a mess of things."
After watching Jovian and Iruma leave, Daigo looked helpless. Making things turn out like this had not been his intention at all. He had never wanted to show such an exaggerated reaction in front of Jovian.
But things had already reached this point, and nothing he said now would change it. All he could do was follow orders from above and take some time to recover.
"Well, I might as well get some real rest."
After stretching lazily, Daigo left the GUTS room, walked to his quarters, took off his uniform, and changed into his everyday clothes.
Then, while the sky was still dim and hazy, he left TPC headquarters…
At the same time, while heaven and earth were still wrapped in gray, a meteor tore across the sky like a burning fireball and came plunging toward the ground…
Boom!
The instant the meteor smashed into the earth and exploded, Earth itself seemed to awaken…
Three thousand meters below the surface, a gigantic sleeping monster opened its eyes the moment it sensed the meteor falling from the sky!
Roar!!
Beneath Easter Island, a winged monster suddenly opened its eyes. The alarm clock had gone off, and next came the hunting hour, or rather, the hour of being hunted…
"Officer Jovian, it's time. We need to go back for the meeting."
"Officer Jovian? Officer Jovian, did you hear me?"
Elsewhere, at TPC headquarters, Megumi Iruma repeatedly called out to Jovian, who stood there holding a cup of coffee and looking a little distracted.
"I heard you. Then let's go to the meeting, Captain Iruma."
Jovian, who had been observing every movement on Earth and sensing its changes, smiled at Iruma to show he understood.
"That's good…"
Iruma frowned slightly as she looked at the mysterious Jovian. She always felt there was something strange about him, but then again, geniuses were often the sort of people ordinary folks found strange, so she did not think too deeply about it.
"Dr. Jovian, hurry and come with me!"
"The morning briefing is already over, and the team members may have been deployed by now!"
After saying that to Jovian, Iruma immediately hurried toward the GUTS command room, leaving him with the sight of her slightly anxious back.
"It's all beginning…"
"Now that Daigo has left GUTS, can he still reach the right place at the right time?"
Watching Iruma hurry away, Jovian revealed a mysterious smile.
To bring Tiga back into the world, three conditions had to be met: the right person had to arrive at the right place at the right time.
But because of Jovian's secret interference, the right person had stepped away for the moment.
And if the right person had left, would Tiga still descend?
That thought filled Jovian with anticipation. If Daigo failed to make it in time, then Jovian would gladly claim the Tiga mantle for himself.
"Hahaha…"
"Just thinking about it makes me look forward to it."
With a soft laugh, Jovian followed Iruma toward the GUTS operations base.
When Jovian and Iruma entered the operations room…
The command room, which had been empty before, now had two people standing inside.
One was a middle-aged man with a buzz cut, and the other was a genius-looking boy of eighteen or nineteen.
"Captain, you're here!"
The moment they saw Iruma, both men lowered their heads in respectful greeting.
"Mm…"
"Munakata, Yazumi, let me introduce you. This is Dr. Jovian, who has returned from America. From now on, he'll be serving as an adviser to GUTS and helping us overcome problems we couldn't solve before."
Iruma gave a small nod in response to the two men in the room, then introduced Jovian to Yazumi and Munakata.
"Hello, my name is Jovian Grayson. I've done a bit of work in archaeology, biology, and geography. I look forward to working with you."
Smiling, Jovian extended his hand toward the two men.
"Seiichi Munakata, vice-captain of GUTS. Welcome aboard."
The buzz-cut man with the resolute expression, the one everyone in GUTS called Commander Munakata, took Jovian's hand.
Jovian could tell this man truly welcomed his arrival.
"My name is Jun Yazumi, communications officer for GUTS. Welcome aboard."
The gifted computer prodigy, still clutching his computer and looking a little shy, also stood up to greet Jovian.
"Hello. Let's all do our best together."
Jovian put on no airs at all and spoke to the two of them with complete ease.
"Of course!"
Yazumi relaxed after seeing how approachable Jovian was. The moment he heard Jovian was from America, he had worried the man would be hard to get along with.
Now it seemed Jovian was easy to talk to after all, which put him at ease.
"Munakata, where are the others?"
Looking at Jovian, who already seemed to fit in harmoniously with her team, Iruma quietly let out a breath. At the same time, she began to doubt Daigo's earlier reaction. Maybe there really was nothing wrong with Jovian, and Daigo had simply been under too much pressure.
With that thought, Iruma shook her head and stopped letting her imagination run wild. It was time to get to work.
"Rena and Shinjoh went to Mongolia to investigate the earthquakes."
"Horii heard the investigation division found a meteorite, so he rushed over there in a hurry."
"As for Officer Daigo, he contacted me and said you gave him leave?"
Munakata frowned, his eyes practically asking Iruma why Daigo had been sent off when they were already seriously short-handed.
"Don't worry about Daigo. He's been overworked lately and has even been having hallucinations. He really does need proper rest."
"Yazumi, make sure our communications with the team stay normal at all times. No mistakes."
"Munakata, contact Rena and make sure they investigate the earthquake situation in Mongolia thoroughly."
"And tell Horii to wrap up the meteorite matter as quickly as possible."
"Since Daigo is temporarily away from the team, the rest of us will have to cover his share too."
Standing before them, Iruma assigned everyone's tasks in her usual calm and orderly way.
"Yes, ma'am!"
After hearing Iruma's orders, Yazumi and Munakata immediately got busy.
"How interesting…"
Looking at Iruma, who carried a heroic sharpness and the bearing of a woman every bit the equal of any man, Jovian's lips curled upward. As expected of someone who had inherited Ultra-Ancient genes, Iruma also had the potential to become light.
But since Jovian had already decided Tiga was his, then no one else had any claim to that mantle.
Jovian was taking the Tiga identity for himself, and nobody was going to take it away from him, not even Noa or Legend. Jovian said so.
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