Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

"Unfortunately, Leo hadn't learned the Leo Kick yet. The Slit-Mouthed Woman rammed into him with scissors at incredible speed. Leo couldn't dodge and was knocked down."

Kenta said regretfully.

"They've been defeated?!"

The children surrounding them all gasped, their excited expressions turning into worry.

"Is Ultraman Leo dead?"

A boy asked hurriedly.

"Of course not!"

Kenta immediately retorted.

"How could Ultraman die so easily! He's a giant of light! He just... um... temporarily lost his fighting ability! And then Ultraman Seven made his move!"

"Ultraman Seven?"

"Yeah! It was Ultraseven, he was bringing up the rear the whole time. He has a really powerful gun, bang! bang! He knocked the Slit-Mouthed Woman back in just two shots!"

Before Lu Cai could finish speaking, another boy corrected her.

"It's a MAC pistol!"

"A MAC pistol?"

Lu Cai looked confused.

Is that gun a pistol?

As a girl, Lu Nai doesn't know much about Ultraman.

Hearing the boy use a term that sounded very professional, he didn't argue.

"And then? What happened after the Slit-Mouthed Woman was defeated?"

The atmosphere became even more lively.

"Then……"

Kenta lowered his voice, creating a tense atmosphere.

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman has taken Sekiguchi-sensei hostage! She's threatening Ultraman Seven!"

"Wow--"

"What should we do then?"

"Ultraman Seven wasn't afraid at all!"

Kenta said loudly.

"He just pointed his Ultra Staff at the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and then... whoosh! He rushed forward like lightning! Thud! It pierced the Slit-Mouthed Woman's eye! And the Slit-Mouthed Woman fell down!"

Upon hearing this, the children let out excited whispers, as if they had witnessed the decisive blow firsthand.

"But...didn't the teacher say that a masked, kind person helped last night? Was it really Ultraman?"

A girl wearing glasses asked timidly.

"Don't be silly, how could a kind person possibly defeat a monster?"

Kenta rolled his eyes and retorted confidently.

"That seems to be the case."

The girl scratched her head and nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

This view was widely accepted; rather than a masked benefactor, Ultraman fighting monsters was more in line with children's romantic imaginations.

Just then, another boy looked around, lowered his voice even further, and said mysteriously, "And...we also overheard a secret."

"secret!"

The children asked in unison, their eyes shining even brighter.

"It's said that the Slit-Mouthed Woman is looking for her child. He's a sixth-grade student at our Shimokitazawa Elementary School!"

Kenta spoke first.

"What?!"

"Really?"

Do monsters have children?

"Who is it? Do you know their name?"

The children instantly erupted in excitement, their eyes involuntarily scanning the faces of their classmates in the classroom with curious anticipation.

The rumors have a specific target: a peer right next to you. This feeling is both exciting and unsettling.

"I don't know the name," Kenta analyzed seriously, "but I heard that the Slit-Mouthed Woman's child has the character '真' (zhen) in her name. Didn't the Slit-Mouthed Woman attack Mako a few days ago? That's the reason."

Before he could finish speaking, a loud crash came from the back of the classroom.

"Don't talk nonsense!"

A crisp, angry voice interrupted Kenta's reasoning. The girl sitting in the back row suddenly stood up and angrily rebuked him.

"That's all baseless nonsense! How could an attack on Aiko possibly connect her to the Slit-Mouthed Woman's child?"

Kenta, feeling humiliated by being publicly refuted, retorted defiantly, "I'm not talking nonsense! By the way! Wasn't it you, Mamiko, who was initially targeted by the Slit-Mouthed Woman and almost got into trouble? Maybe you're even her child!"

The baseless accusations made Mamiko so angry that her eyes turned red. The way the children looked at Mamiko immediately changed, and they began to have genuine suspicion in their eyes.

"Stop talking nonsense, Kenta!"

Lu Cai frowned and said unhappily.

"Mamiko is right. What you said is all baseless speculation. It's not even certain whether the Slit-Mouthed Woman has a child. The police officer mentioned last night that the Slit-Mouthed Woman's child shouldn't be 12 years old. Even if the Slit-Mouthed Woman has a child, no one has ever said that the name has the character '真' in it."

Kenta retorted, unconvinced, "Maybe it takes the Slit-Mouthed Woman three years to give birth? Besides, everyone attacked by the Slit-Mouthed Woman has the character 'Shin' in their name. How do you know I'm wrong?"

The rumors didn't subside because of Mamiko and Luna's rebuttals. Instead, because Luna didn't deny the authenticity of Ultraman, the unverifiable details snowballed along with the rumors.

Especially when rumors involve specific names, they take root at an astonishing speed.

During breaks, in the corridors, on the playground, in the toilets... you can hear discussions everywhere at Shimokitazawa Elementary School.

"Did you hear? Ultraman came to school last night and defeated a monster called the Slit-Mouthed Woman!"

"I know! Mr. Sekiguchi was killed by the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Luckily, Ultraman was there, otherwise everyone in the school would have been killed!"

Is that true?

"Yes! My home is near the school. An ambulance came to the school yesterday. I heard the Victory Team came too and took the Slit-Mouthed Woman away!"

"You probably don't know, but that sixth-grader, Taniguchi Mamiko, is the daughter of the Slit-Mouthed Woman..."

"Really? No wonder the Slit-Mouthed Woman has been around the school!"

"I always thought Mamiko was strange; it turns out she's the child of the Slit-Mouthed Woman!"

……

There are more and more versions, and the details are becoming more and more bizarre, but they are all baseless speculations.

In the collective imagination of children, filled with both fear and excitement, the Slit-Mouthed Woman incident gradually acquired a convincing quality.

Some children began to deliberately avoid Mamiko, as if she carried an ominous presence.

Mamiko could sense the deliberate rejection and prying.

Unbeknownst to her, the identity of "the child of the Slit-Mouthed Woman" became an invisible label attached to her.

"A bunch of idiots... they just believe anything they hear."

On her way home from school, Mamiko thought resentfully to herself, trying her best to appear indifferent.

"Let them say whatever they want, it's not true at all. My mom and I have absolutely nothing to do with that monster. That's how schools are; they immediately start spreading rumors and slandering people whenever something happens. It's so incredibly boring."

Pushing open the door, the familiar scent slightly dispelled the gloom in Mamiko's heart.

The afternoon sunlight slanted into the living room, casting long patches of light on the floor.

"I'm back."

She called out weakly toward the kitchen.

The faint sound of water coming from the kitchen.

Her mother stood with her back to her in front of the sink, washing something. Her figure was silhouetted by the light streaming in through the window, the edges of which were somewhat blurred.

Upon hearing Mamiko's voice, the mother slowly turned her head.

The backlighting shrouded her face in shadow, obscuring the details of her features and leaving only a rough outline.

But Mamiko could sense that her mother's lips parted in a smile and she was being shown a smile.

"Welcome back, Mamiko."