In the Problem Solver 68 office, Kayoko sat in a chair and rubbed her eyebrows, looking quite tired.
"... If I had known that things would turn out like this, I shouldn't have accepted this commission. Although the commissions accepted by Problem Solver 68 are usually not serious, this kind of thing is indeed... something that couldn't have been expected."
"Hmm? You ask what we're doing now?"
Kayoko flashed the document in her hand to the camera. "As you can see, after all the members of Problem Solver 68 were captured, they signed employee contracts and will be non-staff members of Genm Corporation. They're called non-staff members, but that really means temporary workers who are on call at any time and are not paid."
"Aru? Ah... That guy... It seems he's found a new target. Although I don't think she's very reliable."
...
...
...
Time returns to the present.
"Why does the investigation intelligence of the site differ from the original?"
As the intelligence officer and brain of Problem Solver 68, Kayoko had naturally received the information about Abydos High School in advance. However, although it was labeled as information, it was actually just a floor plan.
The dilapidated state of the Abydos campus had long been no secret. After the huge sandstorm and Kaiser Corporation's entry, Abydos had been deteriorating day by day.
The money from the loan was a drop in the bucket for desert management. The school building was swallowed by sand and dust, students dropped out or transferred to other schools, and the land of the campus was constantly eroded. It had basically reached a dead end.
"It's a sad fact that Abydos, with its long history, has fallen to this point just because of a sandstorm."
Kayoko shook her head but was confused by the information that had changed in front of her. "According to the information sent by the employer, Abydos High School... shouldn't have those buildings on the playground?"
Looking at those old buildings that were out of tune with the surrounding dusty buildings, and even the style was different from Abydos itself, Kayoko frowned.
"This is completely different from the intelligence. I just heard that Abydos has been attacked by a wave of Helmet Group, but it doesn't look like Abydos has suffered much damage..."
The cautious Kayoko wanted to confirm it again: "My advice is not to rush in. Something unexpected may have happened. If that's the case, the risk factor may need to be re-evaluated."
"What's there to worry about?" Mutsuki smiled, carrying her handbag.
No one knew how much explosives this silver-haired little devil had packed in it.
From the protruding shape on the surface of the package, it was clear that the amount inside was much more than usual—enough to blow up the entire teaching building. "Just push it with firepower, and nothing will happen~"
"Huh, huh, huh?! Is that so? Do I need to start setting up bombs first?" Haruka held her shotgun and said something very dangerous. "People like me are willing to go through fire and water for Lord Aru..."
"No! Listen to me!"
Kayoko became irritable. Once she did, the expression on her face became very scary.
With such a villain-like face, Kayoko had been questioned by the Valkyrie police on the street more than once. With such an expression, Kayoko was obviously worried that the plan in front of her was beyond her expectations.
As the only Brain in Problem Solver 68 who was in charge of personnel matters, Kayoko was essentially an old mother with three children. After all, the remaining three people in the entire club were a fool, a fun-loving person, and a dark terrorist, which was really worrying.
"It's okay, Kayoko!"
Aru waved her hand and posed confidently, trying to look as cool and villainous as possible. "There's no commission that our Problem Solver 68 can't solve! As long as everyone works together, we can overcome any difficulty! This is the core of 'One Evil a Day'!"
"President, although you want to say something cool, it's irrelevant... forget it."
Finally, after confirming the equipment situation of her people, Kayoko nodded.
"Then let's go. Although I have a bad feeling in my heart... let's end it all quickly."
With Haruka holding a shotgun as the vanguard, the others followed behind her, and the four people from the Problem Solver 68 rushed into the campus of Abydos in their usual formation. As described in the information provided by the employer, the campus of Abydos could only be described as dilapidated.
Originally, the school was barely maintained by just five people. After the few remaining members left, only one student remained to support the school. The feeling of being unable to do anything was reflected everywhere.
"The other party should be in the teaching building, right? Be careful." Kayoko directed Haruka to the entrance of the teaching building first. Although the remaining old school building was only an annex, it was still a building with four or five floors. It was possible that the other party was hiding in a classroom.
"Install the bomb here~"
The one who took out the bomb from the bag and started to install it on the wall was Mutsuki, who was watching the fun and didn't mind the trouble.
Compared with Aru, who was tough with words but timid with actions, Mutsuki was the "evil man" of the Problem Solver 68 organization. She followed Aru and did it simply because she thought it was fun.
"Would it be better to place more mines here..."
Compared with Mutsuki, the real little devil, Haruka's actions were even worse.
When Haruka once took on a commission alone, she buried hundreds of mines in dozens of public places where the other party might pass by, just to prevent the other party from going to school.
However, this approach was simply an extreme response made by Haruka because she thought "more should be done."
In a sense... Haruka, the girl who apologized all day long, was the most worrying child in Problem Solver 68.
"What are you doing?"
A burst of gunfire suddenly rang out, accompanied by Shiroko's questioning.
When the people in the Problem Solver 68 entered Abydos, Ayane who had recovered her health found them with a drone, and the surveillance cameras in the school had returned to normal under Ayane's control.
At first, she wanted to talk to these people from the Problem Solver 68.
After all, they looked different from the helmet gangsters, and Ayane wanted to fight for it.
But when she saw two of them had already started to stick bombs on the wall and place mines on the ground, Shiroko couldn't sit still anymore. She stood up and rushed out, firing a round of shots.
This old school building was already broken, and now they were burying bombs in it? The house would probably collapse after a round of shooting!
'We survived the attack of the helmet gang; how could we let you destroy this building!'
When Shiroko fired, the people from Problem Solver 68 had already found shelter and hid in a nearby classroom, and confronted Shiroko across the wall.
As the president, Aru felt that she should show her style as the leader of the villains and wanted to strike a handsome pose and say her lines to the other side.
She hummed and wanted to stick her head out but was afraid that the bullets from the opposite side would hit her, so she had to hide behind the wall.
She spoke in the tone she had practiced many times in front of the mirror.
"Hehehe! We are also famous in the underworld, the legendary 'Problem Solver 68'! Abydos, you are unlucky to meet us; just blame it on you for provoking the wrong people!"
"Problem Solver 68?" Shiroko frowned. She had heard of the name. It was club from Gehenna that rented a place in the Abydos school district, but the nature of this club...
"It's just a thug-for-hire club." Shiroko snorted coldly. With the halo over her head, she knew that this club could only have attacked Abydos for no reason if the Kaiser Corporation were behind it. They had likely hired these students to cause trouble.
"Kaiser Corporation, they're really despicable."
However, despite her words, Shiroko was for some reason not worried. She knew there was a powerful ally standing by her side. When Shiroko thought of this, she felt reassured and even emboldened.
"Hm~ Another enemy?"
From the classroom behind Shiroko, Kuroto Dan, wearing Alchemy Gamer Armor and holding a Gashacon Destroyer, slowly stepped out.
Ayane controlled a drone hovering in the air and had connected to everyone's comms while reporting the situation to Shiroko and Kuroto Dan through wireless headsets.
"It's confirmed that there are four enemies entering the campus, and no other enemy signals have been detected." Ayane quickly collected battlefield intelligence. "This might just be a diversion tactic from the Kaiser Corporation to weaken Shiroko's combat effectiveness."
"The Problem Solver 68 is one of the top organizations of its kind. If Shiroko is alone, it could be really dangerous..."
Several windows opened on the laptop in front of Ayane, monitoring the entire battlefield with no blind spots. "But don't worry, as long as I'm here, I won't let Shiroko fight alone!"
"Well... Is the power weakening?"
Before the four members of the Problem Solver 68 arrived, the "Alchemy Player" Gashat on Kuroto Dan's belt had undergone a special change after performing the Finisher move.
Kuroto Dan shook a small potion bottle several times, then poured out some of the liquid to restore her life. However, this time the effect of the recovery was noticeably weaker.
It was as if the previous recovery finisher could have completely restored once's health, but this time, it only replenished about half of it.
After experimenting with several thugs, which had scared the others into wetting themselves, Kuroto Dan came to a conclusion.
"Can the finisher that healed Ayane earlier not be used at will?" Kuroto Dan recorded the experimental data. "To replicate that level of healing, it takes about four uses to achieve a similar effect."
The thug from the Helmet Gang who had just been beaten and healed, layed on the ground trembling with her mouth open and eyes closed. Despite the Alchemy Gamer's finisher healing all her wounds, even those from prior injuries, the pain from being beaten to near death still lingered throughout her body.
Because of Kuroto Dan's series of experiments, the gangsters imprisoned in the cell had become unusually quiet. They huddled in the corners, trembling, terrified that they might be the next to be pulled out.
Despite being lawless gangsters, they were still students at heart. After Kuroto Dan's neurotic imprisonment, experimentation, and unconscious killing of chickens to frighten the monkeys, these gangster students who had once entertained thoughts of resistance now cowered in fear.
"However, even if the power is weakened, the effects of the all-rounder still hold. This gashat is still the result of my talent!"
Kuroto Dan pressed the button on the Gashacon Breaker in her hand, causing the blade to pop out from the hammer.
The deformable structure piqued Shiroko's curiosity. After all, she had never seen anyone in Kivotos use a melee weapon for combat, let alone one that could change shape.
Things that could transform were so cool!
"I have to say, it's your misfortune to face me as your opponent."
Kamen Rider Genm carried the sword on his shoulder and exaggeratedly shook his head. "Whether you're from a Problem Solver 68 or a a convenience store, you'll probably be expelled from here."
Among Problem Solver 68 members hiding behind the classroom, Mutsuki showed a ferocious grin. "You're really brave... I won't let you go easily, okay?"
"Rather than provoking, it's more about being fearless..." Kayoko was much calmer and even had the presence of mind to analyze Kuroto Dan's tone. "Is he a mechanical lifeform? There's no sign of humanity. But that kind of painted robot... is it a special model?"
Having never seen a Kamen Rider and wasn't interested in tokusatsu, Kayoko mistakenly took Kuroto Dan for an intelligent machine commonly seen in Kivotos. Though she was slightly surprised by the weapon, she simply assumed it was some sort of military robot.
In the future, the four members of the Problem Solver 68 would firsthand experience what kind of opponent they were facing.
-------