Asagaya temporary hero headquarters, Victor Ranger secret base.

The whiteboard was covered with a drawing of an old man with sword-like eyes, as well as materials related to mysterious beings.

「These are the mysterious beings that will be the core members of the secret society, Ark Dominion, based on the data we have so far.」

It was not Commander Asaka but a woman in a flashy suit who raised her voice to the Victor Rangers gathered in the conference room.

Komorodo Utako, the new Chief of Staff, was excited about her first major task since taking up her post.

The next operation of Hero Headquarters is a “pre-emptive strike” against the Ark Dominion. Under pressure from human rights groups at home and abroad, Hero Headquarters has been slow to act.

However, Utako, with her natural strong character, was able to forcefully persuade Kazami, who appeared to be a weak pushover, to go ahead with the project.

「Ladies and Gentlemen!　Please hammer this into your heads!　This is a top-secret document that I worked all night to prepare, desunoyo!　This!　Me!　By myself!」

Seemingly wanting to show off her achievements, her high-pitched voice echoed in the head of Johnny Aikawa, also known as Victor Blue.

「You don’t have to repeat it so many times, I can hear you just fine……」

Each member of the Victory Rangers was given a thick file. When Johnny looked inside the file, he found that it looked as bad as if a school newspaper had been thrown in the washing machine two or three times.

The documents were lined with data on the leader Dragius III, the three executives, and up-and-coming mysterious beings such as Death Green and Drakirika. However, the information was nothing but top secret, and all of it was information that even the mass media, let alone the Hero Headquarters, would have known.

「Staying up all night to make this… You gotta be kidding me, ze…」

The other members of the group were laughing and giggling as they flipped through the “top-secret material” as if they were reading a comic book.

「HAHAHA！　This is like a samurai castle. Even if we attack from our side, there is no gap to be taken advantage of.」

「HEY、I got an idea, Will. How about we put a missile up their asses?」

「That’s a nice idea, Lamar, let’s make it big. The Russian-made one, of course!」

「How about putting a hotline to the leader saying, ‘Please deliver the pirozhki, please’?」

「「HAHAHAHAHAHA！！」」

Making American jokes at one point or another are new members Will and Lamar.

They were introduced as the new Red and Green, but Johnny could not keep up with their banter at all and could not understand a single thing they were laughing about. Being half-American, he was also troubled by the strange sense of camaraderie among them.

「……Gowasuu?」

「Oh no, Kioumaru, this is not food. Now eat this 100 percent domestic vegetable curry.」

「Gowasu…… Mushamusha……」

「Yes, yes, eat without leaving any leftovers. Oh my, good boy, Kioumaru, now drink this concentrated reduced Ultimate Natural Water.」

The old reliable friends have become like a madam and her pet living in a posh residential area around Aoyama. The curry is 100 percent domestic vegetable curry, but the spices are probably foreign.

It is hard to tell what is being concentrated and what is being reduced in the water, and he suspects that it had been modified to the extent that it could no longer be called natural water.

Commander Asaka, the only sensible person other than Johnny, has been on temporary leave since yesterday. It seems that she jumped into her official car and went somewhere to the north.

「It’s said that Red had been demoted, but where is he even, daze?!」

「HEY Johnny, I am right here if you’re looking for me.」

「Not you, ze! Where is our Victor Ranger leader, Kurenai Retto, daze?」

To Johnny’s distressful cry, Pink replies with both hands jangling beads.

「I heard that the ex-Red was dumped in the mountains of northeastern Japan. Dondoko Mountain, I think.」

「Where the hell is thaaaaaat！！！」

………………

…………

……

――Ondokozawa, Yamanaka, Iwate Prefecture.

The entire area was covered with a beautiful snowy landscape. The neighborhood was a complete wilderness with not even a paved road, let alone a house.

Standing alongside a quietly flowing river was a hut that at first glance appeared to be nothing more than a ruin. A wooden signboard on which was written, in almost faded letters, “Kyokutai Ondokozawa Branch”.

A man in short sleeves was sipping a cup of noodles in the hut, which had no electricity, let alone heating facilities.

「……Asaka-saan…… sniff sniff…… Asaka-saaaaan!!」

His name is Kurenai Retsuto, the “former” leader of Victory Sentai Victor Ranger.

The sobbing man’s cries melted into the deep snowy mountains.

It’s winter in Ondokozawa, an unexplored region left in Honshu.

Spring is still far away.

………………

…………

……

「……You gotta be kidding, ze……」

For Victoblue Aikawa Johnny, emotional tranquility was a legacy of the distant past. Having acquired a mechanical body, he silently lamented the fact that even tears no longer flow.

「Blue-san! Blue-san, Are you listening, suno!?」

Utako’s voice echoed in the steel helm, and Johnny comes to his senses.

「E…… A……？　What, daze?」

「I’m asking who should we target, sunoyo? Geez, Blue-san is the brain of the team, so you’d better get your act together, suwa.」

「Wait a minute, ze, the brain of Victor Ranger is pink, daze?」

「What are you talking about, suno?　You’re a mecha, so you must have an IQ of at least 200, right?」

It was an outrageous prejudice. In the first place, he never said that he wanted to become a mecha.

However, he was not sure if he could continue to entrust the team’s management to Pink, who was deeply involved in the emerging religion. Although he felt like his burden is silently increasing, but Johnny decided to take it all in.

「Aah…… Then, What do you mean by target?」

「Nfufu… After suffering a big defeat in the all-out battle, it’s natural to switch to individual defeats, desuwa. I, Komorodo Utako, have a clear mind and there is definitely no mistake.」

「I think everyone would think of that.」

「A mediocre opinion sometimes hits the mark, sunoyo! Well, as the chief of the General Staff Headquarters, I am sure that nobody can come close to the deep thinking and schemes that goes through my mind!」

Then you can decide for yourself!

Was the words Johnny swallowed as they reached his throat.

「Then, Blue-san, Which one should we target first?」

「I think the theory is to crush the weakest first in a situation like this.」

「Yes, of course. I knew you would say so. It is as I suspected, desuwane.」

No matter how much he was annoyed with her, she was a woman and his boss. Johnny decided to praise himself for not punching her.

Johnny, whose entire body had been converted into a machine, had no blood pressure to raise. At most, the display on the edge of his parameter-ridden vision showed “Abnormal Vitals”.

Utako, who is proud of her self-proclaimed clarity of mind, flipped through the pages of her doodle book, or rather, the top-secret materials of the Mysterious beings, and pointed her finger with a bang.

「This person looks so weak!」

Utako puffed her flat chest out and ruffled her hair with a smug look. Johnny thought, why does this woman irritate people like this?

However, the mysterious being shown as the target was so weak that it could be recognized even from the photograph.

「Well… I think it’s not bad.」

The new Victor Rangers looked at each other and reassessed the description of the target to be hunted.

「Sword Mountain Mysterious Being, Swordminas…… She will be our target, desuwane.」

---

<92: New Victor Ranger Kai, Return
94: So Close Yet So Far, Touchable Yet Unreachable>