In the background, Ren was arguing with a member of Anti-Skill.

"Out of my jurisdiction? Last I checked-" Ren began, before being cut-off mid-sentence.

"There were no requests for Judgment to deploy, and you went and engaged-"

"- I am a Level 4, part of the Takedown Squad. I am perfectly qualified-"

"-Yes, but we didn't-"

"-There was a distress call on the Judgment radio, go check the logs! I'm 40261!" Ren fumed agitatedly.

"Fine, fine, Yayoi's kid, okay, okay. Then, what happened here?"

"I don't know."

"What?! You don't-" The Anti-Skill looked at Ren incredulously, as if Ren were pulling his leg.

"All I know is that there were 5 armed men in combat armor- One already down from bullet wounds, another from shrapnel. I neutralized the third."

"Neutralized?"

"Took his knife and stabbed his neck with it."

"Are you serious-? You should be freaking out right about now."

"His corpse is right next to us." Ren breathed, his voice completely level. Although, he was noticeably trying not to look at the body.

"Okay, terminated hostile in self-defense..."

The Anti-Skill takes a moment to type something into a holographic keyboard, before turning back to Ren.

"So, any identifying marks, anything?"

"There was a leader- didn't get a good look. Level 5 from the looks of it, not on the Database. I need a request submitted to Tree Diagram for a countermeasure to a space-time manipulation abilit-"

"We'll be the judge of that. Any identifying marks?"

"Check the bodies. I didn't have the time to."

"...Fine. Dismissed. We'll call you up if we need anything else."

"I'm going to stay here for a while and help out. As per standard procedure."

"Nnnh. Go help Shiba outside, he's clearing the mess. Could use a teleporter."

"Got it." Ren nodded in acknowledgement and left.

Outside, Ren pulled his phone open and spoke into it.

"Yeah, everyone in Branch 177, I'll back in a while. Just cleaning everything up then making sure Kouta's alright."