The short man glances at Ryuichi. "I made them", he says simply. Then he turns back to Apfel. "Is that so? I suppose I will have to procure another of its kind, then. A pity, you could've saved me a lot of trouble."

Then 23 and Sailor Arcos interrupt. The man gives a bemused look at the latter. "Don't be silly. I offered them alternative means of transit. I would've hardly bothered if I wanted to kill them. I would've just killed them." He then steps toward 23, wondering why she's looking up when he's already down on the lookout and shorter than her to boot.

"You sure have a lot of questions, young lady. Funny you'd say I'm keeping you in the dark when this is the first time we've met. I've hardly had an opportunity to feed you anything. But, to answer: I came from the asteroid belt to inquire about Apfel's ship. I thought as much was already clear. As for the last one, I guess you use 'Yama' to refer to old God of Earth. He died because he wanted to. I'm sad to hear his apprentice didn't make it back to Earth, but I guess you will do for the time being."