Hell no, I don't know! I'm just some human basketball player, reading Monthly Basket, not some gravure with a grimoire packed in or whatever other magazines they have in the Abyss. I can see pretty much anything coming, but if that's a bullet - or some stupid energy spear beam - then there's nothing I can really do about that.

[He shrugs; his speech has speeded up - he doesn't want to look back on this conversation and be upset. That's kind of the whole point of this pool party. Takao continues in a much more measured, formal diction, though an edge makes the forcing obvious.]

I'm very grateful that you haven't tried to murder me at this time, for the record. Can I expect Mr. Nightray and Mr. Break at the party or not?