Short Mission 13

The Forgers head out for the day and leave Bond on guard duty. After watching the family disappear from the window, he wanders the apartment until boredom flattens him, only for the doorbell to jolt him upright. Recalling Loid's warning that enemies sometimes pose as couriers, Bond growls at the door until the delivery man moves on. Job done, he remembers Yor's line about dinner tasting best after honest work and raids the kitchen, where he shatters a glass. His imagination conjures a murderous Yor, and he bolts into Anya's room to hide.

From her bed he spots the penguin plush in the closet and becomes convinced it still resents him for tearing it apart once before. Neighbors gossiping outside supply words his panicked mind attributes to the toy, and the imagined Agent Penguinman refuses forgiveness despite the peace treaty brokered through Anya. Seeking amends, Bond raids the refrigerator and lays out a two-piece fish tribute. Facing the stitched-up plush, he flashes back to Project Apple and the abused, experimented-on dogs he once lived among, then tenderly licks Penguinman's scars. The returning family finds the fish missing and Yor puzzled; Anya opens her door to find Bond asleep beside the penguin, and the offering left on the floor leaves her room smelling of fish for days.

Bond stands watch alone, scares off a delivery man, and breaks a glass that sends him into hiding from an imagined vengeful Yor. Misheard gossip convinces him Anya's penguin plush is holding a grudge over its earlier destruction. Memories of Project Apple's cruelty move Bond to reconcile, presenting a fish offering and licking the plush's stitches before the family returns.

The chapter carries the number 96.2, spans eight pages in Volume 14, and shipped with Special Illustration 10. Its illustration may riff on the manga Golgo 13. The grudge Bond imagines calls back to Short Mission 3, where he mangled the penguin plush.