'These kagune tentacles are more dextrous than I thought.' I pondered on my way to school. This weekend, I followed the advice of the two devils - since they were much more familiar with the supernatural world and its rules than I was - and stayed at home. Mom found it a bit strange that I wasn't spending the day outside (since, for the past two months, I was spending all the time I had available obsessively playing basketball to advance my template), but Dad brushed aside her worries. I simply informed them that I was going to be spending the day playing video games and spent most of my time in my room practicing my new abilities.
Turns out all my physical parameters are borderline superhuman, with my senses firmly being way superior to any human. If I focus, I can slow my perception down, and I can see much farther and in greater detail than before. My eyes are also a lot more sensitive to light, with me being able to see very clearly even with all the lights off, like a supernatural night vision (because I could see in color, not just black and white like regular night vision).
The biggest issue was my enhanced sense of smell because it made me smell all sorts of combinations of fragrances and smells that I wouldn't have even imagined before. It took several hours to get used to being able to smell all the grime and residue in my house.
Without a doubt, though, the most fascinating part of my new set of abilities was the Kagune, a scaled purple-red tentacle that extended from my lower back and was quite dextrous. I could instinctively control how tough or soft it was, allowing me to use it as a cushion or a blunt weapon. It still took me a couple of tries, but I can also now summon it and hide it at will pretty quickly.
I nodded at the random student council member standing at the school gate with the Phys Ed teacher, noting down student attendance, and made my way to my classroom, where I simply plopped down my bag and started snoozing. Spending all night experimenting with my powers had me a bit tired, though not as much as I expected, so superhuman endurance is also a check.
I woke up again when the bell rang and stretched my arms as the noisy classroom slowly settled again. Looking around, I noticed that Saji was absent today for some reason and raised an eyebrow. His parents are quite strict with his academics, so it's unusual for him to be absent unless he is bedridden for the day. I sent a simple "You alive?" text message to his number before quickly putting my phone away, and just in time, too, as the homeroom teacher walked in and started the first class of the day.
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It is now the end of the school day, and Saji still hasn't responded to the text message, so I suppose he must be quite sick.
I quickly popped a spicy-guava candy into my mouth and sighed. 'It is becoming increasingly obvious. I can deny it no longer. My sense of taste has gotten duller.' I inwardly cried at the travesty of not being able to properly relish in the complex tastes and textures of my favourite foods and snacks, and worried greatly at what this could mean for progressing my new template. I was almost tempted to whip out my Question Cupon at that very moment and ask my system about it, but I barely managed to supress the urge and decided to think about how to better frame my Question to get the answer that I want out of it, since so far I only have 1 question I can ask the system until I finish this template, assuming the question cupon is not a 1-time thing.
As the others moved to their club activities, a shout of surprise rang out in the hallway as two particularly eye-catching individuals were making their way towards me, though one was much slower than the other on account of him being completely surrounded by squealing girls.
Those two individuals, of course, are the two knights, Meguri and Kiba. While Meguri swiftly made her way through the crowd over to me, Kiba's fan club started to take up more and more of the hallway, slowing down his stride to a regular walking speed, though his superior ability to navigate such a dense crowd allowed him to avoid being stuck in place.
Looking at him sent a chill down the back of my neck, almost as if I was instinctively able to realize that interacting with him right now would be dangerous, and so I swiftly started moving away from him.
Unfortunately, it seems like he saw me spotting him and as soon as I turned around, he called out loud, "Ah, Satou-san, over here! I have been asked to guide you to the club room." As soon as he said that, like wildfire, the teenage girls with nothing better to do present in the school hallways started gossiping, "Satou with Kiba?!", "What could Kiba-samma possibly want with that person constantly eating weird stuff?", "Well, he is quite atheletic and matches between him an kiba are always nice to see.", "He also isn't exactly rude, but still, what could Kiba-sama possibly need from him?", "You don't think Satou and Kiba..." And so on continued the gossip mill, fueled by nothing but teenage fantasies and delusional idiots with nothing better to do than obsess over the smallest of details like it were one of their blasphemous "romance" books.
'Fuck, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid.' I thought as I sighed internally and in an act of pettiness called out to Meguri, "Meguri-san, where am I supposed to go?"
Snatching the opportunity, Meguri swiftly weaved through the crowd to me and then began to enthusiastically skip as she called out to me, "You are being called to the student council room, Satou-san, better be quick if you want to keep up!" I swiftly followed behind her, leaving Kiba behind with his gossiping cult.
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The Student Council room was a plain and neat room with a set of desks arranged in a U pattern, with the seat furthest from the door, at the head of the U bend, being occupied by the Student Council President: Sona.
With the windows letting sunlight in behind her and all the members in her peerage standing against the wall or the desk, I simply made my way to the middle of the room as Meguri moved to her seat.
As Sona lowered her hands that were supporting her chin and sat with her back straight, all members of her peerage sat down at their assigned seats.
She then motioned to the empty seat placed at the center of the room facing her and said, "Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss."