"Then it's happily decided! From now on, all my physical training will be in your hands, Harumura-kun. If I ever get into danger because of my poor stamina, you'll definitely regret it."
She was clearly a bright, beautiful young girl.
She was clearly a perfectly normal person most of the time.
But now, she was acting all coy and flirtatious, like some master of the tea ceremony in the art of teasing.
If it had been some random woman who had nothing to do with him—someone who, just because she had a bit of looks, dared to talk to him like that—he wouldn't have given her the slightest good face.
But if it was Misaki…
"Fine. When I've got the time, I can take you to train. But how long you last will depend on your own willpower."
He was already letting one person off, so letting another wasn't a big deal.
He'd already agreed to teach Misaki how to read people without using her ability, so occasionally helping her with physical training could be considered along the way.
However—
He really didn't have much confidence in her willpower.
"Don't worry. With Harumura-kun here, I'm sure I can stick with it."
Makoto's doubt was practically written all over his face—there was no way she could miss it.
Where her confidence came from, to say such a thing despite being a total stamina disaster, was beyond him.
But that didn't stop him from nodding at her.
"Alright, enough rest for now. Let's try to get you swimming properly today."
…
Shhh—!
With a sound cutting through the air, a white beam of light suddenly burst out of the darkness, slicing through steel frames with a hiss and striking the wall behind.
Szzzz—!
The instant the beam hit the wall, it didn't explode—it was as if a high-temperature blowtorch had been focused on a single point, melting it rapidly, the material dissolving like butter.
From behind the wall came a sharp, miserable scream.
From the darkness in the back, several voices followed.
"Hm? Got him, right?"
"Looks like our luck's in."
"As expected of Takitsubo and Mugino—Academy City's strongest Level 5 and Level 4 combo. Together, you're basically unbeatable."
"…Hmph…"
With that, several figures slowly stepped out of the darkness.
"This job's getting more and more unreliable. The target's condition was nothing like what the broker told us."
The speaker was a tall, long-limbed girl with fluffy, tea-colored wavy hair. Though she wasn't very old, both her tone and figure leaned toward a mature style.
Her voice carried open impatience.
"Well, it's not that bad! At least difficulty-wise, this was pretty much a walk in the park, you know?"
The one with the odd verbal tic was a petite middle schooler with short, shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up.
"But because the broker and client's intel was off, mistakes happened mid-operation. We worked all afternoon, and now we're only getting two-thirds of the original payment."
The girl complaining this time seemed to be of Northern European descent—fluffy golden hair, bright blue eyes, petite and slender build.
She wore a deep blue beret, a miniskirt, and black thigh-high socks.
By appearance alone, she was almost dangerously cute.
"Sorry… I pointed out the wrong direction…"
The last to speak had almost no expression on her face, but her white irises were shot through with blood-red veins.
Looking weary, she had shoulder-length black hair and a plain style of dress.
"It's fine, Takitsubo. That guy just forced himself beyond his body's limits. I didn't expect him to still be able to activate his ability under those conditions."
The tea-haired girl ran a hand through her hair, looking annoyed.
Her words sounded like she was worrying about her teammate, but her body language didn't show the slightest hint of concern.
This was a four-girl team.
From their entrance alone, it was clear they all had completely different personalities.
But the one thing they shared was an aura as dark as the shadows that concealed them.
If he hadn't pushed his power to the limit, by her normal calculations her ability would've severed his leg cleanly, crippling him.
But since he'd burned himself out, there was nothing to be done.
Either way, what was done was done. No point brooding further—her fingers slipped out of her hair, silky strands gliding between them.
"Tell that guy to come clean this up."
"So we're just leaving straight away? No handoff?"
The cute blonde immediately pulled out her phone and sent a message according to the tea-haired girl's instructions.
"What's the point of waiting? The target's already dead—we're done here."
"True enough."
With straight lines being the shortest path between two points, and with no need to take detours thanks to melting through walls, even the complex layout of the abandoned lab couldn't slow them.
Soon, they emerged to an empty street, not a car in sight.
"Come to think of it, without a pickup, we can't just hitch a ride back this time. And Mugino's the only one old enough, but she doesn't have a license."
"Shut it!"
Mugino snapped, stomping a heel hard against the pavement.
"Forget it. When we get back, I'll dig through some files and find more small fries to use as cannon fodder."
…
The glow of the setting sun painted the sky a brilliant red.
The scene shifted back to the Hokaze residence.
But it wasn't quite the same as that afternoon—Shokuhou Misaki was still here, but the man who had spent the afternoon teaching her to swim was long gone.
In his place was Tokiwadai's second-in-command of the Shokuhou faction, Junko Hokaze, who had left earlier that day.
"My Queen, did you enjoy your afternoon?"
Junko looked at Misaki, who was still lounging in her swimsuit on a deck chair, smiling with the utmost sincerity.
"Of course I did!"
Leisurely sipping juice and eating desserts freshly prepared by Junko's family chef—
After burning so much energy that afternoon, this rare chance to indulge in sweets was something she couldn't waste.
But as she moved her fork, her eyes lingered on her middle finger—on a ring with an antique design, its material unknown.
"I really did enjoy myself."