A youthful yet sharp face.
Short, dark-brown hair falling messily, though not sloppily.
He didn't look very old.
That was Shinguuji Kurono's first impression of the boy outside the wall.
But neither the killing intent radiating from her body nor the finger resting on the trigger eased in the slightest.
"A stranger's face, huh. Sneaking into the academy and claiming you have no hostility—do you really think I'd buy such nonsense?"
Kurono searched her memory. She was certain she had never seen this boy, who looked no older than a teenager.
On this point, her confidence was absolute—she didn't make mistakes.
First of all, he couldn't be one of the new students. She had personally gone through every single freshman's file in search of potential talents.
Secondly, he was unlikely to be a licensed knight from outside society either.
Even setting aside his youthful appearance, Kurono's past work had required her to memorize the faces of every knight worth noting.
Yet this boy didn't match any of them.
Still, she refused to lower her guard.
After all, anyone who could cross the entire campus unnoticed—holiday or not—was no ordinary weakling.
"It's the truth, Director Shinguuji. I came here today only to make a deal with you."
The vast training ground was empty.
A gust of wind swept by, and a blurred figure suddenly flickered from one end to the other.
"…This kind of repeated burst really is tiring."
Hiding in the shadows, Makoto gazed up at the towering academic building before him. He could feel his internal organs screaming in protest.
It was the side effect of repeatedly forcing his body to unleash its raw strength.
He had once said:
His muscle density was ten times that of an ordinary human, allowing him to unleash strength and speed far beyond normal limits.
But the human body wasn't made of flesh and muscle alone.
The viscera, the bones, the brain—these were parts of the whole as well.
Makoto's muscles and bones might be monstrous, but his internal organs weren't much stronger than a normal person's.
Thus, whenever he released his full physical might, his organs would inevitably suffer from the shockwaves.
This was why, despite his incredible speed, he still relied on grappling hooks—tools that should've been unnecessary.
Because he couldn't keep exploding his maximum speed nonstop.
But now, he had no choice.
After all, retrieving the grappling hook always created telltale noises.
So this silent burst-movement was his best option.
Even if it temporarily wrecked his body.
"…But next, I'll have to take a bigger risk."
He raised his hand. A silver glint shot upward, cutting through the air with a sharp, whistling sound.
Clang—!
The silver-white claw latched firmly onto the roof's edge.
Makoto used the massive building's bulk as cover, shifting position carefully as he ascended.
Thirty stories—about a hundred meters in height.
Moving with utmost caution, it took him nearly twenty minutes to scale it. Finally, he pried open a small window at the edge of the top floor and slipped inside.
A long corridor stretched before him.
A plush red carpet ran across the floor.
The walls were lined with ornate wooden panels made from some expensive timber.Every five meters, a crystal chandelier glittered overhead.
"Normally, the director's office should be on the top floor. Let's hope I guessed right."
Softening his steps, suppressing his presence, Makoto passed silently by the rows of gleaming doors.
Until—
A chilling, familiar sensation made every hair on his body stand on end.
A sensation that froze him in his tracks.
"Hiding your presence like that—not bad. But did you really think I wouldn't notice you?"
Makoto's lips curled upward. His eyes narrowed to sharp slits.
Bingo.
He didn't say it aloud, only whispered it in his mind.
But his hand was already reaching forward, ready to knock on the door.
"…Last warning. Come out."
Tch, what a short fuse this woman has.
An even heavier sense of crisis pressed down on him.
Not just the prickling of raised hairs—this was the raw, lethal pressure of being targeted.
His fingers shifted instantly. Like a magician's trick, a blue card slipped between his index and middle finger.
-=-=-
"What's this, Shiroyasha?"
Holding a similar card in hand, Makoto asked the white-clad figure before him.
"A gift card. The abilities within your body have already been awakened, but it will take time before you can fully control them. This card allows you to forcibly replicate the special powers of another world—something to use as a stopgap until you've mastered your own. Think of it as my little gift to you.
When and where you use it… that's up to your judgment."
-=-=-
Now, the looming danger only grew stronger.
But the smile on Makoto's lips widened all the more.
Bang!
A sharp gunshot.
Makoto's instincts drove him to step aside.
A crushing pull devoured everything near the freshly opened hole in the wall.
Two silver-white cables lashed out, anchoring him firmly to the nearby pillars, keeping him from being dragged in.
"…Causality-interference type, manipulator of time… Shinguuji Kurono. Just as I thought."
The blue card in his hand flared with light.
Brilliant radiance wrapped around Makoto's body.
The black hole's pull vanished completely.
Even the devoured matter within it seemed to reemerge, drawn out by the card's power.
"Exactly what I was waiting for."
Makoto could feel it clearly—something within his body had changed. A warmth surged from his heart, flowing into every fiber of his being.
It was a brand-new kind of power.
Not the same as what Academy City had cultivated in him—yet in some way, of the same essential nature.
This was why he had sought out Shinguuji Kurono. This was why he had chosen to use Shiroyasha's gift card here.
In his left hand materialized a sleek handgun, its frame black and red, its design streamlined and deadly.
Half-turning his body, Makoto waved his free hand lightly toward the woman inside the room.
"Ahh… such a short-tempered Director. I really don't mean to be your enemy, you know."