As someone who absolutely despised physical exertion, swimming was something she truly detested.
But for this man, she was really, genuinely doing something completely unsuited to her nature!
"Spread your legs apart a little more."
"You need to kick the water, not just thrash around."
"He really is a contradictory but gentle man."
In the pool, Haramura Makoto held Shokuhou Misaki's hands, slowly guiding her across the water's surface as she practiced swimming.
Before the practice began, this man had seemed impatient the entire time.
But once practice started, he had been teaching her with remarkable patience.
"Reached your limit again? Let's rest for five minutes."
See, just like that.
Knowing full well how pathetic her stamina was—kicking eight or nine times in the water, then needing a five-minute break.
Any other instructor dealing with such a student would have started cursing long ago, but Haramura Makoto showed extraordinary patience.
Not just in his words, but his expression showed no trace of irritation either.
On the poolside!
Shokuhou Misaki sipped her juice in small sips, recovering her rapidly depleted energy.
Haramura Makoto munched on watermelon with large bites.
"I understand that because of your Mental Out ability, you don't pay much attention to physical training."
"But being this physically weak is excessive no matter how you look at it."
"I feel like with your stamina, it would probably take you ten minutes just to run one lap around the track."
Only an hour had passed.
Haramura Makoto was completely astonished—this woman's physical weakness exceeded his imagination.
Five minutes of swimming, fifty-five minutes of rest.
"Well, I just hate these kinds of things. Every single one of those sweaty sports is disgusting—such graceless activities just don't suit me at all."
Placing her cup back on the table, Shokuhou Misaki pouted.
But after she finished speaking, Haramura Makoto's brow furrowed into a knot, and his previously calm tone became stern.
"Not liking exercise is fine, relying on your ability is acceptable too—after all, your power is indeed formidable."
"But have you ever considered what would happen if you encountered someone who could counter or even be immune to your ability?"
"With physical strength this weak, forget counterattacking—you couldn't even manage a decent escape."
Haramura Makoto had always despised this particular flaw in espers.
This wasn't specifically targeting Shokuhou Misaki—due to his current work, he often encountered espers who enjoyed bullying the powerless.
That's exactly how it was.
Despite reports frequently mentioning powerless individuals attacking espers, the reality was that powerless people being bullied by espers using their abilities happened far more often.
Otherwise, how do you think so many powerless gangs developed?
There weren't that many students with violent jealousy issues—many were frequently bullied by espers and, with no other option, joined powerless gangs for mutual protection.
When Haramura Makoto recruited them and prohibited conflicts with espers, he naturally had to protect them from being bullied.
So Haramura Makoto had indeed defeated quite a few espers.
Among them were even Level 4 high-level espers.
But these high-level espers, supposedly capable of fighting an entire special forces unit, all fell at Haramura Makoto's feet without exception.
How did they lose?
Simply because their frail bodies were like fragile paper that would shatter at a touch when faced with Haramura Makoto.
As long as they weren't speed-specialized espers, as long as Haramura Makoto avoided their attacks, they were basically at his mercy.
So he felt somewhat angry about Shokuhou Misaki's condition.
Perhaps even if she trained her physical abilities, there wouldn't be much improvement, but it would still give her one more chance of hope when facing danger.
"Oh my! Are you concerned about my safety?"
If it were anyone else scolding Shokuhou Misaki in such a stern tone, they would probably have been controlled by her and made to embarrass themselves as punishment.
But now, Shokuhou Misaki's heart contained only happiness—she felt warm inside, as if she might float away.
"I suppose so."
"Either way, we're friends now, right? This is normal concern for a friend."
As if trying to cover something up, Haramura Makoto reached out and roughly ruffled Shokuhou Misaki's hair.
"Just concern for a friend?"
"What a contradictory man."
Shokuhou Misaki quickly pushed away the hand on her head, her face beaming with such a bright smile it seemed ready to bloom like a flower.
"What, I haven't even called you yet, and you're already trying to read my thoughts?"
Haramura Makoto pursed his lips, not denying anything about what she said.
"Alright, alright."
"Let's just say it's concern for a friend."
Shokuhou Misaki didn't continue dwelling on this issue—as a girl with explosively high emotional intelligence, she could grasp the appropriate boundaries well.
Otherwise, she couldn't have struck a deal with Tokiwadai's principal.
The relationship between her and Haramura Makoto indeed wasn't suitable for further advancement right now—not only was his intention not particularly strong, but she herself wasn't psychologically prepared for it either.
However, she had now obtained the best intelligence.
Namely, that the situation between her and Haramura Makoto wasn't just her rushing forward in one-sided passion.
If the day before yesterday, because of what Haramura Makoto said to her and his saving her from danger, she had developed clear feelings for him.
Then yesterday, after investigating and verifying the correctness of what he had told her, her feelings for Haramura Makoto had turned into genuine affection.
That's what led to today's outing.
Although she had resolved to win over Haramura Makoto no matter what, mutual attraction was much better than her own one-sided enthusiasm.
So she didn't need to be anxious now.
The two of them could just slowly approach each other as time passed.
Scene after scene flashed through Shokuhou Misaki's mind, her fantasies sketching out their future life together.
"Spacing out again? What are you thinking about?"
Shokuhou Misaki snapped out of her fantasies at Haramura Makoto's question.
"Nothing much."
"I was just thinking that what you said makes a lot of sense."
"So since you're the one who enlightened me, shouldn't you take responsibility for it?"