Chapter 16 - An Unexpected Reunion
Wednesday, July 18, 2022
In a building near the station in the third city.
The interior was exceptionally clean. In the white, pristine room, there were five desks, each equipped with PC equipment. The desks were very neatly organized—completely bare.
“No, in this case, they’re so clean because there’s nothing on them… haha, I think it reflects our situation well, don’t you think? —Mikoyuki.”
There were three people in the room.
A black-haired boy—Kamishiro Mikoyuki, a blonde beautiful girl—Alicia Edelhart, and one more person. A young man with blond hair and blue eyes—almost looking like a foreigner.
“…Yes, that’s right, Mr. Shiroba Souichi.”
“Hmm… gah! Thank you for the cold remark, Mikoyuki!”
The young man who made an exaggerated reaction to Mikoyuki’s words was none other than Shiroba Souichi.
Twenty-three years old. Self-proclaimed white horse prince. An eternal chuunibyou in the final stage and a light novel author.
This young man, who could write various stories from romance to fantasy, was said to be on the verge of earning a four-digit income.
“…”
Even so, Souichi was unusually nervous.
The man who used his natural wittiness to get through any tight spot was now nervous.
“…If you have something to say, just say it already.”
Due to the desk arrangement, Mikoyuki and Alicia faced each other directly.
Alicia’s expression, visible over the dark PC screen, was stern.
This was partly because the extremist group ‘Collad Bomb’ was still around.
However, she had been like this even before then. Since she could still do her job, no one, including Mikoyuki, said anything. But Souichi earnestly wished she would stop glaring at him with that face.
“N-no… it’s nothing.”
Mikoyuki, on the other hand, was drenched in cold sweat.
Several hours had passed since they arrived here—he had already finished his job long ago.
His job was a simple post-incident report. The Special Abilities Division had not achieved any notable results since its inception. Currently, they were taking over police work, essentially doing something akin to job theft. Because of this, they were particularly disliked by the police and other public security departments. According to them, the Special Abilities Division was like a hyena.
(Sorry, Mikoyuki! My conversational skills can’t get us through this situation!)
Souichi, sitting next to Mikoyuki, sent an apologetic gesture to Mikoyuki.
By the way, he hadn’t noticed. If anything, he wished Mikoyuki would do the job spread out on the desk. However, he didn’t. His mind was already occupied with the next volume of his serialized light novel, which was dangerously close to the deadline.
“Are you worried about something?”
Alicia asked worriedly about Mikoyuki’s poor condition.
Despite everything, Alicia was quite a kind person.
However, Alicia suddenly seemed to understand something and made a face that showed she was oddly convinced.
As Mikoyuki wondered about that…
“My friend! Let me hear your worries! Don’t worry, I’m good at this since I’ve heard many life experiences from people (for interviews).”
Souichi, as expected, ran his office chair towards Mikoyuki, neglecting his work.
“You should do your job!”
“Oh, sometimes the truth hurts, girl!”
“That only works on you!”
Due to his profession, Souichi had unavoidable tasks.
That was—writing. Balancing both was difficult… so Souichi was entrusted with basic clerical work, but…
“You can’t even do that properly… you’re really failing as a member of society.”
Souichi groaned as he faced Alicia’s genuinely cold stare that surpassed absolute zero.
Since it was all true, he couldn’t retort. So, he wrote in his memo pad, ‘Cried by a high school girl today. Stare surpassing absolute zero.’ According to him, this could also be an idea.
“First, let’s hear Mikoyuki’s story.”
“What, it’s obvious.”
Alicia responded to Souichi’s words.
“This guy was exposed online during Kazuya Kyousaki’s escape incident yesterday—”
“What!?”
Mikoyuki rarely raised a voice of confusion.
His voice was apparently loud enough for Souichi to cover his ears.
“What do you mean, why me!?”
As Mikoyuki raised his voice a bit, Souichi cleared his throat.
With Reese, their superior, absent, Souichi, as the eldest, thought it was his responsibility to take charge of the situation.
“No, I thought you already knew. After all, you’re the person of the hour.”
Saying that, Souichi showed his laptop to Mikoyuki.
Displayed was a famous portal site. The headline in large red letters, with a quoted video URL below. The title read—‘Appearance of a Mysterious Cheat Ability User.’
“What is this…”
Mikoyuki clicked the play button of the video below.
It showed cracked asphalt, burning trees and cars. Shattered glass scattered on a main street. In the center, only a large man and a boy. And—amidst the sound of explosions, the scene of them exchanging punches played.
They used their abilities, causing shockwaves that cracked the building windows.
Then—with the sound of an explosion, amidst swirling black smoke, a boy calmly left the scene. The video lasted about two minutes. Glancing below, it had been viewed 5.7 million times.
“…This.”
“Oh, ah—it’s me. This is.”
While replaying it several times, Mikoyuki hoped it was just someone who looked alike, but the large man in the video was undoubtedly the guy he saw yesterday.
Kazuya Kyousaki—one of the most heinous criminals in Japanese history. A reinforcement-type ability user ranked A.
Rank A—it signifies someone whose individual power rivals a military force in this world.
“If this had been unleashed, it could have led to an unprecedented crisis. It was good that you dealt with it quickly, Mikoyuki.”
The police upper echelons already recognized that Mikoyuki dealt with this matter.
However, due to thorough discussions and information control, the news reported it as ‘a passing police officer’ who handled it. However—
“The police controlled the information about Kazuya Kyousaki’s escape… Moreover, your appearance was too young. That’s why the public is suspicious, wondering ‘isn’t it a student?’ Fortunately, your face wasn’t clearly visible. If it had been, your name would be known worldwide. That’s something Oriki doesn’t want.”
Mikoyuki made a weary face at Souichi’s statement.
This was clearly the police’s fault. The rotten thoughts of the upper echelons endangered him. In other words, he was caught in the crossfire.
“Even so, calling me a cheat ability user is…”
He looked at the online article with a resentful expression.
“—Hey, I brought some work.”
At that moment, they heard the sound of the door opening with a bang.
A tall, white-haired man—Reese Eric.
He was the leader of the Special Abilities Division, always bringing work like this.
“Reese. What’s up? At this hour…”
Reese wasn’t there in the morning. He usually didn’t show up in the morning and often came after noon.
“Weren’t you always sleeping?”
“No, I do work too! —Like ‘recruiting.’”
Reese, responding to Mikoyuki’s remark, opened the room’s shutters.
A bright, clear sky. And the buildings standing tall.
The floor of the room was covered with mats. Underneath were numerous cables.
Another pair of feet stepped on them.
“Oriki Mari’s girl pulled from the inside, super-newbie—come on, introduce yourself!”
Following Reese’s voice, a young man with dyed blond hair appeared.
He wore a navy blue coat, and judging by the creased collar of his white shirt, it seemed new. The stiffly buttoned first button and the dimple reaching his neck indicated it.
Mikoyuki’s eyes widened at the unexpected person.
The man said.
“I’m Yamada Genkō! Twenty-one years old! My only strength is enthusiasm. Nice to meet you all!!”
The young man with dyed blond hair—Yamada Genkō.
As he said, he greeted me energetically.
It seemed this former delinquent had found a new job.