The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

“Girls, you did a great job today,” Mr. Lancaster said.

Sienna looked up from her plate of macaroni, cheese, and mashed potatoes, glanced at the burly man standing in front of her, and then looked down again.

It's already difficult enough to make eye contact with him even for a short while, let alone now that she has a perfectly good excuse not to look at him.

“Thank you… thank you, sir,” Sienna said.

“Yes, thank you,” Teddy added.

Mr. Lancaster snorted. "I wish I could give you more than just a hot meal, but that's how this business is, isn't it?"

“It’s alright,” Sienna said. “Well, work is a reward in itself. Can we come and help again in the future?”

Lancaster grinned at her, a bright and proud smile. "Of course! Grab a flyer from the door. It shows our opening hours. Come a little early; we'd love for your help."

"Thank you."

“No, thank you,” he replied. “Alright, I have to go. We need to get all the materials we need for tomorrow morning ready. Be careful on your way home.”

"Okay, sir."

“Don’t worry, Comrade Lancaster,” Teddy replied.

Sienna ate her noodles while watching the big man walk away.

They found a seat to eat in a small corner behind the kitchen, where volunteer cooks were tidying up. A radio in the corner kept playing advertisements, occasionally interspersed with a few pop songs.

"Today was really interesting," Teddy said while taking big bites of mashed potatoes.

Sienna could tell from the way Teddy ate that she wasn't a picky eater.

I think so.

Teddy nodded, still holding the spoon in his mouth, and grinned at her. "Boss, did you see the notice?"

Sienna blinked. At first, she thought Teddy was referring to a phone notification, but then she realized what he meant.

She hadn't checked the mission messages for a while, and she hadn't received any disturbing notifications in the latter half of the afternoon.

It seems that no matter how this ability system works, it is at least quite reasonable at times.

"I haven't looked yet. Could you keep an eye on the surroundings for me?"

Teddy quickly saluted, "Of course, sir."

Sienna chuckled and shook her head.

At least her "little sister" is quite... cute, as long as she doesn't turn into a bear the size of a car.

【mission completed! 】

The Queen with the Silk Sword

[Rewards: +1 Skill Upgrade Point! +1 Scoundrel Point!]

That's awesome! It's not that the skill upgrade points are that great, I don't really need them, but those rogue points are pretty good. It means she's a little closer to no longer being a villain?

While a rogue isn't all that great, he's still better than a complete villain.

People react differently to different moral attributes. While scoundrels are a bit scary, villains are truly terrifying.

She noticed another notification. It wasn't that there was any flashing notification in front of her eyes, but rather a feeling that... something was waiting for her to pay attention to.

[Action Rewards!]

[By threatening, blackmailing, and spreading fear, you recruit another individual with superpowers as your subordinate. You gain: +1 skill slot!]

Sienna frowned, even after the notification had disappeared. "Teddy, what are skill slots?"

Teddy looked up; she was sticking out her tongue, trying to lick the plate clean, but then pulled it back before answering, "Boss, didn't I tell you before?"

Sienna felt her face burning; being scolded by someone a head shorter than her was quite embarrassing.

But this is Teddy, and... and Sienna was surprised to find that she felt quite comfortable with this bear girl, at least more comfortable with most people except her mother.

"You said that, but I only have one now."

“Oh, that’s great,” Teddy said. “With that, you can add a skill to a superpower, but not gain a new superpower. It just adds something to it. You can get them by doing missions.” Teddy nodded wisely.

"I understand."

"You should use it as soon as possible so that you have time to get used to it."

“I’ll think about it.” She looked at the food on her plate and then pushed it toward Teddy.

Teddy let out a happy growl, took the plate, and wolfed down the remaining food.

But Sienna didn't think the food was that delicious, and it wasn't worth eating so enthusiastically.

After finishing his meal, Teddy leaned back and patted his belly with one hand.

Sienna picked up their plates, rinsed them in the sink, and then placed them on top of the pile of clean plates they had been washing all afternoon.

Are you ready to leave?

"Well, here we come!"

Sienna and Teddy said their goodbyes to the other volunteers briefly before leaving through the front door.

Then, Sienna and her somewhat strange sister walked hand in hand toward their dormitory, hoping to get a good night's sleep.

After walking a few blocks, Sienna felt something vibrating around her.

“Wait a minute,” Sienna said, pointing to a bus stop at the nearest corner.

Apart from a few discarded cups lying next to a trash can that was almost overflowing, the bus stop was deserted.

She and Teddy went inside, and she took her phone out of her bag.

The number on the screen wasn't her home number; in other words, it wasn't a number she recognized.

"Hello?" she said, holding the phone to her ear.

“Miss Isabella,” a very familiar voice said.

She felt her blood run cold. "Mr. Handshaw."

"Let's get straight to the point. I've done everything I can to ensure the security of this call, but that's all I can do. I... have to make a rather..."

The man started coughing violently halfway through his sentence.

Sienna didn't know how to handle the situation, but she still took the phone away from her ear as if that would do some good. "Mr. Handshaw?"

“I’m fine,” he said. “But none of that matters. I need to talk to you in person, and as soon as possible.”

"why?"

"This route is unsafe."

Sienna bit her lip, looked down at Teddy, who was quickly pulling his finger out of his nose and then shrugged. "I... I feel like I need to know why, no matter what."

"...Okay. As you can imagine, I keep some information about all my clients. This information is stored on a very secure device, heavily encrypted, and protected with some superpower-related technologies. If you can't read minds, you simply can't get in."

“Oh—okay,” Sienna said. She felt as if her stomach was approaching the edge of a deep cliff.

“A few days ago, you should remember, my laptop was destroyed. I had backups, but those backups weren’t very secure. Someone took them, and…”

He paused and coughed for a while. "And they got the password from me. It was only a few weeks' worth of information, but it included our business dealings."

Her stomach finally overflowed the rim and plummeted straight down. "What?" she asked weakly.

"That's why I wanted to see you in person. I have some... responsibility. You see, someone has plotted against me, and now many of my clients, including you, are in danger. I need your help to resolve this."

Sienna felt her hands were numb, so she gripped the phone tightly with her other hand.

Teddy looked a little worried when he saw that his hand had been released.

“I… okay. Where?” Sienna asked. “Wait, no, is there anything we can do to resolve this?”

“I hope so, I really… I really hope so.”

A moment later, the call ended.

Sienna stood there, holding her phone, stunned for a few minutes, her mind screaming.

Then her phone vibrated again. She stared at the screen and saw a text message with an address and time.

Just tonight, in a park across from the campus.

The text message also included a note: "Coming under your other identity."

"Boss, are you alright?" Teddy asked.

Sienna took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. "I...I don't know either, Teddy. I really don't know."