Anime, Girlfriend Shokuhou Misaki.

Makoto Haramura has always disliked the quirks of these ability users.

This isn't really directed at Misaki Shokuhou. Because of what he's doing now, he often comes into contact with people who enjoy bullying those without abilities.

That's exactly the case.

Don't be fooled by the frequent reports of powerless people attacking powerless people; in reality, the number of powerless people being bullied by powerless people using their abilities is far greater.

Otherwise, how do you think so many incompetent armed groups developed?

There aren't that many jealous and irritable students. Many of them are often bullied by those with abilities, and in the end, they have no choice but to join powerless armed groups for mutual support.

Since Makoto Haramura recruited them and prohibited them from clashing with ability users, he naturally had to protect them from being bullied.

So Makoto Haramura defeated quite a few ability users.

Among them are even some powerful level 4 users.

However, all those hailed as having the ability to fight a special forces unit fell at the feet of Makoto Haramura.

How did they lose?

It's all because their frail bodies are like shredded paper that crumble at the slightest touch in front of Makoto Haramura.

Unless they are speed-specialized ability users, as long as Makoto Haramura avoids their attacks, they are basically at his mercy.

That's why he was a little angry at Misaki Shokuhou for acting like that.

Even if Misaki Shokuhou trains her physical abilities again, she might not see much improvement, but at least she has one more glimmer of hope when facing danger, right?

"Oh dear! Are you worried about my safety?"

If it were anyone else, and they were reprimanded by Shokuhou Misaki in such a harsh tone, they would probably have been controlled by this guy and made a fool of themselves to learn a lesson.

But right now, Misaki Shokuhou only felt happy. She felt warm inside, as if she were about to fly away.

"That's it."

"No matter what, we're friends now, and I'm just showing normal concern for my friend."

As if trying to hide something, Makoto Haramura reached out and gave Misaki Shokuhou's head a hard rub.

"Just concerned about a friend?"

"What a hypocrite."

Misaki Shokuhou quickly pried off Makoto Haramura's hand from her head, her face beaming with joy.

"What, I haven't even called you yet, and you're already trying to figure out what I'm thinking?"

Makoto Haramura pursed his lips, but did not deny Misaki Shokuhou's words.

"Alright alright."

"Just consider it a way of showing concern for a friend."

Misaki Shokuhou didn't dwell on the issue any further. As a girl with incredibly high emotional intelligence, she was able to maintain a good sense of propriety.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to make a deal with the principal of Tokiwadai.

Her relationship with Makoto Haramura is indeed not suitable to take things further right now. Not only is Makoto Haramura's intention not strong, but she herself is not psychologically prepared for it either.

However, she now has the best intelligence available.

That was between her and Makoto Haramura; she wasn't just blindly rushing forward on her own.

If the words spoken by Makoto Haramura the day before yesterday saved her from danger and made her develop a clear liking for him...

So yesterday, after she had investigated and verified the accuracy of what Haramura Makoto had told her the day before, her goodwill towards Haramura Makoto turned into genuine affection.

That's why we have this event today.

Although she had made up her mind to get Makoto Haramura no matter what, a two-way approach was much better than her being the only one who was interested.

Then she doesn't need to rush anymore.

As time goes by, the two of us just need to slowly grow closer and move towards each other.

Scenes flashed through Misaki Shokuhou's mind, and her future life was already being sketched out by her imagination.

"Distracted again? What are you thinking about?"

Misaki Shokuhou, upon being questioned by Makoto Haramura, also awoke from her reverie.

"I didn't think anything of it."

"I was just thinking that what you said does make a lot of sense."

"So, you who woke me up, shouldn't you take responsibility for this?"

Chapter 022 The Essence of Tea

"That's a happy decision then!"

"From now on, I'll leave all my physical training to you, Haramura-kun. If I ever get into danger because of insufficient physical strength, you'll definitely regret it, right?"

She is clearly a beautiful and youthful girl.

He usually seems perfectly normal.

Now, however, he acts like a tea master, all tea-loving and sophisticated.

If it were a woman who had nothing to do with him, and dared to talk to him like that just because she was a little pretty, he wouldn't give her the slightest bit of a friendly look.

But if it were Misaki Shokuhou instead...

"Fine, I can take you to exercise when I have time."

"But how long you can hold on depends on your own willpower."

Releasing one is the same as releasing a group.

I had already promised Misaki Shokuhou that I would teach her how to read people's minds without using her powers, so taking her to exercise occasionally is just a side thing.

but!

He didn't have much confidence in this guy's perseverance.

"Don't worry, with Haramura here, I'm sure I can stick with it."

The meaning on Haramura Makoto's face was so obvious that she couldn't possibly miss it.

Makoto Haramura was unsure where her confidence came from, what enabled this physically inept woman to say such things.

However, this did not stop him from nodding in agreement with her.

"Alright, you've had enough rest, haven't you?"

"Let's try it today and learn how to swim."

……

"call out--!"

With a whooshing sound, a white beam of light suddenly burst out from the darkness, piercing through the steel frame and landing on the wall behind.

"Bah—!"

The wall did not explode the instant it was hit by the beam of light. Instead, it melted rapidly, as if the energy had been concentrated at a single point by a high-temperature blasting gun, dissolving like butter.

At that moment, an extremely shrill scream came from behind the wall.

At that moment, several voices came from the darkness behind them.

"Hmm? You hit it."

"They seem to have incredible luck."

"As expected of Takitsubo and Mugino, the strongest combination in Academy City, one at LV5 and the other at LV4, they are simply invincible."

"……snort……"

As these words were spoken, several figures slowly emerged from the darkness behind them.

"The missions these days are becoming increasingly unreliable; the mission objectives are completely different from what the intermediaries provide."

A tall, slender girl with fluffy brown wavy hair, who was not very old but whose tone and figure were more mature, spoke in an extremely impatient tone.

"It's not bad! At least in terms of difficulty, it's definitely super easy."

The person with this strange verbal tic was a petite junior high school student with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a smock with the hood pulled up over her head.

"However, due to inaccurate information provided by the intermediary and the client, errors occurred during the process. After working all afternoon, we can only receive two-thirds of the original payment now."

The girl who spoke up later was also complaining.

Judging from her appearance alone, she is probably from Northern Europe, with fluffy long blonde hair and azure eyes. She has a slender and petite figure, wears a dark blue beret, a miniskirt, and black stockings. From her appearance alone, she is an extremely cute girl.

"I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong directions..."

This was the last person to speak.

Her face was almost expressionless, but her white pupils were filled with dense blood vessels. She looked tired, dressed rather plainly, and had shoulder-length black short hair.

"It's alright, Takitsubo. Who was it that pushed their body to its limits?"

“I didn’t expect that he could still mobilize his abilities under these circumstances.”

The one with the most mature-looking wavy haircut, Tea Master, reached out and ran her hand through her hair, looking irritated.

She seemed to be concerned about her companion in her words, but her behavior and expression showed no such feeling.

This is a group consisting of four girls.

Judging from their appearance alone, these are four girls with completely different personalities.

But the only thing the four of them have in common is probably the aura and atmosphere that is exactly the same as the darkness that now covers them.

He hadn't unleashed his full power; at a normal speed, his ability would have been enough to melt his leg, rendering him immobile.

But what can you do when you've squeezed yourself dry?

But since things are already like this, there's no point in continuing to worry. Soft strands of hair slipped through her fingers.

"Send that guy over to clean up the mess."

"Can we just leave directly this time? Don't we need to wait for a rendezvous?"

The cute blonde girl immediately took out her phone and sent the message as requested by the tea-haired woman.

"What's the point of waiting?"

"The targets of the mission are all dead, so we can just leave."

"makes sense."

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Without taking detours and using their abilities to dissolve the walls, they could get out of even a complex abandoned laboratory very quickly.

Then, looking at the deserted streets and roads, not a single car in sight.

"Speaking of which, it seems that without someone to coordinate with us this time, we can't just hitch a ride back."

"But Mugino, the only one who is of legal age, doesn't have a driver's license yet."

"Long-winded!"

The woman with tea-colored hair spat impatiently and stomped her high heels hard on the ground.

"Forget it, I'll go back and do some research, and find another bunch of trash to use as expendable resources."

……

The afterglow of the sunset painted the entire sky a brilliant red.

The location returned to Junko Hokaze's villa.

But things are different now than they were this afternoon; Misaki Shokuhou is still here.

But the man who taught her swimming skills for an afternoon had already left.

Instead, accompanying Misaki Shokuhou was Junko Hokaze, the second-in-command of the Shokuhou faction, who had already left at noon.

"Your Majesty, did you have a pleasant afternoon?"

Junko Hokkaido looked at Misaki Shokuhou, who was still wearing a swimsuit and lying on the deck chair, and a genuine smile appeared on her face.