The all-powerful middle schooler

Suddenly, Izumi Hasegawa stopped in her tracks, standing still, just in time to block the attack.

The meteor hammer missed its target and instead spun back, striking the girl herself on the head.

"Ouch."

"In close combat, you must be familiar with your attack methods and attack range, otherwise... the stranger the weapon, the faster you'll die, understand?"

Hasegawa Izumi stretched out her finger and flicked the girl on the head, teaching her a lesson.

Next, Nibutani Morikawa and Natsukawa Masaki also took to the stage, but the result was the same: they were defeated in one move.

"You guys are really too weak."

Izumi Hasegawa put her hands behind her back, looked at the sky, and shook her head with a sigh.

The girls knelt on the ground, all with their heads bowed, obediently following their teacher's instructions.

"The minister is too strong."

"How could Dekosho possibly defeat the Sage's Death?"

Natsukawa Masuri and Dekomori Sanae each offered a compliment.

"I think I should teach you the more basics first, which is the concept of close combat..."

He slowly explained the facts.

What he was talking about wasn't anything profound; it was probably something that most dojos teach. But even so, through his teaching and example, the girls gradually began to understand things, going from being completely clueless.

In the subsequent training, they gradually developed a basic understanding of combat.

More than an hour later, the sun began to set, and the girls collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

Through their tenacious and tireless challenges, their movements have finally become more methodical and they can barely be considered fighting novices.

This is clearly because they have a good teacher; otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to become proficient so quickly.

However, this is still far from enough.

"I need to practice more; my foundation is really too weak. Even ordinary people might not be able to match it."

Izumi Hasegawa made a mental estimate.

But tomorrow is the weekend, so this should be considered personal private time, right?

As an excellent organization, it is certainly not possible to force others in this regard, so he turned to ask the girls for their opinions.

"of course yes!"

“No problem. Since I entered Shuchiin, I haven’t known anyone except the members of the Far East Magic Society. I have plenty of time now.”

"Of course, Dekomori is willing to die!"

"I'm sorry to have troubled you, Minister. Please take care of me tomorrow."

This was unanimously agreed upon by the girls.

Although the process was arduous, leaving them covered in dust and sore all over, they naturally didn't want to miss a single moment of such an opportunity to strengthen themselves.

"Okay, I understand. I'll post the meeting point in the group chat."

Izumi Hasegawa nodded.

on the way home.

He looked up at the sunset glow on the horizon and stretched out his right hand.

"Speaking of which, summer vacation starts next week. Time flies. Although it feels like a lot has happened this semester, it has never felt so real as now..."

After going home.

After thinking it over, he sent a message and his location to the group.

Sage: Meet me at 2:30 PM in the shopping street near Shimokitazawa.

This news quickly received responses from everyone in the group.

Saturday morning.

"Little Dove, it's time to get up."

Hasegawa Izumi entered her younger sister's room, pinched her chubby baby face, and woke her from her deep sleep.

"Kukuku, thank you for the guidance of my other half, otherwise I would have needed a lot of effort to break through the curse of eternal night."

A few minutes later, Xiaojiu came out of the room wearing a thin red nightgown. When she saw her brother, she immediately stopped yawning and said in a pretentious manner.

"Alright, come and have breakfast. I haven't even bothered you about staying up all night watching anime last night."

He glanced at it and said.

"Nighttime is the time when we, the vampires of the night, are active. Avoiding the sun is the correct survival instinct... Although I am no longer afraid of the sun, I still find it a little annoying."

Little Dove pouted, but still sat obediently in her seat.

Not long after breakfast, the doorbell rang.

"Is this person a traveler from another world?"

My younger sister, who was watching TV, suddenly became alert.

"I gonna go see."

Hasegawa Izumi opened the door, and there stood her childhood friend whom she hadn't seen for a while.

This time, her appearance wasn't sloppy at all. She had her hair tied in pigtails, just like when she was in school, and wore a white T-shirt and denim shorts, revealing a pair of fair and slender legs.

"Hey, Eriri, you look great."

He gave a casual greeting.

"It's alright. This must be thanks to the prescription you gave me the other day. I've been taking it recently and my health has definitely improved a lot. I can even be among the top runners now. I never expected your medical skills to be so superb."

Eriri looked serious and slightly surprised.

It should be noted that her poor health has only improved slightly in the last two years, but her health is still worse than that of the average girl.

Over this period of time, her physical condition felt similar to that of the girls in the sports department.

"I feel like I could punch you so hard you'd be whimpering right now."

The girl clenched her fists, looking eager to try.

"Are you serious, Eriri?"

Hasegawa Izumi said with a half-smile.

"Uh, just kidding."

Eriri, recalling her childhood friend's previous display of strength, silently withdrew her fist.

The two walked inside.

"Little Dove, it's been a long time."

"It's been a long time, Eriri-neechan."

After greeting Kobato, Eriri went to his bedroom for a private chat.

"I see you didn't bring any tools, so you didn't come here to paint today, did you?"

"It's Izumi Hasegawa who spoke up."

"My work is done, and I can finally take a good rest."

Eriri sat in her office chair, turned around, and then stretched.

Could this be hinting at something?

Hanesegawa Izumi remained silent.

The girl, lacking patience, pouted and said, "Izumi should be quite free during summer vacation, right? There should be a lot of great game announcements at this year's anime convention, and some collectible doujinshi..."

"So, Eriri is planning to invite me to the anime convention?"

He said directly.

"Uh, um, I guess so."

The girl lowered her head slightly, concealing her subtle expression.

"If I have time, I can go with you."

He thought for a moment.

"What do you mean by 'have time'? Give me a precise answer!"

Eriri's gaze sharpened, and she suddenly became assertive.

"I mean, our Far East Magic Society might have some events going on..."

"It's just a club activity, is it really that important?"

"That's a question that has caught my attention."

"Are you still hesitating?!"

The girl was furious.

So many years of friendship, can it really be less than a relationship that suddenly changes in a few months?

"Alright, alright, I promise you."

He still gave in to the girl.

"Then it's a deal! If you go back on your word later, you're finished!"

Eriri's eyes lit up with joy, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

"Oh, right, Eriri, give me your hand."

Izumi Hasegawa suddenly spoke.

"……Oh."

Eriri paused for a moment, then, remembering her earlier action of taking his pulse, she slid her office chair over to his side and extended her delicate, fair hand.

"All right."

Hasegawa Izumi held the girl's arm for a while before letting go.

In addition to sensing the girl's physical condition, he also planted a "seed of spiritual power" in her. However, compared to the others in the organization, his methods were much more covert, and he also set up some additional defensive measures.

He didn't tell Eriri on his own initiative because he didn't want his childhood friend to worry too much about unnecessary things and hoped that she wouldn't get involved in various disputes to avoid any unforeseen events.

After all, the outward appearance of normalcy can be maintained for a considerable period of time, while the undercurrents only surge beneath the surface.

But he also hopes that one day, if a girl encounters danger alone, she will have the ability to protect herself.

"I'll explain it to Eriri then."

……

Inside a luxury apartment in downtown Tokyo.

Natsukawa Masaki had just changed her clothes and was about to go out.

"Ding dong."

The doorbell rings.

"Oh, it's you."

When she opened the door, she saw her younger sister, Mana, but this time, Mana came alone.

"Hey, Xiaoliang, are you really sure you want to rebel against Dad? If he decides to take everything back, you won't be able to resist, will you?"

Mana's tone wasn't as aggressive as before; it was tinged with worry.

Does threatening me mean I have to give in?

Xia Chuanzhen's eyes turned cold.

"what?"

Zhenna was taken aback by her sister's strong stance and took a step back.

Natsukawa Masuzu glanced back at the apartment's layout, her mind filled with fond memories of her time with her mother.