"Please, just let me punch you!"
"I told you, everything is saved up~"
"You're such a damn idiot!"
"Huh~? What did you just say? Was that Chinese? It didn't sound very nice..."
"I'm complimenting your looks."
"?? Are you serious?"
While Hakuto and Nao were arguing, the flying ability user lying on the ground slowly opened his eyes and regained consciousness.
"You're the idiot! Idiot!"
Nao didn't know what Hakuto meant by 'idiot,' but if it was something bad, then that was all she needed to know.
Seeing her reaction, Hakuto rolled his eyes and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Stop talking. The guy behind you just woke up."
Hearing this, Nao instinctively turned her head and found that the ability user behind her had already stood up at some point.
The person clutched his head in pain, looking at Hakuto and Nao with a wary expression while slowly retreating.
But Hakuto stepped forward, placed a hand on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear.
"I'd advise you not to make any reckless moves. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind kicking you again."
"What exactly do you people want? Are you here to experiment on me? But you must have special abilities too, right?"
Hakuto didn't respond. He simply glanced at Nao and shrugged.
Nao stepped forward, holding up her camera and pointing it at the flying ability user.
"A flight-capable ability user, practicing your powers in this forest. I'm not wrong, am I?"
"Who are you people?"
"I'm the student council president of Hoshinoumi High. Our school exists to protect people like you—those with special abilities."
"What do you mean? How am I supposed to believe that?"
Nao sighed at his words.
"Looks like Hakuto scared you too much..."
"This has nothing to do with me," Hakuto quickly distanced himself from the issue.
"I'm not talking to you..." Nao waved him off.
"In that case, how about this..."
As she spoke, she activated her ability and disappeared from sight.
The ability user's eyes widened in shock as he mumbled, "T-That's... invisibility...?"
"Something like that..." Nao couldn't be bothered to explain and continued.
"Actually, your ability is more like an illness—one that only appears during adolescence."
"Once you grow out of it, your powers will disappear. Our school's purpose is to protect ability users until that day comes..."
"You wouldn't want your power to suddenly vanish while you're flying high in the sky and end up falling to your death, would you?"
Hearing Nao's words, the ability user showed a painful expression and dropped to his knees.
"I thought... I was special..."
"I even imagined myself starring in Hollywood blockbusters... So this is just an illness..."
Seeing his anguish, Nao didn't hold back but instead poured cold water on the situation.
"By the way, that guy holding your shoulder wasn't wrong. If it wasn't us who found you today, it really could've been someone looking to experiment on you."
"Suppress your powers and join our school. It's the best option you have."
After saying that, Nao put away her phone camera. For some reason, she always mentioned the possibility of being experimented on when recruiting ability users.
Perhaps she didn't want others to suffer the same fate as her brother. Though she was sharp-tongued and ruthless in action, she was still soft-hearted at her core.
"The matter is settled. I'm heading off."
Seeing everything was done, Hakuto waved at Nao. After all, Ginko was still back at the campsite alone.
Even though he had used his supercomputing ability to scan for any threats, he still felt uneasy.
The sooner he got back, the better.
"Yeah, yeah, just make sure you come to school tomorrow."
"Sure... Hm? Wait, no!" Hakuto instinctively responded, but a second later, he realized something was wrong.
He turned to Nao, frowning.
"?? Are you serious?"
"?? As a student, shouldn't you come to school?"
"Come on, tomorrow's Saturday! Since when does our school have a no-weekend policy?"
"Huh~? The student council doesn't get weekends off. We're on call 24/7, got it?"
"I don't get it."
Hakuto knew Nao wasn't wrong—ability users didn't conveniently only cause trouble from Monday to Friday.
But no one could take away his weekend! Not even Ginko! That was because of their childhood bond.
As for everyone else... no way...
Especially not Nao...
Hakuto didn't actually care much about weekends. After all, during his two-year contract with Sayuri, a lot of his weekends were already taken up.
But he had too many things stacked up for weekends. Ginko was coming over on Saturday, and Sunday was booked with tutoring the five sisters.
Not to mention, he had also promised Utaha to go out with her this weekend. Damn... how was he supposed to fit all this in?
Maybe he should just hang himself with some noodles...
And yet, despite spending five out of seven days at school already—excluding emergencies—Nao still wanted more?
Why not give someone else the chance instead?
Hakuto: …
Nao: …
"Fine... if you don't come, whatever. I was just messing with you."
"???"
Hakuto really wanted to punch Nao right now! He had been working for over ten years, and he had never met such a shameless boss!
...
The next day.
Hakuto sat on a boulder atop a cliff, admiring the rising sun.
"Oh~ Life..."
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Just as he was sighing sentimentally, a scream from Ginko inside the tent snapped him out of his thoughts.
"What happened?! What happened?!"
Hakuto rushed into the tent to check on her.
Inside, he found Ginko kneeling on the ground with her arms wrapped around her chest.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and her flushed face was filled with shame and fury as she glared at him.
Although Hakuto had refused to dress Ginko the night before, his supercomputing mode had no such reservations.
So, he had used his ability to put clothes on her, preventing any embarrassing incidents.
"...Morning, Ginko..."
"P... Pervert..."
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