Hoshinoumi Academy. Student council room.
When she saw the location pointed out by the water droplet on the map, the silver-haired, blue-eyed girl paused slightly.
Haneoka Girls' Academy?
"What is it, Tomori-san?"
Sitting beside her, Jojiro Takajo pushed up his glasses and asked in surprise.
"Do you know that school?"
A vague emotion crossed Tomori Nao's pretty face.
"Yeah, I know it..."
With that, she clapped her hands.
"Alright, the target this time seems to have a dangerous ability. Takajo, be careful!"
"OK, no problem!"
Seeing his confident expression, Tomori nodded in satisfaction.
"Then you go scout the area first."
Takajo stiffened.
"Uh, isn't it kinda inconvenient for a guy to be scoping out an all-girls school...?"
He was being tactful.
The truth was, he was worried he'd be escorted away by security before long.
"I told you to scout, not sneak in. Come on, I'll go get a Haneoka school uniform and head there myself."
Only then did Takajo sigh in relief.
Still, he hadn't expected Tomori to actually have access to a Haneoka uniform.
Clearly, she didn't just know the school...
...
Exiting the subway, Tomori could see that familiar building from afar.
She couldn't help but smile.
Even though she came back every weekend, every time she walked this road toward the orphanage, those memories from years ago returned to her mind.
Back then, she had lost her family and her place of protection—until a child saved her.
Barely older than her, but when he held her hand, it was so warm.
With that small body, he shielded the other children in the orphanage.
He gave them a home again.
To Tomori Nao, those memories were the most beautiful moments of her life.
"Kanao!"
Tomori shouted from the entryway.
Immediately, Kanao Tsuyuri came running over and handed her a Haneoka uniform.
"Nao-neesan, this is Suguha-neesan's uniform!"
Tomori patted the girl's head and took the clothes.
Kanao Tsuyuri, Kirigaya Suguha, and Otosaka Ayumi all attended Haneoka.
But Kanao and Ayumi's uniforms were too small for her to wear comfortably, so she came back to borrow Suguha's.
"Where's Sora?"
"In her room playing games..."
Tomori shook her head.
"Alright, I'm off then."
"Bye, Nao-neesan!"
Without stopping, Tomori left for Haneoka Girls' Academy.
...
The school was pretty far away.
She took the subway and transferred a few times—it took over two hours to get there.
"Tomori-san, you're finally here..."
Seeing the girl show up with her DV camcorder, Jojiro Takajo, already looking worn out, complained weakly.
He hadn't even eaten, worried something unexpected might happen.
And he didn't dare get too close to Haneoka Girls'—afraid of being seen as a pervert.
He'd been crouching behind a roadside pillar so long his legs had gone numb.
Tomori held up her DV, casually filming the girls walking by.
"This time is perfect—it's just about time for lunch break."
She murmured, then glanced at Takajo.
"You go eat. I'll go in and take a look. I'll message you if anything comes up."
Wearing the school uniform, Tomori easily blended into the crowd of girls entering the school.
She didn't raise the DV, but she kept it recording—at least the audio might catch something useful.
Hoshinoumi Academy was a special institution.
Founded jointly by the government and the Hero Association, it was mostly for teenagers with Puberty Syndrome or special abilities.
Tomori herself had suffered family collapse due to her powers, and had voluntarily joined the academy.
She now served as the student council president.
Her work wasn't simple—she had to use leads from informants to gather intelligence and identify ability users.
Most of them were emotionally unstable teens, so even seemingly harmless powers could pose a risk.
But containment wasn't her job.
As long as she gathered enough intel and confirmed a target, the rest was handled by designated agents who'd bring the teen into Hoshinoumi Academy.
...
"Hey, did you see that performance by the band?"
"CRYCHIC, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, that one!"
"People say the members are students here!"
"The vocalist was really intense!"
"Seriously?"
"It looked kinda hilarious—I'll send you the clip later!"
Tomori followed behind a group of girls.
Wearing the same uniform, she blended in effortlessly.
She clearly heard their chatter as she scanned the surroundings.
A lot of students had guitar cases on their backs.
Apparently, forming a band was trendy at this school.
"If I run into Ayumi later, I'll ask her about it..."
She made a mental note.
After entering the school, Tomori left the crowd and followed the signs straight to the infirmary.
A common symptom when someone awakened a power was a persistent high fever.
That period was the most dangerous.
Teenagers often couldn't control their abilities and would go into rampage states.
So identifying students with fever records in the infirmary would save a lot of time.
"There it is..."
Turning a corner, Tomori finally saw the infirmary sign.
"Hopefully there's only one person inside..."
She muttered.
Her ability let her disappear from someone's sight—but only one person at a time.
If there was just one person, she could get the records easily.
Just then, a familiar figure exited the infirmary.
Tomori froze on the spot.
"Kuzeha-kun?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What happened to Ayumi?"
Seeing Otosaka Ayumi cradled in Kuzeha's arms, Tomori's heart tightened.
"Tomori?"
Kuzeha was equally surprised to see her in a Haneoka uniform.
"Nothing serious, just a little fever..."
He spoke casually at first, but quickly realized the implications.
If Tomori was here, and Ayumi had a fever...
At the same time, Tomori also realized the possibility.
If Ayumi had a high fever—could she be today's target?
"Tomori, what's the keyword you got this time?"
Kuzeha asked without hesitation.
"Collapse!"
Tomori answered immediately.
He was the only one in the world she could trust completely.
Hearing that, Kuzeha's eyes narrowed.
If he remembered right, in the original story Ayumi's power was exactly that—Collapse.
A power triggered by emotional swings, capable of reducing buildings and ground to rubble—a dangerously unstable ability.
"Kuzeha-kun, could it really be Ayumi?"
Just as Tomori voiced her concern, the feverish Ayumi whimpered in his arms.
And then—
Crack!
The ground beneath them suddenly split apart!
Kuzeha grabbed Tomori and leapt several meters to a clear area.
Where they had just stood now had a gaping pit meters wide.
Even the nearby building cracked and began to collapse.
Screams erupted from within.
"It really is Ayumi..."
Tomori was dazed.
She turned to Kuzeha, only to see his hands resting gently on Ayumi's forehead, glowing with a soft green light.
Like a breeze from the goddess of spring.
Tomori could feel the surging vitality.
Ayumi's flushed cheeks returned to a healthy color, and her furrowed brow relaxed.
Even the ground beneath her sprouted fresh green shoots.
"Kuzeha-kun, did you awaken a new power?"
Tomori asked in awe.
She'd long known he had a sort of storage-space ability.
But this healing power—she'd never seen before.
A dual-ability user!
Space plus healing—an extremely rare talent that major organizations would fight over.
Tomori felt both joy and concern.
After confirming Ayumi had stabilized, Kuzeha sighed in relief.
He had planned to take her outside before using his Authority to heal.
He hadn't expected her power to activate on its own.
He looked at the panicked students fleeing the cracking building.
"Looks like I'll have to teach Ayumi how to control her power."
Otherwise, if she panicked again, she might bury the whole orphanage.
"Kuze-kun, have you considered transferring to Hoshinoumi Academy?"
Tomori looked at him seriously.
Given his abilities, she feared that some outside group would eventually target him.
Transferring would at least provide protection from the government and the Hero Association.
Kuzeha shook his head.
"Too far. Besides, your big bro has more than enough power to protect himself."
He ruffled her silvery hair.
Just then, a sharp alarm rang out.
"Warning! Monster detected nearby. Initial threat level: Tiger-class! All personnel please evacuate to shelters and await hero response!"
A monster?
At this moment?
Kuzeha looked down at the sleeping Ayumi in his arms, and a strange premonition stirred in his heart...
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