Episode 26: Well, of course they’d come. Japan’s a spy paradise, isn’t it?
“Hoh. We’ve got quite a crop of talent this year.”
“This Seventh Esper Academy is where the threat of the Humanoid Ibinom was repelled, after all. I hear that not only the Crimson Knight but also the students fought valiantly then.”
“Hmm. So, who is the Crimson Knight?”
“According to our intel, it seems he’s not a student from the Combat Course.”
“What? Then, is he an outsider?”
“No, the most likely candidate at present is a student from the Support Course, whose events are being held not here, but at that other venue.”
“Name and face?”
“Please take a look at this.”
A stout man with short hair stared at the tablet he was handed, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses.
“Satsuki Kazuma. First-year in the Support Course, Gift is Transposition. Got into a traffic accident on the day of the entrance ceremony, enrolled three months late. Caught up in an Ivera Church terrorist attack right after enrolling, attacked by a Humanoid Ibinom during summer vacation, and recently, attacked by a rampaging Gifted, huh… How should I put it? He’s quite the unlucky fellow.”
“Yes, indeed. That’s correct. More importantly, third parties have intervened in all these incidents. During the terrorist attack, there was a suspicious individual claiming to be from the National Defense Force, the Crimson Knight, and the Silver Knight. This boy was always present at the scene of these events.”
“He’s on surveillance cameras too, and at the time of the Crimson Knight incident, he came out of the same restroom, did he?”
“Yes. Based on circumstantial evidence alone, it’s undoubtedly this boy.”
“However, there’s no conclusive proof, you say?”
“Unfortunately, there was no reaction from this boy other than that of the Transposition Gift.”
“Kukuku, I see.”
“Um… Was something amusing?”
“Nah, nothing amusing. I just thought things were about to get interesting.”
As if he’d thought of something, the man moved from the grounds where the Combat Course’s sports festival was being held and came to the second grounds, where the Support Course’s sports festival was taking place.
To find the boy in question, Kazuma, the man immediately craned his neck, looking around the grounds.
“Found him.”
A ferocious grin spreading across his face, the man took out a weapon hidden in the hollow of his ear and started walking towards the grounds.
The man who had come with him desperately called out to stop him, but the man paid him no heed and continued walking towards the grounds where Kazuma was.
◇◇◇◇
Kazuma was walking around the grounds in the middle of a scavenger hunt. Just then, a stout man with short hair, wearing an unfamiliar suit and sunglasses, approached him.
As Kazuma stared at the man, wondering if he was someone’s parent, a student from the broadcasting committee called out to the man.
“I don’t know whose father you are, but it’s dangerous inside the competition area, so please return to the spectator stands.”
However, he didn’t stop. Even after being warned, the man continued straight towards Kazuma. The teachers, thinking they couldn’t overlook this, moved to stop the man, but just as they approached, they froze.
(Why did they stop? Shouldn’t they just hurry up and take him away?)
In that instant, Kazuma sensed hostility. He was being targeted with clear animosity from the mysterious man who had invaded the grounds.
(Huh? Does he want something with me?)
However, this was Kazuma, who had faced hostility countless times in the other world, enough killing intent to make an ordinary person faint. He wasn’t particularly scared and acted normally. Moreover, he was even nonchalantly wondering why this hostility was directed at him.
(Eh~, did I do something?)
The Ivera Church or the National Defense Force came to mind, but neither would do something this brazen. If so, it was a different organization. Kazuma wondered who on earth it could be, but he had no clue.
Watching this scene from the spectator stands, a blonde woman wearing a hat and sunglasses, just like the man, muttered.
“Oh my, looks like there are others besides us.”
“Of course there are. It’s not just Japan. The whole world is watching, you know?”
“Hey, isn’t that bad? He’s probably serious.”
“Seriously? In a place like this?”
“I’m gonna go help him out a bit.”
“Ah, hey!”
The man watching with her reached out to stop the woman, but his hand grasped only air. Unable to stop her, the man put a hand to his forehead in regret, but resigned himself to the fact that it couldn’t be helped now.
“My bad. I hate troublesome things. So, show me your true identity.”
The man facing Kazuma lowered his stance and readied his weapon, a staff. Then, he shouted loudly.
“Extend!”
Obeying the man’s command, the staff shot straight towards Kazuma. Like a bullet, perfectly straight. A direct hit would not leave him unscathed. Of course, the man had no intention of killing him.
This was just a test. The man predicted that if Kazuma was the Crimson Knight, he would take some kind of action. If he did nothing, Kazuma was just incompetent (trash). However, if he showed even the slightest unusual movement, he would be identified as the Crimson Knight.
Either way, there was no doubt it would be to his benefit. Convinced of this, the man’s lips curled into a smirk.
(Whoa! Seriously?! Attacking so brazenly in such a public place, he’s nuts! But, is this actually a good method? If I dodge or defend, they’ll probably decide I’m the Crimson Knight…)
Kazuma, having vaguely understood the man’s aim, was calmly analyzing the situation. Even though the staff was about to reach him, he was remarkably composed.
(Hmm. That type of guy seems like they’d see through any strange move I make. Can’t be helped. I hate it, but I guess I’ll just have to resign myself to getting my face caved in or something~)
Kazuma, realizing the man didn’t seriously intend to kill him, chose to take the attack without flinching. He naturally hated pain, but he couldn’t bear to have his peaceful life stolen, so he decided to accept, at worst, a caved-in face, or at best, a broken nose.
Just as Kazuma, looking as dumbfounded as a pigeon shot by a peashooter, was about to take the hit from the staff, a green pane of glass appeared before his eyes.
“Eh?”
“What!?”
Kazuma and the man cried out in surprise. The man’s attack was blocked by the green glass, leaving Kazuma completely unharmed.
The man, irritated and wondering who the hell had interfered, was frantically looking around when a voice came from above.
“Heeey. Over he~re.”
When Kazuma and the man turned towards the voice, they saw a blonde woman wearing a hat and sunglasses, floating in mid-air.
Her expression was hard to read because of the sunglasses, but her mouth was smiling, so she was probably a friendly person. Seeing her, the man shouted resentfully.
“Bitch! You too?!”
“I told you, it’s not Bitch! It’s Witch! I’m telling you I’m a Witch! Was that too difficult for a little monkey?”
“You’re the one who’s mistaken! I am The Great Sage Equaling Heaven!”
“So, a monkey, right? It’s the same thing.”
A man and a woman suddenly appeared on the second grounds. The man called himself The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and the woman called herself Witch. Everyone who heard those names cried out in astonishment.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!?”
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Witch. Both were world-renowned celebrities. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was a Gifted from China who possessed both Extension and Body Enhancement. Witch was a Gifted from America who possessed both Barrier and Telekinesis.
Both were among the most skilled individuals in the world. Everyone wondered why they were in a place like this. Amidst them, only two people were thinking about something else.
(America and China… so information is leaking like crazy! Well, I guess it can’t be helped since they call Japan a spy nation~)
(No way, America and China are showing up?! And both are big names! Could it be they intend to recruit Satsuki Kazuma?)
Kazuma was exasperated that his information was being leaked to other countries, while Momoko was panicking at the appearance of such huge names.