“Hah, where is that fool and what is she doing.”
An organization created to prevent espers from crossing the line while growing their abilities—the Association.
When espers committed legally prohibited acts, deeds akin to murder, the Association was the body permitted to judge them in cooperation with the police.
While the majority of ordinary people were ignorant of the Association, there was no way espers wouldn’t know where those who might punish them resided.
Among the Association buildings, a woman who used the highest floor as her office—high enough to look down upon the glittering city lights at night—glanced sidelong at the cell phone left on the edge of her desk.
The screen showed the hallway of a house, continuously. It wasn’t a video of some special incident, but a CCTV feed being shared to her phone.
And needless to say, she was checking in real time that the girl who should have entered there had not yet done so.
[I'm sleeping over at my place. ^^]
It was not that the woman was watching without any news. The one who used to be the girl’s friend had sent a text saying the girl was sleeping over at her place.
‘That crazy bitch.’
But as a woman who knew what that friend had done to her younger sister, she could only scoff.
Her sister often acted insane, but she wasn’t so crazy as to forgive an old friend who had tried to do something like that to her.
Of course, it would be nice if she forgave her. If that bitch did, she would be more than capable of looking after her sister in her stead, since she herself was too busy with work to even return home.
She certainly did act crazy at times, but she was just as reliable when it came to caring for her sister.
It was because she trusted that one thing about her that she had shared the house password and CCTV feed; in other words, that alone was trustworthy.
—and,
‘If that bitch is forgiven, then I too...’
Blood began to trickle from the woman’s tightly clenched fist. The blood that flowed from the nail marks on her palm vanished the instant it was about to touch the floor.
Supernatural abilities were not solely of the activation type.
There were abilities constantly applied to the body, those that merely enhanced physical abilities, and even powers that altered the very species of human, turning one into an entirely new kind of being.
The droplet of blood that had formed and vanished was one of the decisive clues revealing what kind of being the woman was.
But there was no one who dared peek into this office, nor any device monitoring its interior, so the clue to her ability passed quietly without spreading to anyone.
While watching the phone screen in one corner of her vision, she looked at the paper clutched in her hand with the other.
When her younger sister would return was certainly a matter of great concern, but the paper in her hand was also of great importance.
The Dilling Village annihilation disaster. An incident where a single house suddenly caught fire and burned the entire village to the ground.
Espers associated with water and wind had stepped forward, but the fire would not be easily extinguished. It was a fire that not even ordinary water could quench.
Police had moved to find the culprit, and espers capable of reading memories had acted as well, yet they could not find the owner of that fire.
It could not be called a simple crime, as no traces had been found by any means.
Was it merely meticulous planning, or was there a mastermind scheming to gain something from this fire? Or was it simply a change in the world?
Unlike innate espers born with abilities like her and her sister,
the number of espers who had suddenly awakened to abilities one day had been increasing rapidly among high school students since her sister’s enrollment.
Was it the influence of the ‘Blessing’ her sister possessed, or was it the power of someone with immense supernatural abilities altering the world? Or was it simply the season for espers to increase?
The woman who currently reigned as the grim reaper of espers in this city closed her eyes briefly against the fatigue pressing down upon her eyelids.
She did not fall asleep. After awakening to her ability, she had lost the ability to take rest in sleep.
In a world changed by espers. One of those at the very top leaned back in her chair and began to fantasize. A humble fantasy under the name of ‘what if.’
Unlike Erika, who resembled a white-eyed fairy, the silver-haired woman who looked somehow noble kept her eyes closed and indulged in a humble fantasy unbecoming of her.
*
In an abandoned factory, a woman with brown hair braided into a ponytail and wearing glasses stared blankly into empty space. A gaze impossible to tell whether she was dreaming or simply spacing out.
Yet at the woman’s reaction, the girl beside her clapped her hands in delight.
“I see. It has finally begun. The beginning of the scenario that the Protagonist has been waiting a year for. How do you feel?”
Even at news born from a year of waiting, the woman showed no sign of joy. She merely sat calmly atop a steel bar.
The light leaking from the electric lamp hanging from the factory ceiling brightly illuminated the woman’s glasses, and she slowly pushed up the frame with her index finger.
And as if reacting to that, those who had been hiding in the darkness of the abandoned factory began to reveal themselves.
“So what’re we supposed to do, Boss. Scenario this, scenario that—we don’t know anything about all that!”
A man in the form of a wild boar, his entire body covered in fur, snorted and asked while constantly stroking the tip of his nose with one hand.
A criminal who had beaten dozens of people to death with his bare hands in one place, hunted by the Association for execution. The silver bristles standing stiffly straight had a history of ignoring even bullets.
Esper Ability — Ironclad Boar.
Unless struck by artillery, he could ignore even the most sophisticated gunfire and fight—a veritable monster possessed of a supernatural ability.
“Last time’s fire stunt was too boring~. Make the next one something more flashy and fun, please.”
A girl wearing a pink kimono complained while approaching the woman with glasses and clinging to her arm.
That girl’s true identity was the real culprit who had created the Dilling Village annihilation disaster that the Association was chasing. Yet even the Association, composed of numerous espers, had failed to uncover her identity.
Beyond her, there was a girl with a black scar engraved in one eye sitting on a rebar while holding a scabbard; a bizarre man wrapped entirely in bandages; a girl surrounded by animals of unique forms; and others—at least ten people had gathered in the abandoned factory, looking at the woman with glasses standing in the center.
A nonsensical spectacle: criminals overflowing with individuality waiting for the words of a woman who looked utterly mundane no matter how one looked at her. The woman standing at the center opened her mouth with an indifferent expression despite their gazes.
“I don’t think something big will happen from the beginning. Live as usual, and if you think a beautiful girl is experiencing an incident, let me know.”
“Um, is that all?”
“I’ll speak on her behalf from here. I told you before, but please avoid meeting a person named Gim Haneul as much as possible. He may not have been trained through combat like us, but there is a high probability that he possesses threatening power on par with such. If you encounter a situation where some unpleasant man approaches and tries to brainwash or hypnotize you, kill him immediately. If the scenario is slowly beginning, there is a high chance that the other side’s protagonist will begin to move as well.”
The girl who had been speaking on behalf of the woman with glasses looked around at the people surrounding them.
Even if the Association saw them, aside from the wanted individuals, they wouldn’t know how powerful these people were; but according to what she had heard from her Master, the girl understood just how strong they were.
It was information that Erika too might have known had she seen them with her own eyes, but they were not villains. To be precise, they were not composed solely of villains.
In terms of power to capture a true heroine, someone like Gim Haneul who was closer to a slice-of-life youth story or the protagonist of an unidentified rape work would be stronger; but if one considered only the strength of pure heroines and villains, the faction that inevitably possessed the greatest power was precisely those belonging to [Esper Battle].
To reach the Master’s goal, they would kill the two protagonists who would become rivals. And capture and conquer the one suspected to be the true heroine.
Though it was full of words she could not understand, achieving her Master’s incomprehensible goal by any means necessary was precisely the purpose for which she had been created.
A bizarre madness flashed across the eyes of the girl standing beside the woman with glasses before vanishing.
“Let’s go together~. Master.”
The reason the madness had to vanish was because her Master, who had been wearing a blank expression, had exited the abandoned factory first, and she had to chase after her.
Those watching the two leave without a word waited silently for ten minutes before quietly dispersing from that spot.
An organization with such powerful abilities that the Association would need concern itself with. Its existence was still unknown to the world and hidden in darkness.
Amidst the abandoned factory where the others had dispersed without a trace, only the fur of the man with the Ironclad Boar esper ability had fallen...