At the point where everyone was leaving the Association, I had to stay behind, unable to go. Because while the silver-haired woman said everyone else could leave, she left only me in her office.
Since the system still hadn't returned, I couldn't know the woman's name or ability. However, without the system, other things became more visible.
Such as her attire that seemed to resemble black mourning clothes, or her vertically slit yellow pupils reminiscent of a cat's, or her radiantly shining silver hair that made her seem like a being from another dimension.
The black forms granted to the extras had, until now, helped ensure they weren't treated as human. But the woman, whose only difference was her pupils yet whose very atmosphere seemed of a completely different species, instead revealed to me the existence of a terrifying beauty.
Just being looked at by those eyes made me feel like prey. Yet contrary to that feeling, warmth suffused the woman's words.
"So, how's your body?"
"My right arm still hurts a bit."
It happened when my vision was obscured—a strike launched by the woman the instant she removed her glasses.
If white lightning hadn't crackled from my hand the moment I blocked [that thing], unseen as it was, I would have simply become a one-armed man.
Thinking back on the casual words that enemy had spat out afterward, it might have been something closer to a simple greeting.
As I gripped my still-trembling arm, the woman spat on her finger and smoothly rubbed my right elbow with it.
"What are you doing?"
"Treating you. I used to do this for you often since you were little. Why are you pretending not to know all of a sudden?"
I had shown refusal because I thought saliva was slightly dirty, but she seemed genuinely puzzled.
She had the air of a career woman, so the strange feeling of such a woman applying her saliva to me made the rejection even stronger.
The arm she had treated throbbed slightly more, then the pain gradually disappeared like a mirage.
Not only did the pain vanish, but even the intermittent trembling of my arm disappeared, so her saliva seemed almost like a real healing medicine.
"Are you better now? So, what is it this time? I let all three of them go as innocent because they looked like your friends, but I still need to know the situation first if I'm going to help."
So she had let them go because there was a connection between us after all.
"But what exactly are we to each other?"
She looked older than me, but seeing as she didn't stop me from speaking informally, we seemed to be quite close.
Since she appeared to hold a high position in the so-called Association that managed superpower users, I had thought she might be a sponsor and I the sponsored—a relationship born from that. But to me, thinking that, surprising news arrived.
"What's with that joke. We are family, after all. ...Though there is some distance. Perhaps enough distance that calling it 'some' might be rude."
The fact that this woman and I were family.
Yu Inna had been so obsessed with me that we'd share a bed, yet she had abandoned me and left alone. I had half-dreaded that it might be the in-laws I'd heard about last time in bed, but I had never imagined that the woman who appeared to be a high-ranking Association official was the 'in-laws' Inna had mentioned.
Perhaps thinking it was simply a joke, she didn't press further. But I fell into deep thought. I had only experienced it once this afternoon, but Yu Inna's strength was beyond imagination.
It didn't stop at merely slightly superior physical ability. The sight of her moving the earth and atmosphere with what was merely an ability to win others' favor far exceeded the level of the influence-type superpower user I had imagined.
It was such overwhelming strength that I became convinced I couldn't beat Inna with my superpower if we entered a real fight—my ability couldn't exert continuous power.
I also realized that if she targeted me seriously with her 'yandere' trait, I wouldn't be able to resist.
Since she was the heroine anyway, even if that trait didn't reach the level of hating other men, it was clear she was obsessed with me.
But my current situation wasn't that dire. If I simply considered the destructive power of our superpowers, mine was far superior.
In a situation where only Inna and the Student Council President knew about my superpower, and the President was too busy to return to the classroom, I had thought I couldn't ask anyone for help with my ability. But as the Queen had told me when she transformed into Seo Yuri, if we were family, there would be a way to know about my superpower.
Since she seemed to belong to the Association that managed superpower users, she would know ways to grow my ability beyond what I had imagined.
If I relied on the protagonist's 'radiance,' which was impossible to have with me at all times, I couldn't grow my superpower to Inna's level.
I needed to find another method to grow my ability, and the woman before me who was this body's older sister was the perfect teacher.
To request that, I would have to reveal one of the secrets I had intended to hide, but—
"I lost my memories. Even if you say we're family, nothing comes to mind."
If I could receive this woman's help with that, it was a trivial matter. The woman, who had been about to sit back down, froze as if her ankle had been caught, then slowly turned her head.
A shocked face. An emotion akin to faint joy leaked onto her face, only for her to freeze once more, shocked by that very feeling.
Did this woman also have some bad past with me? Seeing her happy at the news that I had lost my memories, then shocked at being happy, she seemed like a slightly conscientious person. Since I didn't know what I had been through anyway, she could have been happy without worry.
Perhaps realizing I was studying her face, she quickly composed her expression and opened her mouth.
"What happened to make you like that... though I did hear roughly what happened to you. So I knew the result, but not that it included losing your memory. That Inna really doesn't say what she should..."
From the woman's mouth, which was grinding her teeth at Inna, I spotted two teeth protruding especially sharply. Two teeth that looked like they would hurt if they pricked me.
Before I could feel like I understood something from that, the woman sat back down and looked at me with a serious expression.
"Seeing as you didn't come find me right when you lost your memories and instead stayed at Inna's house, but now that I've said I'm your sister, you tell me you lost them—it seems there's something you'd only tell family. I'll listen, and I'll help if it's within reason."
It was a declaration far more reliable than the direct things Inna did for me. To think there was family by my side who demanded no price.
From what I heard from Inna, they were called in-laws, but honestly, if it was family that worried about me this much, I didn't mind being called in-laws. Because in reality, there had been no family worth worrying about me like this.
"Teach me how to use my superpower. Even if ordinary mental attacks seem to be blocked automatically, I'd like you to tell me how to use it passively, or what kind of superpower it is, as much as possible."
If we were family, we would have shared information about each other's superpowers. Learning from her would be better for understanding my ability than listening to those around me.
But as if my thoughts were wrong, she tapped the desk with her finger, her face troubled.
"I'm really sorry, but I don't know the details of your superpower either. I didn't ask, and you wouldn't have told me. I can teach you general superpower usage or a few things I know about yours."
Had this body really not gotten along with its sister? To think it kept its distance even though there was someone to call family... perhaps this body had been spoiled. Thinking so, I listened to the information she gave.
"Superpowers are generally divided into three types. Erosion-type, Always-active type, and Manual Activation type. Erosion-type is when the superpower erodes your body, creating a different species. Always-active type is a superpower that continues to manifest even without intention. Manual Activation type is activated only by your will, but compared to other types, it possesses very great power."
"Then my superpower must be a mix of Always-active and Manual Activation?"
Did it continuously protect against things like mental attacks, then activate manually in a crisis?
I thought I had guessed roughly along those lines from the woman's explanation, but she shook her head and continued.
"No, your superpower can be considered Erosion-type, like mine. However, because you yourself dislike those with Erosion-types, yours couldn't completely erode your body, so it appears to have an ambiguous form combining both Always-active and Manual Activation."
I had rejected the superpower eroding my body because I disliked it. That was understandable enough. But my experiences so far contradicted her words.
The woman had also said she didn't know much about me.
"My body seems weaker than other superpower users', and it's Erosion-type?"
"I told you. It changes your species. The power that would enhance physical abilities for others has settled in your body as the power to change species, so there's no strength left to pour into physical abilities. Though I don't know about after the species completely changes..."
As long as I kept rejecting the erosion, my body would remain weaker than other superpower users', right?
Perhaps because she belonged to the Association that managed superpowers, she explained them well. She was kind enough to pardon my friends as innocent just for being by my side. Why hadn't they gotten along?
"Then why didn't we get along?"
I asked without holding back.
Judging from the woman's reaction, it didn't look like I was in the wrong, so I had no intention of holding back out of concern for her feelings, only to step on a landmine later.
Hearing my words, the woman made a rarely seen troubled expression.
"Right, I shouldn't hide it. I ate your parents. No matter how well someone who ate your own parents treats you, it's only natural that you can't see them as real family."
"...Huh?"
I couldn't come to my senses at my sister's words that came flying in out of nowhere. It felt as if everything connected—why this body had been wary of its sister, and why it had been obsessed with the Student Council President.
But seeing my stiff face, my sister raised her head while covering her face with her hand. The corners of her mouth were rising, unable to hide even behind her palm.
"Pfft, it was a joke. Why would I practice cannibalism in a world with such abundant food? We just slowly drifted apart while fighting over something embarrassing to talk about."
"I figured as much."
I had seen earlier that she wasn't very good at managing her expressions, so that couldn't have been a lie. This woman called my sister really couldn't tell jokes, it seemed.
I nodded and organized the information I'd obtained today. My superpower is Erosion-type. However, in preparation for returning this body, I shouldn't let the superpower erode me and change my 'species' carelessly.