“What happened?”
The Team Leader and the Agent from the Bureau were pretty quick to arrive. They didn’t look that startled by the situation as they came in without any real signs of fluster. Rather, their calmness almost felt a little odd to see.
“Kill!! I’ll kill—!”
It also didn’t take long for them to figure out what had happened.
“Okay, I’ll take it from here.”
With a flick of his finger, the death-row inmate suddenly froze in place.
“I’ll k—Uekh!”
The sight was startling to watch.
All he did was flick his finger, and… he was incapacitated. Although I couldn’t tell how strong he was, I was sure that he could do the same thing to me if he wished.
“The six of you go back to the living room for now. I’ll take care of the situation here.”
“Yes, sir!”
Despite what had happened, none of the recruits looked startled or even scared.
It was an oddly weird sight to me.
’…Feels like this is probably something they are used to.’
My thoughts were proven right the moment we came into the living room.
“Uwa… That almost scared me.”
“Right? Crazy… I thought he was going to gouge your eyes out. For a moment, I was ready to pick up whatever was left of you.”
“Kek, you wish.”
As if the situation had never happened, the five of them joked and laughed with one another.
What sort of…
“You look confused, newbie.”
Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned, I saw one of the members smiling at me. He had a square jaw, framed by his bowl-cut hair, and squared-framed glasses.
“I was also the same as you at first, but you get used to the sight. The support squad tends to deal with lunatics, so this is normal. In fact, you can even say it’s somewhat mild.”
What?
This was somewhat mild?
I suddenly started to shudder while thinking about what ’not mild’ was like. If possible, I didn’t want to have any part in that.
“What are you doing, Jay? You’re scaring the newbie on his first day.”
Overhearing the conversation, Rosanne, the one subjected to the assault, shook her head while looking at me.
“Don’t mind him. He’s messing with you. This is nowhere near mild. Probably something like… normal.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“I guess normal is a good way to put it.”
Seeing the others agree with her, I forced a smile.
This didn’t help much…
“Anyways, I think we should all introduce ourselves since we’re going to be working together.”
Rosanne pointed at herself.
“I’m Rosanne. I’m in charge of body analysis. Basically… I can fondle your body to see if there’s anything wrong with you.”
“…Oh.”
What a great way to word things.
She then pointed at the man next to me.
“That’s Jay. He’s also basically the same, but he specializes more in hormonal detection. He can detect if there’s some sort of imbalance in the hormones, and he can quickly adjust them.”
That… sounded pretty neat, actually.
Rosanne then pointed at the other girl in the group.
“This right here is Chloe. She should be similar to you. She specializes in human psychology.”
Chloe felt a bit different than Rosanne, as in her disposition was a lot colder. However, her hair was similarly short, with it being black instead of brown. Her most distinctive trait was the freckles on her nose.
’I guess she can be considered somewhat pretty?’
Not really my type, but I could see how she’d attract the gaze of the opposite sex.
“These two, on the other hand, are Ray and Mark.”
This left the other two members. Both average in height, with Ray being on the chubbier side, while Mark looked to be the oldest one in the group.
Meeting my gaze, they both laughed.
“Hoho, can’t believe we’ve got someone new here.”
“We finally have another person to suffer with us.”
The two looked friendly, but their words… They didn’t feel so friendly.
“You two, stop it.”
Rosanne slapped the air.
At least she seemed reasonable…
“What’s the point in telling him? That kind of ruins the fun in it. Now he expects it… A good jumpscare happens when they least expect it.”
Nevermind.
I take it all back.
These people… They were sick in the head.
“Anyways, it looks like it’ll take a while for the Team Leader to handle the situation. Do you know what you’re supposed to do?”
“Me? Well… more or less.”
I didn’t really have to do anything.
Maybe a little therapy here and there. Basically… say some bullshit while using my phone to hynpnothise them.
“Nice, nice.”
Rosanne looked all cheery as she looked at me.
“Since you’re ready, let’s go.”
“Eh?”
Go? Where?
“We’re going to visit the other houses and check on the other inmates. Let’s go quickly. The faster we get this done, the better!”
Skipping slightly, she headed for the door.
The others followed right behind her.
“Wait, don’t go too fast. I just hate so my stomach is a little upset.”
“Shouldn’t have eaten then.”
“The bus ride was long though…”
Staring at their backs, I paused for a moment before pursing my lips.
We were going to be attacked again, weren’t we?
*
“I’ll kill you! Die!!!”
We were indeed attacked again. Not once, but three times in total. Adding this, and it was now four.
“Stop him!”
“Quick! Just stop him for a moment!”
“He’s fast!”
I moved by instinct, dashing towards the death-row inmate. He stood a head taller than me, his entire body built like some sort of mountain as veins protruded on his bald head.
Logically speaking, it should’ve been impossible for me to do a single thing to him.
And yet—
BANG!
I somehow managed to flip him over with a single move.
“…..”
The room fell silent a short while later as Rosanne and the other looked at me.
And then—
“Holy shit! How are you so strong?”
“Are you sure you’re in the support class?”
“That was nuts.”
“No, seriously… that was crazy. How did you manage that?”
I could only force a smile while looking at them.
“I… did some self-defense classes in the past. I guess they helped out a bit.”
This was total bullshit.
I had never fought in my entire life, nor did I know the first thing about throwing a punch. I didn’t even use my powers.
And yet… I was still somehow able to throw a man twice my size onto the ground.
’Could this be because I reached the Second Order?’
Did I not only acquire a node but also become physically stronger?
“Self-defense? What sort of classes did you take? There’s no way.”
“Yeah, I call bullshit on that. There’s definitely more to it than you’re saying.”
I started sweating when I saw that the excuse wasn’t working.
Shit…
This wasn’t something that I was aware of.
As my thoughts scrambled, I responded in the only way that I could think of.
“Kyle trained with me, so…”
Everything stopped.
“…..”
“…..”
Nobody made a sound, until…
“Kyle?”
“You mean that Kyle?”
“Wait, I do recall hearing that he was the one who brought you here. If that’s the case, then…”
“Makes much more sense, yeah.”
I blinked my eyes, at a complete loss. They bought it? Just like that…?
“Kyle was like this in his first year. I guess you guys must’ve gone to the same trainer.”
“It explains so much.”
Oh.
I mean, as long as you’re happy…
I was just about to open my mouth to say a few things when all of a sudden my phone rang.
Trr!
Looking down, a notification appeared.
[Everyone, go to the main building. All checks are complete. We’re about to start.]
The atmosphere suddenly seemed to shift in that moment.
Raising my head, the members of the support squad all wore somber and grim expressions. They had all apparently gotten the same message.
Moving forward, Rosanne mumbled, her voice somber.
“Let’s go. Our job is just about to get started. This might be a long night.”
Wait, what?
This was just the start?
What sort of…