The moment those pale gray eyes lit up with their signature star-shaped pattern, Makoto's swinging fist stopped mid-air.
"You must've told your driver to speed, right, Misaki? I already said, there was no need to rush. I can handle these two just fine."
Withdrawing his attack, Makoto turned his body to face behind him.
The person he spoke to was standing right beside Frenda, smiling sweetly as she looked at him.
"Don't worry. With my ability, a car accident is impossible. But looking at things now, it seems I really was overthinking it. As expected, Harumura-kun, you're not simple at all."
Hands clasped behind her back, Misaki walked toward Makoto with light, easy steps.
That's right — the person who had been in contact with Makoto from the start was none other than Shokuhou Misaki.
The moment Frenda suddenly turned hostile, Makoto knew that when it came to Academy City's dark side, people at their level — unable to even reach the upper echelons — had no way of obtaining even the most basic intelligence.
At best, what they knew of the "truth" of Academy City was only a little more than what an ordinary student or resident might know.
The real higher-ups had no interest in them and would never make contact.
So, sometimes, certain connections needed to be used.
He wasn't the type of man with an overblown sense of masculinity — asking a girl for help wasn't something he found difficult.
Fortunately, he had recently met someone who could help him obtain reliable information — Shokuhou Misaki.
As one of Academy City's Level 5 espers, one who had close ties with the city's dark side, and a psychic esper at that, Shokuhou Misaki had a certain amount of knowledge about any dark side group that dared to show itself.
Sure enough, within less than thirty seconds of Harumura's call, Shokuhou pinpointed the organization Frenda belonged to.
Item!
A dark side organization directly under Academy City's Board of Directors, one of the rare groups in the city with a name known to the public in certain circles.
The core reason for that fame was that Item's leader was one of Academy City's seven Level 5 espers — the fourth-ranked Meltdowner, Mugino Shizuri.
Shokuhou Misaki knew Item's strength all too well.
That was why she couldn't just sit still. After providing Makoto with the intel, she immediately ordered her driver to bring her over.
As it turned out, the moment she arrived, she saw Makoto shatter the Nitrogen Armor with a single punch.
"Maybe this is what they mean when they say: when God closes a door for you, He must open a window. My body has been unusual compared to others since I was a kid. Sometimes, I even wonder if Academy City's measuring instruments really aren't faulty… Is my ability truly the Level 1 'Space Distortion,' and not Level 4 'Physical Enhancement'?"
Clenching his fist, Makoto's lips curved into a slightly bitter smile.
Every year, the school ran ability tests on him, but no matter how many times they did it, the result was always the same — an ability called Space Distortion at Level 1, so weak it couldn't even twist a pencil.
As for blood tests, he'd only had them done once or twice when he was very young.
Perhaps, in the eyes of Academy City's upper management, there was no need to give such detailed examinations to Level 1 students.
That was why, as he grew older, his trained physical strength had never been discovered.
Still, he didn't rely entirely on Academy City's testing.
Once he had enough money, he got his hands on a full testing setup through underground channels.
The result told him exactly what his body was like.
His muscle density was ten times the physical limit of a normal human. And what did that mean?
When he fully tensed his muscles, he could withstand bullets with sheer flesh and bone.
The fastest human in the world could run 100 meters in 9.28 seconds.
According to theoretical calculations, if a human could fully develop their muscles, they could run 100 meters in 6 seconds.
His current muscle density was ten times the theoretical human maximum.
That meant he could cover nearly 100 meters in about half a second, purely on muscle power.
"Well, none of that really matters right now. More importantly — I have a plan, and I want you in on it. Interested?"
"Sounds like it might be fun."
…
Academy City, District 11.
Located on the city's eastern edge, it played an important role in overland transport.
Normally, such areas were among the more developed parts of a city. But here, it was genuinely poor.
So poor that convenience stores and supermarkets were scarce, and there were barely any other businesses.
Its poverty level was second only to District 10 — the city's poorest and most chaotic area.
Yet in this place that was practically a step above a slum, there was one small zone…
Houses there were clean and tidy, standing out like sore thumbs compared to the rest.
Inside a standalone three-story European-style villa in this neighborhood—
Crash!
A sound like glass shattering suddenly rang out.
A girl — a high schooler in appearance, tall and slender with excellent curves, especially her chest, which added to her presence — stood there.
She wore a light purple dress, over-the-knee socks, and white knee-high boots. With her silky chestnut hair and her refined, rich-girl features, she looked like the very image of an ojou-sama.
But right now, that beautiful young lady was looking at something with sheer arrogance and violence in her eyes.
On the floor in front of her lay a mess of shattered glass and a pool of liquid, red like wine.
"That idiot Frenda… She's screwed up again."
Facing her was another girl — simply dressed, but more developed than most her age — staring at the brunette in confusion.
"What happened?"
"That fool Frenda volunteered to take care of it, and ended up failing again."
The brunette strode to the door and opened it.
"Takitsubo, be ready to track Kinuhata's AIM diffusion field. We're moving out. Tch… and to think this job doesn't even come with decent pay."