Anime, Girlfriend Shokuhou Misaki.

“You—this—guy!”

Even a clay idol crossing a river has some anger, let alone Shokuhou Misaki, who doesn't have a very good temper to begin with.

“Alright, does that make you feel better?”

Completely disregarding Shokuhou Misaki's threatening gestures, it wasn't exactly without warning, but more like without reason or logic, Haramura Makoto smiled and said these words to Shokuhou Misaki.

“What do you mean?”

Her clenched, powerless, limp fist had already reached Haramura Makoto's ear, but then stopped as if she had suddenly slammed on the brakes.

Similarly, Shokuhou Misaki's face, which had been distorted with anger, also calmed down.

The look in her eyes towards Haramura Makoto was no longer anger, but a mixture of calmness and doubt.

“Isn't it obvious?”

“That expression of yours, crushed by pressure, wanting only to escape, I could see it with just one glance.”

Haramura Makoto chuckled, not meeting Shokuhou Misaki's gaze, but looking at the calm lake surface, his eyes as calm as the lake water, without a ripple.

The small hand that had been raised naturally fell down, and the clenched fist not only didn't relax, but instead clenched even tighter, and the blue veins could be clearly seen under her fair skin.

Silence, and a heavy atmosphere where only the sound of wind and insects could be heard.

Maintaining this state, quite a while passed again.

“Haa…”

It was a sound of resignation.

And the owner of this voice was naturally Shokuhou Misaki, who had been struggling since just now.

“Still this inexplicable ability to see through people's hearts, even though you're just a Level 0.”

Her straight back and shoulders relaxed, and if Shokuhou Misaki had been like a cat tensed up and ready to hunt, now she was like a rabbit that had returned to its safe burrow.

“This kind of thing has nothing to do with whether you have an ability or not.”

Haramura Makoto shrugged, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture.

“It's just an accumulation of experience and another kind of talent, and I'll correct you, I'm not a Level 0.”

“Is there any difference?”

The corners of Shokuhou Misaki's mouth turned up.

This couldn't be considered mockery, but rather, like Shokuhou Misaki, who had been at a disadvantage in the conversation since just now, was finally gaining the upper hand, and was triumphant after winning.

“Level 1 Space Distortion, you can't even break a pencil, can you?”

“Sigh, your words are so sharp that I'm speechless.”

Haramura Makoto directly let out a bitter laugh.

Regarding this point, Haramura Makoto really had no way to refute it.

That's right, he also lived in this Academy City, his age wasn't very old, he looked like a teenager, so naturally he was also a student of this Academy City.

Then he also naturally accepted the unique, so-called ability development process of this city.

Drugs, hypnosis, electrotherapy, all kinds of strange-sounding methods that seemed like torture, he had already experienced them in the year he was sent to this city at the age of six.

But unfortunately, he wasn't one of the chosen ones like the girl next to him.

Although he had also developed a superpower, slightly stronger than those Level 0s who didn't even know what their ability was, but a Level 1 after ten years of effort was actually no different from a Level 0.

“But you really don't give an inch, do you?”

He wasn't angry, not to mention Haramura Makoto's superpower, which hadn't improved in the past ten years, had long since made him used to such taunts.

It was more because he knew that this girl was just prideful.

She wasn't deliberately mocking him, she just wanted to retaliate to the same extent for his earlier taunt about her small chest.

After all, in this Academy City, mocking the ability of a Level 0 or Level 1 is definitely an extraordinary critical hit.

“Hmph—”

Turning her small face to the other side, her pink lips pouted, and at the same time as Haramura Makoto wasn't meeting Shokuhou Misaki's gaze, Shokuhou Misaki also didn't want to meet Sougo Reisei's gaze.

Actually, after saying it, she also felt that what she said was a bit too much.

But apologizing was absolutely impossible.

“How about it, are you willing to talk about what you can talk about?”

“Sometimes, saying some things can make you feel better, and I happen to be free today, I have a lot of time to be here.”

Perhaps the current Shokuhou Misaki was very similar to a certain period of his past.

Even though their interactions couldn't be considered deep, he always had a feeling that he couldn't just walk away.

Simply put, it was actually because he couldn't let go.

With his hands on the back of the chair, he turned his head, staring at Shokuhou Misaki's delicate side profile that hadn't fully developed, still with a bit of baby fat, Haramura Makoto said softly.

“What, you're just a delinquent gang leader.”

Even though the penetrating power of this gaze wasn't that strong, Shokuhou Misaki simply couldn't ignore it, and could only mutter helplessly.

Turning her head, and at the moment when her eyes met Haramura Makoto's, she nodded as if possessed.

“Okay…”

Chapter 005: No Way to Escape

Haramura Makoto, when you really talk about it, has a very normal personality.

He usually does good deeds, and he also holds his own goodwill towards many things, and when he encounters things within his ability, he will completely not mind his own business and provide his own strength.

But he's not a good person who indiscriminately shows kindness, and he has his own set of qualified review standards for the value of people.

For example, he would never do the boring thing of harming the interests of his relatives for outsiders.

But also the same.

Just like what he said just now, Haramura Makoto, because of his own past experiences, violated the norm and became talkative to Shokuhou Misaki, who showed such an expression.

After all, the person in front of him wasn't an ordinary person.

She was one of the only seven Level 5s in Academy City, and just thinking about it with your brain would make it clear what things were involved behind the things that troubled this person to the point of even wanting to escape, and how deep they could be involved.

No matter which one, it wasn't something that he, who wasn't even a lab rat in Academy City, could interfere with.

In this city for many years, and in that kind of mixed place.

He had long known how deep the water in this city was, but he still couldn't help but directly ask.

Still that sentence, there's no way to completely not mind your own business.

……

Shokuhou Misaki's narration couldn't be considered long, and it could even be said to be simple.

She nodded and agreed to speak just now as if possessed, but that didn't mean that she would say everything.

The man in front of her was just the leader of an armed Level 0 group.

These things that she was involved in, if this man knew about them, would only bring him endless trouble.

But just like this man had said.

If many things are just piled up in your heart like this, it will only make your pressure more and more serious, and confiding may be a more suitable way to relieve yourself than escaping.

After all, with her identity and position, even if she erased her own memory, could she really escape?

Impossible!

Isn't that what so-called espers are like?

“I see!”

“So that's how it is.”

Haramura Makoto sighed softly.

He didn't immediately make any words of persuasion, such words had no meaning at all.

After all, even a small person like him has many things to worry about every day, let alone Shokuhou Misaki, this is an absolutely unavoidable thing.

“Then why not put it down for now.”

“Sometimes, some responsibilities are unavoidable and inescapable for us.”

“But that doesn't mean that we have to carry this responsibility on our shoulders at all times.”

“Occasional relaxation is not a bad thing.”

Normally speaking, having said this, according to this atmosphere, you should actually reach out your hand and take it a step further, that's the normal progress, right?

But this is limited to boyfriends and girlfriends, or at least you have to have a certain ambiguous relationship to be useful.

There's no way, Haramura Makoto and Shokuhou Misaki are just nodding acquaintances, they can't reach that kind of relationship at all.

“Is that really okay?”

Shokuhou Misaki's beautiful starry eyes flickered, and the stars in her pupils were really like the stars in the night sky, beautiful and dazzling.

Haramura Makoto's idea was a completely new idea for her.

After all, Shokuhou Misaki, who was used to putting everything on herself and bearing everything herself, had never thought of it this way.

Because of her own ability, because of her own experience, because of her own personality.

She had never believed in anyone, and she would never try to believe in anyone.

“There's nothing okay or not, this is what a superior should do.”

“If you need to do everything yourself, you'll only crush yourself, even if you're an extraordinary Level 5.”

To bear everything yourself, to solve everything yourself, without the intervention of others, just let yourself bear it all.

This unique atmosphere was exactly the same as himself two years ago.

However, he also understood this truth after sacrificing something.

“Even if you say that, I have no way, unless I use my ability to thoroughly check this person, otherwise I can't believe it.”

“After all, without a special need, you wouldn't peek into other people's hearts, right.”

Although Shokuhou Misaki didn't finish her words, Haramura Makoto had already made the correct supplement to it.

And Shokuhou Misaki's expression of not objecting to it had already completely proved the correctness of Haramura Makoto's previous supplement.

In the original book, the artificial workshop that Shokuhou Misaki mastered was all composed of researchers who had been altered by her through mental manipulation.

After all, these were originally her enemies, the disgusting guys who wanted to grasp her.

The guys who cut open her brain and cut off a part of the tissue from her brain to cultivate the external brain.

So, using her ability to completely control these guys and change their thoughts, could be said to be no psychological burden at all for Shokuhou Misaki.

As for whether she really doesn't have anyone she trusts at all?

Actually, that's not the case.

At least now in Tokiwadai, because of her personal excellence, those girls who gathered around her, regarded her as their queen, and followed her side, she could give a little bit of trust to them.

After all, she was very sure that she had never used her ability on those children.

But…

“Originally, there was no need to completely believe, and, if you don't want to use your ability, then how about trying to see through people's hearts without relying on your ability like me?”

He wouldn't tell some grand truths to make Shokuhou Misaki understand.

After all, many things can only be understood after experiencing them, and it's futile to force people to change their ideas without experiencing them.

Even for some teenagers in puberty, your denial of their ideas, let alone making them agree, is more likely to cause their rebellious psychology.

So what he chose was to propose a solution.

A solution that might allow Shokuhou Misaki to accept it smoothly, even though he might spend some effort in the process.

“Really?”