There Was No Secret Organization to Fight with the World's Darkness so I Made One

There’s no Limit to my Superpower! (Is There?)

Part 2

Even if it feels like there’s no change because things are still being supported by Kaburagi-san and only about half of the method has changed, that doesn’t matter, right?! From the start, as Kaburagi-san says, we made this arrangement when I got her to invest originally. I granted her a superpower that I will absolutely never get no matter how much money I pile up in return for her investment. It’s a ‘Win-Win’. Let’s proudly be supported as justifiable compensation. It doesn’t mean that I won’t work.

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“Entrust it to me, please.”

“Understood. Though, because I’m at the point of constructing the remodeled living area for the live-in employee to use, it would probably be better to move-in once the construction work is finished. By the way, Sago-san, do you know what it takes to open a bar?”

“An elegant bartender?”1

“No, food hygiene officer qualifications.”

“Food hygiene officer qualifications…”

In the past I vaguely heard that you have to have the necessary qualifications if you want to open a restaurant. I remember that that was why my teacher was so strict when us high school students wanted to have a restaurant for the school festival. High school students don’t have the necessary qualifications, there were severe restrictions on the sales/management of the food and drinks. Certainly, I can understand that it’s absolutely necessary to acquire the qualifications in order to open the bar, as Kaburagi-san has said, but I’m not fully satisfied with this explanation. I would have to do something ‘big’ (acquiring food hygiene manager qualifications). Why?

“I will prepare the documents: notification forms for the closing, opening, & etc. of a private business; notification forms for the commencement of a restaurant business offering late-night alcohol; notification of the installation of equipment & etc. that utilizes fire; notification of the commencement of utilizing fire prevention equipment; and the food sales permit application; after looking these over, please sign them and affix your seal2 to them, ok? Sago-san should concentrate on acquiring the qualifications. Although I hear that the training isn’t too difficult.”

“A~, *hai*.”

Leaving the complex legal processes to Kaburagi-san, I dealt with the food hygiene manager qualifications. Because it seemed like they were holding the qualification training, which is sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Food Sanitation Association, in five days, for now I think I’ll take the course, and also start studying by buying a reference book so that I don’t forget things and fail to get my qualifications. At the same time, I started to clean up my apartment in preparation for moving to the underground bar. This resulted in me becoming quite busy. There aren’t enough hours in the day for everything.

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Speaking of not having enough time, in regards to Kaburagi-san’s superpower, due to training, the length of time that could be stopped was extending at a good pace. Its growth rate is much higher than mine. By the numbers, it’s 1.7 times faster. From 0.5 seconds on the day Kaburagi-san figured out her superpower, to 0.85, 1.45, and 2.45 in three days, with a rest for growing pains, and finally reaching 4.18 seconds this morning. The growth rate for [Nenrikin] is 1.3 times, so this is an amazingly high growth rate.

It’s not because I’m not talented. Is it just that Kaburagi-san’s ability it too high-spec, or does the nature of [Stoprotein] make it grow more easily than [Nenrikin]? It can seem like there’s not much difference if you only look at the numerical values of 1.3 and 1.7, but you shouldn’t take geometric progressions lightly. People say that even an approximately 10 year advantage can be overturned eventually. It’s terrifying, but also reliable.

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I could see that my growth was declining; acquiring the qualifications for food hygiene manager was disappointingly easy; I finished moving and the change of address procedures; and then it was the day that I was getting the equipment for the underground bar operations ready. The smell of the wood floors was floating in the air, and I was playing around with a serious expression by simultaneously shaking and floating the 15 cocktail shakers for our ‘modern evening bar’, when Kaburagi-san came for a visit. I welcomed her by serving a freshly made cocktail.

By the way, on this day Kaburagi-san was wearing a dress made of loosely draped white cloth; she looked like a walking sculpture of a Greek goddess. Did she unreservedly walk down the street in this dress… what is her heart made out of? Orichalcum?

“Sago-san, your psychokinesis hasn’t become sluggish, you know?”

“Ah, I wasn’t thinking that.”

While I answered, Kaburagi-san elegantly carried the cocktail glass to her mouth, it gave her a seductive appearance that took my breath away. It was incredibly picturesque. It would have been tempting to look away if a woman with a ‘pizza face’ and a ‘trashy body’ was wearing the same clothes and doing the same thing, so it was a good decision for her to diet and get plastic surgery.

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“To tell you the truth, I’ve become unable to lengthen the amount of stopped time.”

“You can’t lengthen it?”

“The amount of time stopped hasn’t gone beyond 44 seconds. I’m not experiencing any more growing pains, either. Does this mean it won’t grow anymore?”

“Oh–… I’m not sure. Sorry, I know you were relying on me.”

Because she had been growing so quickly, Kaburagi-san was now feeling depressed. After that, I asked a few questions, but not getting decent answers made me sorry I asked. Time passed by quietly for a while; I gave Kaburagi-san a cocktail I made and she silently tilted the glass. Even though the quality of my cocktails ranks no better than an amateur, Kaburagi-san, who should have a refined palate, was pouring it down her throat without saying anything.

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Before long, Kaburagi-san clapped her cheeks and stood up. With a refreshed expression, she said,

“I guess if there’s no way to lengthen it anymore than this, it can’t be helped. From tomorrow, I’ll start doing applied training. First, I’m going to get light out of the stopped time. As a matter of fact, I’ve already started on that objective; I determined that time is not stopped for objects that I have put in my mouth, that means that I expanded the selected target, and that it’s not necessarily only just the physical elements making up myself that can be exempted from the time stop’s range of spatial suspension…*un*, that seems like a good idea, yes? Oh, of course I will continue with basic training.”

‘Thank you for listening while I talked’, having said this, Kaburagi-san left with a steady gait. I wonder if it was really fine that I only listened to her talk. I feel like she improved her mood pretty much all by herself.

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After that, I continued the basic training for a week, but Kaburagi-san’s feasible time suspension never exceeded 44 seconds. It seems like that’s the limit. However, after only 10 days of applied training, she overcame the darkness within the stopped time and became able to see, so is she a genius like I thought? Since it’s based on complicated principles and specialized concepts on the emergence of time and space, even though she explained that the technique seems to rely on a sense that’s unique to [Stoprotein], I was unable to understand it properly. For now, she can only light up her surroundings by putting a light source in her mouth, or something like that. I imagine it would give the impression of a surrealist painting3. I can’t see it because that scene is only within the time stop.

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Now that we’re done with exploring Kaburagi-san’s superpower and I’ve been re-employed, The establishment of our secret organization will soon be drawing near. What remains is forging the dark things of the world that are hostile to the secret society; after that, since the bare minimum for appearing to be a secret organization that fights the world’s darkness will be in place, we can finally start inviting members. It’ll be just a little while longer.

Footnotes:

1: Possible reference to the manga/anime “Bartender” ⇒ Bartender: Manga

2: Japanese people use a ‘hanko’, a stamp that acts as a personal seal, to validate offical documents ⇒ Hanko and Inkan

3: Surrealism is an art movement that “explored the unconscious”. Surrealist paintings often feature normal objects in a context that makes no sense. Learn more/examples here ⇒ Surrealism