Chapter 58 ~ FLT

Chapter 58 ~ FLT Right after finishing today’s training session for the Thesis Competition Security team, Yuuji was immediately invited to come to the gym building for a small meal. The gym building had been converted into a place for all members of the security team to rest after their day of training, and a lot of female students volunteered themselves to help prepare meals and drinks for them. Normally, he would’ve declined and returned home immediately with Aika and Erika since he preferred to eat dinner with them instead. But Aika had messaged him to come there after he finished helping with the training, so he joined them. Once he was there, he was welcomed by members of the Disciplinary Committee and volunteering students who had decided to help with the security measures during the Thesis Competition. Although most of them were second year students, surprisingly a lot of them were asking him for advice about their combat techniques and magic, especially the ones who fought against him during the earlier training session. After watching him fight, they’ve gained a lot of respect for Yuuji, and since most of the members of the Disciplinary Committee were chosen for not only their capabilities but also their open mindedness, they didn’t shy away to ask Yuuji, their junior, to share some pointers with them to help them improve. As they talked, a large group of girls with trays and trays of rice balls, snacks, and drinks appeared before the opened door to the gym, announcing their presence. And immediately, all the guys, who were exhausted and famished from their day long training, perked up and cheered at their entrance, their expression brightening at the sight of both the food and the girls. Although the girls volunteered to help out with the training of the security members for the large Thesis Competition event on the surface, there were also girls who chose to volunteer so they could socialize with the boys and show off their “domestic” side by making and serving them food and drinks. Similarly, the boys did their best in their training not only to improve their skills, but to also impress the girls. Although the First High School was known to teach and cultivate great talents and brilliant minds, the students were, in the end, young adults whose minds were greatly occupied by romance. So, it wasn’t that much of a surprise that they would always have romance in the back of their mind that’d drive their actions. Upon entering, the boy’s cheers became even louder when they saw Kiryuu Aika, the most beautiful and popular first-year girl, enter with a large amount of rice balls in her tray. Her popularity had skyrocketed even further after her performance in the NSC. She was even given the title of “Goddess” and “Angel” by many after her performance in the Mirage Bat event. So with immense intensity in their gazes, almost every guy resting in the gym hall immediately trained their eyes on the rice balls in her tray which, they assumed, she made. Any food hand-made by the Goddess should be delicious beyond comparison... And even if it was disgusting, they’d still gladly eat them with tears of happiness running down their cheeks since it was made by the hands of the Goddess. Meanwhile, Yuuji, who saw his beloved enter with a huge, brilliant smile on her face, couldn’t help but become suspicious of her... While others might see it as the brilliant smile of the Goddess, he recognized that smile... It was a smile she would make when she’s planning something mischievous. On her side, Mizuki also entered with slightly blushing cheeks. She was looking down to the tray of rice balls she was bringing, seemingly nervous about something. Before long, Aika noticed his gaze and her smile quickly grew even brighter. “Ah, there he is~! Mizuki, let’s go~!” “E-Eh?! A-Ah, Aika-chan!!!” Disregarding Mizuki’s yelp, Aika grabbed Mizuki’s arm and dragged her towards Yuuji while still holding the tray full of rice balls with one hand in an insane feat of balance. She disregarded every boy around her, who immediately deflated in disappointment as she walked past them, and beelined towards her one and only beloved, who was looking so hot and sexy in that jet-black training uniform. “Heya, Yuuji~! Good work kicking butts, out there~” “G-G-Good work, Y-Yuuji-kun.” “Good work, Aika, Mizuki-san... I see, so this is what you were doing. Is this why you told me to come here?” A lot of things finally clicked in his mind. Aika seemed excited when he told her he’ll be helping with the joint training today, and immediately went somewhere. Then a few minutes later, she sent him a text, telling him to come here after his training. Now he knew that she wanted to surprise him by cooking for him. “Uhn~! Mizuki and I had a fun time making these especially for you~! Right, Mizuki~? “E-Eh?! A-Aika-chan, t-that’s not- W-We’re making them for e-everyone...!” “Fufufu~ We did make some extra, but the ones we intended to make were for Yuuji, right~? Didn’t you say you wanted to thank him for “saving” you in that incident with Mikihiko?” “U-Uuuuhhh... A-Aika-chan...!” Mizuki couldn’t believe Aika would just blabber everything to Yuuji just like that. She hadn’t even manage to calm herself from being this close to Yuuji! Although she had spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Yuuji, his presence still made her super nervous and shy! It took her a while to muster up the confidence to give the rice balls she had made to convey her gratitude for Yuuji, but now, Aika just revealed everything to him! It’s too embarrassing for her!!! Taking her silence as confirmation, Yuuji couldn’t help but look at Mizuki with surprise. He didn’t expect her to take that small meddling he did so long ago to prevent her from getting hurt this seriously. He was, of course, appreciative of her efforts, but it was still... surprising. “I see... Thank you very much for your efforts, Mizuki-san. Although I’m not sure if that small meddling on my part deserves such gratitude from you, I truly appreciate it.” Mizuki shook her head and gripped the handle of the tray harder. “N-No! I-I haven’t got the chance to thank you properly, s-so I thought of using this as a chance! P-Please receive my gratitude.” She mustered up all her strength, determination, and courage to look up at Yuuji and stood her ground firmly. No matter what, she wanted to convey her gratitude for him. “Then... I’ll receive it humbly. You’re welcome, Mizuki-san.” “Y-Yes!” Finally, with her gratitude accepted, Mizuki’s expression brightened into a brilliant smile. A weight seemed to have been lifted from her shoulders, and she felt so light and fluffy as she stared at Yuuji’s wonderful smile in a daze. “Alright~! Now let’s treat Yuuji to our creations~! Mizuki-chan, let’s put these along with the others and bring back the ones we made for Yuuji!” “O-Okay!” “Let’s go~!” Aika and Mizuki then left with their trays and returned just as quickly as they left, but this time, with a smaller tray that had 6 triangular and identical rice balls separated into two groups of three. “Alright! Now choose which one you want to eat first, Yuuji! The ones on the right are mine and the ones on the left are Mizuki's!” “Hm... Then, I’ll try Mizuki-san’s first.” Seeing as this was a way for Mizuki to convey her gratitude, Yuuji decided to pick Mizuki’s first. As soon as he picked her rice balls into his hand, Mizuki immediately felt nervousness and anticipation filling her heart to the brim. This would be the first time she would have a boy try her cooking that she made specially for him and a myriad of concerns quickly arose in her heart. What if she messed up and made it not delicious? What if it didn’t fit his taste? What if he find it not delicious? She couldn’t help but feel worried, and it became increasingly worse as her rice ball came closer and closer to his mouth. Then... He bit into it and began to chew. It was the moment of truth. “Mmmh! It tastes delicious. The rice is perfectly seasoned with the rice vinegar and salt, and the salmon inside tastes amazing as well!” “R-Really?! I’m glad...!” A wave of relief immediately washed away all the anxiety and nervousness that had built up in her heart. And in its place, happiness began to fill it as she watched Yuuji ate the rice ball she made deliciously. “Yuuji~! Try mine too~!” “Alright. Then, I’ll try this one...” Yuuji picked up a rice ball from the left side of the tray and took a bite without much concern. He had eaten Aika’s cooking before and they tasted amazing. Although she had never cooked before, her cooking skills skyrocketed very quickly after she learned how to cook by watching cooking videos thanks to her SSR. At this point, she could even pass as a chef in a high class restaurant if she wanted to. In fact, Yuuji had said that to her and asked if she wanted to become one, but Aika rejected the idea. She wanted to learn how to cook only so she could become a perfect wife for him. And after saying that, she began seducing him and they ended up making love to each other all night long while role playing as newlyweds. Since he knew her skill level in cooking, Yuuji didn’t think much and simply took a bite of the rice ball she made, expecting another delicacy that his future wife made for him with love. He glanced towards Yuuji, who he noticed has been listening to their conversation all this time without the help of magic. “Let’s share a drink together. I’d love to talk more with you and your friend there.” Knowing he would hear him, Yakumo directed his smile and invitation towards Yuuji, who bowed his head slightly. “Of course. Thank you very much, sensei. Then, please excuse us.” Tatsuya (Tatsuya and Miyuki went to Kokonoe Temple and met with their master, while Yuuji waited for them at the entrance. After telling them they should return the relic, Kokonoe glanced and smiled a bit. “Let’s share a drink together. I’d love to talk more with your friend there.” “Of course. Thank you very much, sensei.” The two raised to their feet and excused themselves, before they headed towards the exit. Upon arriving at the gate, Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Miyuki bowed one last time to Yakumo, who simply waved his hand towards them, and began descending down the stairs. After descending tens of steps of the stairs, Tatsuya and Miyuki immediately hopped back onto their jet-black motorbike after wearing their jacket, long pants, and helmet. “Then, we’ll be heading to the FLT now.” “Mm. I’ll follow you from behind. We can communicate via this earpiece.” Yuuji tapped the little earpiece that he had put in his ears. “Alright.” With a nod, Tatsuya started his motorbike and immediately made his way to the FLT with Miyuki. “Now then, time to kill some fake birds along the way.” Yuuji stretched his body and then cast <<Invisible>> onto himself once again, bending the space around him and causing light to bend past his figure, and began floating up. Then, without even a sound, he launched through the air like a bullet, reaching speeds that would’ve been lethal for a regular human due to the wind resistance and G-Force alone. Since he was invisible, there was no need for him to pretend and use Tatsuya’s fly spell or the trick he used to propel himself during his battle board event in the NCS to fly and reach tremendous speed. He could simply use his “Gravity” to fly much more freely, quickly, and quietly by completely ignoring air resistance and the earth’s gravity. He caught up with Tatsuya and Miyuki in an instant and quickly slowed down tremendously until he was at the same speed as them. Then, he continued to follow them while keeping an eye around him to see if he spotted the fake bird that would be following them. And as if on cue, a jet-black crow appeared and followed after Tatsuya and Miyuki while they’re in the highway and almost reaching FLT. Yuuji, who was flying above the crow, clearly saw his target and contacted Tatsuya through his earpiece. “The crow’s here. I’ll be ripping it apart.” “Ok. We’re reaching FLT, that means they must be currently under cyber attack right about now.” “Mm. We better pick up our pace.” Yuuji took out his golden gun-shaped CAD from his holster, aimed it at the crow, and pulled the trigger. In an instant, the fake crow suddenly burst into nothingness after its each and every molecule was ripped apart violently from each other in a blink of an eye. “Wow... Didn’t expect <<Singularity>> to be as destructive as Tatsuya’s Decomposition...” Yuuji couldn’t help but become impressed by the spell he developed himself. He used Tatsuya’s Decomposition as inspiration, but since their power was fundamentally different, he didn’t expect to achieve a similar result. Tatsuya’s Decomposition worked by breaking the intermolecular bonds that held molecules together, thus decomposing or disintegrating his target. On the other hand, Singularity simply ripped apart those intermolecular bonds by causing each molecule to be stretched out by countless, micro sized, yet extreme gravitational fields from multiple directions, as if they’re being ripped apart by numerous atomic-sized black holes from multiple directions. Since he was forcefully ripping apart intermolecular bonds instead of simply erasing it like Tatsuya, he expected his spell to be... louder and more explosive. But thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Instead of causing it to disintegrate into a mist like Decomposition, his Singularity caused it to “poof” into mist. But, such a difference was only a small matter to him. In the end, the result was still the same. So he was really happy with his spell. “Good work.” “Thanks. It was inspired by your spell.” “It’s an honor to be your inspiration.” The three soon arrived at the FLT. Yuuji secretly undid his <<Invisibility>> and the three quickly made their way into the building. Once they arrived in front of the main room, the three entered, stealing the attention of Ushiyama Kinji and the rest of the staff, who were in the middle of defending against the cyber attack. “Ah, young masters! Young mistress as well!” “Don’t stop what you’re doing! Continue monitoring!” Tatsuya commanded. ““Y-Yes!”” The entire room was in chaos as everyone tried their best to defend against the attack while trying to ascertain where the attack came from at the same time. “So you’ve been hacked as I expected.” “Yes... Honestly, if you and young master Yuuji hadn’t warned us about this, we would’ve been caught off guard. Though, something’s really bugging me about this...” “What is it, Ushiyama-san?” Yuuji asked. “For such a large-scale attack, I have no clue what they’re after.” “You mean their objective isn’t clear?” “Hm... Perhaps they’re just trying to tell us that they could attack us anytime they wanted.” “Maybe...” Just then, a female staff member suddenly raised her voice. “The unauthorized access has stopped!” “Don’t let your guard down! We’re staying on full alert for the rest of the day!” Ushiyama ordered before turning his attention back towards Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Miyuki. “Hah... Excuse me for that. So, what brings you here today?” “There’s something I’d like to keep at the lab. It’s extremely important, so please keep it hidden and secure.” Tatsuya said as he handed the jet-black bag containing the magatama relic to Ushiyama. “Consider it done, young master. We’ll put it in our most secure safe.” “Thank you.”