The sky felt brighter. The environment felt more alive. The wind felt fresher.
The world truly felt more beautiful than usual.
A smile formed on Kiriya's lips as he sipped the latte from his white ceramic cup.
"What a beautiful world. It makes me want to visit Groza and Masami," Kiriya muttered.
And speaking of Groza… Kiriya checked the Trading option and saw the list of items for sale today. Items reset every day in system time, unless he is in the Training Field with the active Time Dilation+ feature, which makes the list static until he leaves the Training Field or stops the Time Dilation+.
Inside the Trading option, several items caught Kiriya's attention, but they had nothing to do with Groza at all. Some of them were energy samples, but there were no Training Methods for them.
It caught Kiriya's attention because the price was the cheapest, but he would not buy them for now. He already had a new energy sample that he could play around with inside the Dream Nail.
'Though, even if I can buy one module for Groza, I won't even know how to install it inside Groza later.'
'... Right, in Mei's world there is a genius who can make Divine Keys in the future. I can ask for her help.'
There was a possibility that Kiriya would not need to buy a digestive module for Groza if Mei's acquaintance found a way to make one, but just to be prepared, he would buy it if the item went on sale.
Aside from the energy samples, there were others that took his interest.
[World Travel (Random)]
[World Travel (Member)]
Both were the same item, but they were used for different situations. The first would send Kiriya to another world randomly for a round trip, while the other would bring Kiriya to another member's world as he wished for a round trip.
The price for each was 100 Points. Kiriya had 800 points. He only needed to wait 10 days to get his points back. He decided to buy one of each.
[-200 Points]
[Items stored within the Item Storage.]
Kiriya did not use them immediately. He kept it for the time being.
"Welcome!"
The cafe waiter welcomed the newly arrived visitors. Two boys who looked no older than high school students.
"... Are you Nakuru-san?" The question was asked by one of them—a teenager with dark gray hair and blue eyes.
"That's right," Kiriya replied. "Sit down. Order whatever you want, my treat."
The two teenagers looked at each other before taking their seats. The waiter came to give the menu to both of them.
After the waiter left, Kiriya tapped his index finger on the table. "... Interesting. Very interesting," Kiriya muttered.
His eyes fell on the long, brown-haired teenager, the companion of the dark gray-haired one. "You said you found me yesterday because of the news and you concluded that I have supernatural ability?"
Their shoulders tensed and their eyes warily glanced around.
"Hah. Don't worry, my power can create isolation. Even if you scream or turn up a speaker, the sound won't be heard by anyone."
Kiriya took out his phone and played a piece of music at maximum volume, even amplified with magic to the point that it made the two teenagers in front of Kiriya cover their ears.
Kiriya deactivated it a few moments later. "See, no one disturbed. Just speak."
After seeing Kiriya's action, they calmed and start opening their mouth.
"... Yes. We were able to find you thanks to your use of power and the news about someone who suddenly appeared in the middle of the city and disappeared just as suddenly."
"I see," Kiriya replied casually. "Indeed, at that time I was conducting a rather reckless experiment."
Dreamless had been active since Kiriya woke up this morning. Even though he didn't get an answer verbally, he already got it from inside their heads. "Existence Erasure," that's what the power was called by them based on all the abilities that had been seen by the public and also the two teenagers in front of him.
And it seems his power did not get detected by them.
"We haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Otosaka Shunsuke and my companion is Kumagami. We are gathering children with superpowers to protect them from evil scientists who use them as experiments."
Dreamless made them like an open book. They were very honest, but also confused and hesitant. "How can there be an adult with superpower?" —That was what's inside their minds.
From the information in their heads, a person's superpower awakened when someone began to enter adolescence and disappeared upon reaching adulthood, which was when graduating from high school, but Kiriya here had graduated from high school two years ago and still carried his superpower.
Well, because it just appeared months ago.
"So, you plan to invite me into the team?"
"Yes. And at least, please don't use that power from now on."
"Because there is a possibility for it to disappear, huh…?"
Shunsuke widened his eyes for a moment, but he immediately nodded. "Correct. Usually, superpowers will disappear when someone enters adulthood, but in your case, Nakuru-san, it might happen at any time."
'... Or even never,' Shunsuke continued in his mind. Shunsuke had never seen this case in the previous loops.
"A reasonable caution." Kiriya drank his latte, giving a pause in the conversation as Shunsuke and Kumagami's orders were brought to the table by the same waiter.
Kiriya was interested in the fact that there was a Plunder superpower user who could steal other people's powers. Kiriya wondered whether the power from the system could be stolen by others or not. However, he had no intention of playing around with probabilities.
Kiriya leaned his back against the chair. 'Should I help? They look like good kids. It's a bit pitiful to see them become victims of experiments by irresponsible people.'
Even if they're a naughty teenager, they didn't deserve to be treated as guinea pigs.
Thinking back, their age was not much different from Masami's, but Masami did not awaken any superpower at all. Meaning, only certain people experienced it.
"I can help depending on your plans for the future. After gathering teenagers with superpowers, what will you do next, just wait?"
Shunsuke and Kumagami were silent.
"So you will just gather teenagers with superpowers to make them stop using their powers and wait until their powers disappear?"
That was their initial plan. Although it sounded reasonable, it would only work if all teenagers with superpowers were able to restrain themselves from using their superpowers. But who we are talking about right now are teenagers with raging hormones.
Kiriya sighed.
"I can help you with a few things. First funding, assistance as an adult, and limited protection. Aside from that, you are the ones who determine everything yourselves. If you asked me how much money? Enough to make you not worry about it."
"Does that mean—"
"Of course this isn't for free; I need the results of your hard work. I don't want anything big, just give me proof that you succeeded in achieving the goal to protect the children." Kiriya cut in. "Just consider it that I am investing in you for the sake of this world's future. So, find a better solution than just waiting and hiding until your powers disappear."
"Thank you, Nakuru-san. We will discuss all of this with our companions."
"Good. Contact me once you've made up your minds and we will meet to discuss this further." Kiriya handed over his business card before standing up and walking toward the cashier to pay for his and the two super teenagers' orders.
"I'll go first, enjoy your time."
"Thank you, Nakuru-san."
Kiriya left them.
'Let's visit Groza. It's been awhile since I met her.'