Everyone in Special Division 1 had received the notice today: the S-rank rookie, Otonashi Chiya, was to be their new Vice Captain.
Since they hadn't met him yet, they were all incredibly curious about this newcomer—only the second person in history to achieve an S-rank rating. Of course, they only kept the term "rookie" in their thoughts; none of them would dare address him as such to his face.
The moment they heard Vice Captain Otonashi had arrived, they immediately halted their training. As Chiya walked in, he was met by the collective gaze of a group of hunters dressed in tank-top training gear.
"Wow! Vice Captain Otonashi is actually so handsome!" some of the girls whispered in admiration the moment they saw his face.
"I have to say, those eyes look seriously cool. I wish I had a pair like that!"
"Hey, aren't you in college already? Haven't you grown out of that chuunibyou phase yet?"
While the hierarchy was strict, the atmosphere at Tokyo Public Safety was relatively relaxed; as long as proper respect was shown, a bit of lighthearted joking was tolerated. However, there were still more conservative types, like the young man from earlier, who sternly reminded the others: "Be serious! Don't give Vice Captain Otonashi a bad first impression."
Chiya did a quick sweep of the room. Most present were adults, but they were almost all quite young. After all, Public Safety devil hunters didn't have long lifespans—they either died suddenly in the line of duty or retired early.
"Continue with your training; don't mind me. Or, if any of you feel like it, you can spar with me," Chiya announced to the group.
"Really? We can spar with you? Let me go first!" a sturdy, blue-haired young man said, eager to test his mettle.
An opportunity to trade blows with a Vice Captain was rare. In the future, such chances would likely be non-existent—take Captain Kishibe, for instance; he was almost never seen, and only a few high-potential rookies ever received special training from him.
The others lost all interest in their own exercises; they all wanted to witness the Vice Captain's strength firsthand. This was a living S-rank legend in the making. They had missed out on seeing Captain Kishibe's rookie days decades ago, and they weren't about to miss this.
"Give it everything you've got," Chiya offered a friendly reminder.
"Yes, sir!" The young man nodded, his expression turning deadly serious.
When Public Safety hunters sparred at the base, they only used martial arts—no weapons and no devil powers allowed. The blue-haired youth dropped into a fighting stance and initiated the attack.
However, every single move was seen through by Chiya. He focused entirely on dodging without counterattacking. Calling it "holding back" would be an understatement; he was practically handing out a free pass.
Despite his best efforts, the blue-haired youth couldn't touch him even once. After chasing Chiya for a long while, the attacker was the one on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. In a fight, missing a punch consumes far more energy than hitting a target. Even professional fighters don't dare swing wild haymakers recklessly; going all-out like that would drain anyone's stamina in a round or two.
"I'm done! I quit! This is impossible!" The blue-haired youth's spirit was broken. Every punch, every kick, even the low-blows intended to catch Chiya off guard—nothing worked. He couldn't even graze a single hair on the Vice Captain.
The onlookers were stunned. That blue-haired youth wasn't weak by Division 1 standards, yet he couldn't even touch the man! Moreover, Vice Captain Otonashi still looked perfectly relaxed. After dodging for so long, he wasn't even breathing hard. His endurance was freakish.
Suddenly, it clicked for everyone—they finally understood how the S-rank rating was earned.
"Anyone else want to spar?"
Otonashi Chiya addressed the others.
He had already decided to use this as a way to get to know his team members.
Most people didn't want to step forward just to get toyed with, but at that moment, a girl with a single ponytail stepped out proactively, a fighting spirit flickering in her eyes.
"Vice Captain, I'll spar with you."
"Come on then."
Chiya stuck to his usual routine: total evasion, zero counterattacking.
The ponytail girl's strikes looked quite fierce, but she couldn't land a single hit on him. This was entirely within everyone's expectations—the Vice Captain was effectively operating on a higher dimension compared to them!
Perhaps because Chiya's dodging was too demoralizing, the ponytail girl suddenly stopped in her tracks. Not only did she stop fighting, but her eyes began to well up.
Chiya sensed something was wrong and hurriedly said, "Wait! Hold on!"
But his words were useless; the girl burst into tears right there. This left Chiya momentarily at a complete loss for what to do. He couldn't understand it—she had clearly just seen him do the exact same thing to the blue-haired youth. Why was she crying now?
The others nearby began to whisper among themselves.
"Ah... Little Rinka got made to cry after all. I should have held her back earlier."
"I didn't expect Vice Captain Otonashi to have such a cute side—he looks so flustered now that a girl is crying."
"I thought the new Vice Captain would be really strict, but he seems pretty easy to get along with~"
"Yeah, if it were Captain Kishibe, he would've just given Rinka an even more merciless lesson."
"..."
They had known Ishii Rinka for a long time and knew that while she looked tough on the surface, she was actually quite fragile inside. Once she encountered something she couldn't handle, she was prone to tears.
Faintly hearing these whispers, Chiya suddenly thought of a solution. He intentionally adopted a sterner tone. "If you keep crying, I'll have no choice but to call Captain Kishibe over here."
The result was immediate and effective; Rinka stopped crying instantly.
"The Vice Captain is so mean..." Rinka muttered softly as she wiped her tears.
"..."
Chiya sighed inwardly. If he hadn't done that, he had no idea how long she would have kept crying.
Right then, the voice of the Wrath Devil rang out.
"So, you don't have much resistance against girls who cry?" Her tone was playful, as if she had discovered something very interesting.
Chiya could tell the Wrath Devil was teasing him. "What? Is that a problem?"
"Nothing, I just find it quite amusing~"
"..."
Chiya decided to ignore the Wrath Devil and turned back to his team. "Is there anyone else who wants a turn?"
Even though two people had already been thoroughly humiliated, there were still those who wanted to step up. It wasn't that they were stubborn; they simply didn't want to miss such a rare opportunity. After all, the Vice Captain wouldn't actually hurt them.
That evening, Otonashi Chiya used this method of sparring to complete his first encounter with the members of Special Division 1.