"Sensei, you're the one being taken care of here, aren't you?"
With a single sentence, Toumi laid bare the truth of their relationship.
Yomikawa Aiho fell into awkward silence.
"Seriously, Yomikawa-sensei," Toumi said bluntly, showing no mercy. "Kobayashi-kun is still a patient, you know. And he's a child on top of that. As his guardian, you're the one letting him take care of you… don't you think that's a bit inappropriate?"
Faced with the girl's sharp-tongued lecture, Yomikawa—fully aware she was in the wrong—had no room to argue back.
"Well… it's just that Nana-kun is too capable…" Yomikawa muttered. She had made comparisons herself, and whether it was housework or cooking, she couldn't beat the child she had taken in.
"And Nana-kun said that doing housework helps him train his psychic ability, so I just left it all to him…"
Thinking of Kobayashi's meticulous, almost surgical level of control over his power, Toumi found herself nodding in agreement.
Both of them had seen other psychics before. Regardless of level, neither had encountered a second esper who could wield their ability as naturally and precisely as Kobayashi—like an extension of their own limbs.
"By the way…" Toumi murmured, "is Kobayashi really only Level 3?"
"I took him for an ability assessment before he was discharged," Yomikawa replied. "It definitely came back as Level 3."
The two of them sighed in unison.
After a brief silence, Toumi glanced at her phone again.
"Why isn't he back yet?"
"Oh—right. Why don't we just call him?" Toumi suddenly said.
"Nana-kun only bought his phone yesterday," Yomikawa replied awkwardly. "I… haven't asked for his number yet."
Although Yomikawa had paid for it, Kobayashi was extremely independent, so she had trusted him to handle everything himself. Aside from paying at the counter, she hadn't been involved in the process at all.
"What kind of guardian are you supposed to be?!" Toumi exclaimed. Compared to her own guardian, Sakurai-sensei, the difference was like Level 0 versus Level 5!
Yomikawa's embarrassment deepened.
Thankfully, at that moment, a ringtone rang out like divine salvation.
"A call—!" She hurried to grab her phone.
But when she saw the caller ID, her expression instantly collapsed.
A coworker.
One of the last calls she ever wanted to receive while on leave.
Still, duty left her no choice but to answer.
"Yomikawa! Yomikawa! This is bad!" As expected, her colleague's panicked shouting burst out the moment the call connected. "That boy living at your place—he was attacked on the street!"
"What?! Nana-kun—what happened to him?!" Yomikawa cried out.
"Kobayashi?!" Torahachi Toumi jumped to her feet as well, rushing over in a single bound.
Apparently startled by Yomikawa's reaction, the voice on the other end faltered.
"N-no, I mean—he was attacked, yes. In the city park next to the supermarket. A group of delinquents… Sato and the others who were patrolling nearby have already arrived at the scene…"
"I don't care about that," Yomikawa snapped, cutting them off before she heard what mattered most. "How is Nana-kun? Is he hurt?!"
"No need to worry about that," the coworker said. "Kobayashi himself was the one who called the police. All the delinquents at the scene were taken down."
"I knew it," Toumi said, folding her arms and nodding repeatedly. "There's no way Kobayashi-kun would lose to a bunch of punks."
"But," the voice continued, "Kobayashi himself wasn't found at the scene."
"Eh?" Yomikawa froze before she could even feel relieved. "Then where did he go?"
"I thought he might've gone straight home, so I called you," the coworker said. "If he's back already, make sure to have him give a statement."
"Yes, yes, got it." Yomikawa rolled her eyes and hung up. "That lazy brat…"
Even though she now knew Kobayashi was safe, the unease in her chest only grew stronger.
"I never should have let Nana-kun go out by himself!" Yomikawa said in regret. "The enemy clearly hasn't given up!"
Toumi narrowed her eyes.
"Is it the same people who tried to assassinate Sakurai-sensei at the hospital?"
"Most likely members of the same organization," Yomikawa replied grimly. "The experimental facility Nana-kun belonged to before he lost his memory… We still haven't uncovered their true identity. Damn it—so they're still not willing to let go!"
Otherwise, how could Kobayashi suddenly be attacked by a gang of delinquents for no reason?
Life had been too peaceful lately. Combined with the fact that Kobayashi had barely left the house, Yomikawa had almost forgotten that someone was still actively hunting him. Half-asleep that morning, she hadn't thought twice when he said he was going out.
Who would have thought that such a small lapse in judgment could nearly lead to disaster?
Thankfully, Kobayashi himself was reliable enough not to be caught off guard by the enemy…
"Hm? What's this—an email…?" While clearing notification badges from her apps, Yomikawa suddenly noticed a new message in her inbox. It was from an unfamiliar address.
"Nana-kun?"
She opened it—and found it was an email from Kobayashi himself!
Since she hadn't saved his contact information yet, it naturally showed up as an unknown sender, and her phone's 'Do Not Disturb for unknown contacts' setting had silenced the alert.
"He's going after the enemy's headquarters?!" Yomikawa shot to her feet the moment she read the contents. "That's insane! What does he think he's doing?!"
"What? What happened to Kobayashi? Let me see!" Toumi squeezed in, trying to grab the phone.
But a new ringtone stopped her attempt.
Yomikawa held her back and answered the call—it was the same coworker again.
"This just got a lot more serious, Yomikawa. You'd better come over right now," the voice said in a low tone. "There's been a fatality."
"Who?" Yomikawa's heart clenched.
"Identity is still being confirmed. The victim was shot in the head with a high-caliber round—facial recognition is impossible. All we know is that he was an adult male, probably around twenty-seven or twenty-eight."
Hearing that the deceased wasn't Kobayashi, Yomikawa finally let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
Then she asked, "But what does this have to do with Nana-kun?"
Kobayashi didn't carry a gun, nor did he need firearms to fight. That dead man couldn't possibly have been killed by him.
"It's not just the fatality," the coworker continued. "There are thirteen injured at the scene as well. According to their statements, the one who beat them was Kobayashi."
After a brief pause, they added,
"Of course, they also confessed that their mission was to capture Kobayashi. Getting beaten that badly is basically self-inflicted."
Yomikawa reacted instantly.
"Dark Side?"
"Yeah. That group 'Hunter.'"
"I'm coming over right now," Yomikawa said without hesitation.
(End of Chapter)