NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13
Chapter 13. Scout
Led by the blonde gal and the energetic girl, thirty minutes passed.
Now, we were in a private room of what seemed like a slightly upscale restaurant.
By the way, the device on my neck that suppressed my Ability to some extent had already been removed.
When the blonde gal touched my neck, it vanished somewhere. It’s probably her ability—quite an intriguing one.
“So, what do you want from me?”
I spoke as humbly as I could.
The other party was a member of the elite Special Ability Unit. If I annoyed them even slightly, it would be the end for me.
“Well, why don’t we eat something before we talk? Yanagi-kun, you must be hungry, right? Big sis will treat you!”
“Uh, yes. Thank you very much.”
She handed me a menu. Wait, is the green-haired girl older than me?
I thought she was a year younger or at most my age. I decided on a relatively inexpensive omurice after looking at the menu.
“Have you decided?”
“Yes, I think I’ll go with omurice.”
“What about you, Reika-senpai?”
“I’ll have the cream pasta.”
“Okay! Excuse me~!”
The green-haired girl called the waiter and placed the order.
“One omurice, one cream pasta, and also this, this, and this.
Oh, and this one too, please!”
How much is she going to eat?! Even the waiter looked a bit stunned, as if to say, “Wait, really?”
“While we wait for the food, let’s do some quick introductions. My name is Hattori Suzuna. Believe it or not, I’m a member of the Special Ability Unit, so I’m pretty strong!”
Hattori-san puffed out her flat chest proudly. Oh, she directed a flash of hostility at me. I’d better stop thinking about that.
“My name is Sairenji Reika. Nice to meet you~.”
The blonde gal had a name that sounded kind of like that of an ojou-sama. Well, her makeup wasn’t too heavy, so she didn’t seem entirely like a gal.
But her extroverted vibe made her feel like she lived in a completely different world from mine.
“Uh, I’m Yanagi Hayato. I don’t really understand what’s going on, but thank you for helping me.”
If I was their target, they probably already knew a lot about me, but I decided to introduce myself just in case.
“No, no, we only did what was natural. Honestly, seeing guys like those makes me feel empty and sad.”
They risk their lives every day in battle. From their perspective, such people were probably unforgivable.
All the more so if they’d lost comrades along the way.
As the mood turned a bit somber, our food arrived, perfectly timed.
“Let’s eat first! We’ll talk afterward!”
I followed her lead and took a bite of the omurice.
Hmm, it’s good.
Sairenji-san ate silently without making a sound, while Hattori-san devoured her food at an incredible pace.
She was like a dragon consuming everything in its path. How could she eat so much?
Where in her small body does it all go? It’s a complete mystery.
A few minutes later, when we had all finished eating, we finally moved on to the main topic.
“So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Well, we want you to join the Special Ability Unit. I reported you to the higher-ups, but they didn’t believe me at all. That’s why I came to scout you myself. Seriously, those old geezers are so stubborn.”
“Uh, oh, I see. You mean a backstage kind of job, right? Could you give me some time to think about it?”
Hattori-san’s words made me freeze for a moment, but I soon realized I wasn’t necessarily being recruited as a combatant.
If they had investigated me, they’d obviously know my ability score was ‘0’.
They probably wanted me for a desk job, like managing computers or something.
I’d never touched a computer seriously before, but surely, that must be the case.
“No, as a combatant!”
What the heck?! Why would someone with an ability score of ‘0’ be recruited?!
No, wait. There must still be room to turn this around. God, give me strength!
“Haha, you must be joking. My ability score is ‘0’. I can’t even say for sure I’d beat a kid on the street, let alone a monster. It’s obviously impossible.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing. Strangely, your score is ‘0’.”
“Strange? What do you mean?”
I had a bad feeling but asked anyway.
“Actually, I was called to subdue an A-rank monster the other day, but before we could fight, there was already a boy battling it!”
“R-really? Who could it be?”
God is dead.
No way, they saw me fighting. I tried my best to act like it wasn’t me, but seeing Hattori-san’s smirk made me think she was convinced it was me.
Did she have any proof?
“Surprisingly, that boy looked just like you, Yanagi-kun!”
“Well, they say there are three people in the world who look alike. It’s not strange that someone who looks like me happened to be there.”
I would never admit it was me. If I joined the Special Ability Unit, I’d run out of lives to survive.
Why would I willingly walk into death?
I don’t have countless people I want to protect. As long as my family is safe, that’s enough for me.
“Hmm, I see. Well, that could happen.”
Hattori-san nodded.
It seemed she accepted it was someone else.
Now I can finally go home—
At that moment, a dagger shot toward me at high speed. Caught off guard, I instinctively used my power to catch and crush it.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing—”
I was about to complain about the attack that would have killed me if I hadn’t used my power. But when I looked at Hattori-san, her face was like that of a child who had successfully pulled a prank.
(They tricked me!)
“Oh my, how strange. There’s no way a powerless person with a score of ‘0’ could stop that attack.”
“Uh, well, it was just luck.”
“Unbelievable. That blade had enough force to take down at least an E-rank opponent. Not only did you stop it without a scratch, but you also broke it. That’s impossible for someone powerless.”
What kind of attack was that?!
It’s not something you casually use on people!
This is bad. I’m getting dragged into their pace.
“I, I mean, that’s not it—”
What a brilliant vocabulary. It’s a comedic masterpiece, no doubt.
“Well, you don’t have to decide right away. But if you join, you’ll get decent treatment. You could even bring your little sister with you if you want.”
They even know about Ao.
My wariness increased to another level.
What a troublesome bunch to have caught their attention.
“If you change your mind, contact me here. This is my email address and phone number.”
She handed me a piece of paper. The moment I saw it, my wariness flew out the window.
As someone whose phone only had numbers for my parents and Ao,
this was a forbidden fruit.
“No, I can’t accept this!”
“Too late, you’re already holding it.”
“What?”
Looking at my hand, I found Hattori-san’s contact information.
Impossible!
Once I’ve accepted it, I have to take care of it!
I gripped the paper tightly, determined not to let anyone else take it.
Not that I was excited or anything.
Caring for something you’ve received is only natural as a person and a man.
Seeing my chivalrous display, Hattori-san and Sairenji-san burst into laughter.
Can I cry now?
After that, Hattori-san paid the bill,
and we parted ways in front of the restaurant.
Finally, I headed home for the first time in a while.
I just hoped Ao wasn’t mad.