You’re Right, They’ll Expel Me if I Run into the Store with a Weapon!!

Koalako-chan… what should we do?”

While escaping from reality, he talks to the stuffed animal he is holding in both arms.

But it can’t be helped.

Anyone would mutter to themselves if they were shown such a scene.

“Koalako-chan… shall we jump in there? If it’s now, I can throw it right into the center with a vivid pitcher’s form for the two of us?”

…

Haha, what am I saying…

Being shown a painful catfight, I might be confused.

This is depressing…

“…Huh?”

Huh?… It’s wet?

There’s a drenched sensation on the stuffed animal…

No, it must be my sweaty hands.

Sweating so much from nervousness and fear… I might really be in a bad way… seriously at the end.

And sorry, Koalako-chan, for making you all drenched with my sweaty hands… Wait? It’s really soaking wet, but a flood?… What’s this?

Was my hand sweat always this bad?

Could it be that I have “hyperhidrosis”?

That would be bad! I need to get surgery right away!

So, can I go home? I don’t want to stay here for even a single second longer!

THUD!!

“Eh?”

As I started walking to the right, a scorched hole was made in the wall in that direction.

And before I could understand, I took a step to the left,

THUD!!

“Eh?”

Again, a scorched hole appeared in the wall in the direction I faced.

Ah, this is that!

The kind of situation where you can’t escape!

HAHAHAHA!

…Seriously, help me.

Due to the unleashing of “Kokurin” (Black Scales), the battle between the girls had become evenly matched.

One girl, demonstrating superhuman athletic abilities and making full use of “Kokurin”, while the other, minimizing her movements, anticipates her opponent’s actions and relentlessly attacks using her abilities and armaments.

“Damn you!”

“!”

Swinging “Kokurin” and charging forward, Shiori aims to push straight ahead, but Suzuko doesn’t allow her to close the distance, countering with continuous gunfire and using her powers.

“As usual! Such a versatile power, huh!”

“!”

“It’s always like this! Among the ranks, they always said my ability was plain!”

“Gr!”

“Compared to you all, I’m lucky! All I do is produce black thorns!”

“! It’s not my fault you’re lashing out randomly…”

“That’s right! It’s random lashing out! But isn’t it funny!”

While deflecting bullets with “Kokurin”, Shiori deploys black thorns in a blind spot for defense. She repeats her defensive battle while looking for an opportunity to close in, yelling angrily at Suzuko.

“The crazy bunch of eccentrics you all are, that’s what I’m supposed to deal with in the future! It makes me look like a fool!”

“Before blaming others, you should look at yourself in the mirror.”

“What do you mean by that!!”

Furious, Shiori blasts the floor and charges towards Suzuko.

“”

“?”

Suzuko shows a moment of disturbance at the approach, but before she can analyze the reason, she prepares “Kokurin” and aims for a strike.

“This is it!”

“It’s the same again.”

Panic appears on Shiori’s face at Suzuko’s murmured words. Then she quickly understands. Her enhanced senses pick up the sound of impending doom, and she immediately prepares “Kokurin”.

“!”

“Ah! It won’t break… and it’s fast…”

A barrage of bullets rains down from above. Shiori deflects them all with “Kokurin” and retreats by kicking off the floor.

“Why can’t I, beat you!”

“Because I’m stronger than you, Shiori.”

“! I know that! That’s why I can’t accept it!!”

With tears clouding her eyes, Shiori shouts furiously at Suzuko, and the spark-throwing battle recommences.

“I’ve been striving for the top! And then I find you eccentrics blocking the way!”

“So?… Then aim for the top without looking at us.”

“I can’t aim for it anymore! Besides you rankers, there was no one else to set as my goal!”

Recalling her past self, Shiori rants about the rankers, including Suzuko.

“I didn’t know anything at first. Rankers were an unapproachable existence. So I set them as my goal and aimed for them. Then I became a ranker and learned the reality, do you know what I thought?”

“There’s no way I would know.”

“Then I’ll tell you! It was an insult and disappointment like I’ve never felt before!”

Before realizing the true nature of the rankers, Shiori was a diligent girl drawn to the eccentric group of rankers. She admired the clear presence ahead in her studies and polished the talents praised by adults even more.

However, the reality behind that clear presence turned out to be a fantasy smeared with insults, and she was deeply disappointed.

“After becoming a ranker, I tried to set adults as my goal. But those greater than me, due to that operation…”

In the past, there were many skilled combatants.

Most of these adults lost their powers due to a failed major operation, and now most of the survivors were ordinary people.

And now, there are hardly any adults who can match Shiori’s talents.

Thus, the only goals she could reach were the rankers, whose true nature she did not know.

“There was no one left. No one I could aim for. No one to guide me… But”

A slight hope flickers in Shiori’s eyes.

“I’ve finally… found it…”

“! …Can’t be…”

Suzuko has a premonition.

Obsessed with growth, she needed a goal.

But there was no one capable of being that goal.

No matter how capable a ranker, if their true nature is bad, they would not want them as a goal.

Thus, she found a being to be her goal. And placed it near herself.

That being is—him.

“So, don’t get in my way!”

“!”

As emotions explode, Shiori uses all her means of evasion, deflection, and defense to close the distance to the limit.

Suzuko, caught off-guard in her thoughts, instinctively steps back with a back-leap, changing her grip on the sniper rifle. Then,

“! Ah!?”

Shiori hurled the sniper rifle at Suzuko’s face.

As the magazine for the sniper rifle ran out, Suzuko discarded it without hesitation, as if it was no longer needed.

Although the throw was not made with full strength due to the weight of the rifle, the unexpected act disrupted Shiori’s breathing, allowing distance to be created between them again.

“Finally understood… it connects.”

Suzuko chanted dispassionately.

“But, that’s just selfish.”

“…”

“Arbitrary attachment… What are you going to do by imposing that?”

“You’re doing the same by imposing it, aren’t you!”

“…”

Shiori’s heated words were accurate, and Suzuko also thought they couldn’t be denied. However,

“Together…?”

That word sparked a thought.

“I remembered… indeed, we were together.”

“!?!”

As they exchanged words, the battle resumed with the gun Suzuko had drawn anew.

Shiori struggled to respond while stuttering, faced with Suzuko’s attacks following unpredictable trajectories due to her abilities.

“Realizing it anew is incredible… that’s why I was obsessed… I’ll retract my selfishness.”

“What, you’re figuring it out all by yourself!?!”

“—Birds of a feather flock together.”

“!?”

Shiori’s eyes widened at Suzuko’s words.

“Birds of a feather flock together” — A phenomenon where individuals of similar nature seek each other out.

“Shiori, it’s one-sided but… that phrase fits the current top ten perfectly…”

“Don’t speak for me!”

Shiori’s movement became erratic in her anger. In front of a forceful enemy, Suzuko continued to organize the events unaffectedly.

Suzuko knew what Shiori harbored in her heart.

And now, knowing her relationship with Hiroki, a new “speculation” emerged.

Suzuko muttered blandly, “An unidentified multi-ability irregular has appeared, attracted by the unidentified black spike irregular…”

“What, that’s nonsense!? Ah!!”

“Claiming a goal is just a facade… actually, you just wanted to be together. Isn’t that right?”

Leaving Shiori, who was choked up by the attack, Suzuko continued mercilessly.

“Because a being that can understand similar circumstances appeared. I understand that feeling too.”

“What are you talking about!! I don’t understand anything you’ve been saying!!”

“Then let me say something you won’t understand…”

In response to Shiori’s question, Suzuko muttered about the existence at the center of her thoughts.

“What is the true nature of ‘Black Spear Appearance’?”

“!?”

That question was significant for Shiori.

“It’s neither iron nor ice, nor crystal… It’s an unknown substance not yet discovered on Earth.”

Suzuko spoke of Shiori’s abilities.

“That’s why it’s an ‘unidentified irregular’… trying to uncover its true nature, every possible method of research has been conducted… Those black scales were also born from an excess of Shiori’s DNA samples and information, but still remain unknown…”

The history leading up to the creation of the black scales. Excessive DNA samples from Shiori and years of testing allowed Haruna, a talent beyond others, to rapidly create the black scales.

However, it was a miraculous coincidence.

“A coincidental prototype that cannot be recreated.”

Made from Shiori’s DNA, it was a miraculous product of chance.

“There is no next for the ‘unidentified’.”

That’s what Haruna had told Shiori about the “black scales”.

“A substance with the strength of iron appearing as black protrusions”…

But in other words, “the ability to manifest an unknown substance in the form of black protrusions.” It could also be interpreted as the power to summon an unknown material.

With Suzuko’s layered words, Shiori’s movements intensified even more.

For her, it was a worry secretly held in her heart.

The unidentified residing within her body continued to be a source of anxiety due to her ability.

“The identity of a being with unprecedented multiple abilities is still unknown…”

In the unknown, Shiori and Hiroki overlapped, as Suzuko expounded her own theory.

“Was the purpose to grow and strive? To aim high and do your best? …No, that’s incorrect.”

“! No, it’s not incorrect! I’ve always—”

“It’s because the identity of your ability is frightening that you’ve been honing your combat skills to maintain stability…”

“!?”

Suzuko concluded her deduction, causing Shiori’s face to contort.

“Abilities of numerous types exist… but ‘Black Spear Appearance’ had no known instances, and you, Himeji Shiori, were the first to manifest it… The world’s only ‘Black Spear Appearance’… Therefore, whatever happens, Shiori will always be the first.”

Events caused by the unprecedented Black Spear Appearance.

Shiori Himeji alone, the only person in the world, bears the brunt of all these incidents first.

“The ability is integrated into the DNA information in the brain… That means, the Black Spear Appearance exists in the brain…”

An unprecedented ability exists within the brain.

In Shiori’s brain alone, unique in the entire world.

“That’s why it’s scary… If something happens, there are no established solutions yet…”

An unknown pathogen exists, and it has not yet manifested any symptoms.

This is reminiscent of Shiori’s ability.

Unknown what will happen, and unknown how to solve it once it does occur.

“But… there’s still something even scarier.”

“!?”

“Reported two months ago… in a study investigating the true nature of the Black Spear Appearance.”