Chapter 139: Don’t Answer a Question with a Question!
“Hey, Shinichi, are you okay? Do you want to stop and rest a bit?”
The girl with a flushed face leaned against the boy’s broad shoulders, feeling the rise and fall of Sato Shinichi’s chest as he carried her for a long time, and couldn’t help but ask.
“Hoo—Hoo—”
“No need, we haven’t escaped the danger yet. Let’s talk when we see the rescue teachers!”
The boy’s chest, heaving with heavy breaths, was like a worn-out bellows, constantly emitting breaths that sounded like they could explode at any moment.
The dog, who always listened to Kazumi, surprisingly responded rigidly this time. The arm that was carrying the girl’s legs seemed to have recovered its strength and lifted them a bit higher. However, his constantly trembling hands and legs proved that he had indeed reached his limit.
No matter how much Sato Shinichi trained with the goal of becoming a hero, it couldn’t change the fact that he was just an ordinary civilian without abilities. His usual training had given him a strong body and extraordinary stamina, which was why the boy could carry the ninety-plus pound girl for such a long distance.
The stamina of an ordinary person was ultimately limited. Although Sato Shinichi still gave his usual reassuring silly smile,
Kazumi, lying on the boy’s back, could feel his hands trembling from exhaustion, but even so, he was still dragging his body forward by sheer willpower.
“Shinichi-kun!”
An annoyed voice came from behind, causing the boy’s pace to slow down as he waited for the girl’s subsequent words.
“Calm down. If you exhaust your stamina now, and you’re truly caught up, you won’t even have a chance to resist!”
As if sensing Sato Shinichi’s current state, after raising her voice to attract his attention, Kazumi also slowly softened her tone and spoke gently to the boy who was foolish enough to risk his life to save her.
“Ah…”
The girl’s words struck Sato Shinichi’s mind like a heavy hammer. He responded vaguely, only to find that he couldn’t find any reason to refute her.
“So, put me down first, and we can hide for a while. You still have the powder to conceal our aura, right? This much time should be enough for Mr. Nozawa and the others to enter the training grounds. Anything after this isn’t something we students should be doing. We just need to protect ourselves.”
Lying on Sato Shinichi’s back, the girl gently released her right hand from around his neck, landed on her still-functional left foot, and limped off his back, continuing to speak to Sato Shinichi.
“Besides, you’ve reached your limit. Don’t say foolish things now! It’s not the time to show off in front of your girlfriend!!”
Sato Shinichi, who had stopped moving forward, could no longer maintain his previous state. He weakly leaned against a nearby tree trunk, his heavy breaths continuous. Hearing the girl’s slightly complaining words, he slowly lifted his head. His face still held the sunny smile that evoked no disgust, and his intense gaze was so earnest that it was hard to look directly at him.
“I said, I will protect you!”
“Who asked you to say that at this time!!”
Turning her head away shyly, Kazumi found the boy’s words utterly foolish, but her body inexplicably reacted to them. Her tightly strung heart began to show signs of melting.
[You too, body!! Don’t react so casually when we’re fleeing for our lives!!]
…
The forest within the training ground seemed to be stimulated by some special ability, with incredibly thick tree trunks and canopies that blocked out the sun everywhere, rivaling any ancient jungle.
Kazumi and the two were hiding in a hollow tree trunk about the size of a person’s embrace. Nature’s aesthetics were always strange and astonishing. After simple camouflage with grass and branches, it was difficult to tell from the outside that two people were hiding inside this tree trunk.
The girl, with an unnatural blush on her cheeks, kept glancing at the boy beside her, but he was diligently working on the task at hand, completely unaware of her gaze.
“This should be fine!”
Pushing the clump of grass in front of him out of the tree hole, Sato Shinichi wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned his head with satisfaction.
“Kazumi, how is your wound? Do you want me to re-dress it?”
But when his gaze met the cloth around Kazumi’s wound that was once again oozing blood, his eyebrows unconsciously furrowed, and he couldn’t help but ask.
“No need for that. Bleeding is normal during normal activity. If I re-dress it now, it might split open again later. As long as it doesn’t affect my movement.”
Kazumi smiled and shook her head. This was perhaps what they meant by “concern causes confusion.” He was usually so meticulous and thorough when handling things, but now he was acting like a fool, asking her meaningless questions.
“Oh…..”
Hearing Kazumi’s answer, Sato Shinichi nodded. He looked at Kazumi, then at the ground in front of him. After they both fell silent, the atmosphere strangely became awkward.
“Kazumi, were you also attacked by Mr. Kimura?”
Looking at the girl leaning beside him, Sato Shinichi thought about it and decided to ask proactively. After all, the girl’s state proved that she had just suffered a terrifying attack, and offering comfort after being injured was very important, so as not to develop a psychological shadow from such an event.
“You too? I guess so. But I don’t think that person was the real Mr. Kimura. It was probably a warning from the opposing organization to Shikoku.”
Hearing this rather stiff conversational opening and the boy’s concerned gaze, Kazumi raised her eyebrows helplessly. The boy’s intentions were good, but asking someone directly about their experiences like this, wouldn’t it worsen their psychological trauma?
Fortunately, with a mature mind and the help of her abilities, Kazumi’s negative emotions in this regard were almost zero, and she didn’t get angry because of such a topic, so she replied.
“Yes, Mr. Kimura suddenly started attacking students in the training ground. At first, I thought it was arranged by the academy, but later someone issued a danger warning.”
Sato Shinichi’s expression was solemn as he relayed the news he had heard outside.
“Is that so? Then what was the teachers’ reaction? Don’t they have surveillance on everyone? Why did it take so long for rescue teachers to arrive?”
The girl frowned. Only after truly escaping the danger zone did she have the time to process and analyze the current situation.
“It’s probably due to the surrounding mist. Not only the surveillance but even the alarm button on the wristband failed.”
Sato Shinichi tapped his arm with his finger, speaking to the girl as if he already knew the answer, relaying information he didn’t know where he had heard it from.
“I see…”
Kazumi nodded, understanding the current situation. After all, Sato Shinichi, who came from the outside, would definitely have more information than her. She lowered her head and began to think about the implications and the other party’s true motives.
…
The air around them became silent for a moment, but soon, a loud shout interrupted Kazumi’s thoughts.
“Kazumi! We’ll be fine!”
Words filled with youthful energy reached her ears. Raising her head with a hint of confusion, she met Sato Shinichi’s intensely eager gaze.
[This guy…]
Even without asking, Kazumi could probably guess what the other party’s intention was.
But the problem was that she wasn’t depressed because of the attack! She was calmly analyzing the current situation! How could he not see things clearly!
Mentally complaining about this golden-haired dog with full emotional intelligence in front of her, Kazumi decided to stop thinking about how to deal with the situation.
After all, all outcomes were based on the premise that the two of them could escape this unwarranted disaster. Kazumi was prepared to use her abilities to escape with Sato Shinichi immediately if anything went wrong.
However, a subtle feeling from her heart, a sense of her ability, seemed to tell Kazumi that this matter might not end so easily.
A flicker of a different color flashed in her eyes. Looking at Sato Shinichi, who was acting foolishly in front of her, Kazumi pondered for a long time before finally speaking.
“Shinichi-kun.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“I want to ask you something. If, I mean, if one day, I stand on the opposite side of you, will you abandon your hero’s beliefs and choose me?”
“Opposite side? Aren’t we both striving to become heroes who protect everyone?”
“So it’s just a hypothetical question! Don’t answer a question with a question!”
“Then…..”
Perhaps the question the girl asked was indeed difficult for Sato Shinichi to answer. The boy lowered his head and thought for a long time, the struggle in his eyes seeming as if he had truly encountered such a choice.
Finally, as if having made a decision, he raised his head. His exceptionally bright, clear blue eyes looked earnestly at Kazumi and said.
“Kazumi, I……” “Be careful!!”
The words he was about to speak were abruptly choked in his throat. His previously calm expression instantly turned to terror. Before the girl could react, he lunged forward, pulling her away from her original position.
In the next second, a beam of light flashed, and a tree trunk as thick as a person’s embrace was directly cut open.
And with the booming collapse of the tree trunk, appearing before the two was the familiar figure wearing a wooden mask…
