Chapter 181 Kazumi Shimizu Always Finds a Way
The young girl, who was the culprit behind all this, had no idea she was causing so many changes. She walked briskly down the street holding her phone, her heart still lingering in the rare joy from the abundant harvest yesterday.
Kazumi, humming an unknown song, was in an exceptionally good mood. Even the ugly flame icon of her dog on her phone didn’t seem as displeasing as before.
Unprecedentedly, she proactively opened the chat box with the little flame and informed her cheap boyfriend, who should have been busy training, about her itinerary. Then, she tucked her phone into her pocket.
She looked up at the store sign, which felt somewhat unfamiliar, paused, and walked into the convenience store.
“Ding-a-ling—” “Welcome!”
The welcoming bell rang. Noyoru Yokota, sitting at the checkout counter, quickly put down the book in his hand and looked up at the entrance. However, the familiar figure before him prevented him from finishing the second half of his sentence.
“Shimiz… Kazumi?!”
“Good evening, Noyoru Senpai.”
Kazumi nodded faintly, acknowledging the boy’s greeting. Although she hadn’t been here for a while due to her previous injury, the young girl walked to the back of the counter with familiarity, put on her employee uniform, and skillfully took out several skewers from below, placing them into the somewhat empty soup containers.
“Good evening, Shimizu… junior?”
Kazumi’s greeting made Noyoru Yokota unsure how to respond. The girl he hadn’t seen in a long time suddenly appearing before him made him flustered. And since he wasn’t good at talking to girls, he could only stammer out a response.
Seeing the anxious expression on the boy’s fierce face, Kazumi chuckled inwardly. While handling things, she said, “Just call me Kazumi. So, Noyoru Senpai, how has business been in the store lately? Can you manage it all by yourself?”
“It’s the same as before. It only gets busy during meal times because I’m alone. There are several office buildings around here.”
“On the contrary, Kazumi, I thought you wouldn’t be coming.”
Somewhat nervously picking up a nearby item and pretending to tidy it, Noyoru Yokota looked aside and said to the girl, “It’s because of the unexpected incident during the school test, so I took a few days off from Manager Masamori. I want to continue this job if possible, as it pays well.”
The girl, expressionlessly fiddling with the oden in front of her, spoke with a cold, emotionless tone.
“……..”
These realistic words made it difficult for Noyoru Yokota to respond, but he felt there was nothing wrong with them. After all, the girl’s purpose for working here was to earn a slightly higher hourly wage than other places.
“Ding-a-ling—” “Welcome! x2!”
“Hello, could you please get me a pack of cigarettes?”
“Certainly, here’s your change.”
Skillfully seeing off the customer who bought cigarettes, Noyoru Yokota put the large bill in his hand into the cash register. He then glanced at the sparse pedestrians on the street, closed the cash register, and turned to Kazumi, who had already sat down, and spoke again.
“Kazumi, did your previous test have any problems? I saw the school announcement saying that something bad happened during the test.”
“Yes, the test results were canceled due to an accident. But as far as I know, it’s what the school wrote in the announcement. They were probably attacked by an opposing organization. But you should know more about this than I do, shouldn’t you?”
“I… haven’t heard any new information either.”
“…….”
Casually responding to the boy’s words, the young girl was constantly thinking about how to use this somewhat naive boy.
Yes, that’s right, utilization. The moment she saw Noyoru Yokota upon entering, Kazumi had already begun to strategize on how to subtly guide him into certain conversations to naturally state her request.
Otherwise, no matter how good Kazumi’s mood was, she wouldn’t casually engage in conversation with someone of the opposite sex, let alone initiate topics and chat with Noyoru Yokota for so long.
Except for her dog.
To be honest, although the big harvest yesterday seemed to have greatly helped her ability advancement, in Kazumi’s heart, the core issue regarding the use of her abilities had not yet been resolved.
It was like the misunderstanding last night. If the girl hadn’t kept Little Black by her side, considering that he might have the opponent’s mark on him, perhaps the final test for new members of the [Shell] organization that night would have been Kazumi’s end. Without Little Black, Kazumi had no confidence in winning against so many people in a life-or-death struggle.
The summoned creature, released prematurely, not only failed to facilitate her plan but also caused all her arrangements to fall through due to changes in the conversion space.
Therefore, to avoid her abilities being countered, or to overcome the flaws brought about by such shortcuts, what the girl needed to do now was to learn knowledge related to ability control and release.
But then, a new problem arose.
As a student of the Regular Department at Shikoku Gakuin, Kazumi did not have a course titled “Ability Control” in her curriculum. For elective courses, she would likely have to wait until her second year to choose relevant courses.
This meant that the path to acquiring this knowledge through study or the library was blocked.
Shinichi Sato was useful, but he was just a civilian! Although if she mentioned this to her dog, he would definitely find a way to get her the relevant books.
The problem was that when it came to hero abilities, Shinichi Sato could only ask Grandpa Sato for help. Although Kazumi felt confident in manipulating her naive, dense boyfriend, she was very aware of her limitations and dared not provoke Grandpa Sato, who was a retired hero.
Her acting and scheming skills, which weren’t even the tip of the iceberg, would probably be seen through at a glance by an old man with extensive battlefield experience.
After all, regarding the incident with Minako Hishiyama, although Kazumi didn’t know why the old man suspected her until now, his terrifying intuition and abilities, coupled with her truly guilty conscience, made Kazumi very unwilling to do anything that might arouse suspicion in front of the old man.
As for Grandpa Sato, based on her few interactions, she just needed to play the role of his obedient and well-behaved girlfriend. Older people like him valued their grandchildren very much, and as long as she gained enough favorability, it would be easy to utilize Shinichi Sato’s resources in the future.
The only good news was that due to the previous misunderstanding and subsequent events, she could clearly feel a bit of goodwill from the old man stemming from guilt.
However, this did not mean she was foolproof in front of him. Considering all worst-case scenarios, Kazumi directly cut off Shinichi Sato’s less secure line.
The [Dark] Organization, which she had just joined, would certainly have such resources. But according to what that [Shell] Master told her, all needs had to be exchanged with contributions. And currently penniless, she didn’t seem to have the qualifications to demand anything from the organization, so this line was also temporarily unavailable.
Kazumi always had plans. Regarding the [Dark] Organization line, while maintaining her status as a newly joined member, the young girl also possessed the ability to turn the tables through Akihiko Fukada, thus preventing herself from being cornered by any unexpected events.
Committing to a single path was not Kazumi’s habit.
And regarding the hero aspect, aside from Shinichi Sato, her other line was him.
Looking at the black-haired boy in front of her, whose eyes gradually gained focus from talking to her, Kazumi’s lips curled with disdain, the same way she looked at her dog.
The inner thoughts of such a naive fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy were truly transparent and could be seen through at a glance.
Perhaps it was because of her casual help earlier, or her taking responsibility later? Noyoru Yokota seemed to have a not low level of favorability towards her now, though she didn’t know the specific reason.
But thinking about it, it didn’t seem problematic. For someone who saved her from the abyss of darkness, anyone would probably feel some gratitude.
[This way, the odds are even greater.]
Her mind flashed with her previous investigation and personality analysis of the boy. Kazumi slightly gathered her emotions, quietly raised her head, her jet-black eyes carrying a trace of longing. Her thin lips pursed, waiting for the most comfortable moment after the boy finished speaking. Her words, still calm but carrying a hint of softness, came out.
“Then, could I ask you a favor, Noyoru Senpai?”
“Wh… What is it?”
The girl’s words, completely different from her usual demeanor, made Noyoru Yokota suddenly freeze. He stiffly raised his head, his gaze meeting the deep, jet-black eyes that were now filled with a hint of moisture.
The brief closeness made it seem as if he could smell the faint scent of sweet clover from the girl. His already slightly flushed cheeks burned even redder, and he subconsciously leaned back slightly, but his mouth had already agreed to the request the girl hadn’t yet vocalized.
[It’s done!]
A flicker of realization flashed in her mind. Kazumi’s lips curved into an almost imperceptible smile of triumph, but she still used her perfectly modulated voice to gently request, “Um, could you accompany me to the library this weekend, Senpai?”
(PS: Writing two thousand five hundred words every day, trying to reach three thousand dried fish is rubbish.)
