Chapter 224: Encountering a Superpower Mission Right After Starting the Job (Patreon)

A stable, well-paid, proper job didn't sound bad, actually.

And she'd noticed something else. Plenty of ability users had pretty ordinary physical fitness. Someone like Nao Tomori, for instance. Megumi Kato figured she could take a hundred of her.

Judging by that, the job really didn't look too hard.

So she took the agreement, picked up the pen, and quietly signed her name.

From that moment on, she was officially hired. She even had a police rank now. She could be called Inspector Kato.

Once the basic procedures were done, Nao Tomori took her to the Special Division office.

"Come on, come on. Let me introduce everyone to our new colleague."

Nao clapped her hands and drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"This is Kano... Uh, Kano what was it?"

"It's Megumi Kato." Megumi finished the sentence herself.

"My ability is 'Passerby.' Or, you could say, a weak presence."

There weren't many people in the office. Just three in total.

The first was a young man in glasses, covered in bandages, with an exaggeratedly muscular build. He held a coffee in his left hand and a file in his right. When he saw Nao, he broke into a grin that was both cheerful and tough.

"Hello. I'm Jojiro Takajo. My ability is exactly what it sounds like: Teleportation. Just call me Takajo."

Having said that, he raised a hand and pointed at a drenched man not far away.

The man had long brown hair, and his bangs hid his eyes completely. He stood in front of a huge map of the city, either spacing out or deep in thought, and showed no sign of turning around. Takajo introduced him.

"That's Kumagami. His ability is called 'Esper Radar.' Through water, he can send us the locations of ability users and related intel. He's a collaborator with the Special Division. Sorry, he's kind of introverted and doesn't talk much."

Megumi tilted her head slightly. "Collaborator?"

Nao picked up the thread, explaining quickly.

"Yeah. Basically outside staff. It's a position for people who don't want to be bound by the system. There are quite a few collaborating organizations like that. The DA, for example, or the one codenamed 'Book of Friends,' the Goddess of Wisdom, the Spirits and Such Consultation Office, and so on."

Megumi asked, "Then why didn't he find me before?"

The moment the question left her mouth, Kumagami, who had been silent all this time, finally turned around, slow as molasses. His voice was low, as if it were coming up from underwater.

"Because. You're not an Esper."

The words fell, and the whole office went quiet for a moment.

Just then, the girl sitting before a bank of monitors finished pulling up Megumi's file. Data scrolled rapidly across the screen, and the blue glow reflected on her face.

"According to the records, Miss Kato has had this constitution since childhood. It's only recently that it suddenly became much more pronounced. That fits the signs of an ability awakening."

She turned around, placed both hands obediently on her knees, and introduced herself, a little nervous.

"H-hello. I'm Kazari Uiharu. My ability is 'Thermal Hand.' Future person. I'm good at computer work. Please take care of me."

"Future person?"

Megumi thought for a moment, then held out one finger, as if making some strange kind of greeting.

Uiharu's little face puffed up at once, and she went red.

"I'm a future person, not an alien! Don't point your finger at me!"

"I see. Sorry."

But a thought popped into Megumi's head: Natsuka would definitely be interested in this future person.

Nao ignored the little exchange between the two and looked at Megumi with growing curiosity instead.

"An ability user Kumagami can't detect... You said your ability is 'Passerby,' right?"

Megumi nodded. "Personally, I find it pretty annoying. But my friends always say it's actually really powerful."

Nao rubbed her chin, thinking it over.

"Maybe your ability interferes with Kumagami's. It's not impossible for abilities to counter each other. Okay, let's set that aside for now."

She clapped her hands and moved on to the next topic.

"Last up is our chief. I don't know her real name either. But everyone calls her Hu Tao."

Megumi blinked. "What kind of person is the chief?"

Nao made a face that was hard to describe.

"A bit neurotic. She talks to herself a lot. But she's also really cheerful. And she's always calling herself a back-alley dark-verse poet. Anyway... she's a very contradictory person."

Right as they were talking, Kumagami, standing in front of the map, suddenly raised a hand. A single drop of water slowly fell and landed with a plop on a spot on the map.

He spoke in a low voice.

"Ability name: 'Puppet Bandage.' Effect: remotely controls objects wrapped in bandages. Target location: Suzuki Mountain Villa."

Uiharu immediately pulled up network intel, her fingers flying across the keyboard. Before long, she turned around, resigned.

"It's a retro-style villa. No surveillance cameras. Even the signal's bad."

Takajo pushed up his glasses and smiled. "Looks like we've got work."

Nao turned to Megumi, a glint of eagerness in her eyes.

"Yosh. Perfect timing. How about it, Kano? Come along with us."

...

The entrance of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The air still held the stuffy heat left over from the morning, and the wind carried the smell of a coming change in the weather.

Nao was explaining the situation to Natsuka.

"That's the story. We have to head out on a mission. Mr. Boyfriend, you can just tag along."

She'd actually seen plenty of situations like this. Most ability users' families tensed up instinctively at the word "police." They worried their kids would run into danger, and thought students should just live like students and not get dragged into this kind of trouble.

But Natsuka clearly wasn't the type who liked restricting other people's freedom.