Tokun High School, the afternoon sunlight dappled across the asphalt road.
For most of the general education students, it was just another ordinary, sleepy afternoon.
But for the trio who had just finished their first afternoon general studies class, the air was heavy with tension.
“Kazama, wait for us.”
Kagegaya Tsubaki jogged a few steps to catch up with Kazama Yin, and they entered the gate of the Supernatural Club building.
The three stepped into the tiered classroom on the first floor.
About twenty students were already scattered inside, all awakened from various grades.
When they saw Kazama Yin enter, the previously noisy classroom fell silent instantly.
Their gazes focused on his left arm wrapped in bandages—curious, awed, and even tinged with a hint of barely concealed jealousy.
Kazama Yin ignored them, walked straight to the seat by the window in the back row, sat down, propped his chin on one hand, and stared out at the playground.
Kagegaya Tsubaki and Hanyu Jinluo sat down on either side of him, forming an invisible protective circle.
Soon, the classroom door opened.
Teacher Endo walked in carrying a stack of documents.
“Alright, everybody’s here.”
Teacher Endo placed the documents on the podium, but instead of starting his usual boring lecture on “Superpower Ethics,” he turned around, picked up a marker, and wrote four large characters on the whiteboard: Comprehensive Assessment.
“The comprehensive assessment that comes every semester is about to begin~.”
Teacher Endo pushed up his glasses, a glint of light reflecting off the lenses.
“There are some first-year high school students here who still only have a vague understanding of the assessment system after entering high school. Today I’ll explain it in detail once more.”
He drew two parallel lines on the whiteboard.
“First, the one you’re most familiar with—‘Ability Level.’”
“S, A, B, C, D.”
He wrote these five letters on the upper line.
“This is a rigid metric divided based on the activity of the Heart Worm inside your body, your energy peak, and the destructive power or functionality of your ability.”
“To a large extent, this level is predetermined at birth—your genes, the environment during your awakening, determine your upper limit… Of course, Parasite students get one chance to reroll.”
“If your assigned level is low, don’t be discouraged. In actual combat, it’s not like an S-class ability user is necessarily that much stronger than ABC…”
“So, we have this second assessment system—Comprehensive Rank.”
He wrote ten Chinese characters on the lower line: Heavenly Stems: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui.
“Heavenly Stems, etc.”
“This is the real rank that determines your future prospects, social status, and how much government resources you can mobilize… Of course, if you plan to join the Management Department, they have another rating system.”
Teacher Endo’s gaze swept across everyone in the room and finally lingered subtly on Kazama Yin for a moment.
“The assessment of Comprehensive Rank is multi-dimensional.”
“It includes over thirty indicators such as current physical stats, mental stability, tactical literacy, teamwork ability, and fine control over your ability.”
“And the most important one—Merit.”
When he said “Merit,” Teacher Endo’s voice grew heavier.
“Only those who have truly faced fear, confronted disasters, and safeguarded order deserve a higher rank.”
Murmurs began to stir in the classroom.
Students whispered to each other, their eyes constantly drifting to the back row.
Teacher Endo tapped the whiteboard to signal for quiet.
“Let’s use a practical example.”
He picked up a document, looked at the name on it, and his expression turned serious.
“Student Kazama Yin.”
Kazama Yin slowly raised his head at being called.
“In last semester’s assessment, your rank was ‘Geng.’”
“However, considering your performance in assisting the operation to dismantle the illegal organization Yamato Society…”
“Although the most troublesome leader of the Yamato Society was dealt with by Yuki Asahi, who’s to say clearing the grunts isn’t a merit?”
“And…”
Teacher Endo paused, as if choosing his words carefully.
“During the recent terrorist attack at Chunshan Villa, you demonstrated extremely high combat will and successfully killed a high-risk semi-devourer code-named Feng He Shi.”
Boom—
The classroom instantly erupted.
“Killed?! Seriously?”
“A semi-devourer?”
Among ability users in Japan, if you were to list a target of dangerous threats, devourers only came second.
Semi-devourers—intelligent devourers—were often harder to deal with than other targets.
Exclamations of surprise filled the air.
Kagegaya Tsubaki clenched her fists. Her face showed no joy; instead, she looked worriedly at Kazama Yin beside her.
“Therefore,” Teacher Endo raised his voice to drown out the chatter, “after a joint review by the Management Department and the Ministry of Education, Student Kazama Yin’s Comprehensive Rank will be promoted by multiple grades.”
“As for the exact rank, we’ll have to wait until the comprehensive assessment ends.”
“Got it.” Kazama Yin replied flatly.
Teacher Endo frowned at his demeanor.
He put down the documents and announced, “Alright, that’s it for today’s explanation. The rest of you can self-study.”
“Kazama, stay behind for a moment.”
…
Everyone left the classroom, leaving only Kagegaya Tsubaki and Hanyu, who were packing up in the front row, and Kazama Yin standing by the podium.
Teacher Endo walked down from the podium, leaned against a desk, and closely observed this once-spirited chuunibyou boy.
“Kazama, you’re not in a good state.” Teacher Endo said bluntly.
“I’m fine, Teacher.” Kazama Yin kept his head down, staring at his own shoes.
“You’re not fine.”
Teacher Endo sighed. “The school has a psychological intervention group specifically for awakened individuals. If you don’t want to use the school’s resources, I can help you find an outside private doctor…”
“I don’t need a psychologist. I’m not sick.”
“Kazama…”
Kazama Yin didn’t give the teacher a chance to continue his lecture. He gave a slight bow, then turned and quickly walked out of the classroom.
Kagegaya Tsubaki and Hanyu Jinluo hurriedly said goodbye to the teacher and chased after him.
Teacher Endo watched that stubborn back, helplessly took off his glasses, and rubbed his temples.
“These kids… each one more worrying than the last.”
…
On the rooftop of the school building, the wind was strong.
The wire mesh cut the sky into blue fragments.
Kazama Yin leaned against the water tank, letting the cold wind mess up his hair.
“Kazama…”
Kagegaya Tsubaki ran up, out of breath, holding a can of hot coffee from a vending machine.
“Here, warm your hands.”
Kazama Yin took the coffee. The warmth from the can slightly revived his cold fingers.
“Thanks.”
Hanyu Jinluo also walked over and stood silently to the side.
The three were silent for a while.
“Um…”
Kagegaya Tsubaki hesitated for a long time but finally asked the question she had kept hidden in her heart, afraid to touch.
She looked at Kazama Yin’s bandaged arm and asked carefully, “Miss Dream Child… is she still there?”
Kazama Yin’s hand gripping the coffee tightened suddenly.
“She’s there.”
“But… she’s been sleeping.”
“Sleeping?” Kagegaya Tsubaki didn’t understand.
“Yeah.” Kazama Yin closed his eyes, feeling the existence curled up in the depths of his soul.
“Maybe to escape reality, maybe because of the excessive consumption that day… her consciousness has sunk into deep slumber.”
“Only in the dead of night, occasionally I can feel her crying.”
“In my mind, over and over again, she screams the name Koji Hattori.”
Kazama Yin’s voice trembled slightly. “I can feel her pain, the pain of a ripped heart… but I can’t do anything anymore.”
“I can only… share the pain with her.”
Kazama Yin had been tormented these past few days.
Kagegaya Tsubaki’s eyes reddened. She stepped forward and gently hugged Kazama Yin.
“It’s okay, Kazama, it’s okay… we’re all here.”
Kazama Yin’s stiff body relaxed slightly in the girl’s warm embrace.
After a long moment, he gently pushed Kagegaya Tsubaki away and took a deep breath, trying to suppress that suffocating sadness.
“Let’s not talk about this.”
Kazama Yin forcibly changed the subject. He looked at Hanyu Jinluo, who had been silent all along.
“Hanyu, how about your end?”
“What happened with your uncle? Any progress on the investigation?”
Hearing this, Hanyu Jinluo pushed up his glasses, his expression turning serious.
“It’s tough.”
Hanyu Jinluo pulled a tablet out of his backpack and opened an encrypted document.
“Ever since the Dark Crows from DRG appeared at the wedding that day, the government has intensified its surveillance on DRG. That means… it’s already beyond our level of access.”
“In official discourse, the Dark Crows are an internationally wanted terrorist organization. I heard even SAAC has stationed personnel here.”
“And we’re just three high school students.”
Kazama Yin frowned. “So, did the lead go cold?”
“No, not completely.” A glint of sharpness flashed in Hanyu Jinluo’s eyes.
“Since we can’t track DRG’s movements, I changed my approach and looked backward.”
“Backward?”
“Yes. I looked into my uncle’s interpersonal relationships from when he was still a police officer.”
“Are there any file records left?” Kagegaya Tsubaki asked doubtfully. “Didn’t they say because of the millennium…”
Hanyu Jinluo explained, “There are physical records. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has physical archives.”
“Since I’ve connected with Senior Imai, it’s relatively easy to access these old government archives that aren’t very useful. I found a few people worth noting.”
Hanyu Jinluo’s tablet displayed photos of some paper archives, though some had stains.
“Uh… poor preservation, mold and such. It happens often.”
Hanyu Jinluo shrugged and swiped to the next image, a collage pieced together from the above archive photos.
The image showed some names, the most prominent being: Satō Aoi.
“Why is it only in romaji?”
“Uh… some documents were lost.”
“Sato Aoi?” Kazama Yin repeated the prominent name. “A very common name.”
“The breakthrough should lie in these names. If we can find these people, we should get clues about my uncle.”
Hanyu Jinluo put away the tablet. “Some of them have phone numbers and addresses. Let’s visit them one by one and ask. If there’s still no lead, we’ll think of another way.”
“I want to try my luck and see if I can pry something out about what happened to my uncle back then.”
“Alright.”
Kazama Yin nodded, a flicker of fighting spirit reigniting in his eyes.
Having a goal was better than wallowing in endless grief.
The three stood on the rooftop, looking at the Tokyo Tower being rebuilt in the distance.
Beneath that vast iron jungle, a girl named Satō Ai was walking home carrying a discounted bento.