Tatsuki shrugged, totally unfazed. "Gotta live life to feel life. That's where the fun is."
"I really can't understand people like you." Utaha grumbled.
He had an insanely convenient ability and just… didn't use it. Now that she'd started complaining, though, she'd fully opened up the conversation.
"Anyway, what should I even call people like you?"
She meant people like Tatsuki—those with supernatural powers.
"As for others, I'm not sure. Me? You can more or less call me an esper."
Utaha's eyes lit up; she finally asked the question she'd wanted to ask most. "Tatsuki-kun… those two monsters from yesterday—what were they?"
Tatsuki glanced at her, making her jump. She hurried to add, "If you can't tell me, then forget I asked!"
Utaha thought she'd brushed up against some kind of classified information line.
"Telling you's no big deal." Walking along, Tatsuki explained, "The woman was a ghoul—a man-eating monster that was once human and mutated."
"The man was someone whose body had been taken over by a Parasyte. It eats the brain, takes control of the body, then turns the host into a man-eating monster."
"Man-eating…" Utaha clapped a hand over her mouth, her face full of lingering dread.
Even though she hadn't taken a scratch and had basically just watched the whole fight like a spectator—it wasn't hard to imagine that once those two monsters finished tearing each other apart, the next item on the menu would've been her, the lone human on the scene.
If Tatsuki hadn't shown up, odds were she'd be dead already. The thought sent a chill straight up her spine, a fresh wave of delayed fear washing over her.
"Will those monsters show up again?"
Tatsuki nodded slightly. "Ghouls are humans that suddenly mutate, so yeah, they'll still appear. As for the Parasytes, I wiped them out while I was at it, so don't worry about them."
"…"
She believed him about the Parasytes being handled.
But ghouls… if those could keep popping up, what was she supposed to do if she ran into one again?
Seeing the turmoil in Utaha's eyes, Tatsuki spoke up to reassure her.
"You don't need to worry too much about the ghouls either. Just try to stay in crowded places. Unless they're completely gone off the deep end, they won't act rashly."
"Unless you bump into a total lunatic who's lost all reason."
Utaha took a deep breath, forcing her mood to settle. "Got it."
After thinking for a moment, Tatsuki added, "If you're interested, you could join my Supernatural Research Club."
"Supernatural… Research Club?" She seriously had never heard of that club before. "Tatsuki-kun, could you tell me a bit more about it first?"
If she was going to join a club, she wanted to know what she was getting into.
"Sure. Mainly, we handle potential supernatural incidents."
Tatsuki's explanation was simple and straightforward—very easy to understand. That only made Utaha more curious.
"How many members are in the club right now? And have you actually handled any supernatural cases?"
"How many…"
Tatsuki counted aloud.
"Me, Yukino, Eriri, Megumi, Marin, Yumiko, Miko, and Yui. Eight in total."
"…"
Hearing that string of names, Utaha's expression got… complex.
"With how familiar you sound… those are all girls' names, aren't they?"
"Of course they're all girls. I don't plan on recruiting any guys into my club. And a few of them are my girlfriends."
Not only an all-girls club.
But also "a few of them are my girlfriends."
"Huh?" Utaha was completely dumbfounded.
She stared at Tatsuki, seriously wondering if he was messing with her.
An all-girls roster? And several of them were his girlfriends? Did he even hear himself?
Thankfully, she'd already had her worldview shattered once, and her mental defense stat had leveled up.
Even so, it took her a good while to recover.
Right now, she didn't want to touch the "how many girlfriends" problem or ask how those girlfriends were okay being together in the same place.
Instead, Utaha eyed him warily.
"Are you sure this is a club and not a Harem Society? What exactly do you mean by inviting me?"
Tatsuki looked straight at her, his gaze clear and perfectly calm.
"I am planning to make it a harem club, yeah. As for inviting you… I just feel like you're fated to cross paths with my Supernatural Research Club."
Originally, the club really had been founded to deal with supernatural cases. But at this point, even in his own mind, its positioning had changed.
From a supernatural incident unit… to a harem-building society.
At the very least, Marin and Yumiko were already on his radar, and the timid Miko was also on his carnivore watchlist.
He was walking further and further down the road of a meat-eating scumbag.
And now, one more new target had appeared right in front of him.
"???"
Like hell I believe you!
Utaha blurted out, "You're actually saying it out loud?! A harem club? And you're sure you don't have ulterior motives toward me?"
Tatsuki blinked. Then sighed in exaggerated helplessness.
"Man, am I really that obvious? …Fine, I do have ulterior motives."
He admitted it cleanly.
And it was that easy honesty that absolutely crashed Utaha's brain. She had no way to field such a straight fastball.
"…"
Head lowered, Utaha fell into silence.
All the way to the train station.
All the way to school.
She stayed quiet.
After they split up to head for their respective classrooms, all she said was a single, soft goodbye before quickly walking off.
Tatsuki scratched his head. He had to admit he'd been a little too direct… and a little too hasty.
But he didn't regret it. At least he hadn't lied—not about anything.
About what the club was like. About how many girlfriends he had. About what he wanted for himself. He'd laid it all out clearly.
His thinking was simple: Joining the club didn't automatically mean becoming his girlfriend.
That final step would be entirely up to each person's own wishes.
And honestly, he and Utaha didn't even have that much history together yet. He wasn't expecting her to jump on board right away.
Still, if she did join, there was no way she'd be able to avoid watching him and Eriri and the others shove dog food down her throat.
If she couldn't accept that, then it'd be better for her to stay away, based purely on her own will.
In class, Tatsuki did what he always did: tuned the lesson out and focused on the chat group.
He still had questions for Kurumi.
Tatsuki: "Kurumi, what kinds of Apocalypses does your world have?"
Kurumi: "Ah-la, you mean the ones in the personal info?"
Tatsuki: "Yeah."
Kurumi: "[Abnormality Apocalypse (6-star), Uncertainty Apocalypse (7-star)], that's what it says."
Ainz ooal gown: "Oh-ho! Another double Apocalypse, and this time it's a combo of Abnormality and Uncertainty—one 6-star, one 7-star, both high-level!"
Ch'en: "Mine shows Future Apocalypse (7-star). What does that mean exactly?"
Exusiai: "Ch'en-sir, we've got the same thing. It means Terra's on track for a world-ending crisis."
Ch'en: "…"
Kurumi: "In that case, it seems my world also has an Apocalypse coming."
Shinobu: "Not just an Apocalypse—yours is a rare double stack, and one of them is that particularly troublesome Uncertainty Apocalypse."
Ainz ooal gown: "Full buffs, absolutely stacked."
Tatsuki was a little surprised that Kurumi's world didn't have a Future Apocalypse, but instead had Abnormality plus Uncertainty.
"Still, there's no way those Apocalypses don't involve the Spirits."
After all, in her world, the truly special beings… were the Spirits themselves.
....
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