After so much reflection, everyone at the table had finished eating. The sun had finished setting on the horizon, and the street light was dim.
Shinka looked at his watch; there were two hours left before he had to go to the bus terminal and return home.
"Thank you very much for everything, Mrs. Kusaka," said Hanakai while everyone bowed, thanking the elderly woman.
"It was very delicious!" shouted Tomoe Meguri with joy.
"That's right, but it's time for us to go. We have some important student council matters to attend to." Souna was already standing at the door while everyone left, including Reya.
'They're on vacation... I've invented better excuses to leave uncomfortable places!'
Shinka was dumbfounded watching his sister walk out the door.
The last to leave was Souna, but before she could close it, Shinka also stepped out.
"R-Reya, aren't you going to accompany me to the terminal?" Shinka asked innocently.
"Ah, I... have something important to do." Shinka heard his sister's slightly trembling voice.
"Really?" he asked hesitantly. "What's more important than seeing off your brother, whom you haven't seen in over a year?" He felt slightly betrayed.
"Leave it, kid. We have important things to do," said Saji with an annoyed look.
'He's making us waste time...' he thought with disdain, knowing how important their mission was.
Shinka felt an impulse to hit that guy.
[Unable to use Magical Inspection skill. The target far surpasses the user's skill level.]
But he restrained himself, remembering the system's message.
"Kid? Genshirou-san, we are the same age. Anyway, I offer to accompany you all," said Shinka, using his acting skill to sound calm.
A vein formed on Saji's forehead.
"That..." Reya whispered.
"Get it, little one, you can't come, these are important club matters," Genshirou blurted out. Souna's gaze sharpened towards Saji.
'This idiot...!'
"But under that logic... Genshirou-san, you can't belong to the student council. It's still an all-girls academy."
To Saji, Shinka's gaze became terrifying.
'D-Damn it, h-he caught me...' he thought fleetingly.
Saji was about to open his mouth, but Souna spoke first.
"Saji is right, this is a student council matter, something quite important. I invited him to join once the school becomes co-ed, but he still can't participate in these matters," said Souna while giving the young man the same look he had given Saji.
"So, Saji, you will go home, alright?" Souna asked him.
"Alright..." Saji muttered angrily.
"Oh, I see. I apologize for my confusion then. Take care, sister. We'll see each other soon." Shinka closed the door and went back inside the house, slightly clenching his fist.
The seven kids outside the house stood still for a few moments.
"Reya, your brother..." Before Saji could finish, he was interrupted.
"Saji, the next time Shinka comes to visit Kuoh, you are strictly forbidden from speaking to him. Even if he attends our school soon, you cannot speak to him until he joins the student council."
"So you've already made your decision," the vice president spoke.
"Only if I can convince him, of course."
Everyone was shocked to hear the president's words.
"Reya, your brother is so sharp. Plus, he seems to be Saji's natural repellent."
"Hey!" Saji wanted to refute but was interrupted again.
"He was going to keep pointing out your contradictions. You could have revealed too much if I hadn't stopped you right there," said Souna while giving the boy an annoyed look.
"President, I have a question..." Momo whispered.
"Why did you say 'if I can convince him'? Do you think someone can refuse?"
"Maybe... And we're talking too much in public. Someone could be listening," said Souna as she began to walk.
'Just when I was about to get a good answer.' Thought Shinka, who was slightly behind them, using Invisibility Magic.
He maintained a prudent distance.
Since he entered the house, he had used Invisibility Magic and gradually approached. If they discovered him, he still had many ways to evade suspicion.
He knew he had to take risks to get answers.
Today's shock was too big to just let it go.
Shinka waited a little bit before following them.
As everyone walked at a hurried pace, the sudden sound of Souna's phone snapped everyone out of their thoughts.
RING!
Souna quickly took it from her pocket and answered.
"Rias? Yes, we'll be there soon." Souna hung up and looked at her group.
"It's urgent."
In an instant, Shinka's eye contracted unnaturally.
What he saw left him speechless.
Even more than when he unlocked the system.
Even more than when he saw that everyone he met that same day had a strength level greater than his.
In a burst of magical energy, everyone was enveloped.
Two bat-like wings formed on the backs of everyone accompanying Souna, including herself.
'That... Is that a demon...?' Shinka thought, remembering the worn images of demons with horns and bat wings.
Under Shinka's perplexed eyes, the seven began to fly at an impressive speed.
Shinka, without losing a second, ran after them with all his speed.
Although invisible, he could feel as if his body emitted a faint light, visible only to him.
He had activated Magical Reinforcement and ran swiftly, trying to match the speed of those flying.
Shinka was going at approximately 75 km/h, and yet, it was difficult to catch up.
If he slowed down a bit, he would really fall behind.
Shinka ran agilely among the crowd of people on the ground, people who didn't even seem to notice the 7 kids flying in the heights.
Seeing that if he kept dodging people he would be delayed, he quickly scaled a building, jumping between walls.
Jumping from roof to roof, it became a bit easier to catch up to Souna's group.
After a few more seconds of unrestrained speed, Souna's group finally stopped.
They were in a desolate park, and it wasn't just their group there.
There were three more girls. One with red hair, another with black hair, and a girl who looked barely developed, like a child. There was also a very handsome blonde boy with them.
But none of that mattered because Shinka's heart churned with fury seeing what was near them.
It was a monster, a grotesque organic mass shaped like a caterpillar, but where the head should be, there was a normal-sized human body.
More specifically, a woman's body.
It was a spine-chilling image.
Just seeing it, Shinka couldn't help but feel nauseous, even with the system helping him.
It wasn't something that should exist in the world they lived in.
Without a doubt, it was something from another world.
A horrible world.
In the distance, Shinka watched as the other group of young people there grew bat wings and began to float alongside Souna's group.
Shinka could only watch, completely immobile, as his sister and the people he had met that same day fought against a horrifying demon from another world.
At the Kusaka house.
Grandmother was sitting in the living room.
Thoughtful, anxiously playing with her fingers.
'Is it possible...? That my grandson Shinka... has come into contact with the supernatural world?'
'That could have been my imagination, but...'
She remembered how her grandson's eyes emanated a bluish aura. She also knew that despite that, she didn't feel any magical energy coming from him at all.
That made it clear.
Shinka wasn't just any human.
He wasn't just any beginner mage.
'But when and how could this have happened?'
'Reya told me they never came into contact with the supernatural in Takido. The only thing there is a small church, and it must be impossible for Shinka to have joined. Besides, that magic is only explained in...'
Masako realized something important and rose from her chair with eyes wide as saucers.
She remembered her hidden room.
But there was no way Shinka could have learned and mastered the magic written in that old grimoire to such a level in just one day.
'That means he must have found one within this past year, during which he hasn't had contact with Reya!'
'But even if that's the case, his talent for magic is out of this world! I need... I need to go confirm it!'
She walked through her house to her grandchildren's room, thinking profusely.
'I think none of Sona's peerage noticed... I won't sell out my own grandson either! He will likely join her peerage when the time comes, but... To see a human with such ability.' Her eyes lit up as she moved the shoji screen to enter the room.
Her eyes adjusted to the light of the room, only to notice there was nothing.
But a faint energy impregnated it.
As subtle as the scent of a flower.
She understood.
Her grandson told her without needing words.
She laughed discreetly.
'Shinka, my grandson... So arrogant. Let Grandma finish cleaning up. This will be a new family secret.'