"Little Shuya~"
Shizuka Marikawa's eyes lit up the second she saw him walk in.
Her earlier wilted, half-dead vibe disappeared instantly—like the whole woman had suddenly come back to life.
She trotted straight over, already pouting. "Quick, give me a hug! I need to recharge my Shuya energy."
Super bouncy. Extremely bouncy.
Even in that oversized casual top, nothing could hide those massive assets.
Every step made them jiggle and bounce like they were about to pop right out of her collar.
Before Shuya could react, a sweet-scented breeze hit him.
The soft, overwhelming sensation instantly swallowed his entire head.
A mild feeling of suffocation slowly crept in.
Yep. Caught completely off guard, he'd once again been motorboated by Shizuka Marikawa.
"What's going on?"
Shuya finally managed to pull his face out from between the two giant Q-balls and looked at the blonde bombshell in front of him. "What happened?"
"Little Shuya, I'm burning out~"
Shizuka took one deep sniff of his hair first, then gave him the most pitiful look she could manage. "Rika-chan is about to drive me insane. Can't you just switch and teach her yourself? Please? I'll do anything."
She pressed her palms together, batted her eyes, and threw in a wink for good measure.
Shuya reached out and gently poked her forehead. "You really are only thinking about yourself, huh?"
"That's not true…"
Shizuka puffed out her cheeks and started to argue on reflex. "I clearly…"
"Clearly what?" Shuya asked.
"Clearly…"
Clearly I helped you claim Rika-chan…
But she swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Rika was still right there—if she overheard, she'd definitely find new ways to torment her.
What a thankless job, Shizuka grumbled internally about her best friend.
"Alright, let me see what the situation actually is," Shuya said, gently pushing her out of his arms.
He was genuinely curious. Lunch had only ended a little while ago—how was Shizuka already on the verge of losing it?
Most people in the world had at least some "teacher instinct."
Just like Shuya himself—watching Shizuka, Saeko, and even Rika learn and master new… knowledge gave him an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
But Shizuka?
She was pure lazy.
Shuya turned his gaze toward Rika.
The tanned beauty sat cross-legged on the bed, completely focused on meditating. Even his arrival didn't break her concentration one bit.
Shuya tilted his head. "She's doing mental training?"
"Mm-hmm."
Shizuka nodded and explained her teaching method.
Just like Shuya had told her before:
If someone wanted to learn Nen without having their pores opened and without a Nen seed to help, first you temper the body, then you temper the will. Only when mind and body became one could they possibly awaken Nen.
So after Rika heard that, her approach was simple: nonstop sparring with Shizuka.
Whenever she got tired, she'd sit down, empty her mind, and meditate—trying to sense the life energy slowly draining from her body.
Which left poor Shizuka suffering.
Every ten or twenty minutes she had to fight Rika all over again.
"Shizuka-nee, that's not the right way to teach her," Shuya said softly, stroking her smooth golden hair.
He explained why.
In this world, was it even possible to awaken Nen without someone opening your pores or giving you a seed?
Shuya believed it actually was.
Because at its core, Nen was simply a living being gaining control over its own life energy. Logically, any living creature should have the potential—even a cat or a dog.
So why didn't Nen users exist here?
Simple: the concept of Nen didn't exist.
It was exactly like nuclear bombs.
Human civilization had existed for thousands of years without anyone building one—until the first country invented it. After that, the other powers developed theirs in almost no time.
Nen worked the same way.
Take the Chimera Ants back in the Hunter world. How many years had that species existed in a world where Nen was already known?
Yet not a single one ever awakened it—until they left the Dark Continent, made contact with human society, and one of the Royal Guards (the cat girl) studied Pouf's brain and learned the system. Only then did Nen spread throughout the entire colony.
The world had never lacked geniuses.
What it lacked was inspiration.
Of course, there might be people born with Nen abilities—but those could only be Specialists.
And a natural Specialist who had never studied the system wasn't really a Nen user so much as a superpowered person. They wouldn't know how to control aura, let alone use it to open someone else's pores.
So the development of Nen in the Hunter world must have taken an extremely long time, with generation after generation of users constantly adding to and perfecting the system until it became the rich, flourishing art it is today.
"Huh? Why?"
Shizuka looked at him with wide, confused eyes. "I was clearly doing exactly what you told me to do, little Shuya."
"Because Rika isn't a pure martial artist," Shuya shook his head.
This was where the information gap came in.
Under normal circumstances, Shizuka's method would've been fine—temper body and mind, achieve unity.
But could someone like Rika, a woman who thrived on excitement and stimulation, ever truly empty her mind and calm down?
Sure enough, the moment she heard Shuya's words, Rika couldn't stay focused anymore.
She opened her eyes, stood up from the bed, and asked him urgently, "You little bastard, what do you mean by that?"
"Simply put, this method isn't suited for you," Shuya explained. "Forcing it will only make things twice as hard for half the result."
Rika immediately pressed, "Then what method is suited for me?"
"How about this."
Shuya thought for a second. "Think carefully. Is there anything you love doing? Something that makes you feel happy and excited, something you'd keep doing even if you were exhausted, something you can't stop thinking about even after it's over? Something you'd get completely addicted to?"
"Do…"
The memory of what she'd done with Shuya in the early hours of the morning instantly flashed through Rika's mind. She almost blurted it out.
But right after the first syllable she swallowed the rest of the word.
A faint blush rose on her tanned cheeks.
Then she bit her lip, parted her red mouth slightly, and said in her usual crude tone, "You little bastard. If you want to fuck me again, just say it straight. No need for all these roundabout hints."
"You think I'd turn you down?"
Seeing this, Shizuka suddenly understood.
A wicked little smile spread across her face. She poked Shuya's cheek with her index finger and teased, "Little Shuya… you perv~"