About a month had passed since I met Kuroka and officially became a middle schooler.
At first, everyone in class was pretty awkward around each other, but that was slowly getting better. Most people had found their groups—hanging out with whoever they clicked with.
As for me, I'd scored the perfect seat by the window in the very back row... or so I thought.
"Check this out! Got these developed from last weekend's hunting. This girl's not just cute—look at those boobs! Motohama! What're this chick's measurements?"
"From the top: 83, 60, 82! Holy crap, what a body! Where'd you find her, Matsuda? Where'd you encounter this hottie?"
"What? Let me see that photo too! I'm gonna store it in my brain and put it to good use tonight!"
"Shut the hell up, you perverted idiots!"
Sitting to my right was the original protagonist, the future Oppai Dragon himself—Hyodo Issei.
In front of me sat Pervy Glasses, Three-Size Scanner, Lolicon—Motohama.
Diagonally in front to the right was the photography club member, Perverted Monk, Sexual Harassment Paparazzi—Matsuda.
Talk about divine punishment disguised as seating arrangements. Sure, I'd gotten to meet the original characters, but this was way more than I'd bargained for.
The pitying stares from my classmates hurt, and I could swear the disgusted looks the girls shot at the Perverted Trio were starting to include me too.
"Come on Ikki, don't hold back! Look at these boobs! This month's issue of 'THE☆Boob Mountains ~Beyond Even the Alps~' is packed with amazing racks!"
He shoved the magazine in my direction. I looked away and yelled back.
"Quit shoving that crap at me! I've told you guys a million times! I don't care if you want to talk about perverted stuff, but at least do it when the girls aren't around!"
Also, what the hell? Boobs that go beyond the Alps? That's not human—that's straight-up giant territory!
"What're you talking about? Perversion is supreme! Perversion is justice! Humanity has survived because of perversion! There's nothing to be ashamed of!"
God, I can't stand these guys... Don't they have any other topics of conversation? Well, they do talk about manga and games sometimes, but even that somehow gets twisted into perverted commentary. Seriously, give me a break...
….
"Come on, what's wrong? Your ki control is all over the place. Focus properly."
After school ended (and left me mentally drained), I dragged myself home. I'd finished my physical training and was now in my room having Kuroka oversee my mystical energy practice... but after being surrounded by the word 'boobs' all day at school, I couldn't help being aware of the girl in front of me. My concentration was shot—damn those perverted idiots!
Creating an energy orb above my palm was something I could manage in my room. My bedroom had been lightly fortified with perception barriers, soundproofing, and defensive traps that would activate if anyone other than Kuroka or my family entered. As a bonus, since she'd claimed my bed, I was sleeping on the floor wrapped in a blanket. I'd been worried that having a beautiful girl in the same room might keep me awake, but thankfully the IttouShura meditation before bed exhausted me completely, so I'd pass out immediately.
The training wasn't constant supervision—she'd give me occasional advice or answer questions when I was stuck. She probably didn't think she needed to babysit me that much.
The energy technique I was practicing now was typical senjutsu—low on direct destructive power but capable of disrupting an opponent's ki from a distance.
According to Kuroka, she mixed senjutsu, demon arts, and magic power like in the original story. Apparently, she used senjutsu to disrupt the opponent's ki, demon arts to inject poison and curses, and magic power for destructive force—a nasty three-piece combo package. Brutal. High-class devil level was no joke.
After taking a break from training, I asked about something that had been bugging me.
"Speaking of which, this is kinda late to ask, but why was my room chosen as the base in this town? If you can set up perception barriers and people-repelling fields, I'd have expected you to hole up in some abandoned building or empty apartment..."
I mean, in the original story, stray devils usually hung out in ruins or caves. Just monitoring me seemed like a weak reason.
"Nya? Of course there are other reasons besides surveillance. You're right that we usually do that when setting up secret bases, but the territory managers know that too. Those uninhabited places get patrolled occasionally, and if you set up high-quality concealment, other professionals might wander in without noticing."
Ah, so when they can't use their authority openly, they 'compromise' by using abandoned places...
Also, Kuroka had introduced herself as a 'former demon cat turned freelance devil.' She obviously didn't start with 'I'm a wanted criminal on the run,' but she had mentioned being 'chased by troublesome people.'
Well, someone like her wouldn't get caught easily.
Anyway, what mattered now was having enough strength to handle whatever came up. With that thought, I performed my daily IttouShura and let the exhaustion carry me to sleep... Just before I completely drifted off, I thought I heard a lonely voice.
---
[Kuroka's Pov]
"Finally asleep..."
It had been just over a month since I met this boy. I'd only needed to secure a base, so I hadn't really planned to follow through on my initial offer to oversee his senjutsu training.
I wouldn't teach him anything wrong, but I'd only planned to chime in occasionally. For supervising something as dangerous as senjutsu, my approach was more than a little careless.
But he had surprising precision in controlling the flow of ki—especially his own internal energy.
I wondered why until the reason became clear on the first night. The moment he muttered " Ittou Shura," his power exploded exponentially.
If I hadn't gotten an explanation of this Ittou Shura thing beforehand, I might have launched an attack that would've leveled the entire area.
At first I thought it might be his sacred gear's ability, but that didn't seem right. Apparently it was something he could naturally do from the moment he realized it.
For one minute, he could amplify his abilities and senses dozens of times over. This 'sensory amplification' had the side effect of making him acutely aware of his body's condition, which was how he'd awakened to senjutsu in the first place.
Of course, I was floored when I learned that after one minute he'd be completely exhausted and unable to move, and that he couldn't stop the technique once activated.
He'd never practiced disrupting or harmonizing others' ki before, but his foundation for sensing life energy flows was solid. With just a little advice from me, I could see his senjutsu proficiency shooting up rapidly.
I'd also been keeping tabs on Shirone's situation, from her daytime school life to her nighttime devil activities, but there didn't seem to be any major problems.
Still, it was sad to see that while she used to be such a cheerful child, now she barely showed any emotion.
"I wonder if someday she'll forget about me and be able to smile like she used to?"
She let those lonely words slip out.
[End of Kuroka's Side]