"Have we met before?" Daisuke asked in a trembling voice. His face was pale and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
The students at the venue were confused after hearing Daisuke's words. Their reaction was not due to the content of the question but to Daisuke's voice which sounded frightened. Asuka and Akina found the situation a bit strange and looked at Tenku and Daisuke in turn.
"Mr. Okamoto? Are you okay?" Takehiko asked after feeling something wrong with Daisuke's attitude towards Tenku.
At first, Takehiko hoped that Daisuke would be angry with Tenku because the other party ignored him when he called out his name. But Takehiko didn't expect Daisuke to react like that. He looked like a prey meeting a predator.
Daisuke ignored Takehiko and looked at Tenku seriously. He didn't know why his body shuddered when he saw the male student's eyes.
"Hmm? I'm sorry if I had forgotten about this. But I'm sure it's the first time we've met, Mr. Okamoto." Tenku tilted his head and pretended to be confused after hearing Daisuke's question.
"Oh, alright. I might misrecognize people. If so, please enter the registration room." Daisuke shook his head and tried to stabilize his emotions.
Daisuke shouldn't show his fear to the people around him, especially the students who applied to become members of the Holy Union. They would think that every Realizer in the organization was a coward like him.
"I understand." Tenku nodded and took his ID card. Then he entered the registration room under Daisuke's suspicious gaze. After he entered the room, Takehiko opened his mouth again.
"What exactly happened, Mr. Okamoto? Why do you suddenly react like that when you see a loser, I mean that male student?" Takehiko asked curiously. Because of that, he couldn't use Daisuke to humiliate Tenku in front of the students.
"I accidentally remembered a Realizer I met last night when I saw that male student. But I guess I misunderstood him. That person I met should have terrifying power for a Realizer of his level and wouldn't have half-star combat power. After all, he didn't use a gun." Daisuke answered honestly. He didn't need to see it in person because Daisuke could already guess the shape of Tenku's Phantasmal Object from its name.
Fortunately, Daisuke did not examine in detail the terrain around the location of the space collapse at that time. Otherwise, he would have realized that the crater in that place wasn't caused by a sharp weapon or a monster but by someone with a gun with great damage power.
Daisuke had no choice but to tell the truth under the gazes of Takehiko and the students. He had to give a valid reason so they wouldn't look down on the Realizer of the organization because of his fearful reaction earlier.
"Is that Realizer so powerful that it scares you like that?" a teacher who accompanied the students asked curiously.
"I can't say he's very strong because I've met a Realizer who's much stronger than him." Daisuke shook his head and refuted those words.
"Then what scares you, Mr. Okamoto?" One of the students urged Daisuke.
The students, including Akina and Asuka, looked at Daisuke curiously. Even Akio, who had just returned after completing his registration, was waiting for his answer with a serious face. Daisuke took a deep breath and recounted his encounter with Tenku. Of course, he didn't tell them everything that happened at the location of the space collapse because it had to do with his mission and the organization.
"He's not the most powerful Realizer, but the most terrifying I've ever met. In front of him, I felt that my life could end at any moment. He is like a god of death among the realizers and fits the nickname the organization gave him, The Reaper." Daisuke said with a frightened expression on his face.
"Even though my Phantasmal Object is only at Rank D, my strength is at the Moon phase, and my combat power is above four stars. That way, you should be able to judge how terrible that person is." Daisuke added.
Daisuke had to explain his strength compared to Tenku and wanted to convince the students that the person he met yesterday was terrifying and it was natural for him to feel such fear.
Some students were shocked, and others thought they had heard the nickname. The issue about the illegal Realizer was not kept secret, but neither was it spread because the organization didn't want to provoke unnecessary public opinion.
After hearing Daisuke's story, the students were speechless and swallowed hard. They subconsciously felt frightened just hearing his explanation.
Akio and Asuka's faces turned pale at the thought of how terrifying the person called The Reaper was. In contrast to them, Akina was interested in that person. Surprisingly she was not afraid and instead was curious about him.
Akina secretly looked around the place to look for her parents, but she couldn't find their figure anywhere. Misora and Kouta were also members of the Holy Union and seniors in that organization. But Akina didn't want the people there to know of their relationship and then treat her differently.
She wanted to prove that she wasn't living under the shadow of her parents and wanted to make a name with her strength. After she looked around the place a few times and still couldn't find her parents, Akina turned her attention back to the conversation between Daisuke and the students.
"Is there such a human? He was already very strong without using any external power. Wouldn't he be unrivaled if he used that power with his Phantasmal Object?" One of the students muttered.
"It's not as simple as two plus two. Measuring a person's strength in detail is very difficult, and today's devices can only make inaccurate estimates. How great a Realizer is not only judged by the brute force of their bodies and Phantasmal Objects but also by other factors." a teacher answered, and Daisuke nodded in agreement with his words.
"Isn't he an illegal Realizer? Does the organization not intend to arrest him?" Takehiko asked doubtfully.
"The Realizers from the three organizations also want to capture him. But on what basis? Even though he is an illegal Realizer, what he does is only kill monsters in the space collapse location. If the public finds out that we're hunting him just because he's not officially registered, won't that be bad for the image of the three organizations? This will give a negative impression on society." Daisuke sighed heavily.
"Besides, it's very difficult to capture him secretly because we don't know who he is and where he will appear. He always wears a mask in every action and randomly comes to the location of the space collapse." Daisuke ended his explanation.
"I see. The Reaper must have caused you a lot of trouble." The teacher nodded and understood the problem of the organization.
The teacher was from outside the Kanto region and didn't understand the problems in that area. He became the companion of the students enrolled in the organization because he was also a member of the Holy Union but from another region.
"No. He's not The Reaper. He was a loser with the lowest rank Phantasmal Object, and the weakest combat power. He's very different from the Realizer you told us about." Takehiko said in a mocking tone. He couldn't relate the Realizer in Daisuke's story to Tenku, the weakest among the new batch of students.
"I think so too. If I'm not mistaken, The Reaper was a middle-aged man of around thirty to forty years old." Daisuke nodded. The other students, including Asuka, also agreed with Takehiko's words. They couldn't believe that a boy their age could have such power. So The Reaper must be a married uncle.
After the students completed their registration and officially became members of the Holy Union, they immediately returned to school. The students were only given a few hours to register with their respective organizations of choice and had to return before lunchtime.
When Tenku and the others returned to school, they saw the students who had gone to the other two organizations had returned. All students have successfully enrolled in the organization and have become official Realizers.
Noboru and Takaya waved their hands when they saw Tenku. They exchanged a few words and returned to class together. On the way to the classroom, Tenku felt several pairs of eyes staring at him. Two of them were Asuka and Akina, while the third look full of hostility came from Masaru. But Tenku ignores them because he thinks it's not important.
After they returned to the classroom, they were greeted with congratulations from their homeroom teacher. Then Hayate gave a bit of his experience about being a member of the organization and allowed the students to disperse for lunch.
This time Tenku chose to have lunch with Takaya and Noboru in the cafeteria. Coincidentally, they were sitting next to the table of Asuka and her classmates. Just like before, Asuka ignored Tenku even though she saw him.
"Has there been a problem between you and Asuka?" Takaya whispered after realizing that something was wrong between Tenku and Asuka.
"Nothing. Asuka wanted to focus on her new classmates and deepen her relationship with them. Because of that, she behaved like that." Tenku said calmly. He didn't care how Asuka treated him. As long as the girl doesn't bother him, then she is free to do whatever she likes.
Noboru knew why Tenku and Asuka's relationship was like that, but he chose to remain silent because it was a matter between childhood friends.
"But…" Takaya looked displeased with that. They were childhood friends, and he didn't want their relationship broken after entering high school. He wanted Tenku to ask Asuka for an explanation. But his words were cut off by a girl's voice.
"Are you a first-year student named Akio Sanagawa? I am the student council president of Suisei High School, Setsuka Fuyushima. Can I have a few seconds of your time?"