'"Emotional perception's" range just keeps increasing, whether I'm aware of it or not. Will it ever stop...?' Griping about this was none other than Jogrin. If he were to compare the range this ability when it was first awakened, versus now, he'd say the latter was five-fold of the former.
Considering how far he was already able to detect during the bombardment, five times that wasn't anything negligible at all. The radius was somewhere close to 2.5 km currently.
But that wasn't really what he should be concerned about right now, since there a boy, who professed himself as a delinquent, reaching his hand toward Jogrin aggressively. Without looking at that boy, Jogrin leaned to the side and avoided his hand.
In response to that, the boy changed the direction of his reach and tried to grab Jogrin again, only for Jogrin to lean forward slightly and avoid it again. Frustrated, the boy picked up his pace in his steps to get closer to Jogrin. This time, he reached out with both his arms and jumped at him from behind.
However, just like before, Jogrin dodged his incoming attack without looking where it was coming from, except that this time he took a big step to the side, so the boy ended up on his right.
Jogrin wanted to say something about this, but recounting what happened back at the hospital and why the bombardment was triggered in the first place, he refrained from acting recklessly. Luckily, very luckily, there didn't appear to be any sign of "mind tampering." Still, it wasn't a good idea to let this farce continue.
"Enough, young man. You are only making a fool of yourself. Should you incur any harm, whether physically or emotionally, upon him, as the Grand Commander of the military, I shall subject you to appropriate punishment." Once the situation had escalated enough, Kapel finally decided to speak up.
"Grand Commander? The heck is that? Like a grander version of that Maladin?"
"I see that you know of Commander Maladin. Grand Commander Kapel is one rank higher than him, and we're currently in the middle of an errand. That's why we're in a hurry. I apologize if I offended you from my previous words." Fron then courteously spoke to the delinquent boy.
The followers of the boy looked away when they noticed Kapel staring at them.
"Hey man. Maybe we should get going now... We may really be getting on the bad side of people we shouldn't be..." One of the followers tried to persuade the delinquent boy into giving up confronting Kapel and Fron.
"You bunch of wusses! Useless!!!" Seeing the state his followers were in, the boy stomped on the floor and walked past the trio, as he deliberately bumped his shoulder against Fron's. The followers, with their heads held low, scurried behind the boy.
Fron let out a sigh of resignation. Kapel patted him on the shoulder.
"Please do not let it get to you, Mr. Fron."
"Oh! Don't worry about it! There are... energetic people here and there."
'You can say that again...' Once he heard Fron, Jogrin harbored such a thought.
"Wow!! You're amazing! You made that guy get lost without even saying anything to him!" One of the girls exclaimed as she leaned towards Jogrin after getting close to him.
"You dodged that guy like it was nothing!! So cool!!" Another one of the girls expressed how impressed she was.
Following that, chatter from the students and some adult residents commenced.
"... Kapel and Fron were the ones who did everything though..." Jogrin tried to explain, but his voice was overshadowed by the loud chattering.
"Hey!!! Over here!!!" Among the noises, Kapel heard a familiar yelling voice. He turned to look at the source of the voice.
"Zanphia, Zenover, and Suzannia are all here." Jogrin tapped on Kapel's shoulder and told him. Of course, he knew they were already here even before they shouted, thanks to "emotional perception."
"I see. Let us go to where they are first. Mr. Fron, please follow after me."
"OK! Everyone!! Please excuse us!! Coming through!!" Fron attempted to pave a path so that the trio could reach the three siblings.
After much effort in pushing through the crowd and tumult, they finally managed to meet up with the three siblings.
"Jogrin!!" Suzannia made her way to Jogrin and hugged him. "Hmm? What is this bag? Why are your eyes blue? Where's your t-Hmph?!"
"Sorry Suzannia. We will talk about this when we get home..." Jogrin covered her mouth when she was about to mention about his tail.
"What's with all the people..." Zenover seemed to be shuddering at the scene.
"Yeah! What happened here? Street performance?" Zanphia followed up Zenover's question.
"We will explain once we return. For now, come with us and choose what you want to have for dinner." Kapel said.
"Hmm~ How mysterious~" Zanphia gazed at Kapel and responded. "Oh, right! There's someone that's with us now! Say hello to~ Garty!!" Zanphia wrapped her arms around the shoulder of a girl.
She was a little shorter than Zanphia, and had blue, long, straight hair. She looked up at Jogrin with her brown eyes, while having a slightly annoyed expression. But it wasn't like she was actually bothered by Zanphia's actions or meeting with new faces. She was more annoyed at the crowd that seemed to be slowly dissipating now.
"Um, nice to meet you. I'm Garty Baham." A curt greeting with a flat tone came from the girl named Garty, giving the others the impression that she wasn't interested at all, but from what Jogrin perceived, she was just nervous.
Kapel, Fron, and Jogrin introduced themselves in such order.
"Jogrin!" Zanphia let go of Garty and hopped towards Jogrin. Then she leaned close and whispered to Jogrin's ear. "You see... I've been a wing-woman for Zenover and Garty since forever! You'll help me with that, right?"
"Wing-woman? Is that an alias Suzannia gave you?"
"No! Gosh! You're so dull!" Zanphia glanced at Zenover and Garty before continuing. "I've been trying to get them to admit they like each other! Help me with it! Please! You're smart right?"
"You just called me dull."
"Don't mind the details!"
"Zanphia..."
"If I understand it correctly, you want to make them boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Yes Yes!! Come on~"
"Zanphia... What weird things are you telling Jogrin..." Zenover called out to Zanphia annoyingly.
"You've got a scary look on your face!" She hid her face behind her hands, and peeked at Zenover.
"Zanphia... You're acting like that again..." Garty also grew resigned at Zanphia.
"You two are so in sync!"
"Urgh..." Zenover rolled his eyes back.
"Zanphia? Garty? You two know this handsome guy??" Some girls approached the group of six.
"Hmm? Oh, hi girls! Yeah I know him. Meet Jogrin!"
"A-are you two dating?" One of the girls asked Zanphia.
"Huh? N-no! No no! It's not like that!"
"Really? A girl like you, who'd go for any guy, wouldn't try to date a good looking guy like him? Sounds suspicious if you ask me."
"I've... never dated anyone..."
Anxiety and despondency could be perceived from Zanphia by Jogrin, as he side-eyed her.
"Girls, please refrain from making any slanderous remarks. Please leave us alone if you are feeling any dissatisfaction with our presence." Kapel stood between Zanphia and the girls and gestured them to leave.
"Hmph." A few of the girls snickered before turning to leave.
"Zanphia, please do not pay them any mind. Let us go and buy dinner for now... I have to apologize, Mr. Fron. The resupplying will have to be put on hold."
"I understand. Please don't worry too much about it. We can always come back at any time."
Zenover and Garty both felt guilty about Zanphia's current state as they looked at the ground, and not saying a word.
It appeared that there was something more to Zanphia than just her usual frivolous persona. As one of the Maladins, Zanphia was one of the people Jogrin swore to protect. Since what occurred earlier clearly troubled her greatly...
Jogrin would have to do something about it.