A sound of something raw being chewed echoed as it fell to the wooden floor. In the dark corner, the young man sharing the basement with Tamia sat on the ground, facing the wall, having brought his meal to the space.
With meat in his mouth, he replied, "Yes, that seems to be correct."
"Perfect. Then I'll ask you to do this," Tamia said.
The young man made a sound indicating his acceptance of the request, and Tamia continued, "I want you to keep a close watch on the boy. Do this without killing him."
With blood on his arm, the young man stopped eating. Without turning to face Tamia, he formed an eye at the back of his head (similar to a Dobby-like eye) and asked, "Is there a purpose behind this?"
"Yes, he poses a threat to us, but he is also a valuable asset for securing our future as a species on this planet," Tamia concluded her statement with a sinister expression.
After finishing his meal, the young man stood up, blood dripping from his body onto the floor, his form stained with the evidence of his actions.
### (Background View)
Thick hair, an eye observing Tamia from above, a face cracked and transformed into the petals of a chrysanthemum flower.
### (Front View)
The edges of the face compressed, revealing a normal human face—a handsome young man with small blue eyes and strands of hair falling across his face, obscuring part of his vision. "Izumi, huh?" the young man said.
Waiting for Kana to exit the house, Mitsu lingered outside for quite some time. His obsession with Kana had grown recently after he noticed her attraction to Izumi, which fueled his hatred for the latter. Day by day, he felt the sting of Kana avoiding him while obsessively searching for Izumi like a madwoman.
Mitsu's logic was to show exaggerated interest in Kana to win her love, but the result was the opposite. Kana began to repel and avoid Mitsu, chasing after Izumi wherever he went. But why was she chasing him?
"Hey," Mitsu said, hiding behind a tree as Kana walked past him.
"Mitsu!" she exclaimed, surprised to find him near her house, distracted by her phone.
"Kana," Mitsu said, his smile fading as he caught sight of Izumi's picture on her screen.
"Are you meeting him again? (referring to Izumi)" Mitsu asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Who?" Kana replied.
Izumi stepped forward and said, "The boy who pretends to be a hero."
"Get out of my way; I'm not ready for this," Kana said, pushing Mitsu aside.
"What's wrong with you? How have you changed so much?" Mitsu asked, gripping her arm.
"Let me go, you're hurting me," Kana replied, her gaze averted from Mitsu.
"Is it possible that you like him?!" Mitsu exclaimed.
Kana pulled her arm away, visibly annoyed. "That's none of your business."
Mitsu headed to the university where Izumi studied, lingering at the entrance as if waiting for someone.
"Hey, bum," one of the students said, accompanied by his friends, who had recently beaten Mitsu and his group.
"Are you here to snag another girl?" the student added.
"Is he here?" Mitsu asked.
"Who?" the student questioned.
"That pretender called Izumi," Mitsu replied.
"What a rude kid," another student remarked.
As they spoke, Izumi appeared, walking toward the gate after finishing his class.
One of the students from the group called out, "Izumi!"
When Izumi reached the gathering, another student said, "Mitsu wants to talk to you."
"You again!" Izumi exclaimed, tired of seeing Mitsu.
"Who the hell are you?" Mitsu asked, his real intent being to understand how Izumi had managed to win Kana's affection, not to suspect him of harboring a parasite.
This was the same spot where their last fight had erupted when Mitsu's group had kidnapped Morano. Mitsu had convinced Izumi to meet him alone to discuss something, which Izumi had reluctantly agreed to.
"Here we go again! Can you cut to the chase? I need to see someone," Izumi said, not wanting to waste any time.
"Are you involved with Kana?" Mitsu asked.
"What? Kana! That girl..." Izumi replied, surprised by the question.
Mitsu interrupted him, annoyed, "Don't pretend to be dumb, you jerk."
"You've misunderstood. I haven't seen her lately; I went on a trip," Izumi explained.
"A trip?!" Mitsu stepped closer to Izumi's face, challenging him.
"Anyway, I got my answer," Izumi said, turning to leave.
"Don't joke around!" Mitsu shouted from behind, placing a hand on Izumi's shoulder, ready to throw a punch with his other hand.
But Izumi dodged the punch and knocked Mitsu to the ground after he stumbled over Izumi's foot.
"Stop! This isn't going to be like last time," Izumi warned. His abilities had grown far beyond those of any ordinary human, and he made it clear to Mitsu without going into detail.
As he continued walking away, Mitsu got back up and attacked Izumi from behind with punches and kicks. Relying solely on his hearing, Izumi easily avoided the attacks. Despite this, Mitsu kept attacking, with nothing changing—every strike was effortlessly evaded by Izumi.
Mitsu's fighting level bored Izumi, prompting him to decide to block a kick aimed at his face and respond with just a shove, which knocked Mitsu down, leaving his shoe in Izumi's hand.
"Are you okay?" Izumi asked.
"Izumi..." a voice called from a distance.
Running up, Morano arrived and said, "I heard about what's happening from the students at the university gate."
"It's fine, nothing happened. I'll put your shoe here," Izumi said, bending down to place the shoe on the ground, casting a menacing look at Mitsu.
Izumi left with Morano.
As they walked, Izumi wanted to invite Morano to grab a bite to eat, since they were in the right area, with plenty of shops offering various meals.
"Do you want to stop here? I'm hungry," Izumi said.
"Is there something that happened to you on the trip?" Morano asked, noticing that Izumi seemed somewhat changed.
Surprised, Izumi responded, "Huh?"
"You're completely different now," Morano remarked.
"I used my father's injury as an excuse to skip out on studying for a bit," Izumi said, continuing to walk while Morano remained still.
"Izumi, you're really Izumi, right?" Morano asked, finding his excuse unconvincing.
"I wonder about that," Izumi replied, not particularly fond of the question as he walked.
Izumi stopped and turned around. "For real, it's me. Who else would it be?"
He stepped back toward Morano, saying, "And you're Morano, right?"
Morano smiled and said, "Yes."
Seated in a public place near where Izumi and Morano were, Kana sensed his presence and said, "I can feel him; he's getting closer! How did I realize that?"
"He'll finish climbing these stairs," Kana remarked, standing up to wait for Izumi's arrival. Her intuition proved correct. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, preparing to head toward him, but hesitated for a moment due to Morano's appearance.
"I'm back," Izumi said as he arrived home.
Without a response, all the lights in the house were off. Izumi turned on a light in the living room, revealing his father, who was drinking from a glass, seemingly having overindulged based on the empty bottles scattered on the table.