"You don't have school?" I asked helplessly, staring at the green-skirted girl kneeling on my bed. Why was sleeping in so hard?

"Black Dragon Stream Lord, don't you know summer break started?" Hodou Yu chuckled lightly.

"Then explain why you punched a hole in my ceiling." She'd blasted a direct path into my room from above.

Hehehe. Hodou Yu grinned awkwardly. "Don't sweat the details."

I sighed. "Won't your parents notice such a huge hole?" I glanced up at the dark gap. Chuunibyou logic was truly unreadable.

Hodou Yu puffed out her barely-there chest proudly. "This portal's entrance is super hidden. They'll never find it."

I held out my right hand. "Come here. I'll give you a BUFF."

Her face lit up as she leaned in eagerly. I raised my hand and chopped her head. "Seal that hole now! Plug it up!" I stressed the last words loudly.

In the end, nothing got fixed. After washing up, she still hadn't left. "Why are you still here?"

Hodou Yu giggled. "Just pretend I don't exist."

If you stayed silent and still, maybe I could.

"Stay if you want. I'm heading out." I changed clothes and headed for the door. "I'm coming too!" Hodou Yu jumped up, her ahoge bouncing happily.

"No way!" I slammed the door shut.

Organization K had targeted me. True to habit, they'd send cannon fodder to gather data. Even Tia was just high-level fodder.

Revealing my location would draw them out. But first, I needed a face-covering mask—no civilians seeing me.

At an anime cosplay shop, I found a black mask with ghostly white teeth, giving a death god vibe. I left cash on the shelf and took it without paying.

Alone in a deserted spot, I put on the mask. Time to act.

To stir trouble, I needed crowds. Straight to downtown.

I activated Time Acceleration and dashed. Pausing briefly between bursts made me seem like I teleported.

Sure enough, attention poured in fast. Now, I just waited on a skyscraper rooftop. Uninvolved bystanders? I'd scare them off.

"Major, target spotted! He's baiting us deliberately." The blond, handsome Major smiled faintly. "No issue. He's Red List number one. Send more scouts to collect data."

The man beside him hesitated. "Major, is skipping reports really okay?"

The blond pulled a pistol to his head. "I'm the top commander here!" "Y-yes!" The sweating man dared not argue.

"Let me go. Sands of Time are fully reloaded." A petite goth girl in black spoke calmly to the blond.

He raised a hand. "No. You have bigger tasks. Let small fry test him first. Oh, invent a fake ability—hide his real one."

A sinister grin curled his lips. "This Japan trip... if I capture him alone, all credit is mine." He laughed maniacally at the sky.

Instead of Organization K, young photographers arrived. They huddled at the rooftop door. "Who goes? What if he snaps?" a chubby man asked timidly.

A purple-haired woman sneered at him. "Uploading this to my blog will blow up. He's never destroyed anything. If you chicken out, I'll go." Some folks chased thrills without fearing death.

I pulled out a game coin. Time to shoo them off.

The purple-haired girl crept closer. Only ten meters away, but I faced away. Did she want a face-to-face selfie?

I turned and locked eyes. The death god mask startled her. She stumbled back, falling hard.

Two golden lights flashed in the sky—perfect timing.

Closer look: solidified light pillars. Organization K's Ability Users.

Time Acceleration! I leaped, grabbed the purple-haired girl, and dumped her by the chubby man. The light pillars exploded where I'd stood. Weak for me, but enough to crack a normal skull. "Run!"

No explanation. I jumped to the next building. The duo: one used buoyancy, the other light manipulation.

I hurled my game coin skyward. At that speed, they couldn't dodge.

But the coin passed right through them, vanishing. What?

They fired back. Light pillars rained like machine-gun fire, boxing me in.

Time Stasis! Light was fast, but human-controlled—it needed calculation time. I froze time in that split-second gap and dodged.

Ah. Human sight relies on reflected light. Their light-bending created illusions.

I tossed a handful of coins upward. A true coin shower.

Luck-based shots rarely hit. Their projected position rose—they'd shifted altitude. The buoyancy user lifted them.

Blinding light flooded the sky. My vision whited out.

Half a second too slow to react. A light pillar pierced my body. Blood spilled as I collapsed.

They landed nearby. "So easy. He's nothing special." "Talia and I just sync perfectly." A male-female duo. "Monno, use buoyancy to haul him off. Police will complicate things."

Buoyancy was the man's power; light manipulation belonged to the woman.

No clear position? Trick them close. This scratch wouldn't stop me. Their intel was lacking.

I snapped my eyes open and shot a coin. It pierced the light user's left shoulder. Blood seeped slowly.

Neutralize the fighter first. The support guy's ability wasn't worth targeting.

Monno screamed, cradling the fallen girl. "Talia! Talia!"

I walked over, expressionless. "Your boss didn't share full intel, did he?"

Just a guess—but splitting Organization K's forces helped me. Time to extract their secrets.