Sink Without a Trace

Itozawa stood at the office door, one hand on the doorknob, ready to push it open.

He gently pushed the door open and quickly scanned the office, trying to catch sight of anything useful.

The office was dim, almost completely devoid of light, as if shrouded in shadow.

The faint light that came in through the open door was almost the only source of illumination, making the room seem even more indistinct.

Sakagami-sensei was nowhere in sight. He seemed to be completely concealed by the darkness, without a trace.

Itozawa's instincts told him something was wrong. An ominous feeling rose in his heart.

He didn't rush inside. Instead, he stopped and turned to Kanzaki. "Kanzaki, use your Mental Power to probe the area. See if Sakagami-sensei is still in there."

Kanzaki nodded, his gaze growing intent. He closed his eyes and focused his Mental Power, trying to sense what was happening inside the office.

A moment later, Kanzaki opened his eyes, his brow furrowing slightly. "I can sense him. Sakagami-sensei's Mental Fluctuation is in there. But..." Hesitation crept into his voice. "His Mental Fluctuation is strange. It's very weak, not what you'd expect under normal circumstances."

Itozawa pondered for a moment, then made a bold suggestion. "Kanzaki, try attacking. See if you can get a read on what's happening in there."

Kanzaki nodded and focused, preparing to attack with his ability. His power wasn't a direct physical attack, but a Mental Power strike could sometimes produce unexpected results.

However, when his Mental Shockwave shot into the office, it was like a stone sinking into the sea. There was no response at all.

Kanzaki's brow furrowed. He tried several more times, but the result was the same.

Each attack seemed to be swallowed by an invisible black hole, without stirring the slightest ripple.

That made Kanzaki think Sakagami-sensei was probably a Mental Ability User, whose power might involve Mental Defense or absorption.

"Looks like my attacks have no effect on him," Kanzaki told Itozawa. "His Mental Power might be strong enough to absorb or defend against my Mental Attack. It feels a lot like your ability."

Itozawa frowned, growing more suspicious. Could the ultimate form of his ability be to spread the chessboard in his Mind Sea into a field?

But he didn't have time to dwell on that. He needed to figure out how to gather information about what was inside.

Just then, Shibata stepped forward and volunteered. "Let me go in and take a look. I'm physically pretty strong. If his ability is Mental Type, he probably can't stop me from attacking."

Itozawa hesitated. Kamuro's physical abilities weren't necessarily weak, but he had still ended up in a sorry state.

Shibata's idea was far too naive.

Still, in the end, Itozawa agreed.

After all, they needed more information to assess the situation, and Shibata's probe might provide an answer.

"Be careful. If anything seems wrong, get out immediately."

Shibata nodded, took a deep breath, and steadied himself. Then he cautiously walked into the office.

His body tensed, ready to react to whatever might happen. But just like Kanzaki's Mental Attack, once Shibata went inside, nothing happened. His presence, too, seemed to sink without a trace.

The students outside began to grow anxious. They had no idea what was happening inside the office.

Kanzaki's brow furrowed even more deeply. "Looks like we're dealing with some kind of Sealed Field ability. It can block attacks and perception from the outside."

Just then, Itozawa sensed something. His perception seemed sharper than before, and he could feel that something had Shibata restrained.

"Wait," Itozawa said. "It seems like something has Shibata restrained. I can just barely sense his presence."

Kanzaki stared at Itozawa in surprise. "You can actually sense the Sealed Field ability? Your ability's range has expanded, and it's even stabilized?"

Itozawa's expression turned strange. He had more or less guessed why his ability's range had expanded. It might have been because of the 'feeding' from Kanzaki's Mental Type ability; his own ability had been strengthened without him realizing it.

But he didn't plan to tell Kanzaki that secret. He simply nodded with an air of mystery.

"Yeah. So I can more or less sense what's changing inside the field. We can't give up yet. We need to figure out a way to break this field and rescue Shibata."