This Surprise? Thanks, I Guess.

Ryan was a good kid. He'd understood one thing from an early age.

Be polite. Don't barge in when someone's having a great time playing a game.

People would call you a "nuisance."

So he waited patiently outside, watching the intensity and excitement of this foreign game while silently cheering them on.

After all, judging by how happy the guy seemed, he was probably about to suffer a crushing defeat.

Damn it!

Get it together! How could you let the evil Cate win?

Also, the dorm windows seemed to be something else.

Super Vision let Ryan see right through the light-blocking curtains. It also showed him the intricate web of stress patterns inside the transparent glass, along with the dense layers of adhesive material sandwiched between the panes.

"Is this a dorm or a prison?"

Could a Level One Heat Vision cut through this kind of aircraft-grade glass?

Suddenly, Ryan's ears twitched.

With some effort, he tore his gaze from the window and looked toward the tree-lined path winding through the quiet campus.

A petite Asian girl with exhaustion written all over her face was slowly approaching from the end of the path.

Ryan thought for a moment, comparing her to the information Ashley had given him, and quickly recognized her.

Jordan Lee!

A versatile fighter who could freely switch between two forms.

In her female form, her superpower manifested as energy blasts with considerable destructive force.

In her male form, she had exceptional defensive strength and hand-to-hand combat skills.

She was also part of Cate's close circle. Along with Golden Boy, Luke Riordan, and another student Ryan hadn't met, Andre Anderson, she was in the same year.

The four of them were close, and all had made it into the top ten of the school's combat rankings during their freshman year.

As for where Ryan had seen Golden Boy?

He was the one fighting in the room.

"I'm doing this for Golden Boy's sake. I'm not hiding this just to get the teaching assistant position. He's our number one; he can't drop in the rankings."

Jordan, who thought she was speaking quietly enough that no one could hear her thoughts, had no idea an uninvited guest had come to campus and heard every word.

Ryan's eyes shifted. He glanced back at Cate, who had opened her eyes and now wore a complicated, guilty expression.

"There's something going on here."

He'd been worried he wouldn't be able to get Cate to talk just by virtue of who he was. Turns out, nothing beat good timing.

Ryan came up with a plan.

With a thought, he immediately flew down toward Jordan.

A sonic boom...?

There was no sonic boom. Ryan simply dropped out of the sky through the howling wind.

"Who's there?!"

Jordan jumped in fright, then performed a miraculous transformation right in front of Ryan.

It was as if someone had hit fast-forward on a video and cranked it all the way up. In the blink of an eye, the girl in front of him had turned into a boy, before Ryan could even get a good look.

Then, the male Jordan took a defensive stance and finally got a clear look at the person who'd suddenly blocked his way. It was a... kid?

"Um... sir, do you know Cate Dunlap? If you do, could you take me to her?"

Don't underestimate a beanbag just because it's called a beanbag.

Even if he didn't have much experience acting, every bit of it still counted.

He'd dropped his disguise in front of Ashley because she could help him do a lot of things that he couldn't manage at his current age.

In front of everyone else, he was just a sweet, clever eight-year-old—the son of Homelander, and nothing more.

"R-Ryan?!"

Of course Jordan knew Homelander's son.

Seriously, after that live interview, was there any Supe who wouldn't recognize or remember the little prince of the world's most famous family?

As soon as Jordan recognized Ryan, she immediately transformed back.

"Call me sis! Ryan, you're looking for Cate, right?"

Jordan's face broke into a wide smile, and her voice softened as if she were afraid of scaring him. "Come on, sweetheart. I'll take you to her. I know where her dorm is."

"By the way, Ryan, why are you looking for Cate?"

"Oh, well, I'm filming... and then... so..."

On the way, Ryan rambled through a string of made-up excuses. He had no idea whether Jordan understood him. He couldn't even follow his own explanation.

With her guiding him, getting into the dorm building, which was packed with security cameras, was a breeze.

The building had the relaxed, laid-back atmosphere typical of an American college campus. Graffiti and club posters covered the walls everywhere.

Every so often, strange noises drifted through the doors they passed.

Ryan had no idea what was going on in there, and he didn't dare ask.

But on the way upstairs, his Super Hearing, which had been locked onto Cate's room the whole time, gave him another big surprise.

"Sorry for worrying you. Was I too rough?"

The game had ended happily, and Golden Boy seemed to feel bad for his girlfriend. He thought he'd been too violent, like a berserker, so he offered her a comforting apology.

"It's okay, darling. I liked it."

"Just don't overthink things anymore. The professor won't blame you either. We all understand it's because of Sam..."

"No! Cate, Sam... he... he isn't dead. I think I remember now!"

"The woods?"

"The woods came back to me. Sam was in... ngh!"

Thump...

Ryan raised his brows, his eyes narrowing out of habit.

From the sound of it, the moment Golden Boy mentioned "the woods," that secret lab, Cate had knocked him out without any chance to resist.

The room fell silent.

No need to analyze it. Cate definitely knew about the Woods lab, and the Sam they were talking about might well have been one of the test subjects she'd sent there.

She'd knocked Golden Boy out, and she was surely wiping his memory now.

"Jordan, I snuck out. I don't want Dad to worry, so could we hurry?"

"Uh, okay."

Jordan answered, speeding up with some reluctance.

She'd hoped to use this chance to win Ryan over, but the kid seemed focused entirely on getting Cate to play a supporting role in his movie.

Discouraged, Jordan put the thought aside and led him to Cate's door in just a few quick steps.

"This is it."

Knock, knock—

"Cate, open up! I've brought you a big surprise!"

There was no answer.

"Cate?"

"Are you not in there? Why's the door locked?"

Jordan spread her hands. She was about to turn and say, "Maybe she's over at Golden Boy's place," when she felt a gust of wind sweep past her.

Then came a massive crash, too fast for her to react. The locked door had been smashed open.

And there she saw Cate, who had clearly been in the room the whole time but hadn't made a sound, stark naked as she gave the equally naked Golden Boy... a brain massage?