Luo Shu and Utaha Kasumigaoka

"While I can understand how you feel, saying something like that at a time like this... I can only call you a pervert, you know?"

Utaha Kasumigaoka came back to her senses. She glanced at the giant rat inching closer, seemingly still testing them, and took a deep breath.

"The wall isn't that high. If one of us gives the other a boost, one person should be able to escape... so, do you want to go?"

Utaha Kasumigaoka braced herself in a lunge and cupped her hands in front of her, palms facing up.

Luo Shu gave her a startled look, then said:

"Are you crazy?"

"What else can we do? One of us surviving is better than both of us dying, right?" Utaha Kasumigaoka's hands trembled slightly as she continued. "Oh, right. My name is Utaha Kasumigaoka, Class 1-B at Private Toyosaki Academy. Once you get out, please let my parents know, if you can."

"Utaha Kasumigaoka?!" Luo Shu's eyes widened as he stared at the girl before him in disbelief.

"What? Do you know me?" Utaha Kasumigaoka asked, looking slightly taken aback.

Luo Shu took a closer look at the girl before him. She wore what he considered her signature white headband, with a white women's business jacket over a black satin dress.

Under normal circumstances, that outfit would only have accentuated the girl's elegance and refinement.

Now, however, Utaha Kasumigaoka could only be described as bedraggled.

After all, even her shoes had flown off somewhere. Apart from her face being as beautiful as ever, she looked thoroughly distressed, though that was understandable, considering she had been running for her life.

Even so, Luo Shu found it absurd.

Because as he remembered it, Utaha Kasumigaoka was a high school novelist who wrote under the pen name Kasumi Utako, as well as an important supporting female character in a slice-of-life romance anime.

An anime heroine was right beside me?

"Forget it. Whether you know me doesn't matter anymore. Or maybe it's better if you do. Hey! Stop spacing out and get over here!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka was still trembling as she spoke, and she continued grumbling:

"I can't promise I won't change my mind a second from now."

"And seriously, why did I run into one of those 'radiation-mutated animals' you only see on TV just by walking through the alley next to the police station? Didn't the Asahi Shimbun say all these monsters had been dealt with?"

Radiation-mutated animals? Luo Shu paused at the term, then said seriously:

"I don't know what's going on, but let me make this clear: what I'm about to say isn't a joke."

"As long as you agree to let me implant a device inside your body, I might be able to gain the power to deal with this monster."

"Huh?" Utaha Kasumigaoka stared at Luo Shu, dumbfounded. Just then, something blurred before her eyes-the rat blocking the alley's exit had taken another step closer.

That movement instantly sent the already shaken Utaha Kasumigaoka into a panic.

"Okay, okay! I agree, I agree! Happy now?!"

The moment she finished speaking, Luo Shu heard a notification.

["Request" received. Energy Collection Device activating. Bestowal Ritual activating.]

The next second, under Luo Shu's and Utaha Kasumigaoka's astonished gazes, silver-blue arcs of light flared beneath their feet.

Then a strange circular magic formation appeared, with an intricate design at its center that they could only vaguely make out as a sun.

"You..." At the sight of this impossible scene, Utaha Kasumigaoka's eyes widened, and she stared at Luo Shu in disbelief.

Just then, a string of notifications rang out in Luo Shu's mind.

[Ability System activating. Life Sorting System "Kabbalah" activating. Emergency Protection Program activating.]

[Unlocking host's abilities...]

[Ding! Common ability acquired: Intuition.]

[Ding! Common ability acquired: Combat Potential.]

[Ding! Mental strength conversion complete. Exceptional ability acquired: Wind Element Manipulation.]

As the three notifications sounded, the calf-sized rat opposite them seemed to lose patience and charged straight at Luo Shu.

At that instant, however, Luo Shu felt as though his eyes had undergone a "mutation."

In that moment, he seemed to see illusory lines extending from the rat's body, their endpoints apparently leading to his neck.

Instinctively, Luo Shu looked toward one of those phantom lines and swung his right hand.

Whoosh!

A sharp howl of wind rang out.

Then a translucent blade of wind formed out of thin air and sliced toward the giant rat at incredible speed.

The sudden change startled not only Luo Shu and Utaha Kasumigaoka, but the rat as well. It instinctively leaped to one side.

But as luck would have it, the rat jumped straight into the wind blade's path.

Shhk!

Blackish-red blood splattered across the walls on either side of the alley.

Before Luo Shu's and Utaha Kasumigaoka's eyes, the giant rat was split in two, and both halves of its corpse fell to the ground.

Then blackish-red flames suddenly erupted from the corpse, quickly burning its remains into nothingness and leaving only crusted blood on the ground.

At the same time, a notification sounded in Luo Shu's mind.

[Energy Collector successfully retrieved. Host's crisis resolved.]

"What?" Luo Shu froze at the notification, but before he could say anything, his hand was caught by the girl beside him-

Utaha Kasumigaoka.

"What are you standing around for? Do you want the police to arrest you?"

Before Luo Shu could speak, Utaha Kasumigaoka righted the bicycle leaning nearby, positioned herself by the rear seat, and called to him:

"Hurry! I'll tell you which way to go."

Unable to make sense of the situation, Luo Shu could only grit his teeth, climb onto the bicycle, and pedal away at speed under Utaha Kasumigaoka's directions.

As Luo Shu rode away with Utaha Kasumigaoka, a series of notifications sounded in his mind.

[Rat monster corpse disposal complete. Emergency Assistance Program deactivating. As the host is now out of danger, Reincarnation System shutting down. Beep! Shutdown complete.]

[Congratulations to the host on acquiring his first familia member. Successfully obtained 6,188 energy points.]

[Congratulations! The host's familia member "Utaha Kasumigaoka" has awakened the common ability "Mind Reading."]

[Congratulations to the host on taking a firm, steady first step on the path to becoming the "Lord of the Divine Pantheon."]

As he listened to the notifications, despite riding a bicycle with a beautiful girl behind him, Luo Shu's mouth kept twitching, his face contorted with irritation.

So you were behind all of this!!