"Hehe, Kusanagi, you're as unlucky as ever, huh? Was that your childhood friend just now?"
Just as Sora shook his head and prepared to get up, a clear voice like a spring flowed over. Sighing slightly, knowing more trouble was coming, Sora stood and looked aside.
At some point, a deep black, imposing stretched Lincoln car had stopped at the school gate, and two figures were walking toward him.
"You're here again, tomboy, and you sloppy guy."
With a look of disdain, Sora addressed the two approaching.
Sayanomiya Kaoru, the one Sora had just called "tomboy."
Wearing a white shirt, tie, suit jacket, and pants—not a skirt but men's suit pants—Kaoru had a slender and androgynous appearance. If given a male name, she might be mistaken for a beautiful boy straight out of a shoujo manga, unreal in this world.
But there was no doubt, Sayanomiya Kaoru was a woman!
"Hahaha… Sora, don't say that, you're making me embarrassed."
Kaoru was still stunned by being called "tomboy," unable to recover. The one replying was the "sloppy guy."
His name seemed to be Amakasu Touma, probably Kaoru's subordinate.
No older than about twenty, but already with a scruffy beard making him look like a man in his forties. Sora silently labeled him "annoying" because he took insults as compliments.
"You're the kind of guy I want to punch every time I talk to you!"
"Forget it, my time is precious. I don't want to argue. Have you thought about what I told you last time?"
Finally coming to her senses, Kaoru said through gritted teeth. Wearing men's clothes was her special hobby, but Sora was definitely the first to call her "tomboy"!
Amakasu silently stepped aside, looking like he was just watching the show, clearly someone who wouldn't work for even two cents if paid one.
"Oh, you mean about joining your committee? Sounds like the mafia. I'm just a student, no thanks."
Scratching his head, Sora finally remembered these two had appeared a few days ago asking him to join their so-called organization committee. But Sora hadn't taken it seriously and refused without thinking.
"Damn it, it's the Official History Compilation Committee, remember that!"
"Don't compare us to those vulgar dark organizations. Our committee is a secret group controlled by sorcerers and psychics who manipulate information. You, with your strong cursed energy, haven't even heard of us?"
Sora was extremely speechless, feeling tired just talking to this guy. If not for Kaoru's status as the next head of the Sayanomiya family and Sora's potential despite being self-taught, she wouldn't bother with him!
"Cursed energy…"
Hearing this word for the first time, Sora murmured.
He often had strange dreams involving battles and training. At first, he didn't pay much attention, but later he tried practicing for a while and found a warm energy inside him.
Though he didn't know what it was exactly, it increased his strength, speed, and health. It felt good, so Sora kept training, and now his energy was quite strong!
From Kaoru's tone, the thing Sora called "energy" was probably what she called "cursed energy."
"Hmph, don't try to fool me. You said your group is full of sorcerers and psychics. Joining you would be a hassle all day. No good. I want a peaceful life."
Coming back to his senses, Sora refused without hesitation. He hated trouble and wouldn't join any strange organization!
"Uh…"
Startled for a moment, Sayanomiya Kaoru almost wanted to praise Sora. This guy's intuition was unexpectedly sharp!
"Kusanagi-kun, don't you really want to consider it? If someone with your talent joins the organization, we will definitely invest heavily in your development. You'll have more opportunities to grow, won't you?"
Being the head of the Official History Compilation Committee's Tokyo branch at such a young age, Sayanomiya Kaoru was naturally not someone who would give up easily. On the contrary, she was a highly capable and very resourceful talent! The more Sora resisted, the more it ignited her competitive spirit to get him to join!
"I'm just practicing for fun, and it's convenient for getting to school. I don't care about development or growth."
Sora shrugged and replied.
"I heard your family isn't very wealthy. Joining us means you can earn a high salary!"
"Well, we're not exactly poor, but we get by. For now, I'll just make do."
"Kusanagi-kun, with great power comes great responsibility. Can you really bear to let your strength go to waste like this?"
"Tch, I'm just an ordinary middle schooler with no grand ideals. Waste it if you want. You should say that to Peter Parker, Spider-Man."
"Kusanagi Sora, don't you want to gain stronger power to protect your family? If one day your family gets hurt because your power isn't enough, won't you regret it?!"
"Haha, that's not something I worry about. Our family has no grudges or enemies. Rather than worrying about that, I'd rather worry about what will happen to humanity when the Earth is destroyed in a few billion years!"
…
Meanwhile, Amakasu Touma was already dumbfounded, and Sayanomiya Kaoru, one of the parties involved, was almost about to lose it! If she hadn't been well-educated since childhood, she might have had the impulse to kick this stubborn, unambitious, and self-destructive guy to death!
In the end, Sayanomiya Kaoru failed to convince Sora. Even famous politicians or big-time merchants were easily manipulated by her, but with this jerk, she tasted failure for the first time. Fuming, she left with her subordinate Amakasu Touma without looking back.
"You seem to care a lot about that boy," Amakasu Touma said meaningfully inside the stretched Lincoln car.
"Ah, he's able to cultivate such powerful cursed energy without any guidance, easily scoring perfect marks on tests but always forgetting to write his name. He acts like he doesn't care about anything simply because everything is too easy for him. How could I not care about such an interesting guy?"
The anger was gone from Sayanomiya Kaoru's face, replaced by a radiant smile as she flipped her hair.
Amakasu Touma said nothing more. Both he and Sayanomiya Kaoru clearly understood how terrifying Sora was to have reached this level purely by himself without any family or legacy support.
Glancing at his young but formidable superior, Amakasu sighed. She wasn't a simple person either.
Perhaps, from the start, she never really intended to recruit that boy into the organization…