Chapter 109: Want to join us?

“Since she’s Yukina’s friend, let her join! The more members we have, the better!”

At Mika’s persuasion, the Kendo Club president agreed to Zhong Shuixi’s application for membership.

“That’s wonderful!” Seeing her friend join the same club, a look of joy surfaced on Yukina’s face.

However, unlike Charlotte and Huangquan Ai, who were only there as club mascots, Zhong Shuixi genuinely wanted to contribute to the club.

No matter how small her effort, she wanted to do her part for the collective.

“Does this area need sweeping? Let me clean it!”

“Are the wet towels not enough? I’ll go soak some more for you.”

“Is there anything else that needs help? Do these protective gear pieces need maintenance? I’ll do it right away!”

Having just joined the Kendo Club, Zhong Shuixi was bustling around like a restaurant server, taking over and doing all the small chores.

This surprised the others. Was Zhong Shuixi this hardworking right from the start?

For Zhong Shuixi, these were things she had to do.

After all, she had caused the Kendo Club members so much trouble yesterday. She couldn’t ignore her past mistakes. To compensate for her errors, she was busy relieving the burden of the other training members.

Compared to Zhong Shuixi, Charlotte and Huangquan Ai, who were sitting in the corner eating ice cream and enjoying the breeze, looked like they were just slacking off.

“Hey! Are you two just going to watch Xiaoxi busy herself? Hurry up and help her! Are you even friends?”

Under Yukina’s orders, Charlotte and Huangquan Ai sheepishly ran over to Zhong Shuixi and started helping her wipe the tables.

Seeing this, Yukina sighed, feeling like their parent.

Just as Yukina was about to put on her protective gear and start training, Inaba Kazuya quickly scurried away, likely afraid Yukina would ask him more questions about kendo.

Mika, who was already fully geared up, walked over, her eyes fixed on Zhong Shuixi, who looked completely different from the deranged person of yesterday.

“Is she okay now?”

“Yes?” Hearing Mika’s sudden question, Yukina paused. Then, realizing Mika was referring to her friend Zhong Shuixi, she answered with a relieved expression, “She’s fine now. She won’t lose control of her emotions like yesterday.”

The incident of Zhong Shuixi losing control yesterday had been perfectly resolved by Charlotte. Although there were still some details to investigate afterward, they were no longer relevant to them.

Of course, if Aiba Senior hadn’t helped back then, Charlotte might have arrived only to find Yukina already dead from Zhong Shuixi’s attack.

Speaking of which, Aiba Senior had mentioned the word “superpower” during her fight with Zhong Shuixi yesterday.

‘Could Aiba Senior also be an Esper with superpower abilities?’

Yukina, holding this suspicion, scanned the area. Seeing that no one was paying particular attention to them, she leaned close to Mika and whispered her question.

“Aiba Senior, are you an Esper too?”

“Hmm?” Hearing Yukina’s whisper, Mika was slightly surprised. But then she smiled knowingly. “Yes, I am an Esper.”

“Eh?” Yukina was stunned that Mika didn’t even try to pretend and immediately revealed the truth.

“I never thought you would bring this up, Yukina. The reason you defeated me so easily, was it because you used your superpower?”

“No, I never used any superpower to cheat! Kendo must be conducted fairly and honorably!” Yukina explained nervously. “Besides, I can’t even be considered an Esper, since my superpower hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

“Oh? What does that mean?” Mika was slightly confused. She didn’t understand how Yukina knew so much about superpowers if hers hadn’t awakened.

“Some guy approached me a few days ago, asking me to join their Esper organization. I ignored him. He came back yesterday, and when he saw my unawakened superpower, he left disappointed.”

Yukina briefly explained the situation. Of course, she concealed the part where her brother was caught in a deliberate car accident because of her earlier disregard for the guy.

She didn’t want anyone else to know that her brother had died in a car accident. Now was not the time to reveal that.

“Oh, something like that happened? It seems you’re quite sought after, little sister Yukina. I’m genuinely curious what your superpower is!”

Saying this, Mika smiled with great interest, looking as if she really wanted to sample what Yukina was like.

“Aiba Senior, please don’t joke around. I don’t want to have a strange superpower. Supernatural things like that will invalidate all my hard work!”

“That’s true. Yukina is a very hardworking child. We all see that! However, having a superpower isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Of course, if your superpower is very strong, being targeted by various organizations is inevitable. By the way, why don’t you join our Esper organization, little sister Yukina!”

“Eh? Aiba Senior’s Esper organization?” Yukina was caught off guard by the sudden recruitment invitation.

“Even if you’re just a nominal member, if you join our Esper organization, no one else can do anything to you, even if they have designs on your superpower.”

Yukina hesitated. Noticing her indecision, Mika added another sentence.

“Our organization has a great atmosphere. It’s full of cute girls, and it’s not like those big companies where everyone is stressed out. However, I’ve been busy with the Kendo Club match lately, so I haven’t shown up at the organization for a while. I wonder how everyone is doing.”

“Um… Aiba Senior, I’m very sorry, but I don’t have any immediate plans to join an Esper organization. My current life is already very happy, and I don’t want it to change drastically, so…”

Yukina politely refused Mika’s invitation, and Mika didn’t show any sign of displeasure.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. That’s your decision, little sister Yukina. Of course, I’ll respect your choice! Even if you don’t want to join now, our organization’s door will always be open for you. You’re welcome to visit anytime.”

While Yukina was refusing the invitation, her gaze kept drifting to Charlotte, Zhong Shuixi, and Huangquan Ai, who were busy working nearby. Mika also noticed this.

The reason Mika so readily let go of the excellent opportunity to recruit Yukina into her Esper organization was that she had already guessed that Yukina’s sister, Bai Shen Kanon, had an unusual background.

Mika was knocked down in the fight with Zhong Shuixi yesterday. Although she didn’t know what happened afterward, she vaguely heard Charlotte’s voice.

This meant the person who ultimately resolved Zhong Shuixi’s crisis was very likely Charlotte.

Furthermore, Mika was very close to Yukina’s brother, Xinghe. She had never heard of Xinghe having such a distant cousin who was ten thousand times cuter than Yukina.

This unknown sister who suddenly appeared beside Yukina was very likely a powerful Esper, which also explained why Yukina, despite not having awakened her superpower, knew so much about Esper-related matters.

Thinking this, Mika nodded slightly to herself.

But immediately, her eyes widened again, as if she had discovered something wrong.

‘Wait a minute, Yukina clearly said just now that her superpower hasn’t awakened.’

If everything Yukina said was true, it meant the guy who approached her tried to make Yukina awaken her superpower but failed.

And the most direct way to awaken a superpower is to subject the awakener to intense psychological trauma, such as a separation of life and death…

‘Don’t tell me…’