Chapter 357 - 2: There’s No One Else but You

Chapter 357: Chapter 2: There’s No One Else but You

In ancient times, Earth had been divided among many nations. Their struggles over land and resources triggered numerous wars, causing the human population to fall dramatically.

To preserve future generations, humanity unified its language and established a single integrated government.

Yet the wars’ aftermath continued to erode the world. The natural environment was poisoned, climate change raised sea levels, and harmful organisms multiplied in vast numbers. Humanity was forced to abandon the other lands and migrate together to this enormous supercontinent.

"Monster" was a general term for creatures regarded as humanity’s natural enemies. Some humans transformed because of unhealthy obsessions, stress, genetic mutations, or even scientific intervention.

Other nonhuman creatures also mutated, while some were abnormal organisms born that way—or even extraterrestrials.

Only a few years ago, monster incidents had been rare. Now people heard warning sirens so often that they treated them like school bells from their student days, until their ears were practically callused.

Around three years earlier, the butt-chinned grandson of a wealthy man whose double chin also resembled a butt was attacked by a monster and saved by an office worker who happened to pass by. At the wealthy man’s urging, the Hero Association was founded to combat monsters.

Tatsumaki, the Tornado of Terror, ranked second among the S-Class heroes. With Rank One’s whereabouts unknown, this esper was the Hero Association’s secret weapon.

After flying back to the Hero Association, she first used psychic power to control a stream of water and wash her face, calming herself down.

A hero’s job did not actually include reporting to the Association after completing a mission. Most heroes felt no particular sense of belonging to the organization anyway. Tatsumaki merely wanted to dump the mess she did not feel like handling on these people.

Just as Child Emperor had said, Tatsumaki was like a child. It was not merely her loli appearance; her personality also included a child’s worst qualities. She was arrogant, overbearing, and looked down on everyone.

This was the first time she had encountered a situation like this. No matter how she looked at it, discovering that some brat who had appeared from nowhere possessed enough strength to break free of her psychokinesis inevitably rankled her, even though Tatsumaki herself had possessed overwhelming power from a very young age.

Perhaps out of defiance, or perhaps to prove her worth, the brat had even attempted to attack her. That atrocious control over psychic power might have been highly destructive against others, but to Tatsumaki, who stood at the summit of all espers, redirecting it was no more difficult than changing a meteor’s trajectory.

Tatsumaki had therefore increased her output to teach the child a lesson. In a sense, that could already be considered an attack, yet her psychic power was still repelled.

Increasing her output any further would amount to trying to kill her. Even though Tatsumaki believed the child would remain unharmed if she doubled it again, she was not inhuman enough to test how much force it took to injure a child who had just lost her family.

That said, Tatsumaki happened to possess an unyielding personality. She certainly would not accept responsibility for complaints like the earlier one, but with such a potential threat directly before her, she could not simply ignore it.

The girl possessed psychic power that might someday grow strong enough to rival Tatsumaki, yet wielded it like an infant using its hands for the first time—gripping its own ears until the pain made it cry, but still not knowing how to let go.

The little girl merely released psychic power without any purpose and performed no subsequent control whatsoever.

So Tatsumaki directly sealed Yimi’s psychic power. At least, from her perspective, the seal had succeeded.

She was just a brat, and one who had just lost her family moments ago. Who knew what would happen if she grew up twisted? Humanity’s enemies were not limited to monsters; humans themselves could be enemies too. Besides...

"How long are you going to keep biting me?! Don’t think I won’t hit you just because you’re a child! Your drool is disgusting!"

Furious, Tatsumaki pressed her free hand against Yimi’s face and tried to push her away. Yimi had wrapped both arms around Tatsumaki’s slender arm, opened her mouth, and bitten down. She had stayed attached for the entire journey, and even psychic power could not pull her off.

Using more force risked injuring the child, while also risking stimulating her potential enough to break through the seal. Tatsumaki had assumed Yimi would give up after being carried through the air for a while, yet she had clung on all the way back.

Tatsumaki understood that a child with terrifying potential could become dangerous if her values developed badly, but what did that have to do with her? The Hero Association was responsible for such matters.

Because Yimi thought Tatsumaki was Madoka, the kitty would not forget all her past kindness because of one mistake. Thus, Yimi went easy on her punishment. When she went home, the kitty would report this to Kaname Junko and Kaname Tomohisa.

"Mm."

Tired from biting, Yimi temporarily released her bite to rest. She could continue later.

"Back from your mission, Little Tatsumaki?" A somewhat vacant-looking, dark-skinned, bald, muscular man greeted her.

Tatsumaki did not look at him. She turned her gaze aside. "Where’s that rotten brat? I know he was here just now!"

"Child Emperor-kun? He ran out the back door. He said he didn’t want to run into you."

The muscular man pointed at Yimi in confusion. "Who is this child?"

Now that Yimi had stopped biting, an outsider who ignored the shallow teeth marks on Tatsumaki’s arm might think the child was simply clinging affectionately to Tatsumaki’s arm.

"How should I know?! Hurry up and pull her off me!" Tatsumaki continued pressing Yimi’s face away.

"No, no! You can’t be so violent with a child!" The muscular man hurriedly waved his hands.

"Are you helping your family look after a child, Little Tatsumaki? That’s very admirable."

Stress lines appeared around Tatsumaki as though the art style had abruptly changed. She pointed a round, Doraemon-like hand at him. "Are you doing this on purpose? Who are you treating like a child? Normally, shouldn’t you suspect she’s my daughter?"

She was already twenty-eight!

"She’s your daughter?! Then why does she have a tail?" Superalloy Darkshine exclaimed in shock.

"I don’t know her at all, okay?! Keep talking nonsense and I’ll kill you! Idiot! Egghead!"

She doesn’t know me?

The words struck Yimi hard. She even forgot about biting Tatsumaki, releasing her arm and staring at her in disbelief.

You are not Madoka. The person who did bad things at Betty’s house last time was not Madoka either. Madoka would never be this cruel! What was going on?

The kitty had almost forgotten that, in the world where Betty lived, Madoka was an incredibly evil person.

Superalloy Darkshine pointed at Yimi’s drooping tail. "She looks really sad. She’s about to cry. Lying is wrong, Little Tatsumaki."

"Who cares about her?"

Tatsumaki moved her newly freed arm a couple of times, grabbed Yimi, and carried her toward the Association’s executives. She intended to toss the child at them and wash her hands of the matter.

...

"If even you find her potential frightening, then this child must possess extraordinary talent." Despite the words, the speaker’s tone suggested that he did not take the matter seriously.

Ninety percent of the Hero Association’s upper management possessed no sense of danger whatsoever, and half of their estimates of hero strength were little more than imagination. After all, they were ordinary people themselves.

"As an S-Class hero, you want us to arrange a home for her. But surely there is no esper in this world more dependable than you?"

He used the same routine flattery whenever speaking with Tatsumaki, but she did not fall for it. One eyebrow twitched.

Her art style seemed to turn into a crude sketch again as she pointed at the man. "You mean you want me to adopt her. Is that it?"

"There is no one else in this world we could trust with her but you."

* * *

Far away, Psykos, who was planning the Monster Association, felt her mind suddenly seize up. Her psychic power had been sealed once again.

Psykos’s face twisted slightly.