Out of many people's expectations, the encounter between Xin Zhu Ren and Senzaki Setsuna did not start with a reasonable beginning like "a teenager stepped into a cat cafe."

That day, Xin Zhu Ren was not in a good mood. In this superhuman society where 80% of the citizens had superpowers, when one first entered middle school, the conversation of "what's your personality?" was as common as "what's your name?".

When it came to him, although it was not a completely unpresentable personality, it was always annoying to hear the indiscernible judgment that followed.

"… meow …"

Even a cat could not make him feel better. Forget it.

"Meow … meow …"

Forget it. He would not waste his energy looking for it.

"Meow …!!!!"

…

The overly shrill cry made him suspect that someone was abusing a cat on the street. He looked around and finally found the source of the sound on a big tree.

A kitten that was no more than three months old was lying on a tree branch, meowing miserably. Under the tree stood a young girl in uniform. Her raised face was full of embarrassment.

He thought for two seconds, turned around and walked towards her. "The cat can't come down?"

"Eh?"

The girl was startled for a moment when someone suddenly spoke to her. She nodded when she saw who it was. "Well … I don't know when the child slipped out. When I found it, it was already here. It probably ran out behind a customer … but no matter how I called it, it couldn't come down. If it had come down, I would have caught it. It's really troublesome."

There was a lot of information in that one sentence. He looked at the tag hanging on her chest with concern. Under the words "Cat's Eyes" was a beautiful signature. It was easy to guess which cat café's staff had found a lost cat but didn't know what to do with it. That was how the story unfolded.

Speaking of which, it actually had nothing to do with him, but if he wanted to intervene, it would be a piece of cake. He looked up worriedly at the cat that was still whining incessantly, and said somewhat speechlessly, "If I let it fall, you can definitely catch it, right?"

"Yes?" Although she did not know why he asked, the girl nodded hard. "Yes!"

"That's good," he said. He focused his attention on the cat and raised his voice. "Hey …"

"Meow — Ow?"

As if responding to him, the cat that had been screaming suddenly shut its mouth, as if the nervousness from before was all fake. Without saying a word, it leaped from the treetop —

"— — Get!"

It was a speed that was difficult for ordinary people to understand. In the blink of an eye, the girl who was standing beside him just now appeared in the path of the falling kitten. She opened her arms and smoothly drew the end of the perfect parabola. Her calm expression did not seem to feel that she had done anything extraordinary. Only when she looked up at him did she reveal a smile.

(As for his speed … if I have to name him, he's probably the kind of person who's promising.)

As he thought of this, he looked at the young girl running towards him, and his worried mood worsened.

He gestured slightly and turned around to leave, but the girl's voice hurriedly chased after him from behind.

"What a great personality!

I feel like I can help a lot of people … "

Perhaps it was to pave the way for the next request, the shop assistant smiled without a trace of shadow. The kitten that was still restless in her arms was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, vivid and bright like the summer sun.

"This child is very noisy. Can you borrow your personality to help me send it back to the shop?"

…

…

…

"Next is the one on the left, first-year Hero Section, Senzaki Setsuna —!!"

Teacher Mike's loud voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw the girl walking out of the tunnel opposite him was the one in his memory. However, compared to the carefree girl at that time, she was now ready to fight. He did not need to get close to her to be able to feel it clearly.

There was sparse applause in the stands. She was one of the top ten in the first event, and many people still remembered her face.

(The so-called advantage of "personality" …?)

At this time, it was useless to think too much. He focused his attention on the girl opposite him. Although the meeting in the lounge told him that she would not speak easily, to deal with such a simple person, provocation always worked.

The problem was which emotion to use. Anger?

Sadness?

Confusion?

Or …

"Long time no see, Chisaki."

An idea flashed in his mind, and he relaxed. What was there to not relax about? As the person who knew her the best in the whole competition, this might be the easiest victory for her.

"I watched the first steeplechase carefully.

You really have the personality of teleportation. You made it to the top ten without doing anything.

How does it feel to stand at the finish line and watch the mortals struggle behind you?

Sympathy?

Comfort?

Sadness?

I said it before, didn't I? You and I — "

(There's no need to think. For an idiot who is too kind, the most useful thing can only be …)

"— In essence, it's different."

(— Guilt.)

He used his hearing to the extreme. Whether it was a painful gasp or a patient's resentment, as long as there was a slight opportunity —

"— I said, Xin Cao Kun."

—???!!!!

His mind felt like it had been hit by a heavy blow, and his heart quickly sank to the bottom before he could react. Worry Heart couldn't understand the scene in front of him. He had preset the command to brainwash her, and she had responded according to the command. He had perfectly met the conditions to activate her personality, but why …

"Why? I can still move freely. You want to ask me this, right?"

Setsuna said, and she almost laughed softly.

Then, she raised one hand. Her fair fingers had the delicate feeling of a young girl, but there was some kind of strange red liquid spurting out from her palm, and blood flowed down her raised forearm.

There was a steel needle in her palm.

"— —"

The scene in front of him was too frightening. Worry Heart repeatedly closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to tell himself that this was an illusion. But no matter how many times he repeated, the bright red blood didn't fade at all. Setsuna raised her hand as if she didn't feel anything and slowly opened her mouth.

"No one here knows Xin Cao Kun's personality better than I do. It only takes a moment to brainwash him, but it also takes a moment to remove him.

In comparison, my personality is actually not perfect. It's difficult to surpass the 0.72 second difference between moving and appearing, but thanks to this imperfection. "

She put down her raised hand and raised her head.

"I can finally talk to you."

"…"

Perhaps he was shocked by her imposing manner, but he unconsciously took two steps back. He quickly steadied himself and forced himself to speak, "Just for this kind of thing, you went to this extent …"

"Yes, just for 'this kind of thing.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, another steel needle flew out. This time, the target was her forearm. Setsuna subconsciously gasped, and then smiled apologetically, "Because I don't know when Xin Cao Kun will activate his personality, so I can only communicate with him like this. It's a little bloody, I'm sorry."

The extreme scene in front of her had nothing to do with her. Her blue eyes were calm, "Because I'm an idiot."

["In other words, Chisaki, you're really an idiot, right?"]

That sentence still seemed to echo in her ears. She blinked her eyes and tilted her head, "Aren't you coming over?

Ah … because my personality can only be activated through contact, so you're keeping a distance?

… It's okay, I don't want to win against you with my personality. "

As if to prove her words, she took a step forward and walked towards him.

He stood there, worried and helpless. Should he back away?

There wasn't much space behind him. Should he play hide-and-seek with his teleportation personality?

He wasn't that unreasonable.

But in this situation, the most unreasonable person was standing in front of him, approaching him step by step.

"You want to win against me without using your personality?"

He forced himself to ridicule her, and suppressed the wavering that only he knew, "You're indeed an elite who can enter the Hero Department. You want to rely on this to prove that you're much better than ordinary people."

"… Hey, Xin Cao Kun."

The third steel needle was inserted above the second one. Setsuna seemed to have lost her sense of pain. She didn't even move her eyebrows, "Do you really hate your personality that much?"

"…" The decisiveness of the self-harm in front of him was beyond his imagination. He opened his mouth, but for a moment, he couldn't bear to speak.

"Recently, I met a person who had a very strong personality, but he didn't use it.

If Xin Cao Kun saw him, he would definitely say 'too wasteful'. "

She walked unhurriedly, and she had already shortened the distance by two-thirds.

"But if Xin Cao Kun said that, he would definitely show the same expression as the other day, as if he was asking for help."

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice it at that time."

"So."

She finally walked in front of him, and her blood-stained hand grabbed his collar.

"I'm here to refute you."

She raised her other hand high, and it was coated with a layer of golden light by the noon sun. The contrast was so clear that he suddenly thought of the summer sun.

"Xin Cao Kun's personality is very outstanding."

"I got the first place in the overall score of the entrance exam, but in front of you, I became like this just to maintain my sanity."

"So, even if you don't use it this way —"

["What a great personality!

I feel like it can help a lot of people — "

"— and it can also help a lot of people."

[The shop assistant smiled without a trace of shadow. The kitten that was still restless in her arms was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. It was as vivid and bright as the summer sun.]