— — — — — —
The next day.
After breakfast, Yukiko picked up her phone and called her homeroom teacher to request a day off from her classes. Without wasting time, she headed straight for Soubu High School.
The bench outside Soubu High—the very one where she had first met Veyron yesterday—was now empty.
She circled the school once. When there was no sign of him, she switched directions and made her way toward the alleyway and street corner from yesterday.
Still no sign of Veyron in the alley… but at the alley's entrance, she ran into the other person she'd hoped to find—
"Big sis, from the way you're rushing over, I'm guessing you tried that manual last night... and got some decent results?"
Kamihira Shizuka, the little girl, blinked up at her with a knowing smile.
"…You tried it too?"
Yukiko didn't confirm it outright, but her question was a clear enough answer.
"Yup."
Shizuka held up a glass marble in her hand. With the faintest twist of her fingers—crack—the marble crumbled into fine glass dust that slowly slipped through her fingers.
Yukiko's pupils contracted ever so slightly.
Even after training all night, she still couldn't pull off something like that. So this is what that man meant by 'talent'?
"Should we talk somewhere more private?"
Shizuka pointed to a restaurant nearby—the same one whose staff had called her "Ojou-sama" yesterday.
"I already had them clear the place out before you came."
"…Alright."
Yukiko nodded after a brief moment of thought.
...
A short while later - Inside a private room with just the two of them.
"Let's start by comparing notes."
Yukiko pulled the Yin-Yang way out of her bag and set it down on the table between them.
"Last night, I couldn't sleep. I suddenly thought about this thing and blah blah blah....."
"Afterward… well, some weird changes started happening to me."
After getting Shizuka's silent nod, she held out one hand, shaped it into a claw, and gently tapped the table surface.
When she pulled her hand back, five clean claw marks had been gouged into the wood.
"Ooh?"
Shizuka tilted her head.
"I think this move's called 'Steel-Piercing Claw,' or something like that."
Yukiko added "Besides that, I also picked up things like the Big Finger Technique, the Soft Skin method, Healing Techniques... and more."
"Sounds like a mashup of a bunch of different martial arts styles," Shizuka commented after Yukiko finished listing them.
"Exactly. But whoever put them together didn't just toss them in randomly. They streamlined the whole thing—like using the core principles to tie everything together. It actually flows surprisingly well.What about yours?"
"God-slayer technique isn't as detailed as your Yin-Yang way in terms of technique variety. It's just one training method."
Shizuka gave a simple summary of her experience, then paused before bringing up another point.
"You noticed the other unusual thing about these manuals, right?"
"You mean how the first round of practice gives a massive boost compared to anything you get after that?"
Yukiko asked.
If she had to quantify her results, then the very first time she completed the routine was worth a full 100 points of progress.
But after that? Even though she trained the whole night, the rest of her effort only amounted to maybe 0.1 in gains.
"That's one thing," Shizuka continued, "but there's more—something about the manuals themselves."
She leaned forward slightly. "First off, it seems like… not everyone can use them."
"I asked my father to find people of different ages—kids, teens, adults, even the elderly—and had them try the warm-up exercises from The Extreme Power Manual and the War God Record. None of them were able to trigger anything. Not a single one."
"Second, people like us—who can use them—once we successfully complete one manual, it seems like we're locked out of the others."
"After I finished the God-slayer technique yesterday, I tried the remaining seven books, but no matter how many times I went through them… nothing else happened."
"Sounds like some kind of… binding mechanism," Yukiko guessed.
As she spoke, she couldn't help glancing at Shizuka thoughtfully.
Maybe it was because they didn't get much chance to talk yesterday, but today, Shizuka's way of speaking—her logic, composure, the way she explained things—felt way more mature than a normal three- or four-year-old.
Actually, it didn't feel like talking to a child at all.
"Anyway," Shizuka concluded, "the first thing we should probably do is try to find that big brother again."
"Speaking of which… when I overheard you two yesterday, it kinda sounded like that wasn't your first time meeting him. Do you know where we might find him? I don't even know his name."
"...To be honest, neither do I."
Yukiko looked a little embarrassed as she recalled the absolutely mortifying way she'd first met Veyron —and gave Shizuka a brief, very edited summary that still made her want to crawl into a hole and die just thinking about it.
Back when she first saw him outside Soubu High, she thought he was just some pretty-boy slacker hanging around a middle school trying to flirt with clueless girls.
But now that she thought about it again… maybe it was the same as with Shizuka—he was actually just looking for someone "worthy" of receiving one of those nine books?
"Uh…"
Shizuka had already suspected their previous interaction wasn't exactly friendly, based on Yukiko's tone yesterday… but she hadn't expected it to be that awkward.
"I actually checked around Soubu High this morning before I came here—didn't see him anywhere," Yukiko said, lightly coughing to cover her lingering embarrassment. "Maybe since he's handed out all nine books, his job here is done and he's already moved on?"
Shizuka frowned, brows slightly wrinkled. "If that's the case, it'll be hard to find him again…"
Should she try asking her father to mobilize the group's network across the region? Maybe team up with the powerful Yukinoshita family and search the entire Chiba area?
But honestly—they didn't even know the guy's name. They weren't even sure if he was still in Chiba.
And if they went too far trying to find him, they might end up crossing a line or offending some unspoken rule he had.
"…No choice, then. If we get the chance, we'll just have to keep an eye out around the area."
Yukiko agreed with Shizuka's suggestion not to make too big a deal of it.
"Let's hope… our connection with him doesn't end with just those nine books."
.
.
.