The next day.
With the idea of checking the situation, Tatsuma arrived at Private Kuoh Academy.
"Hmm? Are you... Tatsuma?"
Natsuki, who was sitting in her office grading papers, looked up, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes.
After a period of not seeing him, why had her student changed so much?
He was not only a few centimeters taller, but his spirit and energy were also much more abundant.
"Natsuki-chan, after that car accident, I deeply realized the fragility of humans."
Tatsuma explained, "To avoid encountering a similar situation again, I went and trained a bit."
"I've told you many times, you need to call me sensei." Natsuki carefully scrutinized Tatsuma again.
Trained a bit?
This didn't look like the result of ordinary training at all.
However...
"Since you're in the mood to tease me here, it seems you've moved on from that car accident."
Tatsuma nodded. "Yes, people always have to move forward, they can't always dwell on the past."
"That's good. If you need help, you can always find me."
Natsuki pulled out a stack of papers and said, "These are the ones you missed before. Go back and slowly catch up."
"Something just came to mind, I'm heading back to class. See you later."
Tatsuma acted as if he hadn't heard anything, waved his hand, and bid farewell, leaving the office.
Seeing this, Natsuki shook her head helplessly but didn't say anything more. She pulled a new file from a drawer, opened a page, and looked at its contents.
[Tatsuma: Sacred Gear wielder. Half a month ago, when he was out with his parents, his Sacred Gear initially awakened, leaking its aura and attracting a second-grade Cursed Spirit attack. This attack resulted in the death of Tatsuma's parents, and he himself suffered psychological trauma.]
'Judging from his performance just now, he has indeed moved past that attack, but I feel he's swung to another extreme.'
Natsuki thought for a moment, then picked up her phone and made a call. "Hello, Rias. You're not busy lately, are you? I have a request for you."
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Leaving Natsuki's office, Tatsuma walked all the way towards his classroom.
However, halfway there, a shout came from the other end of the corridor.
"Issei! You bastard, stop right there!"
"What happened to 'sharing adversity'? You actually deserted us and sold us out!"
"How dare you two say that? Didn't you two trick me last time too!"
Tatsuma turned his head and saw three boys about his age sprinting down the hallway.
Running in the lead was a brown-haired boy. As he fled, he even turned his head to taunt the two behind him.
But when he looked forward, he realized a figure had appeared in front of him at some point.
"Oh no!"
Issei instantly panicked. "Get out of the way, I can't stop..."
Bang!
Before he could finish speaking, Issei felt everything in his vision begin to spin, and a sharp pain spread throughout his body.
When he regained his senses, he found himself pinned to the ground. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and his neck was firmly pressed down by someone's knee.
"Ouch!"
Issei let out a cry of pain. "I'm wrong! I surrender! Let go of me!"
"Sorry, it was a reflex." Tatsuma released him.
Recently, while practicing swordsmanship, he had also learned some close-quarters combat techniques. When Issei crashed into him just now, he felt it was a rare opportunity and decided to try it out in a real situation. It felt pretty good.
Tatsuma asked, "Do you need me to help you with treatment?"
"Uh, no thanks."
Issei, who had just gotten up from the ground, shivered and quickly shook his head in refusal.
After the experience just now, how could he dare to bother Tatsuma for help?
He greeted his two friends who had caught up, and the three walked towards the infirmary.
Watching the three leave, Tatsuma did not immediately go to class, but looked at the empty air in front of him.
[Congratulations on successfully defeating Issei Hyoudou, you have obtained the red trait 'Boost'.]
[Boost (Red): When activated, strength boosts once every ten seconds. The Boost limit is affected by physical ability.]
"This is an unexpected bonus."
Defeating enemies can grant new traits.
Tatsuma's face showed a smile as his gaze swept over the newly acquired Boost trait. As a high-level trait, second only to rainbow and gold traits, the effect of Boost was self-evident.
In the original story, Issei relied on this ability to continuously fight and win against various monsters as an ordinary person.
'If I remember correctly, Boosted Gear's abilities aren't just Boost.'
Tatsuma had a bold idea. However, he was still at school, and causing too much of a stir was not a good thing.
Returning to his classroom, Tatsuma sat down at his desk and greeted his deskmate.
"Good morning, Kato."
"Good morning, Nakamura-kun."
Megumi blinked, a little surprised that he had noticed her.
"Yo, Tatsuma, long time no see."
Yuji, who was in front of him, turned around. "I heard you were in a car accident a while ago. Are you okay now?"
"No problem, I'm doing great now."
Tatsuma raised his hand. "Want to try?"
Yuji understood, grabbed Tatsuma's hand, and started arm wrestling.
"Wow, you're so strong now."
Yuji, who failed to win immediately, widened his eyes in surprise.
"I can get even stronger."
Ten seconds were up, and the Boost ability activated. Using his doubled strength, Tatsuma pinned down Yuji, who hadn't reacted.
"Huh? Tatsuma, what did you do?" Yuji sensed something was off.
"I held back a little." Tatsuma replied with a smile.
Yuji, of course, couldn't understand this. But just as he was about to ask more questions, a petite figure walked into the classroom.
"Silence! Prepare for class!"
Natsuki glanced at Tatsuma's little movements and began her lecture.
Tatsuma multitasked, listening to Natsuki's lecture while opening his system panel.
It failed, no new traits were obtained.
It seems that winning an arm wrestling match is not considered 'defeating an enemy' by the system.
'Time to activate the backup plan.'
After a day of dutifully attending classes at school, Tatsuma went to the adjacent classroom and successfully found his target.
"Issei, could you step out for a moment?"