"Oh~" Yuuya looked down at Iisu Rita, who had spoken first.
'She reacted so quickly,' he thought, amused by her visible terror. 'She definitely has the makings of a captain, even if she's canonically only good at managing small details while being completely clueless about the big picture.'
Rita's heart skipped a beat. She saw Yuuya narrow his eyes.
'Wait... his gaze... could it be that he's unhappy with my tone?!' Rita panicked internally. 'This is bad. We have absolutely no idea why two Level 5s want to talk to lowly grunts like us. If we displease them, we might be torn to pieces! They could reduce this entire detention center to ruins with just a stomp of their feet!'
Cold sweat poured down Rita's face.
"I... I-I'm sorry!" Yakumaru Itsuki was the second to react. Her face was pale as she swallowed hard. 'How could Level 5s come knocking on our door? We have absolutely nothing to do with them!'
"Iisu Rita. Yakumaru Itsuki. And Sakuragi Naru," Yuuya said, listing off their names.
A thought popped into his head: he really wanted to tease them. It felt a little like bullying middle schoolers, but their terrified reactions were too entertaining to pass up.
"Yes, sir! I wonder what business you have with lowly fry like us?" Rita asked cautiously.
She kept her head bowed, sweating profusely.
'They really were looking specifically for us,' she thought frantically. 'What exactly happened?! Why did two Level 5s come to our cell?! And one of them is Accelerator—the monster who controls all the vectors in the world!'
'The best way to survive dealing with superiors is to act according to their preferences. But we haven't officially joined a Dark Side unit yet! We have zero intel on the Number Eight's personality! What should we do?!'
"Do you know what?" Yuuya walked past them to the plush sofa and sat down, taking the absolute lead in the room. He looked at the bowl of sunflower seeds on the coffee table, grabbed a handful, and started eating them casually while looking at the paused riot footage on the monitor. "You three are in big trouble. Really big trouble."
"E-Excuse me... could you tell us what we did...?" Rita's legs trembled violently. She asked the question in a fearful, breathless whisper.
'This is bad. Really, really bad. How did we inexplicably provoke a Level 5 so badly that he came all the way down to a black site to find us?!' Rita's mind raced. 'But I have absolutely no recollection of ever crossing paths with him!'
She glanced at the computer screen. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
'Could it be because we were watching the surveillance footage of their fight?! But that doesn't make sense! That footage was provided by the Board of Directors! How did he even know we were watching it?! That's completely impossible!'
"Tch—"
Yuriko clicked her tongue in loud disdain as she watched the scene unfold from the doorway.
'Is this guy up to his old tricks again?' she thought irritably. 'Is this what he meant by "life won't be boring"? Did he come all this way just to sadistically scare these little girls?'
However, Yuriko had no idea that her simple smack of the tongue nearly scared the three girls out of their wits.
Tsk... 'That's a sign of extreme impatience!' Itsuki thought, her eyes widening in horror.
'We've already made Accelerator impatient! What if she stomps her foot and wipes us all out of existence in the next second?!'
Covered in cold sweat, Itsuki cautiously peeked at Accelerator's face. Yuriko happened to glance back at her. Those crimson eyes—filled with darkness, chaos, and suppressed murderous intent—instantly made Itsuki tremble so hard her teeth chattered.
"Here's what happened. Take a look for yourselves."
Yuuya tapped the keyboard on the coffee table, minimizing the riot footage and pulling up a highly classified digital document.
Rita cautiously leaned over to look, feeling as if she were walking on a tightrope over a volcano while standing between two terrifying monsters.
[General Board Directive: Authorization for the Formation of an Independent Dark Side Unit. Designate: Takahashi Yuuya]
Upon seeing the crucial details, Rita instantly understood why the Level 5 had come knocking on her door.
'General Superintendent Aleister has authorized a new secret service! And the Captain is the Eighth Level 5! He's here recruiting members!'
Suddenly, her heart—which had been lodged firmly in her throat—settled down.
'Thank god! It turns out we didn't offend him! We've just been drafted into his Dark Side division! I was so scared...'
But then, a new panic set in.
"Um... may I ask why it has to be us?" Rita asked cautiously, beads of sweat trickling down her temples. "We're not very capable, and we don't have much potential for growth. To the established Dark Side, we're still complete newbies."
'What are we going to do now?!' Rita's brain went into overdrive. 'We have already been approached by a member of the General Board of Directors to form a different Dark Side unit under their command! If we abandon the Board Director to join this Level 5, the Director could have us executed with a single word! But if we refuse the Level 5 to his face, he'll kill us right now!'
'What should we do...?! On one side is a Level 5, and on the other side is a Board Director!'
Rita was caught in the ultimate trolley problem. She shot a desperate, pleading look at Itsuki.
Itsuki immediately understood the look. She nodded cautiously back at Rita, her eyes conveying a clear message: 'Agree with the monster in front of us so we don't die today!'
"Is there a problem with me wanting you girls to be my team members?" Yuuya interrupted their silent communication. He leaned forward, his tone turning dangerously matter-of-fact. "Even if there is a problem... keep it to yourself."
"Hk—!"
Rita was so startled by the sudden shift in his aura that her throat clamped shut. She hurriedly bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, speaking in a complete panic.
"No problem! No problem at all! We'll join! We will do whatever you say!"
'What an overbearing tyrant...' Rita cried internally. 'I'm afraid things are going to be very, very difficult for us in the future. I suddenly feel so sad about our fate.'
After observing Yuuya for just a few minutes, Itsuki had already drawn her own conclusions.
'This Level 5 is a deeply self-centered dictator. We have to act perfectly obedient to keep him from getting angry.'
"Very good, girls. From now on, you are my subordinates," Yuuya said, standing up. "Now come with me. I'm going to find you a professional trainer to whip you into shape."
As he spoke, Yuuya snapped his fingers.
The girls' vision blurred instantly. The harsh fluorescent lights of the underground prison vanished, replaced immediately by the bright, golden light of the late afternoon sun.
GASP!
With the exception of Yuriko, everyone gasped sharply. Rita, Itsuki, and Naru looked around in sheer terror, their pupils contracting.
They were standing on a bustling sidewalk.
In the distance, towering over the skyline, was the massive, windowless black monolith of the General Superintendent's headquarters.
"The Windowless Building..." Rita whispered.
"This is District 7!"
In an instant, they had been transported from a subterranean black site in District 10 directly to the heart of District 7. It was a distance of several miles, crossed in a microsecond.
'Teleporting five people simultaneously across districts?!' Itsuki's jaw dropped. 'Level 5s really are monsters! I'm terrified now. Luckily, we didn't offend him, or we would have been dropped into the stratosphere!'
Yuuya casually took out his smartphone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" a timid, heavily accented voice answered.
"Ah, Frenda," Yuuya said cheerfully, calling the explosives expert of the Dark Side group ITEM.
"U-Um, excuse me! What do you need us for?" Frenda's frightened voice came through the speaker. She was clearly still traumatized from their last encounter.
"I happen to have two tasks for ITEM. Tell Mugino to bring all of you over here right now. I'm at the intersection of 4th Avenue in District 7."
"W-We're already in District 7! We'll be there soon!" Frenda squeaked, immediately hanging up.
"Tsk! Well, since you're just calling your other lackeys, there's nothing left for me to do here," Yuriko said, turning around and walking down the street, eager to put some distance between herself and the squeaking teenagers.
"Um... Captain?" Rita swallowed hard, watching Accelerator walk away. She looked up at Yuuya cautiously. "What do we need to do next?"
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