A/N: I posted the wrong chapter again. Worse, I never realized up until now because I was pre-occupied the entire day. Sorry about that inconvenience...
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Espers possess strong physical bodies. It wasn't evident at first, but as time went on and people reached a higher level, it became evident. One esper could do the work of dozens of people. Even if they are at the bottom rung and possess low-rated talents, the physical attributes they gain place them far above 'mortals'. This aspect became more noticeable once sexual activities were factored in.
Desires were amplified to a large degree. Some people, out of external pressure, fall addicted to sex. It was their only way of venting in the apocalypse. It won't be surprising if some espers develop strange kinks and the likes.
Marina looked up. A thought entered her mind, making her feel jittery.
'All day long…'
They arrived in Yokohama in the afternoon. Since then, nobody has seen Eishi and Mahiru. It was clear as day what the two were up to. Everyone held varying reactions towards it. The newcomers were slightly surprised that they did not take it as much. Only when it was lunch time did the two go downstairs.
Their daily routine never changed. A group of the women went out to 'sweep' through the city. Kuroneko and Shino came with them. The ones left among the newcomers were Kuroneko's two sisters, Marina, and the befuddled Chizuru. The first two were relatively fine. The two girls were taken around the villa by Haruno. She seemed to have mastered the art of dealing with kids—someone with a high motherly potential.
As for Chizuru, she did not know what to do. She was brought in here to become Eishi's "girlfriend". That was the price of helping her find her parents. Still, Eishi hadn't talked with her ever since they arrived. Before she could take the initiative to do so, he was long gone. Chizuru heard of the hearsays inside this house, gaining an impression as to who Eishi truly is.
'Was that the reason why..?'
She sat quietly on the corner of the sofa. Chizuru took a peek at the corner of her sight. Across another smaller sofa, Airi was talking with Marina in hushed whispers. She tried her best not to be noticed… which became the reason why she was noticed.
"Did Eishi-kun bring you here?"
"Eek..?!"
She almost jumped out of her seat when a voice suddenly came out of nowhere. Chizuru looked to her left and saw an unassuming girl with shoulder-length hair. It felt as if she spawned out of nowhere. The two Akizuki sisters promptly looked towards their direction, each with their own thoughts.
"Being that strong…"
"Hmn. You won't believe it, Marina-nee. Eishi is like a non-stop, tireless machine. Nobody here could outlast him…"
"You..!"
Seeing Airi misunderstand her words embarrassed Marina.
"I wasn't talking about that, you know..!"
"Ah? But he's strong either way…"
Unfortunately, their whispers were 'loud' enough to be heard by Megumi. She did not have any visible reactions, however.
"U-um… I need to find my parents… in another city."
Megumi nodded as she heard those words.
"Eishi-kun can help you with it. He went to Tokyo to find Airi's sister."
When Chizuru heard about that fact, she paused for a while, following Megumi's gaze.
"She is the reason why he went there…"
Thinking of the world-shattering feats he had done, Chizuru felt a lot more confident with Eishi keeping his promise. He went through hundreds of espers, annihilating the powerful wealthy families, just because he picked up Marina in Tokyo.
While the four girls had their separate conversations, Eishi and Mahiru came downstairs. The latter's face looked slightly flushed. Her skin emitted a metaphysical healthy glow, a result of her happiness manifesting in reality. Eishi supported her waist and made sure her weak legs wouldn't give in.
Their descent caught everyone's attention. Airi was the first one to think of something dirty. Her face instantly turned red. Megumi, on the other hand, sported an envious look. She hasn't seen Mahiru "glow" as much as now. There was something different in her—something her heart also longed for.
"Everyone must've had their breakfast by now."
Eishi sat on the sofa's empty spot. He happened to take on the spot near Megumi. Everyone only saw a flash appear as she moved to hug his left arm. She buried her face on him. Mahiru saw everything transpire, prompting her to let out a small pout. She no longer suppressed her emotions, letting them out freely.
Megumi's actions ignited Mahiru's competitiveness, hence she did the same. Eishi was rather speechless when he saw the two girls compete like this, though it made him feel slightly relieved. This was much better compared to the stifling air around them before.
Without his past mindset, Eishi naturally saw Megumi's defining points. One was her figure. She did not have as much 'fat' on her chest as others, sitting right in the middle. The same went for her perky buttocks. It wasn't bony nor too thick to feel; the perfect representation of medium. Her meek and quiet personality made her express her emotions through actions rather than words, which made it uniquely intoxicating.
In short, she's cute as heck!
'It's all wasted on me before… What the hell did I even think back then?'
Eishi's mindset was stuck on the fact that he saved and fed them, therefore their lives belong to him. He never bothered understanding more about his confidantes, turning him into a utilitarian who only saw them as sources of rewards and Buffs.
He checked on the two snuggling girls first before moving his hands to their waists. Though they never moved from their positions, their shoulders visibly jolted before relaxing.
Seeing this smooth operation reminded Marina of her previous boyfriend. He, too, was a womanizer. Only during the apocalypse did she find out how many girls he had cheated with. The most important thing was that he was extremely volatile. One word that angers him would cause someone to be beaten down, if not death.
Eishi was…
Different.
The heavy and suffocating air that followed around him was practically non-existed. He did not give off any airs whenever he was surrounded by his confidantes. He spoiled them as much as they wanted to be spoiled.
Little did she know, Eishi wasn't much better in the past. While he never went as far as to exert violence like her ex-boyfriend, he did put on airs and never considered his confidantes' thoughts. There were some who were blind to this, however, such as Airi. Had Marina known about that side of Eishi, she wouldn't have as good an impression of him now.
Their afternoon passed like this. Haruno also freed her hands from taking care of Kuroneko's sisters. Eishi got the time to talk with her alone, inquiring about the 'more important' stuff that happened while he was gone. The empty courtyard became the perfect place for that. Scorch marks littered the ground along with remnant crystals, white powdered snow, as well as ice spikes that remained rooted on its surface.
For starters, the number of espers under their command.
"...That many?"
When Eishi heard the numbers, he was startled.
"You… You don't have much sense in the resources you threw away."
Haruno recalled the times he threw in billions of cash to acquire all sorts of supplies and felt it wasn't so shocking anymore.
"The people up to the standards you set reached 10,000. All of them, without exceptions, are espers."
Tokyo has a two-thousand-strong esper force. Amane filtered through their registers with his [Omniscient Brain]. Haruno did the same in Yokohama, but through her [Spirit Eyes]. She could judge who was trustworthy or not based on the favorability they gave to her. In the end, 10,000 people fulfilled their criteria.
Out of them all, Haruno selected the most trustworthy ones—the kind of people who wouldn't hesitate in fulfilling the orders given to them. They ended up with a core force of roughly two thousand men. All of them are second-order espers.
Theoretically, Eishi's supply of evolution fruits could reach a maximum of 300,000 times every day. That meant he could earn a maximum of 300,000 golden grapes every day. However, he had long phased out the lowest-level golden grapes. As time passed by, more evolution fruits with "higher energy concentration" were found. Each of them could rival hundreds, if not thousands of golden grapes.
That wasn't factoring in the second-rank fruits that could only be consumed by second-order espers onwards. Compared to first-rank fruits that couldn't help second-order espers, second-order fruits could help even third-order espers; but not fourth-order espers.
More importantly…
"Saya-jou found a way to dilute second-rank fruits for consumption of first-order espers. Something she called an 'Improver'."
'That works too..?'
After shelving the [Partial Beastification] fruit research, Saya naturally went to find another useful subject. It just so happened that Eishi dropped off supplies of second-rank fruits. She discovered it cannot be consumed by first-order espers, hence she decided to find out why it happened. Saya managed to do just that, ultimately resulting in her creation.
She created two thousand second-order espers just like that.
Eishi seemingly realized something as he asked:
"Was that why they went outside the city?"
Haruno nodded at his words.
"They are looking for that runaway esper with spatial superpowers. Every time they were about to kill him, he managed to escape. Nothing much worked except for inflicting heavy wounds on him."
"That's a powerful superpower… but he should be caught by now. What did he look like again?"
"Wait a second."
Before long, Haruno came back holding a piece of paper. When Eishi saw who was sketched, several memories resurfaced in his mind. He recalled the face of the protagonist who was supposed to know Megumi and Utaha. His black rectangular rimmed glasses were present along with his unassuming looks. His overall build made him look more like a fit "otaku".
With no mistakes, he is the protagonist of their ACG, Aki Tomoya.
Eishi had heard of his deeds at this time. He usurped an entire esper group by killing its leader. The weaker ones all submitted to him, giving him a complete grasp over the shelter they presided on. He was temperamental and unstable, killing others on a whim.
His behavior now was completely inconsistent with the "Aki Tomoya" Eishi knew. His kindness and friendliness were the reasons why he won over Megumi's heart, ending with them getting married.
'The apocalypse is shitty as always…'
Contrary to that, the other protagonist he kept watch with was the exact opposite. Korumo Takashi lived as he did in the ACG material where he came from. He once acted as the 'team leader' of Saya, Saeko, and the ditzy Shizuka. He was reliable and would help others given it would not compromise his team's safety.
"I'll step in once they haven't dealt with that guy today. His power seems interesting."
"Megumi-san wrote a detailed report about it."
Having predicted Eishi's interests, Haruno passed onto a small notebook. He opened it and saw it was Megumi's "observation log". As the possessor of the [Forgotten One] superpower, she was best suited to carry out stealth and reconnaissance missions. During combat, she would stay unnoticed until her intervention became necessary.
'Automatic teleportation when encountering danger? And its limits…'
Just as she had noted, Eishi also thought of the 'limitations' in Tomoya's ability. For instance, Eishi's talent has a duration limitation. It was extremely demanding in the spirit attribute, to boot. It required 100 spirit for a second of duration back when he was at the first-order.
'It should be similar to [Romantic Link]. He can bind locations where he gets sent to whenever he faces death.'
Pushing Tomoya's matter aside, Eishi learned more about his exclusive survivor camp's strength. The ten thousand esper army he had was completely under his name. The city hall possessed only two thousand espers. Within that, the number of their second-order espers were in the dozens at best. That was with a plant-type esper helping them grow more fruits.
In short…
'I am already a hegemon.'