Chapter 99: Caught?!

After both winners for the positions of gardener and janitor were chosen, the other students had no choice but to retire, their mood being considerably worse than it had been a few minutes ago.

"Good job to both of you!" Said the instructor as she looked at Jay and another student, both of whom had been the winners, "As of today, you are both not only students, but employees of the training center! Now then, follow me, I will hand you your uniforms and also explain what is expected of you."

Upon finishing, the three of them moved through the interior of the training center until they arrived to a building with a small courtyard that was located in the deepest part.

"Surely you came here because we pay way more than any other business, but if you think that's the only benefit, you're wrong!"

Hearing this, both Jay and the student couldn't help but become even more interested.

Upon entering the building, they were greeted by an unexpectedly large living room, which shared space with both the kitchen and a small dining room, but despite this, it didn't feel cramped at all.

As for the quality of the furniture and such, Jay had not the slightest doubt that they were many levels above his own home.

Stepping in front of both of them and opening her arms, the instructor spoke again, "Welcome to employee residence #3, although it's smaller than the other residences, it should be spacious enough for both of you." 

Immediately, a smile formed on Jay's face, 'So this is the other benefit... nice!'

Although he had suspicions that the benefit of being an employee at the training center was not going to be simply a high salary, he didn't really expect that they were even going to grant him a place to stay.

Normally, the vast majority of students lived in apartment complexes that the academy itself had given them, and while these were free, they had several rather notable disadvantages.

Starting with the small space of each of the apartments, practically having the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in one room, and ending with the fact that they were somewhat far from the center of the city, all these made these apartments unpopular choices among students.

However, they still had a large number of people staying in them, mainly students who had just entered the academy and did not have enough credits to be able to move to better housing.

This was also a problem that affected Jay, after all, he too was currently living in one of those apartments, but because getting more hosts was more important, he had decided to stay there in order to save money.

Fortunately for him, an incredibly convenient solution had appeared.

"If you're wondering why it is that we're offering this to you, it's because your services are required every day, so we need you to be available 24/7. We wouldn't want to repeat the tragedy of '93..."

As she said this, the instructor's tone became serious, her gaze filling with various emotions, such as nostalgia, sadness and even... fear.

The next moment, she shook her head and smiled again, "Anyway, I'll go get your uniforms, in the meantime you can get to know the place."

With those words as her last, the instructor walked out the door of the pavilion in the direction of another part of the training center.

Now that they were alone, both Jay and the girl began to inspect the place.

As to whether either of them had any complaints about staying here, it was more than clear that they did not.

After a few minutes, they finished investigating the building, discovering that upstairs there were three large bedrooms with individual bathrooms, a laundry room, and a rooftop terrace overlooking the backyard.

With nothing else to do, Jay decided to sit down and rest a bit on the couch in the living room.

Although physically he was fine, watching his energy levels drain and fill up so many times in such a short time had caused him some mental strain.

Turning on his smartwatch, he realized that it was already a little after 3pm, he had arranged to meet Sarah at 7, so he still had some time to do other things.

'But first... let's get some rest...' He thought as he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

Now that he had achieved his goal of getting a job, as well as a place to stay, Jay felt he deserved a short break.

"Hey." 

However, just as he was beginning to feel in harmony with the dream world, a girl's voice interrupted him.

Opening his eyes heavily, Jay turned his head to the right, the image of the other student who had gotten the gardening position entering his vision.

Sitting on the other side of the couch and hugging her knees, the gaze of the girl with straight, long black hair that fell to the side met Jay's.

Her skin was olive-colored and she had a slender appearance, while whe wasn't quite as beautiful as Sarah, she wasn't far behind either.

'Hm... for some reason I keep running into good looking people... how strange...' Jay thought, still continuing to stare at his companion.

Sensing that Jay was paying a little too much attention to her now, the girl asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Oh, no, sorry, I was thinking about something, you were saying?"

The girl didn't seem convinced by this answer, but decided to ignore it and went on with her original questioning, "Is your ability really just wind control...?"

Unlike Jay, who had been working at full power to ensure his victory, this girl completely dominated her competition, giving her a huge time advantage which she used to observe other students.

Of all of them, the one who caught her attention the most was the person in front of her, the supposed esper who had an endurance even superior to that of all the pugilists present in the competition.

This seemed rather unusual to her, but she quickly formulated a possibility in her head, that perhaps Jay was not an esper with a simple active ability, but that it was of a special classification, that is, one that granted him active and passive effects.

Also,there was something else about him that seemed off to her... although she didn't know exactly what it was.

Faced with the girl's question, Jay simply formed a small whirlwind in his hand that briefly dissipated again, "That's right, active ability, wind control."

While some esper preferred to keep the nature of their abilities a secret, that was not the case for those who only had active abilities, as in the vast majority of times, they were simple effects that would sooner or later become known, just as was the case with Jay.

"Hm... It looks like you still don't manage to control it that well." The girl said, not skipping over the detail that Jay was unable to maintain the whirlwind for long.

With a somewhat nervous smile on his face, Jay replied, "Aha, yes, it's just that I haven't had it for a long time, I suffered an awakening just half a year ago. It's also the reason I have so much vitality, since I'm used to relying only on my body."

Thanks to the fact that questions or interrogations had been expected to come to him regarding his lack of control and familiarity with his ability, Jay had formed an "alibi" that was somewhat believable.

Though of course, the alibi wasn't that far off the mark either, after all, it was true that he had acquired his ability very recently... just not naturally.

This answer seemed to surprise the girl a bit, who had now changed her look from one of indifference to one of interest, "Heh, if you've managed to reach the (D+) rank in such a short time, then that means your talent isn't bad at all..."

Unlike before, her tone of voice had also changed to a considerably friendlier one, apparently she valued talent quite a bit.

Of course, Jay sensed this change in attitude, but since it wasn't a bad thing to meet more supers, especially someone as capable as she was, he decided to play along and reciprocate the girl's kindness.

"Thank you, although I must admit that I still have quite a ways to go before I can become as proficient as you..."

Apparently pleased with Jay's attitude, the girl extended her hand as she introduced herself, "Syvis Genna, esper and first grader, also the person who will take first place in this year's combat ranking."

Not wanting to be left behind, Jay also sat up straight and extended his hand to shake Syvis', "Jay Sacrest, esper from the same grade, my goal for the end of the year is to have so much money that I can live in the center of the town."

They were fairly common introductions, as to why Jay didn't remember seeing her even though they were both in the first grade, it probably was because thanks to the large number of students in a single grade, they were spread out over several classrooms.

Fortunately, this problem would be solved when the students received their schedules, so it was likely that after tomorrow, they would both share the same classroom.

"Ha, what a shallow goal..." Syvis added as she shaked Jay's hand, taking another look at the latter, as if wanting to remember his features.

From his slightly unkempt black wavy hair, his olive colored skin along with his green colored eyes and ending with his body that showed clear signs of having worked out, everything came together to give an image that for some reason seemed strange to Syvis.

Focusing especially on Jay's current position, which consisted of him being seated and holding out his hand, Syvis noticed something odd.

"Ahh!"

Suddenly, at the same time as her pupils dilated due to surprise, Syvis also retracted her hand and quickly stood up from the couch.

"You...!" She yelled.

In response, Jay became incredibly nervous, and that was because just a second before Syvis stood up from the couch, he had ordered one of his little ones to infect her.

The next moment, they both moved, Syvis reaching her right hand into her pocket while pointing her other hand at Jay, and the latter moving closer to her to intercept any action she might take.

'Shit, I won't make it!' Thought Jay, the desperation and urgency he was feeling was visible in his eyes.

However, proving that she hadn't gained her position simply by luck, even without using her esper ability, Syvis was a step faster than Jay, pulling an object out of her pocket before letting out a shout, "You're...!"

Almost instantly, the moment Syvis' attention returned to Jay, seeing how close Jay was to her, she activated her ability.

*BAM!*

Jay's body was hit by a wave of intangible energy, which wrapped around every part of his body, completely immobilizing him.

Even though the energy wave had moved in just an instant, Jay could feel the grip it had on his body was not light at all.

The next moment, Syvis moved her arm quickly to the front of Jay's face, but instead of it hitting him or anything like that, she merely showed him a picture on her smartwatch.

As for the content of the photo, in it a fit man could be seen wearing black dress pants along with a completely open shirt that showed his torso, he was sitting on a couch and stretching his hand forward, although the man's face was half covered due to a black mask, his green eyes were still visible.

While one couldn't call it a work of art, one could tell that the person who took the photo knew what they were doing, which was only made more evident by the sharpness of the image, clearly a product of having a good camera.

Finally, in the lower right corner of the photo was an italicized signature that also functioned as a watermark, this signature could be read as "Jenny Green".

"THAT'S YOU, RIGHT?!" Shouted Sivys, pointing to the photo with a big smile on her face.

"...Ah..."