Chapter 167 Temporary Setback

"Is everything all right?" Satoshi blurted out of the blue. "What happened? I thought I lost of all of you."

Somehow, Shiroi was a bit weirded out that Satoshi suddenly started talking to Dex even though this wasn't the first time she'd seen such an exchange. She decided to listen in on their conversation since she was also curious as to what transpired a few moments ago. Of course, she also saw the brief appearance of all of Satoshi's familiars when the explosion occurred. She was even surprised that Satoshi actually had a lot of familiars, more familiars than she had expected. There's a definite difference between Satoshi summoning his familiars one by one and them appearing all at once.

[Everything's all right, Satoshi, you don't have to worry about them. They've entered a state of hibernation after you've used up most of your uncontrollable energy and directed it at them, forcing them to grow more powerful.]

[This change wouldn't have been possible if you didn't forge your bonds with us. If we didn't have a high enough affinity with you, then that energy would've consumed us, causing us to explode and die. Fortunately, you didn't just focus on summoning only one of us. These past few days, you tried to put us in combat, and this helped us out a lot. Your power has stabilized for now, but at the moment, I suggest not forcing yourself and creating another familiar. This might affect the overall hibernation of the rest of your familiars.]

[They may be hibernating right now, but they're also in the middle of evolving, of climbing to a higher tier as a familiar. Please abstain from using your superpower in the meantime, Satoshi, and wait for them. I may be the only familiar who could assist you for now but I'll try to do my best. I am, your system, after all.]

The long explanation that came out from Dex reassured Satoshi even just a little bit and he sighed in relief. 'Now that explains why I couldn't summon any of them. So for now, I cannot create other familiars, and I should just wait for them to wake up, right? I guess I could wait, but this makes me feel a tad bit uneasy. What if something happens and none of them are awake yet? I'm basically a sitting duck by then, right? I mean, Dex is here with me, but there's only so much one familiar could do.' Satoshi said to himself and Dex nodded to confirm. He was correct. Right now, he's basically reverted to being an Unawakened, a powerless person.

As the thought dawned on home, Satoshi almost choked on his dry saliva as anxiousness grew within him. Shiroi watched as all the colors drained on Satoshi's face but there was nothing she could do about it. She knew just how dependent superheroes are of their superpowers. After hearing what Dex had to say, Shiroi just didn't know what to say in order to comfort her childhood friend.

"Did you hear all of that?" Satoshi asked. "Well, it's not like anything's changed. Besides, at least I won't have to worry about my powers getting out of control."

"Don't worry, Satoshi, you'll get it back in no time, you heard what your familiar said, right?" Shiroi clenched her fists, changed her mind, and decided to pat Satoshi on the shoulders instead. "I guess this is my stop. Take care, Satoshi, do you want to go home together?"

"Sure, you take care as well," Satoshi said, waving his hands. "Oh wait, which agency are you part of?"

"Ironblood Agency," Shiroi answered before crossing the street and waving back at Satoshi a second time.

'Ironblood Agency, huh. So she didn't join her dad's agency as well. That's a good choice though, Ironblood is bound to get into the top fifty in SAO Rankings soon, and he can teach a few things to Shiroi since he doesn't rely that heavily on his superpowers.' Satoshi continued.

"Satoshi?" Someone called out to him.

Before Satoshi could cross the street, Kuroe and Cherry greeted him as they ran into him. Due to her special ability of telepathy and psychokinesis, Kuroe immediately realized that something was wrong with Satoshi. It didn't take long before she knew that Satoshi had temporarily lost his superpowers. Of course, she didn't say anything about it, otherwise Cherry would know of it as well. And, she doesn't really trust Cherry at the moment since she has two personalities. No one knows when her other identity might pop out after all.

"Oh, Kuroe, Cherry-san, what are you two doing here?" Satoshi immediately tried to change the thoughts he has in his mind but he was a step too late. Kuroe already read his mind.

"We're going to Ironblood Agency," Cherry answered. "How about you, um... you joined Heimdall Agency, right, Satoshi?"

"Oh, so same as Shiroi. Yep, I'm heading over there now." Satoshi commented. "Well then, I'll be on my way, have a great day!" He awkwardly said, trying to get away from the scene so Kuroe won't have the chance to bring up what she just read in his mind.

However, Satoshi was once again a step too late. Before he could cross the street, Kuroe grabbed him by the hand. "I'm sorry, Cherry, please go on without me. I need to talk t Satoshi." She said, somewhat in a desperate tone that Cherry was a bit surprised.

Well, let's just say Kuroe regretted what she just did a split second later. She had spent quite a few days with Cherry and she knows what made her click. Just now, Cherry was a bit surprised, and she knows that the faintest of stimulus could make Sassu resurface— Cherry's other identity.

Heh.

In an instant, the aura around Cherry shifted and a creepy smile appeared on her face. Without further ado, she approached the other side of Satoshi and grabbed his other hand.

"Oh, so you're onto Satoshi as well huh. That's not fair, Kuroe, hogging him and all. Let me go with you!."