Chapter 168 Helping Out A Friend

Sassu skeptically stared at both Kuroe and Satoshi since they weren't speaking a single word. As the three of them walked side by side with each other, Kuroe just kept giving Satoshi glances and Satoshi would occasionally glance back. It's as if Sassu wasn't even there in the first place, as an overlooked decoration in someone's attic.

'What happened?'

'I temporarily lost my powers'

'What?! How?'

'I was losing control of it, and you know, some stuff happened and now I'm basically a sitting duck.'

'By temporarily... do you know when it will come back?'

'I don't know yet. It's an unusual case of exhausting all of your superpower's energy, so much so that even my familiars entered hibernation.'

'I see, so you just need to rest, right?'

'I think so, I am pretty helpless at the moment though.'

'That's all right, if you need anything just give me a call. I'll try to help you out.'

'Thanks, Kuroe,'

'Sure, no worries,'

The entire exchange happened in both Kuroe and Satoshi's minds since they conversed telepathically, leaving Sassu in the dark. Right from the start, when Satoshi got to know Kuroe, he already trusted her. And well, there was no need to hide anything from her since she could read someone's current thoughts and connect her mind with someone as a two-way connection. Satoshi knew all of that so it was okay for him to tell her anything. Besides, Kuroe trusts him as well. In fact, she treats him as one of her closest friends. Amongst everyone in the class, he's the closest to her, and Shiroi comes a close second.

"Sassu, let's go, we'll be late for our patrol shift." Kuroe suddenly spoke up, grabbing Sakura Cherry by the hand and causing her to lose her grip on Satoshi's.

"Wai-uh, what?! What was that all about?" Kuroe asked, throwing a light tantrum since she didn't have any idea what happened. "I'm not leaving here until you tell me anything. Aren't we friends?"

Suddenly, Sassu's hand glowed a bit and Kuroe immediately felt energy being drained from her. This made her unclasp her hand from Sassu as she fell on the sidewalk. "Satoshi, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She asked, leaving Kuroe on the ground. She didn't suffer any damage since Sassu controlled her energy drain output. The only thing she felt was a bit of a jolt when Sassu activated her powers so there was no harm done, none whatsoever.

"Yeah, I'm all right," Satoshi responded. He couldn't just tell Sassu about his current predicament since she's as unpredictable as the weather. What if she accidentally slips and tells someone about what happened to him? Satoshi didn't want to risk it.

"Are you sure?" Sassu asked, this time grabbing Satoshi by the hand and using her powers on him.

Since she could manipulate the life force, she could also detect if there was something wrong with it. That's why she opted to use her superpower on Satoshi. A split second is all it takes for her to recognize what's wrong with him. If her hunch was right, then Satoshi has a physical problem, not an emotional or a mental one. She could tell since Satoshi wasn't the type of person to mull over his feelings or overthink things. He's a straightforward type of guy, and that's the reason why she likes him... or at least, Sassu (Sakura Cherry's other identity) does.

"You... you depleted your... so that's why." Sassu finally understood why Satoshi didn't want to share it with her. In an instant, her eyes glowed misty and she apologetically bowed toward Satoshi. "I'm sorry for being insensitive, I was just concerned for my friend, that's all. I didn't expect that you'd completely deplete your superpower energy and that there's no clear-cut way of regaining it. I mean, I've met a lot of people, and you're the only one with this kind of problem."

"What do you mean?" Now Kuroe was getting curious as well.

"I mean, every superhero I've met can regain their energy when they use it. They can regain it normally, even if they deplete it completely. But with you, it's gone. Not gone... like it will never go back... but gone gone... like it came from a different dimension kind of gone." Sassu continued.

'I totally get what you mean.' Satoshi said in his mind, making Kuroe's ears perk up as she read his thoughts.

"Don't worry about this though, I know a way!" Sassu's expression changed from being sorry to being cheerful. The transition was bizarre since it only took her a split second to change her mood. "Let's go to a more secluded area."

"But we're going to be late," Kuroe tried to reason with Sassu.

"No, this is more important than our internship." Sassu adamantly refused Kuroe's reasoning.

"All right, then. If you really can do something about Satoshi's condition then we'll trust you and follow you." Kuroe continued. "Don't think about doing anything suspicious though. I may be weaker than you but I can put up a fight if need be."

"Relax, I'm Sassu, not anyone suspicious," Sassu said, grabbing both of them by the hand. "Now off we go!"

A few minutes later, the trio arrived by an underpass devoid of people. At first, Satoshi wondered why they had to go here of all places, but then he realized that this was the nearest place with not a lot of people. As it turned out, Sassu actually gave it a lot of thought.

"Here we are, now, hold out your hand," Sassu said extending her hands towards Satoshi, daring him to touch her hand.

Satoshi absent-mindedly reached out his hand. However, when they were about to touch Sassu's, he flinched and retracted his hand. Now that he thought about it, he'd never held a girl's hand before.

'Are~ was that true?' Kuroe teased in his mind after seeing his thoughts.

'Shut up,' Satoshi said before Sassu grabbed his hand instead.

In an instant, Sassu's hand glowed, and Satoshi felt energy being transferred to him.