Chapter 52 52

After returning to the camp, the students immediately made a bonfire because the sky was getting dark. The senior Realizers and teachers asked them to increase their vigilance, and no one was allowed to sleep for the night as they felt something dangerous was lurking in the dark.

Currently, Tenku sits on a log in front of the bonfire with Takaya and Noboru while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. Apart from them, he was also accompanied by Akina, who suddenly appeared and introduced herself to Noboru and Takaya. Tenku felt a little strange about her behavior but didn't think much of it as long as she didn't cause any trouble.

"Why don't you join your classmates? Wouldn't it be more fun with them?" Tenku asked and handed her a mug of hot chocolate.

"Thank you. I feel bored listening to the topics the girls talk about. They repeatedly talked about that male student from class A like he was a celebrity. Therefore, I decided to leave them and join you. My presence doesn't bother you, does it?" Akina smiled and explained. Then he looked at Noboru and Takaya for fear that the two of them would object to her presence in that place.

Akina knows Takaya because she often saw him with Tenku in middle school but never spoke to him. For Noboru, it was the first time she had met him. Even so, Akina didn't feel uncomfortable around them.

"No! Of course not! We would love to have you join us here! Isn't that right, Takaya?" Noboru answered excitedly and looked at Takaya beside him.

"Yes! You can invite female students from your class to gather here to make the atmosphere more lively!" Takaya quickly agreed to Noboru's words and nodded vigorously. He felt this was an opportunity to make the atmosphere around them less arid. They needed an oasis between them since Asuka was never with them again.

"Thank you. I'll try to persuade my friends to join me here, but I can't promise they will." Akina smiled sweetly and slowly took a sip of the hot chocolate in the mug. She looked at Tenku, who was silent, thinking about something.

The red light from the bonfire illuminated Tenku's face. It made him look mysterious, and Akina's heart suddenly beat fast.

"No problem! The important thing is that you persuaded your classmate. So whether they want it or not is up to them. But we still hope the two girls in your class can join us!" Noboru knew that Akina had joined them because of Tenku. So he didn't dare to have the slightest thought about her.

"Ah, alright. I will do my best for you." Akina nodded and understood what Noboru meant. Then the four of them chatted, but Tenku was more silent than the others. While chatting, Akina kept glancing at Tenku periodically. Noboru and Takaya grinned as they noticed it.

Meanwhile, at a bonfire not far from Tenku and the others, Akio and his friends sat while enjoying grilled fish. Of course, Asuka was also with them. After searching for the monster's hideout, they caught the fish from the lake.

"What did the girl see in the weak boy? Aren't there many male students who are much stronger than him? Why does she keep approaching him? What's so special about this boy?" A tall and muscular male student looked at Tenku and snorted. He was annoyed when he saw a weak boy being approached by one of the prettiest first-year students.

The male student is Daichi Murakami, who is Akio's childhood friend. Daichi was also in class A and awakened a B-rank Phantasmal Object.

"You are right. Maybe the girl prefers a weak boy, so she can easily manage him." A female student added.

Her name is Michiko Takano, and she is also Akio's childhood friend. She was in the same class as him and was the one who helped Asuka get acquainted with Akio.

"Isn't that boy your childhood friend, Asuka?" Daichi asked the pensive Asuka in front of the bonfire.

"Huh! No! We've been acquaintances since elementary school, not childhood friends or anything like that!" Asuka replied frantically. She denied those words without hesitation for fear that Akio would misunderstand it.

"You don't need to care about such a weakling. The most important thing right now is to quickly find the hideouts of the monsters and complete this mission." Akio said calmly and didn't care one bit about Tenku. But he occasionally glanced at another bonfire, where Setsuka, Kaede and Hijiri had gathered. His eyes looked alternately at the three girls.

Asuka gritted her teeth and tightly clenched her fists when she realized that. She felt uneasy in her heart when she saw Akina approaching Tenku. Then Asuka became even more annoyed when she found out that Akio kept looking at the three girls.

She had to admit that Setsuka, Kaede and Hijiri were on a different level from her, and Asuka couldn't compare to them at all. The three girls looked beautiful when the bonfire illuminated their faces

Around the bonfire, Setsuka sat with Kaede as well as Satoru. They were the student council members, and only the treasurer was absent at the moment because the other party didn't take part in this mission. Apart from them, Hijiri also joined in for some unknown reason.

"What's wrong, Setsuka? Why is your face gloomy? Did something happen?" Kaede asked worriedly.

"Yes, Fuyushima. If you have a problem, you can tell me. I will try my best to help you!" Satoru tried to show his concern for Setsuka. He didn't dare to call her intimately as before because Setsuka would be mad if he did it again. But Satoru was secretly proud that he could sit with the three prettiest and strongest girls in Suisei High School. He felt like the best harem king in Japan.

"Do you have a problem with someone you can't deal with? In that case, I will lend my power to you and help you defeat him. I believe we can even fight against a senior Realizer if we fight together." Hijiri said confidently.

"Are you only thinking about fighting? Why do I feel like you're always on fire when it comes to that?" Setsuka sighed in response to Hijiri's words. She ignored Satoru because she felt uncomfortable with his presence, who was the only man among them.

Hijiri shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer Setsuka's question. As a member of the Natsukawa family, what caught her eye was only getting stronger and fighting great people. Ever since she was a child, her father instilled such thoughts in Hijiri because everyone in the Natsukawa family was a battle addict.

Setsuka could only shake her head and then look at Kaede, who looked worried about her condition.

"I'm fine, Kaede. I was only thinking about this mission." Setsuka smiled slightly and gave a random reason.

Of course, what Setsuka said was a lie because the real cause of her bad mood was Akina, who blatantly approached Tenku in front of the students. But she couldn't possibly say that to Kaede.

"Do you feel it too, Setsuka? Do you think something strange about our mission this time?" Kaede spoke in a low voice because she didn't want any students to hear that, creating panic in the camp.

"Ooh, Do you feel that way too?" Hijiri suddenly entered into their conversation.

"I also feel the same way as you. This mission is weird." Satoru added. He had to force himself into the topic so the girls wouldn't ignore him and leave him alone.

"Yes. My intuition says so. First, I thought the reports the organization had received were fake because there were no monsters in this place. What they saw was probably a beast of a large size. Second, the reports were real, and the monsters were hiding well. But that was impossible for a monster with low intelligence to do." Setsuka explained his conjecture to Kaede and Hijiri. He still ignored Satoru and assumed that the boy was air.

"So you mean someone is hiding the monsters, and they are stalking us in the dark right now?" Hijiri narrowed his eyes when she heard those words, and Setsuka nodded.

"Both of your guesses are very reasonable, considering we couldn't find the slightest clue about the monsters in this area. But what about those two students? They can't just disappear for no reason, right? The teacher had inquired about their whereabouts to their families and made sure that the two students did not return home." Kaede said seriously.

"You are right. But we can't prove that they have fallen victim to the monsters in this place. Hasn't a terrorist organization suddenly appeared recently and wreaked havoc in every region in Japan?" Hijiri also agreed with Setsuka's conjecture. He felt that the current matter had a human intervention.

"Did you suspect that members of that terrorist organization are in this area?" Setsuka's face sank when she heard those words. If that was true, then they were in a dangerous situation.

The three girls were not only strong but also smart. They could quickly sense the strangeness of their current situation and came up with the most reasonable guess.

On the other hand, Satoru could only grit his teeth at being ignored again by the girls. He decided not to say anything instead of embarrassing himself.

While the three girls were discussing the matter, there was a rustling sound from the bushes.

Rustle!

"Hmm... What's that?" A female student mumbled when she saw the bushes swaying, and something appeared from the gaps in the leaves.

"Those are… goblins!" Another student said in a high voice when he saw the creature's characteristics in the bushes.