The person who came to the school rooftop was a beautiful girl in a maid uniform. She is Setsuka's best friend, Kaede Kobayashi. Her pretty face looked pale and tired from fighting the monsters and cleaning up the mess afterward.
Tenku was confused when he heard her words. Even though they knew each other, he was sure they weren't close and couldn't even be called friends. Tenku and Kaede's relationship was only between senior and junior high school.
They can chat with each other because of Setsuka. If it wasn't for her, then Tenku and Kaede were just strangers to each other. But now Kaede had suddenly appeared on the school rooftop and wanted to talk to him about something. Tenku felt she had intentionally come to that place to look for him.
Tenku was confused because he felt he had nothing to talk to her about. But then he raised his eyebrows after remembering something.
(Does he want to talk about my power?)
Tenku's face became serious as he thought of that possibility.
"What do you want to talk to me about, senior Kobayashi?" Tenku asked politely. His tone was completely different from when talking to Kaede in front of Setsuka. She is his senior at Suisei High School, and he can't talk to her casually because he's close to Setsuka.
"I want to ask you something. But before that, what are you doing in this place? Didn't the principal give instructions to all students to clean up the mess in the schoolyard? Then why are you here alone?" Kaede isn't stupid; she knows that Tenku is on the school rooftop for some reason. Benjiro gives instructions using the loudspeaker in the school building. So there's no way Tenku didn't hear it.
"Ah, I'm tired after overusing my strength to kill the monsters. So I came to the school rooftop to rest. If I do it anywhere else, then I'll be distracted by the other students. So I decided to rest here because they won't come to this place." Tenku replied calmly.
Kaede looked at him silently because she felt something was off about his answer. Even though the sentence sounded reasonable, she couldn't immediately believe Tenku's words. At first, Kaede treated Tenku like any other student and tried to get closer to him because of Setsuka. But now she was wary of Tenku after discovering his true strength.
Tenku's combat power was far above the level of a high school student or even a senior Realizer. Kaede was sure that Tenku still hadn't shown his true strength when she saw him save Kohana.
Tenku might still have another secret. Kaede noticed that Setsuka knew about it and hid it from her. She couldn't dig up the matter from her best friend. Because of that, Kaede wanted to confirm something from Tenku so that her heart could feel at ease.
"I understand. In that case, I'll get straight to the point. Who are you? What is your goal in approaching Setsuka? She is my best friend. If you have bad intentions towards her, I will not be afraid to fight you even though you are much stronger than me." Kaede said with a serious face. Her mood changed, and her usual soft nature turned into firmness. Kaede becomes very sensitive when it comes to her best friend.
Kaede manifested her Phantasmal Object and made a stance for battle. Tenku frowned when he saw that. But after he thought of why the girl was acting like that, he couldn't help but sigh.
"We were both exhausted after the invasion of monsters due to the terrorist attack from the Ghost Nebula. Are you sure that you still want to fight in your condition? Anyway, your statement is wrong. It's not me who approached her but vice versa. You should already know about it." Tenku didn't want to cause unnecessary commotion at school, especially having to clash with one of the student council members and Setsuka's best friend.
Kaede was speechless after she heard that. His words were true, as Setsuka was the first to seek him out to express her gratitude for Kohana's request.
She didn't know what had happened between them until her best friend fell in love with Tenku. Initially, Kaede supported Setsuka because she thought Tenku was a good person. But after finding out that Tenku was hiding his powers and was very mysterious, she reconsidered it.
Kaede felt worried for Setsuka when she found out that there was a man with an unclear identity beside her. She thought that Tenku was like a time bomb for Setsuka that could explode at any time, and it might hurt his best friend.
"Did you save Kohana and Setsuka from getting close to them?" Kaede asked. She suddenly thought of that possibility in her mind. Tenku's face darkened after he heard Kaede's statement.
"Aoh, so you think I saved them because I have ulterior motives for them? Should I not help them to show that I have no particular purpose to Setsuka? Is that what you mean?" Tenku stared at Kaede and said in a deep voice. He felt displeased with Kaede's accusations against him.
"No... that's not what I meant. I want to..." Kaede stuttered because she didn't know how to respond to Tenku's words. But before she could finish her sentence, Tenku interrupted her.
"You just want to ensure I'm not dangerous to Setsuka and Kohana. Isn't that what you mean?" Tenku knew why Kaede said that to him, but it still annoyed him. Kaede nodded in response to his question but didn't utter a single word from her mouth.
"I know that you are Setsuka's best friend, and you care about her. But that doesn't mean you can accuse me as you please. If you feel that I have bad intentions by approaching Setsuka and Kohana, then show me the proof, and I promise to stay away from them forever for you. I'm even willing to drop out of this school." Tenku said seriously, and it made Kaede's body tremble.
Kaede lowered her head and canceled the manifestation of her Phantasmal Object. She was at a loss for words to reply to Tenku's statement because everything he said was true. Kaede decided to meet Tenku and ask about the matter because she was worried for Kohana and Setsuka, especially since her best friend had been hiding something from her.
Tenku was too mysterious, and Kaede grew suspicious of him. She didn't feel that way before because she thought Tenku was just an ordinary first-year student. But it changed after Kaede learned of his powers. Now she is wary of Tenku and thinks the other party is dangerous. This is the first time Setsuka has fallen in love, and Kaede doesn't want her best friend to get hurt. After a long silence, Kaede finally opened her mouth.
"I apologize for accusing you without any evidence. But I didn't intend to offend you. I'm just afraid that you will harm Setsuka and Kohana. After all, I've known them for a long time, and my relationship with them is almost like family.
Therefore, I'm just trying to eliminate anyone who tries to hurt them. Once again, I'm sorry." Kaede looked at Tenku and bowed her head. After hearing his answer, Kaede's heart finally felt lighter. But now he felt guilty for accusing him like that.
"You don't need to think about that. I know why you said that to me. But please don't do it again. Even though you are my senior at this school and Setsuka's best friend, I can get mad at you. If there's nothing else you want to talk about, then I'll take my leave now. Excuse me." Tenku bowed slightly to Kaede and left the place without waiting for her answer.
Even though he said he didn't mind it, Tenku still felt offended by her accusation. He might get mad if he stayed with Kaede on the school rooftop. Tenku should avoid her for now and calm his mind first.
"Wait a minute, Tenku. I'm sorry..." Kaede panicked when she heard that. She felt that Tenku was mad at her after seeing his expression. But his figure had already disappeared from the school rooftop when she turned around. Kaede tried to chase after him, but she couldn't find Tenku anywhere on the stairs.
"Huh? Where is he going? Didn't he walk through this door?" Kaede said in confusion. She went down the stairs to the first floor but still didn't find Tenku.
"I have to ask Setsuka for help to apologize to him." Kaede sighed and left the place. She went to the schoolyard to help the students clean up the monsters' corpses.
Not long after Kaede left, Tenku appeared on the first floor. He returns to the haunted house and hides there until Hideo and Koyuki leave Suisei High School.
Time passed quickly, and the day had turned to night. The students from Suise High School have returned to their respective homes, including Tenku.
After returning to his apartment, Tenku lay on his bed because he felt tired. He had slept for an hour but was awakened by a notification sound from his smartphone. Tenku remembered that he had an appointment with Setsuka. He quickly checked his smartphone, but the message was not from her but from Takaya and Noboru.
Tenku sighed and quickly replied to their message. After that, he got up from his bed and sat on the chair in the room. Tenku wanted to count the number of cores he got after killing many monsters at school today.
Even though his strength doesn't increase, Tenku gets monster cores for Golden Revolver ammo and his daily living expenses.
Unfortunately, he did not have time to retrieve all the cores from the monsters he had killed because he was in a hurry to move to another area to find his next target and vent his anger. So Tenku only prioritizes taking third-level monster cores and above and ignores the others.
When Tenku counted the number of monster cores he got today, he heard a knock on the door.
"Huh? Who is visiting my place at this hour? Has that old man returned to Japan? Why didn't he text or call me first?" Tenku was confused but quickly got up from his seat and left his room. When he opened the door, he was shocked to see a guest standing in front of his apartment.