World Record

Chapter 7

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7. Komauchi Karen

TL note: Apparently I mistranslated Iwato"s best friend"s name. It"s not Kota but it"s Eita.

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A shoulder length brown hair, top is a white jersey and bottom is a bloomer for some reason. She"s also wearing a quite long blue coat, and she"s sleeping in the cardboard.
Iwato sighs on the figure that slept while leaving all the valuables there. Iwato then shakes her shoulder lightly.

[Hey you. You will get a cold if you sleep here, you know?]
[N....Nnn? Faaaaa, good morning!]

She woke up.
Furthermore, her first greetings to a stranger is [Good morning]. It feels like she was drunk before she slept.
Then she look towards Iwato with her sleepy eyes--she opened her eyes wide when she saw his chest, and started to look around restlessly.
Although it originally looks like an incomprehensible action, unfortunately, Iwato has seen this action many times. He realized that he was looking at her sharply.

[You... Are you an Unknown?]

That"s right, those who have such reaction upon looking at Iwato are usually Unknowns.
Although this is only known by the government higher ups and a small amount of people, the Unknowns have the ability to see the size of the soul of a person.
The size of the soul--this is the mental strength and it differs according to the Battle Rank. The chain dragon from before and this girl who can read souls will definitely be surprised upon seeing Iwato"s soul.

[Well, I"m not, but...are you something like a ghost?]

The girl looked at Iwato with her violet eyes and asked him that.
Iwato knows about Humanoid Unknowns from a certain circ.u.mstances. Therefore, it can be perceived that those who didn"t antic.i.p.ate that they will be seen through are Unknowns, and they will either show impatience or they will attack.
In addition to that, no matter what kind of lie they use, it can definitely be seen through their behavior.
However, the girl doesn"t have such a face. Although she may be concealing it in her mind, Iwato doesn"t consider that this girl has the brain to do it.

[I"m not particularly a ghost. If I say that I"m powerless, you should know what I"m saying, right?]
[A-As expected, you"re powerless, huh!? I see, no wonder I can"t see anything!]

Iwato was convinced that she"s not an Unknown but an idiot.
In the first place, an Unknown won"t be thrown away in such a place. Above all, there"s no way an elite that infiltrate until here would be an idiot.
Iwato sighed and removed his vigilance, and decided to leave that place.
However--the girl doesn"t let him.
Gashi!
Iwato was stopped by the girl who pulled his coat.

[W-Wait! Isn"t this where you feel pity on me and pick me up?]
[Well, no pets are allowed in the apartment]
[Why are you being polite suddenly!?]

It"s a complete lie.
Iwato simply thinks that his house is [A normal house], and if she is a young lady of a rich family, he will bring trouble to Tsumugu if he bring her back. So Iwato thinks that the best way is to leave her.
Although she may be the exchange student that Nakajima-sensei said, she said that the exchange student will come in either Sat.u.r.day or Sunday. There"s no way the exchange student will be abandoned in such a place at Friday night.

[Anyway, I have no obligation to pick up a stranger. There"s a hotel nearby, so just stay there]

Iwato said so and points at the hotel.
There is a major company chain hotel called [Api Hotel]. Although it"s quite expensive, it"s better than sleeping outside like this.
He said those words with such thoughts, but--

[No way! After all, I only brought 2 days of lodging expenses, the reward for the place I"m going to stay at and a little food expenses from Sendai! I"m out of money all because I reached here one day earlier]

--Iwato hardened by those words.
Sendai, 2 days of lodging expenses, the place she"s going to stay at.
In addition to that, this brown hair and the superpower"s crest on the back of her left hand.
Nakajima-sensei certainly said that the exchange student will reach in either Sat.u.r.day or Sunday, and that person will be staying in his house for one week from Monday.
The exchange student will stay in the hotel during the weekends. Everything is according to the information, and Iwato said this unintentionally.

[You... Don"t tell me that you"re the exchange student from Sendai"s Force Academy?]

What returned was her consent.

☆☆☆

[But still, is it alright? Didn"t you say that no pets are allowed in the apartment?]
[Well, come to think of it, my house is a single house]
[I see, that"s great!]

Stupid.
There"s no way that there"s a person who can"t differentiate between an apartment and a single house, and she even thinks that she is a pet. This is the top of stupids.
After that, Iwato head to Tanaka Electric quickly and bought a refrigerator and requested a home delivery. And he decided to bring this stupid girl to his house. That"s because he thinks that he don"t know how to talk to her when the meet again if he decided to abandon her.
That"s why, Iwato walked with her at night, but he then realized that they haven"t introduced themselves.

[Come to think of it, we haven"t introduced ourselves yet. I"m Nagumo Iwato. I"m the one chosen to be the guide and also to provide the home stay for the exchange student from Sendai this time. Best regards]
[Eh!? You"re the one providing the home stay!? I"m sorry for being rude so far!]

Iwato who sees that had a wry smile thinking that [It"s an exaggeration], but even if it"s exaggerated, he can hold a favorable impression by her courtesy. If she were to say something rude while laughing, she would be blown off to the moon.
Physically.
She bowed her head and when she raised her face, she started to introduced herself while smiling.

[I"m Komauchi Karen, a one-sixteenth! Roughly a j.a.panese!]

--One sixteenth.
Iwato crumpled his eyebrows by that word that he never heard before.

[Umm... One-sixteenth? I never heard before such word... What"s that? Is it English?]
[Well, a child of a foreigner and a j.a.panese is a half. Next is a quarter, then one-eighth, and then one-sixteenth!]

--So one out of eight is called one-eighth....
Iwato who never heard that word before.
If it"s only half and quarter, Iwato had heard of those before and even seen those before.
But as for one-eighth and one-sixteenth, there"s not even a person who will boast of it, and even if someone say it, it"s like [You"re roughly a j.a.panese]. Exactly as what she said.
When they talked about such things, Iwato was interested on why Karen can see souls.

[Come to think of it, Komauchi-san, you seem to be able to see souls, but that"s not what a normal human can do, right?]

Then, Karen"s shoulder twitched and her eyes opened wide.

[I-I"m surprised... I can"t believe that Nagumo-san knows that I can see souls... Or rather, how you know that I"m looking at the soul? As expected, you"re a ghost, right? And also, you can just call me Karen]
[Well, having no powers is like that]
[Hee! According to rumors, there"s only one person in the world, but as expected, as much as you don"t have superpowers, you"re other ability is terrific]

A person without superpowers is just an ordinary person who has not powers, but there"s no way to proof it to Karen or to the world. After all, Iwato is the only one in the world.
Karen put her fingers to her chin and ponders.
She thinks that this is something that must be kept as a secret, but this person doesn"t have a bad presence and above all, there"s no sign of him lying. That he is a person that she can trust. Even if Karen is an idiot, she"s an idiot that thinks well.

[If you promise to not tell anyone, then I can tell you about it]

Iwato nods.
He don"t have the intention to anyone, and even if he tells someone, he will only tell it to his stepsister, Tsumugu. He can just consult Karen at that time. Iwato nodded while thinking so but--

[I...I"m actually a Mahou Shoujo]

--By those words, Iwato"s thoughts completely short-circuited.
M-Mahou Shoujo? Did this person said Mahou Shoujo just now? Calling herself a Mahou Shoujo... Is her brain alright? Iwato has already abandoned to trust her.

[W-Wait a minute. If I remember correctly, your superpower is [Wound Water], right? Something like Mahou Shoujo...]
[That"s the one! Because my superpower is weak, I trained my body and then I became a Mahou Shoujo! That"s why I can see souls, and I can even summon a weapon!]

Iwato who became speechless after hearing what she said, thinking that this person is not lying.
Iwato can see through a person"s lie just by hearing it and looking at the person. That"s why, he guided her to here without seeing her status, but this girl seriously thinks that she is a Mahou Shoujo.
In other words--

[... You should really face the reality]
[Why are you looking at me pitifully? I"m real! I"m really the same Mahou Shoujo as the one shown in the television!]

Apparently, she"s a regrettable girl who"s convinced so but it seems to be wrong. Or she may really be convinced that she is.
Iwato scratches his head, and he pointed his finger at a certain man walking at a distance and said this.

[Then, for example, that guy. How big is his soul?]
[Average size. In other words, about the size of a head!]

That is splendid. Iwato guessed the size from the man"s footwork and physique, and it was about the same. Saying it in Battle Rank, the man will be around 5-7.

[Then, that person]
[Same. Average size]
[Then, there]
[Oh! That person is probably from the Special Forces! It has a diameter of a child"s height!]
[... How about that one?]
[A little lower than average!]

Iwato was convinced that this person can really see souls.
It doesn"t mean that Iwato can see souls. Therefore, what he can do at most is estimate it from the walking technique and the result will differ if there"s superpower.
However, those who have strong superpowers is easy to see because their behavior that"s affected by their self-confidence. That"s why, Iwato concealed the one with high self-confidence among the three average level people, but Karen was able to guess it by looking at them. Without looking at how they move.

After coming this far, it"s okay to be convinced that she can see souls, and this power can be used as a weapon to measure the opponent"s ability depending on the user. Leaving aside the fact that she"s a Mahou Shoujo. Of course, experience and training are essential.
When Iwato smiles in his mind, he said this while pointing his finger at his house.

[Then, what you can see there?]

Karen looks at the direction in the same way as before, and inclined her head because there"s no one in the residential area--The next moment, she raised a short scream.

[Hi!? Wh-Wh-What, What"s that... What"s that!? What"s that idiotically big soul!?]

Karen raised a scream even though it"s night now.
She managed to calm down after looking at the calm Iwato, but when she looks at the direction once again, she shrink herself due to the huge shock and fear.
As what said before, an ordinary person"s soul is a head size, and the Battle Rank is around 5-7. As for a newbie of the Special Forces--the Battle Rank is 20 with the size of a child"s height.
It"s not Battle Rank = Size of soul, but there are many people who have big souls with low Battle Rank.
However--taking into account of those, Karen can only thought of one word.

[M-Monster...]

There exist a huge soul that took the shape of fire that can swallow several houses wholly.

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Of course, it"s Tsumu"s soul.
Now, how much is her Battle Rank?

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