On the other side, unlike the deep investigation and tracking methods that Nao used to often employ,
Hakuto and Otosaka Yuu had ways to pinpoint the exact locations of the ability users.
So tracking down this matter was particularly easy.
Find—track down—absorb—finish.
And when facing some special abilities, Hakuto didn't actually bring them into the school, but instead had Otosaka Yuu directly steal their abilities.
By the way, in the entire Hoshino Umi Academy, Otosaka Yuu had nearly stolen all the useful abilities.
That means Otosaka Yuu was continuously growing, and those people in the shadows probably understood this, so it wouldn't be long before they acted.
After finishing their work for the day, Otosaka Yuu and Hakuto, as usual, prepared to return to their base.
However, at that moment, Hakuto's phone suddenly received a message.
Hearing the ringtone, Otosaka Yuu turned around and asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, probably just a message from Ginko and the others...."
Even though Hakuto had told everyone that he might not have signal,
It didn't stop others from sending him messages, so he acted as if his signal was sometimes working, sometimes not, and replied when he could.
[Teacher Shiratori! Teacher Shiratori, it's almost vacation, why haven't you finished yet.....]
Hakuto had been at the base for several months, the weather had already turned to winter, and the New Year was approaching.
But those people still hadn't moved.
Hakuto turned off the phone, planning to reply later.
"Always hiding..." Hakuto complained.
He hated this kind of prolonged battle because he never knew when it would end. He certainly couldn't live through his teenage years like this.
"Yuu, if I were you, I'd just give in. Anyway, all they want is you."
"Then why don't you die? Those people would love for you to die."
"Tch, whatever."
The two were just joking, as neither wanted the other to get caught or really die.
"Shiratori... why do you think I'm doing these things?"
"Huh~?"
Hearing Otosaka Yuu's complaint, Hakuto furrowed his brow.
"Are you dumb? Saying such nonsense..."
"No... I just... forget it..." Otosaka Yuu seemed to want to say something but stopped.
"What? You've only stolen a few abilities and you're already thinking about not doing it anymore?"
Otosaka Yuu didn't respond to Hakuto's words, and Hakuto sighed before continuing.
"If I could, I wouldn't want this kind of life either..."
Hakuto sighed helplessly, waved his hand, and walked out of the student council office.
Otosaka Yuu didn't follow, maybe he needed a moment of peace.
After stealing over a hundred abilities and with his nerves stretched thin, he was starting to crack.
However, just as Hakuto stepped out of the room, that feeling of being watched struck him again.
Hakuto furrowed his brow.
He originally didn't want to bother with it, but the feeling grew stronger, almost as if it wasn't being monitored through electronic devices...
Hakuto instinctively looked up and scanned his surroundings. Just as he was about to do something, a phone call rang in his pocket.
Hakuto shook his head and answered the call, seeing that the caller was labeled as Yotsuba. He spoke,
"Hello, what's up, Yotsuba?"
"Hakuto... is that you?"
Contrary to his expectation of Yotsuba's usual lively and cheerful tone, a much more somber male voice answered instead.
Hakuto furrowed his brow, and his mind immediately went on high alert.
"Who are you?"
"You should be able to guess, right?"
"You actually dared to target normal people?" Hakuto's face showed no panic, but in reality, he had entered the office, grabbed the computer, and was starting to trace the phone's signal.
"We wouldn't dare, but there are people who would, with just a little... persuasion..."
"What about Yotsuba? What did you do to her?"
"As you might have guessed, we're not interested in normal people. That would just cause trouble."
"But you really protected the ability users around you so well. There's no choice, we had to resort to this method..."
Hakuto didn't respond. Most of his focus was now on the computer.
And because of this, the man on the other end of the line seemed to sense something was wrong and continued in his hoarse voice.
"Stop tracking the phone's location. The girl named Yotsuba is not with me right now."
"Did you send that message?"
"Does that matter?" The man on the phone seemed to laugh unconsciously.
"You're a smart person. You should know what to do."
"You know I'm a smart person, huh..." Hakuto scanned his surroundings but didn't see Otosaka Yuu.
"You should have information on my abilities, right?"
"Of course! Supercomputing!! An unparalleled ability!!" The man on the phone sounded excited, as though the concept of supercomputing was a stimulant for him.
"Since you know, why resort to such low-level tactics like kidnapping? You should know that if I wanted, in less than ten seconds, I could conduct a carpet search and find you all."
At that moment, Hakuto had located the phone signal's location, which was not far away—actually, very close.
"You can't do it, or rather, you wouldn't dare to do it. Otherwise, you probably would have already done so."
The man on the phone seemed very confident.
But in the next second, Hakuto hung up the phone, and at the same time, his voice slowly sounded from behind the man.
"I was just waiting for you to reveal yourself. You really thought I couldn't do it?"
In a dark alley somewhere, a middle-aged man in casual clothes and Hakuto, dressed in school uniform, began the first confrontation between two different factions.
"Supercomputing... truly unparalleled..."
"Enough, enough, I've had enough of your nonsense, looking like a European," Hakuto waved his hand.
"Since you've already revealed yourself, it won't be so easy to let you go. I really don't want to do this, but I've been wanting to try truth serum to see if it works."
"Don't you care about that girl's safety?"
Hakuto couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.
"Don't worry, I was prepared for this. You can't target normal people because that's a different nature, so you can only use some extra means."
Hakuto clicked his tongue and continued, "Let me guess? Is it a gang or some thugs?"
Over these past few months, Hakuto hadn't been idle. Although he was certain the enemy wouldn't target normal people, it's always better to be safe.
So, he had secretly asked Shunsuke to arrange some people. Not many, but enough to deal with a gang or something.
Upon hearing Hakuto's words, the middle-aged man with a European face showed a moment of panic.
"You don't know the situation outside, because the people behind you had to sever all contact with you, afraid I would trace them through you."
"But it's fine, I'll make you speak..." Hakuto smiled, a casual yet eerie grin.
After maintaining this for months, there was finally a sign, or perhaps he was mocking the other's stupidity.
"How arrogant..." The European-faced man gritted his teeth, and just as he was about to do something, he found a hand had grabbed his mouth.
"Whether it's arrogance or not, we'll talk about that later. Right now, you can't die. You're my precious."
With that, Hakuto forcibly pulled out the man's big tooth.
"Do these people really like to hide poison in their teeth?"
"Cough... cough!"
The middle-aged man, in pain after losing his tooth, started trembling uncontrollably.
"Supercomputing ability users... you're certainly strong, but have you ever thought about it? Our goal was never you..."
"I don't care, no need to think. One dose of truth serum and you'll spill everything."
"Do you really think we'd be foolish enough to kidnap normal people under the eyes of a supercomputing ability user?"
Upon hearing this, Hakuto frowned, without hesitation, he knocked out the middle-aged man in front of him and contacted Shunsuke to handle the person.
"Otosaka Yuu, huh..." Hakuto knew that those people's target had always been Otosaka Yuu, the ability thief.
"Drawing the tiger away from the mountain? Really... an old, worn-out plan..." Hakuto smiled, if he couldn't detect something like this, he might as well jump off a building.
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