Chapter 26: Chapter 26 - Iron Man!
Mai settles both of her hands on the little girl's cheeks. However, a memory suddenly popped into her head, recollection about the girl's power. It's a time-related quirk that could reverse someone's body back to its previous state. It can even revert people to a point before they even existed, effectively erasing them from existence.
From what she recalled from the anime. Presently, the girl shouldn't have yet been able to control her own quirk. So it was very dangerous to be in direct contact with her.
Just as Mai wanted to pull her hands back, she halted. That's because she didn't feel anything wrong with herself at all.
'Now, that's odd... Anyway, let's focus on the mission first...' After Mai cleared her thoughts, little by little, she forcefully twisted the girl's head to face hers. "Look at me..." Mai demanded flatly, which got ignored. The girl did stop crying, but she shut her eyes because she was too frightened. Mai was upset because of this.
"Please..." She changed her approach. Somehow, it touched the girl's heart, and she slowly opened her eyelids to take a peek. The girl had a dreamy look after she did that. Even though all she sees is the same expressionless Mai from before. The only difference between what she does was just viewing it from afar and viewing it from up close.
Nonetheless, Mai recognizes that expression. She, who had pretty much seen it from almost everyone's faces, started to grin on the inside. 'Eeehhhhh~, Of course, that would be her reaction. I'm the cutest in the world after all! My face isn't weird at all. NOT WEIRD AT ALL. Fufufu~!'
Taking advantage of the situation, Mai grabs both of the girl's hands with hers, and again, noticing that nothing weird is happening, she raised a question, "I only meant to help you, do you trust me?" Even though she couldn't change her expression, the result was clear to see.
"Y-Yes!" Exclaimed the little girl while she nodded unconsciously. She then remembered something and said to Mai with a trembling voice, "A-Also, I'm sorry for what I'm calling you earlier, big sis!"
"Oh, don't worry about that, it's alright..." Mai lied as naturally as she breathed, before she continued, "Then, tell me what happened to you... Wait, let's talk in my place. It doesn't feel right to do that here..." She then lifted herself up, without worrying about dusting away the dirt on her kimono. It has auto-cleaning anyway.
Next, Mai reached out her hand toward the little girl, who was still sitting on the ground. The girl just stares at it, still daydreaming. Hence, Mai explained with a very non-obvious hidden ulterior motive, "Here, let me help you stand up..."
Without a second thought, the little girl grabbed Mai's hand. As for Mai, she pulled the girl up to her feet. Hence, they both finally stood up, and Mai realized she was taller than the little girl. She thus felt proud of herself. The little girl was lucky Mai had forgotten that she was 6 years old right now.
[Daily mission: Help Somebody (1/1)]
[Mission Complete!]
[You have received 1 Gacha ticket!]
Mai was really excited that it was done. Just as she was about to leave because her mission was completed, the girl called out to her first, "E-Excuse me, my name is Eri... W-What's yours?"
'So it was Eri, huh?' Mai thought to herself. But there's a chance she'll forget it again. Hence, she called out the system for a precaution, 'Ai-chan, please remember that name!'
[Okay, host!!!]
Mai senses that there's something wrong with the system, but she hasn't realized it yet, so she'll just leave it for later. Then, she thought hard about the situation she was in right now. It would be rude for her to just leave without answering at all. She had no choice but to do so.
"My name is... Mai Friend..." Said Mai with a flat tone. But then, she took notice of Eri's confused state. Therefore, she told her, "You can call me whatever you want..."
"T-Then, can we be... friend?" The little girl, who was now identified as Eri, suddenly asked Mai with full of hesitation.
'A friend... huh?' Asked Mai to no one in particular. Actually, nobody had yet to ask her that. They do call her as friend. But being called one and being one were two separate things.
"Why?" That's what Mai wants to know the most. It was all just too sudden for her. They were just meet for the first time today.
"Ummm..." Eri mumbles with a shy gesture, before she says with a small voice. "T-The truth is-"
"Eri, there you are!" A rough voice can be heard, coming from the opposite side of the alley.
"Hiiiii!!!" Hearing that, Eri quickly hides herself behind Mai. As for Mai, she solely focused her gaze toward the direction of where the sound was coming from. A few seconds after that, she could now see the figure of a man, coming from the dark spot of the alleyway.
He was a pale, slim man with brown hair and thin eyes. He wore some sort of plague mask even though there are no more covid in Japan, and a dark green bomber jacket with a purple fur-lined hood. Underneath that, were a black button-up shirt with matching pants. White surgical gloves covered both of his hands.
"Now, now, we mustn't be causing problems to other people, am I right? Let's go back, Eri." Said the man with a carefree tone, he felt like a gentleman. But Eri just clutched onto Mai's right arm tighter, as if not wanting to let her go.
Mai recognizes this guy. 'He was... was... was.... Aha! He was that yakuza boss who got beaten by a meek highschooler!' She finally remembered.
Mai reckons that it was weird for her to always forgetting things. She then realized that perhaps, her mind was corrupted because she mostly stays in her room to reads novels and stuff for years. They would certainly do some damage to her brain cells.
'Wait a minute,' Mai thought to herself. Again, She felt like wanting to hit her own head. She really needs to stop her addiction to reading those things. 'Ai-chan, you have an appraisal, right? Why didn't you use that or remind me about it before?' She asked the system.
[H-Hmph!]
'Oh, come on Ai-chan... You're still pouting? Anyway, can you please use appraisal on him! I'll perform a proper apology later...'
[All right, I'll do it, for now! J-Just, make sure to remember what you said, host!]
And then, a screen appeared in front of Mai. Of course, she's the only one who can see it.
•Name: Kai Chisaki
•Race: Mutated Human
•Estimate Level: 41
Hp: 18.000/20.000
Mp: 20.000/20.000
Physique: 500
Magic: 6.000
Agility: 500
Luck: 100
•Abilities:
(Quirk: Overhaul){Unusable!}
(Advance Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery)
(Overhaul, an ability to disassemble and then reassemble matter with bare hands. Once the ability takes a target apart, the ability can either leave it destroyed, restoring it to its original form, or shaping it into something new. This process happens instantly and is effective on living and non-living things alike.)
'Wait wait wait, why would I bother reading this, if the ability was unusable anyway? Or rather, how come it can't be used?' Mai inquired to herself.
Therefore, she takes a good look at Chisaki's arms. It was then that she noticed the reflection of the moonlight from the gaps between his sleeves and gloves. It was caused by something metallic.
'Huh? Are those mechanical arms? Since when did this villainous yakuza boss transform into Tony Stark?' Pondered Mai to herself. She still didn't realize that both of what she was currently thinking couldn't be any further away from the truth.
But what Mai also didn't know, is that the system also recognized the man, even though it couldn't discern its host's past life's memories.
It has seen him a few years ago. But the system just decided to not notify Mai about it.
[Hmph! Baka host!]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
PlebLord
PlebLord Aaaaahhhhh~
As an INFP, it was just tough to write conversations between characters!!!
Aaaaahhhhh~
Also, the title is random!
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy~
A Peace!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
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