Kamui brought Clara to the subway station near the sewer and got off the train.
“We’ve arrived.”
The reason she was taking Clara back to that sewer was to explain to her what exactly had happened to the Drive Unit in her hands before it finally ended up there…
And more importantly, to make Clara understand the price she herself had paid for it.
But she didn’t know that Clara already knew all of this.
Clara had to pretend she didn’t, letting Kamui slowly explain.
“Clara, did that ‘important person’ of yours ever tell you where that Drive Unit came from?”
“…Yeah.”
Coming back to that sewer again, the exit was actually quite inconspicuous.
Back then, it had seemed so grand simply because World Tree Technology’s contractors and heroes were stationed there, making it solemn and imposing.
“And what did he tell you?” Kamui asked again.
“He said he stole it,” Clara replied.
Once upon a time, Clara had blown Kamui away with a single blast right here, then impersonated her to trick the Blue Cavalier before sneaking away from the scene.
“You know, I used to be a Quasi-A Rank hero—just one step away from A Rank.”
Kamui stood at the entrance to the sewer, hands on her hips.
The sewer door was tightly shut, locked with a padlock.
Not only did it stink to high heaven, it was also toxic—impossible to enter. After all, it wasn’t open to the public for no reason, and no one would be crazy enough to go inside.
With all the labs big and small in Central City constantly cooking up all sorts of things and dumping them straight into the sewer, the smell didn’t even reach the entrance except in winter.
“But because I failed to retrieve the Drive Unit, I got demoted back to B Rank. Years of hard work down the drain. I had to start over from scratch… No, I probably won’t ever get back to A Rank now.”
“I’m sorry…”
Clara murmured softly.
Kamui put an arm around her neck and continued.
“So if I hand you over to the Association, I can get my original rank back. Maybe I’ll even get a promotion for my merits, officially becoming a Superior Hero.”
“I’m sorry.”
Even though apologizing now meant nothing, Clara couldn’t help but sincerely voice the guilt she had been harboring inside.
“It wasn’t just me. The Blue Cavalier was also implicated in that operation. Because that ‘important person’ of yours escaped right under both our noses…”
“…Maybe it wasn’t him after all?”
Clara tried to argue, but Kamui left no room for doubt.
“No, the evidence is conclusive.”
Even though he was “important” to Clara, he was still a Mutant.
What kind of story could there be between a Mutant and a hero?
“…Yeah, I know.” Clara nodded.
“Of course, from the perspective of that mission alone, it was our negligence as heroes. We deserved the demotion—we can’t blame anyone for it.”
Kamui put a hand on Clara’s shoulder.
“But whether we can do something about it depends on your actions. Right now, there’s an opportunity for redemption right in front of us.”
Clara’s response made Kamui tighten her grip.
“Is this blackmail?”
“Blackmail?”
“Huh? How is this blackmail? I didn’t do it because I was thinking of you. Otherwise, I could have had you arrested back at the Association…”
“In a sense, that is blackmail, isn’t it?”
“I need you to give me a reason not to do it.”
Clara certainly didn’t want to be arrested. She shrank her neck and said, “I—I can make it up to you in another way. For example, if another incident happens, I can work with you. That way, we have a higher chance of earning merits…”
If she could help Kamui rise to A Rank quickly, she probably wouldn’t have any complaints.
“Hmm, sounds reasonable, but don’t you think it’s a bit vague? After all, you might not even have any missions to take…”
“Actually, I get quite a lot of requests, you know?”
Clara interrupted Kamui.
Even though she had lowered her posture, her tone carried a hint of pride.
“I’m pretty famous now, right? Every day, I get direct requests to the company asking for me by name. But President Cexia turns down most of them because she thinks they’re too trivial—like finding cats or dogs.”
Some requests were just fans trying to find an excuse to see Clara.
Those fakers would be rejected by Lucia, who had grown sharper under the influence of the big city, and they wouldn’t even be reported to the president.
“…You really have had an easy path as a hero.”
Maybe out of sour grapes, Kamui reached out and poked Clara’s marshmallow-soft cheek.
But Clara let out a weary sigh, as if she were much older.
“Sigh. Maybe misfortune is a necessary quality for a hero. Haven’t I been through enough accidents lately? I can’t even get a good rest.”
Even her debut battle had unfolded under unforeseen circumstances.
No evil organization had ever claimed responsibility for the wormhole invasion incident at the Expo Center.
She continued.
“Besides, I’m on the Fourth Calamity’s target list now. If they come after me again, I might not be able to handle it alone. With Miss Kamui around, I’d feel a lot more at ease.”
At this point, Clara suddenly had a new idea.
“Why don’t you join the Dream Witch Company too, Miss Kamui?”
“Huh?”
“You’re an independent hero right now, aren’t you? No regular job? Why not come work at the Dream Witch Manpower Dispatch Company as my colleague?”
“That way, you’d have a guaranteed salary, and with the company backing you, it’d be easier to take on requests.”
The Fourth Calamity was a notorious evil organization. If she could resolve an incident caused by them, it should help restore Kamui’s reputation quite a bit.
Joining the Dream Witch would make it even easier to get contracts.
In Clara’s view, this was a proposal with no downsides for Kamui.
“No—no way! How could that possibly work?!”
Kamui’s reaction was surprisingly agitated. She grabbed Clara’s face with both hands and started kneading it.
Clara’s voice came out distorted as she stammered,
“Why not? I-I think it’s a good way to make amends. If the comic promotional strategy succeeds, I was also thinking of asking Miss Nangong to work full-time on the comics and become the head of the Dream Witch’s Publicity Department—”
“You want to recruit… her? But she already has a job, doesn’t she?”
“That job is helping the villain, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
Kamui raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Does Miss Kamui not know?”
Misreading Kamui’s tone, Clara continued.
“The nature of Miss Nangong’s current job is that she’s basically a thug for a publishing company, using violence to force authors who want to finish their comics to keep drawing.”
For some reason, Kamui fell silent, looking angry, with a vein bulging on her forehead.
The kneading of Clara’s cheeks turned into hard pinching and pulling.
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