Before I could even speak, the girl pulled away and then checked her large breasts and butt.
Seeing that, I was genuinely surprised. I needed her for her intelligence, but looking at her like this, did she even have any intelligence worth needing?
I didn't let my thoughts show on my face. With my eyes hidden behind my bangs, I observed her for a moment and gave a faint smile.
"N-nice to meet you. Sorry, when I heard the explosion, I came here. Your head was burned, so I immediately poured water from the river on you."
The girl had finally regained control of her body. When she remembered what had happened, her face turned red like a tomato. After all, she had acted like a pervert toward someone who had helped her...
With her tomato-like face, she quickly stood up.
Then she bent her body at a 45-degree angle and shouted an apology. She was actually Japanese, but I didn't know why she was in the Super Country. (The place they live in is actually Earth, but due to superpowers, history is different from the original. The main character lives in the Super Country founded by superhumans.)
"Uh, it's really not a problem."
Even though Noah waved his hands and said it was fine, the girl became even more embarrassed by his words.
In fact, I was here for this girl.
Her name was Aiko. She was a technological genius with abilities in mechanical manipulation and technological genius.
In short, when she sees a technological device, she understands and learns it 100% faster. Mechanical manipulation, on the other hand, was useful in every way, whether for delicate craftsmanship or for attack and defense.
Superhumans have a wide variety of abilities. These abilities are countless, but among them, intelligence and technology-enhancing abilities are rare. People like her were gathered either by the government or the Hero Association. That's why the girl in front of me had the potential to be a gold mine in the future. Moreover, I wondered whether she could strengthen me to defeat Zenith or create a weapon that could kill Zenith.
Either way, it was profitable. That's why I wanted to build a relationship with this girl. Unfortunately, even though she was in S-Class and one grade above me, she was antisocial. That made approaching her difficult. Still, I would find a way—by making her feel guilty, I would somehow build a relationship with her.
"Really, it's not a problem. Please be more careful next time."
With these words, Noah smiled, turned around, and pretended to leave.
But the girl grabbed his arm.
"W-wait!"
"I'm really sorry. Please let me treat you to a drink as an apology."
With those words, I realized I had baited my prey. This girl was clearly antisocial, but due to her personality, she felt embarrassed and wanted to make up for it. If it hadn't worked and she had let me go, it wouldn't have been a problem—I could have manipulated her device to cause another explosion here and then saved her again.
I turned my head and smiled at her.
"After you, my lady."
With those words, the girl relaxed a little.
After a while...
We found a place to get drinks. She got herself a coffee, and I got the same. Even though I didn't like coffee, my focus wasn't on the drink right now. The problem was that I was also terrible at forming relationships with people. All this time, I had either been training in swordsmanship with my stepmother or leaving my clone at home as Void while fighting in terrorist battles outside. Aside from that, manipulating people came naturally to me—using their weaknesses and vulnerabilities to pull them toward the thoughts I wanted and make them do what I wanted. Other than that... I was antisocial...
While I was struggling with these thoughts, the girl started speaking. From the way she talked, I realized my social skills were even worse than hers.
"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Aiko, a mechanical engineer from Class S, second year."
"Ah, my name is Noah. First-year S-Class. I don't belong to any special club or department."
...
"Uh, what was that explosion? You could have been hurt."
"Ha... uh, well... Actually, what I wanted was to imitate telekinesis. That helmet basically allows me to move objects in a way similar to telekinesis. I was going to move the lake water and gradually increase the amount step by step, but the device couldn't adapt to the wave patterns that should form along with the object. So the X-Y16 processor inside shattered, and then..."
The more she talked, the more I realized that I understood nothing. I'm not ignorant about technology, but this girl clearly knows far too much, and my brain can't keep up with what she's saying.
"Anyway, this time it was actually a technical error, but I took precautions, so I'm fine."
"I'm also a telekinesis user. If you want, I can help you while you test it."
"R-really? You would help me?"
"Of course. After all, if you put another device on your head and it explodes again and something happens to you, my conscience wouldn't be at ease."
"Ah, you're really a good person... I'm sorry, I was just startled when I woke up. Otherwise, I..."
"It's really not a problem. I appreciate you thinking that way. After all, you're very beautiful."
When Noah said this with a smile on his face, Aiko instantly turned bright red. Even though she couldn't see Noah's eyes, she could sense kindness from him.
"Y-you really think so?"
Even though Noah didn't fully understand Aiko's thoughts, if there had been a relationship system, he was sure he would have received a message:
"Aiko Level 1: Acquaintance → Aiko Level 2: Friendship."
From now on, getting closer to this girl was important. After all, he didn't have abilities similar to hers. If she didn't provide technology that was useful to him, he would kill her.
With these thoughts, the smile on his face grew even wider.
"N-Noah, who is this girl!?"