-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Lily’s proposal(1)-

Seeing the fear flashed in the eyes of the man, Kenshin felt somewhat satisfied. He was already incapacitated as it is, Kenshin’s [King’s Presence] was just too much for him to handle. From this, he also concluded another thing, this skill, it affects even the physical world together with the psyche of the target. Kenshin was unsure if it was a good or bad thing…although he rarely ever uses it.

The man finally couldn’t take it anymore, his eyes rolled back, and he fell down with froth coming from his mouth. Although he barely persisted until the effect of the skill vanished, his mind couldn’t take the damage of sitting this close Kenshin, the cause of his fright in the first place. Yuki and her assistant, both made a disgusted face as they looked at the fainted man.

“Lily, take him to the infirmary for treatment.” Signaling to her assistant, Yuki ordered, not even sparing another glance at the man.

“Okay.” The assistant nodded and opened a phone before dialing a number. She immediately contacted the office staff to come to the coffee shop ASAP. Just as she was about to disconnect the phone, she saw something that made her break her stoic façade. Her eyes were so far opened that it looked like it would fall off at any moment, she was totally flummoxed.

There was an incomprehensible thing going on in front of her, the coffee table that was broken by the man earlier was repairing itself piece by piece. Each and every split that was fallen off were going back to where they belong. The scene was very surreal, she felt like she was watching a fantasy scene even though the world was fantastic enough. The scene lasted for quite a few seconds, but that was enough for a crowd to pool around the table. There was also a few who was taking a video of it with their cameras and mobile phones.

The scene ended with the table returning back to normal, although it lasted for a few seconds only, it was still enough for a crowd to form around. The coffee shop manager felt like he was given amnesty from huge trouble that he had landed himself into. When the man broke the table, he felt like his own heart also shattered into splinters. These tables weren't cheap at all, each of them cost a few thousand US dollars.

His higher-ups would surely deduct some amount from his salary when this thing came to light, they couldn’t charge a hunter for this small matter after all. When the table was repaired itself, he felt like he would cry any moment. But he wasn’t naïve enough to believe that it was repaired itself, it was surely done by someone. And he knew who it was, the man who came at the last. He had seen him arguing with that man who had broken the table.

Although the manager didn’t see who did it, others did. Kenshin didn’t attempt to hide it anyway. He did it in front of everyone. There were many reasons for it. After the table completed its repair, he even placed his hands above it, afraid that people wouldn’t get that it was actually him. Obviously, he used his multi-functional skill [Opposites].

Even Yuki was surprised at the skill. She had seen some of the Kenshin’s skill, but it was her first time seeing such a unique and fantastical skill. The skill he had used last time to travel all the way to Mito from Fukushima in just a few minutes, she thought it was miraculous enough, but this one broke the record altogether. Giving a glare to Kenshin, she mumbled: “You really are a fish that hides deeper in the sea…”

When he heard her mumbling, Kenshin couldn’t help but sweatdrop. This lady seems to have held a grudge for some reason, why? Is it because he repaired the table? Eh! Is it that he shouldn’t have? Kenshin fell into a quagmire of questions after Yuki’s reaction to his skill.

“Wow! Look would you look at that?”

“What was that just now? Did the table just repaired itself?”

“Are you mad? How can it repair itself, it must be the effect of a skill!” a woman in her forties argued while viewing the clip with her mobile.

“It must be Time Manipulation! Unexpectedly there is someone who can control time!” a fat, bespectacled man muttered as he adjusted his glasses into his nose, as he stood in a 45-degree pose.

“Dude, it seems you have seen too many sci-fi movies. How can there be Time Manipulation? Is time’s something that can be controlled?” another man wearing a red t-shirt mocked.

“What do you know? There is a hunter in Europe who has a skill that allowed him to teleport long distances, isn't that the best case of space-time manipulation?” the glass wearing fat man argued as he stamped his foot on the ground in frustration.

Zoning out all the discussion in the background, Lily, the assistant looked at Kenshin intently. She knew Yuki didn’t have a skill, so it wasn’t her work. That leaves only this man. She could only stare at him in astonishment.

Kenshin felt like sitting on pins and needles under the stare of the stoic lady. Looking at her in the eye, he asked “What?”

“Is that perhaps, time manipulation?” regaining her composure after Kenshin’s question, she adjusted her posture and asked with narrowed eyes.

“Ah! Umm! No! but something similar.” Kenshin didn’t deny or agreed with her claim. He had no obligation to explain her skills to her, he wasn’t a two-bit villain or an antihero after all. He was just a normal man turned hunter trying to live his days a little better than yesterday.

“Is that so! I see! I am sorry for asking such a presumptuous question.” She closed her eyes and bowed a little before going back to her seat near Yuki. Since the show has ended, the crowd was also cleared with the help of the manager, leaving behind Kenshin, the fainted man, and Yuki with her assistant.

After that another waiter came served them another cup of coffee, the costliest one on the menu, claiming that it was on the house. Thanking him, Kenshin, Yuki as well as her assistant, Lily enjoyed it.

During this time, Kenshin explained the problems he was facing under the insistence of Yuki. After listening to everything, not only Yuki, even the ever stoic Lily showed a bit of anger and disgust on her face at the mention of child porn racket. But it also gave everyone a problem to think about. During this time, a few soldiers from DCB came and brought the fainted man to their office in a stretcher. He would surely rage and rave when he would later know that he was carried off in a stretcher out of all things under the gaze of many people. With gleaming eyes, Yuki and Lily were looking forward to that.

During this time, while they all were brainstorming about this problem, suddenly Lily came up with a brilliant strategy. It was also in line with Kenshin’s initial plan of isolating that Kawakuchi family off all their allies.

The plan was so perfect that Kenshin couldn’t help but give her hats off. He also secretly became scared of the viciousness of these women.