"Anomaly Code [Impostor]..."
"They can infiltrate human brains and replace the host; their method of spread is a terrifying, fission-like proliferation..."
"Kitahara-kun, this intelligence is crucial. We'll mobilize a team to track and investigate immediately!"
Upon hearing Kitahara's report on the "Impostors," the Bureau officials on the other end of the video call wore grave expressions and sprang into action.
Although Kitahara was just a high school student, he had single-handedly saved hundreds of thousands of lives during the Kamakura Mist Incident; naturally, his reports were treated with the utmost seriousness.
As for whether Kitahara might be spouting nonsense—that hardly mattered.
If he were merely joking, the worst outcome would be a waste of some manpower and resources; however, if his report proved accurate, it would undoubtedly be classified as a top-tier anomaly.
Anyone with a basic grasp of mathematics knows just how terrifying an entity capable of fission-like spread can be. In less than a month, the entire population of Tokyo could be replaced by Impostors, and within six months, the whole Earth would fall...
"That's all for now. I'll let you know if I get any new information."
Kitahara ended the video call and then casually crushed the spider-like monster in his hand:
"Let the tall guys hold up the sky when it falls. Dealing with the Impostor anomaly is a huge hassle—naturally, that's a job for the Bureau."
Slipping his phone into his pocket, Kitahara looked at Reiko:
"Reiko-san, where is your mother?"
"Mom is a housewife. She was at home and hadn't gone out when I left this morning."
Reiko had already put her clothes back on; upon hearing this, she looked at him eagerly, clasping her hands to her chest with a pleading gaze:
"My house isn't far; we can get there in less than half an hour."
Kitahara gave a slight nod:
"We're done with school matters for now; we can head over."
"Thank you, Kitahara-kun!"
Reiko immediately bowed ninety degrees in gratitude, her small face filled with thankfulness:
"As long as mom is safe and sound, I'll do anything!"
Kitahara's tone took on a subtle nuance:
"Anything at all?"
"Huh?"
Reiko blinked, her face flushing crimson as who-knows-what images flashed through her mind. "W-well, sure... as long as Kita-chan agrees..."
I haven't even made the request yet—why are you asking for Kita's opinion beforehand?!
"Don't take advantage of people, Kitahara-kun." Kita planted her hands on her hips and shot him a reproachful look with her bright eyes. "Reiko-chan is my person, after all!"
Kitahara raised his hands. "I just wanted Reiko-san to solve a couple of advanced calculus problems."
Reiko: "..."
Once they had tidied up, Kitahara prepared to leave the student council office; Reiko took the lead, and naturally, Kita tagged along with him.
"I'll go with you all."
A cool, clear voice suddenly rang out. Matsusaka stepped forward to stand beside Reiko, her tone earnest:
"Reiko is my friend. Naturally, I should stand by her side at a time like this."
"Matsusaka-senpai..."
Reiko's eyes welled up with tears, deeply moved.
"No problem." Kitahara didn't mind at all. "Let's all go together, then."
"Phew..."
Seeing Kitahara agree, Matsusaka breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Wanting to be by her friend's side was one reason, but there was another she hadn't voiced... She was terrified; it felt as though the campus was crawling with Impostors. Only by staying close to Kitahara could she feel truly safe.
The four of them left the student council office. As they headed downstairs, Kitahara spoke:
"Kita, send a message to everyone explaining the situation. Tell them to gather at my place first and not to go outside for now."
The Impostors' camouflage abilities were incredibly potent—even Supernatural Vision couldn't spot any flaws. With no telling how many Impostors were currently in Tokyo, staying outdoors was far too dangerous.
Once home, they would have Hana's protection; mere Impostors with a measly fifty HP were nothing compared to her.
"Mission accepted."
Kita raised her hand in a salute, pulled her phone from her bag, and began sending a group message to the girls to explain the situation.
Just as they reached the top of the stairs, Kitahara suddenly stopped and raised his right hand, signaling them to halt.
The three girls following him
instantly stopped in their tracks. "Kitahara-kun, what is it?"
Kita asked in a low voice.
"...Domain Expansion."
Kitahara snapped his fingers lightly. The three girls felt an invisible ripple of water silently wash over them, and the ambient noise around them suddenly vanished into silence.
[Ability: Domain of Silence]
[Category: Active]
[Description: Activating this domain requires continuous mental energy consumption; the range is adjustable, with larger areas consuming more energy. While active, it randomly silences one of the enemy's abilities and masks all activity occurring within the domain.]
Only after activating the domain did Kitahara speak:
"That girl downstairs is an [Imposter]."
[Supernatural Vision] couldn't distinguish Imposters, so Kitahara hadn't deactivated his [HP Bar Warrior] ability. A casual glance had revealed a red HP bar—showing fifty health points—floating above the head of an ordinary-looking girl downstairs... There was no doubt about it; she was a Imposter.
Kita blinked and asked in a whisper:
"Kitahara-kun, you just activated a domain, didn't you?"
Kitahara nodded slightly. "I did."
"Then we're safe." Kita breathed a sigh of relief and stood on tiptoe to look downstairs. "Let me see who the Imposter is... Ah, it's Hanaki-senpai from the third year!"
Kitahara looked over, speechless. "How do you know everyone, Kita?"
"Hanaki-senpai is a senior in the Calligraphy Club; I've helped out there before..." Kita bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with worry. "I haven't seen her in just a few days—when did she turn into a Imposter? I hope everyone else in the Calligraphy Club is okay..."
"So, there really are other Imposters in the school..."
Matsusaka felt a pang of anxiety, feeling incredibly fortunate that she had chosen to stick with Kitahara.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Even though it was a sunny afternoon on campus, the place now felt like a terrifying den of monsters; one never knew if a classmate passing by might actually be a horrific Imposter.
Kitahara looked down:
"Wait a moment. It looks like that Imposter-senpai is targeting us."
The three girls instantly held their breath, waiting nervously.
A moment later. The Imposter-possessed upperclassman walked up the stairs with an expressionless face, brushing past Kitahara and the other three as she headed toward the student council office—her destination clearly defined.
"It really is Hanamuki-senpai," Kita said, biting her lower lip. "I remember her having such a gentle smile; she was such a cheerful senior. I never imagined she'd be parasitized by an Imposter."
Matsusaka watched the Imposter-possessed senior pass by, her tone filled with surprise:
"It looks like she can't see us?"
"I forgot to mention this earlier," Kita said, slapping her forehead. "Once Kitahara-kun activates his Domain, as long as we stay close to him, we gain 'group invisibility.' Of course, it's not just invisibility; people outside the Domain can't detect us even if we talk, move around, or sing at the top of our lungs."
"I see..."
Matsusaka couldn't help but lift her bright eyes and steal a glance at Kitahara.
(Those 'celebrity' exorcists you see online... they don't seem anywhere near as capable as Kitahara-kun... Someone this powerful has surely transcended the realm of ordinary humans, right?)
"Let's follow her."
Kitahara stepped forward to follow the Imposter-possessed senior.
The three girls didn't hesitate to follow suit.
"It feels like playing a 'stalking' game—except this time, we're doing it right out in the open..."
Reiko muttered under her breath.
Kitahara raised an eyebrow and looked over: "Reiko-san, you've played stalking games before?"
"N-no, I haven't!" Reiko hurriedly covered her mouth, her face flushing crimson as she stammered and darted her eyes away. "I've never played that kind of... naughty game!"
If you can't lie, don't force yourself—the look of guilt is written all over your face!
As they spoke, the four of them arrived back at the entrance of the student council office.
Kitahara simply grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open.
Since the Domain was active, it formed a sphere centered on Kitahara, so there was no need to worry about the act of opening the door attracting attention. "Let's go inside."
The three girls followed cautiously behind Kitahara as they entered the office. Upon looking up, they saw the "Imposter Senpai" standing before the desk, expressionlessly examining the traces of the battle.
Snap.
Kitahara lightly snapped his fingers, deactivating the Domain.
The very next second—
The Imposter Senpai's head whipped around a full 180 degrees, her cold, emotionless eyes fixing upon them.
"Ah..."
Reiko let out a soft gasp at the terrifying movement.
"She's spotted us."
"I was the one who deactivated the Domain," Kitahara said calmly. "So, Senpai—what brings you to the Student Council?"
The Imposter Senpai didn't seem intent on dropping the facade just yet; a stiff smile appeared on her face.
"I came to apply for the budget for the school festival..."
Kitahara turned to look at Matsusaka behind him and spoke softly:
"Matsusaka-senpai, if I recall correctly, applying for event funds requires submitting an application form, right?"
"That's right," Matsusaka nodded seriously. "Every expense has to be logged, so a specific application form is mandatory—detailing the purpose of the funds, the amount requested, and so on."
Kitahara continued in a calm tone: "She's come empty-handed—there's no application form at all. In other words, the request for funds is a lie; she's actually here for another reason... perhaps to investigate what happened to a fellow Imposter?"
"..."
The stiff smile on the Imposter's face slowly faded away, leaving her expression blank as she stared at them.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're talking about."
Kitahara remained composed as he continued his analysis:
"It seems there's some sort of mysterious connection between Imposters. While the range of that connection is unclear, the information transmitted is obviously limited..."
The reason was simple.
If the Imposter Reiko had managed to transmit the news that she'd been casually crushed to death, the Imposter Senpai standing before them certainly wouldn't have dared to come here and throw her life away.
"Did she sense the death of one of her own kind?"
Kitahara speculated inwardly.
The Imposter Senpai had been examining the battle traces just moments ago; clearly, she had no idea what had actually transpired in the Student Council room. Of course, there might be other possibilities; the safest course of action would actually be to use the "Book of Answers," but since only one question remained for the day, Kitahara had absolutely no desire to squander it on a trivial matter like this.
Upon realizing her cover was truly blown, the Imposter Senpai decisively dropped her disguise: her eyes shifted into vertical slits, scales sprouted across her skin, and her mouth tore open to reveal a maw filled with razor-sharp fangs as she lunged at Kitahara like a wild beast.
Kitahara remained calm; as the Imposter Senpai lunged toward him, he simply extended his right hand and pressed his index finger directly against her forehead.
Thud.
The student—who had moments ago worn a ferocious expression—shuddered violently. Accompanied by a piercing scream, she collapsed limply to the ground, her body trembling uncontrollably like a frog on a dissection table.
Under the tense gaze of the three girls, a black liquid rapidly oozed from the senior's ears. A spider formed of that liquid stumbled out; it managed only two unsteady steps before its form could no longer hold together, causing it to disintegrate completely.
So, she was an Impostor, huh?
Sorry, but when it comes to "True Damage," all beings are equal.
A mere Impostor could hardly be tough enough to withstand an attack from Kitahara without taking damage. A single finger delivering a precise strike exceeding her maximum HP was all it took to secure an instant kill.
"Kitahara-kun is amazing!"
Reiko's eyes widened, filled with admiration.
"To think he took down such a terrifying Impostor with just one finger..."
Matsusaka clutched her chest with her right hand, her eyes sparkling as her heart pounded wildly.
"Hanaki-senpai!"
Kita, free of such romantic musings, quickly ran over to help the fallen senior up.
"Thank goodness, she's still breathing..."
Kita let out a sigh of relief after placing a finger under the girl's nose and detecting breath, though her expression quickly turned anxious again:
"Kitahara-kun, come quick! Hanaki-senpai's heartbeat is incredibly slow, and there's absolutely no sign of her waking up."
Kitahara crouched down and briefly examined the unconscious senior's condition:
"It seems that remaining an Impostor for too long causes severe physical damage, even after the Impostor spider itself is destroyed."
Kita looked up at him: "Can a Panacea cure her?"
"It's unclear for now," Kitahara said softly. "Let's call the Bureau to send someone for her treatment first, then go deal with Reiko-san's Impostor mother."
Kita bit her lower lip: "I suppose that's our only option..."
The Bureau acted swiftly; not long after Kitahara made the call, two staff members arrived on the scene. After a brief exchange, two staff members took Senior Hanamuki away for medical treatment, and Kitahara asked them to arrange a car to take him straight to Reiko's place.
Twenty minutes later.
The car pulled up beside an old-fashioned apartment complex.
Kitahara stepped out of the car, silently activated his ability—"HP Bar Warrior"—and scanned his surroundings.
An elderly woman walking her dog, a woman carrying supermarket shopping bags, junior high students returning from school... residents were coming and going, looking no different from ordinary people. Yet, to Kitahara, almost every resident had a "Mimic" HP bar hovering above their head, showing a health value of a few dozen points.
"So many Mimics..."
Kita's eyes widened, and she nervously covered her mouth with both hands; on the way over, curiosity had led her to ask Kitahara to share the "HP Bar Warrior" ability with her.
"Oh no, we've walked right into a Mimic nest!"