Random in Randomizer world

After some time and continued lessons, it was finally lunch break.

Utaha brought her lunch from home, while Jin headed to the school cafeteria to get his meal.

Utaha offered to share her food with him, but he declined. His purpose for visiting the cafeteria wasn't just food; he wanted to see if he could meet any acquaintances.

"Hiratsuka-san?!" Jin turned to see someone surprised to spot him. It was Marin Kitagawa.

"Good afternoon, Kitagawa-san."

"Oh… Good afternoon to you too!" Marin was thrilled to see that Jin was a fellow student at her school.

In her mind, she pondered how to approach this extraordinary agent without disrupting his work or coming across as bothersome.

Her curiosity had been piqued since Jin saved her, so she had sought answers about him from agents dressed in black. However, they refused to tell her anything, insisting she forget the incident entirely.

For someone as inquisitive as Marin, their responses were far from satisfying, so she kept thinking about how to ask Jin and talk to him.

By coincidence, he was a student at Sabo High School, just like her. That made things so much better!

Marin's enthusiasm practically lit a fire behind her, and Jin, noticing this, quickly spoke up.

"I'm heading to the cafeteria to grab something. Would you like anything?" Jin's question pulled Marin out of her daydream, and after a moment of thought, she shook her head to decline.

Jin nodded in response and moved through the crowd until he reached the lady serving food.

After picking up ten portions of beef sandwiches, he returned to Marin, who had waited for him.

"Do you need something from me, Kitagawa-san?" Jin looked around and saw no sign of his acquaintances, sighing in disappointment as he asked Marin, who stood waiting for him.

"Hiratsuka-san, why didn't I see you at the opening ceremony if you're a student here?"

"Second-year student," Jin replied, already planning to head to the rooftop. He hadn't forgotten about the cat, so he bought an extra portion of food to give to it.

"So you're a senpai! You wouldn't mind if I called you Jin-senpai, would you?" Marin asked cheerfully, stepping closer.

With the girl's obvious excitement, Jin didn't feel like saying no. However, a sense of déjà vu quickly overcame him.

In the morning, it had been Miko. During lunch, it was Marin. Who would it be in the evening?

On second thought, considering how many acquaintances he had who called him "senpai" because he was older, it no longer made much of a difference to him.

He nodded in response and chatted with Marin for a bit. When she learned he was heading to the rooftop, she decided to join him for some conversation. Jin didn't mind a bit of company.

"So, since when have you been fighting these kinds of monsters, Jin-senpai?" As soon as they closed the rooftop door and Jin sat on the ground, Marin joined him and asked.

"For nine years." Marin looked at Jin in shock. She couldn't imagine what kind of life would require an eight-year-old child to fight.

"Don't let your imagination run wild, okay?" Jin reminded her, noticing the sadness growing in her eyes.

He had enjoyed it and wasn't forced into it, okay?

"But it must have been hard, right?"

"Well, at first, I was trembling just standing in front of the monsters, but now they no longer pose a threat to me." Jin chuckled at the memory, recalling how he had barely known how to wield a sword.

The skills he inherited from King Arthur didn't include the king's memories. While Jin had the abilities, he had to refine them himself. As a result, he spent the past nine years training relentlessly.

He wanted to develop immense strength to face the unknown and protect his loved ones and friends.

"So, are you really strong, Jin-senpai?" Marin asked, and Jin nodded, adding, "The strongest in the organization. There are a few people close to my level, but everyone calls me the strongest."

She didn't stop there and kept asking questions about his training, strength, and other details.

Jin answered all her questions, though he avoided sharing details that could harm her. He ensured that she understood her encounter was an anomaly humans typically don't deal with monsters.

Jin realized that Marin's curiosity about the strange world he dealt with was unquenchable, even if it posed a danger to her.

It was human nature to seek knowledge about the unknown.

And once the veil separating worlds is lifted, curiosity can become lethal.

"The things you deal with, Jin-senpai, are truly terrifying." Marin couldn't imagine having the strength to face such crises repeatedly and still smile.

"Adaptation is the only way to handle these things."

"Let's stop talking about me. Here." Jin handed Marin one of the beef sandwiches he'd bought, noticing her enthusiasm might make her skip lunch.

Marin accepted it, thanked him, and observed that he had finished all but one of the sandwiches.

Earlier, she had asked him about his appetite, which turned out to be enormous.

He could eat a feast meant for ten grown men on his own without any trouble.

"Are you saving the last sandwich, Jin-senpai?" She curiously eyed the remaining sandwich as Jin looked around.

"For a cat, I found it stuck on the rooftop this morning, so I decided to feed it and let it out after school." However, with no sign of the cat in sight, Jin ate the last sandwich himself.

With their lunch break over, Jin and Marin returned to their respective classes.

The rest of the school day passed quietly and without any incidents for Jin or any strange phenomena.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Jin asked Utaha as she packed her personal belongings.

"Not today. I'm not going home I have business with the chief editor at the publishing house."

The two bid each other goodbye, and Jin didn't bother visiting Shizuka, assuming she might be busy with staff meetings.

As Jin prepared to leave, he remembered the cat and felt curious to check if it was still there.

When he opened the rooftop door, the cat was indeed there, as if waiting for him.

It jumped straight into his arms, purring to show its comfort with him.

"Let's keep it for just one day," Jin told himself. It was too late to take it to an adoption center, so he planned to drop it off tomorrow.

Jin finally reached his apartment. As he entered, he followed his usual routine of tossing his shirt aside and setting the cat down.

On his way back, he had stopped by a pet supply store and bought some cat food.

"Here, your food," Jin said, pointing to the bag of food as he went to take a warm bath.

While soaking in the tub, he pulled out his phone to check the latest news, only to find several unread messages.

[Brynhilda]: "What are you doing?"

[Brynhilda]: "I just finished a funny mission. There was this little girl…"

[Brynhilda]: "Why aren't you responding?"

[Brynhilda]: "Did you die?"

Noticing the messages sent at various times, Jin smacked his forehead for forgetting to enable notifications.

"Brynhilda is understanding, so there's no need to worry."

[Jin]: "Today was my first day at school, and I forgot to turn on notifications. Sorry."

As if she had been waiting patiently, Brynhilda replied in a second.

[Brynhilda]: "No worries. When do you have free time?"

[Jin]: "Maybe during the weekend. Why?"

[Brynhilda]: "Partnering with Ägir on missions will kill me someday."

[Jin]: "…Thanks for your hard work."

Jin could imagine the pain Brynhilda went through with Ägir—one methodical and detail-oriented, the other chaotic and using brute force to solve everything.

[Brynhilda]: "We have a date this weekend. See you later."

[Jin]: "…Missions aren't dates, Brynhilda."

[Brynhilda]: "This user is out of service."

Jin shook his head and stopped thinking about it. They'd meet later, so what was the point of arguing?

But just as he exited his conversation with Brynhilda, another message popped up.

[Ägir]: "Jin! Let's hang out this weekend!"

…

"You've got to be kidding me," Jin thought.