Apathy to Patrol

For some reason, Mana was a little less inclined to talk to me after that conversation.

Still, in terms of appearance, she was very much my type. With long, brown hair, touched with blue and a cute face, there was nothing to complain about. She had a small button nose and large, bright amber eyes. In a way, she was much more attractive to me than Aiko or even Bella. If I ever was to date someone for real, she'd be the type of person I'd like—physically, at least.

Well, I still feel distant from the concept of love or even relationships in general. I guess the side effects of the Ideal Human Project were still up and kicking in my blood. Maybe I'll try to feel something, although it's not really something you can force, is it?

"You're staring at me again..."

"Sorry. There are only so many places I can look."

"Just... don't look at me for so long... it's embarrassing."

Maybe her personality could be better, but I didn't mind these types of frank, cold girls.

After a little while, we met up with the rest of the search-and-rescue squad.

There weren't very many people, maybe around ten or twelve maximum. For such a large area, if this was the only team they had, it would make sense why they were so desperately requesting support from other cities.

"We've got a lot of ground to cover, everyone."

The supposed leader stood up, trying to organise the scattered members.

"For everyone here who hasn't met Oliver and Mana, they are from Yokusuka. In the case you run into any espers, make sure to contact us immediately so we can send them over. They're from the 21st regiment of Spectrum-Judgement and are here to provide physical aid."

"Thank goodness! We'll finally have a way to properly fight back against their stronger espers."

From what I witnessed before, it was clear that many of these members of the police weren't too capable in combat. Against an esper with good control of their powers, there wasn't much they could do.

"We'll split up into four squads. I'll be going with Oliver and Mana. The rest of you should know what you're doing?"

There was some outcry in the group.

"H-how come you're with the members of Spectrum? I almost died yesterday, I think I should stay with them."

"I've already organised the rest of the groups."

"That's not fair! Who knows if they'll actually be able to arrive before we all get killed!"

"This is all we can do with our current manpower."

More police officers joined the argument, things were starting to get out of hand. From shouting to grabbing, aggression in the group was rapidly rising.

Mana walked up to the leader and grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"Oliver and I will go alone. Contact us via the walkie-talkie. I'm not here to work with a bunch of idiots who spend their entire time arguing."

With that, she began stomping away. Grabbing me by the collar, she pulled me along. Eventually, the two of us were separated from the group.

"Ugh... I hate people like them... All they care about is themselves. Having us here is a privilege. We're being paid very little for our contributions after all!" Mana complained.

"I suppose so. We don't really know this area too well though. Are you sure we'll make it in the case that they're attacked?"

"We'll manage. I don't want to stick around that guy either, he seems really annoying."

"Do you not find me annoying? You were complaining about me looking at you before."

"W-well... you're diff... no, I can't just go around by myself, can I? I'd be lonely."

"If you say so."

Patrolling through the street, I looked around for any survivors nearby. I could see various supplies scattered throughout the ground, from broken bags to empty food containers. I assumed that there should be some people close by since there were so many items on the ground.

"Oliver, there's someone over there."

Pointing toward the rubble underneath a building, Mana quickly made her way over.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked.

In the broken plaster, cement and dirt, two boys were hiding. Peeking their heads out of the debris, they looked up at Mana.

"W-who are you...? Have you come to take us?"

"We're part of the rescue team. We won't hurt you."

"R-really...?"

Slowly pulling what looked like his brother, the two boys made their way to Mana.

"So what now?" I asked.

"They can follow us until we arrive back at the camp. I'll stand in front and you can stand behind."

They followed us, staying a few metres behind Mana. I was behind them, watching as the three of them walked through the street. They didn't look like the type of people I could make into my tools, so I decided to just wait and see if anyone else shows up.

A few minutes later, we found another group of survivors. It looked to be a family, a mother and her two children. Making their way out of the rubble, they too joined our group.

We were set to go on a loop, eventually arriving back at the camp where the rest of our regiment was staying.

Suddenly, Mana received a message through her walkie-talkie.

"...help! T-there's an... esper... krrr... help...!"

"What do we do now," I asked.

We still had some survivors with us so we couldn't just leave them by themselves. At most, only one of us could leave at a time.

"Do you want to go or do you want to stay?"

I had a thought about it. Going would give me a good opportunity to look around the area by myself.

"I'll go."

"Alright, I'll go straight to the camp and come meet you afterwards."

"You should take your time. I'll be fine."

"If you say so. Just make sure you stay safe, Aiko won't be happy with me if you go back injured."

"I'll try my best."