Junko

Outside of the restaurant, the thugs have their faces kissing the mother earth while being confused about what just happen to them in milliseconds. The waitress continues displaying the weight of her words to the troublemakers by making them levitate on the air, then she throws them away with a push. While the others are to surprised to do anything, Chella immediately goes outside and approaches the waitress.

"Finally an Esper besides myself. Am glad to meet you, the name's Chella."

"Do we know each other?"

"You were one of the missing children that we needed to find and protect."

"You're not affiliated with those dastardly scientist, are you?"

"No, we're the good guys."

"There are more of you?"

"Yes and we're all Apex except for the old man."

"Ah, so you are wielders of Addition as well."

"What now?"

Nova and the other two just catch up to Chella only to be confused by the waitress Junko using a terminology I they've never heard of. Seeing the reactions, Junko assumes that it was due to Apexes only recently showing up in the region. This also means that she hailed from somewhere faraway, yet now she stands here.

Beginning with the explanation, she tells them that people rumored Apexes to be an enhanced sapient variation of humans. They were bestowed extra genes that ingrained a significant change through exposure to dust particles. Those infected found themselves able to do things they normally couldn't. Each of them had an additional ability, hence people dubbed the manifested abilities as Additions.

Turns out that each Addition has its own name chosen by its wielder. Because once you got infected with dust particles, your Addition would permanently be a part of you. It isn't too hard for everyone to come of with names that tie to them. Nova has gotten over the guilt she always had.

Realizing that she's still in work hours, Junko tells Chella and CO to continue with their meal. The group go back to the seats and finish the meal after few minutes. They decide to wait for the waitress to finish her work routine. When it's time to close the restaurant, the owner presses a button on a small remote, shrinking the entire place into the size of a dollhouse. Junko politely rejects the offer of a staff member to ride her home. Chella takes the opportunity to talk to her.

"Would you like to come with us?"

"No thanks, I could walk home by myself."

"But it's late, who knows what kind of people could appear around this vast land."

"I could protect myself like you saw earlier. Don't waste my time."

"But I insist-"

"Chella, let her go. If she doesn't need us, just leave her be."

"I agree with her, she looks like someone with quite an experience."

Convinced by her companions, Chella lets Junko go by herself. The group enter the vehicle and set off on the road under the night sky. At least one of the people they need to find is confirmed to be safe and sound. The wheels start rolling as Nova closes the door. The telepath herself hopes that Junko could come along with them but doesn't want to force her on it. Peaceful as the night is, she wonders if she could gather everyone and have a get-together. But for now, she knows that Junko will be fine by herself.

Meanwhile, Junko is walking on dusted path to the place she calls her home. It is located in a town not to far from where she is right now. When she first settled in, she accidentally got involved in a fight and became someone respected by the townspeople for the display of her Addition. In the present time, people only admire her from afar without daring to see what she could do on her whim.

Having finally arrived at her comfort zone, she only finds the place to be in a mess. The iron container which she used as a makeshift shelter is now a mess inside. There's a letter hanging on the wall, threatening to destroy her mother's heirloom if she doesn't come to the old bunker outside of town before midnight. One of the things that help her live on was a necklace gifted to her by her deceased mother. It must have been someone she fought that sought to revenge on her. She clenches her fits and vow that no one shall get away with taking the necklace from her.

With that, she follows the letter's instruction and depart out of the town. Standing in front of the door of a centuries-old bunker, she ventures in the tiger's den while readying herself to knock down anything that gets in the way. To her expectation, she is greeted by armed men aiming their weapons at her. But it's nothing more than a child's play to an Apex possessing a versatile ability like her.

The men take turns being throw away to the corners, some try to attack but are disarmed quickly. A few man are attempting to corner her but she knocks them away by stretching out her arms in two opposite directions. Eventually, she faces the one behind this - a guy that she had no issues dealing with. He's a tall white man with a tiger tattoo on his back with dark brown hair.

"Tiger, what is the point of this? How dare you make a mess out of my house?"

"Hm! I just couldn't let go of the humiliation you gave me. I won't tolerate being beaten by a girl."

"You were pathetic back then but now you're even more pathetic, enough of this already."

"Nuh uh, I will show you what I'm made of tonight."

He then start attacking by launching to yellow slash beams with a swing. She manages to dodge them but he launches another pair of beams. She stands on an iron plate and levitates in order to avoid the attack. Her opponents has a visible impression of her Addition but he won't back down until his ego is sated. Two iron pipes are dragged of their spots as she remotely throws them at the man. He barely dodges it and takes his turn attacking.

"Your ability is impressive but it won't outmatch me and my Sharp Shredder."

"Then you haven't seen the full extend of Psyche Strike."

"Then how about this? Don't you care what happens to this precious necklace of yours?"

The guy suddenly show the item Junko searches for in his palm and threatens to damage it. It's a precious gift her mother left for her and yet right now some bastard dares to lay his hands on the object that she has been treasuring for years of enduring grief and anger. She knows that this is a weakness that the enemy has found in her and now she has to suffer the consequence of carelessness.

Noticing that Junko is staggering, Tiger launches a slash beam at her and she can't dodge in time. She ends up having a cut on her right arm. The moment she fights back, he will destroy the necklace so she can't do anything. The filthy guy keeps attacking her and she barely dodges all of the beams. More cuts has appeared on her body.

"It would be bad to kill you off right away. I should put your body to good use first."

"!"

Such words somehow remind of the overwhelming frustration on one particular day that put a complete end to the happiness she once had. Blood runs thicker in her veins as the feeling comes back to her. Her breathing becomes more and more out of pace. Tiger notices the change in her demeanor but believes that she is scared now that he had the advantage, yet her mumbling indicates otherwise.

Junko tries to breath steadily to calm herself as strands of hair cover her face. She begin mumbling to herself amiss the situation. Tiger, having grown bored of the impending silence, decides to approach her. But he stops his track the moment she lifts her face upward, looking at him.

"Remember... when I said... you'd yet to see the full... extend of my... Addition?"

"Yeah? What of it? As long as your precious necklace is in my hand, you can't harm me."

"I doubt that..."

Suddenly, he notices disbalance in his steps. It turns out that... his body is being disjoined and divided into pieces horizontally. He can't understand how it happened, the girl was supposed to only have the power to levitate stuff. In truth, her fearsome Addition does not have only one capability. She can actually split molecule structures if she focus on them. And thus, Tiger is shredded into meat slices. That is the consequence of underestimating your opponent.

He can only let out a few coughing before his organs officially enter an eternal slumber. Junko retrieves her necklace and tries her best to walk out of the place despite the bleeding. She leans on the bunker walls to move forward and eventually collapses on the ground after passing through the entrance door.

She refuses to accept that her journey will end up unfinished due to a mistake of hers. Yet, she regrets not taking the advices of her fellow co-workers to take a better care of herself. She's disappointed in not completing the task before meeting her mother in the afterlife. However, destiny seems to have given her another chance. When she faints due to blood loss, she has a quick glance of the familiar faces approaching but she doesn't remember them.

...

In the next day, Evaline and Nova are taking care of the wounded Junko while Chella discusses something with Gilbert. The two of them have notified her co-workers that she is wounded so they will let her take break for a few days. Bit updates them with the information it has found about Tiger and his men. Turns out they are a part of the rumored Apex Legion and their superior has the same rank as Reynaldo, known as The Lion. This means the group will face a bigger threat that is stronger than all they've overcome.

For the moment, they need to wait until Junko recovers fully and have a thorough discussion with her, hoping that she could come along on the journey.