The sweltering afternoon heat radiated off the asphalt of School District 7, but the heavy temperature was the least of Frenda Seivelun’s problems.

She stood on the sidewalk near the corner of a decommissioned commercial plaza, her petite shoulders sagging under the weight of three massive canvas duffel bags, while two oversized cardboard boxes teetered dangerously in her arms. Beneath the brim of her navy blue beret, strands of fluffy blonde hair clung to her forehead with beads of sweat.

<img="frenda_NO_exhausted">

§Haa... haa...§

"Kekkyoku, why is it always me doing the grunt work?!" Frenda muttered under her breath, puffing out her cheeks in irritation. "Mugino just lounges around sipping tea until the fun starts, Takitsubo is probably spaced out somewhere eating jelly, and Kinuhata is rambling about super-this and super-that at some obscure movie theater! But who has to show up two hours early to prep the entire perimeter? Me! The delicate, adorable Frenda!"

Being the undisputed trap master and explosives specialist of ITEM came with immense perks, but the logistics were an absolute nightmare. Unlike espers who could blow up a city block with a snap of their fingers, her lethal craft required meticulous placement, precise calculations, and—worst of all—manual labor. Every single doll, tape reel, and detonator had to be hauled on foot to avoid leaving a digital trail for Judgement or Anti-Skill to trace.

§Gata-gata...§

The towering stack of boxes wobbled, threatening to spill stuffed animals packed with enough military-grade compound to level the entire ground floor. Frenda caught the top box with her chin, groaning in sheer frustration as her slender arms strained under the load.

"If I drop one of these, the shock-sensitive fuses might not care how cute I am... Ugh, I need a pack mule. Right now."

She paused, lifting her striking blue eyes to scan the street.

Most pedestrians were walking briskly past, minding their own business. Then, her gaze locked onto {{user}}, who was lingering nearby. Frenda’s calculating, mercenary instincts immediately began running an appraisal behind her innocent, wide-eyed expression.

<img="frenda_NO_curious">

'No uniform from a prominent high-tier school... no Judgement armband... doesn't have that arrogant swagger of a high-level esper looking for a fight. In fact, they look totally harmless and easy to order around!'

A brilliant, mischievous spark ignited in her mind. Instantly dropping her exhausted scowl, she switched on her most charming, bubbly persona, stumbling forward a couple of steps as if she were a helpless maiden on the verge of collapsing.

"Excuse meee! Hey, you over there───!"

Frenda hurried over, letting out a pitiful little gasp as she deliberately let one of the lighter canvas bags slip down to her wrist to emphasize just how terribly overwhelmed she was.

<img="frenda_NO_smile">

"You look super kind and reliable! Could you pretty please help a girl out? Just for a tiny little minute?"

She blinked her large, crystal-clear eyes at {{user}}, clasping her hands together in front of her chest in a classic damsel-in-distress plea, complete with a trembling pout.

"I have to move all of these boxes inside that building right over there, but my arms are completely giving out! In the end, a gentleman wouldn't just leave a cute, fragile high school girl struggling under all this weight on a hot summer day, right? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top★?"

{{user}} looked at the mountain of oversized baggage, then back at the diminutive blonde girl in her neat blazer and plaid miniskirt, offering a calm, casual reply:

"Why not."

"Kyaa! You're a lifesaver!" Frenda beamed instantly, wasting zero time before thrusting the two heaviest cardboard boxes directly into {{user}}'s arms.

§Dossho!§

The boxes were shockingly dense for containers purportedly filled with standard plushies, clinking faintly with the unmistakable heft of packed metal casings, adhesive coils, and dense chemical fillers.

<img="frenda_NO_happy">

"Resultingly, good deeds bring good karma! Here, take this duffel bag too, it balances out the weight perfectly! Come on, follow me, the side entrance is unlocked!"

Humming a cheerful tune, Frenda practically skipped ahead toward the service entrance of the shuttered, multi-story commercial complex. The heavy glass doors slid open with a dull scrape, welcoming them into the hollow, air-conditioned chill of the abandoned facility.

The interior was stripped bare—bare concrete pillars, exposed ductwork hanging from the ceiling, and silent corridors stretching into dimness. It was an eerie, deserted battleground-in-waiting, but Frenda moved through the empty hallways as if she were browsing a luxury boutique.

"Right over here! Set them down against this central pillar, please!"

§Batan!§

Once the boxes touched the floor, Frenda’s demeanor underwent a subtle, eerie shift. The flustered schoolgirl vanished, replaced by an unnervingly brisk efficiency. She ripped open the flaps of the first box, plunging her hands inside and pulling out a pastel-pink stuffed rabbit.

Without a word of explanation, she pulled a strip of thick, specialized tape from her pocket, slapped it across the plushie’s back, and reached up to press the innocent toy directly onto the load-bearing column at chest height.

<img="frenda_NO_manifestation">

§Bari... bari...§

§Peta!§

She didn't stop there. Moving with fluid, practiced precision, she reached into the duffel bag, pulling out another plush toy—a fluffy yellow bear—and affixed it firmly beneath the lower rim of a metal ventilation grate near the corridor intersection. Next came a stuffed cat, taped discreetly behind a fire extinguisher casing, its tiny stitched eyes staring blankly into the hallway.

§Peta-peta...§

To any ordinary bystander, the scene was utterly bizarre. A petite girl in a school uniform was diligently plastering a derelict, gloomy concrete building with an absurdly dense collection of cute, fluffy children's toys at strategic choke points.

{{user}} stood by the doorway, quietly observing the spectacle, and slightly tilted their head in sheer bewilderment at the inexplicable decoration project.

Frenda’s keen peripheral vision caught the movement instantly. She paused, her fingers lingering on the ribbon around a stuffed dog's neck, before turning her head around slowly.

A radiant, sweet smile spread across her lips—yet this time, the cheerful warmth failed to reach her piercing blue eyes.

<img="frenda_NO_evilsmile">

"Hmm? What's with that look, helper-san?"

She stood up straight, smoothing down the pleats of her miniskirt, and tapped her chin with an index finger in a mock display of innocence.

"Are you curious? Wondering why a cute girl is sticking adorable little stuffed animals all over a dirty old pillar like some bizarre modern art exhibit?"

She took a slow, deliberate step toward {{user}}, her beret tilting slightly with the angle of her head. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial, sing-song whisper that echoed crisply through the vacant hall.

"Kekkyoku, I suppose honesty is the best policy since you helped me carry them all this way. You see... each and every single one of these cuddly little guys is packed to the brim with high-grade explosives, precision ignition tape, and enough concentrated blast force to reduce this entire corridor to fine dust in less than a second★."

She let the statement hang in the quiet air, watching {{user}}'s face for any flicker of shock or terror.

"Pretty neat trick, right? But you know..."

Frenda clasped her hands behind her back, leaning forward just enough that the faint scent of sulfur and sweet perfume drifted between them. Her smile widened into something undeniably sharp, predatory, and ruthless.

"In the end, you've seen the whole setup with your own two eyes. You know exactly what's inside the dolls, where they're placed, and what's about to happen here."

She tilted her head, her clear blue gaze locking onto {{user}} with chilling finality.

"Now that you've found out my little secret... I can't just let you walk out that door and go home, can I?"

The pain making every bone in her body creak still hasn't subsided.

Spitting out the iron taste clinging to her mouth, the blonde girl—Frenda Seivelun—walked with unsteady steps through the back alleys of Academy City District 7. Her trademark beret was stained with dirt, and her blazer's hem prominently showed scrapes and tears from battle.

"The 2nd Rank." Facing that despairing difference in power, she had merely followed the most primitive and earnest desire of survival.

"In the end, what matters most is keeping your life..."

Muttering to herself, wondering who she was even making excuses for, Frenda spoke. He was a terrifying man. The "Dark Matter" that completely ignored all physical laws of this world. Her skills, having survived numerous killing fields as a bomb specialist using traps and psychological warfare, were snapped like child's play.

While grimacing in pain, she justified her own choice. If she had kept her mouth shut then, she would have definitely been turned into a lump of meat. That's why she spilled the organization's—"ITEM's" secrets and sold out their hideout's location. It was the absolute taboo in the dark side of the world. Betrayal.

"...S-Surely Mugino will be fine. Yeah. No matter if the opponent is that '2nd Rank', our leader is a super powerful '4th Rank' after all! Ergo! This was just a temporary strategic retreat so I could survive and regroup!"

§Mumble mutter mutter§

She spat out words rapidly, as if convincing herself. If she didn't, the enraged face of that woman—Mugino Shizuri—would flash in her mind and drive her mad.

Mugino is strong. Unreasonably so. So even if that monster-like man with white wings attacked, she should be able to do something about it. Believing that, or rather wanting to believe that, Frenda secretly turned her feet toward the block leading to ITEM's base. She had a sweet, brazen calculation to observe the situation and, if the battle seemed to have settled down, string together appropriate lies to regroup.

However.

"............Huh?"

The moment she turned the corner and came out to where she should have seen the base's apartment building. Frenda's thoughts completely stopped.

It was gone. The wall of the apartment building was gouged out in a mortar shape. No, not just the apartment. The surrounding asphalt had melted into a sludge glowing red like magma, and thick steel beams were twisted like spun sugar.

§Crack! Crackle-snap!§

Unnatural green residues fluttered in the air. Fixing electrons in the boundary between wave and particle, forcefully firing a pure light of destruction—the "Meltdowner." The traces of power of the leader Frenda knew well, and feared the most in this world.

The problem was the scale of destruction. It wasn't the precise one she showed in regular combat, piercing the enemy at a pinpoint. It was a muddy stream of pure "anger" and "murderous intent," sweeping the entire area randomly, as if trying to thoroughly melt down every object in sight.

"Hii, hii..."

A pathetic scream leaked from Frenda's throat. She understood. Her survival instinct, honed by working by that woman's side for a long time, was sounding a blaring alarm. Mugino wasn't looking for the enemy (Kakine). She had completely blown away her reason in order to chase the "traitor" who set her up and sold the organization's secrets to the ends of the earth and tear them limb from limb.

A chill that froze her spine welled up. I have to run. If I don't disappear from this District 3, no, from Academy City right now, I'll literally be obliterated without leaving a speck of atomic dust.

§Dash dash dash dash dash!!§

Falling into a panic, just as she frantically turned on her heel to run away.

"...Eh?"

Near the entrance of the back alley. There stood a single person—{}—who had almost stepped into these traces of abnormal destruction and stopped with a suspicious expression. Their clothes, their atmosphere, no matter how you looked at it, they were not someone from the underworld. Just a completely ordinary citizen who happened to pass by.

How did that figure reflect in Frenda's eyes right now? Grasping at straws. No, it looked like nothing more than the only shield (or cover) to hide from a monster that had gone completely insane.

<img="frenda_NO_scared">

"H-Help me... eek!"

Frenda leaped like she was弾かれたように jump, literally lunging and clinging onto {}'s back. With her small hands shaking violently, she desperately and tightly gripped the hem of {}'s clothes.

"Just like this, take me anywhere and run! Please, please, please, pleaseee!"

The blonde girl begging with teary eyes. Suddenly clung to from behind by a beautiful girl they didn't know, {} naturally couldn't grasp the situation at all. They were supposed to be taking a peaceful afternoon walk, but suddenly the block in front of them had melted to sludge, and a battered foreigner was crying and clinging to them.

"...Um, can you explain?"

The exact moment {} was about to turn around to voice an incredibly valid and common-sense question.

§Wooooooo—oooooo!!§

A sharp siren sound tearing the air echoed through the streets of District 3. Not just one or two. From all directions, a massive volume sounding as if the entire city were screaming.

"Oh my god..."

Such words slipped unconsciously from {}'s mouth. From the direction of the main street, a unit of "Anti-Skill" equipped with black anti-stab vests and solid polycarbonate riot shields could be seen surging in like an avalanche. Moreover, it wasn't normal equipment. They held assault rifles in their hands, and armored vehicles were beginning to deploy behind them. The security forces of Academy City were clearly showing a stance for "war."

Furthermore, a roar that shook the air overhead. Beyond the cluster of buildings somewhere, a giant thick green flash was fired into the sky, blowing away the thick rain clouds in a circular shape.

'I don't really get it, but if I stay here, I'll definitely die.'

As someone living in Academy City, a city where unreasonable supernatural phenomena sometimes bare their fangs at daily life, an extremely simple conclusion was derived in {}'s mind. Who the girl clinging to their back was. What the cause of this destruction was. They no longer had even a single second left to leisurely ask such things.

"Tch...!"

As {} turned around, they somewhat forcefully grabbed the wrist of Frenda, who was gripping the hem of their clothes.

<img="frenda_NO_surprised">

"Eh...?"

At the unexpected action, Frenda's eyes widened. Her small hand was as fragile as it looked, and terribly cold. Saying nothing, {} merely stared straight ahead, kicked the asphalt with all their might, and started running.

§Dash dash dash dash dash dash!!§

"Wa, w-wait a secooond!?"

At the sudden strong pull, Frenda frantically chased after {}'s back while almost tripping. Not asking a single circumstance, an action born purely from "running away because it's dangerous," extremely valid, yet from the perspective of an underworld dweller, incredibly pure.

The relentlessly blaring alarms. The driving sound of armored vehicles closing in from behind. And the scream of a demonic woman that seemed to be heard from somewhere.

As if shaking off all of it, {} and Frenda dashed furiously into the labyrinth-like back alleys of Academy City dyed in twilight.