“But the real reason was not that.” Said Naomi as she sipped her tea through the straw. She smiled when she tasted it and put it back on the table before continuing.
“She was like a stray when I first met her after her home was destroyed by Mugetsu.”
Melaine was surprised by what Naomi said and looked at Naomi with her eyebrow raised. She can’t believe that Naomi told Mischa and Hotaru about her mansion that was destroyed because she made her Lady uncomfortable.
Naomi felt Melaine’s gaze and turned to look at her while sending a signal through her gaze. ‘It’s okay.’
Melaine understood Naomi’s signal, turned to look at Mischa and Hotaru, and said. “Well, that was one of the things. But the real reason why I followed Lady Naomi was of course because of my love towards her! Her figure that reached out to me when I had nowhere to go managed to melt my old heart and I instantly fell in love with her.”
Naomi was impressed by Melaine's sudden act that exaggerated their meeting. While it was true that Naomi reached Melaine after she destroyed her mansion was because she thought that Melaine would be useful to her organization.
But right now she welcomed Melaine’s acting skill that seems managed to get Mischa and Hotaru's trust, although they were still wary towards her.
“I see, but Melaine was it?” Asked Mischa.
“Indeed! Melaine Monet at your service~”
“Melaine, you are a high-ranked Esper, aren’t you? If you have nowhere to go, you could always visit the Esper Association to seek refuge. I doubt they will deny the request from high-ranked Esper.” Explained Mischa which get a nod from Hotaru.
“Indeed, the Esper Association will provide a shelter for free for any Esper that seeks refuge. Especially if your home was destroyed by Mugetsu.” Added Hotaru.
Melaine’s smile dropped from her face when they mentioned the Esper Association. Naomi realized that and quickly defused the situation before Melaine was pissed again.
While that didn’t really matter for Naomi because Melaine that was pissed off was a rare sight for Naomi and that was amusing for her, she can’t risk any information leak regarding Melaine’s past relationship with the Esper Association. Especially the part where the history was different from what was written in the book.
“Mischa, I think it’s better if you didn’t ask her about that. She had some complicated things related to the Esper Association. Let’s just say that she was disappointed by them and cut all ties with the Esper Association.” Explained Naomi.
Mischa and Hotaru nodded in understanding. There were people like Melaine who had a bad relationship with the Esper Association in the past, that’s why they accepted the situation rather quickly.
“I see, then I apologize if by chance I offended you by my words.” Mischa apologized to Melaine and bowed her head a little which surprised Melaine.
“Me too, I apologize for that.” Hotaru also apologized to Melaine while bowing her head a little.
Melaine who was confused by the situation blinked her eyes several times and looked at Naomi. Naomi just smiled and sat with Melaine. “They are a good person, aren’t they?”
‘I see, so that was the reason why she befriend both of them although they are part of the Esper Association. I think I understand their character a little better right now.’ Thought Melaine as she smiled again.
“No problem! It has been around 80 years ago when I had a small scuffle with the Esper Association, so you don’t need to worry about that!”
Thud
This time Naomi hit Melaine’s head and created a loud thud sound the moment Melaine finished her sentence. Indeed Naomi told Melaine that Mischa and Hotaru are good people, but that doesn’t mean that she could tell them her identity as one of the oldest Esper!
Melaine who was hit in her head turned at Naomi with teary eyes while holding her head with both of her hands and whispered. “Why?”
Naomi only pointed at Mischa and Hotaru with her index finger to answer Melaine’s question. Melaine turned to look at Mischa and Hotaru whose mouths were opened and their eyebrows raised and chuckled a little.
“Ha-haha, did I mess up?” Melaine said as she scratched her cheek with her right hand as she turned to look at Naomi.
Naomi let out a long sigh and turned to look at Mischa and Hotaru. “You can close your mouth now, Mischa, Miss Nobi.”
With Naomi’s word, both of them snapped back to reality and looked at Naomi to find a confirmation about what Melaine had said earlier.
“Did she just say 80 years ago? Does that mean?” Mischa asked Naomi with an uncertain tone, imagining the possibility that the girl that sat in front of her is one of the oldest Esper in the world. And with the pressure that she emitted while she was not in the battle, Mischa can’t believe it. No, she won’t believe that the girl in front of her is the oldest SSS-Ranked Esper known in the world.
“Well, because she had said about it, I guess I can’t keep it hidden, right?” Said Naomi as a smug smile plastered on her face. “That’s right, I managed to recruit SSS-Ranked Esper as my employee!”
After Naomi declared it, she gave Melaine an OK sign to tell them her Rank. The reason why she did that was because of Melaine’s carelessness and even if Melaine didn’t blabber about the fact that she was SSS-Ranked Esper, Naomi had planned to tell Mischa about it from the start.
Because there is no way to keep Melaine’s power level hidden with Mischa around. Melaine technically always keep her power activated to slow down her and her subordinate’s time to slow down the process of aging to keep their body young. That’s why she always emitted the pressure that was befitting high-ranked Esper, at least SS-Ranked one.
Fortunately for Naomi, that case was not applied to her. Because she could adjust her power level and the pressure she emitted with her second ability, Adjustment. But Naomi seems couldn’t adjust her pressure when she was angry, her experience with Hanz is proof of that.
“That’s right! I am the oldest SSS-Ranked Esper, Melaine Monet!” With Naomi’s sign, Melaine once again introduced herself. This time she admitted that she was in fact, SSS-Ranked Esper.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mischa Belyaeva. I heard from the news that you were in fact SSS-Ranked Esper too. But I guess that you are too green because you don’t realize my real power level and rank when we first met. But I think that the girl beside you realize it, even though she can’t feel the exact amount because of the difference between our power level.” Melaine have a smug grin on her face when she said that to Mischa.
Mischa gritted her teeth in frustration as Hotaru tried to console her saying. “You will do better, Mischa! Even I need a few years of training to be able to guess the Esper rank!”
“Thanks, Hotaru, but I can’t keep going like this. I could realize Mugetsu’s pressure in an instant because it was too thick and chilling. But I can’t realize her pressure without concentrating on it, I guess I need more training.” Said Mischa in a defeated tone.
Naomi then has a brilliant idea flashed on her mind. Her goal was to make Mischa as strong as possible and this idea is the best and fastest way to achieve it.
After deciding about it, Naomi opened her mouth and said. “Then, why don’t you train under Melaine?”
Better to take Melanie's advice, not be fooled by appearances. Micha is a clichéd lonely girl therefore Melanie is the best match. Team Melanie
Team Melaine go~
Team Melaine go ~
Heh I really love Melaine and Naomi interaction, they're like a cat and a tiger. Melaine being the smol but old cat and Naomi being the young but strong tiger ha
I'm all on board with the Mischa X Naomi ship!
Go team Mischia
Let’s go Mischa!
well, let me stick with Naomi
...holy crap Naomi is a genius sadist
You guys on Team Melanie or Team Mischa are both wrong... Why should our strong protag be stuck with one lover?
Lol Hotaru best girl
As Plato once said
"Train thy Punching bag"
When i think about Naomi with fantasy settings it like an op hidden boss who is bored because demon lord always defeat the hero or the hero didn't find the hidden boss chamber.
and decided to train the hero because she's bored
I know that Naomi want a great esper battle but why let her opponent become stronger before training herself first. Isn't she just as strong as Misha?
She's fighting against a massive organization that kept Melaine under watch despite being the strongest esper alive. Shouldn't she train herself first to be prepared for anything the organization throws at her?
*Mischa
I thought the same, I don't know if Naomi is naive or overconfident (it's both)
Naomi is as strong as Mischa?
When did I write that?
She was holding herself back when she fight Mischa when they first met each other.
@Ruphas Also, Naomi trained her control in her spare time... She always training using her flying base didn't she?
@RaizarP
Reread the early chapters .. I forgot Mischa is only borderline SSS while Naomi is a bonafide one. Okay
But she should at least prepare against any other possible trump card the esper organization has. She can't fight with just Adjustment right? Unless I'm overestimating the esper organization. Haha
@Ruphas
of course she is... and Mischa was only one person, she can't be everywhere