34 days after the attack.

"Do you get it now?!"

"Psh, I kind of get it, but…"

"How can you understand all the complex herbal effects but not this?!"

"This and that are different!"

Another normal day for the young folks. This time, it was a group study, and the boys were doing their best wrapping their head around their syllabus.

"Does Diavolo-kun understand this now?"

"Yeah."

"Thank goodness." Suzume sighed in relief.

"How do you understand all this stuff?" Shin beggingly asked.

"No, even if you ask me that…"

Hannah internally growled looking at this exchange. "And you! If you understand this, then why are you in an equally bad position as him?!"

Diavolo shrugged, which angered her even more.

"Couldn't it simply be that Diavolo-kun doesn't—"

"Alright that's enough for now! Break time!" a mature voice resounded as the source approached. On her hands was a large tray carrying numerous snacks and drinks.

"Ugh, finally," Shin said under his breath as he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huh? Did you just say something?" Hannah jabbed.

"N-n-nothing, ma'am!"

"Don't hold back and dig in! I'll go bring the cake!" the woman declared as she turned her curvaceous body around.

Yes, the place they were in was not the Rose's mansion, but Suzume's house. After a good long month, the whole gang was able to get together at her house and finally meet her sister, Arashi Shiro.

Till now, Suzume would tell her sister stories about her daily life and how her reputation was improving and she was making new friends thanks to these people. Because of that, Arashi wished to meet with these friends she got so close with but couldn't find the excuse to bring them in. Finally, after the second month of the semester, meaning the first proper test was over, they could reflect upon them with a group study at her house.

"This… looks so fresh. Is it perhaps homemade?" Hannah asked.

"Oh? As expected, you've got good eyes, Young Mistress Rose!" Arashi exclaimed from the kitchen com-dining room.

"Please, you don't need to address me like that. At the moment, I'm here as just Hannah."

"Hehe! I thought as much! From the stories I've heard, I could pretty much guess what your personality is like."

"Stories…?" Hannah mumbled and gave a sidelong glance at Suzume, making her blush and fidget as soon as she noticed.

"But showing respect to the minister's family is common courtesy. It's the least I should do even after making royalty sit on the floor."

"Please stop joking around! If you're familiar with my intimacy with the public from childhood, you should be aware that this much is nothing! The rug is kept clean and it also feels cooler. And besides, using the couch for these tasks would be bad for the back!"

"Sorry, sorry! Was fooling around!" She giggled as she brought in another tray carrying pastries. "But still, if you wish to be treated like a regular person, shouldn't you also drop the excessive polite act?"

"I-it's not an act! Showing respect to a friend's family member is—"

"Hmmm~?" Arashi stared at her with a smug look

"Ahem, point taken."

Meanwhile, Shin and Diavolo were munching down on the food they were just given and didn't pay any attention to the conversation. Arashi grinned and smiled at the scene of the four eating until she finally addressed the missing person.

"By the way, isn't he going to come in?" she asked, pointing out the sliding glass door.

Outside, in the small side garden, Yukio sat cross legged as he meditated and circulated his Natura. He had finished his work before everyone else and decided to utilize the rest of the time to improve upon his Natura affinity. Although Yukio had suggested he should stay with them and help the two out with their studying, Diavolo and Shin urged him to do otherwise. That was because…

"Yeah, he's fine as he is. Let him be."

"Agreed. I've never seen Yu like this. Watching him, I don't wanna interrupt."

"You just want to eat his share of the food."

"Tch! Nobody asked you, Diav!" To which everybody laughed. After a brief moment of pause, Shin continued. "Still, to think that that Yu has become this… it's hard to believe, and at the the same time, it's so great!"

"Oh?" Arashi's curiosity rose. "Is it that surprising?"

"That's right! It may not seem like it, but Yu was actually the weakest out of us. But now, it actually feels like he's a competitor."

"Ah! I heard the gist of it from Suzu! Apparently he left you two in the dust? Tell me what happened!"

The second month's test was more than just a Natura test. It was a day when all students would be categorized and classified into levels of power. These would go in their permanent records so it was a pretty big deal among students. A milestone in their life.

Students were graded in two systems: the Star System and the Class System. The Star System dealt with how much energy one could handle and was graded starting from 0-star and onwards. Energy for the Start System was measured in Barts or BRT, named after the one who invented the system. When it came to tools and machinery that measured one's energy output, those measured power, rather than energy; meaning Barts per second (BPS) or Barts per minute (BPM).

Normal people are always capable of outputting energy in the 0-star range, whether they can use Natura and the like or not. Even if one is dead, the body still emits energy as heat and other forms as it decays, meaning, as long as some part of something exists, even an inanimate object could be considered a zero star… something.

The bare minimum for one to be recognized as a fighter would be when they entered the 1-star realm at 10,000 BPS. Only from this level could one comfortably use abilities that could deal proper damage. However this was just the beginning.

Even if it was just the beginning, it was not something to underestimate. The Star System was such that reaching every consecutive stage was much harder than the previous one. In fact, it was an exponential increase; meaning it was not just harder to get the next stage, but the hardness of the difficulty itself increased as one went further on. This was why, when people attained the new stage, the people on the stages below would come to fear and respect them with great magnitude. Barts made it in such a way so that there was a clear distinction between the strong and weak and the world accepted it.

This was how people were categorized according to the Star System, but that was not all. There was something else that also utilized the classifications of the Star System and that was techniques. Simply put, when applied to techniques, it described how much energy was put into it. That was it.

Unlike the first monthly exam, everyone did not have their tests taken on the same day, so the entire commotion was distributed and diminished. In order, the first to have their exam was Shin, then Yukio, then Diavolo. It was almost as if the academy purposely kept him last, for a final shock.

Their exams went pretty well. Shin displayed a much better control over his Material Natura. Unlike his previous tendency to go all out, he understood that it took way too much energy out of him to repeatedly do so. Unless it was necessary, he would circulate the charge gathered, thus preserving and recycling the same charge to attack. This automatically gave him good scores for his versatility and material control.

As for his peers, some of them seemed to have quite recently gotten to know about their material, so their control was naturally minimal. Them and the people who didn't know material at all had to compensate by being more versatile with regular Pure Natura and having high aggregate Natura control.

As for Shin's raw power, it was 17,102 BPS; well into the ranks of a 1-star.

Coming up next, Yukio excelled at his versatility skills, given that he's a more tactical fighter. Of course, being one of the people who had a very early start in Material Natura, he also used fluids to display his expertise. Apart from water, he was able to moderately use fluids slightly more and less dense than it. Good score on material control.

Raw power: 21,530 BPS.

This surprised everyone. Yukio, the one who everyone thought would be in the shadows, had actually exceeded the flashy Shin! What was the meaning of this?!

Alongside awe, when Shin witnessed this, he felt frustrated at his own slow pace. He had lost to Yukio yet again. He didn't think a tactical fighter would surpass him in terms of raw energy so quickly. Even Diavolo didn't think Yukio would improve this much, although he didn't feel the need to be worried… until his own turn came.

Versatility: Satisfactory. Material control: Good. Raw power: 13,009 BPS.

"Whoa, that low?" Arashi interrupted as Diavolo explained, "But I heard from Suzu, you were training Natura right? Didn't you try using Raze?"

"Yeah, I'm getting there."

The room fell silent. All the students were simply stunned. This was way too underwhelming. Compared to the monstrous increase of the other two, the one who they had thought to be most promising entered a slump? Even students who were not close to 1-star felt dejected. This number was something that a few of the best students in the school could reach probably in a few weeks or so. This was definitely not what they were expecting.

But then before the final marks were about to be made, the instructor called out, "Hold on a minute!" All the gossip stopped instantly. "Do it once again."

Everyone gasped. A do over? What sort of partiality is this? Even if Diavolo is a promising student, such treatment is inexcusable!

"Sir, that's cheating!"

"That's right! I also want a do over! I wasn't in form that time!"

"This is completely unfair!"

"BE QUIET!" he roared and the room fell silent again. The next few words left them in confusion. "Right now, that was Natura wasn't it?"

At the time, in that room, the only person who could feel it properly was the instructor alone. Everyone else were mere amateurs; egglings that were slowly hatching. Nobody else could differentiate between the two.

Diavolo silently nodded.

"As I suspected." He sighed. "I don't know what reason you have to go back to Natura after using Raze, but I won't be accepting this in my watch. There are many people who wish to hide their powers, but what's the point if everybody already knows the truth? Stop fooling around and give it your all!"

Diavolo shuddered. Why were all the instructors like this? Well it was not like Diavolo was trying to hide anything. He simply wanted to get a crack at how well he was able to deal with Natura. Readying himself, he let out all his power: 18,964 BPS.

There was a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment in the room. By now the students had somewhat understood what was going on. Diavolo used Natura instead of Raze which he was not that used to. Hence the lower output. If it was simply a matter of 'not being in form', a jump in over 5000 BPS was an improbability. But if that was the case, and Diavolo had now used Raze, why was it… so low?

In fact, even Diavolo felt that it was too low. Even if he hadn't been using Raze for quite some time, it was normal for it to be lower than it should've been, but this was still too low. This was not a matter of numbers, but what he felt when he unleashed the energy. Something was definitely missing.

"Instructor, may I get another go?" he bluntly asked.

Immediately the students were enraged. Who does he think he is?! Even if the students themselves were curious as to how far he could increase it now, they were still grinding their teeth at his audacity.

The instructor got the feeling that Diavolo was bluffing, meaning that he could not go any higher; but he probably wanted to prove something, to himself.

He nodded. "Go ahead. However, you will be marked on what you just displayed."

"Understood. Thank you very much." He smiled and took on a strong stance. Flexing every inch of his body, he gave it his all. "Haaah!"

19,026 BPS.

"Eh…?" Diavolo was confused, and so were the others. "HAAAH!!"

19,050 BPS.

This was probably it. The limit. Not even a 100 unit increase. This definitely meant that Diavolo was capped at 19000 BPS at the time. He was straining himself in vain.

"Wait, so that means…" the crowd mumbled, "... Hitoshi is the strongest among them???"

That was simply the only conclusion. By the end of the second monthly exam, was the strongest among the trio in terms of raw power and tactical combat. This was how it ended.

"I would say that much is only obvious," Hannah said as Diavolo ended his story. "Unlike you troublemaking duo, Yukio was the only one who practiced properly and in order. All you two did was find something that interested you and tried doing that. Completely haphazard and disordered. No wonder he found proper growth." And sipped her tea.

The boys couldn't refute her statement and simply smiled awkwardly. Everyone gazed outside at Yukio meditating. In the quiet atmosphere surrounding them, they could faintly see and feel the energy around him. One at a time small creatures tended to move past him or sit on him for a brief period of time. He truly looked like a monk reaching enlightenment in the mountains.

"Looking at him, feels peaceful, right?" Suzume stated.

"Yeah, looking at him like this, kind of makes me forget about being frustrated for falling behind, hehe!" Shin agreed.

"I'm not satisfied, though," Diavolo solemnly said, piquing everyone's attention directly towards him. "Back then, something was not right."

"Back then?" Hannah asked.

"In the exam. That wasn't my full power. At least… compared to last month…"

Last month. That could only mean one thing. "The time when we were attacked?"

"That's right. Think for a second. That fire pillar that formed around me. Do you really think that could be done with 19,000 Barts?"

"Now that you mention it, you're right. But if so, what are you getting at?"

"I don't know. Something's just missing. Suzume, do you know anything?"

"I… um… sorry…"

Arashi glanced at Suzume and sighed. "I don't quite get your situation, but, couldn't it just be some sort of trigger that lets you use all your power?"

"A trigger, huh…" Diavolo mumbled and stared down at the table. He thought back to the scenery he saw right before the bursts he got. The time when he felt like his life was slipping away. That moment of desperation combined with despair… He gripped the cup in his hand tightly. "That sort of trigger… I'd rather not experience it again. If there was some way I could use that power without such things, it would be much better. It only gets in the way."

Suzume unnoticeably shuddered and Arashi raised an eyebrow to his statement. "Well if you can't do it now, there's no point in moping around. Rather than focusing on such unreliable powers, it would be better to better yourself in some other way. What I'm suggesting is for you to simply train normally and improve. Let's see… much like Yukio is currently?"

"What do you think I've been doing for the past month? The power being unreliable, I've understood that right from the start. Not to mention how dangerous it was. Although I didn't know my material back then. I trained from the ground up in Natura solely so that I can improve in Raze faster. It was to remove the bottleneck. Telling me to forget about that power… how am I supposed to fend them off if they attack again?"

The atmosphere darkened. Although it was true that the boys were improving quite fast and seemed to be fine, they were in fact experiencing huge mental stress, especially Diavolo. He knew exactly just how powerful he had to be to fend them off. And since he had no idea when they would strike again, he needed to do it fast! As for Shin, he could simply guess. He estimated that whatever Diavolo's strength was, the upcoming enemy would have to be about twice as powerful.

The more days that passed, the more uneasy they became. Why? What's taking them so long? What are they planning? Thoughts like these kept creeping into their minds. They attacked the very next day at first, but now it's such a huge gap. Every day went by with them thinking that the attack would come that very day, but it never did. They strained themselves to the bone to improve as fast as possible, but it started to seem meaningless.

Currently, the urgency was still in them, but the buzz was dying down.

"It's been a month since then, right…?" Shin asked glumly.

"Yeah, about that," Arashi replied. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, but I didn't get a chance to. I'm sure you know that I've been taking care of Suzu all this time, and consecutive days where they attack isn't uncommon, but such a huge gap… is unsettling. I have a feeling they'll launch a threat way larger than you might think. That's why… I want you guys to not lose focus. My sister is my only family and I don't want to lose her."

The boys nodded. "That much is a given. It would be weird if you didn't—"

"Sorry! Did I take too long?!" Yukio suddenly entered.

Clink. Splash!

"Ah… Sorry…"

Diavolo sighed. The sudden entrance had surprised him and he dropped the glass he was holding, partially wetting the clothes he wore.

"It can't be helped. I was just careless. Don't mind it."

"You'll catch a cold like that," Suzume said. "We still have father's old clothes, don't we?" she directed at Arashi.

"Yeah, wear those until your clothes dry off. It's no biggie."

"Thanks. Sorry for the trouble, though."

Leading Diavolo towards the changing room, Arashi brought over a set of clothes from the room next door and handed it to him.

As he began to strip, he noticed something: as if a stare was being directed at him. Slowly turning back, he awkwardly asked, "Um… What are you doing?"

"Hmm? No, I was just a little curious about that body," Arashi replied nonchalantly.

"Eh…?"

"What's wrong? Continue."

"I TOTALLY FORGOOOT! This woman… is a dangerous existence!" he thought as he remembered the first time he met her. At first, he could understand if she was fooling around, but was she really fooling around this time?

"No, that would be a little…" Diavolo left his sentence unfinished as if she was supposed to figure the rest out on her own.

On the other hand, Arashi made an expression as if she didn't quite get it. But a moment later, she seemed to figure it out and made a mischievous smile. "Oh? What are you feeling embarrassed in front of big sis?" She folded her arms and slowly approached him. "You can rest assured. I wouldn't do anything to harm that body of yours." And alluringly put her finger on her lips.

Diavolo took a heavy gulp. The chilly feeling from his wet clothes already made his body feel slightly uncomfortable. And now this voluptuous woman was tempting him. Even if he knew she was just teasing, he couldn't help but take a few seconds to scan this well-developed physique presented in front of him.

Looking closely, her curves were more prominent than Suzume's. Wearing only a tank top over her torso, her valleys were made more prominent, especially when it was added with the slightly bent position she was standing in. her thighs were thicker and were well-toned, but they still gave the impression of being soft to the touch. Overall, she was definitely a mature beauty that guys would generally drool over.

However, such a situation was bad news right now. Because, a weird feeling started to rise inside him. A feeling that if interpreted in the wrong way, could lead to dire consequences.

Diavolo took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Excuse me, then." And tightened his grip.

"Eh?" A slightly confused expression surfaced on Arashi.

Immediately he turned her around, locked one of his arms around her waist, lifted her up, landed her outside the room and slid the door close.

"That was so clooose!!! I'll need to be really wary of her from now on!" he thought as a stream of sweat trickled down his forehead. "But… why did I reject her? This was my chance to see such a bomb of a body! What the heck Diavolo!"

During younger days, he used to mischievously peek on the girl's shower area with a neighbourhood brother. But now, when he was the one being attacked, he couldn't respond appropriately. It was the first time for him, and he didn't know how to deal with the situation. A subconscious rejection was an immediate response, even if his libido rose. He both regretted and also felt relief.

Changing into his given clothes, he peeked out of the door before completely opening it. Arashi was nowhere to be found. Heaving a sigh of relief, he made his way back to the common room.

"W-where's your sister?" he awkwardly asked Suzume, seeing that she was also not here.

"She took the dishes for washing."

"I-I see…" he stammered and quietly sat down in his original place.

"Is something the matter? Your face looks red…" Suzume asked.

"N-n-nothing! It's nothing!"

Staring at his face for a few more seconds, Suzume retracted. "Is that so…"

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Arashi was busy with the dishes while in her own thoughts.

"I'm also to blame. I can't just ask him something casually like that as I do to Suzume, now can I? But if he reacts like that… it just makes me want to tease him a little, fufu!" She giggled.

"Are you going to stay hidden there? Why don't you come in?" she directed towards some undesignated area.

"Stop fooling around. It's not that time yet," a voice replied from outside the window near the sink.

"Don't you think it's a little harsh for you to stay behind the bush even if you're in the city at the moment? I kind of feel sorry for him. You're also the only remaining family for him, you know."

"For such a reason, one mustn't get side-tracked. Anyways, did you get any information on your end?"

"None as of yet. This is concerning."

"Don't falter. Let him grow as he is. Just make sure he doesn't lose motivation. If he dies, I won't be able to tell what'll happen anymore. That's one uncertainty I'd prefer to avoid."

"And what about the uncertainties he's facing… uncle?"

"………"

Without an answer, the person just swiftly went away into some unknown direction.

At the same time, in the common room, Diavolo reflexively looked out the window, as if he sensed something.

"What's wrong, Diav?"

"… Nothing… Just my imagination…"