Are you an Esper?

Homura's mouth twitched uncontrollably as an image formed in his mind with Utaha's description.

"Utaha-senpai truly deserves her reputation... your imagination is beyond ordinary people!" said Homura.

Utaha secretly thought, 'How boring, why don't you resist a little?'

"By the way, Homura-kun, did you really hear someone screaming?" Megumi asked.

Homura scratched his head, feeling unsure. "It seems like I did... but it could have been an illusion because I keep feeling like the screaming was coming from Kosaka Honoka."

"In that case, it must have been an illusion," Nanami said. "Because Kosaka-san's home is far from here, right? How could Homura-kun possibly have heard her screaming?"

"Could it be that Kosaka-san came over here?" Elf wondered.

After thinking about it for a moment, he decided to go outside and check just in case something unexpected happened.

"I'm going out to take a look."

With that, he ran out, and when Haru saw him, her eyes lit up and she followed.

Girls: "..."

As Homura was about to close the entrance door, he saw the little one following him and picked her up, asking, "Did you come out to play?"

"Mhmm!" The little one nodded without hesitation.

Homura yelled inside, "I'm taking Haru to play around the neighborhood! I'll be back in a little while!"

"Got it~!" Eriri's voice came from inside, and he shrugged before closing the door.

With the little one on his shoulder, he turned around and took a look at the area.

"It's really quiet, and it doesn't seem like anything happened..."

After thinking for a moment, he took out his phone...

"Kotori, where are you?" Homura called Kotori.

"Homura-kun?" Kotori sounded surprised and thought to herself. 'Didn't Ayano-san just call me? Why is he calling me now?'

"I'm at Honoka-chan's home!"

Homura quickly asked, "Is Honoka with you?"

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "It's nothing. I just thought I heard Honoka scream earlier. I looked around the neighborhood but didn't find anything, and I was a little worried, so I wanted to confirm with you."

Kotori: "..."

Honoka: "..."

Umi: "..."

Honoka and Umi had come closer to Kotori and heard his words.

After a moment of puzzling silence, Homura wondered, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Homura-kun, are you an esper?!" Honoka's surprised voice came.

"How could you come to that conclusion? I'm just a normal human! Also, did you really scream earlier?" Homura was puzzled.

"It's because of this devil, Umi-chan! I just screamed but I didn't expect to be heard by Homura-kun!" Honoka explained, but she felt that something was not quite right.

"What did you mean by that?!" Umi retorted. "And, how could he hear you?! Do you think Homura-kun's home is that close to here?!"

"Eh?" Honoka was stunned for a moment. "That's right! If he is not an esper, then why did Homura-kun hear my scream?!"

He was also confused. 'So Honoka really did scream! How did I hear it?'

"Telepathy?" He muttered, but Honoka heard him.

"As expected, Homura-kun is an esper! You said telepathy!" Honoka exclaimed.

He hurriedly said, "Uhh, turn on the speakerphone! I think I can explain it."

"Okay! Esper-san, you can speak now! Don't worry, we'll keep it secret!" Honoka patted her modest chest, even though he couldn't see it.

He was exasperated; he had already said that he wasn't an esper!

"I think there's a trace to follow on this. It's because I know you all too well."

The three girls looked puzzled, with a face full of question marks.

"In the first place, the idea about our postponed visit was my idea, I knew Ayano would definitely notify you all! Since she knew Kotori the most, so calling her was the best option."

"Then, based on my understanding of you all, I subconsciously deduced your reaction to receiving her call. Kotori would tell you all about it, and Honoka would definitely be the first to cheer, and then she and Kotori's enthusiasm should bring up Umi's too."

"Umi's seriousness means she definitely won't let you all slack off, so naturally, she will train you all twice as hard at this crucial moment! Finally, given Honoka's personality, it's not surprising to hear her scream at the thought of that hard training."

"To sum up, I felt like I heard Honoka's screams because I thought of all these things. That was all just a suggestion in my mind."

Honoka: "..."

Another mysterious silence followed.

"Are you a god?!" Honoka exclaimed.

Homura replied without hesitation, "I'm not!"

The three girls thought back to what he had just said and suddenly felt so embarrassed. Because they never thought that he would know them so well!

Suddenly discovering a boy who knows them very well, even able to guess their reactions... It was normal for the girls to feel embarrassed.

"But... you're really amazing!" Kotori exclaimed, "Homura-kun, thank you for caring so much about Honoka-chan!"

"Thank me? No need, We're friends, right!" Homura said.

"Ehehe~" Honoka's laughter rang out.

"Well... let's end the call here for today. Work hard, you all. The day after tomorrow is the most crucial turning point! I'm looking forward to seeing your performance." Homura said.

"Okay~! Leave it to us!" Honoka promised.

"Alright, everyone, bye!" Homura said.

"Goodbye, Homura-kun!" (x3)

After hanging up the phone, Homura turned to the little one on his shoulder and asked, "Haru, where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere is fine, I just want to go outside," Haru replied, licking her paw.

"Outside, huh..." Homura thought for a moment. "Okay! Let's go out and see if there's anywhere we can play."

===

"Huh? Has there always been a park around here?" Homura scratched his head as he looked at 'Kusumoto Park'. He didn't have any impression of this park.

"Wait, there's still someone here at this time of night? And judging by the body shape, it seems to be a girl? This is really dangerous!" Homura thought of warning her, but getting closer like this seemed a bit suspicious.

"Excuse me, can I come over?" he asked.

"Hmm? Are you asking me?" came the puzzled voice of the girl.

"Of course," Homura slowly walked over, "By the way, why is a girl outside alone so late?"

"Just taking a break on my way back from delivering takeout," the girl answered naturally, without any sense of tension from suddenly being approached by a stranger.

'Takeout? Could it be that she's working part-time?' Homura was puzzled. Was this girl like Nanami?

As he walked closer and closer, he saw the girl's appearance: she was wearing an apron from some restaurant, had glasses on, and had orange short hair. And from the side... her figure was just too explosive!

Homura looked down at the delivery box on the ground and couldn't help but read out loud, "Ogata Udon..."

Ogata?