The Worst Moment

Back at Jay's house, who had left his room a while ago and was now once again in the backyard.

"Hoo, looks like it's working~" Jay said, looking at his right arm with a satisfied expression.

He had been testing the different ideas he wrote in the notebook to find out if they worked or not, there were a few things that didn't, but this time, just as he had said, it worked, so he couldn't help but feel somewhat happy.

However, his joy was quickly replaced by a curious expression.

"...How odd, Noah should have been back by now..." He said, stretching and looking towards the backyard gate that led to the entrance of his house.

"...Ja...Jay!!!"

But just then, a girl came into his view...it was Jenny.

"Jenny?"

Her dress, which had previously looked neat and tidy was now wrinkled, which coupled with the obvious fact that Jenny was visibly tired, immediately set off an alert inside Jay's brain that told him something had happened.

"What happened?" Jay asked after walking over to where she was standing.

"Haa, it's...it's Noah, he's been kidnapped!"

"!"

Hearing what Jenny said, Jay became alarmed, but before he could think of anything else, Jenny fell to her knees, unable to stay on her feet because she had been running non-stop.

"Jenny!" Jay said, coming over to support her, "You look exhausted, we'd better go inside and you can explain everything to me there."

"O-okay."

Thereupon, Jay took her in his arms and carried her towards the living room before laying her down on one of the couches.

Normally, this would be something Jenny would enjoy, but because of what had happened earlier, she wasn't in the mood for it.

"T-thank you."

"Don't worry, and more importantly, tell me what happened."

***

'...Damn...' Jay thought, with a serious expression on his face.

After listening to Jenny's story, which related how a group of people in a van kidnapped Noah some time ago, Jay already had a theory of who the culprits were.

It was easy to come up with an answer, after all, the only reason why Noah, who is a normal person, could be kidnapped could only be due to the fact that he was related to the unknown man who attacked Metal Body and Wolf's Fang...namely Jay.

'And of the two...it can only be Metal Body.'

Of the two groups, the only one who had contact with Noah while he was in disguise had been Metal Body, or more specifically, the guardian of District 30.

Last night, Jay had clearly seen how Metal Body's guardian had caught Noah, and while he had hoped that he hadn't unmasked Noah, that was just wishful thinking.

As for why Jenny had come in person, when just texting or calling him on his smartwatch was easier and faster, it was because Jay didn't anwer...after all, his smartwatch was charging in his room.

'Although...those bastards couldn't have picked a worse time.' He thought.

"I...I'm so sorry...even though it happened right in front of me...I couldn't do anything." Jenny said with a tone of regret, interrupting Jay's thoughts.

She had already recovered from her exhaustion, but that had been replaced by a sense of guilt at not having been able to help Noah.

"Jenny, it's not your fault, in fact, if there was anyone to blame, it would be me..." Jay said, making a bitter smile that contained different mixed emotions.

What Jay had just said, although its purpose might seem to be to comfort Jenny, was in fact what he really felt.

Jay already knew that there was a possibility that Metal Body, having discovered Noah's identity, might be looking for him, however, what did he do in this situation...?

Change Noah's appearance?

Hide him in his house until things calmed down?

No, of course not, what he did, instead, was send him out on the street alone...and what was more, if not for the fact that Jenny had accompanied Noah longer than expected, Jay would have found out much later.

'...What an idiot...' Again he thought, marking this feeling deep inside him, 'However...this is no time to mope, there's something more important to do!'

He then got up and started walking towards the stairs leading to the second floor, but not before speaking to Jenny.

"Jenny, if you're still too tired to go home, you can spend the night here, it's the least I can do after your help, as for me...I have things to-"

"Jay!"

However, just as he was about to climb the stairs, he felt a little resistance, indicating that something had grabbed him, which added to Jenny's little scream, hinted at what had happened.

Bringing his gaze to a corner of his shorts, Jay could see that what was holding him back, it was Jenny's delicate white hand.

"Y-you're not going to call the police?" she said, removing her hand from Jay's clothing.

"...It would take too long for them to act, plus...this is a little more complicated." He replied.

While the police would be able to solve this problem easily, it would definitely take a good time before they could rescue Noah, and that was in case they had officers available.

So, while Jay could go to them and wait, he wasn't sure if Noah would be safe for an extended period of time.

"...I-in that case, at least let me help!" She added, looking Jay in the eye.

'It seems like she really feels guilty about Noah...but I don't want to drag anyone else into this mess...' Jay thought, about to turn her down.

"I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous-"

"I don't need to go in person, with my skill, I can help from a really long distance!"

The next moment, the drone on the table began to work even though it had no batteries.

Jenny's ability, although it might look like telekinesis, was actually considerably different, while she could move things without the need to touch them, her control over them was not particularly strong, but that was not a problem as her ability focused on distance and control rather than force.

"I can take control of certain objects and move them at my will, and as long as I have visibility of it, I can still control them so I won't be in any danger, please let me help!" She said with a look full of determination.

'...Isn't your ability a bit too useful...?' Jay thought, a bit surprised but quickly accepting that fact.

Since the most common abilities that espers manifested were things like Superhuman Strength, Telekinesis, Laser Beams, etc, which gave that there were several espers with the similar abilities, no abilities were completely the same.

Therefore, Jenny possessing a variant of Telekinesis that specialized in distance and control instead of strength wasn't that uncommon.

"..."

Even though Jenny seemed really sure that she wanted to help him and that her ability, judging from what she had said, would allow her to help him without putting herself at risk, Jay still wasn't convinced.

However, as much as he didn't want to, he couldn't deny that right now, he definitely needed all the help he could get.

First of all, he was weakened due to the use of Overload and most of all, due to the Limit Breaker, which had caused his body that was supposed to be of grade (D), to be currently limited to grade (D-).

It might not seem like a big difference, but it was actually a significant decrease to Jay's power.

Second, he wasn't really sure if he could use one of his trump cards, Overload, at this point, so if he encountered someone as strong as the guy from last night, it would be incredibly difficult to manage to escape, let alone defeat him.

Finally, the biggest problem, he had already used what was undoubtedly his best trump card, the regeneration pill.

It was an almost miraculous object that, as its name indicated, was capable of regenerating Jay's entire body no matter how damaged it was.

There was no mistake, with Jay in his current state, this was the worst time Noah could have been kidnapped.

Thus, seeing that someone was willing to help him in this situation, even though he was somewhat reluctant to involve an innocent person in this, Jay was having a debate with himself due to the desperate situation.

As for the option of abandoning Noah...that thought didn't cross Jay's mind even once.

*Suut*

Suddenly, the sound of something being tied up reached his ears.

Once again interrupting his thoughts, Jay could see that what had made that sound was Jenny, or rather, Jenny's hair, where braid after braid was forming, demonstrating that Jenny's skill truly stood out in control.

"A-ah, sorry, it's just something that happens when I'm nervous..." Jenny said, quickly stopping herself.

Jay however, didn't reply and just stared at Jenny's hair, as if he was totally focused on what he had just seen.

"...No, that's...perfect." He replied, shifting his attention to Jenny before continuing, "Thank you, and I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you for tonight."

"I-it's no trouble at all!"

Hearing her response, Jay couldn't help but chuckle a little, making him feel a little less tense, though that only lasted a moment, as his expression quickly turned serious again.

"Then...let's start our preparations."

Just like that, without even having time to rest a bit, Jay again began to make his preparations to enter the South Zone.