A dangerous encounter on the way to school.

“So? What’s your plan, Casanova?” Angela asked him as they walked down the quiet, empty road leading to town.

“If I’m to believe the book’s powers are real, then the first thing I have to do is get a girlfriend.”

“And that can’t be me, right?” she asked for confirmation.

Saying it out loud felt too embarrassing, so Leo took the book from his pocket, opened it to the page that detailed the first Gift and gave it to Angela to read for herself.

“Read the next few pages, too.”

“Oh. That’s why,” she said, blinking. She then frowned as she flipped through the pages. “Polyamory? The people making this book were thorough.”

“What do you think?” he asked, curious for her opinion.

“It’s smart,” she shrugged. “It makes sense they’d do something about jealousy or things could end before they even started.”

“Yeah, but how do you feel about it, personally?” he pressed.

Angela closed the book and stared at the white cover for a long while.

“I guess it’s fine? Look, in case it wasn’t clear before, I want to do it with you just as much as I know you want to do it with me,” she admitted with an easy nod. Leonardo could feel his face heating up, despite himself. “But neither of us can help the fact that nothing can happen between us unless you do the stuff this book says, right? I know that in my head, but it still makes me uncomfortable. If this book takes that feeling away, then I’ll welcome it.”

“Are you sure?” Leonardo asked, surprised by the answer.

“**** times and all that,” she shrugged again.

She handed the book back to him, and the moment it passed from her hands to his, he wondered something.

“Hey, Mrs. Wisler met you before she did me, right? She didn’t offer the book to you?”

“She didn’t,” Angela nodded, her lips curling into an ironic grin. “When she told me the thing existed, I asked her why she didn’t pick me. She said it was because she was worried about giving it to someone with my gift.”

“Oh yeah. What even is you Gift?” he asked, realizing they’d been living together for two weeks already and he still didn’t know. “You know mine is near endless stamina. I also don’t feel much pain.”

“I didn’t know that second part,” she said, lightly raising her eyebrows. “And mine is…”

“Oi, Onee-chan!” A sudden voice interrupted their conversation. Leonardo’s eye twitched when his eyes fell on the guy.

He was wearing the same school uniform as him, but while they both wore the jacket opened, the other guy’s clothes were messy and wrinkled. The dude had short black hair and had a lecherous smirk on his face as he approached, walking with his hands in his pockets with an arrogant stride. His eyes were very obviously staring at Angela’s cleavage.

He ignored Leonardo in favor for standing very close to Angela and kept talking in Japanese with a rough tone that Leonardo believed was trying, yet failing to be flirty. He could understand a few words, like ‘woman’, ‘beautiful’, and ‘lewd’.

Angela stood firmly, looking down at the guy who was shorter than her by about half a head. She eyed him with a discerning look before she turned to Leonardo, ignoring whatever the guy was saying.

“Any idea what he’s talking about?” she asked.

“I think he’s flirting with you,” Leonardo sighed.

“Do you think he’s close enough to be considered sexual harassment?” she asked, grinning.

“Ah?” Leonardo blinked.

When the guy touched Angela’s cheek with his fingers, the woman’s smile only grew, turning savage. She grabbed the guy’s face with her right hand. It was powerful grip. She outright lifted him off the ground with disturbing ease.

“W-What the…?” Leonardo gasped at the display of strength.

“This is self-defense, alright?” Angela said. “He started it.”

She pushed and released him, throwing their schoolmate to the ground and making him roll on the ground four times. He struggled to get to his feet again, but when he did, he said something that sounded like a curse as he glared at Angela, who seemed glad to see the guy was on his feet.

He ran up to her, his fist in an obvious position to swing at her face. Angela let him and pulled her head back with ease, making the fist pass harmlessly in front of her. She countered with a punch to his stomach, and it was strong enough for the guy to bend over and fall to his knees as he held his belly, unable to breathe.

“That’s it?” Angela sighed, disappointed. “That sucks. Well, let’s keep walking,” she said to Leonardo.

“Y-Yeah…” he said, following after her as he shot a look back at the kneeling guys. He wasn’t following. “So… that’s your Gift?”

“Yep,” she nodded proudly. “Not only am I unnaturally strong, but my fighting instincts are better than an animal’s,” she laughed. “I lived in a bad neighborhood in New York, so I got in plenty of fights. That’s what got me held back a year in school.”

“I see,” Leonardo nodded. “And you like it.”

“I do,” she nodded again, this time more solemnly. “It makes for a good distraction from… you know. But I also just enjoy it. There’s a thrill to it. But that thrill is only there when there’s a challenge, and that guy obviously wasn’t. I enjoy fighting, not beating people up.”

“You looked like you enjoyed that,” he pointed out.

“The guy was asking for it and I needed to let out some steam. Cut me some slack.”

Leonardo thought he was starting to understand. Did Mrs. Wisler notice how she enjoyed fighting and decided she wasn’t a good candidate to own the Book? “So what did Mrs. Wisler mean when she said you could use your Gift here?”

“She wants to introduce me to a female MMA instructor who opened up a gym here. Even my dad said it’d do me some good.”

“Your dad also has your Gift?”

Her face twisted in annoyance. “Yeah. But I don’t want to talk about that, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay. Sorry for asking.”

“It’s fine,” she sighed. “I’ve been paying attention to the guys in school, and there are more than a few violent looking ones. I’m half-hoping I’ll piss them off and they’ll want to fight me,” she laughed, then turned to Leonardo with a serious look. “You watch yourself, though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled.