Bonus: The Imagine Breaker Boy’s Thoughts

“Oh, we meet again.”

That day, as usual, Kamijou had headed out for the evening sales, and once again, he ran into that girl.

Golden hair tied in a ponytail, with the part draped over her shoulder curled into elegant ringlets in a high-class young lady style.

Even through the black-rimmed glasses she wore, her sharp, upward-slanting blue eyes gave off an intimidating aura.

At first glance, she looked every bit the “strong-willed rich girl”—but now…

“Well then, shall we go…!”

“Yeah……!!”

She had become, without a doubt, a comrade-in-arms.

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Chapter 1: I Don’t Know Anything About Predetermined Harmony
Theory_is_broken.

Bonus: The Imagine Breaker Boy’s Thoughts

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Kamijou first met Reicia=Blackguard about two weeks ago in the evening.

As usual, he was on his way to the nearby supermarket to pick up some discounted items when someone called out to him from behind in a hesitant voice, “Um…”

When he turned around, Kamijou honestly couldn’t help but stare.

She was wearing a baggy black jersey that hid her figure, cheap jeans, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses that looked so fake they could’ve been a novelty gag. It was suspicious enough to give off a shady vibe.

Even fashion-illiterate Kamijou could tell.

There was no way this was just a fashion-sloppy girl who had recently stopped being a shut-in, dressed in cheap clothes bought at some discount store.

Because, in complete contrast to the clothes she wore, it was obvious just how much money had been spent on her.

Her golden hair, tied back in a ponytail with a simple hair tie, still shone like fine silk and fell to the middle of her back in soft waves. Her fair skin reflected the red light of dusk without a blemish in sight. Her sharp blue eyes sparkled behind the glasses, and the way her chest lifted the jersey with confident volume—all of it, absolutely all of it—was something even an amateur like Kamijou could tell was a different breed of quality.

Or perhaps it was exactly because she’d wrapped herself in excessively cheap things that even an amateur like Kamijou could spot how out of place she was.

Whatever the case, it’s fair to say Kamijou’s first impression of Reicia=Blackguard was pretty striking.

“Thanks for the hard work. …Are you okay? You looked like you were being crushed between two telekinetic users and forced to make a funny face.”

“Y-Yeah, yeah……”

However, that impression had changed significantly over the past two weeks.

First off, Reicia was remarkably mature. Compared to Kumokawa Seria, a third-year high schooler and his senior, she was admittedly more childish—no, “young” might be the better word—but even so, she was far more composed than Biri-Biri, that middle schooler who’d recently started bothering him. She even had the presence of mind to show concern for Kamijou like this.

Of course, that also meant she lacked the same “charming innocence” or “adorableness” that Biri-Biri had, but Kamijou wasn’t old enough to start seeking charm or cuteness in girls younger than him anyway.

“Sorry again for today…”

“N-no, it’s fine… Ah—well, how do I put it, lately I feel like I’ve been spared because you’re acting as a decoy for me, Kamijou-san.”

Smiling as she said that, Reicia made a painfully forced attempt at reassurance. Her earnest consideration made Kamijou tear up a little. Life was just one big pile of misfortune. …If his blonde, sunglasses-wearing neighbor or his blue-haired, pierced classmate ever heard this, they’d probably scream, “What misfortune?! You’ve got a kind-hearted, blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty right next to you!” and deliver divine punishment.

But that’s beside the point.

In the last special sale battle, Kamijou had been caught in the crossfire between two telekinetics’ force fields. When he canceled out one of their powers, he was immediately blown away and forced to retire from the fight in a rather unlucky situation. In the end, he only managed to get one pack of the sale meat (limit three per customer). Reicia, as expected, had secured all three and shared one with him, which let him barely get through the night’s hunger. For a sweaty, growing teenage boy, whether he got an extra pack of meat or not was literally a matter of life and death. A regular beef bowl (standard size) barely qualified as a snack.

“…Come to think of it, how did you get through things before I showed up?”

It’s not like they were deliberately meeting up these days (they just happened to run into each other often since they came at the same time for sales), but still, Reicia was genuinely curious how Kamijou had been surviving these discount wars.

“How? …With spirit, I guess.”

Kamijou answered as if it was no big deal.

Spirit. What a convenient word. If it were a certain seventh-ranked esper, she might say it a thousand times a day. But Reicia wasn’t the kind of person who believed everything could be solved with sheer willpower or guts, nor did she think the boy in front of her was some kind of superhuman. Well, in a way, she did trust him to be not-quite-human, but that was in a completely different direction.

“…Spirit? H-how exactly?”

“I mean, y’know, with… bread crusts and stuff.”

“…What?”

At that moment, Reicia felt a mental disconnect.

Something was wrong. Weren’t they just talking about how they survived the special sale battles? How could anyone get through those with just bread crusts? Spirit? Is alchemy powered by guts now??? These thoughts swirled around in her mind.

Seeing the look on her face, Kamijou gave a satisfied nod, as if everything suddenly made sense.

“Ah—sorry, was that hard to understand? I meant the crusts from loaves of bread, the stuff bakeries usually have leftover. I’d get those and use them as my main meals to get by.”

“…Um, that’s…”

It was at that moment that Reicia realized something.

This boy—Kamijou Touma—hadn’t been talking about how to survive the special sale wars.

He had been assuming that failing to survive the sale war was a given.

What he was actually talking about was the hunger that came as a result of failing to get anything during those special sales.

Now that she thought about it, the Kamijou household dinner table was infamous for its disasters—like that one time they decided to have hotpot and ended up with something that looked like a Shoggoth had crawled in. It was enough to make one wonder if a Lovecraftian creature had gotten loose.

—Now, it was Reicia’s turn to hold back tears.

“…Kamijou-san, seriously, should I bring something for you next time? I do have some financial leeway, at least…”

“Huh? What’re you saying? I can’t be mooching off a younger girl.”

“…Understood. But if you ever find yourself in trouble, please tell me, okay? I can help.”

Kamijou gave her a confused look and responded flatly, but Reicia offered her suggestion with surprising sincerity. Kamijou nodded back half-heartedly with a casual “yeah, yeah.”

“Hey, now that I think about it—why do you go out of your way to take care of me like this?”

The question slipped out naturally from Kamijou’s mouth.

“…Huh? W-what do you mean?”

That, too, was one of the strange things about this girl named Reicia.

Despite being so sociable she could be mistaken for overly trusting, she had shown up almost every time Kamijou came to the evening sales for the past two weeks. In other words, there was no sign she ever spent time hanging out with friends.

She made sure to attend these sales without fail. Her clothes looked cheap, yet hints of financial ease slipped through in her casual speech—without any attempt to hide it.

It was like watching a sheltered rich girl sneak out for some social experience—everything about her felt slightly off in a way that made that idea seem oddly plausible.

…Which, in truth, wasn’t too far off the mark. Though to be described as “sheltered” would probably be a considerable insult to Reicia herself.

“I mean, all I did was give you directions once, but you’ve been looking out for me ever since, right?”

Kamijou said it with a casual smile—but deep down, he couldn’t deny the faint glimmer of spring-tinted hope in his heart.

A younger girl who was unusually kind to him. Unlike Biri-Biri, she was straightforward and cute. You’d be hard-pressed to find a virgin boy who wouldn’t start getting his hopes up a little.

And above all, Reicia had big boobs. She was cute. And she had big boobs. Also, her personality was nice. And just to reiterate, her chest was generously sized.

Kamijou knew that if he ever actually said that out loud, he’d probably get slapped and cut off immediately, but even knowing that, the male spirit just couldn’t overlook boobs. Flat chests? What are those, again?

And while Kamijou was lost in his chest-loving daydreams, Reicia, wearing an oddly anxious expression, said:

“U-um… if I’ve been overly pushy and made you uncomfortable, I apologize…”

It was a completely off-base concern, but one she voiced with genuine worry.

Kamijou, caught red-handed by her concern right as he’d been fantasizing about breasts, immediately panicked and threw his head side to side in a frantic denial.

“No no no! That’s not it at all! I was just honestly curious. I mean, you keep coming to the evening sales, but unlike me, you don’t seem like your household’s on the brink of financial collapse.”

“O-oh… that’s what you meant.”

Reicia gave a small, relieved smile.

“I’m simply trying to be frugal, within the limits of what I can manage. Just… something I’ve been thinking about recently.”

That vague answer was where the conversation ended.

In the end, all Kamijou had learned about Reicia was that she apparently had money, but still chose to live frugally—an admirable young lady.

(Well, not like that’s a problem or anything.)

With that, Kamijou casually let his thoughts go. They didn’t know each other’s schools. They hadn’t exchanged contact info. And yet, during the evening sales, they would naturally end up cooperating—comrades-in-arms.

Ending up in that kind of relationship with a girl he had no other connection to was interesting in its own right. Kamijou was the kind of person who could find satisfaction in that. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept putting up with a girl like Biri-Biri, who constantly chased after him.

“Well then, I’ll be off.”

When the paths they walked inevitably split, Reicia would always say that.

Kamijou would reply, “Oh, see ya,” wave his hand, and they’d go their separate ways. Nothing special—just an ordinary parting.

“…Summer vacation starts tomorrow, huh.”

Neither of them said, “See you again.”

Maybe that was because both of them understood—they weren’t close enough to promise a “next time.”

“Dinner’s already bought, but maybe I’ll splurge and waste some money at a family restaurant for once!”

July 19th.

At this point in time, the two of them were still just comrades-in-arms who often ran into each other at the sales.

It would take one more day for that understanding to begin to shift.