After instructing Kazuho to blend herself with the crowd, Luke walked around the I-Expo.
First, he went to a pavilion showcasing high-tech equipment.
There was a small, bike-sized vehicle that could travel on land, sky, and underwater. A suit that could let one dive to over seven thousand meters of depth undersea. A helmet that could let one see in all directions with different stats.
These were, of course, prototypes, though.
Luke had no intention of stealing even the real ones.
If he wanted any of these, it was better to just steal the blueprints and then use Blood Creation to slowly assemble them from scratch — just like what he had done at his secret labs.
Still, it wasn't a bad idea to broaden one's horizon.
Suddenly, just as Luke was about to move out of the pavilion, his Spirituality was triggered. With him being a Magician now, his senses were already heightened enough for him to pick up on it.
[Someone's following you, Luke.]
Miss Justice's words resonated with Luke's thoughts as well.
Maintaining the exploring persona, he switched to the Swindler. It wasn't like it gave him any distinct advantage. But, through experience, Luke had found that switching to a Sequence, before acting like that particular Sequence's traits, made it all easier.
As a Swindler was also a Marauder, Luke found it much easier to let himself be consumed by a thief's instincts.
In a matter of seconds, without even looking back once, Luke easily deceived the follower. Using the crowd to his advantage, he went around to see who it was.
But the person who had been following him was someone whom Luke had never imagined.
At first, Luke had thought that it must be someone sent by his father; Sand, probably?
However, as he stared at Melissa, snooping around to find the missing boy she had been following, Luke frowned.
What's she doing?! He thought. Did someone put her up to this?
Perhaps it was All Might who had asked Melissa to keep an eye on him, he guessed. Or…
… She might not even be Melissa anymore… Luke thought, his heart skipping a beat. Is it happening already?!
Luke knew Villains had already arrived on the Island, if everything was happening in the same manner as it had in his previous life.
But, like everything, Momo hadn't gone into details, only brushing the surface, telling him the major things.
Combined with the divergence that Luke had been expecting this time, there was no way to tell if someone hadn't already kidnapped Melissa, replacing her entirely. Or worse…
Fearing the worst, Luke switched back to the Magician and activated Spirit Vision.
It took Luke everything to focus entirely on Melissa and ignore the blast of golden radiance that tried to blind him from the surroundings. There were just too many Quirk users at that place.
But… Luke couldn't find any gathering of Spirit Particles in Melissa — something crucial for them to manifest as Quirk Factors in reality.
Even the Quirk Factors she naturally possessed were quite low.
Suddenly, a hand landed on Luke's shoulder, making him jolt out of the Spirit Vision.
Blinking several times, Luke noticed it was Midoriya, Uraraka, and Tenya.
"What are you…" Midoriya asked, all three of them staring in the direction in which Luke had been looking.
Even among the crowd, Melissa stood out like a thumb.
Midoriya's mouth twitched. Tenya looked between Midoriya and Luke, not understanding what was going on. And Uraraka pouted in annoyance as if Luke had just cheated on her best friend.
"Miss Melissa!" Tenya shouted suddenly.
Melissa turned around and stumbled a step back in shock, seeing Luke with others.
Brokenly, she approached them, taking furtive glances at the blond-haired boy now and then. "I… was looking for you," she said to Midoriya.
Uraraka's head turned to Midoriya like a puppet's.
On the other side, Luke's confusion deepened, knowing the girl was lying.
Suddenly, just as Midoriya blushed, sweating under Uraraka's blank look, a boom resounded in the surroundings.
"Hey! What was that?!" Midoriya asked.
Together, the five of them went to an open area where many robot-like obstacles were placed on a fake mountainous terrain.
"A Clear Time of 33 Seconds!" the announcement rang. "He's in eighth place…"
On the huge panels overhead, clouds of dust cleared, showing Eijiro in his hardened form.
"Kirishima?!" Midoriya gasped.
"It's a fun activity…" Melissa explained. "To test explosiveness, reaction speed, and agility."
Luke, Midoriya, and Tenya nodded, realizing the usefulness of such a training ground.
From the sky, Nyx came flying and landed on Luke's shoulder.
"Nyx…" Midoriya asked. "Where were you?"
"Watching girls…" Nyx cawed lazily, making Luke roll his eyes.
Still, unlike Midoriya, Tenya, and Uraraka, who knew Nyx's personality by now, Melissa had other thoughts.
Putting a hand on her mouth in shock, she mumbled, "So… so, the bird looks for the targets and he…"
"Huh?" Uraraka, standing next to her, frowned. "What was that?"
Melissa pulled Uraraka away, making sure no one could hear them.
"I have something to ask…" she whispered. "Is Luke… mmm… is he a playboy?"
Uraraka's mouth remained open for a moment in pure shock. Did she really say Luke? Their Luke? A Playboy?!!
Seeing her reaction, Melissa hurriedly whispered in her ear what she saw.
Uraraka's entire face went red, her head snapping toward Luke, her eyes popping out of her head.
On the other side, sensing their gazes, Luke looked over his shoulder. "What?" he asked Uraraka, smiling.
"No… Nothing-nothing!" Uraraka shook her head.
Before Luke could ask more, another announcement rang in their ears.
"Now, the next challenger is—" the lady said, a boy walking to the stage. "— Katsuki Bakugo!"
Just as Bakugo reached the platform, more 1-A students arrived, gathering around Luke, Midoriya, and Tenya.
Even without someone saying it outright, they could all feel it.
The competitiveness was high in the air, which meant —
— Luke could use this stage to complete at least one of his goals.
******************
AN: Up to 60 more chapters are available in advance across three Tiers. [Use the link in my webnovel profile to access all options]
You can even subscribe Trial Tier for just 1 dollar to have an experience of exclusive chapters for an entire month. I hope a few of you will consider supporting the work.
100 Power Stones: +1 Bonus Chapter