"This tiny thing can jam this much area?"
Alistair picked up the small device—it looked like a Bluetooth speaker—that was sitting on a table behind the couch. He had tracked the signal from 500 meters away. This little thing had a one-kilometer diameter range? That was black-market tech.
"Of course it can. You know what my power is," the brown-haired boy replied instinctively, before realizing he didn't recognize the voice.
The four thugs spun around. Alistair was standing right behind them, tossing the jammer in his hand.
"Who the hell are you? How'd you get in?" the leader, Yamada, barked. "Whatever. I'm bored. I'll use you as a warm-up before we get to the girls."
Yamada cracked his knuckles and walked toward Alistair, thinking the slim exchange student was an easy target.
"Warm up on me?" Alistair stopped playing with the jammer. Behind him, the golden form of [The World] slowly solidified.
"Yamada, wait... something's wrong." The brown-haired boy, Gray, grabbed Yamada's arm. He wasn't looking at Alistair; he was looking at the Stand. Gray was clearly one of the few humans who had absorbed enough Mystery to gain a mental "vision" power. He could see the spirit energy manifesting.
"What are you talking about? He's just a pretty boy," Yamada spat. "You guys see anything?"
The other two shook their heads. They were "muggles."
"Gray, you're losing it," Yamada laughed.
"A-ah... ah..." Gray watched as the two-meter-tall golden giant placed a massive metallic hand just above Yamada's head, as if ready to crush it like a grape.
"Stop 'ah-ing' and speak—ARGH! WHAT IS THIS?!" Yamada suddenly felt a crushing weight on his skull. In the eyes of the others, Yamada looked like he was being lifted into the air by an invisible force.
"It's been a long time since someone was this arrogant to me," Alistair said, leaning in. "Last time, a guy tried to shake me down for money. One gave me cash, the other gave me his sister. What are you going to give me?"
"Don't kill me! I have the photos! You can have the girls!" Yamada shrieked, thrusting his phone forward.
The Sakuramiya sisters huddled even closer, trembling. Alistair noticed they seemed to be looking in the general direction of [The World]. Are they playing dumb? he wondered.
A card fell out of Yamada's pocket. Yamada Tatsuya. Sakura Academy. Freshman.
"Wait, you're a freshman at my school?" Alistair laughed. "And these girls... they look like they're in seventh grade. You're really that desperate?"
"Middle schoolers? They just look young! They're our classmates! They've been out sick for a while and just came back," Yamada blurted out.
"And you're doing this in their house? Aren't you afraid of their parents?"
"Their parents are on a business trip! They won't be back for three days!" Gray added helpfully.
"Business trip right after their kids recover? What great parents," Alistair mused. Then, he had [The World] toss Yamada across the room. "Empty your pockets. All of you. Then get out."
The thugs didn't hesitate. They piled every yen they had onto the table.
"Get lost."
They scrambled out of the house, leaving their gear and the jammer behind. Alistair sat on the sofa and began counting the cash.
"Five thousand yen? You're kidding me. That's like forty bucks. Thugs these days are broke as hell." He tossed the money back on the table. Then he looked at the two sisters. "Alright. Now, let's talk about you two."
Outside, the group of thugs was running down the street.
"Yamada, we're just leaving?" one asked.
"What else can we do? He has telekinesis! We can't fight invisible hands," Yamada snapped. He was a normal human, as were two others. Only Gray had a "useless" ability.
"But my jammer... I can't make a new toy unless the old one is broken. That's the drawback of my power," Gray said, adjusting his glasses.
"We'll just wait until he breaks it then. You can feel when it breaks, right?"
"Yes. It's an extension of my energy."
"Then we wait. Anyone got money for the arcade?"
"He took it all."
"DAMN IT!" Yamada kicked a pole. "First the cops, now this guy."
"Yamada," Gray said, his glasses reflecting a sinister red light. "I have another way to make toys. One that doesn't use my own energy. Do you want to try it?"
"How?"
"It's simple. We just need to make sure some other people... 'participate' in the construction."