Sugisawa Third Municipal High School, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
The home-ec prep room.
“A chat group?
What the heck is this?
Don’t tell me Lord Kokkuri’s actually showing himself?”
Yuji Itadori lifted his finger off the coin they’d been using for their game of Kokkuri-san, staring blankly at the screen of light.
Then he turned, excited, to look at his Occult Research Club buddies on either side of him:
“Sasaki-senpai!
Iguchi-senpai!
Are you two seeing this?!”
But the two of them showed no reaction at all, fingers still resting on the coin, exactly as before — as if time itself had frozen the moment that screen of light appeared.
But before Yuji could even reach out to poke at it, the scene in front of him shifted again.
The screen stretched further, and six black boxes appeared right in the center.
The one in the top left flickered a few times before an image appeared.
A short-haired, pink-haired boy, sliding doors in the background, was eyeing the camera curiously.
It was Yuji himself.
“No way.
This thing has video chat too?”
Yuji said, pulling a face.
Then again, it wasn’t really a big deal — a guy with nothing to hide never had to worry about stuff like that.
If anything, it just made him curious about what everyone else in the group actually looked like.
Leon, for his part, was thinking the exact same thing.
Soon, the black box to Yuji’s right started showing an image too — though the voice beat the picture to it.
“You — go tell that Sigillite, the one called Malcador, that I’ve got no interest in getting mixed up in their business.
It’s not the time yet.”
There was something almost magical about that tone of voice — it made you like the guy a little more, just hearing it.
A moment later, its owner appeared — under a haze of golden light, his face shifted several times, now male, now female.
After the face of a black-haired woman flashed past, he waved one hand, and it finally settled on the form of an adult with a striking androgynous beauty — strong, exotic features, deep-set eyes, bronze skin glowing faintly under the light.
He looked over the screen of light with obvious interest:
“Some new gimmick from that little bluebird app?
No — I’m not catching that revolting stench.
He couldn’t have pulled this off, not at this stage.”
The third to appear was a high school girl who looked like a real firecracker.
She seemed to be blaming the chat group’s appearance on the red markings on the back of her hand, eyebrows knit as she examined them over and over.
It was the scene behind her that seemed a little off — it kept flickering.
Under Leon’s razor-sharp dynamic vision, he could tell it was cycling through several differently-styled classrooms before finally settling on a Japanese-style one.
The fourth to appear was a young man with features as finely carved as an ancient Greek statue, currently wrestling with a suitcase.
He pulled one item after another out of it, complaining over his shoulder as he did:
“Martha, this isn’t even my first time going to Metropolis.
You don’t need to do all this.”
But soon, all four of them, drawing on modern-day experience, closed their cameras.
As for Leon — naturally, he drew on what memories he had left, combined with Viltrumite reflexes, and killed his own video feed in an instant.
Cameras switching on automatically the moment you join a call — how many people got busted doing something they shouldn’t during online class, back in those days, because of that?
Only the last one was having some trouble.
“Is this what they call Originium Arts?”
The little girl with rabbit ears was looking over the screen with great interest.
Until she saw herself on it, and shyly tried to turn off her camera.
Not quite understanding the modern device, she wanted to call her mom and dad over to help, only to find that time around them had already frozen.
The poor kid’s eyes went red with worry.
Pretty cute.
Finally, a normal kid.
Bad memories of his own childhood came rushing back, and Leon’s right hand trembled slightly before he typed out:
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: @Mala Donkey Head Little bunny — I can call you that, right?
Look up top for the close button, just click it.
“O-okay!”
Getting a message from someone else for the first time, the shy little girl grew a bit nervous.
She found the close button, and before clicking it, gave a little bow to the camera and flashed a bright smile:
“Thank you, Mr.
Viltrum’s Top Student!”
What a good kid — every single one of the five other people in the group thought so, Leon included.
Just as everyone was about to use this to strike up a conversation, a window popped up.
[You have a new group announcement]
[Welcome, everyone, to the Strongest Alive Today █ █ █ Group Chat.
This group brings together the strongest beings from different worlds, with the aim of encouraging communication between you all and helping everyone grow together.]
[Here, in addition to Daily Quests, the System will issue tasks based on each member’s individual progress.
Members can earn points by completing these tasks or checking in daily, which can be used in the Group Store or to unlock certain group features.]
[More group features have yet to be unlocked.
Stay tuned.]
After reading through the announcement, Leon gave the system a once-over.
Once he’d confirmed the basic chat functions, he opened up the store — completely empty inside.
[The Store currently has no items for sale.
New items will be provided later based on group members’ progress.]
Great.
Guess this whole chat group runs on them grinding through their own storylines.
While the other members were still poking around at the features, Leon took the lead and got the conversation going.
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: @Mala Donkey Head No need to call me by my group name — just use my actual name from now on.
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but since fate’s thrown us all together, let me start things off with an introduction.
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: Name’s Leon.
Just got to America, about to start looking for a job here.
Catching the keyword, Superman was the first to follow up.
[Kansas Farm Boy]: Hey, man, guess we’re in the same boat.
Um…
name’s Clark Kent.
Like my group nickname says, I grew up on a farm in Kansas, and now that I’ve graduated, I’m headed to Metropolis to look for work.
[Not-a-God Yellow Weasel]: Nyos.
Just call me that.
Currently residing in the Himalayas, I suppose you could call me…
a reclusive scientist of sorts.
[The Tiger of West Junior High]: A scientist working in the Himalayas?!
Are you researching Yetis, Mr.
Nyos?
[Not-a-God Yellow Weasel]: A little more impressive than Yetis.
[The Tiger of West Junior High]: Cool!
Oh wait, did I get off topic?
Name’s Yuji Itadori, first-year at Sugisawa Third Municipal High School in Sendai, Miyagi.
Hobbies are eating snacks and reading manga.
[Mala Donkey Head]: I’m not really sure what a “donkey” is, but…
anyway, I’m Amiya.
I’m at Rhodes Island with my mom and dad.
Nice to meet everyone!
[Orange-Haired, Gold-Eyed Menace to Humanity]: Ritsuka Fujimaru.
High schooler, same as Yuji.
In Fuyuki City…
uh, or is it Snowfield…
I honestly can’t tell anymore.
Anyway, like you all saw in the video, I’m at school.
Also, what the heck is up with this group nickname?
“Menace to Humanity”?
That’s super rude to say about a girl in the prime of her youth!
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: +1
[Not-a-God Yellow Weasel]: +1
Ritsuka’s complaint struck an immediate chord with the two adults in the group.
Leon didn’t want to be called a Viltrumite, and Nyos didn’t think he was anything like some weasel spirit people prayed to for favors every day.
Twisted up like that — only an idiot would put up with it!
But honestly, once everyone had introduced themselves, Leon’s heart sank a little.
Viltrumites weren’t blessed with super-intellect — if anything, the genes for that had probably been bred out ages ago — but the knowledge he’d dug up in his head was still enough for him to size up the situation.
The Strongest Alive Today Chat Group.
In it: a Superman who hadn’t even started his job in the big city yet,
Yuji and Ritsuka, still sitting through high school classes,
Amiya, who still had both her parents,
and the Emperor — reliable enough, sure, but he hadn’t even kicked off the Unification Wars yet, and later on, the Chaos Fab Four had nothing but endless “surprises” waiting for him.
Where’s the “strongest” part in any of this?!
They’ve got some nerve, messing with me!
Leon grumbled to himself.
Don’t tell him he was actually the top-tier powerhouse of this group right now?
Where was the carry he’d been promised?
Then, right before his eyes, the blacked-out censor bars after the group’s name slowly faded away, until finally it read —
[Strongest Alive Today (Reserves) Chat Group]
To be continued…