Astral Buddy Manga Chapter 005

"If I Win, I'll Take This as a Present!" (優勝したらこいつをプレゼントだ！) is the fifth chapter of the Astral Buddy manga, released on August 26, 2017.

Synopsis
Tokiwadai is holding a Powers Development Exam and Junko participates running in track, which she wins first place. The coach is impressed by this as she fixes Junko's messed up hair, noting how Junko won in spite of her handicap: her large breast. Junko is naturally embarrassed by this, though the coach says she is just joking. With that in mind, despite the Tokiwadai students being so skilled, she wonders why they kept losing to Nagatenjouki, believing that the girls are all holding and that should play a little dirty.

Kuroko complains how they are unable to use powers with an influence value or higher for the Powers Development Exam, as it is too much for her as a teleporter. Moreover, Misaka Mikoto isn't with her to comfort her. Junko states that Level 5s have their own facility for their exams. Kuroko notes that there are more weird tests, and Junko replies that they doing new things because of Daihaseisai.

The scene cuts to the archery range where the coach says the students' fine control and endurance will be tested. She introduces Yumiya Iruka, a member of the archery club to mentor them. Kuroko complains as she uses teleport on her arrows with restrictions, though still managing a bullseye. Meanwhile, Junko does the same with her powers, Rampage Dress. The Ghost Girl is amazed by Junko and asks if she knows archery, to which she says they learned it in class. Iruka of the archery club does it pretty handily as well. However, the coach is still isn't satisfied and changes things up a bit. She makes rules on how she will be adding points to the target and the one with the most points at the end of the time limit will win, and if someone misses once they'll be disqualified no matter how many points they acquired. And to motivate them, the prize is a Gekota make-up pouch. Most of the girls however have a chilly reception towards the prize, barring the Gekoer Junko, knowing the exact details of the make-up pouch. Anticipating the students' reception, the coach adds one more thing; if one uses the pouch right, a certain Level 5 will do anything one wants. Now Kuroko is all fired up and begins taking the little contest seriously.

Using their powers, it would seem only Junko and Kuroko are in the running for the prize as they accurately hit the bullseye in the same position, splitting the arrow shafts as they do, over and over again. In the end, only Junko, Kuroko, and Iruka are the only ones left. Iruka is impressed but won't allow the other two to win as she still has the pride of being the archery club captain to defend. Kuroko continues to teleport arrows but suddenly a bright flashes blinds her and her alone and she misses, disqualifying her, much to her utter dismay.

Now it's down to Junko and Iruka, at their limit of their endurance, and both are impressed with each other for enduring this long. But it's over, as soon as Iruka plucks the bow, a sound vibrates toward Junko and she becomes startled, missing her mark. Iruka wins and she congratulates Junko on a job well done and takes her prize, frustrating Junko. Iruka asks since Junko "gave up" so easily then did that mean that she didn't want the Gekota pouch. Junko says she really wanted it. Iruka giggles and says that the kind of purity she expected from her, but wished she had more determination to win and taken the contest more seriously, as she might regret it eventually.

Strolling around in the School Garden, Ghost Girl is sorry for Junko losing but was impressed by her. Junko thanks her, and notes that she doesn't need to stay around her all the time as she won't run away and she might get bored. But the Ghost Girl says that she is never bored whenever she is with Junko and she doesn't even care at all that much about who she is anymore. Junko reciprocates, saying she isn't bored whenever she is with her as well, though she wants do wants to know who she is. Hearing this, the Ghost Girl hopes they can be together forever.

Back in the Tokiwadai school grounds, the girl who ordered the lemur to steal Misaki's purse is talking to a tree, asking for advice after her lemur got captured. Suddenly, her lemur comes scurrying right back to her. Just as she grabs it, she comes under the power of Shokuhou Misaki, the Mental Out. She arrives with her clique and tells them to be on the look out. She comes close to her, thinking that she was the one who setup a decoy and then setup a surprise attack. Misaki is surprised to have resolved it all so easily, and wonders if there is a connection between the Indian Poker card she has and the girl who is after her purse. Wanting to know why the girl wanted her purse. She uses her power on her to read her mind, but in her mind she sees Iruka and shows off a powerful flash that stuns Misaki after reading the girl's mind.

Misaki collapses and so does the girl. Iruka arrives on-scene and notes how she planned it all and Misaki fell for it easily, mocking how she relies too much on her power.

Major Events

 * Misaki is defeated by fellow Tokiwadai student, Yumiya Iruka.

Characters

 * Hokaze Junko
 * Ghost Girl
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Gustav

New Characters

 * Yumiya Iruka
 * Coach

Abilities

 * Rampage Dress - Hokaze Junko, Level 4
 * Teleport - Shirai Kuroko, Level 4
 * Mental Out - Shokuhou Misaki, Level 5

Locations

 * School Garden
 * Tokiwadai Middle School

Trivia

 * The girl with the lemur is seen asking for advice from a tree - it is unknown if this is the same tree that Junko references in the previous chapter.

Referbacks

 * The ghost girl saying that it was fun to watch Junko eating cakes thanks to Misaki is a likely reference to Misaki forcing Junko to eat twenty eclairs back in Chapter 43.

Cultural References
No notable references to culture were introduced.

Unanswered questions

 * What power does Iruka have that allow her to stun high level espers like Misaki, Junko, and Kuroko?
 * Was Iruka the one who advised the girl through the tree to steal Misaki's purse?
 * Is Iruka after the malicious Indian Poker card and just had the girl that used a lemur to steal Misaki's purse a simple pawn?
 * Who is the girl accompanying Iruka after she took down Misaki?
 * What happened to the clique members that Misaki took with her when Iruka attacked?

Quotes

 * Iruka: If only you had been more dead-set on victory no matter what. I wish you had taken it more seriously. That's all. Otherwise... you might regret it eventually."--to Junko after she wins the Gekota pouch prize.
 * Iruka: "I knew... you would 'see'... this flash."--to Misaki as she read the girl who tried to steal her purse's mind.