Mission 16

Every one of Anya's tests comes back below passing, so Loid pulls her away from the television, where Spy Wars is playing, to honor their five o'clock study agreement. Her spelling frustrates him, while Yor cheerfully praises a score that is still a fail. Loid credits her one decent idiom result to cartoons, but the truth is that Anya read the mind of a classmate who also bombed the test. She now schemes to identify the top student in each subject and lift answers telepathically. Loid briefly weighs falsifying her school records, then discards the idea: sudden grades without visible improvement would draw suspicion, and classmates would resent achievements she never earned.

Hoping talent might surface elsewhere, Loid pivots to extracurriculars. Anya's cow drawing is hopeless, and music and athletics go no better. A jump rope from Yor leaves her tangled up, though she promises to work hard. Loid, mindful that WISE expects eight Stella Stars within four months, invites her on an outing the next day.

That outing is community service at a hospital, since Loid's intel says Stellas can also reward sustained volunteering or heroics such as saving a life. The visit collapses fast. Anya shatters two flower pots while cleaning a locker room, reads manga instead of shelving library books, then wanders off hoping to hand tools to a surgeon. The chief nurse throws the pair out.

As they leave in defeat, a young patient named Ken slips into the pool while testing the water and sinks, unable to swim. His instructor never notices. Anya alone catches his cries through her telepathy, and knowing Loid would never believe her, she sprints to the pool and dives in herself despite being a non-swimmer. She reaches Ken's hand, and Loid plunges in after them and pulls both children out. He explains to the stunned adults that drowning children make almost no noise and urges constant supervision around water.

At school, Anya receives a Stella Star for the rescue, the first awarded in her grade. Becky celebrates, Damian bristles at being beaten to it, and Loid, patting her head, notices his pride in her is real. Anya beams at the discovery that her power can help people, though she flatly turns down Yor's offer of a celebratory homemade dinner.

Loid discovers the full extent of Anya's failing grades and rules out tampering with school records.

Attempts at drawing, music, sports, and hospital volunteering all fail to reveal any aptitude.

Anya hears a drowning boy's thoughts, dives in to reach him, and Loid rescues them both.

Anya is awarded her first Stella Star, the earliest earned in her grade, and realizes her telepathy can be used for good.

Loid's speech about pool supervision exists because of Endo's editor, Shihei Lin, who researched child-rearing and pushed passionately for the safety message to be included.

The chapter belongs to the Stella Star Arc and is adapted in Episode 11 of the anime. Loid and Anya Forger share the cover.