Chapter 21: Chapter 1-4

Even with the increased activity now that it was only early in the morning, I was easily able to make it back under the window to my room. When I arrived, I was conflicted as to whether I wanted to try and climb back in, or just walk through the front door up to my room. As I had nothing to prepare and couldn’t see any benefit in waiting nor disguising my morning activities, I opted to walk around the building and try walking past everyone back to my room. 

 

Much to my surprise, no one batted an eye as I ignored the front desk and started down one of the halls. I then felt stupid as I realized that likely happened because I had a perk that literally allowed me to do exactly that. By the time I was back at the door to my room, I had passed by a few more groups of nurses, visitors, and patients- and as expected none of them cared that I was there. All this left me with one thought: if relatively basic perception-interference magic lets me do this, what would the more expensive stuff do- and how many MGs are there that have perks like this?  Slightly easing my worries in that regard was that from what Cleo had said about them, there weren’t many doing specifically what I was.

 

Resolving to ask about metal defense perks if it came up again, I pushed open the door to the room I was given. I already knew someone would know I had done that, so I just sat down on the floor next to the door and activated the lantern. The feeling of almost completely disconnecting my perception from myself was as disorienting as the first time- but since I was sitting I would fall a much shorter distance if I lost balance. 

 

I gave the building a slow sweep, looking for the security room if there was one. My thought was that it was unlikely someone was directly altered by the rune being tripped or whatever- instead it made more sense that some signal would be sent to a central room. If that was the case, said room wasn’t in this building as far as I could tell from my search- but I did get a good look at how injured the other patients here were. Most seemed to be lightly injured and resting in rooms similar to mine, but there were a few hooked up to a lot of machines or with large casts on one or more limbs- fairly normal for a hospital, I guess.

 

After a few more minutes, I focused my concentration on the front entrance and slowly stood up. The wireframe area had stayed around me the entire time, but using it was like trying to track something with your peripheral vision without directly looking at it. I had to reset my detailed perception to where it was a couple times while I practiced getting used to moving around in the lower definition area. Like with how my tail appeared to have included some muscle memory, there must have been something added to my brain which let me get the hang of it after so little practice. After only a dozen minutes, I no longer felt so uneasy about relying on the wireframes- but I definitely preferred being able to see everything in higher detail.

 

Around the time I was getting bored of practicing, someone dressed in a nice suit entered the hospital, had a quick conversation with the receptionist, and started off down the hallway below mine. Even if they weren’t here for me, I decided it would be more interesting to follow them than continue my vigil on the entrance.

 

As it turned out, they were here for me as they stopped in front of my door and moved to knock after double-checking the room number. For the heck of it, I opened the door at roughly the same speed they swung their hand, obviously throwing them off as they completely missed it.

 

Acting like nothing was wrong, I innocently said, “yes? Is there anything you need?” All while making sure [Unremarkable] was working to full effect.

 

With a quick cough to steady himself, my visitor asked, “Are you Silvia Brightworth?” Continuing at my nod with, “I am here on behalf of the Special Energy Youth Academy, where you are currently recuperating. We were hoping that after you have something to eat, we could have a chat about your experience yesterday and your future plans. We understand that it can be overwhelming to be thrust into the role of a Magical Girl, so we try to help people such as you get used to your new life should you choose to pursue it.”

 

Having expected something to this effect, I answered, “I’m not particularly hungry right now, so I would be fine having that chat right now and eating afterwards.”

 

After he made a few notes on the tablet he was holding, he stepped out of the doorway and motioned down that hall, saying, “if that is the case, please follow me.”

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As we walked to one of the buildings nearby, we made some small talk- mostly about how I was feeling and if I had any previously untreated injuries. I learned that he was named Connor and had been working with SEYA for ten years. He lamented slightly at the fact he hadn’t gotten the chance to be part of a field support team, and that he was too old to do so now. He wasn’t too old looking, but definitely lacked the energy of someone in their twenties or even thirties that would be needed to keep up with even the more sedate MGs.

 

Once we arrived at a building labeled ‘Main Office’ in letters large enough for me to read, it was a quick walk to a small lounge room with two chairs- where he told me another agent would be conducting the official debriefing and answering any questions I had about their operations. Before departing, he did ask if I wanted anything to drink, to which I just asked for water.

 

While I waited for the other agent to arrive, I took a closer look at the room- in particular a series of pictures on the wall, behind which was a space I couldn’t see. All of my perception that would overlap the room in that direction simply told me it was filled in, but there was no way space would be wasted in a building like this. After taking a seat and pretending to glance around, I once again activated the lantern in an attempt to see more of the building. Much to my surprise, the previously blank space filled in- but was still missing a… feeling that the rest of my perception had. 

 

I had to stifle a smile as I made out the forms of Connor and two other people talking while looking at tablets. One of the other figures was dressed in a suit like his, but the other wore much more casual clothes and had much more ULE in them than the agents; which most likely made them an MG. The other important feature in the room were two chairs situated behind where two of the pictures sat with a desk running in front and between them. It made total sense that they would have observers, even an MG for security- but if they were just there for security, it would make for sense for them to have a hidden door between the rooms. Suddenly remembering my previous speculation, I whispered to Cleo, “Are there any perks to help mental defenses?”

 

Noticing my urgency, they almost immediately responded, {there’s one called [Mental Tripwire]. It won’t make you more resistant to magical persuasion, but it will inform you of all but the most subtle manipulations. It would cost 10 and is less invasive of an application than proper defenses would be. Much more and you would need several minutes of being incapacitated before the application would be done.}

 

“Sounds good, it might be better to hide the fact I know they have a shielded room with an MG observing. Simply knowing if they try anything will help me try to see what their game is.”

 

Nodding while sitting on the table, they said, {This should only take a minute.}

 

The process of the perk being applied forced me to drop concentration on the lantern. I hadn’t realized how exposed I felt near an area of imperceptible space. With normal eyes, I wouldn’t even be aware of it, but now that I could see through walls, not being able to was disconcerting. Luckily, by the time I could bring it back online, the little conspiracy still looked to be finishing up. The non-Connor agent opened the door to their room as another person brought them a tray with a mug and a plastic bottle.

 

It was kinda funny watching them try to juggle a mug, tablet, and water bottle while trying to open the door to the room I was in- but I suppressed it. After tucking the tablet and bottle under their armpits, the agent was able to awkwardly turn the handle and push open the door- which I took as a cue to stand up and walk over. While it might have been immature of me, I took the mug of what smelt like tea from them as they shouldered the door closed, saying, “thank you! I was so parched.”

 

In my defense, a game isn't fun if only one side is playing.

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