Chapter 29: 29. Unsure Alliance

It's surprising how fast time passes by when you're bored and there's little change in your daily life—even if you're trying to learn something.

Almost two months have passed since the satellite incident and I began working alongside Erika. I've spent the majority of that time either researching and training my power with Erika, or hanging out with Jun—I occasionally spend time with Ritsuko when she's available, and I've lent Rise a hand with her investigations a few times.

It's still hard to believe I'll be entering high school in just a couple weeks. It'll be a shame—losing my ability to move unhindered, though.

But I suppose it's unavoidable.

Jun's doing well, but I may have underestimated his desire to become an investigator. When he's not studying for school, he's engulfed in anything related to crime, and criminal justice. He hasn't really changed—he's still his usual, kind self, but I think he's become more focused.

I can't help but admire him a bit.

And Ritsuko is... well... Ritsuko. Always perfect.

Although Jun's my childhood friend, we only became friends when we were a bit older—whereas I've pretty much known Ritsuko as far back as I can remember. Having her always shadowing my mother is still an odd feeling. Ever since she was little, she wanted to be like her, be a radiant beacon like Mayu Reylin.

Still, I can't criticize, nor change anything about it—she's following her own dream after all, it's her choice... Even if there's people taking advantage of that choice.

I doubt I'll ever get used to the way she subtly imitates, or learns my mother's mannerisms...

I let out a quiet sigh.

That's enough about my personal life for the moment.

Onto more important matters—the investigation into Dr. Mathers has continued. Just about every country has independently come to the conclusion that Dr. Mathers acted as a rogue terrorist—nobody confirmed a connection between him and a larger terror group—which isn't surprising, since there isn't one. However, even with that fact being a common consensus—no country is willing to acknowledge it.

They all seem determined to hold onto the idea of an incredibly powerful adversary existing.

So far, no new wars have broke out, but still—multiple countries continue to use the satellite event as an excuse for why they should build up their military.

The Neo Soviet Union, and a few others have implemented varying conscription laws, while others have simply increased their military, and research budgets.

While I'm glad no countries have started a war, I may have been rash in handing them an invisible enemy they can use to justify their actions.

The whole world's a powder keg, waiting to ignite. 

For now though, there's little I can do but remain vigilant.

 

With Dr. Mathers being out of the picture indefinitely—it caused quite a panic within the Anithrel Institute. Not only are they seen as being partially responsible for Mathers' actions, they also lack a viable replacement for him.

This whole thing led to multiple hours of debate between Erika and myself.

To my surprise, and slight annoyance, Erika was steadfast in her decision to remain at Anithrel. She believes the man threatening her is permanently gone, and as such, she wanted to remain with the research institute, and gain a favorable position within their organization.

However, I of course argued towards having her leave them immediately. After all, she spent years working for them under the threat of her sister's death.

That's not even mentioning the efforts I went through in my attempt to free her from that place—yet she wanted to stay.

I couldn't understand it.

She has her own personal lab to work from, and she has me—she could have left Anithrel easily.

But in the end, I caved to her persistence.

Erika constantly argued about everything we could gain from having her working as a head of Anithrel's labs, but at that point, my mind was already made up, I wouldn't risk her working there. However, once she began showing the reason she's known as such a genius—my resolve wavered.

When it became clear she was capable of helping me make breakthroughs with my power—I had to allow her some leeway.

Over the last two months, I've had one major breakthrough with my power, and we're on the verge of a second.

The first breakthrough—and it's fallout made me understand why Erika can be seen as a bit... eccentric.

Up until now, I've been barely able to manipulate oxygen to help me breathe when at high altitudes, or underwater. I showed this ability to Erika—and I saw her practically gain stars in her eyes.

Before I could say anything, she was on her way to Anithrel Institute.

While observing her with my sixth sense, she would gesture towards various containers, or tanks, and I'd move them into her cabin for her.

I really had no idea what was going on until she returned.

According to her, my ability to manipulate oxygen was 'Childish, elementary level, disgraceful'. She measured what I was actually manipulating, and it was clear I was basically just moving air from one place to another.

I wasn't actually separating oxygen from the ambient air.

But, to her credit—she helped devise a training method for me.

The tanks she brought from Anithrel's lab were filled with countless different types of gases. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, helium, methane—you name it, they had it.

Her theory was as followed—different gases have different densities, and masses, so, using my sixth sense, I should be able to feel the difference between them, and then manipulate the gases based on that feeling.

It was a pretty simple concept, but getting good at it proved far more difficult.

When the gases are in their pure form—they're easy to manipulate individually. But once you add in water vapor, or any other components—they're not exactly the same anymore.

I have to not only memorize the feeling of each different gas, but I also have to separate it from the ambient air while simultaneously creating a barrier to keep it from dissipating. On top of that, it takes an immense amount of focus to concentrate my sixth sense on such a small scale.

In short—it was a lot harder than I expected.

Even though I knew exactly how to go about it, I couldn't manipulate the specific gas I wanted. The moment I felt a difference—I'd lose control over my power, and end up just moving the air.

This happened frequently, and it was annoying because I had to retrain myself every time I made a mistake.

With the exception of flying, the longest it's taken me to learn a new ability is a bit short of a month. It took me a few days shy of two months to achieve a breakthrough.

My first success was separating, and capturing a minute amount of oxygen—my psychic muscle was so sore afterwards from concentrating I nearly fainted. But after that, I was able to separate a tiny amount of hydrogen from the air in Erika's lab—unlike the first time with oxygen, I was able to maintain it long enough for Erika to measure it.

She was shocked beyond belief to find that my ability could be used to produce a barely detectable amount of isolated hydrogen gas.

This discovery revealed how terrifying Erika truly is.

While I was still barely conscious and recovering, Erika was already writing calculations, and theories of how I could somehow use my power to separate, and ignite hydrogen gas and oxygen to create an explosion comparable to a nuclear weapon.

I felt numb listening to her plan out the steps needed to successfully accomplish this feat.

She's far more ruthless than I thought.

After I recovered, I asked if she'd stop her research on this particular topic, but she refused.

Not only did she refuse—but she said she would prove herself right.

From what I understood, she wants me to be her guinea pig.

I almost fainted getting the tiny amount of hydrogen and oxygen I managed to isolate. A bomb would completely overload my body! I'd probably give myself a heart attack long before I gathered enough of either!...

Could that be it? I can't help but think she's really trying to kill me with her experiments.

I can't help but sigh again...

I suppose that brings me to the other potential breakthrough we're working on. With the confirmation of my ability to individually separate out gases—the next step is to go even smaller. Molecules, and then possibly even atoms.

Molecules, and especially atoms—the building blocks of all matter. Being able to manipulate either of them seems impossibly far away. But considering how far my power has come already—is it really impossible?

Erika's currently preparing multiple different microscopes to see if such a thing is feasible.

I'm keeping my expectations low, but I'm actually very excited about this.

I mean, the movement of molecules and atoms is what determines heat, and temperature—and one of the primary points of my power is moving objects, or matter.

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If I can manipulate molecules, or atoms directly, I could potentially move, and control temperatures at an atomic level!

That's a huge leap forward.

Although I'm imagining it—I understand that even if it is possible—it'll probably be even harder than manipulating gases, but I must admit, I'm looking forward to this new challenge.

While envisioning the challenges ahead, I let out another sigh without thinking.

"Is there something in particular you keep sighing about, Yoru?" Erika asks, taking me from my thoughts.

"No—is it necessary for you to continue calling me that?"

"You said I could call you whatever I want—If you'd prefer it, I could use your real name."

This is another example of Erika's ideas.

The smile on her face gives her the look of a sarcastic, mischievous cat.

Because I didn't give her my name, or even an alias—she started referring to me as 'Yoru' a little over a month ago. She said she came up with it due to some sort of 'feeling' she gets around me.

I have no clue what she means—but I've went along with it. I don't have a better alias, and I've never had a great sense for names.

"No, I don't mind—It's fine."

"Good, I'm glad we're on the same page."

She smiles softly, before turning to look at me.

"So, what are you sighing about?"

"Oh, nothing," I reply, quickly changing the subject. "So, is there any progress on the microscopes?"

"Yes, I finished the preliminary design today—I've ordered the parts I don't have, and I'll fabricate the rest later. Based on what you told me—it should work with your power."

That's good news.

"Also... For the sake of transparency, there's something I'd like to talk about." She pauses, waiting for me to say anything.

She sounds serious. Far more serious than usual. That alone puts me on guard—we've gotten pretty close over the last two months. Usually she's upbeat, and bright—but now she seems distant.

I scan her with my sixth sense, and her heart rates elevated—she's nervous.

"Hey~ It's nothing super serious. There's no need for that look"

What look? I'm wearing a mask.

"What do you want to discuss?"

She suddenly starts a long monologue.

"Ya know, when I first started my career, no one took me serious. When I showed my designs, or explained my vision, they'd practically laugh at me. Some people thought I was just a kid who was making stuff up, and others thought I was a mad scientist."

I guess that makes sense. It's hard to admit someone younger than you possesses superior ability.

She pauses for a few seconds.

"I guess I was pretty desperate back then, and I'd get angry when I heard those comments. But, eventually I just got used to the fact that most people won't take me seriously unless I show them results. I figured, if I could just improve my ability by a little bit, I'd be able to prove myself to everyone. If I stunned them with results—my age would be less of a factor."

I don't know where she's heading with this.

I feel her hinting towards something—something that shouldn't be her focus.

She pauses again—she looks towards me like a guilty child.

"Before I say anything... Promise you won't be mad?"

Now I'm worried.

When someone like Erika starts a conversation with 'Promise you won't be mad?' it's never going to be good.

I nod slightly to show I'm listening.

"I can't promise not to be mad without knowing what you're talking about, but I'll hear you out."

I watch as she rubs the palms of her hands against her lab coat.

"So uh... Ahem~ is there any particular reason you'd be...growing?"

"Please elaborate."

"Well, you see—uhm, I may have asked Aino to record physical data on you whenever you enter the lab... And well, the data shows that over the last two months, your height has slowly increased—even though you've worn the same clothing. As of about three weeks ago—you'd gained one centimeter in height, and since then you've gained about a third of a centimeter." Erika quietly finishes her explanation. Her voice is barely audible by the end.

I haven't said anything, but she's nervously fidgeting under my gaze.

Damn it—I decided against constantly disabling her lab's sensors, and this is what it gets me.

My eyes narrow into slits—I know exactly why she's doing this.

She wants to learn about my real identity, and due to my age—I can't hide the fact I'm growing.

I can't blame her for being curious, but I can't have her digging into my identity. I've already trusted her with the knowledge of my power—if she's determined to discover my identity on her own... She's going to force my hand.

While I'm lost in thought, I allow more time to pass.

"M-My goal wasn't to hurt you, or blackmail you or anything—I-I was just trying to be diligent in my observations of your power. I really wasn't trying to uncover anything—that's why I made that whole speech. As far as I'm concerned, you're Yoru. You saved my sister and I. Anything beyond that is none of my business." Her voice is trembling a bit, but there's no indication of her lying.

I find myself believing her words...

This whole situation leaves me conflicted.

On one hand, I'm relieved she didn't try to dig deeper—and she admitted everything...

But it doesn't change the fact that she gathered information on me without my knowledge.

How am I supposed to deal with this?

I can't trust her, but she hasn't done anything malicious yet. And I'm the one who chose not to disable her lab's sensors... So I can't fault her entirely.

"Thank you, Erika... For telling me the truth."

I sigh once again.

After everything, I don't want to lose her over this.

"For now, let's forget about this incident. From now on, don't gather personal information on me without my express permission. And whatever conjecture you've drawn—ensure it's kept to yourself."

"Of course!"

She nods rapidly.

"I apologize for what happened..." She whispers apologetically.

She's clearly regretting this incident.

At least now I know why she was so nervous.

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