episode_0009

I’m lost in thought while drinking a cold cola.

Is there any way out of here?

The structure of the building I briefly looked around made it difficult to guess the entrance.

I felt like it would take a little longer.

And I needed money.

Since I was dragged here and couldn’t bring my luggage, I won’t be able to use my credit card either.

If you go to the bank and complete the identity verification, you can get a temporary card linked to your account, but it is absolutely impossible with this body.

I put down the empty can of cola and looked at Shine.

She was holding a full bag of chips in her hand and fiddling with it.

I guess I won’t be able to leave alone.

Because I can’t go back alone and leave Shine, who is an important test subject of the lab, behind.

If I went back alone, that grumpy fat doctor might not give me my body back.

I look around the room while sitting on a soft doll.

A stuffy space without a single window.

It was designed to be cute and child-friendly, but it looked a little bizarre to me.

Do you really think kids like this?

When I think back to my childhood, there weren’t many things that interested me.

pop-

A small noise ringing in my ears.

When I turned my gaze, I saw Shine holding a torn bag of chips with a surprised expression on her face.

The puffy nitrogen burst out and the candy scattered.

A sweet scent begins to waft from the cookies falling in all directions.

At the same time, saliva collects in the mouth.

My tongue feels wet.

Shine begins to eat the snacks that have fallen all over the room.

The crumbs in her mouth scatter into small pieces.

It looks appetizing.

I also walked up to her side and picked up the snack that had fallen on the floor and ate it.

There wasn’t a speck of dust on it.

It means that it is okay to put it in your mouth.

It would certainly seem like a bizarre sight to others, but guess what?

There’s no one else here but Shine and me, so you don’t have to worry about the stares.

After I finished off all the snacks that fell on the floor, I showed Shine how to open a bag of snacks properly.

When I showed her the method, the same unfortunate incident as before didn’t happen again.

What Shine chose this time was potato chips.

A rich and salty smell wafts through the air.

The hand that naturally stretches out reaches into the bag of chips that Shine is holding.

There was a large wall-mounted television in the room.

I shared some cookies with her and turned on the television.

A screen that fills a large wall.

What was playing inside was a children’s program, for children only.

An animation featuring lots of cute characters is being aired.

Shine, who was eating a snack, starts to get absorbed in the screen.

Who would like such childish and unfunny animation?

Just think for a moment, a kid is a kid after all.

I also got into animation.

The content is quite interesting.

The characters are also attractive.

If I were to return to my original body, I think I would buy character goods from that anime.

“You’ve been waiting nicely.”

I was so absorbed in the broadcast that I suddenly heard a voice and turned around in surprise.

There stood Amy, with her long, pink hair flowing down her chest.

The door was wide open, and I couldn’t even guess when I arrived.

The faint smell of gunpowder emanates from her body, and a pungent scent lingers at the end.

“Amy.”

“Huh?”

Amy lowers her gaze at my words.

A gaze that met mine while kneeling.

I got up from my seat and spoke to her.

“I want to go home.”

“I mean, home. Do you happen to remember the address?”

I was trying to answer her question naturally, but I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

Of course I know my home address.

But I couldn’t say it.

A cold sweat runs down my back.

If I had said the address here without thinking, she would have gone there.

And it was clear that they had found out my information registered in that house.

A house where a man named Jeff lives.

Of course, we will start investigating that person.

It was clear that the investigation that started like that would reach the research institute where I worked.

That’s why I couldn’t answer.

I lower my head weakly.

“No… .”

Amy hugs my body as I give her a weak answer.

“It’s okay. No matter what happens, I’ll definitely find your home.”

I can’t breathe.

Not only was her arm strength incredible, but her kindness was squeezing my neck.

A feeling of unease.

It felt like walking on thin ice.

“What if I can’t find it?”

“That won’t happen. But really. If it does happen… .”

Amy said that and paused.

He looked like he was seriously contemplating something.

“Would you like to go with me…?”

A voice that flowed out carefully.

I raise my gaze to him.

Amy’s gaze was directed at me.

A steady, unwavering gaze.

The hot emotions contained within it somehow feel scary.

A creaking noise fills my head.

“Shine too?”

“Of course.”

Amy nods.

I look back at Shine.

She doesn’t even glance this way.

Her gaze never seemed to leave the television screen.

Her white hair sparkles under the fluorescent lights.

“Can’t I go out? I’m looking for a house by myself… .”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

Amy shouts urgently.

When I flinched slightly in surprise, she patted my head with an apologetic expression.

“Don’t you know how dangerous it is outside?”

“Is it dangerous?”

I think of the situation outside.

My time in District 23, when I was very young, was definitely dangerous.

However, during the time when I awakened my abilities and moved to a higher area to live, there was no situation that could be called dangerous.

“By the way…. What district is this?”

good night.

Naturally, I asked where this place was.

If I could hear from her, if I could figure out exactly where this place is, it would be a huge help in my escape plan.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you.”

But Amy didn’t answer.

She looks genuinely sorry, but no matter what happens, she won’t tell me where this place is.

I feel drained.

I sat down in my seat.

Amy also sits next to me and picks up the bag of chips.

“Why did you come?”

“I came to check on you guys.”

“Are we staying here?”

“Probably until I find a house.”

Amy burst open the bag of chips in a grand way.

The candy that fell on the floor rolls around.

Shine naturally reached out and picked up the snack that had fallen on the floor and ate it.

“Shine. Don’t eat what falls on the floor.”

Amy grabs Shine’s hand.

The candy in her hand falls to the floor.

Only then does Shine shift her gaze.

From the screen to Amy.

His cold gaze entwines with Amy’s.

“Why?”

“That’s… . dirty.”

“Jeff ate it too.”

Amy’s gaze shifts to me.

I avoided her gaze.

The cookies were so delicious I couldn’t help it.

“Jeff, Shine. Next time, don’t pick up the food that fell on the floor and eat it. Got it?”

Shine nods with a look of disbelief.

She still didn’t seem to understand why food that fell on the floor became dirty.

“But Jeff has picked it up before too.”

Her subsequent words made a cold sweat run down my back.

When did I do that?

“When did I… .”

“That’s what happened in the lab.”

Today, I wanted to shut up Shine, who was talking a lot.

Every single piece of information that comes out of her mouth sends a chill down my spine.

“Laboratory?”

Amy asks back.

Shine, why are you doing that?

You never said a word before.

“That wasn’t it… !”

He answers while looking at Shine.

A girl with distorted gaze is reflected in the pupils.

He answers her in a questioning tone, just like Shine.

“When did I!”

The voice is raised.

The boiling point of emotions has been lowered considerably.

Blue currents spread across my fingertips as my emotions surge up.

Dismissal-

A small noise flows.

Startled by that, I sat up in my seat as if convulsing.

The bag of chips he was holding in his arms fell to the floor.

“Sorry… .”

I apologized to Shine with a small sigh.

It wasn’t like me to get angry at a child.

My head is spinning.

She held her head and buried herself in the soft doll.

“Shine, can you tell me more about that time?”

Shine seemed to hesitate for a moment at Amy’s question.

“Jeff would hate that.”

But Shine didn’t answer.

Her gaze never leaves mine.

Shine got up from her seat and sat down next to the doll I was laying down on.

“We really get along well.”

“Are you close?”

Shine tilts her head.

Having lived her entire life in a laboratory, she lacked many common senses.

“Yeah. It looks really good.”

I lift my head from inside the doll and look at Shine’s expression.

She looked somehow happy.

Amy didn’t ask any more questions about the lab.

I guess he expected that it would hurt Shine and me a lot.

I didn’t know how lucky I was that she thought of me as a test subject like Shine.

If she ever found out that I was a low-level employee working at that lab, I would melt from the horrible rays emanating from her hands.

“Jeff. By the way. Isn’t it hard to control your powers?”

Amy begins to ask me questions cautiously.

I nod, looking down at my hands.

Unlike before, I felt like my abilities were beyond my tolerance.

The evidence was the current that surged out in response to emotion.

“Then, isn’t it dangerous?”

Amy begins to speak carefully, as if trying to console a child.

I felt an inexplicable sense of unease when I saw her like that.

Perhaps because my emotions were showing on my face, she continued urgently.

“I’m trying to help you.”

“It’s okay… .”

“Shine might get hurt?”

“You could get hurt?”

“Wasn’t that the case earlier? A little while ago, electricity flowed out of your hand.”

I nod my head blankly.

“If this situation continues, won’t Shine be in danger?”

Amy takes my hand.

A warm feeling is felt in the hand, but in contrast, a cool feeling is wrapped around the wrist.

Cool feeling?

I hastily lower my gaze.

A silver bracelet wrapped around the arm.

The identity of the cool sensation was a tool to suppress the ability.

“This is…!”

I know it very well.

A safety device that was forcibly installed to calm test subjects whose abilities occasionally go out of control.

There was something like that wrapped around my arm.

I hastily raised my abilities.

A tingling sensation at your fingertips.

A blue current appears, forming a visual image that will soon become visible to the eye.

Dismissed!

A loud noise occurs.

But that’s it.

The current dissipates in an instant.

I feel sick to my stomach.

“I know it’s frustrating, but please bear with it for a little longer.”

I never expected that I would be wearing the ability-suppressing device that test subjects wore.

And that too in a place like this.

I touched my wrist with an anxious look.

The cold temperature of the silver bracelet is transmitted through my fingertips.

“What’s mine?”

Then Shine said.

Looking at the bracelet on my arm.

“Do the same for me as Jeff.”

Shine said and held out her hand.

To be honest, I couldn’t tell what abilities she had.

I’ve never even seen it.

The same would be true for Amy.

Amy seemed to think for a moment, then handed the bracelet to Shine.

Shine, who received the bracelet, puts it on her arm.

and.

My head is clearer.

The faintly flowing noise disappears in an instant.

“Ah… .”

It was only then that I was able to realize Shine’s abilities.