Chapter 63: Energy Eater (2)

"Ghk—!"

Something black dropped in front of me with a rush, and the ground burst. A terrible blast of wind and dirt poured over me. I staggered in it and very nearly lost my footing, and the fox kit with it—but for all that the earth had been flipped on its head, the kit chose not to run. It chose to lick my finger.

"Hey. What are you doing right now?"

I was still staring, dumbfounded, at the thing working over my finger the way a mother licks her young, the way a kit nurses, when a beauty black as soot came cutting through the dust at speed.

"Seoha!"

"Ah, Hwayeon-noona, you're he— whoa!!"

I'd lifted my head, glad at her voice, and in that same instant her long leg came down to burst the fox kit's skull. I snatched the thing into my arms and rolled backward in a panic. She'd slowed the stomp a little at the last moment, worried for my hand. If she hadn't, the kit's head would have been gone, and it would have been dead. No question.

"Seoha! Don't hide the aberrant! That's an Energy Eater! No wonder it wasn't on Yongmunsan—it was here!"

"Energy Eater or whatever, just wait a second!"

I stopped her from snatching the kit out of my hands, murder in her momentum, and she looked at me as if she couldn't understand. Then she got angry in a calm, persuasive way.

"It may look cute, but that's an aberrant! Letting yourself be fooled by appearances is foolish!"

"That's right, Seoha! It's dangerous—throw it away, quickly!"

Two pretty young ladies, angry and worried over me. It didn't make any sense, and still something I had never gotten at school filled my chest with warmth.

Was I a kid who needed attention?

Even in the middle of all this, the fox kit had no interest in anything but my finger. Whether it knew its head had nearly burst or not, it held my left hand in its front paws and sucked away, wholly occupied. And Hwayeon-noona saw it. Of course she did.

"Th-the Energy Eater is... why? How?"

"Seoohaa."

Franc stamped her feet in empty air, unable to stop worrying that an aberrant had its mouth on my finger. More than that—Hwayeon-noona seemed to know this thing. Had this been why she was waiting on Yongmunsan?

Ask her.

"Noona. Is this an Energy Eater? Is that why you and the ability users were gathered on Yongmunsan?"

"Correct. We've been camping rough in the field for three days because of that thing. I still don't understand how it slipped the encirclement. Now. Hand it over."

Hand it over, and she'd kill it on the spot. That was the momentum on her. Rationally, giving her the kit was the right answer. Looking at her, at that killing air, I felt uneasy anyway.

While I hesitated, her patience seemed to hit bottom. She reached for me again—and a slightly husky, soft voice rang out from the lower slope.

"Seohaaaaa!!"

Hwayeon-noona stopped mid-sentence, scowled hard, and turned toward the sound. I unfolded Search, and there she was on the slope: Choi Soohan, running, yellow hair streaming like a lion's mane.

A whoosh, a thud. Choi Soohan appeared, stuck a hero landing, and immediately shouted, full of confidence.

"Seoha! Now that I'm here, you're fi— huh?"

"Hmph. For a case officer, that's quite the late dispatch. How about turning in your badge?"

Choi Soohan, having spotted Hwayeon a beat too late, glared at her with her brows knotted just as hard. What, were these two actually enemies?

At the provocation, Choi Soohan slouched like a delinquent and started in.

"Well, well. And who might this be? Why's the bitch who ought to be camping on Yongmunsan over here? Get back. Shoo, shoo."

"......!"

The gesture was the one you'd use to sweep away filth, and I could have sworn I heard Hwayeon flare. Color rose in her face. She clenched her teeth, then spat the words out as if she meant to chew them first.

"And why would I be here. Can't you see what Seoha has caught? Even incompetence has its limits."

"Heh. I don't see what's incompetent. I only came out because I got Seoha's report."

"I'm asking why an aberrant that should be on Yongmunsan is here. Wasn't the Survivor Protection and Management Department emergency-mobilized for this as well?"

"I'm a deputy case officer. My main job is survivor management, so I don't do aberrant detection and search. You don't even know that? A B-Class who doesn't know this much—just how pampered have you been, to be this ignorant? Is your brain made of muscle?"

"......!"

"And unauthorized departure from the operation zone, no less. Is that something an ability user representing Korea, responsible for the second-ranked raid team, ought to be doing? Even if your brain is muscle, think a little, you ignorant muscle-brained bitch!"

Mmm. Hwayeon-noona didn't seem to have much of a gift for arguments.

Under the run of attacks her face had gone red, and she only glared, huffing. Leave her like that and she might actually cry. That was the face on her.

When she was little, the angrier Hwayeon-noona got, the faster her words locked up, and then she'd huff alone until she ended up crying... Mmm. A fog seemed to settle over my head, and the thought wouldn't come.

More than that, I couldn't see what nerve a rock-bottom D-Class civil servant had, talking to a B-Class raid boss like that. The gap in position was obvious. So was the gap in power.

Help Noona first.

I stepped in between them—Choi Soohan triumphant, as if she'd already won, and Hwayeon trembling like she might explode—and spoke to Choi Soohan.

"The only person I knew was Hwayeon-noona, so I asked her for help first. If you're going to blame someone, don't blame her. Say it to me."

"Huh?! Why?! I'm your case officer, and you asked that bitch for help? Seoha, that's so mean!"

That bitch. She'd been talking crudely to Hwayeon-noona from the start, and I didn't like it.

"Please don't talk like that. Hwayeon-noona is as good as family to me."

"Huh? Whaaat??"

"She's my older sister's best friend, and a childhood friend who's been close with our family since we were little."

"Ah... s-sorry."

I frowned and explained it again, and Choi Soohan looked at Hwayeon with startled eyes, then apologized only to me, wearing a somehow wronged face.

I'd thought it before. This person really did act like a child. But why was Hwayeon-noona looking at me with startled eyes too? Don't tell me I'd been the only one who thought of her as family.

Well, the dream I'd had last night wasn't the sort a person who thinks of someone as family ought to have... but her reaction stung a little. So had the cold way she'd spoken on the phone.

As if taking that sting out on Choi Soohan, I put a slight edge on my voice.

"And why did you ask why I went to Hwayeon-noona instead of my case officer? Because I was never told the regulations for a situation like this. You didn't tell me anything, Ms. Choi. So while I was worrying, the first person who came to mind was Hwayeon-noona. She's my childhood friend, but she's also the boss of the raid team I'm about to join on a temporary basis. And I did call you right away. Was there something wrong with what I did?"

"Ah, no. Nothing like that."

I said it quietly, calmly, with a blank face, and Choi Soohan started to hesitate, watching my mood with care.

"If I did nothing wrong, then was it wrong for Hwayeon-noona to step away from the operation zone for a little while and come help me?"

"Huh? Th-that's..."

"It was a forced muster, but I'm a raid team boss, so a certain freedom of action is guaranteed. Leaving my post at my own discretion is allowed. There's a proxy on site who can stand in for me."

Well-timed supporting fire. Choi Soohan's expression darkened, visibly.

"Then I have no reason to hear that sort of talk from you, Ms. Choi. And Hwayeon-noona has no reason to take your insults either. Isn't that right?"

"......"

At that she deflated, unable to answer, and hung her head. I turned to Hwayeon. She looked surprised.

I didn't know what was so unexpected, but cornering Choi Soohan could stop here. She was still my case officer, and it was certain enough that she bore me goodwill, at the base of it.

I sighed as if for show, and said it.

"So then. Did you come alone?"

"Yeah. I came by myself?"

She flinched, just a little, and I furrowed my brow. I'd learned this listening to Franc.

"The response manual for an aberrant appearance isn't a solo dispatch, is it?"

"Urk?"

As expected.

Fed up, I snapped at her.

"When an aberrant appears in a city, there's a protocol for what you're supposed to do, isn't there? And that protocol isn't a case officer deploying alone. Uncle Kang Woohyuk... Officer Kang didn't strike me as that sloppy. Don't tell me you came out on your own without even reporting to him?"

"Ah, no. I just... you said it was a Low-Rank Variant, so..."

"It hasn't even been a month since I came back. What were you going to do if I'd seen it wrong?"

"Urgh."

She flinched under the pointing-out, and I held the Energy Eater up where she could see it. Her eyes locked onto the thing.

"Hwayeon-noona called this an Energy Eater the moment she saw it. And a great many ability users are mustered on Yongmunsan because of it. That means its danger is high relative to its Phase Power, and its priority ought to be the highest grade. If my report had been passed to another department, they might have hypothesized that even a low-rank sighting had a good chance of being an Energy Eater. Capable people at the Ability User Association would have seen the connection to the aberrant on Yongmunsan and moved more carefully. Am I wrong?"

"Y-you're riiight..."

"You trusted only my report. You didn't even forward it. You ignored the manual for an aberrant appearance, deployed on your own, and then clashed with a raid team boss who came to help."

"Uuuuh."

At the cold in my voice she welled up, as if she'd sob and break. Crying because a kid had chewed her out—was she actually an adult?

She was wearing the same black suit as the first time we'd met. The clothes and the hair already gave her a strongly androgynous look, and sniveling on top of that, she was a truly pathetic sight. So I didn't feel sorry for her at all. Besides, she'd called Hwayeon-noona a muscle-brained bitch. That strange little remark.

Not a twinge of conscience, and curious whether Choi Soohan was really a woman, I scanned her whole sniveling body.

...Flat enough to make me wonder if it was even true that awakening rebuilt a body into its optimal state. But she was a woman, sure enough.

Overall she was built like a cheetah—slim, body fat so low the muscle stood out. Hwayeon-noona, seen from the outside, was a well-bred young lady who worked hard at yoga and pilates, but inside she was packed with terrifyingly compressed muscle. Fat covered the angular parts of it, and the result was a figure perfect both as a Physical Reinforcement user and as a woman.

Choi Soohan, by contrast, looked like skin laid over muscle and nothing else. Pectorals where breasts should have been. A stark six-pack on her stomach, solid obliques showing at her sides. Arms and legs full of muscle angled hard as whetstone. To make matters worse, even her backside looked hard as a lump of stone.

The one mercy was that no Armstrong cannon hung between her legs. That, at least, proved she was a woman.

...But why was she leaking arousal? Why? How? Because of what??

Now that I looked, her face was sniveling and her cheeks were faintly flushed. At first I'd thought that was just the crying. Looking again, there was a strange heat in it.

What. She's a masochist? Might as well confirm.

I stared coldly at the sniveling Choi Soohan and said it, low.

"Ms. Choi, you really are useless and incompetent."

"Uuuuh."

"You're disqualified as a case officer."

"Sob..."

It's true. The moment she heard me, arousal gushed out of her in a flood. Just looking at her, though, she only seemed to be sniveling because she'd been called out. If it weren't for Clairvoyance and Detection, I never would have known.

Heh. A virgin masochist female, rare as a virgin bitch. I'd thought that sort of thing only showed up in manga.

While I was sunk in a strange sense of wonder, Hwayeon opened her mouth with a slightly fed-up look.

"So you really are Siha's little brother."

Urk. Had I just sounded exactly like my sister, nagging like that? Franc had been wearing an expression close to Hwayeon's, and when I looked at her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she covered her face with her hands in a flash.

Both hands hid her face completely. How small was her head?

"Ahem. Anyway, what should we do with this little guy?"

Choi Soohan scrubbed at her eyes with her sleeve in a hurry... Oh, come on. She really did it all. Doing that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠made it look like I was the one who'd done something wrong! When she was the one enjoying it!

I forced my attention off the situation at her lower mouth—panties soaked through, her pant legs a minute away from showing it—and by then she'd finished wiping the tears. She looked at me and asked.

"Before that, why is... that thing sucking on your finger?"

This perverted woman. That slight waver in her voice wasn't sadness. It was her voice trembling as she got a little carried away.

"It's because this little guy is licking up bits of my Phase Power."

"What?!"

"Whaaat?!"

"Seoha?!"

Amazingly, all three reactions were the same.

The reason the thing was sucking my finger like it had lost its mind was that I'd applied Phase Power control, and was slowly putting Phase Power out through my finger. It hadn't been difficult. Apply the absorption I'd seen in the mass of light on an island in the Phase World, and the emission I'd seen in the measurement room of the Association building, and it came quickly.

Even so, this wasn't something I could just tell them.

"When I use my ability, a little Phase Power leaks from my body, and it seems to be licking that up. It isn't stealing the Phase Power inside me."

"R...eally?"

She asked it with a face that didn't want to believe, so I nodded.

The reason it had suddenly sped up in front of me earlier. The reason it had climbed onto my arm and frozen. Simply hunger. Shove chicken and pizza at someone who's starving, and anyone would freeze—pizza first, or chicken?

Hwayeon watched the Energy Eater, still doggedly licking my finger through all the noise, with a careful face, then said it quietly.

"Even so, I don't think we should keep letting it suck your finger."

With that she shot a hand out quick as lightning, seized the Energy Eater by the scruff, and yanked. The thing startled, twisted its whole body, and thrashed, clawing and biting the hand on its neck.

Kiiing?! Kiiiiing! Kii!

Whoa. Not a scratch on her white skin. Was that the dignity of B-Class Physical Reinforcement?

"......!"

Curious, I touched her hand. Firm muscle under a little fat. Smooth and soft, no different from my own skin. Strange.

I fiddled with the hand, which seemed to flinch ever so slightly, and the Energy Eater in her grip gave up biting her and tried to lick mine again. Seeing that, she belatedly broke free of her paralysis and stepped back two paces. Choi Soohan caught my shoulder and pulled me back, worry in her voice.

"Seoha. The Energy Eater is a more dangerous monster than you think."

"Is it? From the name and what it's doing, it just seems like its goal is to take in energy."

It didn't even look strong. At the counter, Choi Soohan nodded with conviction.

"Yeah. The Energy Eater is a monster that covets Phase Power. That's true. But there's never been a single case of one eating a person's Phase Power. And yet..."

"And yet an Energy Eater coveting your Phase Power could be evidence that something's wrong with your body. So it'd be best to run a simple check with the Certifier. If there's an abnormality, the Certifier will tell you."

Hwayeon had cut in and taken the words. Choi Soohan furrowed her brow as if to say something, met my cold look, and shut her mouth at once.

"So the measurement had a function like that."

I asked Hwayeon how to run the check and worked the Certifier by the procedure. The skin under it stung once. The Certifier blinked white, then lit green.

She looked at the green-glittering hologram and nodded, relieved.

"Green means normal. Yellow means abnormal. Red means danger. Yellow, get to a hospital as soon as you can. Red, you'd better get to a hospital under the Association immediately. Remember that."

I nodded that I understood, and she frowned slightly, as if the Energy Eater still squirming in her hand were a nuisance, then flicked it on the head.

An ominous thwack, and the Energy Eater went limp like a doll with its power cut.

"You killed it?!"

"No. An Energy Eater preserved this intact becomes a valuable research sample. A specimen this young is truly rare, besides. It'll make good research material."

"R-really? But at first you tried to stomp it to death."

"......"

Flustered for an instant, she moved her lips, then flushed slightly and turned her head away.

More than that, I frowned at the part about it becoming a living research sample. I'd spared it on a whim... Wouldn't death have been easier, from its side?

Perhaps she resented having her words stolen earlier. This time Choi Soohan opened her mouth as if to block Hwayeon.

"When an Energy Eater eats a lot of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Phase Power and gets full, its movement speeds up drastically—as fast as a C-Class or B-Class Physical Reinforcement user. That's why every Energy Eater that's been captured ends up a shredded rag, or dead, more often than not!"

True enough. Even starved, it had moved fast enough that I'd almost lost it for a moment... Slip a little, and I might have lost Franc's Soul Stone.

Cold sweat ran down me, late.

"Seoha, the En—"

"Seoha, are you worried about the Energy Eater?"

Hwayeon frowned, irritated at being cut off again, but she didn't say anything particular.

Then and now, Noona's way with words wasn't much. Let an argument start, and the fist came out before the words... Ngh. My head throbbed again just now. What was that? Something I'd forgotten felt like it was on the verge of coming back...

"The Energy Eater is a Class-1 Designated Harmful Aberrant, so you can't let yourself be fooled by how it looks, got it? Get caught raising one as a pet and you'll take a specially weighted punishment, so remember that!"

Ghk. A special-grade crime. Did that mean they'd send me to Alcatraz? I'd been a little tempted by how cute it looked, but I did not want to go to Alcatraz.

"I don't want to raise an aberrant as a pet."

"Then that's a relief!"

The word and the face didn't quite match. She sent me a look full of strange heat, and I felt like I'd been marked by a woman I didn't want. It left me uneasy. Even now her groin was twitching, dripping arousal drop by drop...

Hwayeon looked at her with distaste, then spoke in a displeased tone.

"When do you intend to return to headquarters? Hurry back and report your foolish actions."

"Hmph, I was going to even if you didn't tell me! You idiot brain!"

"......!"

Wham.

"Gack!"

Hwayeon had finally snapped, and the kick sent Choi Soohan flying all the way to the foot of the mountain. She hit a tree, snapped it in half, and slammed into the ground.

I was just starting to wonder if she was hurt when she sprang up as if nothing was wrong and began hopping and shrieking in our direction. Hwayeon ignored the voice. Looking thoroughly satisfied, she held up the limp Energy Eater.

"I'll take the Energy Eater. You made the capture, Seoha, so the bounty will go out in your name."

"Oh. Yeah. You're leaving right away, Noona?"

"Yes. I need to report that yellow-head's actions to the Association, and put your matter in the report as well."

Having said it, she gazed at me steadily, her expression unreadable.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"...It's nothing. I have high expectations for you. Once things are settled, I'll come find you with the contract."

"Okay...? Ah. Noona, wait."

"What."

I'd caught her to ask again, while I had the chance, about Phase Power operation techniques, and her face went back to what it had been—a little cold. Tch. She was cuter with an expression on her, the way she'd looked when Choi Soohan was getting to her.

"Noona, you'd be much cuter if you relaxed your brows a little."

"......"

...Scary! Being glared at with a blank face is scarier!

She fiddled with her eyebrow for a moment, then glared at me.

"That was what you had to say?"

"N-no. I wanted to know at least a rough outline of Phase Power operation techniques."

"...Phase Power operation techniques aren't much. They just accelerate your existing Phase Power a little more, in line with its nature."

Huh?

"If you're a Physical Reinforcement user, your body gets a little sturdier, stronger, faster, and if you have regeneration and immune systems, those get enhanced too. Elemental users see the power of their element grow, or its range widen. Detection users get an expansion of vision, or an increase in sense range. Other minor abilities also gain power, or usefulness."

"So it's called an operation technique, but it's really just strengthening your own ability a little?"

"Yes."

"Then you can't move Phase Power however you want, or imitate another type's movement?"

"What are you talking about. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Phase Power isn't a force you can move at will, and if you try, your vessels can twist and you can be left a cripple. Your trainer will warn you when you learn it, but never try. Understand?"

As if worried I'd do something reckless, she furrowed her brow and cautioned me almost like a threat.

"Yeah. Got it. Thanks for worrying."

"Wh-who said I was worrying about you?!"

Oh? A textbook tsundere?

"Then I'll see you later!"

She left the words behind, stamped hard, and shot east like a cannon shell. Boom—and she was gone from sight in an instant.

I thought her earlobes had gone a little red before she vanished. Imagination? She'd left my detection range so fast I couldn't see.

No way Hwayeon-noona liked me... Impossible. Even the first time we met, as kids, she'd acted like I wasn't there, and after that she'd been curt only with me.

Now she was so incredibly pretty that a hundred out of a hundred people walking by would turn to look, and she was the boss of a major raid team besides. Would someone like me even catch her eye?

She was just worrying a little, in her own small way, because I was her best friend's little brother.

One person like a storm, one person like a pervert, and once both were gone the surroundings finally quieted, and I could see Franc. She had her hands clasped, worry on her face as she looked at me.

Perhaps because she'd once been infected by an undead-type aberrant, she looked unusually sensitive beside Hwayeon or Choi Soohan. Maybe it had become a trauma.

I swept the area with Search, confirmed no one was there, and spoke.

"Sorry. Those two had me so frazzled I couldn't even pay attention to you."

"It's all right."

"But I'm really fine, so don't worry too much."

"But..."

"The Energy Eater didn't steal my Phase Power. I applied the way the measuring device worked, the one I saw in the Phase Power measurement room, and the absorption I saw from the light-mass on the island, and I deliberately leaked a little Phase Power through my finger. So I used that thing for an experiment. Of my own will."

Hearing it, she gently stroked my cheek and asked.

"Really. You're really all right?"

"Really. I'm really aaall right. The Certifier said there was no problem, didn't it?"

Smiling, I echoed her words right back, ran the Certifier check again, and showed her the green light.

Only then did she seem to relax. She smiled brightly and kissed my cheek.

Heheh. Franc's kisses were good no matter when I got them.

For a moment last night's kiss flashed through me—the one on my lower mouth—and my face went hot. I'd better turn the thought before it went any further and my thing started acting like a thing.

"Then tell me now. Why are Noona and Choi Soohan on bad terms?"

"Ah. Mm. ...Seoha is wise, so it should be all right."

I'm wise? Mmm. The rose-colored film over Franc's eyes seemed to be getting thicker by the day.

"There's a high chance Ms. Choi Soohan and Ms. Yoo Hwayeon are rivals."

"Rivals? Didn't I say Hwayeon-noona is a B-Class Physical Reinforcement user? Choi Soohan is only D-Class. A rivalry can't stand."

"Oh, that person is B-Class? Amazing. Then the chance my guess is right gets even higher."

Mmm. I didn't understand it at all. If they were rivals, shouldn't their abilities at least be similar? But they'd looked like they were dying to tear each other apart, so I couldn't quite insist it was absolutely not...

"I think those two probably had similar starting points as ability users. Back then, they likely weren't on such bad terms as now."

"But then Hwayeon-noona suddenly grew a great deal and became B-Class, and Choi Soohan stayed at D-Class. Choi Soohan felt inferior and came to dislike her, and Noona came to dislike Choi Soohan in turn, because she couldn't be happy for her growth and only resented it?"

"You got it right away! That's it!"

Franc clapped as if awarding me a gold star, and smiled wide. Fortunately, the serious mood from earlier seemed to have eased a good deal.

"Mmm... Could their relationship be that simple? Maybe some physical blow was exchanged, and that made things worse."

"Hwayeon's reaction can be the answer there. First, the reaction she showed when you said you would call Choi Soohan. And the part where she arranged the timing so she would arrive at the destination first."

"Huh?"

Why? I must have looked like I didn't understand, because she smiled kindly and began explaining, point by point.

"If Ms. Yoo Hwayeon had truly disliked Ms. Choi Soohan, she would have told you to call only after everything was already cleaned up."

"To crush her flat after it was over?"

"That's right. But she didn't do that. Arranging it so she arrived first, and Choi Soohan after—that means she is not in a truly hostile relationship with her."

"So she wanted to show how she could handle a situation, or something like that, so Choi Soohan would acknowledge her?"

"Yes! And that's why Choi Soohan could come on so strong, even against a higher-ranked ability user."

"Mm. Listening to you, it does sound plausible. But how did you catch on so fast? A woman's intuition?"

"Pfft. Not that. It's only that in my days as a common knight, I had two peers who were a lot like Ms. Yoo Hwayeon and Ms. Choi Soohan, so I could tell right away."

"Ah, I see. I understand."

So it was a fight of feelings. Well, a high-ranking ability user wasn't a monster, I supposed.

Now that I understood where the spat between Hwayeon and Choi Soohan came from, I ought to turn the subject to Phase Power control.

"By the way, you heard what Hwayeon-noona said earlier, right? I think my Phase Power control and the Association's Phase Power operation technique have to be considered completely different things."

Franc nodded, serious, as if calling back what Hwayeon had said a moment ago.

I turned my steps toward home and spoke to her.

"If Noona's right, the Association's technique is nothing but a boost for an ability. Compared to that, my Phase Power control moves as I intend. And where Phase Power settles, physical ability rises too. Maybe I could even imitate the form of another type's Phase Power?"

She was flying half-reclined in the air, meeting my eyes, and thanks to that her figure came into view whole. Very good for the eyes.

And something I'd felt from seeing her often lately: Franc's body—her spirit body—was incredibly realistic.

A few examples. The sensual sway of her breasts. The way her lines caught beautifully, as if she were swimming, when she glided through the air. The heart-stirring little crease that formed just beneath the curve of her rear. The alluring love line drawn along her side when she twisted.

So the lewd dream last night was largely Franc's fault. They say a dream can't build what you haven't experienced, or haven't seen. Which meant the Franc I'd been looking at all along was in front of me, covering my eyes, and Hwayeon-noona, whom I'd never once seen, was behind me with my thing...

"Seoha?"

Hm?! Ahem.

"S-so, hearing Hwayeon-noona, I was sure. This Phase Power control is my ability too."

Franc knew my Search in detail. Of Phase Power control, she only knew it as a technique I'd gained while taking a baptism of the Rogue Imugi's lightning.

"Seoha is truly incredible. Search is one thing, but Phase Power control—I've never even heard of an ability like that."

"R-really?"

"Yes! If you reach a high class with both abilities, you'll be able to become far, far stronger than you are now."

Hehehh...

Eyes sparkling like that, praising me, and my nose felt ready to pierce the sky.

"Then will you name my Phase Power control, Franc?"

"M-me? May I really do something that important...?"

"Of course. When I first learned Phase Power control, I should have named it right away and done the image imprint. The reason I still haven't given it a name is that I think, unconsciously, I wanted you to be the one to name it."

That was a lie. I'd only just become certain it was an ability, so now I was about to do the image work. This was how you scored points with Franc, little by little. Heh heh.

In fact, it was an extremely important task for the image imprint. The imprint is the trigger, in consciousness and in the unconscious, for manifesting an ability, and the ability's name is what lets you call that imprint up quickly.

Attach a strange name, or a name you don't like, and it interferes with the imprint. So unless the situation is truly special, naming an ability isn't something you leave to someone else... or so I'd seen on the Certifier community.

"......"

And perhaps she knew that too. She twisted as if too embarrassed to bear, flew over, clung to my back, and spoke.

"Mana Sieve. How does Mana Sieve sound?"

They call Phase Power mana in Britain, don't they? Mana Sieve... It was good. It just clicked. I liked it a great deal.

"Phase Power that will guide me—mana... This is really good. I have a feeling this is going to be an incredibly important ability for me!"

At that she covered her face with both hands and flew about in a fluster. The glimpse of her face shining white meant she was terribly embarrassed. Hehe.

I walked the path under the setting sun, turning the name over inside me, and suddenly the Phase Power throughout my body began to gather toward my heart.

"Ngh?!"

There was no pain, but the movement startled me. I hunched without meaning to and clutched my chest. Franc, spinning round and round above my head, startled at the sight of me and came closer.

Shhhhhhh.

A moment passed, and every last trace of Phase Power had gathered into my heart. From then on Search switched off, and Phase Power control stopped answering too. But I felt no anxiety.

I closed my eyes, and every blood vessel in my brain came clear. Phase Power flowed unimpeded along them, and a fierce sense of liberation washed over me.

I thought I heard a mysterious sound by my ear. The moment I focused on it—

Ah.

And with that, I felt it.

Space.