Finding the Flow
I now had a goal: to grow as tall and cool as Amy. But there was nothing I could do about it right away. Going to bed early and drinking lots of milk, just as Amy had advised, was the absolute limit of my current capabilities.
I began to see Amy in a slightly new light. She was no longer just the kind guardian who always looked after us, but someone who was a little—no, incredibly—amazing. Her mornings always started early. She would wake up before us to begin her paperwork. The faint, rich aroma of coffee drifting through the room early in the morning was the signal that her day had begun.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watched her. Resting her chin in one hand, she was drafting documents at the table, her fingers flying across the keyboard of a compact laptop. I slipped out of bed and padded over to peek at her screen.
"Are you awake?"
"Yes."
It was a bit earlier than my usual wake-up time. Shine was still fast asleep. Amy scooped me up as I approached and set me down on the chair beside her.
"What are you doing?"
"Just working."
The laptop screen was packed with text—rows upon rows of tiny characters. It was a somewhat familiar sight.
I stared intently at the large mug sitting next to her laptop. Gentle wisps of steam rose from it, meaning there was definitely still coffee inside. I licked my lips. It looks so good.
"What did I say you should do first when you wake up?"
"Ah."
I had been stealthily reaching my hand out, but at her words, I scrambled down from the chair in a panic and dashed to the bathroom. After a quick wash and rinsing my mouth, I patted my face dry with a fluffy towel and climbed back onto the chair next to Amy.
I looked down at Amy's legs. Her feet rested firmly on the floor. In comparison, my legs were ridiculously short. I swung them back and forth, but there was no way they could reach the ground.
A little while later, the morning broadcast echoed throughout the building. Right on cue, Shine woke up. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes as she looked around.
"Did you sleep well, Shine?"
"Mm."
Shine nodded sleepily, climbed out of bed, and headed straight for the bathroom. The moment Amy saw Shine was awake, she snapped her laptop shut. The screen vanished in an instant, the faint afterimage of the display dissolving from my vision.
Rubbing my own eyes, I followed Amy out of the room with Shine.
"Pork cutlets for breakfast again today?"
"Yes, please."
I nodded when Amy asked about the menu once we reached the cafeteria. The crispy batter and tender meat possessed an irresistible charm.
After a quick meal, we returned to our room to change. We put on comfortable tracksuits. The large cat character printed on the back of Shine's tracksuit suited her perfectly.
Once changed, we left the room and began walking down the hallway. However, we turned in a different direction than usual. Shine didn't seem to mind, but I spoke up to ask Amy.
"Aren't we going to Victor today?"
"No, we are going to see him."
"Then why are we heading this way? The gym is in the opposite direction."
"We can't use the main gym today."
"Why?"
"Because other people need to use it."
"Why?"
"The personnel who were sent on long-term dispatch have returned."
"Long-term dispatch?"
"Yes. Some of the other branches were short on manpower, so..." Amy trailed off with an awkward smile.
I extracted a massive piece of information from her words. Did that mean there wasn't just one of these colossal facilities, but two or even more?
"Anyway, that's how it is," Amy said, reaching down to ruffle my hair. I ducked away from her hand and pressed close to Shine's side. Shine took my hand, looked up at Amy, and asked, "Does that mean we can't play ball?"
"No, of course you can. We can play ball just fine where we're going."
I glanced back down the opposite hallway, toward the direction of the gym. So people who do the same kind of work as Amy have returned? A spark of curiosity flared within me.
The place we arrived at with Amy was a space slightly smaller than the main gym. There was no sparring ring, nor were there any machines to measure our stats. Instead, the heavy scent of iron hung in the air, and silver, gleaming workout equipment stretched out before us.
"Where is this?"
"My personal space."
It was Victor who answered my question. He was sitting at a small desk a short distance from the entrance, waving at us. I hadn't even noticed him there.
"Victor's space?"
"Do you live here, Victor?" Shine and I asked at the same time.
The rigid, cold-looking equipment made the room feel incredibly desolate. I looked at Victor with pity in my eyes. To think he lives in a place like this without even a soft bed...
"I have no idea what's going through those heads of yours..." Victor muttered.
Shine and I approached him with practiced familiarity. The small chairs set in front of his desk were perfectly sized for us.
"Do what you need to do today, then play ball to your heart's content."
"Okay."
I looked around. How were we supposed to train when there weren't any machines to record our ability levels?
"But there are no machines."
"We don't need them today." Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bead. "Just hold this in your hand for about five minutes, and we're done."
"Really?"
I looked at him skeptically as I took the bead.
The bead felt cold in my palm. I couldn't sense anything special about it. As I stared at him in confusion, Victor explained, "It measures the amount of electrical current your body leaks unconsciously."
"Why?"
"Because it's necessary."
"Why is it necessary?"
At my barrage of questions, Victor's face contorted into a bizarre grimace. He let out a soft sigh.
"Amy. It seems the brats have a lot of questions lately."
"Just answer him. You think you weren't like that when you were a kid?"
Victor rolled his eyes at Amy's retort before slowly speaking.
"We're finding your safe flow."
"Safe flow?"
"I said it measures the electrical current you leak unconsciously, right? We're finding the safest current among them."
"Why do we need to do that?"
"It'll be faster to just show you." Victor stood up. He pulled a long iron rod from his coat and brandished it in front of me. "Watch closely."
Crackle!
A familiar sound. Sparks danced in the air. A current of blue electricity wrapped itself around the iron rod. Without a moment's hesitation, Victor threw the rod with all his might.
Zzap!
A sharp crack rent the air. With a tearing sound, a streak of blue light shot forward in a straight line, leaving a fading blue tail in its wake.
Thud!
My jaw dropped. The electrified iron rod was embedded deep in a wooden target board. The area around the rod was scorched black, and a thin wisp of smoke carried the faint smell of burning.
"You need to find your safe flow to do things like this."
I understood what Victor was trying to explain immediately. I could probably mimic his trick of throwing an electrified rod. However, if I tried it, the electricity wrapping the rod would undoubtedly scatter wildly in all directions mid-flight.
I looked up at him, my eyes sparkling. He was an ability user of the same type as me—and an incredibly powerful one at that.
"H-how do you do that?"
"First, find your flow, and make it so you can maintain that flow at all times. That's step one."
"Whoa..."
Victor, who always looked so annoyed. Victor, who seemed to half-ass everything. He was actually amazing. Seriously!
At the sound indicating five minutes had passed, I set down the bead. The once-cloudy bead was now glowing with a soft blue light.
"You won't find anyone else to teach you this, so watch carefully." Victor picked up the bead I had set down and raised his other hand.
Crackle!
Blue electricity flared from his hand. The current, which had been flickering and branching out wildly in all directions, suddenly seemed to freeze. No, it hadn't stopped moving. It was simply flowing in the exact same direction as before, but at such an extreme speed that it appeared perfectly still.
"This is your flow." Victor waved his hand, dispersing the electricity. Staring blankly at the blue afterimages fading into the air, I raised my own hand. I remembered the direction, the speed—everything. I began to replicate the current he had shown me. A blue electrical field spread over my hand. I began to rein in the wild, erratic currents that wanted to burst in every direction.
"Now, Shine..."
Beeeep—
The moment Victor pulled out a new bead and spoke, a strange ringing echoed in my head.
"Is it because they're twins? They're identical."
A brief disconnect. A bizarre sensation. The lingering texture of the bead on my fingertips.
"Huh...?"
I wiggled my fingers. It felt unnatural, like a video that had been abruptly cut and spliced back together.
"Anyway, try to grasp that flow starting today."
Shine and I nodded. Victor sat back down and began organizing his papers. The unnatural sensation quickly faded. Rubbing my forehead, I whispered to Shine, "I think Victor is actually really amazing."
"Victor?"
"Yeah. Incredibly amazing."
But Shine furrowed her brow, clearly disagreeing. I, on the other hand, couldn't understand her attitude. Since she possessed the same type of ability, she should have been able to tell at a glance how incredible Victor's application of it was.
"Amy is way more amazing," Shine said, turning her head away.
I followed her gaze.
Boom!
A massive explosion of sound. The moment Amy's fist shot forward in a straight line, the target at the end of her trajectory shuddered violently. It was a massive iron dummy, covered in fist-shaped dents. Amy's fist flew forward once more.
Boom!
"Take it easy. They said they won't supply us with replacements if you break another one," Victor said, looking at Amy. Her behavior seemed to be a common occurrence to him.
"Those supplies are funded by my family, you know?" Amy glanced back with a small, nonchalant smile.
Immediately after, she threw another punch. A faint light gathered at the tips of her fingers.
Crash!
The massive iron dummy's neck snapped. As if struck down by something incredibly heavy and colossal, the severely distorted face of the iron dummy fell to the floor. The fallen dummy's face somehow bore a striking resemblance to Jin's.