A Flash of Blue Lightning
Right now, I was facing the absolute greatest crisis of my life. Rain's voice, warning me that Victor wasn't kind, echoed in my head like a phantom hallucination. No wonder the game had seemed too easy. A bet of ten candies against a hundred—Victor clearly had no intention of handing them over without a fight.
"No!" I widened my eyes. At this rate, I wouldn't even walk away with the ten baseline candies, leaving me to suffer through tasteless green juice and cucumbers for lunch. But there was absolutely nothing I could do. Victor was moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to track, his brilliant blue currents effortlessly pushing back my own electromagnetic field.
"Your answer?" Victor's hand stopped. At that exact moment, the blue electricity crackling from his fingers vanished. Calm down. I have to stay calm. I caught my breath. Just because I hadn't seen it didn't mean I couldn't get it right. If I just guessed, I still had a shot. I had to choose with absolute precision. This was a single, high-stakes showdown with the fate of over a hundred candies on the line. I could feel sweat pooling in my palms.
"Hurry and choose." I looked up at Victor desperately, but he ignored my gaze entirely, keeping his eyes fixed on the paper cups. Rain was right. Victor wasn't kind at all.
"This one!" I shouted, pointing to the cup on the far right. For some inexplicable reason, I had a gut feeling that was the one. Victor's eyebrows twitched noticeably at my gesture. "Hmm." His massive hand slowly reached down and began to lift the cup. I watched, my eyes wide with anticipation. And then—
Zap— My still-expanded electromagnetic field picked up a faint, subtle movement. Before my brain could even process what was happening, my body reacted. The widely dispersed electricity sent a jolt through my nerves, forcing my arm to shoot forward. My hand snatched the giant bag of candy right off the table. Victor's bewildered gaze locked onto my face. I was just as shocked as he was, but that moment of mutual paralysis didn't last. I immediately spun on my heel and bolted.
"Huff, puff!" I looked back over my shoulder as I ran. Victor was staring at me in utter disbelief. Sure enough, there had been absolutely nothing under the cup he had lifted. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept running. The candy bag clutched tightly to my chest shook violently, scattering colorful sweets in every direction. It was a tragic waste, but I didn't have a single second to stop and pick them up.
As I sprinted forward, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end. Something wrapped in a massive electric current surged past me. Crackle! A flash of light so bright it left afterimages in my eyes. Victor, radiating a brilliant blue aura from his entire body, was already standing directly in front of me. "Stop," he said calmly.
"Yikes!" I immediately spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction. As I ran, I frantically stuffed handfuls of candy into my mouth. The rush of sweetness spreading across my tongue should have made me smile, but there was no time to savor the flavor. He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. Even without looking, even without seeing him, I knew. Victor was moving. A faint, blue line of light connecting through the air mapped out exactly where he would land next.
Crackle— I skidded to a halt in sheer terror at the sound echoing from the empty air. Victor was already standing in front of me again. His hand shot forward. "No!" I thrust my hand out in desperation. Zap— The blue electricity wrapped around my hand clashed with Victor's, creating a strange, swirling current. The information contained within that flow began to stream directly into my mind. And in that split second, I understood. I realized how Victor applied his ability, and exactly how he was moving his body.
The information flooding my brain rapidly adapted to fit my own body. I immediately reached my hand behind my back. Replicating Victor's movements exactly, I shot a faint spark of light from my fingertips, stretching it out to designate my destination. Immediately after, I released the energy through my entire body. My vision turned pure white. Right in front of me, Victor's bewildered expression came into view. I stuck my tongue out at him. Crackle! Just before Victor's hand could touch me, my body began to slide through the air at high speed. Dashing through the empty space like a bolt of blue lightning felt exhilarating.
My skin tingled. I didn't need to maintain full power all the time. The window of activation was incredibly brief—transforming the entire body into lightning for the exact millisecond of movement, then immediately deactivating the ability. That was the secret behind Victor's movement technique. Since it was my first time trying it, I traveled much further than expected. I ended up perched on top of a large piece of machinery, looking down at Victor.
"You..." Victor looked utterly dumbfounded. His trembling gaze locked onto me—a young girl smiling back at him with absolute confidence. We locked eyes in silence. Victor's mouth twitched as if he had a million things to say, but he suddenly snapped his gaze toward the training mat where my bag was lying. I looked there too. At the exact same time, Victor and I reached out. Crackle— Blue light shot through the air in a straight line. I didn't even stop to think about who would get there first. The moment I reached out, I was already there. And so was Victor.
The blue light bursting from our bodies scattered into the air. Behind the fading afterimages, Victor's hand shot toward me. I desperately dodged, his fingers brushing past the crown of my head. Clutching my bag to my chest with a victorious smile, I immediately prepared to flash toward my next target. Or so I thought. "Ack!" By the time I realized what was happening, I was already caught in Victor's grip. I was dangling helplessly in the air, held up by the back of my collar. Hugging my bag tightly, I offered him an awkward, sheepish smile. The candy bag slipped from my grasp, spilling a colorful waterfall of sweets all over the floor.
"Should we... should we have lunch?" I raised my bag to hide my face, unable to bear Victor's terrifying glare. If you pressed the button in the corner of my dinosaur bag, the dinosaur in the center would open its mouth wide. I pressed the button twice. Chomp, chomp! The dinosaur opened its mouth wide, protesting on my behalf. Thwack! A sharp impact hit the crown of my head. It was a stinging pain that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I clutched my head and looked up at Victor. He had just given me a hard flick on the forehead.
"We eat, then we resume."
"Yes, sir..."
He carried me out of the training ground, still dangling from his hand like a piece of luggage. We arrived at the cafeteria. Victor sat me down at a table and brought over the pork cutlet set I had begged for. Keeping a close eye on his expression, I pulled out the diet lunch box from my bag. "Let's swap." He nodded silently. Victor's chopsticks moved with lightning speed, swapping my chicken breast for his pork cutlet. Just that, and absolutely nothing else.
"Ah!"
"What is it?"
"Swap the other things too!"
"No."
It was great that my dry chicken breast had been upgraded to crispy pork cutlet, but I was still left with a mountain of shredded cabbage and cucumbers. I made a tearful face and poked a cucumber with my fork. As I was reluctantly stuffing cucumbers into my mouth, Amy, Shine, and Rain walked into the cafeteria together. They immediately headed toward our table.
"Oh? Did you two come down first?" It was Amy. She had arrived. I hurriedly spread the shredded cabbage over my plate to cover up the pork cutlet. If Amy caught me, she would definitely confiscate it. I nodded slowly and looked around. I hadn't noticed earlier, but the cafeteria was completely empty. I checked the time; it was a bit early for the lunch rush.
"You two seem to have gotten quite close." At Amy's words, I locked eyes with Victor. His amber eyes wavered slightly. I quickly looked away. "Does it look that way?" "Yes. Why?" Amy naturally slid into the seat next to me and pulled out her own lunch box. She was on the same strict diet as Shine and me. No one sat next to Victor. Rain, who didn't seem to get along with him at all, was out of the question, and Shine never left my side. I shot Victor a smug, victorious smile.
"Just eat your food," he grunted, reaching over to snatch a large leaf of cabbage from my plate. The cabbage disappeared into his mouth with a crisp, loud crunch. I stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. The cabbage Victor had taken was the very piece hiding my pork cutlet. Now, my secret was completely exposed. Feeling a heavy gaze from the side, I slowly turned my head. There sat Amy, staring at me in absolute silence. With trembling hands, I picked up a piece of pork cutlet and brought it toward my mouth. Amy slowly shook her head. Defeated, I handed the pork cutlet to Rain. "Wow! Pork cutlet!" Rain cheered, happily devouring it in an instant. Only then did Amy nod in approval.
"I'm leaving first." Victor picked up his tray and walked out. Glaring at his retreating back, I stuffed a tasteless carrot into my mouth. Amy transferred some dry chicken breast from her own lunch box into mine. "Eat up." "Yes, Mom..." The chicken breast was at least edible.
After finishing our meal, we had a brief break. The training ground was quiet and peaceful. Shine, Rain, and I lay down on a large mat. Rain, who had taken an interest in my dinosaur bag and was playing with its opening mouth, spoke up.
"Jeff."
"Yeah?"
"How was training?"
"It was fine."
"Did Victor actually teach you well?"
"Yeah." I nodded. Since I had learned a lot from him, he must have taught me well, right? "Really? Victor did?" "Yeah." Rain frowned, looking highly skeptical. The dinosaur bag clutched in her arms seemed to mirror her frown. "I don't believe it." "It's true. Victor is actually a good teacher." I thought about it, comparing him to all the instructors I had met so far. Victor might not be kind, but as a teacher, he was highly capable. "I still don't believe you!" At her stubbornness, I bolted upright. "I'll show you, then." "Show me what?" "What I learned from Victor." I immediately channeled my ability. Shine, who had been dozing off on the mat, sat up as well, her interest piqued.
"Watch closely." I spread both hands wide. I hadn't tried this earlier because there were too many eyes on us, but now was the perfect opportunity. The blue sparks shooting from my hands began to map out my path, stretching in straight lines and wrapping around the training ground. The moment the coordinates were set, I dispersed the energy through my entire body. Crackle! The instant the blue currents enveloped me, I moved. Step by step, I dashed at a speed that felt like I was folding space itself. The residual electricity left in my wake crackled loudly. My surroundings shifted in rapid blinks. From the wide floor to the ceiling, and from the ceiling back down to the floor. Next, I flashed right in front of a massive piece of machinery, and then right beside Victor and Amy, who were sitting and talking. Zap! Pausing for a fraction of a second, I waved at Amy. "Huh?" Leaving Amy with a look of utter shock on her face, I kicked off the ground once more. Crackle!"Ta-da!" Finally returning to my original spot, I planted my hands on my hips with a smug, confident grin. Rain and Shine, who had been watching in stunned silence, broke into applause and showered me with praise.