I open my eyes and am instantly blinded by a bright light in my face. Dizzy, but still conscious, I manage to drag myself to the edge of the bed and sit up. That girl's hit really got me—didn't expect her to be that strong.
Taking a second to notice, my clothes are different. I'm wearing black pants and a black shirt.
"So you're finally awake, Kaiki?"
I look to the side and see a woman approaching, but she stops halfway into the room. The light from the ceiling highlights her perfectly. She knows how to make an entrance.
Her skin is nearly as dark as her clothes. Her hair, just as black, falls all the way to the back of her knees. Besides her commanding gaze, what catches my attention is the crescent mark on her forehead.
"Here to interrogate me again?" I glance away for a second, scanning for anything I could use to defend myself if she tries something. "I've already said I'm innocent. I just want to go home."
"I think deep down, we all want to return to comfort, to our safe little bubbles. But if everyone went back, there'd be no one left to make progress."
So she's going to play the philosophical card… I'm not great at this. Everything I know about philosophy I heard from my dad. Over the years, I've learned that the more abstract and confusing someone sounds, the smarter they seem.
"Is that what you believe?" I stand up from the bed, less dizzy now, and slowly approach the center of the room, glancing side to side, looking for traps. "My father used to say, 'Home is where our stories are written.'"
She smiles. Of course she does. She understood what my father meant. While my attempts at philosophy are nothing but fluff, my dad had a real gift for saying meaningful things.
"Your father is right. I—and many others—lost our homes, our stories, because of a common enemy. Those people had to create new stories, in new places. Places like this one." She gestures around.
I use the motion as an excuse to look around more freely. There are other beds, but they're all empty. Maybe I'm the only one left, or maybe I'm the next test subject for some bizarre experiment.
"And who is this common enemy, Miss…?"
"You can call me Commander Negra," she says, with a slight pause. "And to answer your question: our enemies have always been those who seek to destabilize the order of our world—our continent. After the King died, many tried to seize the throne by force, and it's still happening to this day."
"I didn't know that," I say to her.
"There's no way you could have. Only those in Class S—the highest and most secretive class of all—are aware of this. We're the ones responsible for keeping ordinary people's lives peaceful, Kaiki."
I know she's talking about threats to the continent, some great danger that could put countless lives at risk. Even so, I can't help but feel anger toward her.
While there's a secret class handling secret affairs and continental threats, there are ordinary people living in miserable conditions and dying right under their noses. What good is protecting the world if you ignore the details?
"And what about now?" I continue, trying to mask my growing frustration. "Are there still people trying to become King?"
"Yes. And they keep coming up with new ways to chase that dream. Right now, an organized terrorist group called the Four Winds is creating an army of Conductors to try to overthrow the current government."
I swallow hard. I don't want to be classified as a Conductor, but I have electric powers, so by that logic, I'm a product of terrorism.
"Look… I'm innocent…" I say nervously. "I don't even really know how I got these powers… That guy—Zero—he tried to explain it had something to do with a Lightning Sphere or whatever… And there was an explosion too, but I swear this is all just a huge misunderstanding."
"If you're innocent, that means there's someone guilty." She says it like she actually believes me. That's good—but also bad, because it means I have a reason to be suspicious of her. "The fact that you received these powers by accident might help us identify who's really behind all of this."
I frown.
"What do you mean… 'help'?"
She gives a faint smile and starts circling around me. Each of her steps makes a sharp, commanding sound. This woman is terrifying.
"The truth, Kaiki, is that the Four Winds group has been operating behind the scenes for many years, and we've never been able to find the head behind all the plans."
She pauses, just long enough to make me uncomfortable—enough to make me want this conversation to end. Before she can say more or explain what kind of "help" she wants from me, I make a counteroffer:
"Then I wish you all the best. I'm not going to be any use. You can send me home. You can even take these powers away if you want."
"There's no way to take them without you dying."
That freezes me. And to think… they could've killed me while I was unconscious.
"I'm not a soldier, Commander Negra," I say bluntly. "I'm just a delivery guy trying to make an honest living. I've never trained for war, and honestly, I didn't even finish basic education. Everything I know is from life experience. In other words, nothing useful to your kind. So can we drop the whole 'help' thing and just let me go home?"
"If you prove yourself effective, you might return home. This will be your new home, Kaiki. You'll write your story here."
"This place is infected with your story. I don't want to write anything here. I don't want to be part of your story. I just want to go back to my district—they need me right now."
Negra stands directly in front of me, a few meters away, her arms now relaxed at her sides.
"You can't go back home knowing about our existence."
Until recently, I didn't even know there was such a thing as Class S, and I'm pretty sure no one else does either. To get away from them, I'll probably have to go through the worst bureaucratic mess imaginable.
"Look, I can just not tell anyone. Don't you have some kind of confidentiality paper or contract? My brother knows about that legal stuff, he could help—"
"I'm the final word here, Kaiki," she cuts me off. "And I say you can't go home."
I take another step back.
"So I'll have to leave by force?"
"If you can get past me, you can go wherever you want, Kaiki."
She charges toward me, fast. I keep backing up until I hit the bed I was lying on earlier. I've got nowhere else to go. Come on, Kaiki. She's just a tall woman—how bad can it—
At the last second, I dodge her kick—it came upward, from below. When I glance at the bed again, I see it's been split in two.
What the hell was that?
I quickly look down at her legs. There are blades built into them. That explains her height.
A guy with a robotic arm, eye patch, and cybernetic legs… and now a woman with scissor legs. What was I expecting?
Realizing this fight isn't a test or a joke, I dash to the other side of the room, looking for anything to use as a weapon. It's not fair that I have nothing.
Suddenly, she lands right in front of me—she must've jumped across the room in one move. I step back. What is this fear? She only has slicing legs. No big deal.
I plant my feet and swing a punch at her face. She dodges, stepping back. I lunge again, this time aiming for her abdomen. She dodges with more difficulty.
I spot a metal stool off to the side. I grab it and swing it at her. This time, she doesn't dodge—she catches the stool and slams it into my face.
I'm thrown backward. I taste blood in my mouth. No time to reflect—another kick comes, and I barely dodge, but she still lands a hit.
I crash to the ground, my back sliding across the polished floor. My head is pounding—I can't think straight. I honestly have no idea how I'm still alive. Did she miss on purpose? Is she trying to kill me, or just… toying with me?