A Midnight Stroll & Morning News

Luciel and I went out for a stroll, even though I had had a very eventual day. I looked up at the night sky to see the moon beaming down on us. The night always put me at ease as a kid and looks like I've carried that to adulthood. I remember stargazing as a kid, my adoptive parents had always found me sleeping outside.

"You feeling better?" Luciel raised a question, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, confused.

"Well while you were looking at that old blueprint you looked sad, so are you feeling better?" Luciel asked again giving me a concerned look.

"Oh yeah, I guess I just remembered something unpleasant, but thank you for your concern," I said with a smile. "Hey can I ask something?"

"Sure, " Luciel said scratching his head.

"What do you do for a living?" I asked bluntly. 

"Nothing actually, I practically live at the bar you found me at," he said.

"Guess Mayumi forgot to mention you're more than a drunkard but a freeloader too," I said.

"I'm no freeloader nor am I a drunkard. You shouldn't believe what children have to say sometimes,"

"You do have a point but understand that children can be more trustworthy than adults,"

"You do have a point there," Luciel says stopping abruptly.

"Hm?" I turn around and look at him, he just stared up into the sky squinting. "Is everything alright?" I said about to approach him but he held out his hand as if he was telling me to stay put. He then thrust his fist into the air and a fireball emerged from it. The fireball flew up and hit something on the roof of a building above us. I stood there in awe, I never thought someone could have 2 manifestations at once. It's completely unheard of not to mention impossible since the body needs to undergo a lot of changes to be able to have one manifestation.

"You have 2 manifestations? H-how is that possible?" I said getting closer to Luciel.

"2? I have 4 manifestations," Luciel confessed, scratching the back of his head, "Should your eyes be sparkling like that?"

"Do you know what this means? This is a historic achievement in my research, come on let's get back to the lab. I have a few tests we can run right now," I said holding his hand trying to get him to come with me.

"Alright alright, let's go," Luciel said smiling, but occasionally looking over his shoulder as we walked back to the lab.

"The first test is figuring out what exactly the 4 manifestations are," I said holding a clipboard. I was standing in another room to observe Luciel so he could have free reign. "Dummies will come from all corners of this room so do whatever feels natural at the moment for you," I explained, ready and excited to see what he could do. "Ready when you are,"

"I'm ready," Luciel said as I pushed a button, causing dummies to drop from the ceiling in the room.

"Oh, I forgot to mention these dummies are embedded with manifestation madness meaning each dummy will have a manifestation but I have no idea which one it'll have,"

"What?!" Luciel yelled, shocked as he dodged a dummy that shot lightning, "Why didn't you mention that sooner?!"

"Sorry I got so excited I forgot," I said apologetically. Even though I had forgotten to mention the manifestation setting, he adapted quickly. He was already launching dummies as if it was child's play. He set a few on fire and used wind to launch them into the wall completely smashed. I decided to up the setting up by 5%, dummies started coming faster and become more aggressive. After a few minutes, he adapted pretty well so I put the setting up by 10%. This tripled the dummies being brought in and increased their speed of attack. Luciel wasn't taking it so well, the dummies ganged up on him very quickly. I scrambled to put the setting down but I heard a strange sound. It sounds like bubbling, I quickly lifted my head to see the room filled to the top with water. I slammed a button that opened the drain letting the water escape. "Luciel what happened!?" I said surprised and a little scared.

"Don't worry about it, I can't control water yet so it gets out of control pretty often," Luciel said laying on the floor, catching his breath.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked, feeling guilty about it.

"Yeah," Luciel said getting up, "What time is it?"

I checked my watch. "9:30 am, 30 minutes late," I turned around to see Katsuo leaning on the door frame. "I assume you didn't go home last night?" Katsuo asked looking down at me.

"I plead the 5th," I said opening the door to let Luciel out. "Go get changed and meet us back here, there's supposed to be some clothes there thanks to Kastuo here, "

"Thanks, " Luciel said as he passed by the both of us. Katsuo waited for Luciel to leave before speaking.

"What are you doing?" he said sighing.

"I'm furthering my research, what do you mean what am I doing?"

"I mean what are you doing with him all night? I know you guys weren't furthering your research all night," Katsuo said.

"What are you implying Katsuo?" I said placing my hands on my hips.

"I'm not implying anything, just answer my question,"

"I'm pleading the 5th," I said turning around and getting back to the control panel.

"You can't stay silent forever, sooner or later you'll need to elaborate on this…relationship you guys have,"

"There is no relationship Katsuo, it's strictly work," I said refusing to face him, "Did Cher come in today?"

"She didn't, initially I was coming to talk to you about that also did you have a chance to see the morning news yet?"

"No why?" I said turning around to face him.

"I think you should see it for yourself, follow me," Katsuo said as he lead the way.