Lydia Haller (2)

When I activated my eyes and look at her, we were both shocked.

I could see mana in her eyes. It is faint but there. She has mana eyes, just like me! Well, maybe not like mine. There is no mana anywhere else on her body.

"...I-it is t-true. Your eyes are glowing!"

"Wait! Are you not aware of your eyes?"

"Huh? M-my e-eyes?"

Yeah, she isn't aware of it.

"You have 'Mana Eyes' just like me."

"My eyes aren't like yours... they aren't glowing..."

It was a meager voice I wouldn't notice it if I didn't have the mana-enhanced hearing. Is she embarrassed to admit it?

"I heard it, you know."

"!"

She blushed from her cheek to down her neck. I have to admit, she looks cute. She has shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes. Her height is shorter than mine. Her face is with that blush is dangerously pretty. But it is time to focus. Yeap, definitely not the distract me.

"Before anything else, I have to ask you, did you mention this to anyone else?"

My eyes are still activated and deplete my meager amount of mana. But they help me see every twitch of her facial muscles. I know the signs of someone lying so I will know if she lies.

"I didn't tell anyone. Even if I did, they wouldn't believe me."

"That's for sure."

She is right, no sane person would believe her. It sounds weird and normal people can't see mana. So, how can she see my eyes glowing? My mana eyes work because I gather mana on them. It is a crude way to use it, I know. But I still don't have enough mana control.

"I believe you. But I can't know what you will do when you step out of that door. If you can prove that I can trust you, I will show you the world only I know."

She thought for a second and soon after the fire of determination appeared in her eyes. She took out her phone placed it on the table between us. Before my eyes, she completely turns it off.

"This is the only thing on me. With this, I can't record the conversation we are having now. I know that it may not be much that I promise, whatever we talk here will stay between us."

"I didn't expect you to believe me and readily do what I said to you."

"...My mom... She used to say that she sees things no other people can see. We thought that she was sick. But she didn't accept it before she jumped out of the roof of the hospital she said to me 'You will learn and I hope that you will have a better life.'"

"That... I'm sorry for your loss."

I never thought of it like this. If you see something others can't see, they will say that you are sick.

"I'm sorry for it too. I didn't believe her at that time and called her sick. When I first saw your eyes are glowing I thought, now like her, I will be sick too. It felt like divine justice. I know that I hurt her. When she needed me the most, like everyone else I called her sick. I called her delusional. But even if it is a slim chance, I want to believe that she wasn't sick."

"I don't know about your mother. But what you just saw, it is real or I am sick too."

"I hope you are not."

"Yeah, I hope so. Wait for me here."

I get up went to my room. I already exhaust the crystal I took with me this morning. It had ten or so uses. All the other crystals are the same size. So they should have the same amount. I take a crystal and half-liter bottle full of liquid mana. I have a theory about liquid mana. It may be the thing that awakened mana in me. Still, I don't want to blindly experiment with it on her right after she told me her mother's story.

It is easy to lie but even easier to confirm the reality of what you have been told. At least with mana eyes.

She was still sitting there without moving. That's good, I guess.

"I will tell you what I can before my mother comes home. She doesn't know so act accordingly."

"I understand. But I have a question, what about your dad? I only saw you and your mother's photos on the wall."

On the wall of the living room, there are several photos mom put. In all of them, it's just me and her.

"I... don't talk about him."

"I'm sorry for asking."

"Let's just focus on the useful and important things."

I put the crystal on the table. In my eyes, it is glowing with blue energy. I wonder how does she see it? A look of surprise appeared on her face.

"What do you see? No, this is not the right question. How much can you see?"

"Was that a reference?"

"Nope. Back to the topic, please."

My inner Itachi almost came out.

"There is something blurry around it?"

"That is better than nothing. Try to focus on the blurry thing. Try to see what it is."

For the next five minutes, she just looked at the crystal. While she was looking at it I went to the kitchen and took a glass. If she can't see the mana herself I have to intervene. Because she would be more dangerous to my school life if she fails.

"Nothing yet?"

"Just a blur. I know now that something is there but I can't see it. It is frustrating."

I opened my palm and gathered my mana on it. With my intent, I activated mana inside my body. Maybe she can't see inactive mana so I activated it.

"T-THIS!!!"

She must have seen it. There was a big surprise on her face. It is a success. She can see the active mana. Now, I know where to start.

"This is active mana. I activated it with my intent."

"It looks beautiful."

"I know. If only you could see the inactive mana."

"Inactive mana? Can you explain it?"

"The blurry thing around the crystal you saw. It is inactive mana but it is easy to detect it. The hardest one is mana streams on the air."

"Mana streams? When you explain one thing you said entirely new thing."

"What can I do? Mana is complicated. Mana streams are as the name implies streams of mana flow in the air. I can see it but can't interact with it."

She stared at my hand without blinking. She was rather looking at the mana on my palm. I'm just letting it float right above my palm.

"So this is mana. You said mana eyes, right?"

"Yeah, I gather mana in my eyes and it allows me to see the inactive mana. There is also mana in your eyes but I don't know where that mana comes from. It looks different."

"If you can't see the inactive mana without gathering mana in your eyes, how can you control it?"

"I can control mana inside of my body. It is easier to control."

"Does everyone have mana inside of their bodies?"

"So far only me and you if we count your eyes. It isn't something normal."

She closed her eyes and touched her eyelids. She falls deep into thoughts. Maybe she is thinking about how she get mana in her eyes. I am curious about that one too.

"What is in that bottle? It is clearly not water."

"Why are you so sure about that. Maybe it is water."

"Then why did you drink water from a glass. Empty glass is still at the side of the table."

"Right... I forgot that. Moving on, this is liquid mana."

"And now it is liquid. What does it do?"

"I am not sure. It is probably the thing that gave me all of these abilities."

I pour some liquid mana to the empty glass that I brought for Lydia. It was only half full but this is enough risk.

"I am hundred percent sure that it has no direct bad effect. Drinking or pouring it to your eyes can work. But do this only if you are willing to take the risk."

"You already know that I will accept it. You don't give me much choice."

"Sorry about this."

"Don't worry."

She took the glass and drank all of it. Yeah, maybe pouring it to your eyes sounds weird.