Chapter 4: The Monster Within

「Chapter 4: The Monster Within」

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"Okay, up last — Alessia Kizuki," Leo announced, a little excited to see what she could do.

Rei, hearing her name, cowered behind Oscar, not wanting to go up.

"You have to go up, princess," Oscar said, but Rei wasn't having it; she simply turned away as if she hadn't heard him."

I'm sure Mama would be so proud of you if you did."

At the mention of "Mama" and "proud," Rei instantly perked up.

Little by little, she shyly made her way into the booth.

With one last look at Oscar — who gave her a thumbs-up — Rei slowly raised her hands.

A few seconds passed, and… nothing happened.

"Hey, why isn't anything happening?" a student said loudly. "Doesn't she have an ability?"

"Shut up," another student elbowed him. "You don't say that." 

"But it's tr—"

Just then, ice crystals began emerging all around them, the temperature dropping by the second.

"Ah! My leg!" a student shouted — and for good reason, as the crystals didn't limit themselves to the floor; they were now growing on the students too.

With the help of some students who weren't frozen, others were pulled out.

Looking back at the booth, it was already covered in crystals.

However, out of the crystals, something else began to break out — long, tentacle-like shadows sweeping across the grounds.

"What is that?!" a girl screamed, noticing the shadows.

"I dunno, but I don't wanna find out!" another chimed in.

"Hey, it's coming closer!" a boy warned, moving backwards.

"Move back!"

In just one moment, the tentacles wrapped all around the booth.

Inside, Rei was panicking, her hands already dropped.

She could feel her heart pounding louder, her vision blurring as the tentacles wrapped around the walls.

In a state of panic, she fell to her knees, her hand tight on her chest as breathing became difficult.

Looking outside, everyone was either panicking or staring at her like she was some kind of monster.

In a glimpse of hope, she looked back at Oscar, who had just pulled his leg out of one of the crystals.

Noticing her glance, Oscar simply smiled and signaled for her to calm down.

Just as the shadows were about to reach the students, Leo clicked a button on the side of his pen.

At that, a loud beeping sound came from the watch on Rei's left hand, and the tentacles disappeared in a flash, crawling back into her shadow.

Once the beeping stopped, the watch sparked before falling to the ground, partially shocking her in the process.

Inside the booth, the metal panel was now cut in two, completely destroyed.

Despite all this, the usual message still popped up on the screen.

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣

ASSESSMENT COMPLETED

ABILITY: Water (Ice)

LEVEL: 2,980

[SYSTEM UPDATE DUE TO NEW ABILITY]

[SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETED]

ABILITY: Shadow

LEVEL: 3,150

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"Wait — update? New ability?!!" The moment the scores were announced, disbelief washed over the students.

However, before more commotion could happen, Rei's loud cries rang out.

She was still inside the booth, now holding her left hand, which had a big red bruise on her wrist where the watch had been.

"Okay, everyone, calm down. For now, the physical evaluation is on hold," Leo said, still assessing the situation. "None of you are hurt in any way, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Walking to the booth, Leo tried to lift Rei out, but she wouldn't let him as she kept squirming.

"Uh, Oscar, take her to the nurse's office," Leo said in disappointment.

"Yes, sir," Oscar replied before carrying Rei in his arms.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly, crying into his neck.

"I still don't get why she's so scared of me," Leo muttered in dissatisfaction as he watched the two leave, guilt still in the back of his mind.

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In the nurse's office, Oscar sat on the hospital bed with Rei on his lap.

She had already stopped crying but was still holding onto her left arm.

The nurse suddenly entered the room; she had a syringe, some tablets, and what looked like lotion on a tray.

"Okay, let's take a look at your arm," the nurse said kindly.

She was a young Chinese woman around twenty-five, with bob-styled black hair and black eyes.

"Let's show Nurse Mei where it hurts, okay, princess?" Oscar urged, and Rei shyly stretched out her left arm.

"Oh my, it seems like it's badly bruised," Nurse Mei said, holding Rei's hand, causing her to flinch.

"Don't worry, though — we can fix it. It's just left for you to choose which method," Nurse Mei said, presenting the tray of items.

"I think we'll just use the balm," Oscar said politely.

Nurse Mei nodded before applying the lotion to Rei's arm.

Her arm quickly healed at a speed noticeable to the human eye.

"There you go," Nurse Mei said, letting go of Rei's hand. "Be careful not to get hurt again — that's two days in a row now."

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After saying their goodbyes, Oscar made his way back to class with Rei in his arms.

When they stepped into the classroom, there was no teacher present.

'I guess class was really canceled,' Oscar thought, noticing the absence of a teacher.

Most students quieted their conversations.

They were whispering while staring menacingly at the two — or rather, at Rei.

"She has two abilities, right?"

"Definitely. No human so far has had more than one."

"Maybe she isn't human."

"But she looks human."

"Maybe she's a mutation."

"Or a hybrid."

"Eww, that'd be disgusting."

"Don't be silly, there's no way that's true."

"Yeah, and even if she was one, she'd still be cute."

"But totally dangerous."

"Yeah, she probably doesn't even want those abilities."

"Now that you say it, she did look kinda scared back there too."

"Aww man, I kinda feel bad now."

"Me too."

'I can literally hear them,' Oscar thought awkwardly as he walked back to his seat.

Without wasting much time, Liz popped up in front of them.

"I don't want to do anything, just… are you guys okay?" Liz asked in a rather small voice.

"We're fine, but you didn't have to bother," Oscar replied, avoiding eye contact at her last statement.

Nodding quietly, Liz left and headed back to her own table.

After Liz left, Oscar looked down at Rei. She was just blankly looking around. Once he noticed she was fine, he brought out a book and began to read it.

Rei was still staring intently out the window when she felt her tummy grumble.

『ぺこぺこ (Peko peko / hungry)』 Rei thought, patting her tummy slowly. She tugged on Oscar's shirt, drawing his attention.

"What happened, princess?" Oscar asked, looking down at Rei, who just patted her tummy. "Oh, you're hungry."

Without thinking much, Oscar brought out a small box of chocolates from his bag. It was the same one Liz had thrown at him.

'Who knew this would come in handy,' he thought before opening the box.

Taking out a single chocolate, he gently began to feed Rei.

After just four chocolates, she patted him, indicating she was full, then took one of the chocolates and gave it to Oscar.

"Thank you, princess," Oscar said as he accepted it. This made Rei happy, and she started bouncing.

Oscar gave her a kid's tablet and put on a cartoon for her to watch.

'She's so cute,' Oscar thought, watching Rei, who was fully invested in the show.

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Time passed quickly, and soon the bell rang, signaling the start of third period. As soon as the bell rang, the classroom door opened.

Walking in was a young woman, standing at 6'2". She had long, curly red hair, gentle green eyes with freckles, and wore glasses and a green floral dress.

"Class, greet."

"Good morning, Miss Sarah, we give our attention."

"Good morning, class. Sorry for not being here yesterday — I was a little under the weather," Sarah said politely with a smile.

"I heard we have a new student. To that, I say, the more the merrier!"

"I got all your tests back, and thankfully, the scores are here today." The class immediately tensed, as it was well known that all tests counted toward exam scores.

"You all don't need to worry — everyone passed, except Jackson, Ian, and Jessica. You three, meet me after school."

"As usual, I'll announce the five highest scorers:

Fifth goes to Mathew Jacobson. He scored 18/20. Good write-up, but a lot of missing details, two wrong dates, and some misspellings."

"Oh, it seems Mathew dropped. He's usually in fourth place," Emilio commented in a snarky manner.

"Shut up, Emilio. At least he's still higher than you," Jackson said, hitting Emilio on the head.

"Fourth, Sadie Hart, who also scored 18/20, due to wrong spellings and a few missed details."

"What, Sadie? What happened?" This time it was Liz whispering to a girl identical to the class representative.

"Third goes to her twin, Sofie Hart, who scored 18.5/20 because of some overlooked details. Bravo."

"What? Class rep too?" At this point, the entire class was dead silent as the names were announced.

"Second is Kenji Kizuki. He scored 19.5/20, mainly because of a few spelling errors. Good job."

"I wonder who got first."

"And in history of all subjects!"

The students all perked up as the last name was announced.

"Last but not least, in first place, our new student, Reikai Kizuki, scored 20/20. Not a single misspelled word. I double-checked it myself.

Great details, and she even included information from a recent discovery posted just last week. Truly excellent work — keep it up!"

"Reikai, Reikai, Rei— you mean Alessia?!!" Emilio exclaimed in pure shock.

"Huh?! Alessia!!? The friggin' four-year-old got full scores?!" This time it was Jackson's turn to comment.

"Four-year-old?!" Sarah seemed surprised as she scanned the class, eventually spotting Rei, who was currently napping on Oscar's lap. "Oh my, I was told she was special, not a child!"

"Sofie, please share the test results. I'm going out for a breather," Sarah said, walking out of the class in the most dramatic way possible.

"So smart… how did she even take the test in the first place?" Sarah muttered to herself. "I think I need a break… maybe some wine would do the trick."

'That's Miss Sarah for you, still as dramatic as ever,' Oscar thought playfully. He looked down worriedly at Rei, who was still fast asleep, a bit of drool rolling down her face. 'So small and so oblivious to the world…'

With a smile, Oscar gently wiped off the drool before adjusting her sleeping position to make her more comfortable.

Feeling the change in position, Rei curled up, whimpering softly before cuddling closer to Oscar.

'I hope you stay like this, forever and ever,' Oscar thought sweetly, looking down lovingly at the small, vulnerable girl sleeping in his lap.

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Soon, it was break time, and the school bell rang loudly.

Just like the day before, Oscar and Rei met up with Jason and Aaron in the central school field.

Rei, who had just woken up, was still half asleep. Regardless, she was glad to see Jason after what felt like a long time.

"How's my little dumpling been all day?" Jason said cheekily as he took Rei from Oscar's arms, snuggling her into his embrace as she giggled to her heart's content.

"Oh, you've been sleeping, haven't you?" Jason kept playing with her while Oscar and Aaron talked on the sidelines.

"Hey, I heard your class did the evaluation test today. What'd you score?" Aaron asked, bringing Jason's mind back to the topic.

"Wait, that was today? Why didn't you tell me?" Jason said, downhearted, looking at the neutral Oscar with a sad expression.

"Sorry, Jay, I must've forgotten," Oscar said apologetically. "But don't worry, we got good scores."

"We?!" Jason and Aaron said simultaneously.

"She took the test as well. Did you forget the entire reason she's here?" Oscar said, settling down beside a cherry blossom tree.

"I didn't think they'd let her. I mean, she doesn't have the slightest bit of control," Jason said worriedly, sitting beside Oscar, Rei still cuddled in his arms.

"Wait… you're telling me that has an ability?" Aaron asked in a questioning tone.

"Not that — it's she. And yeah, it went way out of control, and then they brought her here," Jason said a little sadly, patting Rei's head.

Feeling hungry, Rei tugged on Jason's shirt before patting her tummy.

"Are you hungry?" Jason asked, to which Rei nodded, looking a little sulky before patting her tummy again.

"Okay, let's eat first," Jason said, bringing out his lunch.

"Hey, it's my turn to feed her today," Oscar said bluntly, bringing out his own lunch too.

"Okay, dumpling, go eat with Os," Jason said. With that, Rei nodded and crawled over to Oscar, sitting in his lap.

Today, Aaron had brought a burger and fries, while Jason, Oscar, and Rei had bento boxes again — this time with rice, curry, meatballs, and yakitori.

After about five bites, Rei patted Oscar to say she was full.

After eating, she relaxed completely, rubbing her tummy in delight.

"Anyway, back to the topic. How did it go?" Jason asked.

"Well, we only did the ability test, not the physical one. But I scored 1,982," Oscar said with a proud look.

"Hmm, that's a good score. Wait — how are you not in our class?" Aaron said, raising his brows.

"I don't have good control," Oscar said in a small voice before continuing. "But… Kai got even higher. She scored 2,980 for ice and 3,150 for the other creepy one."

"Wait — two?!" Aaron said in shock before looking suspiciously at Jason. "Is that even possible?"

"Yeah, she has two abilities, but from the orb test, it's probably even more," Jason said nonchalantly, taking a big bite of his yakitori.

"Continuing, it took only one second for her to lose control. There was ice everywhere, and those creepy shadows were trying to get to us," Oscar said, shivering slightly.

"Heh, it's so funny — you only sound like this when you're telling a story," Jason chuckled, teasing Oscar, whose face turned red in embarrassment.

Jason and Aaron both started laughing when they saw his expression.

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In a building close to the field, Leo gazed down at the four of them through a high window.

"It seems the evaluation was a success, just as planned, General Sean," Leo said with a serious expression, quite different from his usual cheerful face.

"Yes, just as I thought. You're quite reliable when it comes to situations like this," a voice replied. It belonged to a middle-aged man with a pleasant expression.

He had short, pale blond hair and a gentle smile, and he wore what looked like a blue version of an army general's uniform.

"So, the damage will be taken care of. I trust you will prevent this incident from spreading," General Sean said in a strict yet aloof tone. "After all, we can't let him find out we let her take the test."

"Tomorrow, let her do the physical examination. Report to me afterward, and tell NO ONE," General Sean said in a more ominous tone.

"Yes, sir," Leo said before exiting the room.

'Thank goodness I'm out of there. He and the principal are the same,' Leo thought in distress, breathing a sigh of relief as he walked down the hallway. 'How did I even get involved in this…?'

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Words to know:

•Yakitori : Juicy, grilled chicken skewers

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