Unwanted Attention

Qiang Zihwei sat upright in his seat at the back of the classroom, the tablet in front of him forgotten for a moment. His pen hovered above a printed page filled with probability graphs and behavioral models, buthis eyes were vacant

His ability had triggered inexplicably. A series of data patterns had just collapsed.

No. Not collapsed. Distorted. Even manipulated.

Impossible.

An anomaly. And a very dangerous one.

Not near him. But somewhere far away.

He tapped his fingers a few times, and his tablet blinked on, reflecting itself over his cold glasses and hiding his sharp eyes.

A series of complex data sets appeared in front of him, flashing by at the speed it took to blink, as he tried to pinpoint the disturbance.

It wasn't an earthquake. Not a building collapse. Not even a local fight.

But someone had shifted the flow. Not by a lot — just a few key points, a few critical seconds.

Like a dice roll that landed on a six… three times in a row.

His brow furrowed.

He tapped his tablet. It blinked to life, and he began logging the sensation. Coordinates, time, intensity — all rough estimates.

He couldn't approximate the epicenter, not yet, the amount of data he had was still insufficient for that.

But he was determined to get to the root of the matter.

'This sensation… Most likely a Veil-Breaker.'

A glint showed from the eyes behind the glasses.

…

UNILAG, 10:21 a.m.

The lecture theatre smelled faintly of dust, whiteboard markers, and a struggling air conditioner.

Students filled the concrete seats from front to back, buzzing with chatter and groans as the lecturer prepared his slides.

Ayo sat in the middle row, his notebook open, but untouched. Femi was beside him, still a bit stiff from last night, though he claimed he was fine.

"See," Femi whispered, "this is why I hate early lectures. My ribs are singing dirges."

"You should've stayed home," Ayo replied.

"Guy, this is our first lecture. You want make dem mark me absent?"

He sighed and leaned back. "I respect you though. You moved mad yesterday.You sure you never trained for MMA?"

Ayo didn't respond.

He hadn't told Femi everything.

He hadn't even admitted it to himself, but he knew it was more than adrenaline or luck.

That stool shouldn't have been where it was. That guy shouldn't have slipped. And that swing he dodged? He wasn't watching it.

He pulled out his pen slowly.

'Okay, let's test this'.

He stared at the pen. Tried to feel that thing again. That control, the instinct to manipulate 'something'.

But there was nothing. No electric buzz. No vision filter.

Just a pen. In his hand. Almost staring back at him and saying What are you waiting for?

Students around him laughed at a meme someone passed across a row. Femi tapped his foot, his ribs still hurting.

Ayo tried again.

He closed his eyes. Thought about cause and effect. Then thought about shifting the cause, and then, the effect.

He tilted the pen to the edge of his desk and waited. A breeze blew gently from the wall unit.

Just a thought. A push.

Make the breeze a little stronger. Make the pen fall.

The pen rolled — almost as if on cue — and clattered to the floor.

Femi glanced at him. "That thing vexing you or what?"

"It was the wind." Ayo shrugged.

 '... technically.'

It worked. Kind of. Nothing dramatic.

He picked the pen back up, trying to hide his very real excitement.

'Okay, so this is some kind of causality manipulation.' He pondered very seriously, curiosity and slight pride emerging in his heart.

Then he looked around. Maybe he could…

The lecturer was finally done setting up, his laptop under one arm. Students groaned.

"Alright, quiet down. Welcome to PHY 101."

He connected the projector. The title slide popped up.

Physics 101: Mechanics & Vectors

Ayo focused.

If there was a time to test it, this was it.

He looked at the board. The lecturer asked a warm-up question, in a thick Yoruba-accented voice, but still in perfect English,

"If I throw a ball upward at 5 meters per second, what is the net velocity after 1 second?"

No one raised their hand. Not yet.

Ayo stared at the board. His brain tried to solve it… 5 m/s upward, minus gravity… 9.8 m/s² down… Net velocity: ?

He wasn't sure.

So he tried manipulating again.

Subtly. He just wanted the number in his mind to be correct. Like adjusting a guess mid-thought.

So he guessed, confirmed it was a random number, and raised his hand.

The lecturer pointed at him. "You. Speak."

"Uh… velocity would be negative 4.8 meters per second?"

The man nodded. "Correct."

Ayo let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

He was guessing. But it had become right.

He was certain he hadn't carried out any calculations, so to have gotten the answer to easily…

'Superpowers, baby!' He let out a small fist pump, and Femi looked at him weirdly.

After class, they stepped out into the sunlight.

Femi was still talking about something — probably a girl — but Ayo wasn't hearing much.

Everything felt a little bit more interesting.

He'd spent the whole lecture testing out his ability.

Getting answers right, increasing the chances of the lecturer calling someone, avoiding being soaked by a nearby falling water bottle.

It wasn't loud or flashy, but he was certain it worked.

'Causality Manipulation'.

He could tell when something would happen. Sometimes it was as simple as a pause in conversation, or a feeling not to take a certain route down the hallway.

He didn't know the limits. But it felt… powerful. And terrifying.

Because it wasn't hard.

After the lecture ended, and Ayo came out, he looked up at the blue sky, the clouds moving lazily.

Nothing dramatic happened. No glitch in the air. No voice in his head.

No old voice like in Light Novels that he read.

But everything was as unreal as ever.