"..." Charlotte hears an insistent sound paired with a metallic boom, she followed the sound until she came across a girl with lilac hair, she uses a metal baseball bat to hit a metallic sphere with extreme force.
Each impact of the bat generates a boom as the ball is launched far away, but the ball always enters a small portal that appears out of nowhere and another portal appears sending the ball back at the girl.
The speed and impacts left the ball glowing yellow from how hot it got, getting hit by that thing is extremely dangerous.
"What are you doing?" Charlotte asks after having watched for a few minutes, it’s an almost absurd precision she has, despite the sound being unpleasant.
"Oh so my secret admirer decided to speak up? I’m practicing, you know how it is right? Playing sports is important for your health" Despite the girl speaking in a cheerful tone Charlotte’s gaze goes to the collar the girl wears.
A metallic structure with some small cylinders containing a purple liquid, she’s never seen this before.
"Are you a patient?" Charlotte questions curiously while the girl doesn’t stop hitting the metallic sphere for a single moment.
"Yes in a way I am, although I’m also not really a patient, I can leave at any time and I’m here more because I decided to help the nurses, do you want something? Most people avoid getting close, since if I miss the ball they could get hit"
"...I’m here to learn things...you have spatial powers too so it interested me...what’s that collar? Could you tell me about it?" Charlotte really puts effort into this "class" more out of personal interest than out of respect for her teacher.
"It’s a containment collar, it has several powerful anesthetics to knock me out, it’s just a precautionary measure, it’s never been used" She speaks with a smile as if this wasn’t a problem, Charlotte’s cat ears perk up attentive to this.
’Spatial powers...usually come from a more closed-off type of mentality and experience...’ Charlotte knows, Zenith knows and this girl knows, spatial powers always have troubled owners, because the experience and the type of life needed to awaken this specific type of vector tend to generate people who are somewhat manipulative, unstable and dangerous or with an extremely cold and pragmatic mentality, although there are other reasons besides these.
"Could you tell me about your situation? I’m here to learn a little about what it’s like to be a patient..."
"Sure...where to start...I’m a sociopath, you know I can’t feel anything for others, I don’t feel emotions like most people, although I do understand them, of course I’ve never killed anyone, but the way I killed monsters was so unpleasant and violent that I was forcibly retired"
"In the end I was left without a job, and I decided to come to this place to help the nurses, they’re nice girls, so if someone loses control I stop them, you can consider me a mix between patient and guard"
"Right now I’m on my break time..."
"...Why..." Charlotte gets confused until the girl looks at her and Charlotte’s entire body shivers and her tail bristles upward, she was going to ask why she was forcibly retired, if she only killed monsters that shouldn’t be a problem, but upon seeing her gaze Charlotte understood immediately.
This girl is dangerous, extremely dangerous, even for someone fake and manipulative like Charlotte this girl represents an immense danger.
"Oh...it’s been a while since anyone’s looked at me like that, you have good eyes...you know sociopathy is a simple illness in my view, and it doesn’t make me a murderer, but there’s still a lot of prejudice against people like me"
"And it’s...I guess I didn’t help my case considering the way I killed monsters to help my colleagues...if you want to learn something my lesson is simple, be careful with how you save people"
"Gratitude doesn’t remove fear, you can save someone from death and that person will still condemn you to ostracism depending on how it was done, humans are so...fearful, I wonder why normal people are like that"
"Well anyway that’s it, there’s not much I can teach, my only experience is something that came from the moment I was born, I’ve always been like this, if I’m a problem for society just for being myself then there’s nothing I can do"
"...Ah but I can teach you the way I used to kill monsters, it’s quite interesting, you know if you use portals you can do some really interesting things...like...this" With a stronger hit the ball rises high.
But before it goes further it’s shredded into cubes so small that it loses all its velocity falling to the ground as little metal squares that begin to melt on the floor.
’I-It was cut from the inside out?!’
"..." The girl walks past Charlotte who immediately perceives the danger, her control over spatial portals is so high that she can use them to cut anything, creating portals inside the structures of something she can’t even see.
Unlike most who only create portals where they can see or have seen, this girl can create them even inside another living being.
"...It’s quite efficient to rip out all the organs of a monster from its body without causing external damage, but that scares people, I don’t recommend doing it little girl" She gives a wave to Charlotte as she walks away leaving her uncomfortable with this thought.
"...That...is disturbing..." Charlotte looks at her hands, her portal capacity is far inferior to this, creating a portal inside something she can’t see seems unreal.
"Could I reach that level?...saving people right...thank you for the lesson" She really takes this information to heart, it’s not enough to just save someone, if you save them the "wrong" way gratitude becomes fear, and allies who fear you can generate "forced retirement" even if the person in question doesn’t do anything wrong.
...
...
...
"Do you want something Wolf Girl?" A man hanging upside down reading a book asks Rouge who is staring at him with her tail wagging.
"You seem incredible, how are you doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"I can’t feel your presence, I can’t hear your breathing, I can’t even hear your heart beating, you’re like a piece of the tree, invisible to auditory and smell perception, even your presence doesn’t exist, I only found you because I saw you"
"Hmmm...do you want something from me? Is that it?"
"Yes, my teacher brought me here to learn, something about seeing the possible path of the future we might have as Kairas, and a few more things"
"I see, so you came here to see or talk to disabled people and see their life experiences, right? Your teacher is someone smart" He puts the book away in his clothes as he climbs down from the tree, Rouge for a moment sees that his right arm is completely metal.
’There’s no creaking sound at all...even that...how...’ She’s fascinated by this, as someone good at hunting and acting like a true predator finding someone with such a capacity for concealment is incredible.
"I see you have an interesting mutation, unfortunately for you I’m not a patient here, I’m just visiting a friend"
"Really? Where is he?"
"...He’s dead, but he liked this tree I’m on, he had some extensive brain damage so he hung from branches, he liked this tree in particular, so I come here to visit him"
"That’s all, but I think I can help you learn something"
"Why help? You don’t owe me anything"
"...Maybe because I’m old, most people here will try to help, not for special reasons, just because they want to vent something, or help the next generation, or just for company, I’m the second case, I like helping the new generations"
"You seem like the active type, you have a good physique, and a sharp gaze...I think I know what you need" He takes out a small pouch the size of an apple from his clothes and then tosses it at Rouge.
"What is this?"
"It’s crystallized blood, it has blood from various monsters and Kairas in there, you can’t trust your sense of smell, hearing and vision too much depending on the occasion"
"This prevents your scent from being detectable, I won’t explain why it works, you just need to know that it’s something an acquaintance of mine created, I’m not good at hiding, I’m just using what favors me"
"And that’s your mistake, thinking that everything is someone’s skill, skilled people can very well use dozens of tools, I’m weak, much weaker than I seem, but I’m good with weapons, better than most"
"..." Rouge seems a little disappointed, and seeing this the man smiles.
"You seem quite capable, but you’re making a mistake in being disappointed so soon, it’s true that part of what I do depends on equipment and tricks, but that doesn’t take away my merit, depending only on your power and skill is stupidity when there are tools to help you"
"Most of the top Kairas don’t need tricks like these, but nothing stops you from using them...for example" He quickly takes out a small disc-shaped device and throws it at Rouge, she dodges to the side, but then the device opens releasing cords of a powerful steel alloy that bind Rouge before she can react.
"Your teacher is someone smart, really smart, you really didn’t grasp her lesson did you? Young people are so hotheaded, here’s the thing girl, how would someone’s life experience help you? Almost not at all, now what if that person shows you something new? That helps right?"
"I could easily kill you with a tree branch if I wanted to, does that wound your pride? It must wound it right? Realizing that someone can beat you using simple everyday things sometimes hurts your feelings" As he speaks Rouge tries to break the cables with her strength, but the cable only creaks without breaking.
"I know this because I once had a...harsh instructor, he beat me many times using ridiculous everyday things, soap, flour, once he beat me using a baguette as a weapon...I hated that guy, but I also respected him a lot"
"I’ll leave you tied up there, I think this is what I can teach you, I’m really busy right now and I have to go, so take this as a lesson alright?"
"Y-You’re not going to untie me?" She asks struggling against the cables, she thinks about using her powers, but she’s not sure if she can cut this without hurting herself in the process.
"...No, you can free yourself on your own, keep this as a gift, and talk to your teacher about improvisation, you’ll be surprised by the power of improvisation" He starts walking away laughing at Rouge who turns red with anger.
"You coward!"
"...Haaa..." He sighs and then throws a knife at Rouge who for a moment freezes, the knife stops inches from her eye before the knife falls to the ground suspended by a cable.
"There’s no cowardice when it’s a fight for your life girl, you still have a lot to learn, I hope your teacher can drill that into your head" He walks away almost disappointed to see someone with so many capabilities who underestimates the simple things like traps and improvisation.
Rouge unlike most of the others didn’t quite understand the lesson she received, because for her improvisation doesn’t make sense compared to her hunting-based fighting style.
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