After a nice lunch, the group of four returned to the classroom. Talia and Sanya were embarrassed each time they exchanged a glance. Talia could barely believe what she did in the heat of the moment. But as to deny her inner struggles, Sanya held her hand in a gentle way, and lightly looked up at her. “...The candy was very good...Could I have more next time?”

The light awkwardness dissipated as Talia patted her lover’s head. “Sure.”

Meanwhile, Williams felt like his blood vessels were about to erupt. ‘There is no doubt now! They are dating! I have to act soon before Tala’s influence over Sanya become too strong!’

He looked at his close friend, Arthur who seemed quite overwhelmed by the situation. He suddenly thought of something, and then pulled out his phone.

Talia was sitting at her table with Sanya on her side. She was explaining her some simple principles in physics. She was holding a pen made out of metal. “The coldness that you feel when you touch a metal piece is not because it’s cold as it’s at room temperature. It’s just that some materials like metals are good at conducting temperature. When you touch something, there is an exchange of heat in order to reach a balance of temperature. As metals are very good conductors of heat, you have a sensation of coldness on your skin.”

They had physics at their first period, and they saw some simple thermodynamics. Of course, it was very basic as they were only high school freshmen, but the reason behind this simple introduction was to explain some rules in physics in order to broaden their view of the world. The Union was the center for all the research in regard to abilities. The need of scientists and other jobs related to science was important, so the goal was to make it popular among the students.

Today the teacher explained the three ways to transfer heat and briefly told them that it was the reason that some metals felt cold at the touch. Sanya had not really understood it, so she asked Talia, who seemed now quite knowledgeable in regard to science. Sanya was holding the metal pen and it indeed felt cold. “...I kind of understand.”

Talia smiled as she found Sanya cute with her pensive face. Then, something in her field of vision caught her attention. She saw Arthur looking at his phone, and immediately turning toward Williams with a surprised face. Williams didn’t say anything. Instead, he typed something on his phone. Talia’s eyes turned sharper. ‘Ooh, it seems like he is planning something. I hope it would not be too pathetic.’

Talia was not so interested in what Williams could come up with, but it would help if the situation could be clarified quickly.

When the courses of the afternoons finished, Talia stood up from her seat. The other students knew where she would be going. Sanya looked at her and asked.

“Should I wait?” Sanya knew that she would also go meet the head of state afterschool, so they would have no time to hang out. Talia grinned as she pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and waited a few seconds before someone on the other side replied. “Darius? Yes, it’s Talia.”

Sanya recognized the name. It was the captain of the unit that came yesterday. Talia was currently talking to him. “Yes, can you come pick me up?”

Williams and Arthur were walking outside of the classroom while keeping a glance at Talia’s direction. “Ok thanks. In how long will you be here?”

“Fifteen minutes? Ok, perfect. See you.” Talia hung her phone and turned her smiling face toward Sanya.

“You heard that. Wait here for fifteen minutes.”

“...Eh?”

Talia turned around and walked out without adding more.

--------------------------------------

~15 minutes left.

Talia passed by a teacher and asked for the location of the headmaster’s office. She followed the directions and arrived in front of a door with a plate with the name ‘Natal Ray’ written on it. She knocked on the door and heard a husky voice telling her to come in.

~13 minutes left.

When she entered, she focused her stare on the man behind the desk made of fine wood in the office. He was quite old, around his late 50s. The greyish beard and the bald head seemed to be taken in great care. He was dressed in a fine brown suit and had an air of overbearing around him. His gaze was rash as it landed on Talia’s hair. A slight, almost invisible, expression of disgust spread on his face. However, Talia saw it and understood everything.

She stood in the middle of the room. “You called me?”

The man fixed his stare on her before taking a sheet on his desk. The document had Talia’s photo on it. “Talia Chevalier, Age 15. You are one the two ability-less students that attend my school. Your grades on the first series of test were just above average. You-”

“Cut the crap, get to the point.”

The man lifted his head with a look of disbelief. Talia was expressionless, devoid of any emotions on her face. This caused the man to furrow his eyebrows in anger.

“Watch your mou-”

“30 seconds.” Talia crossed her arms in front of her. The man could not understand.

“What?”

“You have now 25 seconds to tell me what you want to say. After this, I get out of here. Now, 20 seconds.” The man stood up in rage as he glared at Talia.

“You little-!”

“15 seconds.” Talia turned around and grabbed the doorknob

“I will get you expelled!” He pointed his finger toward Talia. Hearing this, Talia glanced sideways at him and grinned with a cold face. An invisible pressure filled the room.

“You were the one who gave the key card to Sarah, right?” The man felt cold sweats on his back. This reaction gave Talia all that she needed to know. She opened the door and looked at the nameplate.

“Your time is up, Natar Ray. One advice, don’t miss your next phone call.” Talia exited the room and closed the door behind her. The man sat down with a face full of sweats.

“This failure of evolution! I swear that she will never find another school in the future!” Natar searched inside his desk before pulling out a piece of paper with the words ‘Expulsion notice” written on it. A few minutes later, as he was in the middle of filling it, his desk phone ringed. His heart skipped a bit as he looked at the name corresponding to the number. He recalled what Talia just said.

“The Educational Department?... No way, right?” His almost shaking hand reached for the phone.

~10 minutes left

Talia was walking down the corridor toward the classroom after closing her phone.At this time, the majority of the students had already left. Suddenly, someone stopped her. “T-Talia!”

She halted her steps and turned around with an uninterested face only to see Arthur with a complex expression. He seemed to gather his courage to speak. “...Did something happen when you went missing? You are so different from usual.”

Talia took a second to look at him before answering. “Yes, something happened.”

Arthur opened his eyes wide in shock as he could not believe her reply even after asking the question. He stared at her waiting for the rest. However,

“But, what? What if something happened? What does it change?” Talia kept talking with perfect calmness. Arthur had difficulties replying due to the stress. He was caught off guard by her unusual attitude.

“Y-You changed! You are not the same Talia as before!”

Talia turned her gaze to the view through the windows. The rain was falling, lowering the temperature outside. But, opposite to it, Talia’s heart was warm. She smiled. “I don’t care.”

She started.

“I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what the others think. In your eyes, I may have changed. I may have become someone dangerous, strange, not trustworthy. But, this is not for you all that I came back. It’s only for one person that I came back. If she had rejected my existence, I would not have been here today. But, guess what.”

She finally landed her eyes on Arthur. Her smile was radiant. A smile that he had never seen before.

“I am here today.”

Several seconds later, Arthur was still here looking blankly at the falling rain outside.

“...At least, it made up my mind on my feelings.”

~9 minutes left

“Williams, what are saying?”

“I said you should cut ties with Talia.”

Sanya was inside the empty classroom and was standing in front of Williams in disbelieve. His face was serious and tense. Sanya didn’t know what was going on. He had suddenly come back inside the room a few minutes after Talia was gone. Sanya was just waiting for her, but he had started to say incomprehensible things. Sanya furrowed her eyebrows as she backed back by a step.

“...Why are saying this?” Sanya was a bit nervous about the situation. She had a bad feeling about it.

“I know that the story that she told us should be false. Do you know what happened during this time?” Sanya thought for a second and decided to not reply. Williams took her silence for a yes.

“...So, you can’t even tell this. As I thought it’s not a normal situation.” Sanya could not casually talk about what Talia had told her yesterday. Williams continued without noticing what she was thinking.

“If you stay near her, you will be in danger!” The more Sanya listened, the less she could understand.

“Just what make you think that she is dangerous? You barely know her.” She looked at the door leading to the corridor and evaluated the distance just in case. If the situation turned bad, she could run off. However, she should have done so earlier.

“Sanya!” Williams took a step forward and grabbed her forearm. His face was filled with tension, while Sanya was now slightly scared and uneasy. The bell around her neck nearly activated by itself, but Sanya stopped it. If the barrier suddenly appeared, things could get out of hands easily.

“Let go of me.” Sanya tried to tear off his hand, but his grip was stronger. He was clearly not in his right mind.

“Listen, Sanya! I’m worried about you! She sent Sarah to the hospital.Talia had never been like this before!.” The grip became stronger as he approached Sanya. He unconsciously positioned himself so that the door was behind him and that the windows were behind Sanya.

“She has no ability! Then, how do you explain that she is so strong?! It’s impossible! She is not the same Talia as before!” Sanya was scared, but she still could not let those words slip. She argued back with a yell.

“Why do you care so much?! You barely interacted with her! When she went missing, you didn’t even care! So, how can you judge her?!” The bell around her neck glowed lightly. Suddenly, Williams felt a huge force pushing his palm, making him distance himself. He looked in shock at Sanya. However, he was not the only one surprised.

Sanya had activated the bell for a second. Her aim was put some distance between her and Williams by pushing him away, without making the barrier visible. She was not sure that it would work, but apparently, it did. However, something a bit special happened. The barrier had formed on the surface of her skin, then had expended outward. The process had took not even a split of a second, making it almost invisible to a normal person. However, The strength behind the barrier was a lot stronger than expected. He was not injured, but the shock was quite important. He looked at Sanya with his eyes wide. He took steps toward her. “...Why?”

Sanya retreated until her back was against the wall with the windows. She prepared herself to use the bell if she had to once again. She glared at him. “Why do you care so much about my relationship with Talia? If you think that Talia changed so much, why are you not worried about her?”

Williams clenched his hands for a second before making up his mind. His mouth opened in order to say it clearly. “It’s because I like you.”

Sanya was filled with both surprise and shock. She clearly was not expecting this, but this explained a lot of things. In the end, she replied. “I can’t return your feelings. I love Talia.”

Williams knew that he would be rejected, but this still was a huge blow. He looked at the floor as frustration stuck him. “...If only Talia never came bac-”

He was not able to finish.

He felt air under his feet. The second sensation that he felt was a huge impact on his back, like a hammer hitting his spine. His head shook, causing him to feel dizzy and his glasses to fell. His throat was strangled by an overpowered claw. His blurry saw a blue haired girl with a face distorted by anger. Her left hand was holding his neck pressing him against the wall, while her right hand was holding a long gold and blue sparkling thing. Fear overtook him as the situation changed too quickly.’...This..is, Talia?’

Sanya, who was on the side only saw a glimpse due to the speed. Talia was now holding Williams against the wall. She was shorter than him, but with her hand lifted she could make his feet not touch the floor. Her right hand was holding a 2-meter long spear made of lighting. The lighting was different from the calm sphere that Sanya had seen before. Hissing sounds were coming from the spear. The intensity seemed at least comparable to a lightning strike during a violent storm. Talia’s gaze, filled with killing intent, was locked on Williams. “...What are you doing to Sanya? I knew that something was not quite right, but I didn’t know that you had death wishes.”

Her voice containing her anger made Williams sweats bullets. As he could not breathe, his pulse started to accelerate and his face turned blue. Talia raised her spear and pointed the tips toward his chest. Crackling electrical arcs extended from the spear. Seeing her, Sanya’s eyes went wide as she shouted. “TALIA! Stop!”

Talia stood still a second, before erasing the spear and releasing Williams. The boy’s chest heaved up and down as he finally could breathe. His eyes turned fearfully toward Talia. She grabbed his collar and brought him closer. Her eyes were cold this time. “Listen, you little punk. If the girl that you cornered and scared had not been here, your heart would have already stopped beating. The girl that you like just saved your pity life. And this after you use your friend in a pathetic plan in order to isolate her from the one that she loves. You might think that I am the one dangerous, but what would have happened if I was not here? Would you have been able to accept being rejected?”

She released him and went to hug Sanya tightly in her arms. Sanya put her head against her lover’s chest. The earlier tension started to decrease as she knew that she could rely on her. Williams's mind was blank. Talia’s words engraved themselves in his head. “The next time you try something like that, I have your head.”

Sanya was holding Talia’s arm as they made their way out of the classroom. Even after several minutes, Williams still had vacant eyes. Suddenly, he looked at his glasses and extended his hand in the direction. Something like white strands appeared and picked up the glasses. He then looked at the cloudy rain outside. “...In the end, she is right. I am just a huge idiot.”

~6 minutes left

Talia and Sanya were walking down the corridor. Suddenly, Talia stopped. Sanya looked up at her only to see a sad face. Talia also turned to her. “I’m sorry. I should have been sooner. I should have known that something was going on. Because of this, you were scared.”

Sanya listened to her and remained silent. She then lifted herself and kissed Talia, who opened her eyes in surprise. When their lips parted, Sanya put her hands on Talia’s cheeks and...pulled them gently.

“...Guehh?” Talia, with a funny face, could not follow. Sanya giggled at it before letting them go. She then touched the choker around her neck with a lovely face.

“You’re wrong. You were here.”

“Sanya…” Talia felt like crying. She embraced her lover and rubbed her cheek against her. Sanya petted the top of her head. She then hugged her tightly in order to make her listen closely what she would say next.

“Talia… I know that you will maybe have to harm people in the future, and...even kill them.” Sanya was nervous about this topic, but she needed to talk about it after what just happened. Talia was listening closely.

“I will not be irresponsible by saying that you can’t. But please, don’t kill someone when there is no need.” Hearing her, Talia recalled what she did in the past. In the end, she accepted.

“Anyway, now that this is clear. Why did you ask me to wait for you? The captain from yesterday will come you up soon.” Talia released Sanya with a troubled expression. She scratched her head.

“Mmmh, I wanted to take you with me to show you a thing that I could not show you yesterday. But, do you want me to bring you home?” Talia didn’t expect such events from happening, so if Sanya was too tired, she would understand.

Sanya’s face turned blank. She asked. “Come with you?”

“Yes?”

“To the meeting?”

“Yes.”

“...How long will it last?”

“Er, one or two hours I think?” Talia knew that the environment that she would go was not the type of a normal high school girl. She also knew that bringing Sanya with her would be showing the importance that she held for her. But, she purposely wanted to bring her for a special reason.

Sanya took out her phone and texted a message. After a moment, she put it away and turned her smiling toward Talia. “I sent a message to mom saying that I will hang out with you for the rest of the day.”

“let’s go.” Sanya grabbed her hand and pulled a dumbstruck Talia.

~3 minutes left

Talia and Sanya arrived at the school gate.