"You'd do that for me?" I asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Akane replied. "It's been six months for me, after all. I need to see how much I remember after staying dormant for half a year. Plus, we'll have a nice chat after this. Just the two of us."

About time. I have a crap load to ask her about. Plus, I want to even see her abilities.

We both got into our respective positions, and Tsujihara gave the signal. I immediately rushed at Akane with my hands ready for some destruction, but she easily dodged it. And, by easily, I mean real easily.

"Wow!" Tsujihara exclaimed, with her eyes wide open. "I would probably need medical attention myself if I were to get hit by that. I was actually planning to block it, but luckily I decided not to. No wonder that kid got so beaten up. Tsujihara wasn't exaggerating about the almost killed him part, was she?"

She's fast---no, I'm slow. Utsumi only took those hits because he meant to. This is actual sparring. He never dodged my punches.

I kept trying to hit her numerous times, but I couldn't touch her even once. Every time, she would let me get close to her, and would then dodge at the last minute. It's like she's playing with a puppy---I'm just being dragged around for her amusement.

1 hour later

"Give up, Ryou. You're almost out of breath. You're too slow. Work on that."

"Hah...*pant*... Yeah, I get it---physical strength isn't everything. I need to be fast too."

"True. Rika is actually among the fastest first-years. Plus, she has incredible fighting skills. She's a huge hurdle, Ryou." Tsujihara said.

My confidence from a few hours ago has already been dissipated. Akane is too good at this. I cannot keep up with her speed.

"You're already exhausted, so toying with you anymore would make me feel bad. Let's just have that talk, shall we?"

"Okay. Tsujihara, I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you for today."

She went to her dormitory, while Akane took me to the library.

The library

"Nobody will interrupt us here. This place was definitely a good choice."

"What's so important?" I asked.

"I... have some questions, Ryou."

"Go on."

"Did I really come to your shop, and ask for a part-time job?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course you did." I answered.

"Did I? I came to your shop exactly after I lost my memories. Now that I have regained some of them, I'm starting to see things a bit clearly now. Do you know how they've been treating this amnesia of mine so far?"

"Brain surgery?" I asked, jokingly.

"Reorbis, Ryou. It seems what I had wasn't amnesia, but I was under some memory manipulation ability user's influence. They've been using the stone to extract powers from my brain. Normally, it'd take less than a few minutes, but they've been at it for more than 30 hours straight. And, I still have those powers in my head. Whoever did this to me, is a very skilled power user---that's what Miss Yuriko implied."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to ask you this, but do you remember anything regarding the events that conspired 6 months ago?"

"No, none at all. That's the reason why I asked you about my part time job. If that certain someone could manipulate my memories that easily, then surely he or she'd be easily able to make me see false memories as well."

"No way, that's not at all possible." I responded, in disbelief. "I saw you on your first day! There's no way you were dragged in to our shop. You were clearly happy to be able to work at our shop. Always have been. Why would anyone manipulate you into getting a job?"

"I asked the same thing to Miss Yuriko myself, and she replied that it must have been to keep me away from Kibouyama, thus leaving both the academy, and the TYB, vulnerable. Whoever kidnapped me on that mission half a year ago, not only manipulated my memories, but also was successful in making me useless. That person made sure that I wouldn't ever find out about the academy."

"But..."

"And," she added, "Miss Yuriko also mentioned that pulling off such a feat for six months isn't possible, unless the ability user stays in close proximity. He has to be in contact with me almost everyday."

"But I never saw anyone like tha---wait, He?"

She kept glaring at me, with a suspicious look.

"Y-You can't be serious, Akane. Me!? I should be the last person being suspected here. I didn't even know you were a yurei until a week ago!"

"I never said it was you, did I?"

She's still glaring---like someone with a killing intent.

"W-Wait... this is a joke, right? My father?"

She's not responding, but her eyes tell me otherwise.

"H-Hey, Akane, you're seriously not suspecting my father, are you? The man gave you a job, and even considered you like his own daughter. Plus, he's a normal human! Why would he--"

"Henry Turnwallace would like to have a word with you, Yoshida Ryou."