“Who do you think is the enemy here?” Riki said, himself sounding a bit more of a joke than he initially wanted it to.

“Enemy, you say?” Tamaki asked, “Are you saying the one with the plague mask isn’t the true enemy?”

After hearing about the plant matter particles all over the inn from Kaori, Riki’s suspicion grew worse. The fact that they were in enemy territory but they have yet to find any threats to them confused him.

“I’m not sure myself, but there’s a lot of loose ends. We know that the plague mask has a fire base ability, but he carried a lighter that had plant particles inside it. And the fact that there are plant particles growing all over the inn means that they’re linked together.”

“That should be obvious. Anything that you can draw from that?”

“Err. Well, you know how that thing had a completely disfigured voice?”

“Why yes, indeed it did.”

“I have a feeling that thing with the plague mask isn’t an actual human.”

Of course, they couldn’t have known the first time due to the fact that the mask could have been interfering with their voice. But since Riki did bring up a good point, there was reason to believe that the one behind the mask was a doll.

“And so if they’re not human, then they have to be…”

“Uh…”

“Hm?”

The answer sounded too far-fetched in his mind. In addition to that, he wasn’t very confident that it is what he imagined it to be. Screw it, he thought. Now’s not the time to be hesitant.

“I’m thinking that this Asimov person created it.” Riki said.

Well, their response wasn’t too different from what he expected. They were silent and only looked at him with the blankest faces. Riki forgot one important detail during the time when they first encountered the thing. And this detail is what the two are remembering at this moment.

“It did say ‘Asimov’.” Tamaki said as she leaned against a table. Her response led him to recall that moment as well.

It said Asimov? I probably looked stupid for making an obvious conclusion.

“Yeah, I could kind of see where you’re going. The speed at which that thing can pull off couldn’t have been done by a human.” Kaori added.

“An automaton as you would call it. A mechanical doll, made by a genius physicist. I could see that.” Tamaki put her index finger on her lips, “BUT—”

“But how can it have an ability of its own?” Kaori continued.

“Well, that’s the thing, I don’t know. From all of this plant matter, you would think he has an ability to create plant life.”

This was the one question they couldn’t answer in their current model of the situation. The nature of abilities is still an unexplored frontier. Anything could explain the strange connections so far. The more information they come across, the more questions come up. And at this point, the three can only brainstorm.

“The power to pass down abilities?” Riki said.

“His plant ability can manifest new abilities?” Tamaki said.

“Aliens with advanced technology?” Kaori said.

It was pretty much hopeless, guessing can’t help any further.

“Gahhh! This isn’t working!” Tamaki slumped her head into her arms resting on the table. In a muffled manner: “Let’s just go to the man himself! We have the address to his place! We can go in, put a hat on him, dump his head into water, and use our stasis on the hat to interrogate him!”

“No Tamaki. I can’t allow that. I’m not going to let my Lady get a criminal record. ...I’m not going to let myself get one as well.”

“Then what huh?!” The sudden appearance of her face as she lifted her head up surprised Kaori. It was like her usual fits, yes, but this time, there was an actual reason to feel agitated. The reason Kaori gave wasn’t the true reason she couldn’t go, and Tamaki herself knew it as well. She obviously wasn’t actually planning on threatening him using their abilities. Kaori just wanted her Lady to not get hurt.

“Remember your bucket list?”

“What? My bucket list? That thing? What has that got to do with anything?”

“Well, remember the second thing you wrote down on it?”

“The first thing…” It wasn’t too far long ago where she wrote a list of what she wanted to do in life. On the top of that list mainly focused on exploration.

“Right, that’s right. It was to attend one of the Science and Engineering Conferences one day.… Oh I see now Kaori. You want us to wait until we can attend them and investigate this Asimov there?”

“That’s correct, chief.”

Tamaki sighed and looked at her hands. For some sort of reason, this whole ordeal lined up too well. It just so happened that the last conference occurred one year ago, so the next would occur soon. How soon?

“Tomorrow, right at the heart of Fallway. It just so happens that my exam takes place two day after. I could just laugh right now. It’s like someone set all of this up. Like I’m just a piece to their plan.”

There was that dead look in her eyes. Not very often did she carry this expression. It was enough for Kaori to take the initiative.

“How about… Riki. You should go to the address written in that book.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, there’s something I wanted to look into here and I need Tamaki’s help. In the meantime, it would be efficient to see what is going on with the man in question.”

“Isn’t that a little too risky?”

“Relax, don’t actually go inside and encounter the man. Just loiter around the area to see any other suspicious activity. Plus, in the event that you actually encounter the man, he won’t be able to suspect you because you don’t have an ability.”

Sigh. That again.

“...Fine I’ll go and do that. But I’m going to head right out if I don’t notice anything weird.”

“Fine by me. As long as it’s efficient.”

But what luck he had with the most dangerous task. Of course, Riki could have refused, but what else was there left to do but to wait for tomorrow? Waiting didn’t seem like an option. He couldn’t argue because he himself was the one who agreed to come along and help.

What surprised him was that it seems that Riki had a knack for mysteries. While he was anything but confident in his claim earlier, the existence of this Asimov figure intrigued him. Obviously that lab was where he used to do his work, but why was it abandoned? Why was there plant material growing in the furniture? Was that the cause of Asimov’s? ...Where were they going to sleep at night?

Before Riki could ask, Tamaki and Kaori were already out through the door.

Now that they know to look for any abnormal plant matter in suspicious locations, Tamaki and Kaori are noticing a lot more objects that were infected. In fact, even the doorknob to the front door had bite size pieces of succulent leaves in between its creases.

They didn’t know if finding out what the source of the path of these abnormalities would benefit them at all, but it didn’t hurt to try. The effects can be tracked outside of the inn. When Tamaki looked at the back of the inn, she had to do a double take. The entire back was covered in kudzu. She knew that this was an invasive species in other parts of the world, but in this region, kudzu was never introduced here ever due to efforts of mitigating its growth. Yet, here it is covering ¼ of the inn, this was no coincidence. This path led into the neighboring forest.

The forest itself wasn’t too full of foliage. As the two traversed, Tamaki wished she had bug repellent. Every 5 seconds, she would hear a buzzing sound around her ear and would immediately swat the air. She was just about to question her valet’s decision when Tamaki noticed a carriage off in a somewhat open clearing.

“This is what I wanted to investigate.” Kaori said.

“That’s strange, who uses carriages anymore?” Tamaki said observing it in its entirety.

The entire frame was black in color though the paint was fading in several spots. Its hood was draped back, revealing the two seats which appeared to have gotten their use. The carriage was facing toward the inn and behind it was a rough path.

“Though, I feel like we won’t gain much else from this carriage, let’s go on further into whatever it was going from.” Kaori said, Tamaki nodding in response.

Even though the trek up the path didn’t have as much foliage to traverse through, it was just as difficult. The reason being, they couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease. What was this path leading to exactly? Each crunch of dirt under their footsteps was the only thing that was audible besides the crickets around them. Tamaki had a hand on her sleeve just in case she needed to foresee any attack.

Just in case, right?

Then red eyes out in the foliage of the forest were visible in front of where they stood. Paralyzed with fear is an understatement. Beasts. They were residing in the forest right next to the inn this whole time. The two immediately felt the bloodlust emanating from them.

“No way… no way, no way, no way no way!”

“Tamaki! Get back now! Hurry!”

“Why are there wolves here?! Why… why?”

Wolves. There were 3 of them in front of Tamaki and Kaori. No matter what, they perceived the two as a threat as they entered their territory.

“No… I…. don’t want to die! Kaori...”

Tamaki hid behind her assistant, she always had a habit of hiding behind other people. Good progress was made in order to break it, yet this time it all collapsed. However, because she was hiding behind her, Tamaki didn’t see what Kaori just saw a few seconds after. A figure that was too hard to make out was standing behind the beasts. And that figure stood there, unmoving. One of the wolves made their move and went for the kill.

“Tch!”

Kaori quickly picked up a tree branch and lodged it straight into its mouth.

“How dare you attempt to lay a paw on my Lady!”

She activates her ability on the branch, causing the beast to be suspended in midair, unable to move.

Crap. I can only do that one branch at a time and they’re not gonna give me 5 seconds to do that again. What do I do?

Kaori grabs Tamaki’s arm and books it.

“Huh? We’re going to outrun these beasts?!”

“Yep!”

“Bu… but, how are we gonna—”

“No clue, but I’ll figure something out!”

After running, the two come across the old carriage from earlier. There was no chance it was going to move on it’s own. Yet, Kaori quickly inspects the old vehicle and the area around it.

“Kaori?! What are we supposed to do with this?”

“Get on now!”

Without hesitation, Tamaki lifts herself up onto the immobile carriage. Kaori follows suit.

“Can you see what happens to the carriage in the next few seconds?”

“Oh.. Ok.”

Tamaki places her hand on the seat and concentrates. The sudden movement she senses causes her to retract her hand.

“Eh?! It’s gonna move?! Not only that but at such a high speed?! But how?!”

She looks at her friend who seems quite proud of herself. Kaori freezes the carriage with her ability.

“Whaaaaaat?! Isn’t this the exact opposite of what’s gonna happen!? I’m so confused!”

Kaori brings out a bottle filled with a black powder.

“Huh, isn’t that…?”

“I’m glad Riki almost broke his shin bone indirectly because of me.”

Kaori opens the bottle and throws it a little below the carriage, immediately hugging Tamaki to take cover. The powder ignites and with one second left, the two feel the sudden acceleration of the carriage.

“What the heeeeck?! Kaori you wreckless assistant!”

The carriage was in midair, no scratch was on it. Kaori banked on the idea that freezing objects receive no damage whatsoever as long as it was in stasis but she had to make absolutely sure using Tamaki’s ability. Well, just in case even though she already tried it with that barrel earlier. However, she didn’t think that far ahead as to survive the fall.

An object accelerates at 9.81 meters per second every second within the world’s gravity. What if? Her ability continues to store momentum, so we can’t just stasis the vehicle right at the last second or it will be the same as letting us hit the ground as we would feel the force all the same. Find it. Find the minimal amount of velocity while comparing it to our height!

Tamaki places her hand on the seat and activates her ability again.

Kinematic equations, don’t fail me now! In exactly 7 seconds, we’re going to hit the ground. Before that, we’ll reach our maximum height in 3. Wait, hold on. It seems like the carriage will crash through the ground, is that possible. No, wait. It’s... the inn!