“No way…” Charlotte stared wide-eyed at the hibiscus whose leaves had shed all of its wrinkles in a matter of seconds. Above it cradled in Riki’s hand was a sphere of blue light that dimly casted illumination around the garden house even during the month of July at noon.

My head hurts, it feels like I can lose consciousness at any moment, but… I did it! Somehow, I summoned an orb of light!

Completely forgetting the purpose of summoning the sphere in the first place, Riki was blinded by the fact that he had used his Aoi on his own for the first time. The feeling of warmth once again emanated above his palm.

“I have no clue how I did it, so I can’t really say a light bulb went off in my head or anything like that.”

Charlotte watched as Riki maneuvered his arm around, causing the light sphere to follow his palm wherever it went. She didn’t think that anyone would have been able to pull it off without guidance. However, there was the question if he could do it a second or third time as this most likely had been a fluke. Merely using it once doesn’t prove one has a mastery of it.

That is pretty convenient, having an Aoi that creates spheres of light. I have to thank you for revitalizing my gift, but I might just want to test you here.

Charlotte relaxed her shoulders and took the time to rotate her arms and legs to warm herself up as if she was beginning an exercise session. Something pressed against the back of Riki’s calf and, before he could direct his attention to whatever it was, he felt the sudden whiplash of his entire body down to the ground.

“Kh…!” All of the air was forced out of him. One second Riki was mesmerized and the next, he was lying on the floor dazed and confused with an insane pressure above his right ankle. The surrounding dust settled, revealing a mound of green around where the pressure was. The sight was familiar: kudzu vines.

“How about we do a little test of your new ability?” Charlotte said who was now standing above and staring down at him like someone who would stare at an ant on the sidewalk.

“Ugh. The heck did you do that for...? A test? I mean sure, though wouldn’t we damage the garden house and everything inside of it?”

“You wouldn’t think I have a plan for that?”

With the same amount of force he had felt a second ago, Riki found himself weightless in the air. The landscape blurred in his vision and the feeling of wind brushed against his whole body. He had been flung off without so much as a warning. Before long, the sensation of soft earth and grass slammed against his face, leaving his whole body sprawled on the ground.

Ow… Ow ow ow…

He supported his weight with his forearm, bringing himself to one knee and a foot on the ground. A slight warm sensation can be felt on his head, but it wasn’t from his light sphere as it had disappeared the moment he was knocked down. Riki brought a hand to where the sensation was. He looked, and his finger was tainted a faint red.

What’s gotten into her…? She better have medicinal herbs...

“Even though it’s entirely my fault, just think of me exacting revenge for imprisoning my beloved…” Charlotte said, walking out of the garden house. As she walked across the lawn, kudzu vines grew with every step by her feet. There was no time for Riki to recover. The pain on his head along with the menacing aura the girl exuded caused him to second guess himself on accepting her challenge.

“This isn’t a test... you’re… you’re actually trying to kill me!” Riki’s said but his worry didn’t seem to concern her.

“To be able to be to rescue someone you hold dearly is to be able to fight against the world. Don’t worry, I already have a handicap on me so it won’t be too one-sided. Remember how Azure is currently running investigations? I conjured a detection dog for them to use, and, there’s a limit to how much life I can conjure up. Organisms that form the biological kingdom Animalia strains me more than most of the other kingdoms. So you needn’t worry.”

Yeah it must be a result from spending time with a scientist. Either way, I just need to somehow utilize light to defend myself and attack her somehow. But how the heck am I supposed to do that? Light is basically harmless, it can’t hurt anything… right?

Riki thrust himself into a stance and tried for a third sphere, but realized too late that Charlotte had already sent out kudzu vines to his legs again. Already, the green clump was two meters away from his position.

The same trick won’t work twice.

He breaked into a run as he noticed the vines traversed slower than he thought. As long as he maintained his pace, they wouldn’t be able to reach him. The only thing that he needed to be afraid of was the force that the vines could put off. If he gets caught one more time, then it would be over.

C’mon… Create another one...!

Revolving around Charlotte with a mass of kudzu vines chasing him, Riki brought his hand out to summon a light sphere. Multitasking like this proved to be simply too much for him. The effects of the day had already worn down on him. His pace grew slower than the vines and the distance grew smaller without him using his power.

“In a crisis, you must be able to hand anything thrown at you.”

As he feared, the vines grabbed his left leg and stopped him right in his tracks. With all of his effort to shake them off, it only allowed more time for more vines to restrain more parts of his body. Dread crept through Riki like a plant taking root in its soil. Unable to move, he was stuck standing like a statue being overgrown by Mother Nature. Panic welled up inside of him as he felt the pressure begin to increase. At this point, it appeared to Riki that he had no other options left, until he realized that his right arm was still free. It was all he needed. Inhaling in a deep breath, he focused once more.

To fight against the world… I just gotta try again. Keep on trying...

「Try, try again.」

“...!”

For the third time, Riki felt the heat against his palm and the blue illumination of the surrounding area. Again, he has summoned a light sphere, but this time, with another vision he was well acquainted with.

Just who is that person that keeps speaking in these damn visions—ack! I can’t worry about it right now! I need to use my Aoi somehow!

More than anything, it’s like he had no control over it. The way Tamaki described as “moving your arm around” only confused him. For the most part, using your Aoi was more along the lines as trying to reel a fish. Sure, he had some control over it, but the majority of the time, it’s just him hoping for a bite.

“So what if you managed to use your Aoi again? Was it best for you to do so in this situation?” Charlotte said, arms crossed.

To Riki’s dismay, the vines appeared to increase in width. He also wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, or their color had deepened to a darker shade. Either way, the light had been feeding energy to the vines this whole time. His own power had been aiding Charlotte’s.

“It’s unsightly for me to do this but…” As Riki looked back towards Charlotte who conjured up something in the palm of her hand. It was green. Prickly. Spiney.

“Cylindropuntia bigelovii. Otherwise known as the teddy bear cholla. The reason for its name is because of the soft appearance it has from the many spines that cover it. It is a cactus that can pop off from its main body and pieces will stick into your skin. ”

No… No… She’s serious…!

With a mind of its own, the teddy bear did as it was said to do: aiming to hug Riki to death. A piece the size of a baseball popped right off and launched itself straight towards him at a ridiculous speed. On instinct, he brought the only thing he can control to block it, his right arm. As if he was trying to catch it, his palm faced forward.

Soon after, the continuous heat left his hand and the light exited the stage. Replacing it was the sound of splattering of the cholla piece.

It got destroyed…?

Riki looked back at his hand to find that the light sphere was no longer there. It had launched itself from his palm directly towards the incoming projectile, becoming a projectile in of itself.

“What? What kind of light does that…?” Charlotte said, mystified.

With no time to argue about it, Riki summoned another light sphere and aimed it towards himself. Somehow, Tamaki’s words made more sense now as he felt something new within him. The “connection” manifested. He willed himself to launch the light, and as luck would have it, the command obeyed him and destroyed a small area of effect on the vines restraining him.

I’m getting used to this…!

Charlotte easily could’ve stopped Riki from eliminating all of the kudzu, but she chose to watch him summon light again and again like it was nothing. She brought a hand to her chin observing his Aoi’s properties.

The light’s destructive power is weak, but then again, light doesn’t normally affect other objects in such a way like that. Is it not light after all? No it definitely should be. Then, is there something else that causes light to emit as a byproduct?

“I’m pretty sure I’m more qualified for the test now.” Riki said, stepping out of the mush of green. Though, he can tell he won’t last long as his breathing became jaded.

“No… That should be enough.” she said as she faced the garden house and walked, “We’re finished here. And you should be as well.”

I’m sorry for taking up and playing such a cruel act. It was the only way for you to become more acquainted with both your Aoi and dangers in the world.

Riki watched as Charlotte disappeared into the garden house. He would have chased her inside, asking the reason for stopping so abruptly, but he had bigger problems distracting him at that moment. Dropping down to his knees, Riki stared at the palm of his trembling hand and feeling the sudden weight of his whole body. Never before did he feel so tired in his week of existence. He wasn’t sure if the aching in his head was from his head not receiving enough blood, or if it was the adrenaline surges. It was quite possibly that using his Aoi that much for the first time contributed to the insane exhaustion he now felt. Just now did he feel so weak.

In fact, droplets fell into the grass from his face. Droplets that were red in shade. Riki noticed too late that he couldn’t breathe through his nose when a metallic taste came over his mouth. He remembered the taste of blood. No longer caring that fantasy became reality, he only cared about staying conscious. The entirety of his body refused to cooperate with his mind as the aching grew unbearable.

To him, it was all but normal to him now. The world quickly lost its color, but this time, he managed to hold his place in reality. Just long enough to see the medicinal herbs he so desperately wanted.