“You okay, Amelia?” I asked my sister as she closed the door. As soon as she got in, she untied her tightly-bound platinum-blonde from it’s strict and business ponytail and threw off her charcoal grey jacket as soon as she was inside. Her eagerness to exit her work attire suggested to me perhaps it was a stressful day today.

“Yeah, mostly; it’s not work but that hive that’s really getting on my mind,” She replied as I sat on the armchair, sipping my juice. I’ve found it far better to stay away from caffeinated drinks.

“The strong one again?” They were a rare enough occurrence that the strength alone should be good enough to identify it--especially considering this wasn’t the first time we had talked about it.

“Yeah. Throughout the whole day, it was always on the back of my mind no matter how much I tried to push it out,” She slumped down in the chair diagonal to me, eyes closed and head thrown back, shutting out any more stimuli. “I can still feel it, even.”

“Have they not told you they’ll be doing anything about it?” My eyes creased slightly in concern as I observed her tense state.

“If they haven’t told you they’ll definitely not tell me.”

“I haven’t been in today; maybe there was something new.”

“Nah, there wasn’t.” She sighed at the end, becoming laconic.

“I’ll get you a drink?” I asked, standing up. My mug was already empty so it wasn’t like it’d be any more effort on my part.

“Please. It’s just been sooo exhausting today.” Her eyes were still closed. She was really out of it.

As I walked past her and into the kitchen, putting my mug into the sink and opening the cupboard:

“Coffee?” I asked her.

“Tea.” She stated in reply, causing me to reposition my hand to reach for the tea bags. I plopped one into her mug as I filled the kettle up with water and set it to boil.

“How was work?” I asked, midway through my workings. Although I already knew it was tiring, it was a customary thing for us.

“It was mostly the same,” She began, finally opening her eyes and leaning back up, swiveling around so she was leaning on the back of the chair but looking at me.

“No unusual hives?” Part of my curiosity wasn’t just idle chatter but our jobs were related; it paid for me to be kept up to date on information even when I wasn’t working.

“No-Well, there was one, but not how you’d think.”

“How so?” I asked, coming out of the kitchen as I waited for the kettle. I leaned against the doorway, facing Amelia.

“The hive itself was normal--a small, weak one--but how it was cleared was unusual; there was no heart and once the Q.R.T. arrived, the building had already collapsed. I noticed it quickly but it was not long until it was gone.”

“Someone cleared it before us?” That piqued my interest, standing upright and losing my relaxed stance.

“Sort of? One of the officers who had cordoned it off said she talked with the woman who cleared it--apparently a C-ranker--but the user was registered with the G.U.G. However, no heart was brought back nor did anyone report that they had cleared the hive.”

“That’s… Quite strange. Are you sure the user was registered?” My mind was whirling as I was trying to understand the situation. The only reason to not report that you’ve cleared a hive is so you could sell the heart yourself, but we paid a hefty amount for hearts to stop any kind of black market deals. It was an abnormal situation.

“Yep. Definitely. The officer said the user had an identity card-”

“Does she remember who the user was?” I interrupted, more concerned with gathering information according to my instincts rather than listening to the narrative Amelia would’ve told.

As soon as she noticed I was taking an active interest, she perked up, regaining some energy that had been sapped by work.

“No, she didn’t study the card; only checked it was real.”

“And it was?”

“The officer said so.” Non-conclusive. There was the chance the officer was wrong but I just couldn’t fathom a reason to fake an identity card to then only clear a weak hive.

“Have there been any similar cases?”

“No. That’s the strangest part of this I think. Do you reckon you can figure anything out about this?” As soon as she asked that, the kettle dinged, alerting me that it was done. “You can answer after you sort that out.”

“Of course; I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your tea,” I called back as I walked back into the kitchen.

After I had made her tea--with extra sugar since she still looked a bit down--I placed it down on the coffee table in front of Amelia and retook my own seat.

“You this warrants it?” I asked her, my face serious as she began to drink.

“I think a preliminary look would be helpful,” She answered, with a gulp.

“Okay...” My voice drifted off as I closed my eyes. The next step was unnecessary but I preferred to do it this way; it helped to ease the burden on my mind.

Firstly, I laid out all the facts about the case that I knew: the hive was weak and small; it was during the day when it was cleared; the user who cleared the hive claimed to be a C-rank with an allegedly real identity card; the user didn’t take the heart back nor did they report they cleared the hive.

Once it was all arranged neatly and logically in my mind, all clear and coherent, I activated my System Specialisation.

The way my Specialisation worked was not all that dissimilar to brute-force computing; assuming variables and building from there. The way I could win a chess game was like how Deep Blue could win a chess game.

Although my Specialisation accounts for a wide availability of varying variables, they were processed by the mysterious System so quickly I was unable to perceive the lines of thought that sifted through all the possible routes. Instead, I merely saw the results of an unimaginable amount of processing power.

Therefore, the first thing I knew was that the identity card was real; the user was indeed registered with the G.U.G. and so, them clearing the hive was not illegal. That was interesting.

Next-up, their rank. Supposedly, they self-reported as a C-rank. Whether they actually were one or not, my Specialisation couldn’t tell me--a subjective assessment like that had to be done by my own volition and knowledge. What it could tell me was that the user wasn’t given that rank; they were registered as either stronger or weaker than a C-rank.

The heart wasn’t at the hive, nor were the remains of one, by the time the Q.R.T. arrived, so the user took the heart with her. The reason she did so wasn’t because she was planning to sell it illegally but it was for a different reason. The heart was merely taken to a place and then something happened to it.

What was very, very strange, however, was the user herself. I knew what happened to the heart but only in a limited capacity, unusual but it had happened before. The user, though, I couldn’t see anything about--I knew her ranking but that was an external thing. I couldn’t even get a faint grasp on her System Specialisation.

It was like a void in my prediction and that could only have meant few things--things I had to derive myself for this was where my Specialisation failed. To not be subjected to my Specialisation, either she had something which specifically allowed her not be affected by other people’s Specialisations--people like this existed but none that were registered with the G.U.G. in this city so I knew that couldn’t have been true--which meant she must’ve had a Specialisation akin to my own.

Provisionally, therefore, the user seemed to have a predictive ability of some kind. In that case, the likelihood was that they were registered as stronger than a C-rank.

Anything more than that, I didn’t get. Once that had solidified in my mind, my Specialisation deactivated and I was pulled out of my fugue as my mind clarified, any and all brain fog disappearing like abruptly sobering up from a drunken state.

My forehead was sweaty and I was gripping the arms of the chair firmly, nails digging into the plush fabric. Amelia was already standing besides me, handing me a cool glass of water as soon as I opened my eyes, which I accepted graciously and chugged down like a steam engine.

“I take it you figured something out?” She asked, taking the now empty glass from my hands.

“Yeah, but not as much as I had hoped.” As soon as I said that, her face darkened but she waited for my explanation.

“It was a registered user, most likely registered stronger than a C-rank. She cleared the hive by herself and then took the heart for her own use; she didn’t sell it. The user seems to have a predictive ability herself.”

As I laid down the facts, Amelia’s face contorted, showing how she was thinking and comprehending what that meant.

“And how accurate is that information?” I was always asked this question but, this time, her face looked less optimistic than usual.

“Half of it is System-derived.” I answered solemnly. It was a far worse accuracy than I was used to getting and that was not comforting.

“The predictive ability?” I only nodded in response. It was annoying but that was just how the world worked.

“Well… Is she dangerous?” Once she had parsed the information, she asked what was, perhaps, the most pertinent and important question.

“I-I don’t know,” I reluctantly replied. Amelia merely frowned at my answer.

“I’ll-I’ll report this in to work tomorrow,” She stated, focusing on productive actions she could take.

“No, I’ll do it; I’m working tomorrow anyway. Hopefully, they can dig up more information on it.”

“Oh. Okay. Well… What about the strong hive?”

“Nothing’s happening any time soon,” Once I said that, she sat back down, her face somewhat relaxed finally.

“At least that’s some good news.”