*scribble scribble* *shuffle shuffle*

“Young Mistress Rose, this isn’t your usual stop. Do you have some work here?”

*vein pop*

“Young Mistress, what about the boys you usually walk home with?”

*vein pop x2*

“Could you tell us more about the giant flame pillar that appeared in the city?”

*vein pop x3*

“Young Mistress, wait!”

“Argh! Could you people stop following me?! I’m going to take care of a friend!” Hannah yelled, turning around and stomping her foot.

“Is it the boy who summoned the fire pillar?”

“Is it true that he was able to fight even with a grave wound on his body according to the witnesses? Or was it just a minor injury?”

“It was announced that these boys were actually new employees and guards. Could you tell us a little more about their origins?”

And the press kept bombarding her with several other questions.

“Honestly, I don’t have time for this! I’m already late!” saying so, Hannah turned again and headed straight into the hospital, followed by a group of about 20 people.

“Young Mistress!” “Young Mistress Ro--!”

“I’m sorry, but you can’t enter any further than this.”

Appearing between Hannah and the crowd, stood five security guards in front of the hospital entrance.

“This is a hospital. We recommend you not make a fuss in such a place. You’re causing trouble for our patients, so we advise you to turn back.”

Both sides taken by surprise, Hannah stood staring at the guard who took lead, “You guys…”

The guard looked back, smiled, and gave her a thumbs up.

Smiling back, Hannah replied, “Thanks a lot!” and trotted further in.

Meanwhile…

“Hannah sure is late. I wonder what’s keeping her so long?”

Bored of waiting and having read a good deal of the Mysteries of Ronald Cooper, Diavolo decided to do some light exercises to begin recovery from the jammed muscles.

Stretches, squats, pushups, handstand walking, stationary jogging etc.

“Student Council work? Or paperwork for the city?” thinking such things and many other random thoughts, Diavolo continued to work up a sweat.

And then she finally arrived…

“Phew! Sorry I’m late! The press outside was just so— WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING??!!!”

“Bufu—!!!” *thump*

Surprised to the point of losing rationality, Hannah reflexively flung her shoulder bag at Diavolo’s side while he was in a handstand, and launched him right on the bed.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! YOU WANT YOUR WOUNDS TO OPEN UP AGAIN?!!”

“Urgh! Rather, I think the wound opened up because of you instead…” he said, twitching.

“Ah!” she exclaimed, realizing her deed, “I’m so sorry! A-are you o-okay?” she fumbled and panicked.

“I was joking,” he flipped back up and sat cross-legged, “You don’t have to worry. I’m already fine now,” and casually stated.

Hannah gave a blank look and a confused expression, following up on a good 5-10 seconds of silence.

“Like I said, I’m already healed. I’m ready to go home now.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes I am.”

“No… you are not…”

“Um…. yes, I… am?”

“I know you’re a guy, but you don’t need to act that tough. Get rest. I’ll make you soup.”

“I’m not acting! I am actually healed! I don’t feel the slightest bit of pain, okay!!!” he got flustered.

“You really are a handful. Is Shin the same? If so, I hope you never get injuries together,” she said and unhesitantly reached into her bag.

“God damn it! Here, I’ll show you!” finally annoyed, he grabbed onto the bandages.

“Diavolo, do--!!”

*Tchrrr* the pieces of cloth tore off and all was revealed.

The only remnants were large scabs all over his abdomen. Many small pieces stuck to the bandages as they were torn and even smaller bits fell and scattered around. Where the scabs were removed, fresh pink skin could be seen. It seemed that in due time, not even a scar would remain.

“No way…”

“See? I told you! Now release me! I wanna hurry and get back! This hospital life, I hope I never get to face it again.”

Bewildered, Hannah found it very difficult to muster out words. This is a joke, right? What she witnessed was not even something humanly possible! It had only been about a week! People don’t even get up from a minor operation that fast! Just what was going on??!

“I’ll...I’ll call grandpa and see what I can do. Give me a minute…”

Saying so, Hannah took out a small object and walked towards a corner. Seeing her press on it at seemingly random points and putting it near her ear, Diavolo had a confused expression.

“What’s that?”

“A cellphone.”

“Cell...phone?”

“You know what a telephone is, right?”

“It’s that thing in every house that you use to call long distances, right?”

“Yes, these things work the same way, but aren’t fixed like that. You can carry them around and they don’t need wires.”

“Ohh~! How convenient! As expected, rich people have it nice, eh?” he crossed his arms behind his head and leaned on the bed’s headrest.

“You don’t have to worry about that for long. I plan to give you your own ones too.”

“!!!”

[“Hello, this is the Rose Household. How may I help you?”]

“Ah, Stanley is it? Could you give it to my grandpa?”

[“Yes, Mistress. Please wait a moment…” *krink*]

“......”

[*crank* “Hello?”]

“Hello, Grandpa? Um… I’m not sure how to say this, but…”

[“It’s okay. Bring him over.”]

“Eh?”

[“He’s healed, isn’t he? Then there aren’t any problems. Let him return.”]

Hannah took a moment and turned back at Diavolo. His innocent and clueless expression as he looked here and there at his own body made so many questions arise in her head.

“Okay… I understand. I’m hanging up, then.” *beep*

“What’d he say?”

“To return...he says.”

“Alright! Looks like your granddad knows what’s up! Told you it’s fine!”

“Right… Get dressed. We’ll leave once you’re ready…” she said and slowly left the cabin.

“Eh? What’s with that attitude? You’re not happy?” but Hannah had already left, “Weird girl…”

While Diavolo prepared himself, Hannah stood outside in deep thought. About how her grandfather reacted, about how unnatural Diavolo’s recovery was, and basically about everything that has been occurring around her. It was at this time that she got the faint hint that something much bigger was unfolding. Something far larger than what Suzume had made it out to sound like.

“Listen, just because you get to be discharged so early, don’t think you can go crazy the moment you leave this building, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, I got it, I got it! Sheesh, you don’t have to be so hard, you know?”

Filling out the discharge form, Diavolo and Hannah made their way towards the exit. Employees who somewhat knew about his case were utterly surprised and spared no gap in their astonishment. The doctor in charge? Well…

“Speaking of which, the doc literally started to stutter and sweat looking at me. Is my case really that huge?”

“More than you are even aware of. Excluding the fact that it was fatal, something like that wound would at least take a month of full bed rest and non-stop care. Yet you’re jumping around like a 5 year old in a week. What sort of monster are you?!”

“Ehehe...monster, you say…” he scratched his cheek.

“Ah! It’s Mistress Rose! She’s back!”

“Young Mistress, over here!”

“Please spare us some time!”

“Is that the man responsible for the fire?”

“Quick! Bring out the camera!”

“Oh, no…” Hannah stopped in her tracks.

“What? That your fanclub?” Diavolo casually let out.

“As if my fanclub would have such elderly people! They’re journalists! They’ve been bothering me the whole day!”

“Oh? Want me to knock a few unconscious? I’ve been kinda itching to get some action for some time.”

“Don’t you dare! Listen up. We’ll make a run for it as soon as I give the signal. Head straight into the car. Got that?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Turning her head back forward again, she met the eyes of the guard once again and gestured a nod. The guard returned the nod, signalling all was ready.

“Now!” she yelled and the two launched themselves ahead.

“Go! Go! Move it! Make way!” the guard ordered as he and a bunch of his subordinates and coworkers quickly showed up and pushed a gap through the centre of the crowd. It was all done with swift coordination and without any delay. Almost as if they were used to this task.

With the path opened up, the two young teens made haste, before any one of them could break free from the human barricade. Watching this spectacle, a smile twitched onto Diavolo’s face.

Remcon opened the door as soon as they were in leaping distance. As soon as the two were in, he shut the door close, got in himself, and stomped on the gas. Finally, skidding noise resounded as the car jolted away, leaving behind a cloud of dust as the journalists broke free and fell on top of each other in the rush.

“Phew! We escaped,” Hannah let out a sigh, having finally a peace of mind.

“Hahahaha! What on earth was that?!” Diavolo burst out, “It was such a mess!”

“Yes, it has been a long while since something ‘interesting’ has happened in this city, so it’s quite hectic. They’re sparing nobody when trying to gather information.”

“Ahahaha! I’m sorry, hehe, gimme a minute,” and Diavolo continued to laugh heartily.

Hannah curled a smile seeing Diavolo expressing such enjoyment. Staring at him as he slowly calmed down, “Come to think of it, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen you laugh like that,” she said.

Till now, Diavolo had always been a moody individual who occasionally let out jokes and laughs. Almost all of those moments involved his interactions with Shin and Yukio. Seeing him laugh was already a rare occurrence. It was a really pleasant occasion that Hannah was able to witness him laugh out loud like this.

“Yeah, well…” he started to reply, rubbing his near teary eyes, “They actually fell down back there! It kinda reminded me of the old days. We used to play pranks on the adults a lot. It was really funny to see them stumble and fall into our traps.”

“I see… Fufu! Didn’t you ever get in trouble for that?”

“Oh, did we ever! The spankings hurt so much, I can still feel it now! I guess…” he aimlessly stared out the window.

“Hmm?”

“After all these years of brooding, I probably forgot… what those days were like…” and fell silent.

“I’m sorry…” Hannah apologized realizing she had reminded him of something unpleasant.

“Don’t bother.”

Hannah was slightly started, but then sighed, “I understand,” smiling.

No further exchange of words was needed. Hannah’s apology was just a reflex. She knew better now that something as simple as this would not make Diavolo frown. Their bond was better than that.

Diavolo too. If it was the past, he would’ve tried to comfort and convince his peer into thinking that it was okay and that it was not their fault. Things like, “It’s okay,” “Don’t worry,” etc. Instead, he bluntly said what he did.

That was all it took for their feelings to be conveyed. Hannah may have apologized, but Diavolo actually secretly wished to thank her. The years of solitude had made Diavolo incomplete. As if he had lost parts of himself.

Doubt, suspicion, suspense and stress. Once exposed to the outside world, Diavolo now felt a large load lifted off of his chest. There were still many issues to be solved, many lessons to be learnt, but at least now, he could actually do something about them, unlike his final years on the island.

“Diavolo~! Welcome back!” Yukio merrily greeted him as the two entered.

Everybody was present. Yukio, Shin, Stanley, William, the maids, the chefs and also Suzume. The only absentee was Marvin, who was still in school.

“You guys! What are you doing here?” Diavolo asked, surprised to see them since it was still school hours.

“We took an early leave once we heard about your discharge.”

Diavolo had a confused look, “What are you talking about? It hasn’t even been an hour since the call with Mr. William.”

As if that was the cue they were waiting for, the boys reached into their respective pockets and took out a palm sized device into display.

“No way! You guys already got yours?!”

“You bet we did! Although we did get into trouble for disturbing the lecture. Apparently there’s something called a ‘silent mode’?” (Yukio)

“Ah, I’ll show you that later.” (Hannah)

“More importantly, Diav! Been less than two days since we last met and you’re live and well! I knew nothing could keep you in bed for too long!” Shin lightly punched his shoulder.

“I can’t be slacking off if I’m your rival, right?” he smiled and winked.

“Ahem!” (Hannah)

“I~ mean, I won’t be slacking off once I’m well rested and made sure to be in peak condition. Don’t even try to force me into training!”

“Good.”

“Diavolo-kun…” the silver haired girl joined in.

“Suzume…” he faced her and replied.

“Congratulations… on your discharge…”

“Thanks…”

“...”

“...”

Nothing else. Utter silence. The two just stood there saying nothing else, and kept fidgeting on the spot. A good ten second later,

“You know, if you two are gonna hug or something, you could get it over with. We don’t have all day.” (Shin)

“We weren’t going to do that!” “As if we’d do that!” they said together.

“Mr. Diavolo, here’s your cellphone ready,” Stanley intervened and presented the welcome back gift. Although technically, it was just for convenience since they all got cellphones.

“Oh~! This one’s mine, eh? Thanks!”

“No, don’t thank me. This is a gift to you by the Rose family. I bear no responsibility in this.”

“You’re right. Hannah. Mr. William. Thanks!” he said, to which William replied with a calming nod and Hannah with a smile.

“Later, I’ll show you how to operate it, okay?”

“Got it, teach!”

“Umm...Diavolo-kun…”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry, but, I was also planning on getting you something. A scabbard for your sword. But I didn’t really get the chance after yesterday, so…”

“It’s fine~! You don’t have to pressure yourself with that, really. Although, it is kinda inconvenient to carry the sword as it is. How about we go find one some other day together, huh?”

“Yes, okay. Let’s do that.”

“Oho~? What’s this, planning dates already? Look Yu! Seems like our friend wishes to get steamy right after returning~!”

“You’re right, Shin. And although they say they’ll be out to buy a sheathe, who knows what else they’ll do? They’ve already spent a night together, haven’t they~?”

“Ufufufu!” the two laugh and giggle sinisterly.

“You guys… Knock it off!!!”

“Oh, shit. Run, Yu!” and thus they started a wild goose chase within the mansion, followed by a stream of laughter echoing through the premises.

…

..

.

Leaving behind the spectacle, once welcome greetings were over, a small feast was set up. Not long after, Marvin showed up and everybody chatted and laughed amongst themselves. A really pleasant and lively atmosphere.

In between conversations, Hannah managed to slip out and stood beside her grandfather.

William was seated on a cushioned chair in front of a large window, enjoying a nice glass of red wine.

“Grandpa… a minute.”

“What is it?”

“That wound… wasn’t normal.”

“......I know.”

“Is that it? It wasn’t something one can simply casually get better from within a week!” she exclaimed under her breath, “And yet you sounded like it was normal when I called. Tell me, you know something, don’t you?”

“It’s true I know something, I won’t deny that,” William explained, “However, my grandchild, it isn’t something you need to concern yourself with at the moment.”

“But grandpa!”

“Don’t interrupt me, child.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Until he himself gets to know what he is, I don’t think others should either. It could affect how you treat him and your relationship. For now, knowing that he isn’t a normal human is well enough.”

“...I would never treat him differently just because of--”

“Enough! This conversation stops here,” he ordered as he took his last sip, “I’m returning to my room.”

“Grandpa…” she stared at his back as his figure disappeared around the corner.

There was nothing she could do anymore now that William had decided it to end there. Sighing, she slowly returned to her conversations with her friends until the feast ended.

Knowing that Diavolo wasn’t a normal human was good enough, he said. Just what really was Diavolo? Till now, the only information William kept secret from Hannah was deeply rooted and classified information about matters beyond her scope. Was Diavolo’s matter really that big of a deal?

No, William had in the least mentioned that it was something Hannah shouldn’t pry into too deeply. The very fact that he said at least this, meant that either Diavolo’s secret wasn’t as big of a deal Hannah thought it out to be, or William thought it necessary to tell her the smallest bit of information since she was directly friends with him. But which was it?

There was no point in thinking so. There wasn’t any way she could get an answer if she forced it. The best she could do was simply let it go and let the answer come to her when the time came.

“Eh? Hey! What’s the meaning of this?” Hannah shrieked in surprise.

Suzume had already left and the ceremonic atmosphere had died down. Everybody was busy finishing up their respective tasks here and there before ending the day.

Just as Hannah was about to enter the hallway that led to her room, Diavolo walked up behind her and called her name. Hannah, turning back, witnessed him on all fours, bowing deeply towards her.

With no warnings or contexts, one just walked up to her and pressed their forehead on the ground; why wouldn’t she be surprised?

“I have been conceited and wrong. I want to redo everything from the start,” he started.

“H-huh?! What’s this about?”

“Training,” Diavolo replied, lifting his head back up and sitting cross-legged, “In the very beginning, I was assuming that you were underestimating us without any ground basis. I thought that we-- no, I was the only one ahead of everyone else and didn’t need to learn any of the basics of energy harnessing that you had planned out. I was wrong.

I was being prideful and conceited. In your eyes, I might’ve surprised you time and time again with my progression, but in reality, I couldn’t have been more behind!

I’ll promise to not go overboard, so please! Let me begin training as soon as possible again!”

Hannah was confused, “Okay, but… What’s with this all of a sudden? Where’s this coming from?”

Diavolo gulped and explained, “It’s about the burns I end up inflicting on myself. I asked Suzume what the problem was yesterday, and she said it had something to do with sensing the environment, which Natura users do best.

Shin and Yukio already know that. But because I was training Raze from the get go, I had no idea of its importance. Please teach me from the basics once again!” he finished and bent his neck forward as a final attempt.

Diavolo had decided to spare no room for more errors. Right now, rather than increasing his strength, it was most important that he removed his flaws. Even if Diavolo had superior regenerative capabilities, it was not an excuse to be lax in that area.

Even if he could heal fast, he still got hurt. Even if a lethal blow wasn’t lethal for him, he still felt pain. And the last thing he needed was his own powers being a double edged sword. He was well aware that this was merely the beginning of his cultivation. If he didn’t take care of this right now, it won’t be long until an opponent would exploit it. That was something that mustn’t happen!

Hannah sighed in her heart. It was the first time she had seen Diavolo like this and she’d feel really bad if nothing was done, “Alright. We’ll start again tomorrow.”

In the meantime, Shin and Yukio had been peeking at the scene from the staircase.

Among all the people around Diavolo, nobody was more happy and relieved to see this than Shin. Ever since the calamity back home, he thought he had lost his best friend forever. Shin wasn’t very bright, but he definitely cared. He didn’t know exactly what had caused Diavolo’s brooding for such a prolonged time. As such, he simply tried to coax him into whatever they had been doing all the time. Maybe if he could bring Diavolo back into his old daily habits, he could make him recover. But that didn’t seem to work.

But now, it was the first time he had seen Diavolo open up like this. Yes, it’s working! He wasn’t sure what caused his change, but he was definitely returning! And that’s all that mattered! Now, he had a proper chance in bringing back old habits, albeit in a new environment.

Good! Let’s all start over again!

As for Yukio, oddly, he wasn’t affected as much. The only expression he had on him was an innocent smile. He understood that Diavolo had undergone a change, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he should feel about it. After all, the first time he encountered Diavolo was during his brooding stage.

Nevertheless, he did understand this change was something precious. And that was worth feeling good about. Now that he had somewhat opened up, starting from the beginning with better results was a good idea!

But then suddenly something occurred to him, “From the beginning…” and he reflexively muttered.

“Hmm?” Diavolo heard the sound and looked back, “Oh, it’s you guys. Did you say something?”

“Ah, sorry for eavesdropping!”

“No, it’s fine. What’s up?”

“Since you’ll be starting the basics again, something occurred to me… What about your Material affinity?”

“What about it, Yu? He’s just learning Natura, so it shouldn’t matter, right? It’ll be the same as it has been: Plasma!”

“That’s exactly it! Why is it Plasma? We’ve been so caught up with the sudden assaults that we forgot about the thing that caused Diavolo’s problem for the exam in the first place!”

Then it clicked on Diavolo’s mind as well, “That’s right, Hannah! The machine said my affinity was towards liquid, but that wasn’t the case. But then Stanley said it was busted and so… what happened?”

“Ah yes, I remember,” Hannah replied, “I was going to tell you when you were in the hospital, but all the ruckus made me forget.”

“The ruckus you caused, you mean,” Diavolo thought to himself.

“Come, I’ll show you.”

They all gathered in William’s study. A decently large room, around the same as the bedroom the boys were assigned to, with walls lined with shelves filled with books.

Across the far end of the room, were two devices resting on top of a well made wooden desk. All stationery and study materials were neatly moved away to make room for the two contraptions.

The people present: Diavolo, Shin, Yukio, Hannah, William, Stanley.

“Here’s the new one,” William said pointing to the device on the boys’ right, “And this is the malfunctioned one.”

Everybody stood silent. From the outside, everything seemed completely normal. There weren’t any differences between the two devices aside from the few extra paint scratches on the older one. However,

“Before I explain, I’d like to demonstrate what the problem is. Any one of you, other than Diavolo, step up and inject your energy into them.”

“I’ll go,” declared Shin and extended an arm to the new device. Enveloping his hand with Natura, he placed it on top of the center crystal and observed.

Just as before, the spheres expressing plasma and gas attributes responded to his aura. There were no issues there. However, when he did the same for the old device, there was… nothing.

“It isn’t responding,” he said.

“That isn’t the surprising bit,” William explained, “Now, I want Diavolo to do the same.”

Walking up to the table, he too put his hands over the machines. On the old one, there were no responses, as expected. However, on the new one, the same repetition occurred.

The liquid began to boil violently with no other containers responding. This obviously pointed out that Diavolo was a Liquid type user, but clearly that’s not what was happening in real life.

“It’s the same again,” he muttered as he brought his hands back to his sides again, “What does this…?”

“Hmm, we’re not done yet. Shin, I want you to inject your energy once more.”

“Again? Are we getting anywhere with this?”

“Just do it.”

Shrugging, Shin repeated the same procedure once more, but this time, “Eh?” neither of them responded. He tried injecting more in, but that had no effect.

“See, now?” William stated, “The problem wasn’t in the devices, but in Diavolo. Try touching the containers”

“The containers? What does that have anything to do wi-- Tsshh! HOT!!” Shin yelped as he retracted his hand back and rapidly blew on it.

“Grandpa, what does this all mean?”

“Here’s my explanation. The device works in a way where your energy is passed through a series of checkboxes. The crystal where you place your hand on is simply a distributor. It sends your energy across the entire device and up into all containers.

Each container in turn has their own crystal under it. As your energy passes through it, they need to pass through a bunch of ‘gates’, similar to how transistors in electrical circuits work. If your energy has the properties of, say gas, then it easily passes through all the gates and induces an effect on the materials in the container.

That was what we got to see for Yukio and Shin. However, in Diavolo’s case, for some reason, his energy bypassed all the gates and affected all containers. And in the process, caused overheating and malfunctioning.”

“I see, I see,” Shin nodded and folded his arms, “Hmm? But wait, if Diav’s energy went into all the containers, why didn’t cause any changes in the other three?”

“It actually did,” William said as he held the sphere containing sand with a cloth. He then twisted and removed it, and turned it upside down.

As the sand dropped to the top of the sphere, the bottom revealed very small traces of black particles, almost as if something was burnt.

“You need to know that depending on which gates your energy passes through, the observation seen will vary. Since Diavolo’s energy simply penetrated through, the only manifestation was a heating effect. And that applied to all containers.

The bottom of the sand container was burnt. The water boiled. The gas was also heated. And the plasma ball short-circuited. Perhaps none of you noticed, but the plasma ball did give off a very small spark before it died out. That was also the case during the first time. That was when I suspected something was odd.”

“Is it because he used Raze instead of Natura?” Yukio asked.

“No. The device was created to work for both Raze and Natura. There isn’t supposed to be any problems with that.”

“But then, why?”

“I’m not sure, but maybe the problem won’t arise in the newer models. However, those devices haven’t been released for public use yet and are only available to powerful families and organizations.”

“So… you have it?” (Shin)

“Yes, but it’s only meant to be used for top priority tasks like military recruitment etc. I’m sorry, but it can’t be used for something so simple. And besides, you already know which attribute you belong to, so you don’t really need it.”

So that was the case, everybody thought. It wasn’t a faulty machine, but Diavolo’s energy that caused the fault. Although the problem wasn’t really solved, the teens got to learn something new. Even Hannah was not aware of this!

There was apparently some other factor other than Raze and Natura, which also played an important part in the nature of one’s energy. A factor which wasn’t taken into account when the devices were invented. But since the newer models could potentially take that factor into consideration, wouldn’t that mean the factor wasn’t really unknown and mysterious?

But more importantly, till now, nobody that Hannah tested the device with had ever faced this problem. Why was it that only Diavolo faced it? Hannah couldn’t help thinking whether it was somehow related to his super regenerative capabilities.

“Wait!” Diavolo suddenly spoke out and stopped talking again as he went back into deep thought.

“W-what happened, Diavolo?” Yukio asked, startled.

All eyes were on Diavolo. As the seconds passed, his eyes seemed to have tensed up while his skin began to moisten.

He probably figured something out. After all, nobody knew Diavolo’s experiences better than himself. He seemed to be connecting dots as something very important was about to sprout.

And from Diavolo’s view, it actually was something really important. If what he thought was right, then there was a chance he’d have to sacrifice a huge payment to continue training; or in the worst case, continue living!

Everybody was curious to see what he was about to say.

“So… if I’m the one who broke both of these machines… do I have to pay you back for them?”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT’S IMPORTANT!!!” *BAM* the teens shouted and smacked his head to the floor.