3
The next morning.
Crossweil was at a loss for words when he heard his sisters’ responses to his questions.
“What? What are you even talking about, Crow? You think I jumped out the window?”
“And I was groaning during the night? …I’m sorry. I don’t remember any of it.”
They didn’t remember a thing. In fact, they were questioning the idea that something had happened last night. The two seemed to simply think they hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
…But Alice looked like she was in so much pain.
…How can Eve not remember anything about what happened at the excavation site?
Their memories were simply…missing.
Should he have called in a doctor right away? They had both undergone full physicals just days before and been declared free of any abnormalities. He doubted any hospital would be able to uncover the mystery of what was going on.
…The cause is easy to see.
…After the light from the blast showered us, the people around developed strange marks and have started to act oddly.
The marks glowed faintly as well. And not a single one was the same, in shape or color
“Hey, Crow, why’re you so quiet?” Eve gave him a smack on the back. She was overflowing with cheer, as though the entire ordeal the night before and her confusion had never happened. “Are you still thinking about the blast?”
“…To be honest, I am.”
“You are? I think finding a new workplace is more important to us right now, though.”
The job at the Planet’s Navel had concluded. Their miner friends had scattered to the four winds and would likely seek new work in the capital.
“…Eve, can I turn on the TV?”
“All the channels are gonna be covering the explosion, just so you know.”
“That’s what I want to see,” he replied.
“They just keep reporting the same information over again without giving any more. Well, it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do.”
He turned on the TV in the corner.
When he’d been admitted into the hospital, and the day after, the news had only featured the blast. And just like Eve had said, there wasn’t any new information to be found.
…I want to know more about the marks.
…Just like me, there have got to be people wondering what’s going on.
He stared at the TV, unblinking.
“We have a follow-up report on the fifty-fourth excavation point’s blast.”
“At site of the explosion, also known as the Planet’s Navel, they were excavating for a new form of energy below the planet’s surface. The incident itself occurred during a formal ceremony.”
“According to the Imperial assembly, the new energy erupted from underground—”
“Specialists are calling this an inexplicable power vortex.”
“Seven hundred eighty-four people were involved in the incident. We have just confirmed that all affected people have been discharged from the hospital. The incident was not life-threatening.”
“See?” Eve said. “None of it’s interesting.”
She sighed as she lay on the ground. “What kind of name is ‘vortex’ anyway? I don’t care about naming the blast. We’ve got our hands full just trying to find work.”
“Still, it’s good that everyone is safe,” Alicerose said, seeming genuinely relieved. “The explosion sure seemed big, but it was really the light and sound that was making it seem flashy. So they’re calling it astral power? I’m so glad the energy is harmless.”
Harmless? Was it really, though?
“…” He felt the back of his neck as casually as he could, without letting his sisters notice.
It was where his mark was. Nothing about it seemed odd as he touched it. It wasn’t painful in the slightest. He only got a strange sense that he knew it was there.
“Up next, we have some new information! We have new footage, fresh from last night, to showcase it!”
New footage from last night?
When he heard that, he turned to look at Eve before he’d even realized what he was doing.
Had someone seen what had happened last night? No, if they had, the press and police would have been forcing their way into their home by now.
“This footage is of a fourteen-year-old girl who worked at the fifty-fourth excavation point. She was exposed to the light of the vortex and had been admitted to the hospital and was discharged just recently.”
The girl seemed to have the same build as Eve. Her hair was curled in ringlets and was a characteristic brown. She seemed nervous in front of the camera, trying to make herself look smaller in what was likely her first time in the spotlight.
“Oh, is that Musha?”
“That’s Musha!”
Alicerose and Eve widened their eyes.
Their coworker was on TV. She had been swept up in the vortex too and likely had been treated at another hospital.
“Why is she on TV…?” Eve trained her eyes on the screen.
Musha opened up her palm to show it to the camera. There was a red mark. The same as theirs. The truly surprising event occurred next.
Crimson flames burst from her palm.
“What?!”
“…Huh?”
“Whaaat?! Wh-what was that just now?! What kind of trick was that?!”
Eve started to shout at the TV.
Viewers all over the world likely felt the same as she was now, wondering what kind of trick they had just witnessed.
“This is no trick or chemical reaction, folks.”
“Some of those who were admitted to hospitals during the vortex have developed these marks. They were exposed to the new energy called astral power!”
Finally…
“…”
Cold sweat trickled down Crossweil’s cheek. Finally, there were others who were taking notice of the marks. He had also seen that those affected were displaying abnormal powers, just as Eve had demonstrated the night before.
…If Musha is affected too, then it’s not just the three of us.
…It’s everyone who was at that place.
This had finally been broadcasted to the world.
“H-hey, Alice, let me see your shoulder!” Eve insisted.
“Eep?!”
Eve tugged at her sister’s shirt and checked Alicerose’s shoulder. Her mark looked different from Musha’s.
“…Alice, can you do that thing, too?”
“O-of course not!”
She shook her head insistently.
“What about you, Eve?!”
“Ack! Stop that, Alice!”
This time the younger sibling did her inspection. She lifted her sister’s shirt, showing a rather bold amount of skin. Then she stared at the dark mark covering almost the entirety of Eve’s back.
“…Eve, your mark is kind of big.”
“S-so what! I couldn’t control that. It formed on its own. But I can’t do that thing Musha did!”
Eve was half right and half wrong.
It was possible she couldn’t produce flames. But last night, her whole body had glowed, and Crossweil had witnessed her releasing several hundred rays of intense light. Her powers were on an entirely different scale compared to Musha’s.
“…What are these marks…?” Alicerose murmured as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “…Eve.”
“How should I know?! I just told you. We didn’t have any control over them. The doctors or researchers or whoever can figure it out!” Eve almost seemed combative. “We should be focusing on finding our next jobs. That’s the only thing that needs to be on your mind!”
However…
Society did not agree.
The TV programs started the next day. Dozens of newspaper reporters and TV news crews appeared, pressing those caught in the vortex to come forward if they had also developed marks.
That continued each day, and they would be surrounded by numerous reporting crews by simply walking out their door.
“Damn it! Cut that out! I’m not something to gawk at!”
Eve, of course, did not hide her chagrin.
Even Alicerose’s health began to crumble as the world turned its eyes on her.
“Eve… Do you think we can ask them to just stop coming?” Alicerose inquired.
“You idiot! As soon as we show our faces, they’ll start broadcasting us. Those journalists couldn’t care less about how we’re feeling!”
They were as good as prisoners in their own home, surveilled twenty-four seven. Their daily routines were disrupted, and they weren’t able to go grocery shopping.
How could they fix this? How could they stop the TV programs and reporters and return to their normal lives? Every day and every night, Crossweil lost sleep from thinking of a solution.
“…He’s the answer.”
He recalled the friendly smile of his so-called conversation partner. The Crown Prince Yunmelngen. Because the prince had also been caught up in the vortex, he had to already have more information than anyone.
…Was he hospitalized like us?
…I’ve been wondering how he’s been doing. I haven’t heard anything about the prince…
…and he wasn’t to contact the prince himself.
But considering the situation, this had to be an exception.
“Yunmelngen! Please, pick up!”
He gripped the comm, as though grasping at straws, but it rang dozens of times without an answer.
“Right, I guess that’s it. He must be busy……but like I’ll stop there!”
He could only put up with so much. He was at his limit. The older twin was looking stressed, and the younger twin was bedridden. To deal with the situation, he’d need Yunmelngen’s help.
“You told me I could use it whenever I want!”
He would go meet the prince using the secret passageway that connected to the Lord’s residence.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login