A Gift that should never see the light of day. A smile that's too perfect to be real. And a classmate who's about to find out the truth.
Kazama Shinji hates Mistrea Island—the isolated academy where the Gifted are caged until eighteen, and where his ability to manipulate corpses makes him a freak among the "talented." He keeps his head down, counts the days, and tries not to think about why his childhood friend Yuuka's smile sometimes looks hollow.
Then Hiiragi Nana transfers in. Sweet, popula
Talentless Nana: The Shadow Observer - The Price of Emotion—A Fading Affection, and the Second Night
The cafeteria, Mist Dining, was buzzing with students' voices again during lunch break.
Kazama Shinji carried his tray as he searched for a seat by the window. The school cafeteria, built at the foot of Mount Zenova in the center of the island, swarmed with over four hundred students at lunchtime. The clatter of dishes, laughter, someone shouting—all of it blended into one great wall of noise that reached Shinji's ears.
(Today, I'd like somewhere a little quiet.)
With that thought, he lowered himself into an empty seat in the corner.
On his tray: a sautéed white fish fillet, a salad of warm vegetables, and a single small roll. The island's food was made from ingredients shipped in from the mainland. It didn't taste bad. But lately, everything he ate felt like chewing on sand.
(How long has it been since that night?)
The night Nakajima Nanao fell from the cliff.
The night Hiiragi Nana pushed him.
The night I saw it happen.
Since then, time had passed—slowly, but surely. At school, Nanao's disappearance was still a rumor. The teachers said it was "most likely an accident," but among the students, all sorts of speculation flew back and forth.
"Someone else disappeared again, I heard."
The voice came from the next table.
"Seriously? Who's next after Nakajima?"
"Beats me. But this island's been weird lately."
"Cut it out, you're creeping me out."
Shinji listened to the conversation as he tore off a piece of his bread.
(I know. I know what's behind that weirdness.)
He muttered it in his mind.
But he couldn't say it out loud.
There was no way he could.
Because I'm an accomplice to that "weirdness."
"Hey, Shinji."
The voice came suddenly from right beside him.
Shinji's shoulders jerked.
He looked up to find Sasaki Yuuka standing there. Her short black hair was gathered atop her head. A slightly rebellious cowlick swayed in the cafeteria's air-conditioning. Her large, bright brown eyes peered down at him. On her left wrist was a frayed wristband, matching his own.
"Yu-Yuuka..."
"What, are you startled? Did I really appear that suddenly?"
Yuuka said this and sat down across from Shinji.
"Let's eat together today. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yeah... sure."
Shinji gave a small nod.
Yuuka began poking at the salad on her tray with her fork.
"Hey, Shinji. Have you been sleeping properly lately?"
"Huh? Why?"
"You've got terrible bags under your eyes. And you look pale."
Yuuka's voice was kind.
But that kindness felt a little frightening now.
(How much does Yuuka know about me?)
(About why I can't sleep every night.)
(About why I keep watching Nana-chan.)
"I'm fine. Just... a lot on my mind."
Shinji forced a smile.
"...Hmm. A lot on your mind, huh."
Yuuka's eyes went cold for just an instant.
But it was only for a moment.
Soon she was back to her usual bright smile.
"Well, don't push yourself too hard. If you collapsed, I'd worry."
"Thanks. What about you, Yuuka? Are you okay?"
Shinji asked in return.
"Huh? Me? I'm totally fine?"
"I see... that's good, then."
Shinji stared at Yuuka's face.
(Yuuka, your smile's been getting thinner lately.)
(Before, it was more... bursting, somehow.)
(Now it's like a pasted-on smile—something thin and hollow.)
Shinji's powers of observation told him so.
"Hey, Shinji."
Yuuka lowered her voice.
"Listen, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Something to talk about?"
"Yeah. It's a little hard to talk about here. Could you come to that spot behind the library after school today?"
Behind the library.
That spot.
Shinji knew the place.
The small courtyard behind Zenova Library where no one ever came.
"...Got it. I'll come after school."
"Thank you. I'll be waiting, then."
Yuuka said this and stood with her tray.
"See you later, then!"
Leaving those words in a bright voice, she headed for the cafeteria exit.
Shinji watched her retreating figure absently.
(What does Yuuka intend to tell me?)
Deep in his chest, a bad premonition spread quietly.
He couldn't focus on afternoon classes at all.
Outside the window, a single crow perched on a power line again today, watching him.
(Maybe that crow's a surveillance drone from the Committee, too.)
Shinji was thinking such things.
The Obsidian Committee.
A secret organization lurking within the school.
On the surface they operated as the "Disciplinary Committee," but their true nature was a state-run agency that secretly "disposed of" ability users deemed dangerous.
Nana was an assassin for that Committee.
(I'm the accomplice of that assassin.)
(Manipulated by Yuuka, I'm watching Nana-chan.)
(I can't escape. If I ran, what would happen?)
Just thinking about it made his fingertips go cold.
After school.
Shinji headed for the courtyard behind the library.
Zenova Library was an old building on the north side of the school. Its collection centered on specialized texts about ability-user education, and students rarely came near it normally. The courtyard behind it was even less popular—dim even in daytime.
When Shinji arrived at the courtyard, Yuuka was already waiting, seated on a stone bench.
"Shinji, you came."
When Yuuka saw his face, she smiled with relief.
"Yeah. Did you wait long?"
"No, I just got here."
Shinji sat beside Yuuka, leaving a little distance between them.
There was no one else in the courtyard but the two of them.
The wind blew, and the leaves of the trees rustled.
"Hey, Shinji. There's something I absolutely had to tell you today."
Yuuka clasped her fingers together on her knees.
"It's about the price of my ability."
Shinji held his breath.
"You know about it too, right, Shinji? My ability is corpse manipulation. The power to move any corpse I touch according to my will."
"Yeah. I know."
"But that ability has a price. Every time I use it, the intensity of my emotions gets shaved away."
Yuuka's voice was trembling.
"At first, it was just a tiny sense of wrongness. Happy, sad, glad—those feelings seemed a little thinner than before. But every time I used my ability, that sensation grew stronger and stronger."
"Now I can tell clearly. The emotions are disappearing from inside me."
Yuuka stared at her own hands.
"Especially... every time I manipulate you, Shinji, the feeling of wanting to protect you fades, bit by bit."
Shinji's chest tightened.
"You're precious to me, Shinji. My childhood friend, my best friend, the only person on this island who knows the real me. So I wanted to protect you. I was supposed to want to protect you."
Yuuka's voice grew wet with tears.
"But every time I manipulate you, that feeling fades. The desire to protect you disappears. The more I manipulate you, Shinji, the more I start to feel like I don't care what happens to you."
"I hate that. I don't want to think of you as someone I don't care about."
Yuuka covered her face.
"It's only while I'm manipulating you, Shinji. Only then do I still feel like I can care about someone. While I'm manipulating you, the sensations of your body flow into me. Your body heat, your heartbeat, the rhythm of your breathing. When I feel those things, I feel like I can still stay human."
"Isn't that strange? I'm manipulating you, and yet I only feel safe while I'm doing it."
Yuuka laughed while crying.
That smile looked more broken, more painful than any smile Shinji had ever seen from her.
Shinji was at a loss for words.
(Yuuka was suffering this much.)
(All I ever thought about was how scared I was of being manipulated by her.)
(But every time she manipulated me, Yuuka was shaving away something precious inside herself.)
"Yuuka..."
Shinji placed his hand over Yuuka's.
Yuuka's fingertips were cold as ice.
(They used to be so much warmer.)
(Yuuka's body heat is fading, little by little.)
"It's okay. Even if you come to think of me as someone you don't care about, I'll still worry about you, Yuuka."
Shinji squeezed out the best words he could.
"Shinji..."
"I'm fine being your puppet, Yuuka. If that lets you stay human, even a little."
Shinji's voice was shaking.
But those words were his true feelings.
(If there's something I can do.)
(Even if it's just being the anchor for Yuuka's emotions.)
(If that saves Yuuka.)
"Thank you, Shinji. But I'm sorry. I'm forcing all this onto you."
Yuuka squeezed his hand back.
Her hand was cold, as always.
For a while, the two of them held hands in silence.
The wind swayed the trees in the courtyard.
"Hey, Shinji. Could you watch Nana-chan again after school today?"
Yuuka said this quietly.
"...Yeah. Got it."
Shinji nodded.
"Nana-chan's been going off somewhere alone after school a lot lately. Toward the back of the school building. It's been bothering me."
"Behind the school building. Got it. I'll take a look."
"Thank you. But don't push yourself. If you think it's dangerous, turn back right away."
"It's fine. I'm a corpse-manipulation ability user. If it comes to it, I can just manipulate my own body."
Shinji said this and gently released Yuuka's hand.
"I'm going, then."
"Yeah. Be careful, Shinji."
Yuuka's voice lingered behind him.
Behind the school building, weeds grew thick, and there was no sign of anyone.
Shinji walked slowly, hiding himself in the shadows.
(Where is Nana-chan?)
Dusk was approaching. The sky was dyeing crimson.
Then, a voice came from ahead.
"S-stop... don't come closer!"
It was a man's voice.
Shinji stopped and held his breath.
"You—you're going to kill me, aren't you! I saw it! In my precognitive dream! You killing me!"
That voice belonged to Hatabi Tsunekichi.
Hatabi Tsunekichi.
A classmate with distinctive spiky blond hair.
A classic delinquent who usually threw his weight around the classroom with Moguo and his gang.
His ability was future prediction.
He could project five precognitive dreams per night.
(Tsunekichi saw a future in his precognitive dream where Nana-chan kills him?)
Shinji's heart began to pound.
"Too bad, Tsunekichi-kun. That future won't come."
Nana's voice.
A cold, flat voice.
Completely different from the bright, polite voice she used in class.
Shinji cautiously peeked out from the shadows.
There stood Nana.
Bright brown hair tied in twin tails.
Her ribbon swayed in the evening wind.
Her large amber eyes fixed coldly on Tsunekichi.
"W-why! My predictions are never wrong! You're going to kill me! I saw it in the future!"
Tsunekichi shouted as he backed away.
"Your predictions may indeed be accurate. But, Tsunekichi-kun, the future you see in a precognitive dream is nothing more than one possibility."
Nana took a step toward Tsunekichi.
"What you saw was a future where I kill you. But you didn't see how you would resist in that future, did you?"
"W-what are you..."
"Your ability is future prediction. But that prediction changes your own actions. From the moment you see the prediction, the future has already changed. The more you're on guard against me, the more your movements deviate from what you saw in the dream."
Nana's voice was matter-of-fact.
"And your ability has a major gap. To project a precognitive dream, you need both hands free and must concentrate. Isn't that right?"
Tsunekichi's face contorted with terror.
"S-stop! Don't come near me!"
Tsunekichi tried to pull something from his pocket.
But his hand was shaking too much to move properly.
"It's useless. Your future prediction is already in the palm of my hand. I can predict everything you're about to do."
Nana swiftly grabbed Tsunekichi's wrist.
"Guh! Let go!"
"You saw a future in your precognitive dream where I kill you. But you told me about that future. That was your greatest mistake."
Nana brought her lips close to Tsunekichi's ear.
"I'll tell you. The future you saw in your dream—it must have been me pushing you off a cliff, wasn't it?"
Tsunekichi's eyes flew wide open.
"W-why do you know that..."
"Because the way I dispose of you was dec
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