The sun hung high in the midday sky when a man with messy black hair stepped out from the back door of the restaurant. He looked around with half-closed light brown eyes, scanning the area lazily.

  "The place is safe."

  The man glanced behind him as he walked away from the door, shoving his hands into the pockets of his gray sports jacket, while the cotton shirt underneath sat loosely, not quite adjusted properly.

  "Thanks in advance," the employee stepped out, dragging a pile of items with him; bags and boxes. He stopped, staring in amazement. "But how can you carry all that?"

  "Like this."

  The man raised his hand indifferently, and the objects began to float in the air with perfect stability.

  "Telekinesis?" the employee asked, pointing a finger at the floating luggage.

  "Not really... anyway, is there anything else?" the man replied.

  "I’m done. I don’t know about the rest of the staff." The employee moved forward while the man followed, the items floating silently behind them. The employee glanced at the man's reflection, noticing the faint stubble. "That will need time to grow."

  The man touched his chin, feeling the light beard that had recently sprouted.

  "Gaius, can you speed up? A lot of students will be coming through here soon," the employee whispered to Gaius.

  "You didn't tell me the destination," Gaius walked past the employee slowly. "Don't forget, you owe me a final meal."

  "Fine, just don't raise your voice! You never know if there’s an Esper with hearing-related abilities nearby," the employee moved quickly to catch up with Gaius. "I don’t understand, why do Espers love these meals so much?"

  "Because they are handmade, no nutritional supplements, and..." Gaius began to speak.

  "I know that, but what's the problem with nutritional supplements? They're healthy and delicious!" the employee interrupted.

  Gaius suddenly clamped the employee's mouth shut with his hand while looking around, then sighed in relief when no one noticed them.

  "That’s because you are a 'Collapsed Nebula,' you wouldn't understand..." Gaius walked on without turning back to the employee. "You would have understood more simply if you were a 'Complete Nebula'... and..."

  Gaius stopped and looked back, searching for the employee. "Where are you?"

  "You're a bastard... do you know that?"

  A semi-tearful voice came from below. Gaius looked down to find the employee sitting on the ground, holding his leg in pain (more psychological than physical).

  "I know... I should have accepted the idea. Yes, I was supposed to continue at the 'Realization' stage, but..." the employee muttered to himself in regret.

  (So he was a Proto-Star who failed at the Realization stage), Gaius thought.

  Suddenly, Gaius heard footsteps approaching them. He raised his hand, and the sitting employee lifted into the air. The employee looked around, feeling as if an invisible fist was gripping him.

  "Not telekinesis then..." the employee sighed, pointing to a side path. "That way."

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  Gaius started walking in the direction the employee indicated, but suddenly froze.

  Someone was coming from the distance.

  A boy with very pale blonde hair, almost white. His eyes were yellow like a wolf, with vertical pupils. As he got closer, his sharp, harsh features became clear; a slightly hooked nose, a strong jaw, and unhealthily pale skin. A long scar stretched from his left eyebrow, slashing its way down to his chin.

  Gaius immediately lowered his hand, dropping the employee to the ground. Then, with a swift movement, Gaius jumped next to the employee and raised his hand again, launching both of them away from the ground at speed.

  "Could you fly this whole time?!" The employee looked down in terror to see the scarred boy passing exactly where they had been standing.

  "He's a regular customer," the employee said, shivering as the boy lifted his gaze toward them, covering his face with a hand full of scars, wounds, and long black fingernails that made the employee’s skin crawl.

  "The 7th Ranked working here is one thing, but him being a regular customer?" Gaius said as they drifted slowly away in the air.

  "Well, I only know that the restaurant's rule is not to speak to him. Just give him his order and take the money," the employee said.

  "That's it?" Gaius looked at the employee suspiciously.

  "We treat regular customers however they want."

  The employee looked down; the scarred boy had already started walking away towards the (closed) restaurant.

  "Does this thing make you slow?" the employee asked, noticing their low speed in the air.

  "Originally, my ability isn't used for this," Gaius replied.

  The employee sighed and sat cross-legged in mid-air, looking down at the students running towards the restaurant.

  "I wonder... if I had passed the 'Realization,' would I be running to the restaurant right now too?" The employee looked at Gaius, who was focused on 'driving.'

  "Tch."

  The employee lay back in the air, some strands of his blonde hair falling over his black eyes. He ignored them and closed his eyes. "At least I got a free flight."

  "Not exactly... you owe me a meal," Gaius said.

  "..."

  The employee placed his hand over his face in surrender.

  Meanwhile, as the latter surrendered...

  A young man with short black hair and a strong red jacket, open at the front, was walking on the upper levels. His eyes were dark black, half-closed.

  Ryder was walking towards a massive building on the Central Island. The building wasn't notable for its height, but for the giant sign on its front with a bright yellow background and large red letters reading: EPSILON SQUAD.

  Moments after his arrival. The atmosphere was colder... and metallic.

  Ryder sat on a metal chair, relaxed to the point where it looked like he might slide onto the floor. His strong red jacket contrasted sharply with the coldness of the room.

  In front of him was the organization's leader.

  He was sixteen years old, but his presence filled the room. He wore a silver-gray jacket embedded with blue energy chips that glowed faintly. His black hair, streaked with blue, was fixed, and his white eyes had no pupils.

  Voltex was staring at a boy wearing a long white-gray coat, black gloves, and military boots. The boy had short white-gray hair with a small ponytail at the back.

  The boy was sitting, leaning back on his chair, smiling a sarcastic smile while his heterochromatic eyes—blue and yellow with a pupil resembling a digital screen—looked at a displayed screen.

  "So..." Voltex said in a calm voice, without turning to Ryder. "You have a special request from the client?"

  "The client is an idiot," Ryder answered lazily, staring at the room's ceiling. "He thinks bad luck is chasing him. I told him that buying 'The Nectar' from a source like that boy isn't bad luck, it's professional stupidity."

  Voltex sighed slowly. His white eyes showed no emotion, but the atmosphere in the room grew slightly heavier, as if gravity had increased.

  "The Nectar?" Voltex asked. "Did you confirm that?"

  "I confirmed that it was not The Nectar," Ryder adjusted his sitting position slightly, taking a small piece of metal out of his pocket and starting to shape it with his fingers, stretching and compressing it. "The building didn't explode because of a bomb. It collapsed due to a very unfortunate 'accident' in the infrastructure that coincided with a chemical fire. Fingerprints? None. Traces? Only burnt bodies."

  Voltex fell silent for a moment, analyzing the information with the physicist's mindset he possessed.

  "A chemical substance sold as project remnants, then the buyer was disposed of and—" As Voltex spoke, Ryder interrupted him.

  "Not the buyer himself, but one of the important employees," Ryder corrected, casting a glance at the boy who seemed uninterested in the conversation.

  "That doesn't change the fact that the crime scene was disposed of in one blow," Voltex said. "It's... it's a cleanup operation."

  "Exactly," Ryder smiled that semi-innocent smile. "That is just a theory. No evidence, no crime."

  Voltex looked toward the boy who started taking vials out of his coat and examining them.

  "What do you think?" Voltex asked the boy with the heterochromatic eyes.

  "About what?" the boy answered while putting his vials back into his jacket, still smiling.

  "About what Ryder said," Voltex said.

  "A crime requires evidence. Without evidence, there is no crime. It is correct," the boy answered.

  Voltex sighed, pulling out files and placing them on the table. "These are the files you requested, but do you have any additions?"

  "The fate of those who touch The Nectar is an inevitable accident," the boy said while checking the files.

  Voltex looked at Ryder. "Stop searching into that case. As long as the damaged parties are those who tried to take project remnants, it's not our problem."

  "Yeah, yeah." Ryder looked at the boy with heterochromatic eyes.

  "Do you want something, Ryder?" the boy with heterochromatic eyes said.

  "I’m just wondering why a Ranked like you needs files?" Ryder straightened up as he spoke.

  "Because it’s the fastest way to get the information I want... as for the information, I don't think you are unaware of it." The boy pointed to the screen.

  Ryder smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "As you say." Ryder looked at the screen, seeing a group of bound scientists. "But I have free time. Working with a Ranked is an experiment worth doing."

  The boy with heterochromatic eyes stood up, removing the glove on his right hand, which bore a quantum tattoo, and touched the files.

  Then, after a moment, he put the gloves back on while placing the files on the table. "I don't really know if working with me is a worthy experiment or not, but unfortunately, Ryder, I prefer working alone."

  "Well, it was worth a try," Ryder shrugged, smiling.

  Voltex looked around. He saw the boy with heterochromatic eyes smiling, and Ryder smiling—a friendly exchange.

  But Voltex didn't see it; he knew what was coming.

  "Can you two leave the office first?" Voltex pointed to the door.

  But the two remained smiling at each other. The boy with heterochromatic eyes with that sarcastic smile, while Ryder with that innocent smile, though his half-closed eyes were now slightly open with a heavy, uncomfortable gaze.

  "Yes... worth a try." Voltex put on his magnetic gloves.