Tale of Discovery

Chapter 27: Collapse ; Visit

"I'm sorry I couldn't make breakfast.", says Ayumi the first thing in the morning.

I take a look at the thermometer in my hand- 38.5 C; her fever has gotten worse... I shake my head in response to her words and say,

"You're sick, no need to push yourself. I'll call the school for you. Make sure you get a good rest."

"Roger", she replies in a desolate tone.

------

"The ability is... collapse.", says the water-soaked creep, then leaves the room without uttering another word.

What's with that ability? Will it make people faint or something?

"Wait..."

Hm?

"This is our school's condo complex.", Nao says while staring at the map.

"So? Isn't it normal that there would be ability users in this school?" I inquire.

"Right now, everyone should be at school. As adults lose their ability, we can leave them out. Then, that means that someone hasn't come to school due to being homesick or something."

NO!

"That's an unusual bit of agitation.", Nao says as she looks at me.

It can't be, right? Whatever, I'll just tell them about it,

"Ayumi didn't go to school because she's sick..."

I notice that Nao has gotten on her feet and stares at Yusa before saying,

"There is a high chance that if someone has a special ability, their sibling will have one as well, remember? I told you that before."

Nao suggests that we should all visit Ayumi and check if she has developed a special ability while we're at it.

"We're visiting a sick girl, I don't want it to be crowded," I say in a firm tone.

Nao is definitely coming with me... As for the others, Yusa will probably make Ayumi happy if she comes. The only problem is Joijiro. How do I get rid of him...

Oh, this could be one of those few times my ability could be useful. I just have to possess him and jump out of the window. He will survive probably.

Just as I'm about to go through with my plan, I hear Nao say,

"Oh wow! The sleeping posture of that giraffe outside is so weird."

As soon as she's done speaking, I hear Joijiro blabbering about something before excitedly running to the window and exclaiming,

"There is a giraffe here? Where?"

The next moment, Nao dropkicks him right out of the glass pane. I can hear him screaming at the top of his lungs as he falls.

Nao then casually grabs her smartphone, dials a number and says,

"Hello? Yes. There is a student that fell from the second floor of a building... Yes... Thanks."

She then turns around and nonchalantly says,

"Let's go visit your sister."

"..."

I don't know how to react to what she just did. I'm glad she did it though.

------

On the way there, we go to a convenience store and buy some stuff. Including porridge which both girls intend to eat with us for dinner.

Yusa seems to be interested in some weird bag of cookies that's way too oversized. Not only that, but it's overpriced as well.

Nao buys a few jars of enoki mushrooms, claiming that they're perfect on top of porridge.

Once we're done, we go on our way towards the condo, conversing about daily stuff.

When we reach the condo, I motion for the two to stay while I go inside.

Three pairs of shoes immediately catch my attention at the entrance. It seems like we have some visitors...

I slowly approach the room Ayumi is supposed to be in and peek inside.

Two girls and a boy. One of the girls who is sitting the closest to Ayumi, is cheerfully conversing with her. She seems to be the "I'm friends with everyone" type of girl.

The other girl is comparably plain. She just seems to... exist.

Then there is the boy. Based on what I've seen of him these past few seconds, he's a wimp.

I step right through the door, attracting everyone's attention.

"Big Brother Yu is home!", Ayumi exclaims.

I flash her a smile, then look at the others.

The girl closest to Ayumi stands up and says,

"Hello. Sorry for intruding on you with so many people. I am Nomura, the class representative. We came here to visit Ayucchi while she's sick."

Heh. As expected. Ignoring that, that's a cute nickname they found for my little Ayu. I should tease her about later.

The boy then gets on his feet and introduces himself,

"I'm Oikawa. You little sister is allowing me to be her friend. It is a pleasure meeting you."

Called it.

The other girl just lightly nods at me when I look in her direction.

Then, Nomura gives Oikawa a look from the side and says,

"Can your brown-nosing be more obvious than that? You already got denied once. Ayucchi will hate you even more if you do that."

Ho~ So that's the guy that confessed and got dumped huh... I see...

After that, they all get up and bid farewell to Ayumi before leaving.

The next moment, I feel the dark presence from before return. I immediately look and see the plain girl is looking at Ayumi with a not-so-nice expression.

Before I can say anything, Nao appears beside me and greets Ayumi,

"Hi, Ayumi."

I notice that the girl has already run outside...

Ayumi then raises her arms and exclaims,

"It's Big Sister Tomori!"

Then for some reason, her expression turns into a smug as she asks,

"Can it be that you are Big Brother's girlfriend now?"

Nao immediately looks my way. I lightly shake my head, implying that I haven't told her anything.

While we are pondering over what to say to her, her eyes widen as she looks past us. Already knowing where this is going on, I let out a sigh.

"Yu- sa- rin!", she says before she has a nosebleed.

Nao rushes to her and does something while claiming that it will stop the nosebleed, and it did. Ayumi gets excited over it. That doesn't last for long as Ayumi once again catches sight of Yusa and has another nosebleed...

This is going to take some time...

------

We're all sitting on the dining table stuffed from eating porridge.

Suddenly, Yusa receives a phone call. She excuses herself as she gets up from her seat and picks it up. A little while later, she returns and says while pouting,

"Yusarin has to go to work now."

"Ehhh~", whines Ayumi.

"Ayumi, don't forget that she is currently an idol.", I reprimand her.

"That's exactly correct!", Ayumi's mood lightens up as she says in an understanding tone.

After we've sent Yusa off, we head back to the kitchen. Someone has to do the dishes now that Ayumi is sick. Meh, I can do it anytime later.

"You're not going to wash the dishes?", Nao asks me.

"Nope. You can wash these many dishes at any point in time."

Nao seems to be triggered by my words for some reason as she approaches me, pulls my shirt, and says,

"I will wash the dishes now and you will help me by drying them up using that dish towel."

Hah~

"Sure, I have nothing better to do anyway."

And so begins a cycle of Nao washing a dish, passing it over to me, who dries it up before placing it with the others. Ayumi seems to be enjoying herself as she's looking over here from on top of the couch holding her head with both of her hands as she says,

"I think you two are dating each other, but keeping it from me~"

I think about it for a second. Are we dating? Technically, no. Well might as well go with this or I might sound desperate or something...

""Nope""

Startled I look Nao's way and see her looking at me as well. Guess we are of the same opinion.

"You two are so compatible! Is that how you hide it?"

We both let out a sigh and just laugh it off. Ayumi realizes that this will go nowhere, so she just stops and turns on the TV.

On the TV screen, Yusa is displayed singing one of her songs. Ayumi promptly yells,

"Wow! Yusarin is fast!"

I chuckle a little and say,

"That's pre-recorded."

Ayumi then has a look of revelation on her face as she just lets out an "Oh..."

------

After making sure Ayumi is in her futon, I tell her,

"I will go send Nao off. You stay put until I return."

Before I could move, Ayumi told me and Nao, who's beside me, about her having a nightmare today. Nao wanted to ask her about it, but I didn't let her. My reason for doing so was that I simply didn't want Ayumi to remember her nightmare.

I then glance at Nao, signifying that we should leave. We get up and plan to leave.

Ayumi looks at both of us with a look and makes a noise indicating that she suspects us of hiding something from her.

I rub her head a little before I leave the apartment with Nao.

Outside, Nao leans on the short wall in front of the door and says to me,

"You need to find out what her nightmare was about. It could help us determine what exactly is her ability."

I nod in response to her words. She's right. Collapse sure as hell doesn't sound like a nice ability.

"I can't have help but have a bad feeling about this...", she mutters.

She thinks so as well, huh...

I approach her and hug from behind. She seems to be used to it now, as she doesn't make any remarks or even flinch in response.

"Okay. I will tell you about it once I've asked her." I say in a low voice.

"Mhm."

I move my left hand and turn gently turn her face towards myself. I lean in and give her a short and tender kiss on the lips.

I continue to embrace her for a short while before saying,

"It's getting late now. You should get going."

I let go of her and watch her as she goes into the elevator. After lightly waving at each other, I head back inside.

Going to where Ayumi is, I sit beside her and state to her,

"Ayumi, I need to know what was your nightmare about."

Ayumi thinks for a few seconds before she says,

"Ayu doesn't remember much. In the dream, Ayu felt like the ground was breaking or something like that."

That sounds more like destruction... Why is it called collapse?

------

The next day I go to school and tell them all about what Ayumi had said.

"The ground splitting... is that some kind of hint?" Joijiro, who's surprisingly still alive asks. He is covered in bandages all over though.

"It should be. To deal with this, we will inform the teachers to keep an eye out on Ayumi. Also, inform those in charge to keep an eye on the security cameras.", Nao replies.

Yeah. Having a special ability is no joking matter. We need to be careful about how we deal with this.

As my thoughts are wondering, Irene's voice resounds within my head,

{12 hours until the data extraction begins. Be warned that you may abruptly lose consciousness during the process.}

Great... I just hope nothing goes wrong.

After I get home, I check on Ayumi's condition and notice that she's gotten much better now. Her body heat has entered a healthy range, and she no longer coughs.

Despite this, I tell her,

"You may have gotten better now, but that might suddenly change tomorrow, so don't go to school. I will call the school for you."

"But, it's boring to stay at home without a fever, so I'd like to go to school!"

"Ayumi, just do as I say, alright? I can't let anything bad happen to you as your big brother."

Once she agrees, albeit reluctantly, I go to the kitchen to drink some water then return to her side and hug her to sleep.