"Eh, Hyouka-san, why are you walking towards Yuragi Sou with me and Touma-san?" Asked Shizuka who saw Hyouka walking slowly behind them at some distance from Touma and Shizuka. "Don't tell me that you are related to Tearju-Sensei who is Hiko-san's personal scientist, considering that you have the same family name as Tearju-Sensei."
Hyouka was shocked when Shizuka was walking together with Touma and Aisa. Suddenly turned her body then looked at herself who was walking slowly towards Yuragi Sou without paying attention to her surroundings. She had made sure that she walked at a safe distance so that she didn't walk too close to Shizuka, Touma and Aisa but somehow Shizuka could tell that she was walking behind the three of them.
"Wh-How do you know my mother's name?" Hyouka asked when she heard her mother's name from Shizuka. "A-and how did you know that I was walking behind you Shizuka-san."
"I told you earlier that Tearju-Sensei is Hiko-san's personal scientist who is the owner of Yuragi Sou, so it's only natural that I recognize Tearju-Sensei. Because she is a scientist whose job is to carry out routine checks on the Esper abilities of all residents of Yuragi Sou, although I was shocked because I didn't know that Tearju-Sensei had a daughter," Answered Shizuka. "And as for how I knew you were walking behind me, it was all because Touma-san felt your presence and told me about your whereabouts. Touma-san is an Esper with many abilities and the ability to detect people is one of the many abilities he has."
"Eeeeh! Isn't it impossible for an Esper to have more than one ability? How can Kamijou-san have so many abilities!" Shouted Hyouka, shocked by the facts about Touma that she had just found out.
"Touma-kun's Esper ability allows him to imitate the abilities of other Espers, so he can have a lot of power," Aisa said who explained Touma's power to Hyouka in a monotone tone. "And the saddest thing is that he can track your existence with his radar ability, but he can't track my super thin existence at all with that ability."
Aisa's words made cold sweat flow from Touma, Hyouka and Shizuka. The three of them were completely unaware of Aisa's existence, until Aisa decided to speak. Her very thin existence makes Shizuka, Hyouka and Touma have difficulty feeling Aisa's existence.
"Ah, apparently you've been next to Shizuka-san, Aisa-san," Touma said, who was somewhat surprised by Aisa's appearance because for some reason he couldn't feel the presence of his classmate who had the ability to kill vampires. "I'm sorry Shizuka-san and I didn't realize where you were, neither of us knew at all that you came home with us."
"I don't mind if you two don't realize where I am, because I'm used to being ignored by other people," Aisa said, who was squatting down with a face full of disappointment and sadness. "Even in the class, the only ones who could notice my existence were Kirika-san and Seiri-san, because Kirika-san was used to looking for me on the Yurago Sou by the order of Chitose-san."
Aisa's words make Touma and Shizuka feel bad for Aisa. But the two of them couldn't do anything, because Aisa had a very, very thin existence. Touma and Shizuka often forget Aisa's existence.
***
Hyouka felt sad when she heard Aisa's words, because before she got a human body and still became a special A.I who could roam freely in Academy City. Hyouka feels very lonely because no one can realize her existence apart from Tearju, who has a special bond with her.
Without hesitation, Hyouka immediately hugged Aisa's body from the front and let Aisa's head rest on her shoulder.
"I can feel what you feel Aisa-san, because before I went to your school I also experienced the same thing," Hyouka said while hugging Aisa tightly. "You don't need to feel sad anymore Aisa-san because I will make sure that I won't forget you or your existence!"
Hyouka's warm and sincere hug made Aisa feel extraordinary calm. She had never felt that kind of calm and comfort from a hug except for the hug given by Touma.
Aisa immediately hugged Hyouka back tighter than Hyouka hugged her. Tears flowed freely from her, because finally she had one more friend who acknowledged hers thin existence.
"We really have to do something about Aisa's thin existence," Shizuka said, who still felt bad because she had forgotten about Aisa's existence. "Otherwise I feel that one day I will really forget her. I couldn't feel her presence at all when she was wearing a sailor uniform, but strangely I could feel her presence and even see her clearly when she was wearing miko clothes that she didn't wear very often."
"Hmm, maybe her miko outfit was made specially so that the aura within her body could radiate clearly," Touma said while looking at Aisa whose aura from her body was barely radiating out at all. "I think Aisa-san has a natural condition where her aura almost doesn't come out of her body at all except in certain circumstances so that her presence becomes very thin. Because the Deep Blood she has is a natural enemy for vampires, I think her body automatically makes the aura in her body barely come out to protect herself so that her presence cannot be detected by the vampires."
"Your explanation sounds reasonable, Touma-san," Shizuka said, who understood that Touma wasn't just talking because Touma's analytical skills were quite good. "But the problem is how do we help Aisa-san so that the Aura in her body can flow out smoothly. Do you have a good idea to make that happen Touma-san? Because to be honest, I don't have any ideas to help Aisa-san."
"I have several ideas that I can use to help Aisa-san," Touma said. "But I'm not sure that those ideas can be used to help Aisa-san because they take a long time and I'm not sure that Aisa-san will be patient enough to do that. So maybe the only thing I can do to help Aisa-san is to forcefully open the flow of aura in her body so that the aura in her body will flow continuously. The drawback of this method is that Aisa-san will continue to feel tired because her aura is flowing out non-stop."
"We have to ask Hiko-san for help in this matter," Shizuka said with a sigh. "Only he is experienced enough and has enough knowledge to be able to cure Aisa-san's condition."
"Unfortunately my grandfather is not at Yuragi Sou at the moment because he has a problem he has to take care of in Academy City," Touma said
"So in order for us to help Aisa-san we have to wait for grandfather to return to Academy Town."
Author's Note; The next chapter of the story will return to focus on the main plot..
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