Ryu, watching her eyes flicker and swirl with unsteady thoughts, chuckled softly. He reached out his hand, and with just a thought, released a subtle pulse. Invisible energy wrapped gently around Naoka, seeping into her body. Her shoulders relaxed, her breathing steadied, and the chaos burning inside her mind began to stabilize.
"That…" Ryu said with a quiet smile, "is my ability. The ability to calm chaos."
Naoka blinked at him. The sudden clarity in her own mind startled her. A moment ago, her head was a storm; now it felt like the clouds had cleared, letting reason return. She swallowed, then nodded.
"…How did you know?" she asked after a pause. "How did you know about… that kind of group?"
Ryu pressed a finger to his lips, his expression unreadable. "I can't tell you that."
Then, after a sigh, his tone grew heavier, more measured.
"But what I can tell you is this—my mutation makes me invisible to their detection. To them, I register as a normal human. That's why they don't notice me. But if you ever tell anyone I'm a mutant, and it gets out… they'll realize someone like me exists. They'll build new technology to find me. And when they do—" He gave a faint, sad smile. "—then all we can do is wait for the world to end."
Naoka stared, lips parting slightly. "…So the 'heavy price' you mentioned before… it means knowing about them?"
Ryu nodded. "Yeah. Exactly. I'm not threatening you, Sensei. I don't need to. The truth is heavy enough on its own. If you told someone, I'd end up a fugitive—hunted, erased, like a virus in their perfect little system. And you? You'd be the one left with that story, carrying the guilt of what you set into motion."
Naoka's brows furrowed. She lowered her gaze, voice quieter now. "…You planned this from the beginning, didn't you? To draw me into this?"
Ryu shook his head firmly. "No. I only told you what I thought you deserved to know. And now… you know. Which means you're entangled in it, too. I'm sorry, Sensei." He looked genuinely regretful, his young voice softening. "I never wanted to drag you into this. But sometimes… things happen outside anyone's control. I just hope you can forgive me."
Naoka looked at him for a long moment. Then she exhaled, shaking her head slightly. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were just… protecting a child." She hesitated, pressing her lips together. "As for this whole… shadowy group of yours… honestly, I still can't grasp it. It doesn't feel real. Not yet. Maybe with time, I'll be able to accept it."
Ryu nodded. "It happens. Take your time."
Then, without another word, he unzipped his bag and set a notebook on the small table between them. From his compass box, he drew out a pencil and began writing on a blank page.
Naoka tilted her head, confusion flashing in her eyes. "What are you doing?"
Ryu glanced at her, lips curving faintly. "… I'll give you your first assignment."
"…Assignment?" Naoka repeated, stunned. "You'll give me… an assignment?"
Ryu looked at her with a surprisingly cute smile. "Of course, Sensei. Since you know about it now, you have to play your part too."
Naoka blinked, her lips parting in surprise. 'Play my part?'
She hadn't expected this when she pulled her student aside — all she'd wanted was to understand what was going on so she could help him. 'Still, wasn't this helping him?' She hesitated, then said carefully, "I don't know about this, Ryu. I can't fight or do anything like that."
Ryu chuckled, shaking his head as his pencil scratched across the notebook. "We're not doing superhero stuff. It's just a plan… to stay normal."
Naoka tilted her head. "A plan… to be normal? What do you mean by that?"
"Like I told you," Ryu replied calmly, eyes still on the paper, "the system doesn't care about normal people. So the safest way to act is to remain normal while we do small things here and there. Things that won't catch attention."
Naoka frowned, slowly nodding. "But… if that's the case, doesn't that make it harder to actually stop them?"
Ryu's smile faded into a thoughtful line. "Yes. That's true, right now… I don't know what I should do about them while staying unnoticed. Honestly, if what happened earlier had taken place anywhere else, I might not even have stepped in. I can't risk letting my mutation get exposed."
Naoka folded her arms, trying to find a loophole. "Can't you just… wear a mask? Like a superhero? Power Rangers or something?"
That made Ryu laugh out loud. "It's not about hiding my face from normal people, Sensei. It's about avoiding 'them'. If someone suddenly appears out of nowhere as a masked hero, who do you think they'll focus on first? A nobody living a normal life? Or the unknown, unregistered person in their system making waves?"
Naoka's words caught in her throat. She realized how naïve her suggestion had been. If that shadowy group could truly watch over everyone, then of course an unknown hero would be like a flare in the dark — and they'd never stop watching until they uncovered his identity.
She fell quiet for a while, her eyes drifting to Ryu's notebook. He had filled the page with circles and arrows — thought bubbles stacked in messy order, some branching out, some feeding into each other like a web of ideas.
To her, it looked like nonsense. The longer she stared, the more idiotic she felt.
Ryu kept writing for ten more minutes, his pencil scratching steadily until finally he leaned back. "Okay. It's completed." With neat precision, he tore the page from the notebook and handed it to her. "This is for you."
Puzzled, Naoka accepted it. She tried to follow the symbols, but the page was nothing but a tangle of bubbles and arrows. "What… plan is this?"
Ryu chuckled. "There's no plan written there. It's actually a game idea. Think Pokémon mixed with a card game — a video game concept."
Naoka blinked at him. "A… video game idea?" That was the last thing she expected. "And what am I supposed to do with that? I barely know anything about games besides playing them."
"That's the point," Ryu said with a calm smile. "Starting tomorrow, we'll play a pretend game. I'll ask you how to make a video game—about programming and systems. And since you don't know those things yourself, you'll have to study them. The library has books, and I'll slip you notes in secret."
She tilted her head, confusion flickering in her eyes. "And why exactly would I do that?"
Ryu met her gaze, his smile soft but steady. "Because you're a good teacher. When a student asks something the teacher doesn't know, the teacher studies first before giving the student the proper lesson. Isn't that right?"
Naoka froze. 'That… was true.' She muttered, "Isn't that just normal?"
"Exactly," Ryu nodded. "And that's why this is our pretend game — acting normal. After a month or so, once you've built up enough knowledge, you'll be able to decode what's on that page. Then I'll give you your next task."
Naoka lowered her gaze to the paper in her hands. Her head spun, but her lips finally curved into a small, resigned smile. "…Fine. Let's do as you say."
"Good." Ryu slipped his notebook and pencil back into his bag. Standing, he gave a polite bow. "I'll head home now. My mother will be worried if I'm late."
Naoka nodded. "Take care, Ryu. See you tomorrow."
Ryu gave a small nod in return. "Take care, sensei. I'll see you tomorrow."
Then he turned, pushed open the glass door, and left—his small figure soon disappearing around the corner of the hallway. The room fell into silence. Naoka's gaze drifted back to the page, to the strange bubbles and arrows that still meant nothing to her. She exhaled deeply.
"…Whatever. I'm a teacher after all."
She shook her head with a weary smile and tucked the paper away, not realizing that her role in his game had already begun.
***
Please throw some comments and powerstones if you like this novel.