Brant and Samuel seemed to be cowering in their seats, trying to make themselves smaller in front of Lorelei, who had her sword pointed between them.
"Who thought of this?" she asked, trying not to lose it.
They both pointed at each other. "Him!"
"You bastard, who came up with this idea," Brant barked.
"And who's the brainless idiot that agreed!?" Samuel retorted, towering over him and shoving a finger in his chest.
"Who's the asshole that opened the door?" Brant screamed, trying to match his height.
"Who's the scumbag that thoughtlessly threw her out of a moving c—"
"Shut up, both of you," Lorelei said calmly.
They sat back down, shivering in their corners.
"Now tell me why you guys came up with this," she said, pulling back her sword and taking a seat.
Samuel spoke first. "W-we noticed that you lack creativity." He nodded along with Brant.
"Yes, yes, ya lack creativity… You have the technique, but ya follow it too strictly," Brant added.
"We thought that if you fought an unpredictable monster, maybe you'd think outside the box. And defeating a Cythraps without any knowledge of monsters is impressive, to say the least."
Lorelei stayed quiet. She couldn't deny that she rigidly stuck to what they taught her.
But still…
She sighed and crossed her arms. "I do agree," she said reluctantly.
Their small figures — almost sinking into the seats — popped back up.
"That thing you did. The white flash."
Lorelei gave Samuel a skeptical glance.
"That explosion."
"I infused the stone with my energy and threw it."
"Hmm… Usually it should do the same as just using the environment's energy. I told you to use the environment energy since it would drain you less, but an explosion — that's illogical."
He seemed genuinely lost in thought. Lorelei had never seen him like that, not even in the two months they'd spent together. After a long silence, his face lit up with amazement.
"Your energy core is white — an unknown colour. The only explanation is that your energy and natural energy are incompatible."
Lorelei was even more confused. If her energy wasn't compatible with the environment's, how could she absorb it?
"You can take in environmental energy and remodel it in your core, but it can't work the other way around. The stone exploded because of incompatibility," he rambled, fascinated by the endless possibilities.
"Shut up, dammit!" Brant said, impatient.
Samuel cut his speech short and jabbed two fingers into Brant's eyes. Brant clutched his eyes in pain and squirmed in his seat.
"My eyes! My eyes!"
"Anyways, Reili, I've been thinking — what do you say about going to school?"
"School?" Lorelei repeated.
"Yeah, school. It's good that you're training with me and this dumb-faced dimwit, but having repetitive opponents slows the process. You have enough technique; all you need is creativity. Of course, you can choose not to go. It's up to you."
Brant had finally stopped squirming and glared at Samuel with murderous eyes, but he didn't retaliate. Instead, he picked up where Samuel left off. For the first time, Brant hadn't fought back after being hit. Lorelei thought it was a huge improvement on his road to curbing his impulsive character.
"School would be fun too, ya'know. They'll teach ya about spells and stuff. Me and Samuel can't teach ya that. If ya go, you might make some friends here and there. Friends can help ya become stronger faster."
Friends?
The first image that appeared in Lorelei's mind was Maria's smiling face. The only friend she had.
"Whadd'ya say?" Brant asked, leaning his head closer to her.
"The tournament for selections is happening in two days, so it'll get you more fighting experience too," Samuel added, pulling Brant back into his seat.
"Fine," said Lorelei, sighing at the thought of dealing with new people.
Samuel's expression softened, and he patted her head lightly. The car stopped in front of the mansion, and the two men got out, carrying their weapons behind their backs.
"Go take a bath. We'll go together and get you signed up at the dome," Samuel said, sitting on the bench amidst the flowers.
"I'll wait for you here. Oh. And one more thing." He gave her a serious look. "Don't ever rush at a monster blindly. Look at the particles and observe where the energy is more concentrated — that's likely the core. If you strike blindly like you did, it's the best way to get yourself killed out there."
Lorelei nodded and headed inside. She made her way to her room and took off her sweat-soaked clothes before hopping into the bath. She washed herself, then dipped into the wide, round bath. Water splashed as she swung her arms around, then let herself float. Without realizing it, particles drifted above her, crossing the ceiling and walls. She stretched her arm up, lightly scraped one, and grasped it. Under her force, it disappeared, lodging itself into her body.
"Are you there?" she asked aloud. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Her words were directed at the figure, but she still got no answer. Since that day, the figure hadn't spoken a word to her, nor made any appearance. Unconsciously, Lorelei found herself speaking to it when she was alone in the bath.
"I'm going to start going to school, you know. Samuel and Brant said making friends is the best way to get stronger, but I don't know how to make friends. I could look through Silvia's memories to see if she had any, but that'd be wrong, wouldn't it?" She chuckled a bit.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Hey… That day… Why did you cry?"
Lorelei got up and walked out of the bath to the mirror. She placed her hands on the sink to steady herself and leaned toward the mirror.
"Answer me."
Her hair was dripping wet, covering her left eye and mouth. She pushed it off her face and let it hang. Two. The number two was inscribed on it. That day, she died for the second time. She looked at herself and felt disgusted. She was no better than she was back then. She raised her fist, stopping an inch short of shattering the mirror.
"Answer me… Answer me, dammit."
She pulled her fist back and grabbed a towel from the dozen lined up around the mirror. She dried herself and her hair, then put on a pair of pants and a wavy blue shirt. She wore her glove and eyepatch and carried her sword by hand. As she headed outside, the ground beneath her trembled, and a loud clash of metal rang out. She ran out — and barely dodged a beam of light by rolling away.
Samuel and Brant were fighting again. Samuel was firing away with his endless arsenal, and Brant was deflecting every shot with an aggressive smile. Samuel pulled a sword-shaped gun from his briefcase and lunged. Brant coated his blade with energy and lunged back.
"Stop!" Lorelei screamed at the top of her lungs.
They paused, their weapons nearly clashing. The energy accumulated in Samuel's gun faded into particles, and the energy around Brant's sword followed suit. They exchanged a piercing glare and sat down on the bench.
"I left for less than an hour. How are you fighting already?!"
"Well, this shithead started provoking me with his high-and-mighty act," Brant said, stabbing his blade into the ground.
"This uncivilized ape couldn't understand simple vocabulary," Samuel said, storing his weapons back in the briefcase.
Lorelei sighed. "You'll destroy the mansion if this keeps going. Take your fights somewhere else."
Without Iria around, those two were walking bombs ready to light each other up the second they got the chance. It might not be long before they leveled the whole city in one of their fights.
"Let's go now," they said in unison.
They got off the bench at the same time and walked down the stairs, Lorelei following behind. It had always been like that from the start — Lorelei staring at their backs, walking in their shadows. But she was determined to one day stand beside them. Hell, even become strong enough to take them both on. For now, all she could do was follow their teachings and put out the fuse if it got too close to exploding.