It was awfully nice of RimOps to care for them so personally, even if they were only in it for the money. A better mental state was optimal for experiments, of course, but Silas couldn't help but feel spoilt. He felt bad for enjoying it.
Silas pulled out his watch and pressed the button on its bottom again. The interface appeared, hovering and shimmering with magical and technological energy. Silas grit his teeth and held his breath as he drew his mana into one single point – then, he willed the holographic projection to move.
Nothing happened. In fact, his mana hit something hard – as if something was holding it back from pushing away the screens. Dread hollowed out his heart, as he scratched his head. His cheeks flushed and he glanced at Saya, hoping she wasn't watching. She wasn't, but as soon as he laid eyes on her her head snapped back to look in his direction.
"What's wrong?" Saya asked, leaping off the bed and sauntering over.
"…Nothing," Silas said, knowing full well Saya could sense his embarrassment.
"That's odd," Saya's eyebrows raised. "You can't work it? Here, let me try." She waved her hand nonchalantly and the screen Silas was stuck on immediately swapped to one that read, "Communication" in big white block letters. Saya tapped on it with her index finger, and the word disappeared to reveal another interface. Saya navigated it with ease, pulling and pressing the icons as if she'd been doing so all her life. Silas could do nothing but watch in embarrassment and awe.
"Hey, you wanna give Rekka and Macy a call?" she said, a small smirk growing on her lively face. Her eyes began to shine.
"You know how to do that?" Silas asked.
"Course! And you don't? I mean, I thought you were smart or something."
"I haven't even been able to use the projector," Silas mumbled, a bit of strain seeping into his voice.
"Pfft, alright," Saya said, rolling her eyes cheekily. "I hope you don't have to make me help you every time you wanna use it, 'cause that'd be embarrassing."
"Please don't," Silas said quietly. He regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth. He sounded pathetic and weak, pleading her to stop. What was he doing?
But Saya heard him, her sensitive ears never missing a beat. Her face grew solemn and she closed her mouth, scratching the back of her head and fiddling with her hair awkwardly.
"Do you want to, though?"
"…Sure, just be careful what you say. After all, I bet these projectors are also a means of keeping an eye on us. There's no way they'd let us talk freely – I bet everything we do, including what I'm even saying right now, is being monitored." Silas bit his lip, hoping Charybdis wouldn't mind him saying that. He wondered if she was sitting in her office as he spoke, listening in to his words and judging them silently. "Just a thought."
There's no need.
"What?" Silas said on instinct, prompting a confused reaction from Saya as his gaze refocused to a random point at the center of the wall. He stared blankly ahead in shock. This was the third time he'd experienced it, and by now he knew it was an unwelcome feeling.
There's no need to call me, Rekka's voice inside his head explained.
You knew we were going to call you? Silas thought back.
I tapped into your conscious just as you were thinking of it. It just so happens that I have an alternative method of communication that could prove useful. My telepathic powers and mind manipulation abilities can serve as a way to communicate undetected by these monsters.
That's a great idea, Silas thought. But can you communicate with everyone else, too? They haven't told me anything.
Oh, no. That's one of the downsides. You're the only one I can communicate with, Rekka explained, with a hint of tension in her voice, as if she was bracing for what Silas was going to say next.
Why is that? He asked, dreading the answer.
Well… Rekka's voice trailed off.
Let's meet up tonight at ten outside our rooms, she thought to him. Bring Saya. She paused for a moment – there was space for a breath, but Silas could hear none. His feeling of control over his brain began to creep back until Rekka wrestled it back from him with a new proposition.
There, we can explore the facility, and I'll tell you about why you're the only one I can talk with when that time comes. Do you understand?
"Yeah," Silas said, trying to sound nonchalant. Saya stared at him in utter confusion, but Silas was too distracted to realize it. If he knew he'd missed it, he would've scolded himself – after all, he prided himself on being observant. But alas, his meager skill in observation was dwarfed anyway by Saya's powers, so it meant naught.
"What's going on, Silas? You just spaced out for a second."
"Oh, Rekka was talking to me through telepathy," Silas explained. Saya's eyes shot out of her head.
"What?" she shouted. Silas quickly raised his fingers to his mouth and violent shushed her, glancing around rapidly as if he could actually see any cameras with his relatively poor eyesight.
"You didn't know she can use mind manipulation magic?" Silas whispered furiously.
"No! I had no idea," Saya scream-whispered back.
"Weren't you paying attention when she explained how she was holding that Wicke girl under her control?"
"Oh, maybe I was, but I forgot," Saya said sheepishly. "I'm not the best with remembering the details."
Silas rolled his eyes in exasperation. But then he saw how embarrassed Saya was, and decided to mercifully drop the subject.
"Anyway, she can communicate telepathically. But for some reason, she can only talk to me. Which means I'll basically be the messenger for any conversations we have," Silas whispered as quietly as he could. He leaned up against Saya's head and cupped his hands against her ears. His lips accidentally brushed against the tip of Saya's ears as he talked, his warm breath filling the enclosed space with his barely audible voice.
"She wants us to come meet with her at ten tonight," he breathed. Saya nodded absentmindedly. "She wants to explore the facility after dark so that we can look for places we can use to escape. You know, exits and stuff like that."
"Mhm, yeah," Saya said, distracted.
"Hey – did you even hear a single word I said?" Silas asked, seeing Saya's unfocused eyes stare straight ahead at the wall in front of him. "Pay attention!"
"S-sorry," Saya mumbled, fiddling with her hands and growing flushed.
Silas shrugged. "Just make sure you don't space out during the meeting. This is important," he warned, drawing away from her.
They spent the rest of the time getting comfortable with their room – Silas sat down in the chair next to the table, feeling its hard metal frame press into his tired back. He rubbed his eyes and groaned. He needed this. He needed a few days to just relax and recuperate from all the chaos of the past few days.
Saya sat down on her side of the bed and began to absentmindedly flick through her watch device. A small smile appeared on her face when she figured that she could customize it. At first, she picked a natural background for the holographic projection, but then switched to a theme of pastel pink that made her feel warm and cozy. She explored the different screens and all the functionalities and features they held. Not a minute after she'd already found the current time and date – October 28th, 2057.
All in all, the custom-made device held four screens – one for calling, one for messaging, one for the time, and one for settings and customization. It was a relatively limited device – most sold commercially included a hundred other features. The ones Charybdis had given out to the member of Last Stand were strictly limited. Access to the internet was totally omitted.
Suddenly, the device on Saya's wrist buzzed and vibrated. A ringtone sounded inside Saya's head, transmitted through the mana in her body to her ears. Silas couldn't hear it and didn't notice until Saya gasped in surprise.
She quickly beckoned for Silas to come over to her as Charybdis' smiling face appeared on the projection.