Chapter 2
Today was truly an interesting experience. Never in my 16 years of existence did I experience a sequence of emotions all compressed within a single day. It was welcome though.
"Let's see… since she won't be visiting today, I'll only buy enough ingredients for one person."
Hearing the welcoming chime of the convenience store, I waved to the cashier that I've been seeing behind that counter for the past few months now. After half an hour of choosing my groceries carefully, I walked towards the counter. I'm so glad this place has a produce department.
"Hey, Hikari. How's the first day?" The cashier, whom I've come to know as Tim, asked in glee.
"Not that bad, how's work?"
"Oh the same old blandness. I got a raise though, so there's that." He said with pride.
"That's good, maybe you'll finally be able to buy that game you wanted to buy."
"Hell yeah," He then handed me my groceries with a smile. "Thanks for buying, come back soon!"
This should be good for a week.
-x-X-x-
(Viola POV)
Uncertainty and a great amount of fear, that's what I felt when I first met the boy named Hikari Viator. When he stepped out of that bus and annihilated those Rift Beasts, I immediately knew he had to be one of The Ten. I was also one of The Ten, but never have I seen his face. Granted, I haven't seen the four bioweapons of Veritas at all.
"He's weird though. All that power and he didn't seem to be bragging about it." I said to myself. Laying back to my bed, I began to ponder why that is.
Of all the bioweapons I met, he's the only one to not even brag. Everyone bragged about how great they are and how they could wipe out the Rift Beasts if they wanted to. He didn't do that. Instead, he lays low, at least the lowest he can without compromising other people's safety.
That's another thing. Why does he think his life isn't worth as others? That sentence he said on the bus still bugs me. I could tell that those are his real feelings, which makes it much worse.
I know we aren't made and raised equally, my Project being the kindest from what I heard, but what kind of hell made him think that way?
Speaking of me, Project Preserve was just that. It seeks for preservation. Keeping the state of peace for humanity. Be it politically or by war with the Rift Beasts. That's why they made me as strong and smart as I am now. However, what came next was the horror of the world.
Of course it wasn't just Arkisto that made "Projects" such as me. Veritas was the biggest case, creating four successful homunculi. Their purpose is to destroy from what I could remember.
That's the thing, from what I saw of Hikari, it was like he didn't even have the will to destroy. He was just… empty. It was like looking at a machine.
This was more apparent in that bus ride earlier. I was going to move, I was going to intercept the Rift Beast, but his voice broke through all of that panic. He sounded tired, although he probably didn't mean to sound like that.
When he pulled out his Armament and gathered his Celest, I could already tell that the Rift Beasts didn't stand a chance. I assumed he was taking it a bit seriously, but only to hear it from the man himself that he was holding back. And not even by a little bit, he was holding back A LOT. Seeing how he completely saw through my quick presence concealment earlier, yeah it's completely logical now to think that he was telling the truth.
"Ah… What an enigma you are, Hikari Viator…"
I reached up to nothing in particular. I wonder… What does the future hold for him?
-x-X-x-
(Hikari POV)
"Achoo!"
Weird, why did I do that? It wasn't cold and I really can't catch an illness, so maybe someone was talking about me? Not that I believe that myth really.
What was I doing again? Oh right, I was cooking. Just some curry is enough for me and it's my favorite after all, so why not?
"Ah then some pepper-"
I was about to reach for the pepper when I accidentally nudged a glass cup beside it. Normally, one would panic trying to catch the glass in time. That wasn't the case for me.
Time was at a standstill as sparks of electricity surrounded me. I reached for the glass at a casual pace as it wasn't even moving in my point of view. However, I was still careful enough to not damage the glass.
I failed.
The glass shattered instantly as my hand barely touched it.
"Ah… I guess I need to buy a new one."
Time returned to normal as my speed decreased to average. That's not good. I'm still not good at controlling my speed. If I used my speed and were not careful, chances of me causing irreparable damage and even harm are high.
"I still have ways to go…" I sighed.
When I finished cooking my dinner, I put it on a plate with rice. I set it aside on my table for now as I went and looked at my fridge. I think there should be some root beer here. If not, then I guess I'll just have to run and get some. Of course, I won't use my full speed, lest I want to destroy the entire city.
"Please have root beer, Please have root beer- Ah, damnit."
There wasn't any root beer. Well, ain't that nice? Time to go out again, I suppose. Seeing as being fast enough to make time seem like a standstill damages my surroundings, maybe going fast to just make time seem a bit slow should be enough.
Having that decision set, I took a jacket laying on my couch and went outside. After that, I surrounded myself in Celest, something like a Kinetic Plating to absorb the kinetic energy as I ran, so that my clothes wouldn't burn.
It only took me a few minutes to reach the convenience store with my nerfed speed. I could have arrived faster, but I tried my best to stay away from the public's eye. I don't want to be found out by Veritas, even if another of my kind already found out about me.
"I hope she won't rat me out…"