The tis of fate.
The tis of what is said to occur.
Those unimaginable, incomprehensible tis.
As it stands, I can do nothing but wait for them to co.
I do not know what is going to happen.
And the few things I do know, I can no longer trust.
That's why I have to wait.
But, waiting isn't my style.
Not in a situation where anything could occur at any ti.
I don't have to worry about soone like the Wardens coming after .
Even old Professor Lynton is not particularly a threat.
Rather, sothing more.
Sothing truly dangerous.
Bizarre.
Unknown.
And despicable.
I have a feeling that sothing like that might occur.
Sothing even I have never known, sothing unpredictable, sothing frightening.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know what it could be.
I don't know when it might co.
But, that's all.
It will co.
Definitely.
I have that kind of feeling.
If there was nothing else I gained from visiting Liam Chiba-Wallace today, then this was it.
This certainty of what is to co.
Certainty of the unknown.
Should I put it as certainty of the uncertain?
Finding myself back in the hospital room as if where I stood had never changed, my eyes blinked.
I no longer looked through Liam's eyes. In fact, even he himself did not.
Because the boy was now asleep.
"..."
His peaceful, unconscious face, completely separate from the expression of tempestuous emotions he showed earlier, was almost unrecognisable.
Looking at his still face, and then unmoving chest, I wondered if he had died, but that wasn't the case.
His undulating chest indicated he was still breathing, albeit lightly.
Liam Chiba-Wallace, suffering severe cardiac arrest and experiencing the harsh aftereffects that followed.
Despite the pain.
Despite the anguish.
He had survived.
Almost miraculously.
For so reason, the image of Ella appeared in my mind.
How she would react to such news; I could easily imagine it.
"Well."
In the end.
"It doesn't matter much."
To , sothing else was more important.
asurent evolution.
Liam's asurent had evolved.
I wondered if I should give the evolved asurent a na.
What was more important than that, though, was the fact that my asurent Evolution Inducent drug worked.
Artificial asurent Evolution.
It was proven possible.
It worked.
The results were right in front of my eyes.
Although the subject experienced not-insubstantial consequences as a result, that was sothing that could always be worked on.
After all, it was science.
A drug created with science.
Science could always be improved.
Induced asurent evolution.
I couldn't help but feel the corner of my mouth lift when I realised it was possible.
Sothing no one else had accomplished before in the history of mankind.
I felt a feeling of sothing racing in my heart, but I couldn't be satisfied with this much.
It wasn't ready.
It required vast improvent.
I resolved to get to work as soon as I returned ho.
And so, with that thought in mind.
"I'll co to visit you next ti."
And when I do.
"I hope you'll help again."
Without anything left to gain.
I left the hospital.
❖─────❖─────❖
The asurent of Karma.
That was what I decided to call Liam's new power.
Not for any particular reason or anything.
I just felt like it fit.
That kind of flimsy reason.
Because, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
Whether the na I give is accurate or not, I find myself simply enjoying the process of giving a na in the first place.
If I co up with a na and it feels like it fits, the job's done.
If it doesn't, then just don't na it that?
Discard it and co up with sothing else.
Anyway, it's not only because it felt like it fit, but because his asurent showed sothing unprecedented.
It was helpful.
Extrely so.
I felt like the capacity of my mind had expanded three tis thanks to that experience, and that was not an exaggeration.
And, my perspective.
I felt as if things had shifted slightly, though I couldn't quite tell how.
Well, at the end of the day, progress is good, so I didn't mind it.
The world is trying desperately to halt my progress, but I will make it.
Bit by bit.
Day by day.
We will make it.
I was shown visions of multiple tis; a past, a present, and a future.
The past of before the universe was ever conceived.
The present of a girl in her room reading a book.
And the future of a ti that may co.
Ultimately, I was shown a vision of myself in isolation.
I don't know what any of it ans.
I don't even know if it is supposed to have a aning.
But, I saw it.
And I am a human.
Humans are the ones to assign aning to things and events.
And so, since I saw it, I can give it aning.
Even if it had no aning originally, I have that power.
As a human being, I have the capability to bestow aning on sothing.
Thus, I will give it aning.
A aning known only to myself.
Because secrets are the most aningful of all.
❖─────❖─────❖
I arrived ho not long after leaving the hospital.
Both the hospital and the house were near the centre of the city, so it didn't take long.
When I ca ho, I expected the house to be quiet.
I expected everyone to be resting in their rooms or similar.
After all, the day was long, and everyone was bound to be exhausted.
But, such an expectation was uprooted.
"Oh, you're back."
"...What are you doing?"
Walking into the living room, Sophie greeted . She still subconsciously held where her wrist was cut off, but she'd forget about it in no ti since it's been fully healed by Selina.
Other than Sophie, literally everyone was present.
Sana and Sona sat on either side of Selina on the large sofa in front of the coffee table, and on the other side of the table was Emir.
Sophie answered my curiosity.
"I don't know, they suddenly started talking about telling fortunes."
I could see that without much explanation.
In front of Emir was a pack of tarot cards slightly larger than a normal pack of cards.
Telling fortunes...
Fortune telling.
Wait, fortune telling?
"Since when could you tell soone's fortune?"
I asked while looking at Emir, but he simply tilted his head.
"Didn't you already know? I can asure people's fortunes with cards."
His words rendered silent for a good minute.
Fortune telling?
Emir could tell fortunes?
Suddenly, a fragnt of an ancient mory hit like a truck.
'asurent of Card Reading.'
'What's he going to do, read my fortune?'
'Ridiculous.'
"..."
I covered my mouth with a hand.
A mory from when I first rescued the twins at the Hirane human research facility.
...That's right.
How did I forget?
Such an obvious thing.
No, it's precisely because it was obvious that I forgot.
I forgot because I disregarded it completely at the ti.
I considered it useless and discarded the notion imdiately.
I never thought I would need or want sothing like petty fortune-telling.
But now...
Now, things are different.
Telling the future.
Knowing the future.
Even if it's just a glimpse.
If it can help in any way; if it can give so kind of minor insight as to what I may end up facing.
If it can do even a little of that, then...
"Emir."
I would do so without a second thought.
"Hm? Oh, you should have your fortune told, too, Cipher!"
"Oh? Oh, that might be interesting. Heh, knowing this bastard, though, he'll get the 'The Devil' card three tis over."
"Sophie, I don't think that card ans what you think it ans."
"What? He's a devilish son of a bitch, isn't he? What else could it an?"
"Ahh, I'll tell you if it cos up, but I don't think it will."
'The Devil'?
Of course, I wouldn't fit such an ominous card.
I've never done sothing like a tarot reading, so the aning itself is unfamiliar to , but it's clear that it's wrong.
Because I'm not the type of person who should be called a devil.
"Anyway. I've only done birth cards so far, and strangely enough, Sana and Sona's are each different. That ans their fates are different from each other despite having exactly the sa life and being together all the ti."
At Emir's words, I couldn't help but recall the scene I had witnessed at the hospital.
The scene of the future.
Sana coldly asked if I felt anything when I ended Sona's life.
"..."
My gaze turned to the two twins.
Looking at them, a multitude of thoughts naturally began to arise.
Was what I saw truly going to happen?
Was it destined to occur?
Could it be prevented?
But, most of all, there was one question that dominated the central space of my mind.
When I killed her.
When Sona's life ca to an end at my hands.
When Sana confronted about it, and even beyond that.
It wasn't just her.
It wasn't just Sana.
I, too.
I was also curious.
Did I feel anything?
About the answer to that question.
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