Rika stood in the quiet garden area with her crimson eyes locked onto Reinhard’s face. Behind them, the library alarm continued its shrill ringing.
The chaos continued.
Reinhard took a breath and recalled Alice’s words from yesterday. You should trust them. They trusted you enough to help seal Yor’s power.
And Rika had already revealed so much to him. And even now, she revealed so new things. Her fears about her senses breaking and her desperation to be useful to the club.
He wished he could tell her, but sothing inside held him back, making him inwardly sigh. Even in this new world, he can never get rid of his spy tendency to never reveal everything.
But Rika at least deserves so honesty.
"I have multiple Sigils." Reinhard said softly.
Rika’s eyes widened, but she stayed silent, letting him continue.
"My body can hold four of them currently," Reinhard explained while watching her reaction carefully. "Precognition, which you saw use during the fight. Spatial manipulation, which I used to pin that entity down. Void control, which is similar to Yor and Phasing, is like Sirin’s own."
"Four Sigils," Rika stared in disbelief. "That’s impossible. No one has ever—"
"I know it’s impossible," Reinhard interrupted with a nod. "But my body adapted sohow. I don’t fully understand why or how. I just know that I can use multiple abilities after gaining my first one."
Rika processed this information in silence. He saw she was holding her chin and shifting in place.
"The Void Sigil." She said carefully. "When did you get that one?"
"When I helped seal Yor’s powers to give her full control," Reinhard admitted. "The process of creating the seal sohow connected our abilities. I gained a version of her void power that I can control safely."
He’d prepared this explanation carefully after his talk with Alice. He knew that it would be impossible to keep all of this a secret unless he planned to limit himself.
Impossible, that’s too dangerous and silly.
So, he could only co up with an explanation.
Rika’s eyes widened before he saw her face shifting to multiple emotions. He saw shock, awe, confusion, and then concern. "So... When you sealed Yor’s power, you didn’t just help her gain control. You also took that power into yourself?"
"A version of it," Reinhard confird. "Not as strong as hers, but enough to absorb void distortions as she does."
Rika stepped closer suddenly and grabbed both his hands. "Is there any danger to you? Having four Sigils when everyone else can barely handle one... Does it hurt you? Strain your body? Cause problems?"
Reinhard blinked at the intensity of her concern. Here she was processing impossible information about abilities that violated everything she knew, and her first worry was his safety.
This was a big deal for a person like Rika, who took history and having an understanding of the world very seriously. Yet she was showing more concern about his well-being than the shocking revelation itself.
"There’s no danger," Reinhard assured her while squeezing her hands gently. "My body handles the multiple Sigils without strain. I feel completely normal."
Rika searched his face for a couple of seconds as if checking for lies. Then she sighed in deep relief, and her shoulders relaxed.
"Good." She said softly. "That’s really good. I was worried that having multiple abilities might be slowly hurting you."
"I appreciate the concern," Reinhard said with a chuckle.
Rika released his hands and stepped back while running her fingers through her hair nervously. "I can understand why you kept this secret. If the wrong people found out about your multiple Sigils..."
"They’d either experint on or try to control ," Reinhard finished. "Alice explained the sa thing when she figured it out yesterday."
Rika’s head snapped up in surprise, and then she laughed. "Of course, Alice noticed. She’s incredibly observant despite acting like she only cares about having fun."
"She set up a test to confirm her suspicions," Reinhard admitted with a slight smile. "Caused a crystal malfunction on purpose to see how I’d react."
Rika paused before giving him a look of shock and disbelief.
"Yes... It wasn’t one of her best monts."
"You think! Honestly, that girl..."
"But you admit, it does sound like her."
"That’s what makes it so annoying," Rika said while her laughter faded into a warm smile. "I’m glad you have her support."
She moved to sit on a nearby bench and gestured for Reinhard to join her. He settled beside her while both of them took a mont to breathe after the intensity of the library incident.
"You should tell Sirin, Yor, and Louis, too," Rika said after a comfortable silence. "Especially Sirin, since she’s the club president. She needs to know what you’re capable of for planning purposes."
Reinhard asked with a smile. "And if they react badly?"
He was curious about Rika’s view on them, even though he had a hunch about how Sirin and Yor would react.
Maybe Louis as well.
"They won’t," Rika said with certainty. "Sirin values us above all else, and she would be happy to know you’re stronger."
"And Louis?"
"Louis cares more about whether people are good friends than what powers they have," Rika explained. "He’ll probably just ask if you need specially modified weapons for your different Sigils."
That actually sounded exactly like Louis.
Reinhard smiled at the ntal image.
"But most importantly." Rika continued while her expression grew more serious. "You need to tell Yor. Especially about the void power you got from sealing her. She deserves to know that the process affected you, too."
Reinhard agrees with Rika.
When Yor returned from her healing trip, he’d need to explain everything to avoid catching her off guard. After learning about how the Void had affected her life, he knew that having it would cause her a degree of fear and anxiety.
"You don’t want her discovering it accidentally during a crisis." Rika pressed gently. "That would be worse than telling her now and giving her ti to process."
"I know."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while.
The garden around them was peaceful despite the chaos still echoing from the library. Flowers blood in deep colors of reds, oranges, and purples. A small fountain bubbled nearby with soothing water sounds.
It was a nice sight that made him smile. It still amazed him how pretty this academy was. Even with the chaos happening at the library, the scenery still helps create a sense of peace around.
"Thank you," Rika said softly while playing with her fingers.
"For?"
"For everything, I guess? For telling not to worry about my senses. For closing the Void Distortion and trusting with your secret." Rika gave him a beaming smile.
"You don’t need to thank for that."
"Maybe, but I think you should know how grateful I am." Rika paused before adding. "And I’m happy that you’re okay. When I saw you trembling after absorbing that distortion, I was terrified sothing had gone wrong."
"Just ntal fatigue," Reinhard reassured her again. "It passes quickly."
"Still." Rika said while reaching out to take his hand again. "Promise you’ll be careful? I know you can handle multiple Sigils, but that doesn’t an you should push yourself too hard. Don’t be like Yor and try to handle everything at once without at least telling us."
Reinhard laughed before nodding. "If it ever becos too much, I will tell you."
Rika’s expressions softened with a sigh of relief, then she stood up. He raised a brow when she pulled his arm with a grin, forcing him to stand up. "Co on up, I want to check sothing out."
"What is it?"
"Rember how I said I sensed three void distortions today that disappeared before I could reach them?" Rika’s eyes glead with renewed curiosity. "Now that I know you have the Void Sigil, I want to check those locations with you."
Reinhard perked up imdiately. "You think there might be traces left behind?"
"Maybe," Rika said while pulling out a small notebook. "I wrote down the exact locations my precognition showed . With your void sensitivity, you might detect things I missed."
She opened the notebook to reveal three addresses written in neat handwriting. He saw the fountains near the history departnt, the storage room beneath the Combat Departnt, and the garden area behind the female dormitories
"These are the three places?" Reinhard asked while studying the list.
"Yes. Each one I sensed, but when I arrived, there was nothing." Rika looked up at him with hope. "Will you co check them out with ? Your void ability might reveal sothing my senses can’t detect."
"Let’s start with the closest location," Reinhard agreed.
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