Felix laid flat on the ground and gazed through the rifle’s scope, focusing on the mark of the target at the farthest edge of the training field.
Bang — A sharp sound echoed across the range, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he hit a near perfect shot on the target.
“That red power that he used to break Marie’s door…” He mumbled to himself as a dry dust cloud lifted.
Two images flashed in his mind, one of his sister, Luna, the other, the silhouette of a large man with a mechanical arm.
“But… their eyes were red…”
He recollected his previous interaction with the old professor, the memories still very fresh in his mind.
“I thought the Implementation was shut down?” He asked.
“Merely postponed, but it resumed last year after receiving funding. Hence why I have been gone for so long. We have just went through another batch.” The professor answered.
After reflecting on the memory, he looked at his target, focusing on the red center that he already riddled with holes, and thought about the visitor’s eyes. The redness of it.
“Wait… Could the professor have made another breakthrough?” He muttered curiously while reloading the rifle.
There were footsteps walking from behind him as he pulled the trigger once again.
As he fired another near perfect shot, he spoke, “I didn’t expect you to come to the field just to visit me. Perfect timing, Professor.”
Behind him, a familiar, scruffy voice answered, “But, of course. Unless I have to walk through a war zone, there is no reason not to see you when I have the time. I heard that you had an encounter with an Elite Agent.”
“Yeah.”
Professor Tetsuya scratched his beard, “So, how was your first real battle?”
“Did you not read my report?”
“Not yet, though I would like to hear it directly from you while I can. It was against Harbinger, correct?”
“Well, he was just the slightest bit harder than my spars with sis.” Felix scoffed.
“I heard he was a skilled agent before disappearing. One could compare him to the top ten. But seeing as you were working with young Maria, I would hope that it wasn’t so bad.” The professor scratched his beard.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“You have a lot of faith in her, she must be one of your better results.”
With a low grumble, the professor admitted, “Truth be told, I was not the one to oversee her batch, so I do not know how well the process went. I have not known her for very long, either. I’ve only known her for about a week before you met her.”
“Ah, so you don’t get your hands dirty with every little thing?”
The old man looked hurt by his petulant remark.
As Felix reloaded the gun, he added, “If I had to tell you, that girl is definitely something else.”
“Is that so? Maria is not the only successful one as of late, there are a number of new recruits from the other organizations who have successfully gone through the process based on my research.”
He fired — another bullseye, “So I was right… the two from earlier...”
“Two from earlier?”
“There were two people from this morning… a blond guy… and a white-haired girl. Both of them had red eyes. That wouldn’t happen to be them, would it?”
As he remembered the white-haired girl, his memory quickly flashed to Luna’s smiling face.
“I’m not certain who you’re referring to. There have been others trying to replicate Project ASTRAEA, so I believe there should be more than two. But if one of them had white hair, then that means the research was going smoothly.”
“More than two, huh?”
“Indeed, though lamentably, none of said projects have resulted in something of your caliber yet.”
“Aw… you’re making me blush, professor.” The cold, dark metal pressed against the young man’s cheek as he squeezed the trigger.
With a loud crack — another bullseye.
“For now, just be considerate to young Maria, the way Luna was to you.”
He recollected the events from earlier this morning, and remembered Maria’s expression clearly. A teary, angry expression.
“… I thought I was.” Felix answered with a confused, downtrodden tone.
“My, did something happen?”
“I was trying to imitate Luna, but Marie didn’t seem to like that. She wouldn’t even talk to me...”
“Then clearly you should apologize. See things eye to eye.”
“Sigh, now’s… not a good time. I’ll let her cool down before I do.”
“I would like to help, but I’m still rather occupied. I simply wanted to meet with you, but now I have to—”
“Wait, eyes…” Felix stood up, “I actually had a question about my eyes.”
“Ah, yes. Your blue eye. As I’ve told you before, I will make the time to explain to you when the rest are—”
“You haven’t read the report yet, right?” He cut the old man off, “Both of my eyes turned blue for a little bit during the mission, and apparently did earlier today, but… it doesn’t last for too long.”
“So it’s made it to that point.” The old man’s voice carried a hint of satisfaction, “It won’t take long for your abilities to fully develop. I will make it so that I can explain it to all of you at the same time.”
“Ah, right.”
The professor smiled warmly, “Be glad. You’re starting to be more like Luna now.”
Felix scratched his rosy red cheeks before quickly turning to the side to hide it, “R-right.”
“I will see you when I can Felix.”
“Before you go, I had one more question…”
“What is it?”
“Do my eyes… do they look like flowers?”
“Light travels outwardly from your pupils to the rest of your iris, so I suppose you could put it that way.”
“I see… Yeah, that makes sense.”
“If that is all, then…”
“See ya, professor.”
After the professor had left, Felix pulled out the four-leaf clover necklace under his shirt and smiled. “She said I was in Blue Mode earlier. If I can make the power work on instinct, then…”
He breathed in deeply, the scent of gunpowder and dry earth filling his nose.
Both of his eyes started to glow bright blue as his finger pressed against the trigger, firing one last round with a wide grin on his face — and missed.
“Bollocks.”
~