"Welcome back Emanuel," Haleford greeted the boy with a smile, and offered a hug. Emanuel nearly took him up on it, but decided against it with all of his classmates in the room with him. Haleford nodded understandingly, and Emanuel sat down at his seat for the first time in a week. His classmates all silently cheered that he was back. Emanuel did his best to keep his gaze away from Sylvester's usual corner of the room.

After a brief reintroduction of the material Emanuel had missed, a solemn looked crossed Haleford's expression.

"Now then, on to more pressing matters," Haleford said sternly. "As the lead investigators for the ongoing "Chimera Incident," as it has come to be acknowledged by both the scientific and law communities, you are being granted special permission and inside knowledge into the goings-on of the incident as a whole."

"Wait," Ken said, shocked, "are we seriously the lead investigators? Like, shouldn't some adults be in charge of that?"

"Well, there is a specialized task force operating directly under Orion authority- but as far as results are concerned, you five are most certainly the most prominent investigative team. Furthermore, that task force has only been assembled recently, and in light of the..." Haleford cast a forlorn look to Emanuel. "Recent information that has come to light following the posthumous investigation of an involved member." Haleford was pleased to see a look of confusion cross Emanuel's face, rather than a traumatic response.

"What does that even mean," Emanuel whispered to Ken.

"Don't worry about it," Ken replied with a smile.

"Now, with regards to your involvement thus far and going forward; to begin with, the aforementioned special permissions. As the students responsible for the initial discovery of the hybrid Feeders we now know as Chimera, you will be included in as much of the research as is possible for us to include students like yourselves in. I am sure this comes as a great privilege to the more erudite among yourselves- Maria and Dory, I would name specifically."

Maria and Dory nodded, beaming.

"To begin with, Maria and Dory's join hypothesis was, in fact, correct; the Chimera are Feeders created from the amalgamation of blood from multiple different animals, which is achieved by maintaining the volume of blood under the recently-discovered fifteen milliliter threshold. I must say, exceptional work in discovering such a finding- I myself had not heard of this research in all of my time as an educator.

"But onto more pressing matters. The aim of the group responsible for the ongoing Chimera Incident is as of yet unknown. The personal belongings and information of the... involved individual contained information largely unrelated to the Chimera Incident or any of its involved peoples. We are under the assumption that there is either a vow of secrecy of some kind among the members of this organization- for we have reason to believe that Syl- the involved individual- was operating as part of a group. As we are yet to discover a manifesto of any kind, the group's goals remain unknown, which has garnered a significant amount of unease among the community. As a result, information regarding the Chimera Incident is being kept largely secretive, in order to preserve a general sense of calm among the populous.

"And lastly, with regards to your future involvement: as of now, the primary authority of investigating the Chimera Incident has been granted to the aforementioned Orion task force. However, the six of you- Ken, Dory, Emanuel, Maria, Ano, and by involvement Isabella- are all considered to be at great risk."

"Great risk?" the class asked fearfully.

"Indeed. Unfortunately, as you are all directly and causally involved in revealing the group's existence to the world, you will likely be targeted by the remainder of the group."

A general air of dread overcame the class.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"So now we arrive at the crux of the issue. You will all likely, going forward, be targeted by the members of the Chimera Incident's perpetrating organization. And as a result, you will need to be educated in the proper ways of combat between Haonus users. If anyone would like to leave now, do so, knowing that you lack of knowledge in this regard may cost you your life in the future."

The class sat silently, considering their options. Emanuel trembled in his seat, doing his best not to think about his prior experience in this subject.

"Good," Haleford said. "Then with that, let us begin our first lesson."

"Our first lesson will be a revisit to the most basic aspects of Haonus: Organion and Chalion. Though we have refrained from teaching you about Chalion- and if all had gone to plan you would not have learned about the topic until your second year- but unfortunately now we must push you five ahead of the learning curve. I have additionally spoken to Father Maxwell, young mister Esposito's teacher, about the possibility of transferring the boy to this class, for this exact purpose. Now then, does anyone recall the relationship between Organion and Chalion?"

"They're opposites," Emanuel replied emptily. This particular topic was a little too on-the-nose from the fight he'd had.

"Precisely. They are opposites. While Organion spins counter-clockwise, Chalion spins clockwise, and as a result the two energies counteract each other. Now, does anyone have an idea of what happens when Organion and Chalion collide?"

"They counter each other," Emanuel answered. He was doing his best to focus on the feeling of pride he had during the battle, rather than what came after.

"Correct, although to be more precise they annihilate each other."

"What's the difference?" Ken asked.

"Annihilation, despite its popular culture definitions, is an actual process within the field of physics, and refers to the means by which a particle and its respective antiparticle collide and destroy each other, creating other particles and energy in the process."

"Antiparticle?"

"Yes, the antimatter equivalent of a subatomic particle. For example, the electron's antiparticle is the positron, a particle of equal mass and opposite charge."

Ken paused a moment, staring ahead dumbfoundedly.

"Antimatter is real?" He finally asked. The class stared at him blankly.

"Is this your second 'are dragons real?'" Maria asked, stifling a laugh. As she said that, the class finally burst into laughter.

"Nah, like, be so for real with me right now. Antimatter is real?"

"Yes," Haleford replied with a smile, successfully containing his laughter. "Although it is still a relatively early stage of study, physicists have successfully identified antimatter and its interactions with regular matter."

"Dog..." Ken stared down at his notebook in disbelief.

The class laughed again.

"Returning to the subject at hand," Haleford continued after the class got the laughter out of their system, "the act of Organion and Chalion's annihilation is known as a Haon cancel."

"I'm well aware," Emanuel chimed in.

"I see," Haleford clapped. "Hopefully this will be review for you then. Would you care to provide a demonstration?"

"...Sure," Emanuel said dejectedly.

"Worry not," Haleford reassured him, "if you are well versed enough, then I see no reason for you to remain in class." Emanuel smiled at that.

Emanuel walked up to the front of the classroom, and stood opposite Haleford.

"Now, it should be noted," Haleford said as he entered a simple fighting stance, raising his fists up like a boxer while turning his head to look at the class, "that most Chalion uses are, by nature, offensive and dangerous. As a result, even though you students are yet to properly master Chalion- with the exception of young Miss Zegi here- knowing to perform a Haon cancel can allow you to defend against the dangers of an opponent's Chalion attack. Now, Emanuel, please prepare yourself."

A red, shining light covered Haleford's left arm. He pulled back slowly, and swung towards Emanuel slowly, so as to ensure the boy would have enough time to react. Emanuel met the man's strike with a punch of his own, his arm covered in crackling blue electricity. As the two fists met, with a thunderous crash the energies spiraled into each other, colliding and negating, resulting in Emanuel and Haleford's connected fists standing alone at the center of the room. The class clapped halfheartedly as Emanuel sat back down, somewhat embarrassed.

"Excellent work Emanuel," Haleford smiled. "You are free to go. For the rest of you, we'll begin by practicing Organion control. Notice how when Emanuel's and my attack connected, Emanuel utilized more Organion than I did. As one may infer, it is both better technique and safer to perform a Haon cancel with more Organion than your opponent's Chalion..."

Emanuel arrived at the hospital, St. Simon's, an hour later. He'd taken the time to go back to his dorm and change, to get into an outfit more appropriate than his usual grungy clothes. He arrived dressed in a nice shirt and pants, as nice as he could get without putting on that dreaded uniform. He checked in with the receptionist.

"Here to see Esposito, Ano is the first name," he said with a forced smile to the receptionist.