In a cozy lounge, two women and a man were present.

Roze lounged comfortably on a plush sofa, indulging in laziness, while Merdi and Barton sipped tea at the nearby table.

At that moment, Roze, who had been intently checking her wrist panel, started to groan.

“Why isn’t he answering?”

“Who are you talking about?” Merdi asked.

“The one I was supposed to train with yesterday. He didn't show up for class today either.”

“Oh, your disciple?” Merdi's eyes sparkled with curiosity. From her perspective, Lemon was an intriguing individual. How could such a seemingly worthless person catch Roze’s attention? It was a complete mystery to her.

“Why do you like him so much?”

“Lemon? Well... he's interesting!” Roze replied.

“Don’t tell me it’s because of that ridiculous ‘courage’ of his. There must have been plenty of others who tried to approach you. You turned them all away, and now this?”

In the academy, power is equivalent to strength. Moreover, everyone here is a genius. Even though they are young, they understand their positions well. As a result, the academy has fierce political struggles, albeit less intense than those of adults.

In such an environment, Roze, who had both skill and a good personality, received numerous love calls. So many that she had learned to respond coldly.

“Um…”

Roze’s eyes rolled around as if she was finally thinking.

Merdi was about to hear her answer.

“At first, I found his body intriguing, so I agreed to spar with him. But he turned out to be much weaker than he looked, and I almost killed him. I felt bad, so I went easy on him, and then I started to like him more and more…”

Roze rambled on, expressing her feelings as they were. But in the end, the reason boiled down to "it just happened."

Merdi found this extremely unsatisfactory.

“Even so, you’re willingly becoming his mentor? Trash will always be trash, no matter how much it grows.”

At that moment, Roze’s demeanor changed drastically. Without altering her facial expression, she just looked at Merdi, and the air in the lounge grew heavy.

“That’s not true, Merdi.”

“Really? It looks to me like you’re just playing with a toy.”

Merdi, receiving the brunt of Roze’s heavy aura, was undeterred. She even smiled brightly and provoked Roze further.

“Do you think I would teach Roze-ryu as a joke? Lemon has potential.”

“Oh, really? I find that hard to believe. But if you get bored, could you let me know? I’d like to play with him too.”

The atmosphere grew even more tense. Merdi’s face flushed with excitement.

‘Ah, yes, this is it,’ Merdi thought.

She felt a tingle at the tip of her nose. Endorphins surged, and her head felt hot. This was the pleasure that made her feel alive.

Merdi's approach to life could be summed up in one word: curiosity-driven.

Born with immense supernatural powers, the world seemed like a toy that had to be handled with care. People around her would die like ants with even the slightest mistake.

People feared her and called her a monster.

Even her parents.

Attempts at kidnapping, murder, and fraud by those in awe of her power were constant, but her inherent abilities were so immense that she considered even those incidents to be entertaining games.

Growing up like this, Merdi found everything around her increasingly tedious. She lost interest in everything.

For someone like Merdi, gaining admission to COH Academy was a significant stroke of luck. Among the ants, she met people like her. Three of them, no less.

Among them, Roze intrigued her the most. Merdi knew that just following Roze around would never bore her, so she always stayed close to her. Additionally, she could relieve accumulated stress this way, which was wonderful.

“Enough, both of you.”

Just as their confrontation was about to reach a breaking point, Barton intervened. The heated air cooled rapidly. As the temperature dropped sharply, frost formed over Roze and Merdi’s heads.

“Cool your heads, both of you.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Huh?”

“You’ve already accumulated two warnings. Are you trying to cause trouble again so soon after the headmaster’s caution? If you want to fight, use the training room.”

“Oh! Right, the warnings.” Roze pouted.

If she accumulated more than three warnings, various penalties would be imposed. While other penalties didn’t concern Roze, the thought of having her diet changed to unappetizing preserved food was worse than the sky falling.

Barton then turned to Merdi.

“Stop provoking Roze unnecessarily. It won’t benefit you either.”

“...Hmph.” Merdi brushed the frost from her hair and took a sip of her tea as if nothing had happened. Then she immediately set the cup down. “The tea’s gone cold...”

“Here.” Barton, having already brewed a new pot of tea, poured a fresh cup and replaced Merdi’s cold one.

“Oh my, what’s this? The usually oblivious Ice Prince?”

“I simply rectified my own mistake.”

“Really~?”

Barton didn’t respond to her teasing and returned to his seat. Just then, a loud buzzing sound accompanied by vibrations from their panels interrupted them. An announcement echoed through the lounge.

[Alert: Level 1 Emergency. Alien signal detected in Dormitory 9. Please exercise caution.]

“A level 1 alert is nothing to worry about.”

Merdi and Barton immediately dismissed it. It was probably some kind of containment leak. These incidents were almost routine, often caused by negligence.

But Roze’s reaction was different.

“Dormitory 9 is where Lemon’s staying!”

Roze jumped up from the sofa and dashed out of the lounge. Barton, as if he had planned to leave anyway, tidied up Roze’s and his own spots naturally and followed her out.

Merdi, resting her chin on her hand, stared at the closing lounge door and murmured to herself, “Is there really something there...?”

The soft noise of fingers tapping on the table echoed throughout the lounge.

***

I was experiencing sleep paralysis.

It felt like my body was submerged underwater, unable to move. Still, it wasn't unbearably suffocating. Considering the nightmares I'd been having every time I slept, this was a more peaceful state.

'It's about time I woke up.'

But I couldn't stay like this forever. I felt like I'd been sleeping for a long time. I focused my mind to wake up. Thanks to my training in the Roze technique, my consciousness surfaced after a short while.

As soon as I opened my eyes, a loud noise assaulted my ears.

"Lemon!"

"Huh?"

In front of me was the familiar sight of crimson hair. It was Roze. But her hand was aimed at my heart as if she were about to strike me. Startled by the threat to my life, I shouted.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"…Good."

Roze lowered her hand, looking slightly disappointed. But why was she here? Normally, someone can only enter another's dormitory with the user's permission, so I found it puzzling.

Barton answered my unspoken question.

"This is the infirmary. We came to visit because you were reported to be infected by an alien."

"Infected?"

"They say the infection has completely cleared up now. By the way, you were unconscious for three days."

"…"

Could it be? I glanced at Roze without thinking. Seeing her nod confirmed my suspicion. After manifesting my ability and applying the alien's genes to myself, I had felt unwell but didn't realize it would be this severe.

'Come to think of it.'

Lemon had also been severely ill after his first contact with the mammoth when he manifested his ability. Considering that, I should have been more cautious.

"It must have been a big deal, huh?"

"It was a level 1 emergency. Nobody paid attention, though."

"That's a relief."

"It's not a relief. We were all very surprised."

With a new presence, several officials in various uniforms appeared. They were academy administrators. No matter how minor the issue, an alien-related incident couldn't be overlooked.

"Visiting hours are over. Visitors, please leave. Cadet Leonard Monarch, could you speak with us for a moment?"

"We'll be waiting outside, Lemon."

Fortunately, the interview with the administrators wasn't very long. Knowing that I had requested the capture of an alien, they clearly understood the context. Considering the unimaginable range of issues occurring daily at the academy, a level 1 emergency wasn't something to be severely punished.

I disclosed part of my abilities to a reasonable extent and received a warning before being released.

Unfortunately, my request for another alien had been denied.

---

"Huff! Huff!"

"Good job."

As soon as I left the infirmary, I headed straight to the training room. Roze, who understood the changes in my body better than anyone, trained me diligently.

"Ugh...!"

"Amazing. Your touch has definitely improved."

"Th-thanks! But... Huff!"

"No, really. You've far exceeded the level you could reach with just training. Your reflexes are like those of a gnat."

A gnat, really? My claws would be offended.

Before the training session, I had been confident. The fine hairs on my body had become new sensory organs, making me highly sensitive. I could sense movements without seeing them, as if I were drawing them. I even dodged Roze's punch the first time. Just that one time, though. After that, I got beaten up as usual. Even though I could see the path of her punches, I couldn't avoid them.

"Don't rely too much on that sense. It's useful but only in limited situations. It's easy to disrupt."

"Limited situations?"

"Yeah. For example, like this?"

"Why are you looking at me?"

Roze naturally left it to Barton to answer. Barton looked back and forth between me and Roze, then pointed to himself. When Roze nodded, he made a face showing he found it annoying, then snapped his fingers at me.

Bang! A sharp sound.

"Oh..."

I found myself instinctively in a defensive stance. I had overreacted to the air pressure. The pressure felt like a sharp knife thrusting at me.

"You're not distinguishing properly between your original senses and the new one. Moreover, you're overly sensitive. If this were a noisy place, it would be much worse. And..."

The temperature around us suddenly dropped. Barton was absorbing the heat. As it got colder, to the point where my face felt numb, I understood what he was getting at.

"As you can see, the environment has a significant impact. And when you face aliens in the future, you'll be wearing full-body armor that will severely limit that sense."

"...I see."

I thought it was a pretty good ability, but I was wrong.

"Don't be discouraged. Even if you can only use it when it's advantageous, it's still a good ability. I'll help you make the most of it."

Roze approached me as I was feeling a bit down. She started pressing and kneading various parts of my body.

"I'm more interested in something else. I'm a bit envious of this."

She was focused on my wrists and heels. These were the parts where I had newly applied the alien genes. She carefully examined them for a while, then fell into deep thought. She began to mutter to herself so quietly I could barely hear.

"So this is how it works... And here... Okay, I got it."

Roze suddenly entered a meditative state while standing. It was a form of self-observation. Being able to enter self-observation so easily was truly impressive. It demonstrated that she had complete control over every cell from head to toe.

But that wasn't all. Roze's body began to vibrate rapidly and quietly, to the point where it was almost imperceptible.

'What is she doing?'

At first, I didn't understand. But after a while, I started to feel a sense of dissonance. Looking closely, I noticed that Roze's body shape was changing very slightly.

"Holy shit!"