As I walked with Luna back to her home, I knew I would soon be meeting with Atlas again. I agreed to work with him, so first I need to demonstrate my ability. To do that, I asked him to prepare something for me first, which is why I need to wait a day before I show him my special power.

"But I can think about that later. Right now...

" Anyway," I said, looking at the pink girl beside me. "You don't plan to transfer back to your old school?"

"Huh? Why?" Luna asked.

"You don't really need to stay at my school, right?" I said. "Your so-called mission is over anyway."

"Well, that's true," Luna said, thinking for a bit. "But no, I will stay."

"You had friends there, right?" I asked.

"Of course," Luna said. "At first, they were surprised that I moved suddenly, but now it's okay. Luna pulled out her phone and looked at it. We still message each other every day."

"That's not going to last forever," I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Luna.

"Like I said, they won't keep doing that forever," I said.

"How do you even know that?" Luna asked, doubtfully. "You don't even know them."

"I don't need to know them to figure it out," I said.

"Then how?" she asked.

"Well, for example," I said. "Do you still keep in touch with your classmates from elementary school?"

"Well... that has nothing to do with this," Luna said, nervous.

"Is that a no then?" I asked.

"Probably not all," Luna said quickly. "But sometimes I still talk with them!"

"Sometimes just isn't enough," I said. "Doesn't that mean your relationship isn't as strong as it used to be?"

"Don't say that," Luna protested, clearly upset. "We're still friends, even if we don't see each other as much anymore."

"That's what I mean," I continued. "What connects you with your friends is the fact that you're in the same class. Without that, the connection becomes weaker. You still have around two years left to spend with them, don't waste it."

Luna was quiet for a moment, then she spoke up, "I understand what you're trying to say, but... "

Luna looked at me and I could sense a bit of tension. "I don't know why, but I feel like you're trying to push me away."

I gave an awkward smile. "That's just your imagination," I said.

She stepped closer and stared at me intensely, clearly annoyed.

"So that's your plan," she said. "Why? Do you dislike me that much?"

"Not exactly dislike," I replied, trying to clarify. "More like annoyance."

"Annoyance...?" she muttered.

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Probably I shouldn't have said that.

"I've made up my mind," Luna declared, clearly agitated. "Not only am I going to stay, I'm going to stick with you as much as possible! I'll annoy you as much as I can!"

"Great," I said, feeling defeated.

I should have seen this coming. In retrospect, it was clear that she was a sore loser.

We arrived at Luna's home, where Atlas was already waiting inside.

Atlas said, "As you requested, I prepared five things."

He showed what was on the table: a pen, a game controller, a book, a small dead clock, and a smartphone.

I sat down, and Luna did the same, beside me.

"It's your turn now," Atlas said.

"I know," I replied as I picked up the pen.

I used my power and floating transparent boxes appeared around me. I saw a box that displayed Atlas's memory from a few hours ago. It showed him writing in a book and saying, [Can you see this?]

I turned off my ability.

"Are you already using your ability?" Atlas asked.

I nodded.

"Oh," he said. "From outside, nothing seems to be happening. There's no special light effect or anything." He sounded disappointed.

Luna nodded beside me, agreeing. "I thought so too, but I didn't see anything," she said.

"I won't be able to use it freely if such a thing happened," I snorted. "Anyway, I saw you write something like [Can you see this?] in a book."

Atlas's eyes widened. "That... That's exactly what I wrote in my notebook," he said.

"Do you believe me now?" I asked.

"Let's continue," Atlas said, pointing at the broken clock. "This clock, what time was it showing before I changed it?"

I picked up the clock and used my power. I saw a floating transparent box that displayed the moment Atlas changed the position of the clock hands.

"Three fifty-five," I said.

"That's right," Atlas said, not seeming surprised anymore. "I guess this is proof enough, but let's just try everything just in case."

He passed me a book, a novel titled [Metamorphosis.]

"What page did I stop reading?" he asked.

I used my power and said, "Page ten."

He then passed me a game controller. "What game was I playing?"

I said, "It's the original Borderlands," as I put down the controller.

Finally, he passed me his smartphone.

"Unlock that for me," he said.

I used my power and saw in his memories the combination to unlock it, which I did.

"Well, I guess we really don't have privacy anymore," Atlas said as he gazed at his unlocked phone.

I smiled bitterly and said, "I said so."

"Well, I trust you 100% now," Atlas said. "It still feels crazy though. Anyway, Lu, why don't you try it too?"

"Eh...?" Luna was surprised. "But I didn't prepare anything."

"It doesn't need to be something special," I said. "You can lend me your pen, for example."

"Oh, okay," Luna said, as she nervously pulled out her pen from her bag and handed it to me.

I used my power to see her memory from last night, and saw that she had written something in her book.

"Last night, you wrote...my name in your book?" I said. "But why?"

Luna grabbed her pen back, her face reddening a little. "No...no reason," she said.

"I guess that's settled then," Atlas said with a smile. "You're a real deal. To see other people's memories, I still can't wrap my head around that. So, can I ask more about it?"

"Sure," I said. "That's the point of today, right?"

"Sure, but to be honest," Atlas said, smiling apologetically, "even though this whole thing was my idea, I feel bad about it. I never thought that this ability of yours would be connected so deeply with your life. I carelessly wanted to know, putting your feelings aside. So if you don't want to, you don't have to tell me."

I sigh. "Isn't it too late for that?"

"Probably," Atlas laughed. "Sorry to have forced you into this situation, but I will try to pay you back for this huge debt."

"I'll do something too," Luna said, eager to join the conversation.

"Stop it," I said, embarrassed. "It's fine already. So, what do you want to know?"

"Can you explain in more detail how your power works?" Atlas asked. "If I understand it better, we can think of a way to use it more effectively."

"Well, first, I said, I can use my ability if I touch an object directly. If I wear gloves or something covering my hand, it won't work anymore," I explained.

"What about other parts of your body?" Atlas asked. "Like your feet or knees for example?"

"I shook my head. So far, it only works with my hand," I replied. "And for the most part, I have control over when it will activate or not. But sometimes, if I don't focus, my power will activate by itself."

Atlas nodded in understanding. "Then how exactly do you see the memories?" he asked. "Is it something like a flashback or a dream?"

"Not really," I said. "It's more like I see hundreds of floating, transparent screens all around me. Each box or screen contains one memory. Since it's based on someone's memories, the easiest memories to see are the ones that happened recently or the strong memories that contain important events."

"That makes sense," Atlas said. "So, is it impossible to look at obscure memories?"

"Not exactly impossible," I said. "It's kind of like trying to find a certain page from a bunch of papers. It's possible, but it will take more time and effort. I need to manually check each one. That's a pain. I prefer not to do that unless it's really necessary."

"That reminds me," Luna said. "I talked to that glasses guy from our class sometime ago. He said you used to borrow his pen a lot, especially when exams happened..."

Atlas laughed. "So, you used it for cheating, huh?"

I smiled nervously. "I didn't plan to hide it anymore, but they figured it out for themselves."

Luna stared at me. "What?" I said. "Do you want to say you're disappointed in me again?"

Luna didn't say anything, but it was clear she was disappointed. Well, whatever. At least I can now cheat in peace.

"Putting that aside," Atlas said. "Is there more you can tell me?"

"Hm..." I murmured, trying to think. "I can't see the memory from an object that's too big. For example, I can see a memory from touching the wall of a building, but I can't see a memory from a car. But I can see a memory from a car key."

"I see," Atlas said. "So it's more nuanced, not that simple. I guess you can't see memories from parts of big objects either, like a brick from a building or a car tire."

"Yeah," I said. "It has to be its own thing. Small parts of big objects don't count."

"What about living things?" Atlas asked. "Humans are obviously too big, huh? But what about something like rats or insects?"

"No, I can't see memories directly from living beings," I said. "And before you ask, I can't see memories from their dead bodies either."

Luna looked disgusted, probably imagining dead rat bodies. But it seemed to give her an idea.

"But what about a book?" Luna asked. "Or even a pen? Isn't that technically made from the dead bodies of a tree?"

"True," I said, surprised that Luna was thinking that far. "Maybe it needs to be processed into something else first? I don't know."

"You don't know?" Luna asked.

"Hey, just because I have this ability," I said. "doesn't mean I know everything about it."

"Fair enough," Atlas said. "Just like if you're talented at running, you can run fast, but that doesn't mean you know everything about running."

"Exactly," I said.

***