Naturally, upon learning what happened to Saki on her way there, everyone in the Sago House EXP zone was shocked, except Amrita who only looked up from her tablet for a moment.

Saki looked embarrassed being showered by their attention, but there was a slight happiness in her heart in knowing that they were actually worried about her despite not knowing her that much.

Other than Takumi, there was Hajime Adam the coach, Amrita Kaur Chaudhary the assistant professor, the two JSDF soldiers Sergeant Abe Gunta and First Lieutenant Amamiya Candy, and Akabane Hayao as well as a young adult male Saki had never seen before.

They were on the first floor of the Sago House EXP zone, sitting on the sofa in the living room and dining table across the hallway..

“Are you okay, Kobayashi-kun? Were you hurt anywhere?”

“Yup. Momo-chan saved me, so I’m okay now.”

Saki answered Adam’s worried question with a light tone whilst holding onto her bag. Some of the pins on it were broken.

“…Saki, are you really okay? I should’ve picked you up at the bus stop after all.”

“Mhm. I’m sorry I made you worry, Takumi-kun, everyone.”

Saki lowered her head.

Next, it was Hayao who opened his mouth to voice his question.

“So, what happened to the stalker? Did you call the police on him? If so, I didn’t hear any sirens.”

“That’s…I don’t know. When I came to, I only saw Momo-chan, so…”

“It’s not the police that Momo called, but, well, they’re under the care of the right people~”

Saki directed a gaze to Momo who sat next to her, and Momo answered the question for her.

Then, as if picking up something from Momo’s answer, Adam immediately made a stern face before speaking to Momo.

“…do you think they’re connected to him?”

“Momo sees a spying drone, and the modus operandi checks out. It’s possible.”

“So he’s really latched on Daniel, after all…”

Adam’s tone sounded heavy and grave, like nothing Saki and Takumi had ever heard before.

“Excuse me. I’m an outsider so I don’t know the details, but if it’s the stalker, he’s been apprehended by the authorities, right? Doesn’t that mean the case is settled?”

Asked the young man who sat at the dining table next to Hayao, garnering attention to him. To that, Saki hesitantly opened her mouth.

“…actually, I don’t think so, umm…”

“It’s Yamada.”

“Yamada-san. True, thanks to Momo-chan the two stalkers this time are…caught? But I feel like neither are the same person who followed me on my way home before even though one of them was wearing the same jacket. Like, their gestures? The way they carry themselves? Are different. I don’t know why, but I remember it clearly.”

“It’s because you have your eidetic active.”

“Ah, right, we’re in the EXP zone.”

Chimed Amrita from the deeper end of the hallway, instigating a look of revelation from Saki.

Hearing her words, Adam’s expression grew more stern.

“…Kobayashi-kun. I’m sorry if I ask too much from you right after what happened, but would you elaborate further about the difference you speak of?”

“Sure, it’s okay.”

Feeling that the incident was getting bigger than herself, Saki decided to help. However, she had no idea how to properly convey the difference of gestures other than demonstrating it herself.

Hence, she stood up from her seat and tried to demonstrate what she remembered.

“Umm, the guy I met at the bus stop walked like this.”

Saki walked down the hallway, imitating the walk of the man in black jacket who grabbed her bag. As she walked, feet were a bit draggy, and the center of gravity of her body was all over the place.

“And then, the guy who followed me on Monday was like this.”

Saki once again walked down the hallway, imitating the walk of the man in black jacket and black baseball cap. As she walked, her feet were steady with no wasted movements and the center of gravity of her body was constant. She, of course, also imitated his gesture of looking down on his phone.

Seeing that, Adam looked even more convinced.

“Thank you, Kobayashi-kun. One last thing, do you recognize this scent?”

Adam pulled out a small vial from his pocket. When he pulled the cap, it turned out to be a roll-on perfume, which he applied to the underside of his wrist. He held his hand out to Saki, and when Saki took a whiff, her body winced out of reflex.

It smelled a bit like cinnamon, but more peppery and woody. Her mind immediately went back to that sunset-dyed street last Monday.

“…yes. This is the scent of the person who followed me.”

Answered Saki matter-of-factly. Sense of smell was the closest sense tied to memory, and possessing an eidetic ability, Saki was close to 100 percent that she got the smell down.

She could easily imagine Jun quipping “you’re like a police dog, Saki-chan,” if he were here.

“Is that so.”

Adam lowered his head, his expression was unable to be read.

And then, he stood up from his chair without saying anything and headed to the master bedroom. A minute later, he came back with a large rucksack.

“Kurogane-kun, I’m sorry but I have a sudden business to attend to. I probably cannot coach you for the foreseeable future. You’ll have to train by yourself or find a new coaching place, I recommend the latter.”

“A-ah, yes.”

Suddenly being spoken to, Takumi answered half-stutteringly. Adam then turned to the two soldiers and Amrita.

“Sergeant Abe, First Lieutenant Amamiya, and Chaudhary-san. Thank you very much this whole time.”

“Mmm.”

Amrita hummed her nose, whilst the two soldiers only nodded.

At that, Adam nodded back then headed to the front door. After peeking outside for a bit, he left the Sago House EXP zone.

“…what happened?”

Saki, who saw Adam leaving, asked absent-mindedly. From the looks of it, it seemed like something that was greater than her earlier incident was taking place, but she didn’t know what it was.

Seeing her being confused, Momo opened her mouth.

“It’s a bit too early for you to know, Saki-chan, Kou-kun~”

“Okay…”

Momo’s vague answer only made Saki even more confused.

♤♠♤♠♤

Whilst there was an unintentional hiccup, the Battle rehearsal continued.

Stolen story; please report.

Yamada, the new face, turned out to be a Shapeshifting esper. As the name implied, he was capable of changing the shape of his body, either to imitate other people or to transform into something else altogether.

As it turned out, he was the one who would be playing Craypon, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He didn’t put on a costume like how it usually was for tokusatsu, instead, he quite literally transformed into the 2 meter bipedal lobster monster. The majority of the monsters showing up in Eagle Rider was him.

Speaking of which, Yamada also doubled as a stunt-double. When he transformed into Takumi, Saki was grossed out when she saw him, wearing Takumi’s face, being so cheerful and speaking so animatedly.

There was also a significant change to the script. Instead of using a sword, for some reason, Takumi was now using two swords. If Jun were here, he’d make a retort “No, why did it increase?!”

The sword in his right hand was glowing in a golden-white light. Supposedly, it boosted his physical abilities and healed his allies, though it was all just setting that the writers of Doubutsu Rider made up.

The sword in his left hand was dripping jet-black darkness. Supposedly, the cut it inflicted never healed and it afflicted curses on his enemies, though, again, it was all just setting.

They named the sword of light Cahya, and the sword of darkness Gelap — Indonesian words for light and darkness respectively. Apparently, the writers were in the middle of an Indonesian craze.

By the way, it was Hayao’s agency who supplied the swords. The material was sturdy but lightweight, and of course, the blades were dull. They were, apparently, props for a character who didn’t make the cut.

In other words, they were merely using Takumi to recycle scraps they no longer needed.

“…are you really okay with this, Takumi-kun?”

Asked Saki, exasperated. Takumi, however, tilted his neck 45 degrees, not seeing the problem.

“It adds to the characterization, after all.”

He spoke, matter-of-factly. Momo, whose words he took literally without much thought, shook her head in exasperation.

In the end, the swords weren’t even being used that much. The in-universe reason was because Kou could always summon them anytime — which was actually just him turning them invisible then visible when needed — but the real reason was because Takumi was not used to swords at all, so they wanted to minimize the scene where he was using a sword.

The first scene was Takumi unsummoning — or turning invisible — the two swords as he expressed he didn’t want to fight. After a few minutes of fighting between Takumi’s holo-clones and Hayao, Craypon would show up out of nowhere and strike Hayao. Takumi then would summon — or turn visible — the sword of darkness, Gelap, and strike Craypon with it. Then, he would heal Hayao with the sword of light, Cahya, that he summoned next.

That was the gist of the script. Right now, they were practicing the “few minutes of fighting” part.

Takumi directed his 5 holo-clones to surround and attack Hayao. They were holograms, made of light, so even if their hit seemed to have landed, it wouldn’t have actually damaged Hayao.

However, Hayao still guarded against their attacks. He raised his right arm to protect his face when one of the clones unleashed a punch, and even flinched when the punch landed as if it actually had weight. He jumped back to evade a kick, but a clone who was behind him also unleashed a kick that Hayao couldn’t evade from. Hayao’s body was bent forward, as if he was actually pushed by the hologram clone.

When she thought that this was all an act by Hayao, Saki couldn’t help but admire Hayao’s deeply convincing performance.

The rehearsal ended with Craypon fleeing and Takumi and Hayao sharing a handshake.

Clap clap clap clap!

Saki and First Lieutenant Amamiya, the female JSDF soldier who was in agony hearing the Eagle Rider spoiler with Saki and Jun a few days ago, clapped their hands excitedly.

Speaking of which, First Lieutenant Amamiya was supposed to be stationed on the first floor along with Sergeant Abe like always, but it seemed like she couldn’t win against her curiosity and decided to skip her duty to watch the rehearsal.

“Even though it’s just rehearsal, this is the first time I’ve seen Redhawk in action live, and it’s very impactful! It’s amazing! Also, you made it look like the holograms’ hits actually hit you, what acting skill!”

“Yup! Yup!”

“Thank you! I appreciate it if you like it so much, it makes all the training worth it!”

Hayao accepted Saki’s and First Lieutenant Amamiya’s praises earnestly.

“That kick wasn’t an act, though! That was a hard kick on my back, I was genuinely surprised!”

Saying so, Hayao rolled up his shirt, revealing steel-hard, chiseled abs under it. However, it wasn’t those sweat-glistened alluring mounds of muscles that he wanted to show, but rather his similarly muscular back — and the red bruise on it.

“Eh?!”

Saki let out a surprised yelp, but she was drowned out by Takumi who apologized.

“Forgive me, Akabane-san. I couldn’t see the clone from my position, so I couldn’t control the movement well enough…”

“Don’t sweat it! It was behind me, while you’re in front of me, so I’m the one who blocked your vision. Besides, it’s only natural to get hurt in a Battle!”

“Wait, no, isn’t it weird?! Isn’t Takumi-kun’s power light-based, then how come the hologram managed to hurt Akabane-san?!”

Takumi and Hayao exchanged banter, but Saki interrupted with the most correct question.

“Huh, you’re right. Why is that?”

Asked Hayao, but Takumi could only tilt his head 45 degrees.

Takumi’s clones were just holograms, light being bent to give the illusion that there was another Takumi. There was simply no way for it to actually injure Hayao with its kick. If anything, the kick should’ve passed through Hayao.

It couldn’t have been Takumi himself since, as he mentioned, he was right in front of Hayao whilst the clone was behind Hayao. It couldn’t be Yamada shapeshifting as Takumi either, since Yamada had shapeshifted as Craypon and was on stand-by when that happened.

Meaning, it had to be a hologram and nothing else, and yet the bruise was real, alluding that it wasn’t just a hologram made of light.

In that confusing situation, everyone reflexively turned their heads to Amrita, seeking an answer from the assistant professor.

Amrita grumbled, then opened her mouth.

“…it’s probably something like a placebo effect. Human’s mind is powerful enough to affect the state of the body. There are cases of people recovering from sickness by digesting what they thought was a miracle drug but turned out to be just a lump of flour. Similarly, when he anticipates an attack from a real-looking hologram, his mind triggers a response that produces a bruise despite there’s no real physical intervention. That’s how he got that bruise from a hologram.”

Amrita finished explaining, before opening her mouth again to give additional information.

“Before you say something stupid like not going to the doctor to eat flour to heal from a cold or something, placebo effect is extremely rare and has only been observed affecting mind-related conditions such as pain management, psychiatric conditions, and parkinson’s disease. I don’t want to be held responsible, take proper medicine from your doctor when you’re sick.”

“Heeh.”

When Amrita said something self-serving, Saki let out an admired voice. That was an ample explanation, she thought.

But then, Momo spoke up, challenging Amrita.

“Kou-kun’s kick is from behind Red-kun, though. How could Red-kun anticipate an attack from a place he couldn’t see?”

“…it’s a scripted attack, right? He probably already knew he was going to be kicked.”

“You’re right, but seeing what happened, it seemed to Momo that Red-kun was surprised when he was kicked.”

“…”

“But, sure, maybe a bruise could be explained by the placebo effect, but what about a cut wound? Daniel-kun’s face was cut open by a dull wooden katana wielded by Kou-kun, do you think the placebo effect can create an open wound? Maybe the surface tension of Daniel-kun’s skin was playing a part, but Momo wasn’t sure that was enough.”

“…what are you getting at?”

Amrita growled. For the first time, Saki saw emotion on Amrita’s usually disinterested face.

“Momo is just saying that not everything needs to be explained by physics. Amu-chan, you’re too narrow-minded and too fixated on what you already know. If you do, you can lose sight of the truth before you, you know? Besides, who said that Kou-kun’s ability is just manipulating light? Maybe his Equinox is more than just light and darkness.”

“Then tell me, Momoka Momo, what is your conclusion? If not physics, then how can you explain what is happening?”

Amrita challenged Momo back. Then, as if predicting that, Momo answered.

“When God created the world, He said ‘Let there be light.’ —Perhaps Kou-kun’s Equinox does not relate to the state of lighting, but the state of existence. His Light half reflects the existence of matter, and his Dark half reflects the non-existence of matter.”

“Oh please, don’t bring up religion nonsense into this.”

Amrita looked fed up, but Momo wasn’t done.

“Then explain why we understand each other even though we’re talking in different languages this whole time. Isn’t this proof that EXP zones are the state of the world before the Tower of Babel was built?”

“…? Momo-chan, what do you mean we’re talking in different languages? Isn’t Chaudhary-san speaking Japanese like we are?”

Asked Saki, confused. She had been conversing a lot with Amrita before, and while there were times she couldn’t understand the big words the Indian woman was using, there wasn’t a time she didn’t understand the language she was speaking in.

However, the one who dropped the big bombshell was Amrita.

“I’ve been speaking in Hindi. I can’t speak Japanese whatsoever.”

“EEHH?!?!?!?!”

Saki let out an exclamation. Even Takumi looked genuinely surprised to learn that.

However, it seemed that they were the only ones who didn’t know that, as the rest of the people in the Sago House EXP zone didn’t seem surprised.

“Th-then, how did we talk just fine this whole time?!”

“Momo told you, it’s the Tower of Babel.”

“Hah! Religion is just a lazy excuse uneducated people lean towards to explain what they don’t understand.”

Momo and Amrita entered a heated argument.

Upon closer look, the movement of Amrita’s lips didn’t match the words that entered Saki’s ears. She really was speaking a language that wasn’t Japanese.

“…there’s still so much we don’t know about EXP zones, huh.”

Concluded Saki, and Takumi nodded at that.

Speaking of which, Saki asked Amrita to heal Hayao, but Amrita said that she was off duty and thus refused. Hayao was later healed by Yamada’s shapeshifting ability that let him control the state of the body.