After a day of rolling around painfully in bed while I should be in class, the door opens, and an entire group of people spill through the doorway, falling and piling up on the floor. I practically jump out of my skin at the crash, then quickly wrap my blanket around myself.

“Sei, are you alright?!” Completely ignoring their own predicament, a few of them call out to me together.

“I'm fine, I'm fine,” I wave at them, even though just moving hurts. Eventually, they manage to sort themselves out, all crowding around me. Wait, are there more faces here than before...?

Ignoring that, I give a brief explanation of what happened without getting into the details, since there are a whole bunch of people here not in the know, and even more from the dorm floor gathered around our open door to listen...

After I'm done with the recap, everyone starts chatting, and I'm sure the rumors are already sweeping through the dorms like wildfire.

That is, right up until everyone freezes. Oh no... Moments later, Leona walks in through our open door.

“Good evening, Seiko,” she says flatly, ice cold again, while everyone stares at her with huge, terrified eyes. I do my best to remember how she acted once everyone's eyes weren't on her, and raise a nervous hand in greeting.

“Hi, Leona.” Calling her like that raises a lot of brows.

Wading through the crowd like they don't even exist, Leona says, “About what we spoke of earlier-”

“W-wait! Ack!” I frantically wave my hands to stop her before it sends me into a coughing fit. Even so, I look pointedly at all the people around us. Why would she talk about that here?

Leona scowls at me, her look telling me I'm being stupid, and I cringe away. “As I was saying. About what we spoke of earlier: I'm going to take you somewhere to deal with that now.” Oh, duh, of course she wouldn't actually discuss it in front of everyone.

“Can you walk?” Even though she asks, she has this look in her eye that tells me not to try acting tough like earlier.

“No, I, uhh, can't...” I mumble, already blushing because I know what that means she's going to do.

“Alright, let's go.” With one step forward, she grabs my blanket to pull it away, and I jolt. Her hand stops, and in just a moment, all we use are our eyes to convey that I'm basically naked under the blanket. It's not like I could get up to change.

The moment passes, and she leans down low, sweeping me up off the bed in one move, blanket and all.

“Uhh, guess I'll be back later?” I call out to my friends as she carries me from the room.

“Wait, hold on!” more than a few people yell, and then there's a big commotion behind us, with a whole crowd toppling back out of our room before my friends break away to catch up with us.

“U-uhh, I'm sorry, Vicca-san, but where are you taking Sei?” Ken asks as he approaches from behind, but he stays a few steps back, clearly not wanting to come too close.

“I take it you're Seiko's friend? I'm taking Seiko to get looked at,” she gives a curt reply. I throw a thumbs up over her shoulder to let him know I'm fine with this, and he nods.

“Alright, please, just be careful with him. I haven't seen him this hurt in a really long time, you know?” I catch the way Leona winces, but she shows no sign of it when she turns partway back to look at him.

“I apologize, I forget sometimes how fragile non-psions are. I will be extra careful with Seiko from now on.”

“That's all I can ask, I guess.” He has to shrug, unable to make demands of a psion.

With that, my friends fall back, letting Leona continue to carry me off. Despite the late hour, she hikes us back across campus, to the transport terminal. “Where are we going?” I ask uncertainly as she fiddles with her mobile to set our destination. She's holding me in her lap with her free hand, sitting on a bench to wait for the shuttle to arrive. This position is really awkward and embarrassing, but at least there's no one else around to see...

“Local psion headquarters, we should be able to check out your body and see if we can find any clue whether it was a psion power that caused this, and possibly, what sort of power it was.”

I nod slowly. That sounds good, it's about as much as I hoped for when I went to her for help.

As always, it's a short wait before a shuttle comes. She carries me up on, and I jolt when I see how packed it is. Of course, all the eyes of the other passengers gravitate toward us in an instant.

It's not every day you see a supermodel beauty walk on holding... God, I must look like a disaster with my thrown about hair, bandages on my face, and everything else wrapped in a fuzzy blanket...

----------------------------------------

The trip takes a long while. It looks like we're heading all the way to Meridan Center City, two hours out from the school. Leona ends up cradling me in her arms, and I feel strangely safe, despite her almost accidentally killing me earlier. I wonder why...?

It's pretty late at night already, and I actually end up drifting off against her chest. Leona has to shake me lightly before I rouse. She murmurs that we're here, and carries me off the shuttle.

“The office is a bit of a walk, just hang in there for a little longer,” she says absentmindedly, trotting at a quick pace.

I'm still heavily fatigued, probably from all my injuries, but I look up and around anyway. I've never actually been to Meridan Center City before. The tech level is a dozen steps beyond the outlying area where most of us actually live.

The buildings are all enormous, towering structures of super alloys, plastic composites, and nonsensical honeycomb substructures pioneered by some foreign scientist who keeps building towers into space...

Staring up at them from ground level, the scale and engineering is unbelievable. They all crawl by as we move about in their shadows, the steady neon glow of their bases providing plenty of light to make up for the lack of sun during the day. Even in the middle of the night, visibility is perfect.

Despite the hour, the city is pretty active, with shuttles running every which way on elevated roads tucked between levels of interlocked skyscrapers. We travel on the ground though. Down here, it's all smooth stone, flat concrete in and around the buildings spanning the sky overhead.

Even with the buzz of activity above, the ground is deserted, everyone opting for other methods of transit. Why are we walking anyway? When I ask, Leona sighs.

“Because the nearest shuttle transit terminal is an annoying distance from our office. It's a big dead zone, something about city zoning regulations,” and she rolls her eyes. “Normally I'd just run, but I promised to be gentle.”

Cheeks heating, I glance away. “...Thanks.”

We make it quite a ways further, before a non-autonomous ground car rolls up on our left with bright flashing lights. I squint into them as a pair of massive men in heavily armored uniforms pull themselves from inside.

...Police...?

Leona stops in place, looking them up and down, and I can feel her tensing up.

“We received reports of a suspicious person traveling through here,” one of the cops calls, standing like a dozen paces away from us, remaining in the car's open door. “What are you doing out here at this time of night?”

“On our way to psi-ops,” Leona answers evenly.

“Identification?” Leona responds to his request by tossing her mobile over to him. He scans it, and visibly flinches, before passing it back.

“Leona Vicca?” He clears his throat and immediately sounds more polite. “Understood, ma'am. However...” he hesitates, before asking, “who is that you're carrying? She looks injured.”

“Uhh, sorry, I forgot my mobile,” I speak up dumbly. It's not like I had the time to bring anything with me, even clothes...

“Seiko Maka, Meridan County High School, first year, class C. A classmate of mine,” Leona reports succinctly. “Seiko is related to my psi-ops business tonight. I'm not permitted to say any more.”

“Of course, ma'am, thank you for your time.” The cop cuts it off right there. They retreat back into their car and drive off.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Once they're gone, Leona sighs, and the tension goes out of her arms. A weight leaves my chest, and it's easier to breathe all of a sudden.

“What was that about?” I ask as she starts on her way again.

“Policing here is really strict and all the cops are way too trigger happy. Something about city politics, I don't really want to think about it.”

“O-oh...”

“I'm going to speed up, hold on.” I do as instructed, holding tight to her chest despite the screaming protests of my muscles, and Leona rapidly increases her pace, racing toward our destination far faster than before.

I guess this is how she normally avoids the police, by getting around faster than they can respond...

Before I know it, make it to the base of one building, indistinguishable from all the rest except by the oversized letters etched into the wall beside the door.

'Psionic Operations – Meridan Division.'

The large doors automatically slide open, parting at our approach, and stone turning to sharp, echoing tile as we cross the threshold. There's a smooth marbled welcome desk, with a woman sitting behind. “Back already, Vicca-san?”

“Yes. I'll be heading to Mejja's level.”

“Of course, I'll call the lift now.”

“Thank you.” Their clipped conversation ends without any further comment, and the brunette woman hardly even glances at me. She just returns to whatever she's working on behind her desk.

Leona's footsteps click evenly across the floor as she approaches a flat white slab of wall. She stops for a few moments, before I pick up the faint rumbling as it approaches.

Then the doors open, sliding aside to allow us to enter. But... why is the lift big enough to fit like, an entire shuttle?

Once we are situated in the center of the weirdly massive lift, the doors close again, and I feel the slight shake as we start to descend. We're going down from ground level, not up?

Soon enough, we stop with a small jolt, and the doors open.

“Ahh, Vicca, you're here,” a man's voice comes from further inside.

“Hey, Mejja,” she calls back, suddenly sounding a lot less... cool and business-like than usual. Why does she act so stern most of the time?

“Come in, come in,” the man calls, as he moves past, between the long tables scattered about the room that immediately reminds me of some sort of chemistry lab. It has the dark tile floor, and the same high, standing-height tables. And all sorts of unfamiliar, scientific-looking tools strewn about every surface.

Even the man that appears as we enter the lab immediately gives off a distinct mad scientist vibe. He has the classic white lab coat, and his spiky green hair is unruly, like he hasn't bothered dealing with it lately.

He steps up with a quick gait. “Aalin Mejja.”

“Seiko Maka,” I return the quick greeting.

“Good to meet you, Vicca mentioned bringing someone...” he starts, eyeing me, before Leona comes in to fill him in further.

“Seiko is the one related to the recent psi tremor. Could you run some scans? We're looking for latent psi traces, energy anomalies, anything really.”

“You got it. Come on.” He waves us forward, face showing both surprise and elation at the news before he turns away. We trot through the lab, soon arriving at a very odd looking box near the back, with all sorts of thick wires and unknown tubes connected, shooting up to the low ceiling and down into the floor below.

Mejja unlatches and opens a metal sliding door on one end of the large box, and looking inside, I realize that it's kind of like a coffin...

It must be how they're going to check me, I guess. Despite my reservations being shoved into a strange coffin box, I go without protest. Leona slides me in, pulling away the blanket as she does, and they latch the door closed afterward.

You know what? This isn't that bad. It's clearly made for people like double my size, so it's not even that claustrophobic in here. It's actually kind of roomy.

Suddenly, Leona's voice pipes in through a speaker somewhere. “Alright, Seiko, please hold very still. And please be patient, this could take a while.”

Doing as she says, I... don't do anything. I just lie still and wait as a noticeable electric buzz fills the box around me. The lights inside come to life, glowing purple like a sort of black light. I don't notice it at first, but the air starts to get heavier too, like it's pressing in. It makes even this roomy box feel pretty tight and enclosing.

Still, it's not like I really care about that. I'm more focused on my stomach. I haven't had anything to eat since this morning, so it's actually starting to rumble at me pretty badly. I'd completely forgotten about it until now...

At least I don't have to pee.

Despite there being nothing to do or focus on, the heavy pressure and slight chill in the air keep me pretty alert. It doesn't help that I'm still dressed in nothing but bandages, not the best for staying warm.

The time really starts to stretch on. Leona wasn't kidding. Even with time going slow when you're bored, I can tell that I've been in here a long time.

But, it can't go on forever.

...Right?

----------------------------------------

At long last, the pressure relents and the buzzing quiets. The light fades out. Good thing too, even closed up like that, I was starting to lose the fight with sleep, and I'm positively ravenous.

Soon after, they open up the door and Leona pulls me back out.

“Good job, Seiko,” Leona praises me while wrapping my blanket back around me. Then she turns to Mejja, who's leaning down onto a counter and staring blankly at a screen, one hand scratching absently at his short and scruffy green beard.

After just a minute, he clearly gives up one whatever he's thinking about, and throws his hands up. Then he turns to us. “Maka-san, I'd like to request you stay here for further observation.”

“Sure.” He blinks, clearly surprised by my quick decision. But really, what am I supposed to say to the only people who might be able to figure out what happened to my body, 'no?'

He clears his throat. “Alright, I have data to analyze and you're clearly tired. There are some cots in the back for sleeping-”

“U-uhh?” I make a sound and raise my hand to interrupt.

“Yes?”

“Sorry, could I, uhh, get some food? I haven't eaten in forever so I'm really starving.” Especially after an extra like, day or two in that box. “And... maybe some clothes?”

That draws a grimace from Leona and a laugh from Mejja, What's with those different reactions?

“Sorry, Seiko, I didn't think about food at all on the way over,” she apologizes. Oh, that's why.

“No, it's fine, I was the idiot who didn't feed myself.”

Leona quirks a brow. “You can't even walk.”

That silences my protests momentarily, but then I cross my arms and look away. “Hmph! I can, it just hurts a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mejja cuts in. “I've got a lot of work to do, you two. Get, get.” And he waves his hands to shoo us from his lab.

I rebelliously try to walk a couple steps, and it actually hurts a bit less than I expected, before Leona sweeps me up again anyway.

“...Stubborn...” she grumbles. Why is she pouting?!

We head to a different level of their headquarters, arriving at a supply area, where Leona drops my blanket and throws me into an oversized white shirt so big it reaches my knees, and a white lab coat that practically falls off me. Then we shoot up to ground level again.

“Getting food, we'll be right back,” Leona calls to the woman at the desk. While she continues to carry me through the neon streets, one thing quickly becomes apparent. I don't have any underwear on! And it's not like a big shirt does much to cover me up down there when she's holding me like this...

The best I can do is keep my legs together for now.

Thankfully, we walk into a place within a couple minutes, some burger place tucked into the fourteenth floor of a nearby building. The scent of meat and grease that washes over me has me drooling in an instant. God, I'm so hungry...

After setting me down in the booth, Leona taps out both of our orders on her mobile, since I don't have mine. I wait impatiently, stomach growling louder and louder the longer we stay here like this.

After the agonizing wait of a few minutes, a waitress appears with our meal. As she reaches our table, she jolts a little, blinking down at me. What a sight I must be... Dirty and bandaged, in these hugely oversized clothes. Sitting across from Leona Vicca.

Then my stomach releases yet another painfully loud growl, shocking the waitress back into motion. She's hardly even stepped back from the table when I dig in, absolutely chowing down on the burger with one ravenous bite after another.

The delicious meat and cheese, the bread. Oh god, this is incredible... I make it halfway through the burger before I stop to breathe and take a drink of my soda, cutting short when the surface of the glass feels wrong under my fingers. Too slippery.

That's when I realize I have burger grease all over my hands. And face. And arms. And shirt.

“Seiko...” Leona offers me a handful of napkins with an awkward expression, and that's when I notice the waitress hasn't even moved, and is staring at me in shock.

“I think I... was a little too hungry...” I mumble, whole face flushed as I start working to wipe myself down with napkins. This might be a lost cause...

Thinking as much, I look meekly up at the waitress and ask, “Umm, do you have a toilet?”

Nodding numbly, she points me over and I scurry inside as fast as possible.

I have to wash my whole face and hands up to my forearms with soap and hot water to get all the grease off. It goes all the way down my chin and neck and chest too...

Returning to the front of the restaurant, I slide back into my seat. “S-sorry about that...”

“No, I'm sorry I didn't get you food earlier,” Leona apologizes right back. From there, I finish off the rest of my food without smearing it all over myself like a wild animal, and finally sit back, somewhat painfully overstuffed, but absolutely content anyway.

It's weird, even though my body didn't really change much, I still can't eat quite as much as I used to. Whatever, don't care. It's happy sleepy time.

Leona scoops me up from my seat, shifting me to one arm this time so I can rest my head on her shoulder. She gives a sincere thanks to the worried waitress, then carries me back out. We don't even make it back to her office before I'm out cold.