The Cost of Seeing People’s Heart: Rin’s Monologue
Everyone wears a mask. That’s something I’ve always believed through my own experiences with people. They disguise themselves behind false personas created for the sole purpose of appeasing their peers. One might say it’s the only way we can live with each other without conflict.
But even when someone puts on a mask, they aren’t able to fully hide their real selves. Parts of those so-called undesirable traits always manage to leak out at the most unexpected times. Yet, we always give each other a pass. ‘Maybe he wasn’t feeling well that day,’ ‘Maybe she’s just hungry’—anything was better than facing the truth standing in front of us: the more we think we understand someone, the less we actually do.
As someone who takes pleasure in observing others, I was quite confident in catching those subtle changes (mostly because of my authority), piecing them together, and constructing a person’s real self. But lately, I was starting to hate this crafty skill of mine.
It all started when I was finally able to meet him, the boy who was said to have been cursed by the gods themselves to forever have messy hair.
Like seriously, brush your damn hair!
It was the first time in my life that I’d met someone like him (not someone with messy hair), someone so detached from himself that he seemed like a walking doll. It was as if he’d fully convinced himself with all his being that he was not himself, and that he was merely controlling this body of his. His reckless actions seemed to reflect my theory when I saw his interaction with the student council.
When I finally thought I’d seen him slip, I tried to pry into his heart but immediately regretted it. Even as a warm smile appeared on his face, it felt like my heart was being thoroughly squeezed. This was what he felt.
Why?
A tear rolled down my face as I poured more water on myself, washing it away while happily laughing. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. No, this thing beating inside my chest. I wanted to get rid of it. I wanted to die.
Why does his heart hurt so much?
***
Ian POV
After everyone on the team demonstrated their powers, we decided to do our training separately. With how secretive everyone was about their authority, it was no surprise they wouldn’t want to be watched while training.
It was finally time to get stronger.
================
Name: Ian
Title: Regressor
Strength: 22
Stamina: 24
Speed: 21
Agility: 25
Intelligence: 39
Magic: 35
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
==============
Authority:
[Time Perception Lv. 9 (Evolved)] — Allows manipulation of how the user or targeted individuals can perceive time.
[Time Lv. 1] — Allows the user mastery over all time-related magic.
Special Skills:
[Status Lv. 5] — Allows the user to view the status of everything in universal numeric metrics.
Unique Skills:
[Object Perception Lv. 9] — Allows the user to directly manipulate how objects perceive time through acceleration or deceleration.
[Regress Lv. 1] — Allows the user to revive after death. [Restriction] — memories of the past life are completely erased.
[Recall Lv. 1] — Allows the user to perfectly recall everything they have seen, heard, or experienced at least once in the past.
[Future Sight Lv. 1] — Allows the user to see 0.5 seconds into the future.
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
[??? Lv.??] - ???
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
=================
No change.
In the past week, I’d been brainstorming a lot about my new abilities and how I could fully utilize them. To that end, it seemed like I would need to change my main weapon. I wasn’t bad with a sword, but I also wasn’t incredibly talented.
This was something I’d already thought of in the future from the moment my skill evolved, but because there wasn’t much freedom to try new things on the battlefield, I had put the idea on hold.
With such thoughts in mind, I made my way to the training grounds armory. As I entered the room, multiple weapons of every kind were stacked in all directions. Further inside, a student sat behind a counter, reading a book. He seemed to be in charge of supervising the place. I gave him a small nod in greeting, and he returned it without saying a word.
After walking around for a few minutes, I finally made a choice and went to the counter to swipe my student card. When the boy saw the weapon I had in hand, he was momentarily confused, looking up at me with a worried expression, and asked,
“Are you sure?” he asked, and I simply nodded. The reason he was surprised was that the weapon I was carrying wasn’t a common choice among mages. It was more of a weapon for those with weak magic: a gun.
After leaving the armory, I went to one of the training ranges where multiple students were practicing with a bow. It looked like a huge bowling alley with multiple rows, but the difference was that there were targets to shoot down at different distances. Some looked like wooden humans, while others mimicked monsters of different sizes. As I curiously looked around, the students seemed to stop what they were doing and turned to look at me with confused faces.
“Is that guy for real?”
“Shh. Dude, that’s the leader of class C.”
“W-what? Really?”
A lot of the students seemed to recognize me, keeping their heads low and staying away. It was good; the last thing I wanted was to run into trouble with people I didn’t even know. It seemed like I wouldn’t have to wait that long for the next part of my plan against Tim. As I had such thoughts, I focused on the gun in my hand. It was already loaded, so all I needed to do was fire.
A bullet faster than the eye could see.
If I’m able to reproduce the same speed I used against Eliana during the placement exams, then in theory, I could instantly kill someone before they could even react. At the time, I had used up the rest of my remaining mana to make it go that fast, but if I’d done it earlier, I could have made the sword go even faster.
Unfortunately, I would still need to find a way to deal with people who had auto-defense skills like Eliana. Maybe [Future Sight] would help with that? If I’m able to see how their authority reacts, then I might be able to form a more adaptive strategy.
Authorities that protected their users.
Would Time magic evolve that far?
I calmed my mind and operated the holographic interface at one of the rows. After picking a fairly simple target and a range of 100 meters, I immediately took aim with one hand.
I then placed my index finger on the trigger and prepared to cast [Object Perception] on the gun. This should, by extension, affect the speed of the bullet. I then pulled the trigger while simultaneously casting [Object Perception], exponentially accelerating the speed of the action.
Bang~! My right eye suddenly darkened as loud ringing assaulted my ears. A sharp pain followed as a hot sensation spread across my face as if doused with hot water. My knees weakened as I fell to the ground, and the gun slipped from my hands.
Huh?
It was only then that I realized the state of my hand. My thumb and trigger finger were missing, while my hand and the rest of my arm were charred in a mix of blood and burning flesh. My breathing became erratic the moment I saw this.
Did it explode?
My vision darkened as I lost consciousness.