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The Awakened World
Vol. 3, Ch. 85: School Restroom

Vol. 3, Ch. 85: School Restroom

I stalk through the halls, empty as they may appear. The classes are in session and very few people should be out here.

So, reminded that Empowered Senses are a blessing and curse, I find the restrooms. The boys' bathroom smells like urine and…cherry? The girls' smells like blood, spit, and…perfume.

I peek inside, finding an empty restroom. Stalls open, except one, decorated with graffiti. Muffled crying can be heard from within the only closed stall, and I can sense…distress and confusion.

I gently knock on the stall, only for it to slowly swing open under the force. It wasn't locked? Uh oh.

There's a human girl in here. Blonde hair, green eyes. Not emerald, but more…dark. Like cooked asparagus. Her hair kinda reminds me of butter, too… I think I'm hungry.

Oh, she's also naked and crying. Yeah, I should mention that first. I'd say she's about 15 years old, paler skin than what should be normal, and a set of B-cup breasts.

What is with me today?

"Uh—" I don't know how to deal with this situation. "Are you okay?"

She sits up, shocked at my presence. She didn't notice me. Covering herself up the best she can with her arms. "I- I don't know!" What. She doesn't know?

I kneel in front of her, glancing around for her clothes, only for none to be found. The questions just keep piling up, huh. "How did you get…in this situation?" I ask slowly, wording things carefully.

"I- I- Uh- I was washing my hands," she says, massaging her temples. "Then, I was here. Naked. It wasn't even a second! Did I lose my memories? Did something else happen? I don't know!" Okay. Now she's hyperventilating. Luckily, Clairvoyance allows me to project thoughts onto another person—including emotions.

She begins calming down as my apathetic nature collides with her panic. In the meantime, I'm going to use Mind Delve on her. If I had more skill, or skills, I could probably just probe her to see if anything is off. However, I don't have those skills.

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I blink. I'm still in the school. No, wait, something's off.

Everything is just slightly more neon, the light is a little brighter, and I think I hear the faint sounds of a boy band in the distance. I'm on her Conscious plane. Her…technicolored plane.

Okay, so this should be recent memories, and she wasn't in the restroom. Classroom perhaps? I have a feeling it should be…this way.

I wander through the halls, at least the school map stills matches the real world. Except for the, uh, halls that lead into the void. Does she just follow the same path each day? Probably.

Following the illuminated halls, ignoring the noise reminiscent of directionless chatter, and the faint scent of cotton candy, I find the only unlocked door. I definitely didn't try each and every door on my way here.

Inside are the generic friend group, as in: there's the girl whose head I'm in, and there are three replicas of her that are faceless and have droning voices.

"Yeah, I can't believe Mrs. Archimedes has been out for so long. We've, like, had a sub every day," she punctuates her sentence with a smack of her lips. I- Did Sophia every mention teaching at her daughter's school? I feel like she may have, but it's slipping my mind.

It's probably not important if I don't remember.

"Yeah!" Her friend agrees in a muffled, white noise-like voice. "I'm worried how that project will be graded if she isn't here."

"The plushie one? I'll be fine," she responds with a puff of her chest. She rests her elbow on her desk when her face grimaces. "Shit, I just touched something slimy."

Second, not counting the main one, girl gasps. "Maybe it's some kid's gross boogers!"

"Ugh. Disgusting."

She gets permission from the nonexistent teacher and goes back down the path I just traversed to the bathroom.

She washes her hands, then even while I'm staring, she disappears. I gaze to my left, looking into the stall where I found her. She grapples at the wall, finding no hold, then promptly shutting the door closed.

I got…very little out of that. I do know that nothing related to the mind happened, just an instinct.

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[ Through repeated actions skill: Mind Delve(Minimum, Active) has ranked up to Mind Delve(Minor, Active) ]

I swipe the message away with my eyes, turning my attention back to the naked girl…beneath me. Right. Naked. I should get her to the nurse's office, but there's a glaring problem. The aforementioned one.

"Wait right here, please," I command to the shivering girl.

The second I'm out the restroom, I'm sprinting down the hall. The wind rushes past my ears at my immense speed. The fur on my tail straightens under the surrounding air pressure. I've…never realized how much I've grown over the last month, or so.

It's exhilarating. Freeing. All away from…

Anyway. A quick grab of a towel, leaving behind a very confused nurse, and a return to the restroom, results in my carrying of a girl in a princess carry across the school.

I kick the door back open; a screech of metal rings out as the door's bolt is sheared off. Oops. "Who-?!" The nurse begins, but he quickly shuts up when he sees the prone girl in my arms. "Lay her here," he commands, pointing to a 'bed.'

I sit in the corner, ruminating. Something is strange. Many things are, but even more what happened to this girl. I hope she'll be…alright for the most part. I'd see trauma in her future for sure, but that's my un-medical opinion.

It's not any mental manipulation. I'm mostly sure of that. I could get a demon to check for me, but that's taxpayer money. Well, if this is a repeated occurrence, I'm sure I can convince the accountant to scrounge up funds for a demon. There's no heroes in the district that can use Psychic abilities anyway.

Maybe the villains do? I'll have to ask Thomas.

Back to the girl, it's almost as if she teleported, but between the blink, uh, things happened. Like there was a lot of time between the blink. Time…

Oh. Oh no. I'm, uh, way outta my depth here. Let's just…make a report first. Take the girl's statement, and, uh, reverse that order.