28 Chapter 28 Surprise

We were now on the morning of the 29th of May, and something unusual was happening at the moment, it was morning and yet, for some reason, Tatsurou wasn't sleeping in his room, it was rather strange, just where was he?

The answer to this question was actually pretty simple, but to get it, we had to go to the garden of the apartment complex.

And there was Tatsurou, wearing his school's black and white tracksuit, but make no mistake Tatsurou wasn't up this early to exercise and bask in the morning sun, he was doing something quite different.

"Alright! Let's try it again!" Tatsurou said as he took a deep breath, and as he finished, he stretched his right arm forward, and began screaming like he was trying to unlock some hidden power of sorts, after a little while he stooped.

"Damn it! I couldn't do it again!" Tatsurou said as he looked at his right hand with a disappointed face as he sighed.

"Tatsurou-chan, Tatsurou-chan, what are you doing?" A cute sleepy voice said from behind Tatsurou, which made him jolt a bit upon hearing it.

"Oh! G-Good morning Wise-san." Tatsurou said as he turned around and saw Wise that was wearing a white tank top and black leggings, but the things that stood out were her sleepy face, her tail and ears that were pointing down, and her black fur and silver hair that was really messy.

"Say Tatsurou-chan, aren't you a bit too old to be playing turning Super Saiyan, especially so early in the morning?" Wise said as she yawned with her eyes closed while she scratched her head, this remark made Tatsurou blush a bit.

"N-No you're getting the wrong idea, Wise-san, I wasn't playing anything like that!" Tatsurou said with an embarrassed tone, towards Wise as he blushed.

"Then, what are you doing?" Wise asked a bit curious.

"Well...I...it's complicated..." Tatsurou said as he avoided looking at Wise.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering anyone with this" Tatsurou said as he did bow towards Wise to apologize, she just smiled.

"Well, the walls here are a bit thick, so the neighbors won't complain about the noise, but me on the other hand, I can hear everything thanks to these!" Wise said as she pointed at her ears while she moved them.

"You told me about your good hearing once, but just how good is it?" Tatsurou asked a bit curious as he looked at Wise that was still moving her ears around.

"It's so good, that I have to cover them by wearing a beanie when I sleep! Or else I ear everything that happens..." Wise said with a smug tone, Tatsurou just looked at her with an impressed face.

"But thanks to a certain someone, now I have to sleep with one ear out so if there's a problem I can do something, instead of waking up to a very unpleasant surprise..." Wise said as she looked at Tatsurou and remembered the outcome of the fight Tatsurou had in the complex more or less two weeks ago with Wilma.

"I'm...very sorry about that..." Tatsurou said in an apologetic tone towards Wise that just smiled again.

"The insurance covered the damages that were made to the wall and you don't have to be like that, I'm not angry, I'm happy that you're ok, and after all that happened because you wanted to protect Shirayuki-chan, from that evil woman!" Wise said with a reassuring tone as she looked at Tatsurou, that was a bit embarrassed with what she said.

"Well, I just couldn't stay still and not do anything, when she needed my help, I'm sorry for what happened and for the way I acted towards you..." Tatsurou said as he looked away from Wise that got a mischievous smile on her face.

"I think there was more that, for you to act the way you did!" Wise said as she gave a mischievous look at Tatsurou and smiled.

"What do you mean with that?" Tatsurou asked a bit curious, after wise's remark.

"You know what I mean, after all, you were quite depressed..." Wise said as she giggled a bit, it was at this moment that Tatsurou understood what she meant.

"I-I already told you it's nothing like that!!!" Tatsurou said as he blushed from ear to ear, Wise just laughed like an idiot.

"You're too obvious and not convincing anyone like that, Tatsurou-chan!" Wise said as she kept laughing, making Tatsurou even more embarrassed.

"I don't need to stay and hear you're crazy ideas!" Tatsurou said as he began walking away still embarrassed with Wise's remarks, and as he walked away to his apartment, he could still hear Wise laughing.

"That Wise, why does she have to say those kinds of things!" Tatsurou thought as he kept blushing and thinking about her remarks.

"I like Shirayuki but I don't think about her like that...who am I kidding, just like Wise said, I'm "too obvious and not convincing anyone" with my reactions..." Tatsurou thought as he blushed even more.

"Well she probably sees me as just a friend, so it's mostly pointless to tell her and I don't want to make things awkward..." Tatsurou said as sighed a bit depressed if he only knew.

"Now stop thinking like that Tatsurou, there are other things you should be worried about!" Tatsurou said as he began climbing the stairs to his apartment while remembering the conversation he had with Emma when he was discharged from the hospital on the 25th of May...

On that day in the morning in Emma's office, she was sitting in the chair behind her desk, wearing her usual fancy clothes under her lab coat and Tatsurou was sitting in a chair in front of her wearing a black hoodie and jeans.

"NO WAY! Are you serious?" Emma asked with a tone filled with both surprise and shock that echoed through the halls of district 4's public hospital as she got up from the chair she was sitting on, while she placed her hands on it.

"Yes I am, why would I lie to you, Emma-san!" Tatsurou said as he cleaned his ear with his finger after hearing Emma literally shouting her question at him.

"Excuse me, but this is quite the shock you know, I would never have guessed that your powers were actually magic-related and not esper..." Emma said as she took her seat again still with an impressed tone as she kept looking Tatsurou, that had just told her what Marie told him about his power.

"Honestly 9 years of research and studying down the drain, why didn't thought about it, dang it, I need a smoke!" Emma said with a depressed tone as she took a pack of cigarettes from her coat.

"I reacted a bit like that it was quite the shock, to be honest..." Tatsurou said as he looked at Emma that was already lighting up her cigarette

"I would never have guessed that, just what is the meaning of this? I don't even know what to do with this, who told you to have such a complicated power!" Emma said as she took a puff from her cigar while she scratched her head.

"You and me both Emma-san...Hey, don't go ahead and say that! You better than anyone now that I didn't choose this power!" Tatsurou said with an angry tone as he crossed his arms.

"Hush now, we don't have time to be impressed, we have to understand how it works, before anything else!" Emma said with a determined tone and expression as she looked at Tatsurou.

"You're right but where do we start?" Tatsurou asked a bit curious as he sighed for Emma ignoring him.

"Well first off, the way you're power works, since we believed, up until now that it was an esper power that enhanced your strength and speed, you used it with levels in mind, with that said you have 4 levels, right?" Emma said as she looked at Tatsurou that nodded in agreement to her, and that was true Tatsurou used and controlled his power thanks to a level system, that was advised that he used by Hime and Yumeko 9 years ago, this system consisted of 4 levels that were identified by the way Tatsurou looked when he used them.

"So the 4 levels are the following, level 1 your eyes become blue and you have a light blue aura over you, level 2 your eyes become red, level 3 you keep the red eyes but a black aura appears during that, and level 4 is the line you refuse to cross, and we don't know much about it, unfortunately..." Emma said as she used her fingers to count the levels.

"That is right..." Tatsurou said as he nodded with his head.

"We also know that you're power and levels depending on the level doesn't change much from the idea of strength and speed enhancement and that they are also influenced by your emotions..." Emma said as she took another puff from her cigarette, while she scratched her wavy greyish blond hair.

"Also right, and that is the reason why I always use and prefer level 1, like that I still have some control over my actions and strength..." Tatsurou said as he looked down and remembered the fights he had up until now, and as we had witnessed this was true, as his emotions played a big part in the way he talked, fought, and used his power in general.

"So if we look at all that it was quite obvious to assume you're power was a strength and speed enhancement type, a very common one between espers, how it is ranked as magic is beyond me..." Emma said as she placed her right hand on her forehead.

"To be fair I don't get it I give up..." Emma said as she sighed this shocked Tatsurou when he heard it.

"Wait a second you can't give up so easily! I counting on you here!" Tatsurou said with a worried tone as he looked at Emma.

"I'm just kidding Kurokami-kun, You know that I don't give up just like that!" Emma said as she laughed at Tatsurou's reaction he just looked away from her.

"But I did suspect that there was more to it" she said as she rubbed her chin.

"You suspected something?" Tatsurou asked curiously with Emma's remark as he looked at her again.

"Well, you remember that gauntlet that appeared in you're right hand, the other day?" Emma asked this and Tatsurou just nodded with his head, but how could he forget, this gauntlet appeared out of nowhere and then was the one that destroyed Excalibur in the fight between him and Kay and it was also what finished that fight.

"I talked with a friend of the General Magic Studies District, about a gauntlet suddenly appearing on the arm of an esper, that friend told me that for something like that to happen the person in question had to be a magic-user, not an esper, but I rejected that idea, as I didn't want to believe that I wasted 9 years, following a wrong lead, and low and behold I did just that..." Emma said with a depressed tone that had a faint hint of anger.

"I'm sorry about that..." Tatsurou said as he saw the way Emma felt.

"Don't be Kurokami-kun, it's not you're fault, it's just that I'm quite stubborn and couldn't admit that I was probably wrong..." Emma said in a reassuring tone as she looked at Tatsurou.

"Now I think that to understand you're power better, we should have a look at that gauntlet, can you make it show up?" Emma asked as she looked at Tatsurou that began looking away from her when she asked this.

"Well, as much as I want to show it to you, I can't control it that well yet..." Tatsurou said as he now looked away completely from Emma, that looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

"Really! How are we supposed to do something, if you can't call that gauntlet at will?" Emma asked as she sighed

"It's not my fault, ok! I don't get it either it feels as if this gauntlet, as a conscious of its own, and only appears when it wants!" Tatsurou said with a tone that had a faint hint of anger, Emma just sighed again.

"You don't have to be like that, it's not like, the world's fate is at stake if you don't learn how to use it, so stay calm and learn how to use it first and then we can have a better look at it with time..." Emma said in a reassuring tone as she placed her hand on Tatsurou's shoulder, he then became silent for a bit.

"You're right, I will do that" Tatsurou said as he looked at his right hand and closed it.

"Good! And in the meantime, I will ask and look for all the info I can get on magic so I can have a better understanding and study this!" Emma said this with a determined tone and expression as she got up from her chair.

"Emma-san...Thank you for what you're doing..." Tatsurou said as he lowered his head, Emma just smiled.

"Don't worry Kurokami-kun! I will find what your power is all about even if takes the rest of my life, no, I refuse to go out of this world with having a concrete answer!" Emma said as she smiled and patted Tatsurou's head, he just smiled and was thankful for having someone like Emma as a friend.

And with this, the remembering of the talk Tatsurou had with Emma on the 25th of May finished as he finally got to the second floor of where his apartment was

"I'm starting to think that this is useless..." Tatsurou said as he remembered all that happened on that day, and the enthusiasm he had on that day was slowly fading away because since he had been discharged he had been trying to call this gauntlet to no avail, this was obviously starting to get to him.

"I should have asked Marie about this some more...it's a shame I didn't get time to do that..." Tatsurou said with a depressed tone as he kept walking towards his apartment.

"But I can't think like this, I have to keep trying, I'm not doing this just to understand this power, I'm also doing this to become stronger, for her!" Tatsurou said with a determined tone as he was now in front of the door to his apartment, and began to open it...