Side effect

Inside one small, luxurious room, one girl woke up. Rubbing her eyes, she weared what seemed like a lightweight pajama. Her hair, although short were a complete mess.

Shuffling away her blanket, she dizzily stood up from her bed. Slow step by slow step, she advanced toward a window that was covered with a curtain. Heaving one last yawn, she threw it open with reluctance.

Moaning as the sunlight blinded her, she blocked herself with her left hand. Then, with resolve she tardily opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her was something that couldn't be described by just the word 'beautiful'.

'Fantasy', 'unrealistic', 'Surreal'. Only those adjective fitted the place. Countless, literally, law-breaking device could be seen everywhere. Flying car, high detailed hologram, cool looking robot and much more. However, the most extraordinary thing was the people themselves.

Some of them were literally flying in the sky, others were walking on water. Teleportation was even present. Power of all sorts were being shown on full display like it was normal. If one were to see this place, they would seriously wonder if they haven't, inadvertently, crossed to another world.

This island was the unbelieveable itself. After all, this was the Elite's home, Ark city.

"I really can't get used to this sight." Celia Kail said from her room.

◇

Brushing her teeth, doing her hair, changing clothes, etc.... Having finished all of her preparation, Celia hastily headed for the building's elevator. Pushing the button for the first floor, she wore an extremely excited expression.

Today was finally the day, she had waited for. Today was the day she was liberated from Ark's researcher. After all, from the first time she had stepped foot inside the island, she had done nothing but experiments after experiments. She was sick of it.

They said it was to better understand how her singularity works, and in fact she was also curious at first. However, after all the scan and the syringe that passed through her body, she, now, just wanted to escape from it.

That was why, with the hellish day now over, she decided to be a simple sightseer. She didn't know how long of a time she still had before she needed to return to Myriad, so she decided to enjoy herself to the fullest.

Light penetrated on the escalator as she arrived at destination. Not hiding her energy, she ran outside at full power. Taking a deep breath, a radiant smile sprouted on her face.

"Slow down there, Celia." A man said to her from behind. "The day has just begun."

Facing the voice, the orange haired girl offered a greeting. "Good morning, Fate."

To be a proper tourist, she naturally needed a guide. And who was most suited for that role if not the very same person that brought her here.

"I can't help it, you know?" Celia continued, ecstatic. "Who could be calm in this fantasy-like world!?"

Flame smiled a bit seeing her. "Morning." He first returned her greeting. "So, where would you like to go first?"

That was the question the girl had been waiting for. "To the 'main academy', of course!"

◇

In all of her life, Celia had never once imagined she would feel impatient to go to school. She wasn't that smart, and although she had some friends, she couldn't be said to be that sociable either. Nevertheless, when she saw the immense building in front of her, sparkles of joy filled her eyes.

Ark had many other academie placed all other the world, but Celia could feel that none of them would be able to handle a candle to this one.

'The main Ark Academy'.

Without doubt, this was the best school ever made in all of history. Or at least, that's what Celia thought.

"The school that nurture Elite." She said happily. "I really want to be admitted here."

"If you put all your effort into it, you would probably be able to, you know?" Fate responded.

"Yeah, I know, but..." Celia spoke, slightly discouraged. The image of her best friend appeared on her mind.

As one would expect, the very first condition to enter the academy was to be an Elite. If you weren't, then being admitted wasn't possible. There is no exception. At least, until now there was none.

If Celia were to enter this school, she would have to leave Rin behind.

'I think Rin wouldn't stop me, though.' Celia thought with a wry smile.

Shooking her head, the girl advanced to the front door. "Let's go inside!" She said, changing the topic.

Going along with it, Fate followed.

Finally indoor, the orange girl's first word were, "Its... surprisingly normal."

The sight was, like she said, normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was similar to her current high school, except for its spaciousness.

"What did you expect?" Fate asked rhetorically. "Unlike outside, singularity and aura use are regulated indoor. It would be a mess if it was not, after all."

"Well, I guess." Celia responded a little disappointed. "Still, I expected to at least see some kind of high tech device."

"Those are placed elsewhere." Fate stated. "Anyway, how about we go visit the classes first?"

◇

"Ugh! I feel the urge to repeat what I just said." Celia said, her joy dampening. "This is boringly normal."

After visiting some of the classes, those were the girl's conclusion. From what she had seen, there were really few differencies compared to a normal school. Sure, it was apparent that they were the superior one in terms of capacities and wealth, but, it didn't have the exciting part Celia was searching for.

At the end of the day, the lesson were still comprised of one teacher explaining and the whole class listening. In short, considering that all of them were capable of accomplishing supernatural feat, it was disapointing to see them acting normal.

"I thought there would be some kind of training to fight against monsters." Celia complained as they walked in a corridor of the school. "Or perhaps some elite versus elite kind of things."

"Haha" Fate laughed lightly. "Are you disappointed?"

"Of course I am!" The orange girl shouted.

Hearing that, Fate stopped walking and peered through the nearby window. It was lunch break so he could see some student eating their meal in the courtyard.

"You shouldn't, though." The man genuinely replied. "In the fist place, I think you have a big misunderstanding."

"...What do you mean?" Celia asked, halting her legs in turn.

"This isn't a military school." Fate began to explain. "The Elite may possess incredible power, but they're still human. They have the right to choose."

"..?" The girl tilted her head, not understanding his point.

"If Ark's only objective was to form the Elite to fight against monsters, that would be like saying these same Elites don't have any other choices." Realisation slowly downed on Celia while the man continued. "This school was created for the sake of the extraordinary one to have a normal life. This isn't a training ground."

"Well, if you say it like that...." Celia muttered with acceptance.

Now that Fate had pointed it out, Celia finally remarked her mistake. She had wrongly assumed that a school for Elitewas a school that teached how to defeat monsters. She had forgotten the obvious fact that not anyone would want to risk their lives to fight against atrocities.

"Be that as it may," Fate exclaimed, cutting the girl's thought. "A training ground does exist."

Celia's expression lit up with these words. "...W-where?"

"I'm your guide, am I not?" Rhetorically asked the man. "Let's go, I'll take you there next." He said, resuming his march.

"Yes!" The girl responded with renewed enthusiasm.

At that moment, seeming like he had remembered something, Fate turned around.

"On that note, Celia," He spoke with a slightly serious tone. "The you right now have to chose, too. Whether to fight monsters or not."

The orange haired girl, twitched at these words.

◇

After that, Celia's enthusiasm was plentifully satiated. She got the chance to witness the elite's training regiment firsthand. Notably the one where battle robots were involved. She felt like she had just entered a sci-fi movie in real life.

"Even the food here is amazing!" She said exaggeratedly.

Although it was already pretty late, the girl and the man finally settled down to take lunch. And of course, there was no way they would eat bad food in a fantasy land.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." Fate responded. "Since we'll be leaving here in about a week or two."

"Eh?! Already?!" The girl shouted, even if she knew that half a month wasn't a short time. Clearly she has grown attached to the island.

"Something is happening around Myriad city and I need to go back." The man stated in a worried tone. "And I think it'll be easier for you and for me if you follow along."

"But!" Like a kid throwing a tantrum, she spoke. "W-what about the experiments?"

"It has been completed." Fate answered. "In fact, that's one the thing I'm here to tell you about."

The girl froze from the sentence. She knew the experiments were already done, however, she didn't think the result were also finished.

"...Does that mean they already found the origin of my power?" Celia asked, her attention shifting away from the 'leaving the island matter'.

"Hmm," Fate hesitated, trying to find the word. "I don't think we can call it 'origin' per se. Since there's nothing out of the normal with you."

"Then what? Why did my power awoke only now?"

"It's a simple matter, really." Fate said calmly. "Your singularity has just been refrained inside you until now."

"...Is that really it?" The girl questioned, doubting the simplicity of the answers.

Once again, Fate tried to find the right word to explain. "Have you ever heard of 'side effect'?"

"No...?" Celia replied, guessing the man didn't only want the literal definition.

"You see, in this world, there are some singularity that are out of the norme. For a simple example, let's take yours. The ability to heal." Fate spoke, resuming. "As it had already been proved, you can bring someone, that is in a recent state of death, back to life. Frankly speaking, even for me, your power is completely absurd."

"..." Celia quietly listened.

"However, as you may expect, a 'miracle' has a price for it. That is the 'side effect'." The man continued. "In your case, the thing you had to give away was...." He paused a little.

"I think you already know it."

"My...." The girl trailed off, coming to a conclusion. "Does that mean my side effect was the reason?"

"Yes," Fate confirmed. "Your 'side effect' was the reason you 'forgot' you were an Elite."