Chapter 11.5: Envisage

Right after school, the trio had headed back home.

Iguro and Amanai were exhausted. Their lunchbreaks and extra periods had apparently been wasted on cleaning.

Yu was thinking about the deal he made with Mr. Sae.

"Ugh...stupid punishment.", Iguro groaned.

He glanced over to Yu and said, "Yu! Were you given any punishment?"

"Oh, not at all. It's my first day.", Yu said laid back.

"Huh...that's not fair at all. Why do you get to skip out on punishment?!", he exclaimed as he stopped towards Yu.

Yu glared at him and opened his mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by Amanai.

"Stop it Iguro! Complaining about your misfortune is totally stupid!"

Iguro was stunned but immediately apologized. He turned to Yu and apologized too. Yu accepted it.

The heavy atmosphere around the three had lightened but was not gone.

Amanai broke the long silence, "You two, come over to my house."

"That sounds corny.", Yu said bluntly.

"Shut up!", Amanai pouted as she glared at him.

"Why? I mean...I don't mind but is there a reason?", Iguro asked.

"Yeah...I thought of the events that happened previously and thought that we might need a little drill."

"Well...I guess you're right...", Iguro said as he was reminded the events of the Xenon Incident.

"You're right. DedSect is going to be coming after us sooner or later. We have to be prepared.", Yu thought aloud.

"Exactly. So... that's why all of us are going to go train at my house."

"Ok. Let's go then.", Iguro said.

A few minutes later, all three were in Amanai's training room. Mari and some other attendants were present.

"Ok! Let's start!", Amanai said excitedly as she clapped her hands.

Iguro stared at her. Ostensibly, she was wearing a sleek and tight body-suit which showed her curves and voluptuous proportions.

Embarrassed, Amanai covered her chest with her hands and screamed, "Iguro! Stop staring!"

Iguro shook off his gaze, flustered, "S-Sorry...!"

"Hmph!", Amanai looked away from him.

Mari sighed, she turned to look at Yu who seemed to be lost in thought.

Hmm...? Is he zoning out?

She walked towards him but he still didn't notice her. She stared at him for a while, contemplating on whether she should touch him. As her gaze intensified, her cheeks became redder and redder.

Ugh...how can staring at someone make your heart thump like this?

"Umm...Yu..."

Yu gently recovered and glanced at her, "Do you need something?"

"Uh...y-yes...it's already time for the training."

"Oh...ok."

With that she turned away from him and bolted to a spectator area.

"Hello, you three! I am Moriarty Macron, the chief butler of the Rith Household. I will oversee this training."

The three of us, greeted in kind.

"This training will be conducted through the use of a device called Envisage, a machine which can generate holographic simulations and constructs."

"Hmm...sounds interesting.", Iguro commented.

"Yeah...", Yu trailed off as he glanced over at Amanai who looked confused.

"Wait! Mr. Macron!", Amanai raised her hand as if to ask a question.

"Yes, Ms. Amanai?"

"Why aren't we using Dive?"

"Well...I plan on testing your overall physical capabilities...using Dive on amateurs can be consequential.", he replied as he glanced over at Yu and Iguro with an apologetic smile.

"I see..."

"So, with that... let's start.", he said as he tapped a button.

A few seconds later, a beacon of blue light emanated from the center of the room. The other servants walked up to them and handed them their Ballistae. Amanai collected her pair of gauntlets which she was called Euros while Iguro received Odin, Xenon's rifle, he seemed shaken as he held it. It seemed he still wasn't over what happened. Yu, however, wasn't given a Ballista.

Macron called this to question, "Oh...boy, you don't have a Ballista. Wait, let us get one for-"

Yu cut him off with a smirk, "Don't worry I don't need one."

"Oh...really. Fine then."

The blue light finally cleared after some minutes, enveloping the space around them in a bluish hue. After the blue faded, several familiar robots appeared.

"Aren't those Xenon's robots?!", Iguro exclaimed.

Amanai spoke up, "That's what Envisage does...it's a projection of our memories."

"I see...", Yu said as he entered a battle stance.

The robots charged at them, the first to move was Yu, he closed the gap between him and the first bot before smashing his fists into its head.

"They're as strong as they were in real life.", he commented as his low-velocity fist was repelled, noticing this, he followed it up with a powerful roundhouse kick that took off the head of the robot.

Amanai and Iguro followed after him, but the first to strike was Amanai, using Euros she fired a powerful bolt of lightning at a bunch of robots.

"Yeah, obviously! Just because they're holograms doesn't mean they're light-weight!", Amanai said as she kicked a robot as well.

"But...what about the law of conservation of matter?", Iguro asked bewildered as he dodged an incoming attack.

"Well...something like this is bound to break the law of physics.", Yu said nonchalantly.

"Not exactly...", Macron said, cutting in, "Each hologram is actually created by countless amounts of nanobots which can manipulate their mass to fit the user's memories. Since it is the three of you using Envisage, the mass of the robots is determined by the average of what you guys envisioned the mass of the robots to be. Not all of you can have the same ideas of the mass of the robots you fought."

"I see...so that's why they're heavier...you guys thought the robots were might heavy right?", Yu said, smirking.

"SHUT UP!!", Iguro and Amanai shouted, simultaneously.

The fight continued. Yu, Iguro and Amanai were fending off the robots. Amanai was elegantly using her Ballista to turn the ground and air to many different elements. Screaming out attack moves in her wake.

"Woah...she's really got a bunch of them huh?", Yu said as he punched through a robot.

"Yeah...but I think it's cool...am trying to come up with on for myself...", Iguro said shyly.

Yu glanced over to him, wanting to mock him but then a thought crossed his mind, "Iguro...what about that shot you hit Xenon with?"

"Huh?", Iguro said as he scratched his head, "Hmm...am not really sure how I did it...it was like a spur of the moment kinda thing."

Yu pondered for a while before saying, "Do you know how you felt when you used it?"

"Well...I had a strong feeling of wanting to protect Amanai...so I picked up the gun, aimed it and... pulled the trigger...", he said, clearly shaken.

Yu moved to Iguro and kicked a robot away. He turned to Iguro, "You need to learn to reproduce it...right here, right now!"

"But...how?"

"Iguro...what is Occlusion Energy?"

Meanwhile, outside of the barrier, the servants of the Rith Household watched the fierce match. They noticed Yu approach Iguro and heard him ask, "What is Occlusion Energy?"

"An interesting question.", a male servant named Believe commented as he sat with his eyes closed.

"Yes...indeed, Ballistae has become so rampant that barely anyone knows what Occlusion is anymore.", a female servant named Basilia said, her voluptuous body jiggling as she tilted it.

"But...I gotta ask really...what is Occlusion Energy?", a boy servant asked shyly, his tag indicating his name to be Bottomlash.

Believe glanced over to Bottomlash and grinned, "This is usually the most interesting part of any duel between Occludes."

"By that you mean...the meaning of Occlusion?", Mari asked, joining the conversation.

"Not quite, more like...the realization of the meaning of Occlusion.", Basilia said with a smile, "The question your boyfriend asked is usually the beginning of the end of a duel between Occludes.", she said with a grin.

Mari lost her composure as her cheeks turned red, "What are you saying, Miss Basilia?!"

"Oh...am not wrong, am I?", Basilia said as she leaned forward, "Or should I say that here?", she said teasingly.

Curious, Bottomlash blurted out, "That?!"

Basilia and Bottomlash kept pestering and teasing her, Mari getting redder by the second was about to faint but Believe cut in.

"Enough! Whatever act she has committed with that young man is of no concern to us, she deserves a peaceful romance."

And with that, Mari's troubles where quelled and she regained her composure. Unsatisfied, Basilia turned around with a, "Hmph!"

Bottomlash immediately asked, "So... what's Occlusion Energy?"

Believe turned to Bottomlash and cleared his throat, "Yes...as I was saying, Occlusion Energy, put simply is Life Energy."

"Life Energy?"

"Yes...it is usually stated that Occlusion Energy stems from the Emotions of New-Gens but if you look deeper...you find out that Emotions is Life. Without Emotions, one is as good as dead. That's why the stronger the emotion of Occludes the stronger they become."

"Woah!", Bottomlash exclaimed, "I always thought emotions are uncool but they really are important!"

"Ballistae also follow the same principle, when there is a sudden spike in emotions, that is Occlusion, a strange phenomenon occurs...I can't remember what it was called...", Basilia trailed off, unable to remember the name of this so-called phenomenon.

"Well, that's that.", Believe said closing his eyes, "The moment one understands the meaning of Occlusion, the stronger they can become."

Back to the field, Iguro shot at a bunch of robots coming for them. He was using Odin better than before but still couldn't produce that blast.

"Shit!", Iguro said as he lowered his aim.

Yu observed him, "You still haven't tapped into that emotion. Feel it, visualize it!"

"Am trying!", Iguro said as he took aim again and fired but this time only a gust of wind swept the robots off their feet.

Yu watched and thought, how can I get him to recreate that attack...get Amanai in danger, no. Iguro has to learn it himself!

Yu then came to a conclusion.

Just put Iguro in danger.

Simple.

Yu turned to Iguro and said, "Dodge this."

"Huh?"

At blinding speeds, Yu dashed over to Iguro with a flying kick but at the nick of time, he dodged.

"Hey! Yu, what are you doing?!", Iguro exclaimed.

Amanai and the rest turned to the scene.

Yu didn't say anything as he threw an onslaught of attacks against Iguro. Iguro struggled but was able to dodge them all with the help of his Observer powers.

"Hey...are you mad that I couldn't learn that move? Don't worry I'll le-", Yu caught him off with a powerful punch to the gut.

Iguro was sent flying into the barrier, Yu then spoke, "If you can't even defeat me then you can't save Amanai!"

His words struck a chord in Iguro. From the dust that arose due to the previous impact, Iguro yelled, "That's a lie!"

He aimed at Yu and fired, "Gunginr!"

The incoming bullet travelled at Mach 5 but Yu could see it. It was the same blast that killed Xenon. Reflexively, Yu dodged it.

The shot reached the end of the barrier and the instant it connected, the barrier and every robot were erased from existence. The resulting sonic boom blasted everyone backwards.

"Impressive. You did it.", Yu said as he looked back at the damage.

"Yeah...[cough]", Iguro spat out blood.

"Iguro!", Amanai said as she rushed to his side, "Why did you do that?"

"I believe it was so that he could get Mr. Byakuya to awaken his latent potential.", Believe said as he walked up towards them, "Please do not take it to heart, young mistress, am sure he didn't mean what he said...I presume?", he said turning to Yu.

"No. I didn't mean it, I just needed to rile up Iguro."

"If you say so...", Amanai said, clearly still doubtful.

Yu ignored her and turned away, "Oh...Mari..."

Mari was beside Yu, apparently, he hadn't noticed her till now. Thoughts of his last visit rushed into his head and he became slightly flustered. Mari also noticed this and became flustered as well.

Mari was the first to break the silence as she said, "I'll escort you on your way out."

"Oh ok.", Yu picked up his jacket from where he left it and walked out of the room with her.

Outside of the Rith Household.

"It's cold.", Mari commented as she rubbed her palms.

I stared at her for a while before holding her hand and squeezing it lightly.

Mari was surprised but quickly regained her composure. We walked in silence for a while before she said, "Yu...why did you say that back then?"

"I wanted Iguro to get stronger and that was the only way to rile him up."

"There was no other reason...?", she asked somewhat timidly.

"No.", I answered firmly.

From my peripheral vision, I saw her smile softly.

"Mari, I love you."

My sudden confession threw her off balance.

"What?!", she said bright red as she stared at me in bewilderment. I had confessed to her so easily it felt odd.

"When you saved me back then, I thought you wanted to use it as a method of extortion. In fact, I was so convinced that you wanted to do that, that I began to hate you but when you...kissed me that day...it was warm. I felt happy. I want to feel like that again.", I said, my heart thumping in my chest.

She was still frozen. I squeezed her hand, bring her back to her senses. She lowered her gaze afraid to meet mine.

I raised her chin and leaned in.

I believe this is how it was done on TV.

I kissed her soft lips; they tasted like strawberry.

Her lipstick, huh?

After a few seconds, I leaned back. She timidly said, "I love...you too..."

"Yeah...I love you, too...Mari."

That girl...I won't be haunted by you anymore...

At least not for now.