Life Goes On

Sekai woke up to fluorescent lights and the softness of a hospital bed.

'Am I...dead?' He wondered to himself, a hospital sure was a strange way for the afterlife to manifest for him.

"If you're wondering, you're not dead." Hina said from his bedside, "That being said, you came pretty damn close."

Sekai shrugged, "Sorry." He said simply,

"It's not me you worried. Your parents were about to flip the hospital inside out when we had to lie to them that you were in the middle of some urgent surgery." Hina shook her head,

Sekai looked down at his bed, he had once again recklessly charged off without thinking about how others had been affected.

"Well, all's well ends well." Hina stated, "It seems a trial by fire did you well, your body forcibly adapted to your ability."

"So..." Sekai's eyes widened hopefully, and Hina nodded.

"It's only up from here." Hina replied,

Sekai's eyes began to well up with tears of pure relief, right as a knock came from the door to his room.

"Oop - there's your guest. I think I should go now." With a small smile, Hina stood up and opened the door to his room, allowing Antei to rush past her and fly at Sekai, wrapping him in a massive hug.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you!?" Antei shouted at him tearfully, and Sekai simply smiled.

'That's right...I would've missed this if I died.' He thought to himself as he noticed Shiro and Hokura following in behind him.

"You absolutely braindead moron." Shiro huffed, "How could you not tell us that you could've died a few hours ago? First an attempted kidnapping, and now this?"

"You have been a total trouble magnet for the past few days." Hokura nodded in agreement,

"Sorry for making you all worry." Sekai bowed as best he could to his friends, only for Shiro to smack him in the back of the head.

"Don't give us all that guilty crap! You're gonna make me feel bad too!" Shiro chided him, "You have no idea how absolutely insufferable Antei has been. Practically bawling her eyes out at the thought of losing you, you two should honestly just get married."

"I-I was not!" Antei stammered out, "It's perfectly normal to be worried about your friends!"

"Mmmm...sure." Shiro said, clearly unconvinced.

"I'm just glad you're not dead. Although the hair definitely looks cool." Hokura gave him a thumbs up as Sekai rubbed his hands through his now completely silver hair.

"You really think so...?" Sekai questioned, "I was thinking maybe I should dye it back to black..."

"Definitely not!" Antei shouted, drawing simultaneous eyebrow raises from the trio of boys,

"I-I just think that...well...it looks cooler." Antei turned her face from Sekai,

"I see...I guess I'll keep it then." He smiled, and Antei nodded.

"This is like watching a trainwreck rom-com." Shiro whispered,

"It's so stupid." Hokura whispered back in agreement,

⸻

As Hina left the room, she pulled out a smartphone from her doctor's coat and after punching in a few numbers, called a certain number, which picked up almost immediately.

"It seems my gamble paid off." Hina said proudly, "Sekai Kaeru is our latest Immune specimen."

"Good." The voice on the other end of the line replied, "I hope he manages to last longer than the other ones who make it to this stage."

"I have confidence in him." Hina stated,

"Well, we should make arrangements to have him transferred-" The voice began, but Hina cut it off.

"Sorry Chairman...but I believe that's a bad idea." Hina stated,

"How so?" The one referred to as the Chairman asked questioningly,

"I believe that we will see more development by having him in a more organic environment. For that matter, that might be the issue with Ruiko's recent stagnation as well. We already know the I.K reacts and develops according to the Immunes emotional, physical, and mental state. Instead of strictly controlling it, why don't we see how it would develop in a natural environment." Hina explained her logic,

"You're risking an outbreak for the sake of data?" The Chairman didn't sound angry with her, only intrigued by her reasoning.

"Please, the I.K isn't a cold, otherwise humanity would already be in shambles. Unless people go around drinking from the same cups, there isn't a risk." Hina said dismissively,

The man on the other end sighed, "Very well then, I assume this means you wish for Ruiko to remain in Kotono High School?"

"Yes." Hina stated, "This is as much about her as it is about Sekai. They're our two premiere specimens, so lets afford them every courtesy."

"This is why you're the head of the science department, Ms. Susumu. Whatever you need, you'll get. Don't let me down." The man praised the girl, who smirked.

"Of course." She replied,

'Now...I'll need to start drafting up a schedule for them...'

⸻

The next few days for Sekai were a blur of visits and recovery. Despite Hina's orders, Sekai began testing out his new ability, every so often attempting to manifest the white crystal consciously instead of on panic reflex like he did in the battle with the Witch Hunters, but with little luck.

Finally, the much-awaited day arrived, and Sekai was finally preparing to be discharged from the hospital.

"Well, now that your condition is stabilized, you can finally be released." Hina explained, "However," A grin appeared on her face as she pulled out a thick-looking stack of papers. "Serpentine will have to be continuing to monitor your condition thoroughly."

"H-hang on." Sekai backed away from the intimidating stack of papers, "This isn't one of those things where my parents sign without thinking and I'm dragged off to some shady laboratory to never be seen again right?!"

"Heheh." The girl chuckled, but given the current situation, it was hardly reassuring. "Don't be so paranoid. We're not snatching you up, we already considered it and decided against it."

"The fact it was even an option in the first place is worrying!!!"

Hina proceeded to ignore his outburst, and continued detailing the conditions. "Alright, so I'll sum up what all this says. Firstly - we will be in constant contact for regular checkups on your physicals condition. Secondly - You will have a permanent bodyguard detail assigned to you-"

"Hang on, why a bodyguard detail?" Sekai raised an eyebrow,

"Living Immunes are extremely rare, so of course we'd be inclined to make sure you're adequately protected." Hina stated matter-of-factly,

"Still, wouldn't it be odd if I had a bodyguard everywhere?" Sekai said,

"It's either this or staying in a lab 24/7." The second Hina said that, Sekai quickly went silent.

"Thought so. Thirdly - you will report to Serpentine facilities for regular testing, the duration and safety of which can vary depending on the nature of the test."

"So I am getting whisked away to be part of some strange experiments..." Sekai said nervously, and Hina shrugged.

"It's this or a permanent stay in a lab." Hina reinforced, and Sekai gulped.

"Good boy." Hina stated approvingly, "Finally - whatever you do, unless it's an emergency - don't use your powers in public. That one is just common sense, if people found out there was a plague that had even the slightest chance of turning someone superhuman, they'd try synthesizing it in a heartbeat. We could end up with a near-extinction event on our hands - or worse." Sekai was somewhat disturbed by the way she mentioned those things so casually

"Of course, there is more to this contract - you know, the standard waiver of liability, et cetera et cetera - but those are the main points."

"So...my parents have to sign this?" Sekai asked,

"Oh, they already did."

"...Seriously?"

"Of course, they're desperate to keep you alive. They'd sign a deal with the devil if it meant you got to live, they just love you that much~" Hina's tone briefly shifted into a sickeningly playful one, reminding Sekai of exactly what he was dealing with.

"Don't worry. We aren't cutting you off from the outside world just like that." Hina said reassuringly, "We aren't going to stop you from attending school or anything like that."

Sekai sighed, "I guess..."

"As long as you understand."

⸻

Later in the day, Sekai sure enough found himself leaving the hospital with his family later that day. At the same time, Hina finally received the results of the testing on the mysterious crystaline substance.

"Well? What have you found?" Hina asked,

"I'm going to be honest with you, what we didn't find is both far more intriguing and troubling than what we could find." The scientist stated,

"I might be the head of the Research Department, but I hate riddles." Hina responded sharply,

"Alright. To put it simply, we confirmed that this material isn't just some simple molecular or subatomic rearrangement. He is creating something completely new. Something we haven't even theorized about, at this point, I'm not even sure if we can call whatever this crystal can fit the scientific definition of "matter" as we know it. It's completely foreign to our known laws down to the very subatomic particle. It wouldn't even be a stretch to call it something entirely foreign to the universe, something so utterly different and ill-defined that it arguably shouldn't exist on this plane of existence."

"If what you said is true, then his ability is a fundamental violation of the law of conservation of mass. He isn't just re-arranging matter and molecules, he's creating new matter that he can control." Hina mused,

This prospect both excited and scared Hina. In the span of a few mere days, Sekai had overturned all sorts of established scientific conventions. Not to mention, if he was creating a material that was foreign to this universe, there was no telling what laws or assumptions it operated off of, or what existing ones it would defy.

Or maybe Sekai would be the one who would define those laws himself.

That prospect was something that both truly excited and deeply scared Hina Susumu.

"Sekai Kaeru, you really are something above average."

⸻

The following day, Sekai noticed that Antei hadn't come to wake him up. Thus leaving him with a deep feeling of discontent as her presence became one of the established things in his life. Upon inquiring to his mother, she informed him that Antei had not wanted to disturb him and had left ahead of him.

"Mm. I see." Sekai sighed as he pecked at his breakfast, which somehow didn't feel the same without Antei nagging at him to hurry up or something along those lines.

And so, he left his house alone.

After walking a distance from his home, he noticed a woman smoking an antiquated wooden pipe standing against a wall. She wore a crimson cloak with a solid black uniform underneath, somewhat like Annabeth's.

'Hang on, I get a strange sense of Déjà vu from this...' Sekai thought to himself, regardless, he continued walking, praying the woman wouldn't approach him.

Unfortunately, he was sorely disappointed.

"Sekai Kaeru, correct?" The woman blew out a cloud of smoke as she spoke, her chestnut hair draped over her left eye.

'Damn it...' He sighed internally, he was tempted to ignore her, when she said something else:

"Annabeth was very worried about you, you know."

That truly gave pause to Sekai, and he whipped around. "You know Annabeth?" He questioned,

"Kassandra Sharpe." The woman pushed herself off the wall, and extended a hand to Sekai, "Nice to meet you."