The Next Step

Aman checked his soul.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that its condition had improved significantly.

If previously, it had been like an apple with deep gashes in it, now, the gashes had filled over.

Not that it had healed totally, mind you, it was still a skinned apple.

But it was a skinned unscarred apple. Much better than before.

'How did this happen?' he asked Nama mentally.

[It was your meeting with the Gods. Remember the incense you smelt when they arrived?]

'Yeah.'

[Right after you inhaled it, you felt that the soul pressure of the demon reduced, right?]

'Yes. So, my soul's improvement is due to that? How's that even possible.'

[I don't know the exact details, but there is a legend that the agarbattis, the joss sticks, lit in heaven give off an aroma which acts like a panacea for all mortal illnesses. Maybe the public perception caused the incense to have a similar effect? I know too little to speculate.]

Aman shook his head. 'It doesn't matter for now. The main thing is that I have recovered substantially.'

[Then what do you have planned next while I digest and analyse the information we gained today?]

'Say, how confident are you in hiding yourself from the scans of the Indian Institute of Eugenics?'

[Fully.]

***

The next day, Aman went to school and impatiently suffered through the morning classes as he waited for the lunch bell to ring.

It was a boring day with nothing to detract from the monotony.

Unknowingly, he had grown used to the presence of the Ai in his head and it suddenly felt lonely without its voice.

Also, the school hadn't exactly publicized the suspension and expulsion of Ashok and his cronies… so his classmates only thought that they had taken the day off.

If they knew, then it would be a noisier day for Aman.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, he hurried out of the class and made his way towards the student council room.

When he reached there, he found it quite busy with several of the student council members present and some underclassmen submitting some sort of form to them.

He ignored them and pushed his way into the crowded room, drawing some discontented muttering.

Disregarding them, he walked up to Ananya who looked up from the document she was working on in surprise.

"Please, come with me. I have something important to talk to you about."

There was suddenly total silence in the room as everyone was surprised at his sudden statement.

Then the room burst out into whispers.

Aman didn't need to hear them to guess their contents.

Not that he couldn't hear them with how loud some of the 'whispers' were.

Ananya raised an eyebrow at him, but he kept his composure and treated everyone else like air.

He stood there silently, waiting for her answer.

As the pause lengthened, the whispers turned into snickering and jeers which, as the pause stretched even further, awkwardly petered out.

There was silence.

Throughout it, Aman stood his ground.

Ananya finally sighed and capped her pen. "If it is that important."

They left the room together, leaving a stunned audience behind.

In an empty classroom, Ananya opened a window and sat on the sill.

She turned to him, silhouetted by the light streaming inside and asked, "What is it?"

"My soul has recovered."

"What!? How?"

"I went to the Spirit Dimension and spent an hour there. Something went wrong and it began to show anomalous readings. I was ejected before my hour was up."

"That's rare. The Spirit Dimension is made keeping compatibility in mind… but it is an emerging field after all. There might be exceptions… So? What does this have to do with your soul recovering?"

"Something? Nothing? I have no clue. But after I went home and slept, I had a nightmare of being caught up in the battle between Mahishasura and the Gods led by Lord Indra. When I woke up… my soul had recovered substantially from its damage."

"That… that is… This is very significant information. But…" she looked at him in confusion. "Why tell me?"

"You have connections… even if this isn't some sort of breakthrough for science, you at least have the capability to connect me to the man who took my test. Sushil Mohanty, was it? He is probably still in town, conducting more tests… Fate has favoured me. I would be silly to not try for a retest."

"Oh." Ananya didn't know why, but she was a bit disappointed.

When Aman had called her out publicly, she, like the others in the room had thought that he wanted to ask her out.

Even though she had felt a spark the other day, in the absence of the spark appearing again on their second meeting, she had dismissed it as a misconception.

But having read his files, she was a little impressed by him, so she hadn't declined coldly like she was wont to do.

Instead, she had just let him stew for a while in the gaze of the public to see how he would deal.

He had dealt with the pressure splendidly.

So, she had come with him, planning to gently friendzone him and put him in the prospective boyfriend list as the first and only entry.

But his practical request… treating her like a go-between for him and the selector hurt her pride for some reason.

She felt an irrational urge to just reject him but logic told her that the current state of affairs was the more likely one and the scenario she had cooked up was quite silly.

She was happy for him… after all his sacrifice for his sister, he deserved a break and she wouldn't be Ananya Adhikari if she let a fit of pique destroy the future of a deserving man.

"Haah. Alright. I'll contact him for you. Give me your number.'

The two touched their phones together and swapped contacts.

"Thanks." Said Aman as he left after saving the contact.

Ananya looked at the ten numbers on her phone.

Sighing, she put the phone away and left the room. She must be coming down with something. She was acting weird.