part0032

My eyes fluttered open. That dream… It had been such a long time ago. I thought I had forgotten about those types of memories. Why had I dreamt of that day?

I stretched a little and yawned. My eyes fluttered as I snuggled deeper into my pillow. As I reopened my eyes, something blue on my bed caught my attention. I let go of my pillow and reached out and grabbed it. Flipping on my back, I gazed at the stem of the pretty blue flower I now held. Where did these come from? As I thought about it, one being came to mind. It couldn’t be… could it?

“Human females like flowers, right?” I sat up and looked at Raikidan, who sat on the windowsill. “It makes them happy, right?”

I avoided his question. “Where did you get these?”

“So, I’m wrong? They don’t please you?”

There’s that weird ‘pleasing’ phrase again. I pursed my lips. “No, I never said that.”

“But you avoided my question.”

I regarded him for a moment. I don’t think he realizes he gave me forget-me-nots. I inhaled their sweet scent. “I like them.”

Raikidan looked at me hopefully. “But that doesn’t excuse your behavior last night.”

His expression dropped, and he looked at the floor. Interesting. As I studied him, it didn’t look as though my words were what disappointed him, but the actual rejection. Why do I care?

I crawled out of bed, changing my clothes into something comfortable and casual, and snatched up my hairclip before heading for the door.

“I’m sorry,” Raikidan said.

I continued on, ignoring him, until he made it so I couldn’t. He closed the distance between us and pushed me against the wall, resting his forehead on mine as he pinned me. His breath came slow and deep, and he kept eye contact with me. My heart pounded in my chest. “I said I’m sorry.”

“Raikidan, let me go.”

“Not until you listen to me.”

I gulped as a warm feeling began to rise up through my body. “I’m not kidding. This is pushing my personal space to a whole new level. Let me go.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, ignoring my demands. “I really am. I shouldn’t have yelled. I don’t even know why I did. There was no reason for me to. I wasn’t even mad. And I shouldn’t have insulted something you obviously took interest in, no matter your reasoning behind it.”

I closed my eyes and did my best to pretend I wasn’t in this situation—my heart thundering in my ears. “Please, Raikidan, let me go.”

Slowly Raikidan pulled away, allowing me to breathe. I didn’t open my eyes until my heart returned to a normal pace. When I did, I looked at Raikidan apprehensively. He was acting really weird. I didn’t like it.

I took another breath. “You can’t do that to people. That’s wrong on more levels than you understand. Don’t ever do that again.”

His shoulders sagged. “I just wanted you to stop and listen to me.”

“I did listen, I just didn’t acknowledge.”

“Why? Why is my apology not good enough?”

“Just because you apologize doesn’t mean I have to forgive you.” I placed the tips of my fingers on my chest. “I may have screwed-up emotions, but I do have some. And even if I didn’t have any, it doesn’t give you the right to be insensitive.”

He frowned. “I understand that. That’s why I’m trying to apologize. It’s a sincere apology.”

Raikidan reached out for me but I pulled away. I didn’t want him touching me. No connections. No close contact. No stupidity.

“Dragons touch to help reconcile after differences drive them apart. It doesn’t matter the scale of the issue or the sex of either dragon,” Raikidan said. “I don’t know how to reconcile with you if you won’t allow touch and won’t listen to words.”

I held my arms close to my body and avoided eye contact. Was I being too stubborn about this? Of course, I am… I was so concerned about keeping this professional and without any strings that I was being a jerk. More than a jerk…

I held out a hand to him, my eyes unable to meet his.

“You mean it?” he asked.

I nodded. At the very least, I could allow some standard body contact. His hand grazed mine, but then touched my forearm. My eyes widened when he yanked me forward and wrapped him arms tightly around me, keeping me close. My body tensed, and he rested his chin on my head.

What is he doing? What was I doing? My whole body stood rigid and all words stuck in my throat. It’s just a hug, Eira. Nothing wrong with a hug… right?

“Thank you…” he mumbled. “I know this wasn’t what you were initially offering, but I swear to you, this is a better way to reconcile.”

I swallowed and wiggled my arms free, wrapping them around him, though my grip wasn’t as tight as his.

“Thank you,” he repeated.

“You’re still a stupid dragon,” I muttered.

Raikidan’s grip tightened, which surprised me. “And you’re a silly human.”

I sighed and tried to pull away, but Raikidan’s grip stayed the same. “Raikidan, let go.”

Chuckling, he did as I asked. “I’m surprised you let me do that.”

My eyes darted away. “Don’t get used to it. It was a one-time deal.”

He smirked. “Sure it was.”

I rolled my eyes and reached for the door knob.

“Wait,” he said. I sighed and stopped. “Do the flowers actually please you?”

I turned and raised my eyebrow at him. “Why is that so important to you?”

“Just answer my question.”

I pursed my lips. “Yes, I like forget-me-nots. Yes, it was an interesting choice of a flower to give me as a way to tell me you were sorry. No, I won’t tell you of a flower that would have been a better choice. I’ll let you figure that out on your own.”

Raikidan gave me a confused look, making me laugh before I left the room. I needed to get out of there before any more weird things happened.

“Finally, you’re awake!” Genesis exclaimed. “I need to talk to you.”

“I already told you, she’s going to say no,” Rylan said.

“Hush!” Genesis hissed. “Let her hear me out first before you make assumptions.”

I didn’t like this. I looked as Genesis apprehensively. “I’m listening.”

“I need you and Rylan to reconnect your bond.”

I laughed dryly. “No way in hell.”

“Told you,” Rylan replied.

Genesis sighed. “Please? It could help us.”

“I said no!” She flinched at my sharpness. “Do you think I enjoy having some tiny sensation in the back of my head telling me what Rylan is feeling? Do you really think I enjoy feeling the same pain as him? I’ll pass, thanks.”

I jumped over the back of the couch and sat down next to Ryoko. She smiled at me, but refrained any comments. She knew better with Genesis bringing up this topic.

“I don’t see a problem with it,” Genesis said. “Besides, it’s still there. It’s just broken down with the time you’ve been apart.”

“If you had to deal with it, you’d be glad it’s broken down,” I muttered. “Now lay off.”

“Laz.” I looked over at Seda, who sat in her meditation corner. “This is not just a request from Genesis. This is also a request from me.” I glared at her. “Yes, I know how much you hate it, but hear me out. I have been getting a bad feeling lately. It is the reason for my extra meditation. I cannot figure it out, but I feel as though we need to prepare for it, and strengthening your bond is one way to start. When this is all over, we can figure out how to sever it for good.”

I looked away from her.

“Seda, we both know I’m not basing my decision on me. This is about Rylan. This bond was the reason our friendship was nearly ruined. It’s the reason he felt something more than what was really there. I can’t put him through that… I won’t hurt him again.”

“Laz, his heart has moved on. You know it has. You have felt it because of the bond. You saw it before you left us. I have watched him carefully since then on your behalf, and I can say bringing the bond back will not change anything. He will still feel the same about Ryoko no matter what.”

“And Ryoko? What is she supposed to think? She has a hard enough time believing me that there’s nothing between me and Rylan in the first place. How is she to feel when she knows I know how Rylan is feeling without trying? How is she to feel knowing the two of us have a type of closeness she can’t have with him?”

“I can’t believe that right now.” I sighed. “This isn’t just my decision. Rylan has to agree to it. If he does, I’ll go along with it.”

Seda was quiet for some time. “He wants to talk to you in private.”

I looked over at Rylan and nodded. Both of us jumped over the back of the couch, and I followed him.

“Where are those two going?” Blaze asked, looking up from his magazine, but no one answered him.

I closed the door of his room and leaned against it. The two of us remained quiet for several moments.

“Well?” Rylan finally asked.

I crossed my arms. “This is up to you.”

“It’s up to you, too, Laz.”

“No, it’s not. This is all you. You know what happened last time.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Are you sure, Ry? Are you really sure? How do you know it won’t?”

“It’s not like you to be so apprehensive.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt again.” I avoided his gaze. “I can’t do that to you again…”

Rylan walked closer to me and pulled me into his arms. “Just trust me on this. Things will be different this time, and after this is all over, we can figure out how to sever the bond for good.”

I nodded slowly. “Just don’t have any unnecessary feelings, okay? I don’t want it to affect me.”

He chuckled. “I won’t promise anything.”

“Seda, are you listening?” I thought in my head.

“Good. Make her aware this is because you asked, and not her. Also, please don’t allow anyone to disturb us. We need absolute silence in order to ensure the bond repairs correctly.”

I took a deep breath and nodded to Rylan. He backed up farther into his room, stepping around the mess of clothes and instrument parts, and sat down on the floor. I came up to him and sat down, straddling him. Instinctively, he rested his hands on my hips.

Discomfort plagued me as I settled. This was one other reason I wasn’t keen on doing this. The bond required such an intimate position to connect correctly.

“Relax,” Rylan said with a calm done. “You know I’m not going to do anything.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself and then rested my forehead on his. Rylan responded by pulling me closer, holding eye contact. The two of us synced our breathing until a familiar pressure pulsed in the back of my head. The sensation sent a wave to the front of my head, and I closed my eyes.

The heat in my chest boiled and the temperature of my skin rose. The ashy taste of smoke hit my tongue as I breathed. At the same time, a cold nip from Rylan’s breathing hit my neck. The sensation in my mind pulsed hard, sending a ripple of shorter pulses rushing after it.

My skin grew hotter and Rylan’s chilled. My hands clenched his clothes as the heat of my fire burned under the surface, threatening to burst out of me. Embers licked my lips and I swallowed hard to keep them at bay.

Cold crept up my skin, locking me in place, and heat seeped out of my body, trying to fight it. The pulsating in my mind increased to a hard pressure. This wasn’t anything like the first time we cemented the bond. It’d been uncomfortable, almost wrong, but this time, it felt worse.

Then a new sensation crept in—dull at first, then it grew and centralized around the back of my head. A relaxing, coaxing feeling. Rylan was calling to me through the bond. The bond was nearing completion.

I took a calming breath, the taste of ash thick in my breath, and willed my body to calm. The fire burning inside took advantage of my state and burst out, licking my skin and sizzling against the ice Rylan created.

Then I felt nothing. My head no longer hurt. The fire no longer burned. The ice faded away.

Staying relaxed, I searched for him. An image of him formed and I reached out to him. He took my hand and smiled. “You’ll never be alone. I’ll be there for you when you need me. I won’t fail you this time. I promise.”

I smiled back at him. “You’re mine to protect.”

His image snuffed out in a bright flash, forcing my mental eyes closed. My true eyes snapped open, and the two of us sat in his room, breathing heavy; no signs of our elements raging out of control. A mind trick. I should have known. The first time we’d sealed the bond, there had been some elemental forces at work, but a majority of it had been all an illusion created by the power of our minds connecting.

The pressure in my head was gone, and in its place, a familiar, soothing bubble in the back of my head. It had always been there, but now it was stronger.

I slid off Rylan to put some space between us, and he didn’t fight me.

“You okay?” he asked.

I nodded. “Just getting used to the feeling in my head now.”

Rylan stood up and held his hand out to me. “Let’s get you a drink, then. It’ll keep your nerves down to help adjust to it all.”

I took his offered hand. “How can you act like it’s not affecting you?”

“Because we both know my side of this has always been stronger. Even with the breakdown due to distance over these past years, I doubt it became as dull of a presence as yours.”

I stared at him. “You could still sense me even at that distance, couldn’t you?”

He nodded. “As you moved farther away, it became harder, but it never went away. It helped me stay positive with you gone. But please don’t tell Ryoko. I kept it a secret for her sake.”

I nodded, understanding the importance of that secret. She wasn’t happy about the existence of the bond.

We left his room, and all eyes in the living room fell on us. I stared at them while Rylan went into the kitchen to pour me something.

Genesis raised an eyebrow. “It’s all done?”

I gave a curt nod. “Yes. We’re now in an adjustment period.”

The sound of Rylan rummaging through the cabinets and glasses clanking drew their attention to him.

Genesis’ forehead crinkled. “What are you doing in there?”

“Finding out what we have for options in the mixed drink department,” Rylan said without looking away from his task. “I know we have beer in the fridge, but Laz isn’t a huge fan of that option.”

“Oh, but I’d love that option,” Ryoko called out.

Rylan smiled at her, the bond in my head bouncing a bit, indicating how much he enjoyed this interaction with Ryoko. “I’ll get you one once I’m done taking inventory,” he laughed.

“I’ll take one too!” Blaze called out.

Rylan nodded, taking note.

“Wait, wait.” Genesis held up her hands. “You’re going to drink this early in the morning? You can’t wait until noon?”

I leaned on the bar and smirked. “We’re rebels, what did you expect?”

The room erupted with laughter; even Raikidan found it amusing. Genesis shook her head, knowing it was pointless to talk sense into us, and went back to going over her reports.

Rylan finished pulling out drink components and then rummaged through the fridge for the beers. “Laz, take a look at what we have, and I’ll make what you want.”

I entered the kitchen, passing him as he left to hand Ryoko and Blaze their drinks. I looked over my alcohol and mixer choices as Ryoko cracked open her beer can and took a few gulps.

Rylan noticed Raikidan take interest in the choice of drinks. “You want one?”

Raikidan’s nose scrunched. “I don’t ingest anything that smells foul.”

“Tastes good,” Ryoko said. “Promise.”

“I’d disagree,” I said, separating my least favorite alcohols from my favorite. “It tastes worse than it smells.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and then drank some more.

I mixed up a drink for myself just as Rylan came into the kitchen. “I was going to do that for you.”

I shrugged. “I felt like doing it.”

“Don’t tell Azriel you can do that. He’ll try to hire you.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” I grinned. “Means I get to see him all the time.”

Rylan crossed his arms. “You’re not a people person. Seeing Azriel will not make you feel any better about the job.”

“How is he, by the way?” I asked as I mixed up another drink, one I thought Raikidan might like. “Better question, does he even know I’m back in town?”

“Oh, he knows,” Rylan said, pouring himself something. “He’s just been busy, and he knows you have been, too. Of course, he thinks you should stop by and pay him a visit in your free time, too.”

I chuckled. “He’s not wrong. Maybe sometime this week I could swing by.” I gave Rylan a sidelong glance. “Or he could step away from his club for more than five minutes.”

Ryoko laughed. “And mess up his hookup streak? You should know him better than that, Laz.”

She had a point. “He still going on the same one?”

“No, he’s restarted a few times,” Rylan said. “Longest he’s gone is seven months.” He chuckled. “Don’t tell him I told you. He’d assign me to tasks I’d rather steer clear of.”

I grinned. “Okay, I’ll rat you out next time I see him.”

Rylan smacked me in the arm, and I chuckled before taking the two glasses I’d prepared into the living room. I maneuvered around the coffee table and sat down next to Raikidan. I pushed his to him and sipped mine, reacquainting my taste buds with the sweet taste and the alcohol.

Raikidan looked at the offered drink, his brow creased. “What’s this?”

“Something a little less foul tasting, with a lot more alcohol.”

I could see the mistrust in his eyes. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

I shrugged and pulled it in front of me. “Okay.”

Couldn’t make him try it. It’d be ideal, as undercover assignments may put him in a situation where he’d need to consume it, but there were ways around that.

“Well, if he won’t have it, I’ll take it,” Blaze said, reaching for the glass.

“Blaze—no, don’t!” Ryoko shouted. But it was too late.

Watching him reach for the glass I’d claimed as mine, something snapped in my head. Without any control over my body, I grabbed his hand, clenching and twisting it into the coffee table, while I grabbed him by the back of the neck with my other hand and slammed him into the wooden surface. An inhuman growl, sounding almost like a hiss, came from my throat.

Ryoko and Genesis sat up and Rylan ran into the room. Even Seda focused on me.

“Laz, calm down, it’s okay,” Rylan said. “It’s okay. You can let him go.”

I knew everything was okay, but my body didn’t agree. It was as if someone else controlled me while I watched myself do awful things.

“Eira, I’m sorry,” Blaze said in a strained voice. “I didn’t realize you claimed it.”

Rylan came up behind me, pushing on the bond’s presence in an attempt to calm me. A fuzzy feeling fell over me and I realized Seda was trying to help by placing me under an artificial exhaustion.

Between the two of them, my body relaxed, and I was finally able to detach myself from Blaze and sit back. “Sorry…”

Blaze twisted his neck. “It was my fault. I know better than to take things you deem as yours. I just didn’t use my head.”

“No surprise there,” Ryoko jeered. He shot her a dirty look, but she ignored him and focused on me. “Are you okay now, Laz?”

“I’ll be fine.” I pushed the extra glass away. “I’m no longer claiming it.”

I picked up my glass and sipped the drink, hoping it’d wipe away some of the tension still in me. Between the bond coming back and that relapse, I needed the help.

“So, I noticed how Rylan was helping you calm down,” Blaze said. “Was that you using that bond thing you all keep talking about?”

Rylan nodded as he sat down next to Ryoko. “That’s right.”

“What is it, exactly?” Blaze asked. “You all talk about it a lot but have never outright said what it is. What does it do?”

I pressed my glass to my lips and stared off at nothing. “It’s a feeling. A kind of awareness of each other’s condition.”

Rylan nodded, grabbing a magazine from under the coffee table. “That’d be the best way I could explain it. We weren’t told much about it, because the experiment was deemed a failure soon after Laz’s release. We also weren’t told we had to deal with it for the rest of our lives. We don’t even know what made it fail. I suspect this was Zarda’s attempt at creating psychic-like connections without the experiments obtaining telekinetic abilities. That made the connection rather weak in comparison. It only allows feelings to be communicated, instead of words. Based on how the two of us reacted to each other after the connection, it was deemed as too distracting in battle, especially if the two individuals weren’t compatible personality-wise.”

Blaze furrowed his brow. “So, you’re in each other’s head?”

“In a way,” I mumbled. “If either of us is in some sort of trouble or if either of us was in pain, the other party would know.”

Ryoko held up her fist at Rylan. “So, if I punched him, would you feel it?”

Rylan leaned away from her and held up his hands defensively. “Ryoko, don’t! It doesn’t work like that. Please don’t hit me!”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to hit you hard.”

“Even when you don’t try, you hit like a train,” Rylan said.

Idiot! Ryoko slammed her beer can on the coffee table and stormed off.

“Ryoko! Ryoko, I didn’t mean it like that!” Rylan called after her.

Ryoko slammed her door, and it cracked down the center from the force.

“Nice going,” I said. “You know how sensitive she is.”

Rylan sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

I scoffed and looked at him sarcastically. “Then tell me, how did you mean it? Because I can’t think of any other way for it to have meant.”

Rylan took the magazine on his lap and tossed it on the coffee table with a sigh. He made his way over to Ryoko’s door and banged on it. “Ryoko. Ryoko, open up. I didn’t mean it like that.” He received no answer. The crack in the door would allow her to hear him, so it was obvious she was ignoring him. “Ryoko, please.”

When he didn’t receive a reply, he jiggled the handle. It was locked. He called her name again to receive no reply. Turning around, he leaned against the door and stared up at the ceiling. He breathed out slowly and ran his fingers through his hair before slamming his head against the door.

“Dude, just leave her alone,” Blaze told him. “She obviously doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Look who decided to use his brain,” I teased.

I shook my head and chuckled. Placing my glass down on the coffee table, I made my way to my room. Rylan wasn’t going to get anywhere unless he talked to her face to face. Ryoko held grudges, and if he didn’t patch this up now, he’d be on her list for some time. Rummaging through my nightstand, I found my lock pick set.

Making my way out of my room, I pushed Rylan aside and inserted a lock pick into the keyhole to Ryoko’s door. It wasn’t long before the lock clicked open audibly. Turning the handle, I pushed the door open. Ryoko was lying on her bed with her arms crossed, brooding darkly.

When she heard the door open, she looked over at us in surprise. “Laz, you traitor!”

I grinned and grabbed Rylan by the shirt. “Go get her, lover boy.”

Shoving him into her room, I shut the door and headed for my room. I tossed the lock pick set into my room carelessly to deal with later. Turning around, I noticed Raikidan inspecting the drink I’d made him. He sniffed it and then gave it a small sipping taste. His face scrunched, and I thought he may not like it, but he tried it again. Ah, he’s unsure. I didn’t blame him. If he’d never consumed alcohol before, this would be an interesting new experience for him. I figured it best to leave him be and headed up to the roof. I needed some time alone to reflect on my earlier actions.

I sighed as the wind toyed with my hair. I had been up here most of the day now. I had checked in on my plants in my greenhouse at some point, but that was the only time I had left this spot. Ryoko had done a nice job keeping my plants alive this whole time, and for that I was glad. It had taken a lot of time finding the different species, and then even more time caring for them properly.

The sound of a door opening caught my attention. I looked up to see Raikidan walking through the door. He grinned. “Hey there, Butterfly.”

I groaned. “Not you, too. I hate pet names.”

He snickered and sat down next to me. “Well, since you hate them, I guess I’ll have to keep using it.”

I sighed. “Why ‘Butterfly,’ then?”

He touched my bangs briefly. “Beautiful and distracting.” He chuckled with a grin. “And toxic.”

My eyebrow rose in question. “Toxic?”

“You appear harmless on the surface, but in reality, you’re deadly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t call me that.”

“What, you’d rather me call you something else?”

“Yeah, my real name.”

“Well, that’s not an option.”

I shook my head. Raikidan looked at me and touched my bangs again. I furrowed my brow and pulled away. “Why are you doing that?”

“Sorry.” He looked away. “It’s just not every day you see a human with such exotic-colored hair. I’m still not used to seeing it.”

I snorted. “I doubt you ever will.” He looked at me again. “Hair with shades of blue will be the most exotic colors you’ll see naturally on any human, elf, or dwarf, and most of them are elementalists, shamans, or soldiers. Violet naturally on its own is just as common as green hair.”

“Green dragons have green hair,” Raikidan corrected.

“They don’t count.”

I lowered my head to look at him with a stern expression. “They’re dragons?”

He snorted. The two of us went quiet. I stared up at the sky as it slowly changed with the setting sun. I frowned when I realized how discolored the sky was. The city air was so polluted.

“Why so sad, Butterfly?”

I rolled my eyes. Him and that stupid name. “I’m not sad.”

“That’s not what that frown says. What’s bothering you?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing!”

Raikidan ran his fingers through his hair. “Can I ask you something?”

“You asked me a question to only ask permission to ask another one?” I chuckled. “You do that a lot. You’re really strange.”

He looked at me shyly. “So, is that a yes?”

“You figure it out.”

Raikidan sighed and was quiet for a moment. “Why did you harm Blaze earlier?”

“Oh, that…” I looked elsewhere.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, just tell me.”

It was true; I didn’t want to talk about it. But I couldn’t think of a good reason why it would hurt to tell. He’d probably just forget later anyway. “Have you ever known what it was like to go hungry?”

“Have you ever known what it was like to be weak due to starvation?”

He didn’t answer this time.

“A common tactic Zarda used to control us was starvation. Our bodies are so modified that we require large quantities of food to keep us going. This quantity is significantly higher than that of the average nu-human, and it helps with identification if necessary. Because of our food dependence, Zarda would cut our food and use what we were missing as a reward. Many times, Zarda would just not allow us to eat or drink for days, sometimes weeks.”

“And this method worked?” Raikidan asked.

“This method was only effective for certain experiments. It forced them to be loyal, and once they showed him this loyalty, their food rations were never cut. Other experiments, such as myself and the others downstairs, didn’t give in. It didn’t matter how weak we became from hunger, we refused to give in.

I pressed my lips together. “Unfortunately, this method had many negative effects for those who fought. It was common for experiments to become aggressive over food, and those who had been born with a high aggression over food became worse. I’m one of those experiments. I was always possessive over certain things I’d claimed as mine, and when someone tried to take it, I became very aggressive. That possessive nature worsened because of the treatment. I don’t mean to act that way, it just happens…”

“How bad can such aggressive tendencies get?”

“I’ve watched experiments kill each other over scraps.”

Raikidan’s brow furrowed. “I don’t see how that’s unusual. Dragons do that all the time when food is scarce in areas.”

“But humans don’t,” I said. “Humans will go elsewhere if there’s no food. A normal human would avoid violence at any cost, at the risk of a serious injury.”

“All right, I can see that, but what about you? You said you require a lot of food, but I’ve seen you go a day on only an apple, if that. I don’t understand how that statement can be true.”

I scratched my head. “There was another side effect I developed from the deprivation that other experiments only sometimes did. Many experiments’ bodies couldn’t handle the lack of food, and when they were finally given consistent meals, they required even more to keep going.

“Ryoko is one of those experiments. It’s the reason we don’t have food in this house very often. She had already required a larger quantity due to her extreme enhancements, but that increased drastically after the starvation process. My body, on the other hand, had a much different effect. This effect was much rarer than Ryoko’s.”

I looked up at the sky. “My body became so used to the lack of food, it adapted. It learned how to survive and function normally when food was scarce. Over time, it’s been able to function like a normal nu-human’s would, and at times, I won’t feel hungry for days. My appetite has become… situational. I guess that’s how you could put it.”