There were two people in front of Palo: the first was a girl with red hair wearing a sweatshirt the blue of a dark sea. The second person was non-binary and had black hair, and wore a black biker jacket and sunglasses. Both had some kind of magical power; When the first person had said, ‘Lateral Work’, she put the monster to sleep. When the second person had said ‘Overcast Field’, they made its primitive weapon disappear.

  “Teach me about this magical power of yours,” said Palo.

  The girl thought for a moment.

  “That could take a long time…” She stopped again. “Moreover, we don’t know everything there is to be known about magic. I’m Pisawa. This is Makoto.”

  The one in the biker jacket spoke. “Hey.”

  Pisawa continued to speak. “But first, we need to get to the safe house.”

  As they started towards a forest, Palo asked Pisawa a question.

  “Why couldn’t the monster touch me?”

  Pisawa raised a hand in a stop! motion. “Wait. Let’s start with the basics. Sometimes, very rarely, someone can be born with an innate power on the inside.”

  “Like the power in you, Makoto and I.”

  “Right. They don’t choose this; Makoto and I still aren’t sure what puts this innate power in someone.”

  “Is it simply by fate?”

  “Could be. But this power is like a sleeping beast; the person who has this power can’t actually use it. But if enough people dislike a person – especially if it’s unjustified – then this ‘beast’ can wake up. When their power manifests, monsters will come and try to eat these people; if a monster eats someone with manifested power – Makoto and I call them wizards – the monsters will get stronger. But, the power emanating from a wizard’s skin hurts the mo–”

  “So that’s why the monster couldn’t touch me!”

  Makoto looked at Palo. “You shouldn’t interrupt her,” they said with an amused smile, “she loves talking!”

  Pisawa began to speak again. “Thank you, Makoto. This power hu-”

  Makoto smiled mischievously. “No problem!”

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  Pisawa glared at Makoto. “Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”

  Palo spoke before Makoto could make Pisawa angrier. “Yes.”

  “Okay. The power in a wizard’s skin hurts monsters. But, wizards can have another power inside, like my Lateral Work or Makoto’s Overcast Field.”

  Palo looked confused. “Are there other powers or does everyone either use Lateral Work and Overcast Field?”

  “Every wizard has one unique power that their magic naturally takes the form of, if they concentrate it enough.”

  “So then what’s my power?”

  “We don’t know yet. But, if I may continue to speak, think of it this way: if the raw power inside a wizard’s skin is a stick to hit monsters with, these refined powers are like sharpening the stick and stabbing monsters with them.”

  Palo thought for a moment. “I have a question.”

  “Fire away.”

  “What are the specific details of Lateral Work? How does it work?”

  “Lateral Work puts the target creature within a range of 3 meters to sleep for up to 7 hours, or until I stop using Lateral Work on them.”

  Palo was stupid enough to want this: “I wanna try. Use Lateral Work on me!”

  “Wait, wait…” the three stopped. Palo, didn’t see the amusement on Makoto’s face; perhaps if he had, he wouldn’t have done it. “Ar you sure you want this?” Pisawa asked.

  “Completely sure.”

  “Okay…” She paused for a moment. “Lateral Work…”

  Palo started to get tired. His eyelids felt heavy…

  “I’m gonna sleep for a bit… wake me up in…”

  Palo fell asleep.

  ~ ?~

  Palo woke up to Makoto slapping him on the face. “Hah! The dead awakens!”

  Palo sat up. “How long did I sleep for?”

  Makoto giggled. “Twenty minutes.”

  “TWENTY?! Why’d you waste so much time, Pisawa?!”

  Pisawa stood up from the rock she was sitting on. “That wasn’t Lateral Work’s fault. I stopped using it after just one minute. You slept for that long because you needed that much sleep. C’mon.”

  After a little bit of time, the three stopped in a forest clearing with one large tree in the middle. Palo saw a small, wooden treehouse on the tree.

  Makoto started towards the rope ladder. “Behold! Our glorious safe house.”

  “... I see…”