DELUSION

[main character: Lilly]

KAY: Perfect. Now Lilly, go with Lance. In a few minutes your power will come back and I'll need you to heal that impostor called Veles. We still need to get information from him.

- Alright.

SHION: Don't worry Lilly, I am fine now.

I feel...

- I am sorry.

Useless.

I walked towards Lance, leaving Kay, Shion and Angelo behind.

Just when my power was needed the most...

LANCE: Come here.

- Yes.

Wow this guy's face is a complete mess.

- What did you do to him?

LANCE: I just punched him really hard, that's all.

...

LANCE: Follow me.

And so I did, we both went inside the house to the infirmary again.

LANCE: I see, they made a big hole in the celling... This is going to be tough without Carbon.

- I... I am sorry...

LANCE: Stop it already!

I'm still feeling... worthless.

LANCE: Why are you apologizing in the first place?

I think it's obvious...

- I couldn't stop her from taking Carbon away, and couldn't heal Shion's wounds... I think that is more than enough reasons to-.

LANCE: And what if so?!

What?

LANCE: With only two months of training you both managed to survive an encounter with Coyote. That's enough for now.

-But, Carbon...

LANCE: We will bring her back, don't worry (smiles).

Is she smiling? I never thought her smile will be so affable. It rivals Kay's.

LANCE: What at you staring at?

- Sor-.

(CHOP!)

- Auch!

She karate-chopped me in the head!

LANCE: Stop apologizing. It does not suit you. If you want to do something, help me heal this bastard.

Heal him?

- But my powers are still nullified right?

LANCE: Well, Kay knows more about this that I do, so for now, I will just tell you that Carbon can nullify your powers but only for a period of time and the closer you are, the longer it last. Carbon is no longer here, and has left a few minutes ago, so just try using them now.

I already knew a part of that. I'll ask Kay later about this.

- Okay.

Let's see. Flowers, come again please... please...

(BLOOM)

- Yes! I did it.

LANCE: Good job.

- But why do we need to heal him?

LANCE: He fainted... and we need information from him as soon as possible. I bet Kay is already thinking of something for bring everyone back.

Wow.

LANCE: Be careful when you finish. This guy might still want to fight.

And you tell me now?

LANCE: In this closed space he won't go anywhere.

- Alright, let's do this.

As I started to heal him, he started moving his hand, then his feet and finally, he suddenly woke up.

VELES: Ugh! Where am I?

He doesn't remember?

LANCE: Hey.

VELES: AAAAAH! You!

(ZOOOM!)

In a blink of an eye, Veles jumped to the door of the infirmary.

- He's getting away!

Or so I thought.

LANCE: We don't have time for your tricks.

He...

As I turned around I saw the hand of Lance holding something I couldn't see. Veles just escaped, or so I thought.

He has been sitting here this whole time.

LANCE: Answer me some question, would you?

VELES: Please don't punch me again!

- Illusions...

LANCE: I don't think so. He is able to project holographic like figures near him. They aren't illusions.

VELES: How did you know... that I...

LANCE: Because I already dealt with illusory blessing and they always give me headaches, yours didn't.

VELES: I really don't want to get punch again, I am so sorry for all I did, I will answer any of your questions (smiles).

This sounds a bit sketchy.

LANCE: Okay, but first let me tell you something. If I get the slightest feeling that you are misinforming us, I will get a guy here that will make you believe that you are a rat for the next 4 years of your life. Do you understand?

VELES: Yes!

Who? Angelo?

LANCE: First question: [...]

And then the interrogation started. It appeared that Coyote was working rather alone than with a team. Veles was only a guy that had a debt with Coyote to be repaid.

He actually didn't know a lot about Coyote's whereabouts but there was something that really shocked us both. Coyote knew about who I was. She knew my powers and the plan we had to bring her back to the KISHI. This information meant the obvious: someone else from the organization is working with her.

So, they want me to bring Coyote back? What am I supposed to do?

VELES: That's all I know I swear.

Lance is completely quiet, is she planning something?

LANCE: Damn it!

(POW!)

VELES: Eck!

She just made a hole on the wall!

- What's wrong Lance?

LANCE: Change of plans, we will talk to that sneaky idiot first.

- What? Who?

LANCE: I already know who told Coyote about our plan.

VELES: Really?

LANCE: Shut your mouth will you?

VELES: Yes Sir!

LANCE: Follow me! Both of you.

- Okay Lance, but I just want to know... Who is it?

LANCE: I think you are able to figure it out by yourself, for now, come with me.

By myself? Let's see. There's a lot of people in the KISHI that I haven't met, but if she saying that means that I know him or her (I think).

Who knew about me before all of this?

Yui, Kay, Lance, Shion, Angelo, Hadoc... July.

July? He was the one that was waiting for Lance, but this doesn't make sense. Why would he call Lance to see the fake Arthur if she was the first to recognize the illusion?

Unless...

While I was keeping my thoughts of the culprit, both me and Veles followed Lance through the big hallways of the Mansion. Veles was rather nervous but never had the intention of scaping.

(2 minutes later)

VELES: What is going to happen to me? Can I go home?

LANCE: Well, since you know the location of this place, we can not let you free that easily.

VELES: What do I have to do then? I am sure that there is someone that will allow me to forget all of this right?

LANCE: ... (death stare)

VELES: I AM SORRY! Please don't kill me....

LANCE: Good grief... You are right! We have someone like that.

Really?

LANCE: But, you did one big mistake.

VELES: Ugh?

LANCE: You messed with my feelings.

What? Does she mean Arthur?

LANCE: Well. Here we are.

- What is this door? There's a sign that says: "L-I-B-R-A-R-Y".

LANCE: Yes.

- Wait. There is a Library and no one told me about it?

LANCE: You will understand soon enough. Veles, come here!

VELES: Yes!

Lance grabbed him from the neck of his shirt and raised him from the ground until their eyes met at the same height.

Sometimes I don't realize how tall Lance is.

LANCE: Now that you are inside our home, it won't hurt that you learn something from this place.

VELES: What?

LANCE: Have fun in there and think about what you did.

She proceeded to open the door throwing Veles like some sort of package in there and then quickly closing the door afterwards. Lance sprinkled her hand in the sign of a job done and reached out to me with a tense smile on her face.

LANCE: Have you figure it out?

- I think so...

LANCE: Then who?

I can hear Veles in the distant.

VELES: Who are you? What do you want? GET AWAY FROM ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! HELP-.

LANCE: He will be fine just answer me.

- July. But there are many things that doesn't make sense.

LANCE: You are correct. But I don't think he is working with her.

- Why do you think that?

LANCE: I guess he wanted to bring her back without having to fight, giving her information in hope that she would surrender. I get the feeling that this is how it went.

- Wow, that makes a lot of sense.

LANCE: Anyways, Good job. (crouches)

(Pat)

Is she, patting my head? Her hand isn't tender at all, it feels like being caressed by a rock, but at the same time, it is really warm and relaxing. I like this.

Suddenly, all the stress of the day banished as I was enjoying this moment with probably one of the strongest beings of the planet. The fact that I was friends with the group like that, made me realize my purpose. I wanted to be with them; learning, eating, laughing, crying together.

This was my place.

LANCE: Let's met with the rest and let's tell them what we know.

- Yes Master!

LANCE: Don't call me Master, Kay is, not me.

- But I feel like I learned a lot from you today.

LANCE: Well, even if this is the case, you should call me Lance as you've been doing since then. I am happy with that.

- Alright, Lance.

LANCE: (smiles)

As we were going back to the training field I started to feel worry about Veles for some unknown reason.

- Uhm... Lance?

LANCE: What Lilly?

- What is going to happen to Veles? Was that really a Library?

LANCE: I already told you he will be fine, and yes, that is in fact a library.

- So then, why was he screaming to the top of his lungs?

LANCE: Remember that I said that I already dealt with illusions before?

- Yeah...

LANCE: In that Library lives one of the Twelve. The eighth member of the Entaku, Gekiyaku.

I've heard that name before.

LANCE: She is probably the strongest illusionist that I've ever seen. Her power gives her infinite possibilities of illusory effects and hypnosis type visions. She is the one that keeps this place for being seen from the distance.

Amazing.

- So what is she doing in there?

LANCE: It's complicated. Let's say she has a weird fetish...

A fetish? I am not completely sure what it means. I once read it was like some sort of obsession or something.

LANCE: It's like she is attracted to books. She loves books to the extreme.

- So, why is it dangerous to enter that library? Is she hostile?

LANCE: Not really, she just enjoys sharing her passion with other people. A lot. Forcing them basically.

- So is Veles just listening to novel like stories right now?

LANCE: Well, she uses her power to make a visual representation of the books she has red and liked over the years.

- That doesn't sound that bad. What's her favorite genre?

I really like books, maybe I can become friends with another Entaku, that would be really cool.

LANCE: Horror.

- Oh.

I see.

LANCE: She has read over than 100 horror novels that she constantly reads over and over again. Then she proceeds to recreate them in clear detail with her quirk to enjoy the story even more.

- So is Veles...

LANCE: Yes, he probably is in the second quarter of the first one, trapped in Gekiyaku's illusion without realizing it.

Poor soul. You shouldn't have messed with a girls feeling like that.

We continued walking towards the training field. I really wanted to see Shion and tell him everything.

This could become my first mission as a KISHI member. 'The retrieval of the tenth Entaku, Coyote'. Sounds exciting!

- Shion!

SHION: Lilly! Have your powers come back?

- Yes! And yours?

SHION: Mines too. Are you... fine?

- Oh, yes, sorry about that. I was feeling a bit sad of everything but thanks to Lance's help, I feel much better now. Thank you Lance.

LANCE: I just did what I had to do.

KAY: Oh my, look at you Lance (smiles).

LANCE: Shut up.

KAY: (jiggles).

LANCE: What are you laughing at? You know the seriousness of this situation.

KAY: I know I know, it's just been too long since I've seen you smile like that.

LANCE: Tsh! (looks away) Come with me. I have something to tell you.

KAY: Of course. Shion, explain the situation to Lilly. We will meet at the dinning room, I am sure you are all hungry after this.

Wait, wasn't I supposed to do that?

SHION: Alright Lilly so as Kay explained me [...]

Basically Kay managed to predict every detail of this situation without even asking to Veles any information. She was only surprised that Coyote would have the guts to tell somebody else where this place was, but apart from that, every major part of Coyote's plan was right on the spot.

I guess Kay and Coyote's where really close.

SHION: Kay also told me that if anything she said was wrong just-.

- There's no need for that. She guessed it all correctly. Even she suspected July in the first place.

SHION: What did July do?

- Didn't Kay told you? You just said that July's absence in all of this was weird.

SHION: Yes I did. Wait a second. Is he the one that told Coyote about you?

- It seems. But don't worry. I don't think July is a bad person or anything. Me and Lance arrived to the conclusion that he only wanted to bring back Coyote peacefully, hoping for her to surrender.

SHION: That's a bit stupid.

- And that's a bit rude. Why you say so?

SHION: I mean, do you really think that one of the Twelve members would surrender even when their options are so limited?

- Ehm... maybe...

SHION: I think he might had underestimated her, and we just end up in this situation because of him.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Wasn't Shion and July good partners or something like that? Why is he being so rough with him?

- I don't think that's what...

SHION: Well I still think that what he did is stupid. It doesn't make sense.

- Maybe July and Coyote were friends, that would explain why he didn't wanted to fight her.

SHION: This is even worst. If they were to be friends, then he would know about how narrowminded she was, and wouldn't tell her anything about surrendering.

Okay that surprisingly makes a lot of sense.

- So then what were they?

SHION: I don't know...

Uhm... what was...

KAY: Lovers.

- Ugh!?

KAY: A couple, boyfriend and girlfriend. You know.

- When did you?

KAY: I finished talking with Lance about what happened. Well done honey, healing that guy was very important.

But you basically guessed everything he said.

SHION: Uh... I don't understand.

- What you do not understand?

SHION: Lovers?

- You know, like a boyfriend and a girlfriend.

SHION: Ugh?

Okay, he now looks even more confused.

Don't tell me he never heard about those concepts ever in his life.

- Kay? How do I explain this.

KAY: I have to go meet Angelo, he went to tell everybody what just happened. See you two! Bye!

Is she leaving me here?

- Okay, listen to me Shion. Probably your sister never told you about this, but, when a boy and a girl like someone...

This is so embarrassing, it's like explaining a little kid what liking someone means.

- They go out together, they like how the other one behave, they like how their look... etc. Then, they are in a relationship called being some else's boyfriend or girlfriend.

Phew! That's settles it.

SHION: I see. I've never heard of this before. Uhm...

Is he still thinking about it? Can we just move on from this topic?

SHION: So Lilly, doesn't that make me your boyfriend?

...

wha-

What?!

- no.

SHION: ...

- No it doesn't.