The exam room was quiet, save for the unsteady grunts occasionally made by Kyuu.
Kyuu sat near the center, Orby hovering beside her, drifting left and right as she concentrated. Her fingers pressed against her temples, brow scrunched in effort. She was straining, breathing through her nose in short, even bursts.
Orby wobbled in the air, stopped, then inched forward. Kyuu exhaled with a soft puff, her hand twitching as if her consciousness were floating between two foreign bodies.
The door loudly clicked open.
Mizue strolled in, sipping from a mug and glancing at her clipboard. She paused upon seeing Kyuu’s focus.
“Well well,” she muttered, walking over. “Getting ahead of yourself, are you?”
Kyuu didn’t respond, lips tight with concentration as Orby slowly floated around her.
Without warning, Mizue flicked her wand and summoned a cloth, tying it swiftly around Kyuu’s eyes. She stepped in close and pressed a finger gently to Kyuu’s cheek.
Kyuu tensed, hands flinching in mild surprise.
“Try again,” Mizue said. “Bring Orby to you. No sight. Just feel it. Compare where you are… and where it is.”
Kyuu stayed still, fingers returning to her temples.
She took a breath.
Her hand twitched, then relaxed.
Orby stirred. It floated forward—slowly, then faster, then slowed again as it neared her. After a moment of hesitation, it gently bumped her shoulder.
Mizue smiled faintly and pulled the blindfold off.
“Well done.”
Kyuu slumped slightly, tired but proud.
Mizue summoned a small tray and handed her a few things: a cup of water, a hunk of bread, and a fresh apple.
She sat for a while, watching Kyuu eat in silence, then spoke casually.
“So, has Orby ever done anything weird?”
Kyuu blinked, chewing slowly, swallowed and stared at the apple core in her hand. She looked thoughtful.
After a moment, she slowly stood up.
Then crouched.
She held her hands in front of her, fingers bent like claws. Her arms tensed. She made a small, strained growl.
“Hhrrhh… grrr…”
She pawed softly at the air, then dropped to all fours, her movements cautious and slow, like she was unsure how a creature was supposed to behave. Her head turned side to side. Her arms stiffened. She bared her teeth in a poor imitation of a snarl.
“Hhff. Rrrah.”
She glanced up at Mizue.
Mizue stared, eyes narrowing slightly. Not amused. Not impressed. Just confused. Possibly disgusted.
Kyuu blinked.
Then tried again.
This time her arms lifted higher, elbows locked. She opened her mouth wide, tongue slightly out, and attempted a deeper growl.
“HRAH.”
She stomped one foot lightly and flailed her arms once, unsure what a beast should do.
Mizue didn’t say a word.
Kyuu’s growl faded. She blinked again. Her expression shifted, not embarrassed, not apologetic, but visibly defeated. She tilted her head a few degrees to the side, as if asking if she had done something wrong, but already knowing the answer.
Mizue raised an eyebrow. “…Are you okay?”
Kyuu held the pose, then slowly straightened with a faint, confused frown.
“Orby ate a thing,” she finally said. “Then… it came back. Just for little.”
Mizue immediately stood. “What kind of thing?”
Kyuu made a vague shape with her hands. “Four legs. Sharp mouth. It was fast.”
Mizue frowned.
She gestured towards the apple Kyuu had just finished.
“Try that. Tell Orby to eat it. Then see if you can make it come back.”
Kyuu stood and pointed.
Orby shot forward like a cannonball, shifting mid-air as it struck the apple core full-force, wrapping around it completely, and with a wet, smooth shhlrp, swallowed it whole.
It hovered again, content.
Kyuu closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, focusing hard. Her hand twitched, her brow furrowed. Orby vibrated once. Then again.
Suddenly, it spat.
A lump of slime hit the floor and morphed, quickly reforming into the apple core.
Mizue’s eyes widened slightly.
She stepped closer and looked down at it for only a moment before picking it up. Her expression shifted, more serious now.
She snapped it in half, Kyuu twitched slightly.
Inside, pink slime, dense and viscous, pulsed faintly.
The two halves twitched, then slowly stretched toward each other, reconnecting in a slow, sticky bridge before the wound healed and the apple core went back to normal.
Mizue said nothing for a moment.
Then turned her head.
“Do you feel a connection to it?”
Kyuu nodded slowly. “A little. Not like Orby. Not strong.”
Mizue nodded once.
She stood, containing the core in a floating barrier beside her.
“Keep practicing,” she said. “Yura will check on you later.”
Without waiting for a response, Mizue turned and left the room.
The door hissed closed behind her.
Orby floated silently next to Kyuu, both looking confused.
Kyuu stared at Orby.
“Give again?” she asked softly.
Orby gently spat out another apple core in reply.
