The Dark Secrets of the Facility and the Coward

After finishing looking into everything that the research facility had to offer, it was time for us to have our lunch and do whatever we wanted to do from the available activities that we were allowed to do.

Seeing as how we were going to be given our lunch, as we did so, I couldn't help but notice that most of the other students were already there having their lunch with their friends and what not

Once I picked up my lunch, I glanced over at where Hatomi was and noticed that she was right behind me. 

"Thank you for waiting for me, Natsuo"

"No worries"

"Shall we?"

"Yeah..."

With those words, we started walking around the big room we were in and as we did so, I couldn't help but notice that Sumiko was amongst her group of friends.

She glanced over at us and just when she had done so, I could tell that she wanted to call out to me most likely to do whatever she needed, but upon noticing that Hatomi was next to me, she seemed to have been frustrated and instead called on someone else who was most likely wrapped around her finger.

"She really doesn't have any shame whatsoever"

Hearing Hatomi say that, I couldn't help but be a bit surprised "That's strange coming from you"

"It is?"

"I really didn't think that you cared about others, that's all"

"I don't. Since I don't really speak to anyone, I really don't care what they're dealing with, but at the same time, I can't help but feel a bit sad at the fact that they fall for her tricks"

"If you think about it, I would have been one of them as well" "If this ability or whatever hadn't activated back then, I wouldn't have been able to notice her intentions at all"

"I guess in your case, you just got lucky"

"Yeah..."

As we continued looking for some empty seats, my gaze set upon the table where Chitose was and right in front of her I could see Tetsuya trying to get her attention.

When I heard his thoughts, I couldn't help but feel like I was part of the reason why he couldn't get as close as he would have liked with her.

After her confession, I could only try and stray away for her for a bit for two reasons. The first one being so that she could forget about what had happened so that the both of us could continue on being friends and the second one being that by leaving her with him a bit more, she could quite possibly see that he wasn't a bad guy.

"Do you want to eat with them, Natsuo?"

"Let's eat somewhere else. Let them have their time alone"

"... Are you sure? It would look like you're trying to avoid her, you know that, right?"

"I know... But we're both a bit on edge about what happened between us, besides, I want to let Tetsuya tell her his feelings without having to worry about me being in the picture"

"..."

"Hatomi?"

"You're too nice, Natsuo..."

"I wouldn't say that... I'm more of a coward if anything"

"A coward?"

"..." I looked away from her and bit my tongue "I blew it..." "I-It's nothing. Let's just go"

She stared into my eyes for a bit and simply sighed "I'd like to hear about what you just said"

"I don't really think it's a good idea..."

"I don't care. I want to hear you out"

I sneaked a glance over at her and couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be both concerned and determined to hear me out. Seeing her acting in such a way, I started doubting myself.

I wanted to tell her, but at the same time, I was scared... I was being a coward once more.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure"

I stared into her eyes a bit more and sighed "Fine, let's go and eat then"

"Yeah"

With those words, we passed by Chitose's and Tetsuya's table and as we did so, a sudden voice spoke out "Natsuo..." I knew for a fact that it probably pained her seeing me not talking to her a whole lot or being near her, but it was for both our sakes.

Once we found an empty table, we gave thanks and started eating our lunch, as we did so, I started talking to Hatomi telepathically "The reason I call myself a coward is because I never want to confront the problem at hand directly... I either let it happen and allow the consequences to happen whether I want to or not..."

"When she had confessed to me and I told her that I wasn't really interested because I didn't love her. She started running away from me. I wanted to get up and help her and say that everything was all right, but my legs wouldn't move... I didn't want to confront the problem"

"I understand that, but that's just how some human's are. We fear the consequences that one of our actions could make. We either do something about it or simply let it happen. That's normal"

"I know that it's normal... But I've already let it happen more times then I can count. I can't continue on living like this, I need to do something to help out someone else, but I can never bring myself to do so"

"That just means that there will come a time when you'll want to do something and once that happens, you'll finally be able to confront the problems and finally be able to solve them before they get any worse"

"I guess you're right..." I let out a sigh and spoke up with my voice "By the way, those voices..."

"How did they sound?"

"They sounded in pain... They're most likely test subjects that volunteer themselves to be tested on, but I had heard that they were treated nicely"

"Every facility and company has secrets that they don't want others to know. I wouldn't be surprised if they were lying about those things and simply treating they're subjects like tools"

"I guess you have a point there..." We stayed in silence for a minute or so and just when we had done so, a sudden voice spoke up.

"Excuse me?"

"Hmm?"

The both of us looked over at the voice and I noticed that it was an employee from the facility "May I take a seat?"

"Go ahead"

"Thank you very much"

The lady proceeded to take a seat and following right beside her was the man who had given us the tour of the place.

"How are the both of you enjoying the tour?"

"It has been very interesting"

"It's nice knowing about everything about the AMO device"

"I'm glad that youths such as yourselves are enjoying yourselves"

"Are any of you planning on studying the human mind?"

"I still haven't decided"

"Neither have I"

"I see, well I hope this tour can help you choose on a career in the future"

"Thank you very much"

Before I knew it, the man got up and bowed at the three of us "I need to be going then"

He left without another word and once he did so, the lady next to us, let out a sigh of relief and glanced over at the both of us "The both of you have the condition as well, correct?"

"H-Huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I can feel it coming from the both of you" "Don't be scared. I'm not going to say anything about it, to be honest, I'm trying to hide it myself from my colleagues as well"

"Y-You know about them?"

"Yes, mine activated when I was in my second year of college" "I can see into the subconsciousness of others and tell what's going to happen to them in the upcoming day or what happened to them in the past"

"I can't see a whole lot of what's going to happen, but it's more then enough to guess what will happen the entire day" "Apart from that, I can even send pictures of what's going to happen to whoever I wish"

"How can we know for sure that you're telling the truth?"

Hatomi had a point. She could have easily said a random thing and we could have spoken up about ourselves to her and fear getting caught by them.

"Well..." She glanced around the room and her eyes laid on Chitose "That girl over there confessed to you yesterday, didn't she?"

"Yeah... She did"

"When she got home, it seems that she was crying the entire night about how stupid she was to have confessed and also at the fact that you rejected her"

"..." 

"We can trust her"

"Hatomi..."

"No one could have noticed that that was the case" She looked over at the lady and introduced herself "I'm Fujimura Hatomi and I have the ability to communicate with others telepathically"

Seeing as how she trusted the lady next to us, I decided to speak up myself "I'm Nakauchi Natsuo and I have the ability to hear people's subconsciousness and unconsciousness"

"That's quite the interesting ability the both of you have" She beamed us a smile and spoke up "I'm Nagashima Asami and I have the ability to look one day in the future or present of someone and see what will happen to them, the things they'll do and what not"

We bowed at her and as we did so, her expression changed completely "Just to let the both of you know. Refrain from activating your abilities at all costs"

"Why do you say that?"

"The man who was here just now is the head of the research division and he keeps a close eye on people to see how they react" She then proceeded to look over at me "You heard the voices, right?"

"Yes... I did"

"Ignore them. You can't risk getting caught by him. I've had my fair share of problems and I don't want you kids to get caught by him while we're here"

"Thank you very much"

She smiled at us, stood up and placed two cards on the table "That right there is my number. Call me if anything happens" "Besides, now that I got to speak with the both of you, I can inform the both of you if anything happens that could affect your lives"

"We appreciate it, Nagashima-san"

"Until we meet again"

With those words she bowed at the both of us and headed off to whatever she was going to do next all the while both Hatomi and myself were still on edge about her words and what we knew ourselves.