Demonstration

"Ability demonstration…?" I asked.

Blaze continued with a nod. "Before we begin our search for Violet and Eon Ione, I think it's important that you see our abilities first to reduce the amount of questions you'll have about them later."

I had wondered why Blaze had all of us gathered in the backyard, but that explanation made sense. Aside from Blaze, I knew nothing about the members' abilities.

"With that being said, any first volunteers?" Blaze asked.

"Ooh! Me, me!" Ettie raised her hand enthusiastically with a jump.

Blaze stared at her before turning her attention to the other two. "...Robin, Celine, do either of you want to go first—"

"You're the one who asked, Boss!?"

Blaze let out a tired sigh, "I know, but that look on your face can't mean anything good."

"C'moon, it's not like I'm gonna do anything bad!" Ettie pouted.

"Uh huh. Sure," Blaze looked at her skeptically. "Robin—"

Robin stifled a yawn, "If Ettie wants to go first, then let her. I don't care."

"...Celine—"

"I believe Miss Ettie should go first as well. Isn't she the perfect candidate for the job with her enthusiasm?" Celine smiled.

"Right, right!" Ettie nodded proudly.

I could tell Blaze wasn't satisfied with the responses she received.

"...Okay, Ettie, seeing as no one else is volunteering, why don't you go first?" Blaze sighed again. "But don't go overboard," she added sternly.

"You got it, Boss!" Ettie saluted before turning to face all of us.

She still had a smile on her face, but she looked like she was seriously determined. In a flash, her lilac eyes and her grayish purple eye patch glowed a neon color.

"...?!"

I let out a gasp and waited with bated breath to see what she was going to do.

Considering Blaze was warning Ettie not to go overboard, it must be something pretty crazy…

Maybe she can shoot beams with her eyes?!

"Well, don't get too excited, newbie. I can't do anything like that, hahaha!" Ettie laughed, waving her hand dismissively.

Huh? How did she know what I was thinking…? Was my excitement too obvious?

I scratched my cheek embarrassedly, but before I could say anything, Ettie interrupted me.

"Nah, it's 'cuz I can read minds!" she puffed her chest out smugly. "Including yours!"

"Oh, so you're a mind reader…" I nodded to myself. "Wait, you're a mind reader?!" It took a moment to sink in.

"Yep! I know everything you're thinking alll the time!"

"All the time?!"

Blaze lightly smacked Ettie on the head. "Don't lie to her."

"Ouch!? I was just joking! Anyway, I can only hear people's thoughts when I activate my ability," Ettie pointed her index finger towards her eyes. "That's why my eyes are glowing right now!"

So, her eyes glow when her ability is active…

I tried to remember if Ettie's eyes were glowing at any point last night, but nothing was coming to mind. I was so sleep deprived that it was unlikely I would have even noticed if they were.

"Mmmgh…" I groaned a little.

"Don't worry, I didn't read your mind last night!" Ettie flailed her arms worriedly. "Didn't wanna invade your privacy!"

"...Really?" I wanted to believe her but I couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.

"Really! I activated my ability to report the situation to the others telepathically, but that was it!"

That just made me more confused.

"W… What do you mean you reported the situation telepathically…?"

"Mind reading isn't the only thing I can do. I can also communicate telepathically with others!" Ettie nodded smugly. "And in this case, I had to tell Boss not to bust our door down in her panic."

Blaze's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. "I-I heard our new member screaming during the middle of the night! Of course I would want to check on her to make sure she's okay!"

"Wait, you actually heard that…?!"

I didn't realize I was that loud!

"There's no way any of us couldn't have heard that. You guys were talking loudly in there, too," Robin scratched his head. "But better that than you being in any danger."

Celine nodded in agreement, "Yes, no one is upset with you for it, Miss Luna. We were all very worried once we heard you, so Miss Ettie was just letting us know if things were alright."

"I understand you might not feel comfortable, but know you can always talk to us," Blaze looked at me with concern.

I truly felt touched by everyone's kindness, but I also felt like a bother for making such a big scene on the first day.

"...Y-Yes, I'm doing alright," I forced an awkward smile.

"...Are you sure?" Blaze didn't seem convinced.

"I'm sure. So, um… Please continue with the ability demonstrations."

I could tell Blaze didn't believe me with the way she narrowed her eyes skeptically, but she nodded at Ettie to continue anyway.

"...Right, I was talking about telepathic communication, wasn't I?" Ettie nodded once she got back to business. "I can set up group telepathy! It comes in handy when we can't talk directly or if we're in different locations."

"With it, we can communicate effectively on missions," Blaze said. "However, your thoughts can also be heard by anyone in the group telepathy when it's in place, not just Ettie, so be mindful of what you think about."

"That sounds like it would be kind of stressful…"

I didn't think there was ever a time my mind was clear.

"Don't worry about it too much!" Ettie smiled. "Only your strongest thoughts are conveyed to everyone through group telepathy, so it's not like your whole mind is exposed. Just focus on what you wanna say and you'll be fine!"

"Well, we don't use it very often anyway, so you don't have to worry about that," Blaze patted my shoulder.

Her warm hand helped to ease my worries; I felt comforted by her touch. Was it really just her ability that made me feel so warm? My chest felt fluttery for some reason…

"Thinking about Boss?"

"Eep!?"

Ettie's voice suddenly echoed in my head while I was in the midst of my thoughts.

I jumped back in my shock. "W-What…?!"

"We can also communicate one-on-one telepathically at any time! So, I thought I'd give you an example," Ettie grinned mischievously.

"Couldn't you have given me a warning at least?!"

"I thought I'd surprise you!"

"Ettie," Blaze spoke sharply.

Ettie's eyes went back to their regular lilac color with an awkward laugh. I could see her sweating a little bit.

"Okaaay! Now that I'm done demonstrating Mind, you're up next, Robin!" Ettie gestured towards Robin, inviting him to take the lead.

I was a little confused by the name.

"Mind…?" I asked.

"I call it 'Mind' cause it's a mind ability, eheh!" she puffed her chest out with a smug giggle.

"...Wouldn't you just call it 'Telepathy'?"

"Mind sounds cooler!"

"...Does it?"

It just sounded confusing to me. It was such a vague name that it didn't really give any hints about the ability itself. But then again, I guess I wasn't very creative with the naming of my own ability.

'Water'…

I didn't really think about anything cool; I just went with what made sense. Maybe that was boring, but getting the point across was better, I thought.

"Using Doppelganger is such a pain in the ass…" Robin scratched his head and turned his gaze to me, "Hey. You mind giving me something of yours?"

"Ooh! Good idea, Robin! You can turn into Luna!" Ettie nodded enthusiastically.

"Turn into…?" I echoed.

And did he say 'Doppelganger'...? Just what kind of ability does he have?

"Well?" Robin held his palm out in front of me.

"O-Oh, um, I guess you can borrow this? If it's good enough...?" I untied the ribbon in my hair and handed it to him.

"Yeah, that's fine. So long as I have something with your scent, it works. Give me a minute."

He held the ribbon in his hand and closed his palm. There was a flash of light surrounding him. His blue eyes gradually turned a warm purple; the exact same shade as mine. Then, he was enveloped by the light, and out emerged what appeared to be… me.

"Huh…?!" I gasped.

Down to every last detail, the person I was looking at was an exact copy of me.

"Before I forget, you can have this back. Now that I've copied you once, I'll be able to copy you again whenever."

Robin(?) placed the ribbon in my hand. Even the voice was identical to my own, though it was sharper. If it weren't for this Luna's rougher expression, I wouldn't have been able to tell this was actually Robin.

I decided to tie the ribbon back in my hair before I forgot.

"Are you… Robin?" I felt like asking just to be sure.

"Are you... stupid?" he mocked with my voice.

"Wh…?!" I was taken aback by how rude my own voice sounded. "I was just asking a question!"

"And it was a stupid question."

"Robin. Don't be rude," Blaze scolded.

"I'm just saying? It was a question that already had an answer."

Though Robin might have had a point, he didn't have to put it that harshly!

"Anyway, if you can't tell already, which you probably can't, I have the ability to copy a person and transform into them. That's why we call it Doppelganger."

I tried to ignore Robin's rude comment. "And you have to have a belonging of that person's in order to do that?"

"In order to transform into a person completely, there's three requirements," he held up three fingers. "I need to have seen their appearance, heard their voice, and know their scent. But after I've transformed into them once, I can transform into them whenever, so long as I haven't forgotten those details."

"Do you also gain access to that person's ability?"

"See for yourself."

Robin raised his open palm; a ball of water began to sprout from his hand. There was no doubt it was my water ability, though its power appeared to be weaker than mine.

"...Why is it so much smaller?" I wondered.

"S-Shut up!?" his face flushed with embarrassment. "I haven't had the chance to train with your ability yet, so its power is weak! I can gain access to the person's ability, but the power that comes with it is my own, and if I don't know how to use it, I can't do anything with it!" he glared at me.

"I-I see…"

It made sense, but I didn't understand why he was getting so defensive.

"Trust me, I'm much stronger when I use an ability I've trained with, like Boss's." Robin let himself be enveloped in a flash of light, and once the light disappeared, his appearance was back to normal. "Guess you're up, Celine?"

"Ah, is it my turn now? Well then, please watch closely, Miss Luna."

Robin stepped aside, letting Celine take over. She spread her arms wide, a green light surrounding her hands, and aimed at the grass.

"I can materialize plants and manipulate the ones around myself. Due to this, we have decided to name this ability 'Plant'." Before I knew it, the grass below Celine had burst into a row of colorful flowers. "But there are many different uses for this ability, creating flowers is just one of them."

"They're beautiful…!" The scenery was so pretty that everything glittered.

"Heehee. Thank you very much."

Celine really was just like a princess you would find in novels. I couldn't help but admire her.

Beautiful, elegant, and kind…

Apart from our minor argument yesterday, she had been very kind to me. I thought she seemed like a wonderful person.

"...Ah, another good use of this ability is poisonous plants," she suddenly smiled with every hint of malice.

"Pardon…?" I asked.

"Poisonous plants. You could throw them at your target's face or into their mouth to poison them directly, or for a less direct approach, you could simply sneak it into their food or drink and watch the poison slowly but surely overtake them," she giggled. "In fact, I would love to use them on that man if the opportunity ever arises."

"Uh… Huh?"

I assumed she was talking about Thorn Shadows.

Wait, poison him?! Isn't that a little extreme…?!

I definitely thought so, but if Crime really did kill Celine's parents, I knew I should just keep my mouth shut for now. I still didn't know the full story between them.

But still, poison…?!

That didn't seem right to me!

"There will be no such opportunity." Blaze had her arms crossed.

"Of course not, Boss. It was merely a joke."

"Were you really joking…?" I asked doubtfully.

"I shall leave that up to your imagination, Miss Luna," Celine giggled again with a smile.

Maybe the image I had of her was a little off…

She's scarier than I thought… I better try not to get on her bad side.

I nodded to myself.

Blaze looked downcast, her grip on both of her arms tight. I agree that it was a morbid joke, but something told me there was more to Blaze's reaction than that. She looked uncomfortable for a different reason.

And why does she look so sad…?

"Now, then. Why don't you go next, Miss Luna?" Celine suggested.

I snapped out of my thoughts. "...Huh? Me?"

"You've seen Boss's Flame ability already, yes? So, wouldn't it make more sense to finish the demonstration by showing us what you can do?"

"Oh, that's a good idea. I'm interested in seeing your ability," Blaze voiced her approval.

"It's really nothing that impressive, but if you want me to…"

I stepped in the center of the area and held my palms out, focusing on materializing the water into the form of a ball. A medium sized ball of water sprouted from my hand and gradually grew larger, fitting the size of my palm. I flinched a little at the cold water at first, but it started to feel refreshing on my skin with the warmer weather. I materialized a couple more water balls and gathered them in the air, taking a few steps back. Then, I threw my attacks at the trunk of a tree, splashing it with water.

"I-Is that good enough for a demonstration?" I asked nervously.

Ettie ooh-ed and ahh-ed, her eyes glittering with wonder. "You're amazing, Luna!"

"Pretty impressive," Blaze nodded.

"Not bad for a newbie, I guess," Robin said.

"My, what a backhanded compliment coming from the one who couldn't even utilize her ability properly?" Celine teased.

"Shut up!?"

The amount of stares on me was starting to make me feel self conscious, but it seemed like they were all impressed.

It's a little embarrassing…

But being recognized for my skills made me happy, too. I had been training my ability for six years by myself, so having such powerful ability users compliment me gave me a little more confidence.

With their help, I might really be able to find Violet and Eon…

Just as I thought that, Ettie suddenly flinched with glowing eyes.

"...? What's wrong, Ettie?" Blaze asked.

"I-I think I heard something…!" Ettie turned around, trying to find the source of what she heard.

Blaze narrowed her eyes, "...What do you mean?"

"I-I don't know! It was a strong thought! Strong enough to activate my ability unwillingly!"

"An ability hunter?" Blaze immediately readied her stance.

"No, 'cuz I couldn't read this person's thoughts; I just felt their strong emotions. It was almost like they knew how to block off their mind to prevent their thoughts from being read... I couldn't read anything!"

"Was it an ability user, then…?" Blaze asked.

"I think so. But I don't know how they're blocking their mind from me! Do they know about my ability? There's no way, right?"

Ettie put her finger to her chin, appearing to be in deep thought, while Blaze cautiously looked around with her eyes.

"...!?"

Now that Ettie had mentioned it, I felt a pair of eyes on me... and it was definitely different from Regret's.

"W-Who's there…?!" I quickly turned around to face the tree, and shot a blast of water at an upper tree branch where I felt the gaze coming from.

…Which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I wanted answers.

"Hey, Luna!?" Blaze scolded. "We don't know who we're dealing with. Leave this sort of thing to me."

"I-I'm sorry, I felt a strong gaze on me, and I…"

"So, you could actually sense me? Interesting!"

The five of us quickly turned in the direction of the mysterious voice, but there was no one there. Blaze stood in front of me, acting as a shield.

"W-Who said that…?" I asked.

"I don't know…" Blaze answered before turning her attention to the voice. "Whoever you are, show yourself!" she shouted.

A figure in a red cloak, who had been hiding in the leaves of the tree, slowly rose and stood on one of the branches. Their face was hidden by their cloak, but it was clear they were watching us.

"A Crime cloak…?!" Blaze gasped.

"No way…" I mumbled, taking a step closer.

"Wait, Luna!? What do you think you're doing?!" Blaze tried to pull me back, but I brushed her hand away.

"Are you really a Crime member…?!"

I took another step closer, gazing up at the tree and refusing to look away from the cloaked figure.

The cloaked figure stared me down from head to toe. "....Are you Luna Ione?"

I was a little miffed that they answered my question with another question, but that feeling quickly got overtaken by the shock of a Crime member knowing my name.

"Huh…? Y-You know who I am…?"

"So, you are Luna Ione…"

Their lips curved into a grin with a gleefully creepy laugh, "AHA… AhahaHAHAA!"

I flinched; the way they were laughing was scaring me.

W-What's with this person…?!

But I firmly kept my stance on the grass and gazed at them seriously, ignoring my internal pleas to break eye contact with the creepy figure.

"H-How do you know my name…?!"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that I've finally found you... Luna Ione!"

Just as the cloaked figure looked like they were about to jump forward, the branch they were standing on began to crack.

"Ah…?"

The branch broke and they immediately began to fall from the tree.

"Uwahhh!?" They let out a startled shriek, darting their eyes around to find a safe spot to land. "Hey, watch ouuut!?"

"Huhhh?!"

The cloaked figure was quickly landing in my direction. Before I had the time to step out of the way, they crashed right into me.

"Luna?!"

I had shut my eyes to brace myself for impact, but I was hearing the other members calling for me now. I slowly opened my eyes to take a look and was immediately startled by the cloaked figure pinning me down on the grass.

"...?!"

The cloaked figure's face was completely visible now that their hood had fallen off. Their eyes, which were widened with shock, were a clear white. And their short hair was a ginger color. They also seemed to have a shadow over their face...?

…Wait a minute.

Then, it hit me. Their appearance was exactly as Blaze had described Crime's leader.

Is this person actually Thorn Shadows?!

Before I could say anything, I realized there was something soft pressing against my lips. I looked down and realized Thorn Shadows(?)'s lips were currently on mine. He pulled his lips away from mine and stared from on top of me.

"....." Thorn didn't say anything, but the shock in his eyes was obvious. His face also looked flushed as he stared at me.

Looking at him from up close, he was actually sort of handsome. His sinister aura was a little unsettling at first, but it made him more mysterious. And his shadowed face was actually kind of cool…

Wait, wait, waittt! What the hell am I thinking?! This isn't some scene in a romance novel! Just what is this situation?! And is this really the leader of Crime?!

My thoughts were swirling while he continued to intently stare at me.

Why isn't he saying anything?! This is so awkward! But if he really is the leader of Crime, then, I need to say something! I have to ask about my siblings!

I could feel my own face start to burn up with how much he was staring, but I tried to calm my racing thoughts.

"U-Um…!" I tried to speak.

He opened his mouth at last like he was about to say something. "Pretty..." he mumbled.

"...Huh?"

That caught me so off guard that I forgot what I was about to ask.

"You're so..."

"So…?" I echoed.

He was starting to trail off, and his cheeks were gradually becoming an even brighter shade of red. He was so close to me that I could hear his heartbeat; it was pounding at an alarmingly fast rate.

"A-Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself when you fell...?" I looked at him with concern.

His eyes widened even more at that, as if he couldn't believe what I had just asked.

"I…" His eyes were void, but they seemed to be a little brighter now. "N-No! I'm… I'm okay…!" His voice sounded a little higher than it did while he was up in the tree.

He gasped once he realized the position we were in. "S-Sorry!" he quickly got off of me. "I-I should be asking you the same question! I don't know what came over me… Are you okay—?"

"Get away from her!!"

Thorn offered his hand to help me up, but before I could take it, Blaze threw a fireball in his direction. He swiftly dodged before it could reach him, but in that split second, he seemed shocked by Blaze's actions, and his eyes... looked incredibly pained.

Blaze quickly stepped in front of me and helped me up. "Luna, are you okay?!" She held me protectively.

"I-I'm fine, but…"

"Did you just… try to blast me with fire…? Ahahaha!" Thorn laughed bitterly, a crooked smile on his face. "You really haven't changed a bit, have you... Blaze!?"

His eyes were void again as he exclaimed her name with such anger. It was drastically different from how he was acting towards me.

"I wish I could say the same of you… Thorn."

The two glared at each other with such hatred that you could cut through the tension with a knife…