Chapter 21)

As I focused on the cup of tea in my hands, I noticed how intense the sun's light was heating the side of my leg. Was it like that before? I really wanted to take off the bed sheets from my body, but I couldn't let my concentration wander off.

I thought I could feel my hands get hotter the more I focused on the tea. I don't think it was the tea being hot itself, as it had been some time since Barsanti gave it to me, but as I rubbed my index finger against the cup, I realized that the cup had also been getting hotter as well.

Shortly after I found out that the cup had been getting hotter, I noticed that the tea started shaking gradually, almost like an earthquake had just occurred. 

"I did it...!" I said, amazed at the fact that the tea was still moving inside of the cup even after releasing my concentration.

"Sure looks like it! I think you're ready to move onto the next part." Barsanti looked happy, as he grabbed the pinwheel from the desk beside me.

I looked back down at the cup. It was still creating ripples even though I was't focusing on creating them. As I was studying the tea, I thought I could feel something across my fingers. Twisting the cup around, I noticed that the cup had small cracks near the bottom.

"Hey Barsanti, did this cup always have small cracks on it?" I asked, as he glanced over to the cup in my hand.

"No, I don't think so... did you say small? Those look pretty big to me." He pointed back at the cracks, and as I went to peek at his discovery, I noticed that the cracks seemed to have gotten bigger.

Am I putting too much pressure on the cup? I couldn't be that strong, could I? I'm holding the cup pretty lightly...

Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking could be heard inside the room, as both Barsanti and I looked back at the cup which had been in my hands, now shattered on my legs. A small, black sort of aura enveloped sphere appeared where my hands had been, which seemed to contain a dark red type of energy. It looked like it had been growing in size the longer I looked at it.

Jolting my hands from the ball, it seemed to have lost its mass, only leaving a small trace of dark red energy, before disappearing into the air. 

What the hell was that?! Did I do that just now?

"Well, looks like you found out what your essence looks like!" Barsanti said, surprised at the sudden appearance of my essence projection.

"What was that even supposed to be...? It kinda looked like a small sun..." I mumbled, I was still confused as to what just happened.

"I'm guessing that it was just a small burst of projection you apparently had created without realizing it. It's fine, you'll learn what concept of essence you have later. Let's just work on getting those pieces of glass off your legs."

I looked down at my legs, which had been covered with the glass shards and stained with the tea that fell from the cup when it was shattered. Barsanti grabbed a small trash bin from the side of the room, as I picked up the glass shards and tossed them into the bin. 

I thought I could hear someone stepping up the stairs from outside the room, and as I could hear the doorknob turn, I could see that the person was Iris, who was holding a small bread bun glazed with sugar.

"Did something happen? I thought I heard something shatter- huh?" Iris suddenly stopped speaking, as she looked towards me.

"Did Ogata piss himself...? Are you a bed wetter...?" Iris looked disgusted while saying that, and I could feel the embarrassment show on my face.

"Ah! No, no no no! I didn't! I was holding a cup and it just shattered in my hands and the tea stained the bed sheets! I swear!" 

She looked like what I was saying was baloney, and I would think that as well if I didn't know what happened either. A cup just shattering in someone's hands? Not likely.

"I'm being serious! I didn't piss myself! Look, I'll show you what happened!" Trying to find any evidence I could to stop Iris from seeing me as a bed wetter, I held my hands together and focused with deep intent to recreate the energy ball that was in my hands a minute ago. 

"What are you doing? This isn't helping your case, you know." Iris said, eating the sugar bun while still holding the same disgusted look.

"Ah, just hold on! I'll show you what happened!" I responded, focusing with such intent like this was life or death.

I could feel my hands get hotter the longer I focused, and soon enough I thought that I was going to leave myself with first degree burns on my hands. I thought I could feel something begin to separate my hands, and slowly the same dark red energy began to reveal itself, creating the same ball I saw, but it looked just a bit bigger than last time.

"See?! This thing destroyed the cup! You're seeing it so now you know it's true!" I said, looking back at Iris who no longer had a disgusted face, but it looked like she was surprised at what she was looking at.

"What is that thing? Why is it getting larger?" She wasn't looking at me anymore, only focused on the ball of energy that I held in my hands. Looking back down, I was shocked to see how large it had grown. It looked to be the size of a cantaloupe, and as I removed my hands from it, I thought I could hear something start to sizzle.

"Agh?!" I heard Iris shout suddenly, as I could see something shoot from the ball. It was like a laser, and as I looked to where it shot to, I could see a small hole on the other side of the room. Iris looked at the hole, then back to me, then to Barsanti.

"What did you just teach him to do?!"