Eventually, every recruit had their abilities assessed. Some were just as ridiculous as Aiden's, others more mundane but powerful. The chatter moved from person to person, each clearly excited about their newfound abilities. Most, including Kenji himself, wanted to use these powers on a day-to-day basis. It would make life far, far more convenient, after all.
But that was dashed when Anselm took to the stage once more. His stone-cold glare hushed the excited voices, and the Iron Talon could see right through their intent.
"Your new [Gifts] will not be used outside of missions." He said, his voice stern. A chilling cold settled; he spoke as if anyone who disobeyed would feel the wrath of his blade.
"The unsanctioned use of your abilities will result in a reduction in your current month's pay for a first offense, a penitent mission on the second, and death on the third." He left no room for error or misunderstanding; he didn't come here to negotiate, but to inform.
"You are being observed. You must all know that, already. You were chosen for your skills, after all. For your prowess in the blade, or the sharpness of your minds." He coldly intoned. "So I will not brook any disobedience, nor will I accept ignorance as your excuse. You have been informed, and I will give no further warning."
"Am I understood?" Anselm asked, and a chorus of voices answered back.
"Yes, sir!"
"Then you are all dismissed. Your assessments are complete, and your first missions will be assigned within the week. Prepare yourselves until then."
With that said, the Iron Talon turned and walked away. His footsteps echoed in the vast hall, leaving the crowd in sheer awe of the man.
Kenji gulped.
He supposed that meant he needed to be far more careful with how he used [Subjective Law]. If unauthorized use of their abilities could lead to death, then what would happen if the Choir discovered he was hiding information?
He shook the thought from his head. He wasn't planning on keeping secrets, not really. He just needed the right person to see them first.
As the crowd began to disperse, footsteps approached. Aiden waved with one hand, the other holding a bloodied tissue to his nose. Despite the bruising across his face, he looked annoyingly cheerful.
"Yo, Ken!" he called out, voice muffled by the tissue. "You up for food? I can invite Octopus and your new lady friend. Ron, was it?"
"Yeon," Kenji corrected, a bit sharper than intended. He paused, considering. That did sound nice — a break, even for a moment — but he had something more pressing to do first.
"What time?" he asked. "I can't right now, but maybe later."
Aiden's grin widened. "Dinner with the boys, then. Café Desroches, six sharp."
Kenji nodded at Aiden's words. "Six, got it."
The self-proclaimed knight gave a dramatic two-finger salute before heading off, already shouting something about finding Octavia. Kenji watched him go, shaking his head with a faint smile.
Aiden de Châteaunoir. Knight Errant, bleeding nose, and all. The guy was ridiculous — but at least he wasn't dull. Octavia was the opposite: sharp-eyed, measured, the kind of person who kept you from doing something stupid by just looking at you. And Yeon… she was dangerous. Not just because of her skill, but because she hid things. Like him.
'Then again, I think we're all hiding something.'
But now he knew. He wasn't the only one with secrets.
It was strange, really. For the first time since joining the Choir, he didn't feel completely alone.
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "Dinner with the boys, huh?" he muttered to himself. "Guess that's a first."
But for now, there was something else he needed to handle. The two systems still pulsed faintly in the back of his mind — the Voidborn and the Nameless. Two different patrons, two conflicting powers. The more he thought about it, the more it made him feel uneasy. Corswain and that damned Cat, he couldn't tell what their relationship was.
Considering how hard the Nameless System tried to reject the Voidborn one? Kenji felt a pang of fear creep up his spine.
As the crowd trickled out, Kenji made his way up the stage where Shō and Erhardt lingered. The latter turned to him with that same wide, unsettling grin that always seemed one twitch away from madness. Shō only gave a puzzled look, clearly unsure why his younger brother was approaching the stage.
"Hey, uh— Erhardt," Kenji began, hesitating for a moment. "I need to talk to you."
His gaze flicked toward Shō, a nervous lump forming in his throat. Erhardt already knew details that could very well get Kenji killed if the wrong person overheard — but Shō? Shō was still in the dark about what had happened inside the Shroud.
It wasn't that Kenji didn't trust his brother — he trusted Shō with his life — but the thought of telling him about escaping the containment field? He'd probably give the man a heart attack.
Erhardt's grin softened into something knowing. His eyes darted to Shō, then back to Kenji. He understood the boy's reasoning — but, of course, the eccentric scientist had his own ideas about how this should go.
"Very well then, Kenta!" Erhardt announced dramatically, clapping his hands once. "I'll have Shay join us. After all, it's only proper that your dear brother hears about this, hmm?"
Kenji's eyes widened, his mouth half open to protest, frustration flashing behind them — but before he could speak, Shō crossed his arms.
"I'm coming with you, Kenji," he said firmly.
His tone left no room for debate. Anything concerning his brother concerned him — simple as that. Shō might have been terrible at talking about things, and worse at understanding what went on in Kenji's head, but this much was certain: he wasn't going to be left out again.
Kenji wanted to protest, to debate, to try and tell Erhardt that he just wanted to tell one person. However, it was of no use; Kenji knew how hopeless this endeavor was. If there was one thing both Hakurou siblings had in common, it was that they were absurdly stubborn.
"Fine." He said, "But not here."
None objected.
**********
Kenji couldn't help but feel as though this lab was slowly becoming his go-to place to vent. Not that it helped, given how much stress it caused him. Still, Erhardt was the only person he could tell this to, and now Shō was another soul who'd known. Not the worst arrangement, but it certainly didn't help with preventing Shō from worrying.
"Alright, Kenta." Once more, Erhardt positioned himself on a swiveling throne. The city backdrop from earlier was replaced by a holographic display resembling a broken-down city.
'Is this really necessary?' Kenji dryly thought, but focused his gaze back to Shō and Erhardt. The former stood by, leaning on the corner with his arms crossed.
"What do you need to tell me, young boy?" Erhardt intoned, he leaned in with a dangerous glint, but Kenji could tell that it was nothing severe. It was just one of Erhardt's many antics, one he's slowly getting tired of.
'You're an adult man acting like an infant, grow up.' Kenji blanched at the thought. Still, there was no denying this man's knowledge. With his extensive lecture on the Shroud, Kenji saw no better person to ask. Usually, he would've just asked him straight up.
But with Shō here?
Kenji pondered what to do and what to say. Should he just be frank or dance around the issue? He let out a sigh. If Erhardt brought Shō here, then he was left with no real choice but to comply. Turning to the man, Kenji cleared his throat and spoke.
"I—"
It died, just as he said the first syllable.
Why was he so nervous about this? Just because Shō was here? It felt like that one time he had to show Shō his report card. It was abysmal, the worst score the school had ever seen. He was referred for special admission after that. It was that bad.
"Let's say hypothetically..." Kenji decided to say, as if framing his situation as a hypothetical scenario could save him. The boy certainly wasn't the brightest tool in the shed. "During the Psychic Attunement, I got out of the containment field — purely hypothetical, by the way — and a Shroud entity contacted me."
He flinched for a moment, waiting for the Voidborn system to shut him up like the Nameless One did. To his surprise, he wasn't. Kenji blinked, so he was allowed to reveal the Voidborn Cat Entity but not Corswain?
'Damn you, coffee-obsessed bastard...'
Why was he the less lenient of the two?
Both Shō and Erhardt raised their brows. The two, clearly, were not convinced. But Kenji elected to ignore their bemusement. It wasn't the time, especially now that he was this deep into the hypotheticals.
"Now, hypothetically, I went back home after it — completely fine, by the way! — and when I was trying to sleep, a system popped up. One that isn't what I'm used to."
Kenji stuffed his hands in his pockets—an attempt to hide them from the shaking. The pressure from how the two gazed on him felt like he was carrying a mountain on his back. He was a horrible liar, and both could see that clearly. The thinly veiled attempt to lessen the impact by claiming hypotheticals wasn't at all effective.
Erhardt looked at him, his stare was searching — as if he were a guinea pig he had just injected with an unknown concoction. Then, with a wide grin, he leaned forward and spoke excitedly.
"You mean to tell me that you have two affinities?" Erhardt spoke with a curious glint. Clearly interested, a little too much if Kenji had to be asked.
Shō, however, was a little more concerned. But ever the stoic worker, he only raised a brow. Kenji could at least tell that there was likely something more beneath how he was outwardly feeling, but as usual, he showed nothing on his face.
"Well, I guess so? More so, they're just two separate systems that exist in my mind. One's more usable than the other; the other one's just blank. I have a separate title, different from my original system."
Erhardt's grin faded, replaced by a look of utter confusion. "Blank? Your system is blank?"
Kenji nodded.
"Why? Is that... a bad thing?" His words were cautious. If Erhardt was brought to confusion, then it must've been something truly concerning.
"No, not at all... well, I wouldn't know. We've had people lie about their abilities, gifts, and affinities before. But we've never really received a 'Blank' System." Erhardt held his hands up in quotes.
"Then again, you gained yours through unconventional means. You didn't gain it through natural attunement; rather, you were likely forcefully given one by that entity. This is, frankly, unheard of. Most Shroud Entities just possess you, or render you brain dead, or they mutate you into a Shroud Spawn under their control."
Kenji felt a shiver crawl up his spine. How easily he could've died right then and there. But what made him so different? Why was he spared? And why had that entity given him a system when it had tried to kill him earlier?
'And why me? Why not some other depressed love-starved jackass? I know I wanted to be special, but not like this!' Kenji thought through gritted teeth.
"So, what? I'm just screwed, then?" Kenji uttered, exasperated. Erhardt shook his head.
"No, no — at least, not that I'm aware of." Erhardt hummed to himself. "You're still alive; it means that the entity needs you breathing for whatever it's planning, lucky you!"
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"No, but it does mean that you likely won't die from it. At least, not without a trigger." Erhardt said with a shrug. "That being said, this is most unusual. As we've agreed, I'll try to look into it when you come in for testing. For now, try not to worry about it too much; it'll only make you feel worse. It could hamper your performance."
'You say that as if that's easy.'
"So that's it, then? There's nothing I can do?" Kenji asked, his voice a dejected thing. The young boy was saddled with a lot, and now Erhardt tells him there was nothing he could do?
"I wouldn't say that. More so..." Erhardt hummed. "You just have to practice patience and wait. Right now, we don't have a lot of data to work with. I could run you through the Coffin again, but..."
Kenji shivered. Yeah, he didn't want to go through that again. With a sigh, he stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets.
"Alright, alright, I get it." He said with a sigh, then turned around and walked off. Before he could, however, Erhardt spoke up.
"Oh, before you leave, I'm assuming you still haven't figured out an STCT," Erhardt said, leaning back on his throne. "If not, I have an idea..."
Kenji paused, turning his way. "And what would that be?"
Erhardt's grin widened, a cheshire-like expression that spoke of nothing but trouble. At this point, it may have been his trademark.
"If you would, I'd like to take a look at your chains."