Fast-forward to the present, it has been 6 years since the incident at Ravenwood. Even though the incident garnered the attention of the World Government, Centurion succeeded in forming an alliance with them. And with Ravenwood being a little city, it didn’t take long before everything was handed over to the organization. However, this didn’t stop the government from carrying out their investigations, be it in secret or out in the open. Yet, the result remained out of their reach. Suffering setback after setback, the government finally eased up a little on their investigations, only watching from the side. A lot happened over the past years. A lot of advancements have been made, and Ravenwood was not just a small town anymore, but a town of Cyphs.  

…

Ring, ring, ring-

The school bell clamored to signify the end of the fifth period and the beginning of lunch break. In a matter of minutes, the cafeteria was already crowded, as if patiently waiting for this time of day. The first-year seniors of Ravenwood High stormed out of their classes, heading towards the cafeteria in different cliques, some chatting and giggling as they went. Among them was the unassuming Gene Finnian. Now age 15, he had improved a lot from himself of yesteryear. He no longer wore weights under his uniform or in his shoes. With his glasses, he looked like a typical nerd from any high school setting. Though he had changed quite a lot, there still were side stories of him that occasionally crossed his hearing, but he paid no attention to them. He was now just a regular socially awkward high school kid that moved alone.

Before lunch break could end, the school bell rang and a man’s voice echoed from the speakers,

“Good day students, I’d like to remind you of the monthly research inspection. When lunch break is over, please proceed to the various stations according to your years.”

The monthly research inspection was an exercise carried out by Centurion research personnel as a way to further study the nature of Cyphs. Vital signs, blood samples, and more were taken during the inspection and noted for further study.

At the end of lunch break, everyone headed straight to their various inspection stations. And although there was a queue, Centurion officials could supervise it with ease, as this wasn’t the first time Nevertheless, the rest of the classes for the day were canceled because the exercise would sometimes last till evening. The tests had to be thorough to get desirable results, so a lot of time had to be invested in the inspection.

The exercise lessened with time, and when it was a few minutes to 4 pm, it was Finnian’s turn.

“Take a seat over there and take off your glasses, you can put them on the table beside it,” A female personnel said to him, pointing towards a high metal stool while scribbling on a notepad.

“Can I stand instead?” He asked after taking a quick glance at the chair.

The woman didn’t immediately respond till she was done writing, “I’ll need to check your vitals, and I can’t do that if you’re standing.” The lady tried to sound as polite as she could, but Finnian could tell that if he asked another question, she might grow irritated, so he walked up to the chair and sat on it.

Crack-

Almost immediately Finnian sat down, the stool started to emit creaking sounds as if someone had stacked crushing weights on it. The lady, however, didn’t seem to be too surprised by this. She wore a mixed expression of indifferent and undeniable curiosity.

“Was that from you?” She simply asked.

“Yes,” Finnian responded, trying to avoid eye contact with the lady.

The lady quickly wrote some things down after Finnian answered. Then she turned to him again, “Take off your school jacket and roll up your sleeves, I’ll be taking blood samples.”

At this point, Finnian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Can I keep my jacket on, please?”

The lady, though having been polite initially almost popped a vein. “This isn’t your first time in this inspection, right? So why are you asking a lot of questions? There are still a lot of people that need to be checked and you’re delaying with your questions. I don’t have all day, so can you take off your jacket?”

In as much as she tried to sound as gentle as she could, one could still tell her irritation from the words alone. This was indeed not Finnian’s first time attending the inspection, but the one usually in charge of the inspection wasn’t present today, so the lady had to fill in for him. If he was here, he would have treated Finnian’s case differently.

Finnian knew he had aroused the lady’s ire, though she tried to hide it. He did that no further and took off his jacket, a bit strenuously one a closer look. He took it off and placed it on an arm. But as he did so, the creaking sound of the metal stool echoed once again, and this time, it became more intense. The first time this happened was when Finnian sat on the stool, and it ceased after that. Now happening the second time, the lady naturally noticed that this was an anomaly and her curiosity was stoked to another level. She narrowed her gaze to the jacket on Finnian’s arm for a time before asking,

“Is that…?” The lady didn’t need to finish the question before she got the answer she was looking for. “Do you wear weighty clothes?” The lady asked with a hint of surprise in her tone. Finnian didn’t know how to answer and simply gave a slight nod.

“I see…” The lady’s voice trailed off as she wrote some things down again in her notepad. “Is there a particular reason why? And most of all, does Dr. Jager know about this?” She followed up one question after another.

Finnian nodded, “Dr. Hani is aware but he asked me to keep it to myself until he comes up with an explanation for it.”