Inside her room, Sanya slumped down on her bed. Her eyes were wandering across the ceiling. Her fingers caressed the surface of her lips and descended to her neck. Her head replayed what happened earlier. Talia’s kisses, her hands wandering around her legs...The marks on her neck. “...That’s felt good...Wait, what I am saying?”

She covered her face in shame and rolled her body left and right. She had known that Talia was pretty intense in her actions, but her previous surprise was nothing compared to knowing that Talia wanted to take a step into adulthood with her.

“...Okay.” After a few seconds in silence, Sanya sat up and crossed her legs on top of her bed. She had already talked about this with Talia. Despite this, knowing what might happen at her next birthday made her heart ablaze in anticipation and apprehension.

Nevertheless, she was about to start her daily routine.

The silver bell shone with a faint light as a barrier enveloped Sanya. After the conversation she had with Barostl the day before, she was dead set on training every day, practicing the use of the bell.

She first started to change the forms of the barrier like before. Her plan was to master every little step one after another. She could of course go ahead and dive into the unknown possibilities of the bell, but she still remembered what Talia had said about magic backfire. The bell was literally unique, so they had been no one to write a manual about what was safe and what was dangerous to do.

In short, she wanted to master the basics in case of something wrong happening.

After a few series of manipulation, she tilted her head with a frown. “Strange, it’s a lot smoother than before. Well, it might just mean that I’m becoming better at this.”

She smiled and reduced the radius of the barrier for it to be at arms reach. This way she could easily practice breaching out of the surface. Her hand touched the surface unable to pass through. The next second, her hand was outside up until the wrist. However, Sanya stopped all movements.

“.......What is this?” Her eyes were entirely wide open, like a bird tracking a prey. The thing is that her prey was not in front of her.

It was inside the bell.

She instantaneously closed her eyes and focused all her senses to the fullest. Her main fear was to lose the newly discovery. What she didn’t know was that her fear was useless. After all, what she just found out had always been here from the start.

Her visage turned from great shock to confusion. Her arm was still sticking out of the barrier. “This is...The moment I stuck my arm out, a flow inside the barrier changed. I can feel it now. Something is circulating toward the part controlling the barrier.”

Suddenly, her arm moved around, like a blade cutting through the surface of a paper. The gap was closing behind the movement of her arm. Sanya’s eyebrows twitched. “No, it’s not toward the part controlling the barrier...It’s toward the part of the bell responsible for everything about the barrier?”

She slowly retracted her hand in front of her, palm facing upward. “The bell doesn’t simply create a barrier...No, that’s a wrong way of saying this.”

The barrier around her began to fade away. But, unlike the previous instances, pure golden particles floated around. Sanya still had her eyes closed. Nevertheless, she declared her order. “Here.”

Immediately, every single one of the golden particles made its way to Sanya’s palm. Like children full of energy, they coagulated, forming a bright mass of light. It was only at this moment that Sanya opened her eyes, traces of fear hiding behind the excitement. “The Radiant Bell is not a mere tool to create a barrier.”

With her eyes still on the mass of light, she formulated the rest of the words. “Its purpose is to control this.”

--------------------------------------

With her hands behind her head, Talia was staring at the ceiling of her room. The night had already painted the world outside and no traces of light was present inside the room. What happened today made Talia unable to close her eyes. Still, a thin smile could be seen on her face. “Both my family and Sanya’s accept our relationship...I even did such an embarrassing thing to Sanya.”

Recalling what happened on the same bed as she was lying on, her cheeks could not help but redden lightly.

However, the next second her mind returned on the matter about her family. It was reasonable for a teenager like her to be nervous when it came to her love life. Even more, when she was attracted to Sanya, who happened to be a girl.

But, this type of things was a lot more socially accepted nowadays, partially thanks to the appearance of abilities. So, she should not have worried as much as she did earlier in the day.

To put it in other words, there was something more on her mind. The meekly smile faded out in the silence of the night. “...Sanya loves me back. Cathia totally supports us. Same for my family.”

The blue-haired girl, Talia Chevalier, expressed her main concern. “Just why did I want to put an end at my life fifty years ago? Why can’t I remember?”

[Oh, come on. Don’t play this little game with yourself. Unless, you want me to refresh our memories?]

‘!!! You-!’

[HAHAHA! Don’t tell you thought you got rid of me just because you can control It a bit. I was just sleeping a bit after our last meal.]

‘...When did you wake up?’

[The moment we reunited with Sanya. Hahaha, I got hit by such a strong emotion, I couldn’t afford to stay asleep. It was the right decision. Even though you still have control over this body, I could feel everything. Her warmness, kindness, and love! After fifty years, this is the best!]

‘Tch!...’

[You know who I am. Knowing this, you can’t be upset. Besides, I plan to sleep a bit more. At least, until we find the last piece. Last meal was not enough.]

‘...I hate to ask you, but what do you mean by I should be able to remember about fifty years ago.’

[huhuhu, HAHAH! Like hell I will tell you!... But, if you really want to know, then it’s easy. Just accept-]

‘Forget it. I will never let you take over again.’

[How proud of you. You are really not helping yourself here. It’s not a big deal. After all, I’m-]

‘SHUT UP! you are only a bloodthirsty monster!’

[...How many times do I have to tell you. I’m not this monster. What I only care about is power! Power to shake the worlds, eradicate our enemies, pursue our goal! I will not stop until reality itself moves the way I want!... Even more, we already compromised on my name. You could at least use it. I find it quite fitting]

‘...Shut up, Wish.’

[Good. I shall go dormant now. But, remember. I will always be here, waiting for traces of the last piece to appear. I will not fade away until my purpose is completed!... Love Sanya for the two of us.]

The faint sound of the distant vehicles resonated inside Talia’s ears. Her face was pale like a sheet, her teeth gritted so hard it seemed they would burst the next second. Her brows frowned as frustration covered her furious face.

“...Kh-!” Her weak voice reached no one in this lightless night.

The alarm clock next to Talia indicated there were only less than two hours left before the end of this fate-changing week.

---------------End of Arc 1: Fate-Changing Week---------------