Z.
Who?
Only the Bureau of Paranormal Activity's ace, of course.
Z was renowned for her overwhelming ability to classify as the only 'Z' class in history. Her history was scattered across podcasts and blog posts, which dated back to when the Bureau's communication system was first modernizing. She had a very long run in this field.
Also, she had a similar beginning to Catheris!
And she also had a similar personality.
"...Wow..." Ms. Shishiro peered over Z and Catheris in the white training room from the comfort of the observation deck.
"They're... so bad at this." Mr. Beo – her mentee – spoke as he chucked a piece of popcorn in his mouth. A cold chill swept over the room. Guess it was 'birds of a feather flock together' in this Bureau?
"Ms. Z." She introduced herself, reaching her calloused hand out for a handshake with an indifferent expression.
"Orial." Catheris accepted, equally indifferent – but it was more like she was the one shaking his hand instead. Her hands were far more calloused than his.
"This early..." Mr. Beo pinched the bridge of his nose.
Ms. Shishiro fidgeted with her nails. "They're both tired."
Yeah...
Z opened her palm. The ink rifts whirled above her hand like a tornado to form an orb the size of her head, then stabilized.
"-And that's what you'll have to master." She zapped it out of existence. "Try it."
?
Catheris waited for her instructions. He looked down at his hands, then looked back at her again. She folded her arms, staring straight down at his hands.
Sigh. So this is how it had to be.
He raised his wrist, taking in measured breaths as he slowly drew from the ink valve.
SPLAT!
In a split second, the large ink blot popped like a balloon, staining half of the woman's face, a corner of the room, and Catheris' nice outfit. Ink ran down the slits between his fingers, dripping down his wrist, which was stinging from the outburst.
They locked eyes; both their stares indifferent in this dreadful silence.
"You're the destructive type, huh?" She mused. "You'll have a long way before you can even think of using a weapon."
She stepped forward and turned his wrist up. As she examined the path of his blackened veins, a red pop-up window appeared before her, measuring his levels. She tinkered with the settings.
Ms. Z opened and closed about a dozen tabs before she stepped back. There was a slight satisfaction from the way she stood.
"Try using as much ink as you can." She instructed.
Catheris nodded slowly, a bit wary. However, she seemed to know what she was doing. Ms. Shishiro said Z was the no-nonsense type after all.
His ink flooded as he mustered up all he could. It hurt as it traveled to his veins from the large influx. However...
...
All that came from his hand was... a shaky blob of frantic ink rifts trying to come to a close; it was about the size of Ms. Z's display. The size of a head.
So this was what a Z-Class de-buffer was like?
"That's better. Stabilize it by this evening. And clean this place up."
...
...
...
"How."
***
It was a brunch break in Ms. Shishiro's Lounge~
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
Catheris looked up from his cup of coffee to Mr. Beo, his blank expression very unamused at the lack of instruction.
The detective cooed nonchalantly, "Don't know, I'm not the mage type."
-!
"You're not, but I am!" Ms. Shishiro popped in. She'd already changed into her comfy pajama look, topped with her signature worn lab coat.
"Still no progress?" She asked.
"It's not going to do me any good if I go in blind, no?"
"You're right. I don't know why she'd do that. Horrible teacher ~right?"
Catheris simply nodded, not getting involved in this childish rival spat more than he needed to.
She took the cup from Catheris' hands and set it on the table, picking up his wrist and bringing it up to her face.
"It's easier to control size first before stabilization. It's important to accurately measure the ink you need. So let's start with visualization, hun."
Nod nod.
"How to put it..." She mused with a thumb on her chin. "It's like a dip at the back of your head; that's where the 'ink' part of your brain is. That 'ink control panel' manages everything ink related. Let's start with sensing it."
Ms. Shishiro let go of him. Walking backwards towards her desk, she hooked a heel under a wheel of her office chair and kicked it across to the makeshift break room. She took her spot and scooted into place, letting out a small plasma spark for demonstration.
"See? Just use ink to trigger it."
Taking in a big breath and exhaling, Catheris closed his eyes and let out a barrage of small ink flicks – a hard peck on the veins every time – as he began to search for the sensation pulsing in his consciousness.
"Ow. ow. Ow, ow, ow–" Mr. Beo pulled away.
He tried to follow where the pulsation came from. He felt himself growing closer, but there was an ever-so-slight barrier. It felt like a vague form in the dark. It was clear there was something fundamentally wrong in his approach.
After snapping his fingers for so long, the pain had far dulled. The hard flicks turned into barely felt sparks.
A spark. Something obvious in the background. Waiting it out, he exhaled before he focused on an electric current bolting through his senses. In an instant, vertigo hit him as he realized his control.
It was... different. It seemed like a separate thing of its own that overlapped with his consciousness. It was like a cove hidden in his brain.
"You got it-?!" Ms. Shishiro shrieked.
"Mn..."
"Try making a dot!"
Catheris attuned his state of mind to this headspace. Concentrating, he envisioned the tiniest cute blob.
"Eyyy, you did it," Mr. Beo said.
Meekly, Catheris slowly opened his eyes, blinking at the sight.
'Huh—I did.'
A drop of shiny, pure destruction.
Visualizing a cube gave him a gelatinous one; compressing the ink gave him a solid cube; loosening it ruined the form, but gave him a tar-like substance; letting go of his control turned it into liquid.
"I think it's time to go to the training room," Ms. Shishiro insisted. "Also, Beo—take out the ramen cups on the way out. I'm taking Catheris."
"Oi."
***
The training room was still the same—with ink splattered everywhere.
...
Ms. Shishiro muttered, "I saw how nasty it was from the observation deck, but sheesh—"
"It hurt." Catheris drooped his head, sensing something in the splattered ink he couldn't see earlier–something connected to him. Instinctively, he gave himself an order to 'retract' the ink.
"Easy, right?"
"Right."
"Ms. Z's a prodigy, so she tends to gloss over vital information since it comes naturally to her. Catheris, you're her first blank slate mentee. I'm not asking you to just suck it up, but to understand where she's coming from. Besides, you have me and Beo to assist."
"Then... why'd the Bureau give me to her if you're always free?"
"Oh, that brat was a headache–no more mentees for me. I'm sure she'll be more helpful in practical experience than I. Right now, I'm just your beginner tutorial.
...
Catheris huffed, pure exhaustion ringing in his ears. "Let's make a pamphlet for this."
"How about you be the author? Since you just did it, you have a newbie explanation~"
Nodding, Catheris sluggishly dragged himself to the door to get to Ms. Shishiro's couch.
Bumping into him in the doorway, Mr. Beo gawked, looking betrayed. "I– I just got here!"
***
Afterwards, training went slow but steady. His ink rifts came to a close, but there were still tears in his ink orb. Ms. Z demanded absolute perfection before the next curriculum–something about how it'd be way harder to deal with his 'ink capability' after the ink seal was lifted. It was an odd feeling to suddenly add classes to his daily routine, but it was a 'welcomed-whatever.'
Catheris stood in the lobby of the building past the morning rush. He absentmindedly stirred his coffee, taking in as much sunlight as he could before he was subjected to the basement. Looking up, he began to watch the TV.
The media was following a case of missing foreign students...
Yikes, the news was depressing today. It was a gamble on what the news would be these past few days.