"So," Anna continued, glancing at me sideways, "I was hoping you could pull it out using your ability."
"…My ability?"
She looked at me like I'd just asked whether the sky was blue.
"You know," she said, tapping the table lightly. "That pulling ability of yours. If you use that, this should come out pretty easily, right?"
Ah. That one.
She wasn't wrong. If I applied it with enough precision, I could extract the core without applying any physical force at all—no shock, no backlash, no unnecessary strain.
Still, one question lingered.
"…How do you know about my ability?"
"Huh?" Anna blinked, then waved it off. "Oh! I saw you fighting before."
…She did?
Thinking back, it wasn't impossible. Lately, I'd been using that ability far more openly than I realized—subtle pulls here, invisible adjustments there. To someone observant like Anna, the pattern must've been obvious.
It's not like I'd gone out of my way to hide it anyway.
So I let it go.
