Last night at Chioma's place, Daiyu insisted that her feelings for Ivan were genuine and that she wanted to let him know about it. Chioma didn't buy it, but she still advised her friend how to go about expressing her feelings.
After Ivan was set free, he left the police station with Chioma and Daiyu. A cab pulled up to them; it was the ride that Chioma had hired for herself. She claimed that she had a matter to attend to and apologised to Ivan that she couldn't escort him with Chioma. She boarded the cab, and the cab drove off, leaving Daiyu with Ivan.
Daiyu hugged Ivan. She said, "Thank you for getting my phone back."
Ivan sheepishly patted her shoulders. He said, "It's nothing. No need to be dramatic about it."
Daiyu pushed away from Ivan and pushed him on his chest. She was infuriated with his nonchalance. She said, "Don't say that. You almost got killed."
"Killed?" Ivan reflected on his victorious crusade last night. "Kind of," Ivan shrugged.
Daiyu looked at Ivan straight in the eyes. Ivan felt uncomfortable with her persistent stare. He turned his gaze away.
He said, "You are making me feel uncomfortable." He sighed and said, "I guess you are right. No, not that I guess; you are indeed right. I just felt embarrassed with you thanking me."
Daiyu smiled, glad that Ivan recognised his flaw.
She said, "You need to rest. Your eyes are sunken."
"The mosquitoes were a menace," Ivan said, agreeing with what Daiyu said.
The cab that Daiyu hired online pulled up at the agreed meeting point. Daiyu and Ivan boarded the vehicle. The driver drove them to Ivan's apartment building.
At Section 2.6, in an office that was situated on the topmost floor of a high-rise building, Lady Flux and five other special characters were in a meeting. They were here to review how many special characters had appeared after the stunt that Merlin_13 pulled the previous day.
The characters sat behind a table that was elliptically shaped save for one character. The excluded person stood before a large screen that the other characters were also looking at. The large screen was mounted on the wall.
The character who stood before the screen had the flair of an 18th-century scholar. He wore a blue linen shirt with a brown waistcoat over it and breeches below them. He wore a brown double-breasted frock coat over the shirt and waistcoat. On his feet were a pair of long white socks that were hidden below the breeches and a pair of brown leather shoes.
On the screen were a number of faces. These were all special characters that emerged from yesterday after Merlin_13's stunt to this moment. These characters on the screen were the ones that had been traced and verified.
The 18th-century scholar lookalike addressed the seated special characters. He said, "7123 special characters have emerged after the 'big stunt' yesterday. Over one thousand special characters decided to resort to crime, and more than ninety per cent of them met their demise.
"Less than five per cent of those who resorted to crime have been arrested, while the others have gone into hiding, being wanted criminals. Most of the others have decided to continue living their simple lives; some of them willingly decided to join humanity's liberation force.
"The characters I accounted for were the ones that we were able to locate. About five hundred special characters have not been located. However, commendable effort is being put to locate the rest of the special characters."
Lady Flux's expression was cold while the 18th-century-looking scholar addressed her and the special characters.
She moved her lips and said to the 18th-century-looking scholar, "You did not introduce yourself."
She had arrived before everyone present in the room with her. She was the highest-ranked character in the room, and none of the other characters were S-rank like her. When the other special arrived, albeit not at once, every one of them greeted her with respect. Somehow, it escaped everyone's mind that although they knew her, she didn't know their names.
The character who looked like an 18th scholar placed his right hand on his chest and bowed. He said, "Lady Flux, please forgive my manners; I am Anderson_Shoeberry."
As the scholar introduced himself, his avatar name appeared on the screen: Anderson_Shoeberry.
Lady Flux said, "No offence taken. I just want to commend your team's" effort. Good documentation. You guys are doing a wonderful job to keep section 2 safe. But there is a flaw in your operations."
The special characters seated at the table with Lady Flux turned their heads to look at her.
Lady Flux kept her cold demeanour as she spoke. She said, "In our best interest, it's not good that over ninety per cent of special characters who resorted to crime after they gained powers died within twenty-four hours.
"No, it's not good. We need a lot of help in the effort to liberate humanity from this wretched game. We need a lot of help to save humanity from the uncertain fate connected to dying in this game. Those characters that died may be scum, but they aren't useless.
"Anderson_Shoeberry, your name reminded me about information I read about you some time ago. When you got your powers two years ago, you didn't join the liberation effort right away. You used the combination of your innate ability and special abilities of your class to grow your business. You were discovered thanks to envious competition around you and persuaded to join the movement.
"You were stubborn against joining the movement. Let's say that at that period, the recruiters were cruel with stubborn special characters, and they murdered you. There is a good chance that the current situation in Section 2 would be bad. I know you would want to argue that you weren't a criminal. But the truth is that competing with your powers against regular people is a crime."
"Everyone deserves a chance, it is true. But not everyone deserves a chance." Lady Flux turned her head to meet the gazes of the people seated with her at the table who were staring at her.
A couple of people calmly turned away their gaze, while the others nervously maintained their gazes for a brief moment before looking away.