"It worked!!"
At the same time that Kai exclaimed, dozens of holographic screens filled with information appeared in front of him, just as Sage's melodious voice announced excitedly.
"Yes, Master, it worked! Although we need to run more tests, it's a fact that we managed to connect two points in space in a stable way for 0.62 seconds! The Aura Script pattern was a complete success."
"Even though it working raises a countless number of questions, let's leave that for later—right now, there are more important things." Kai quickly replied in a serious tone, but the excitement visible in his eyes was so intense that Sage couldn't help but comment, full of concern, imagining the idea running through her master's mind.
"Wait, Master! It's not a good idea to try teleporting! It could be dangerous!!"
"Don't worry."
Kai quickly replied in an excited voice and immediately closed his eyes to concentrate on his aura, which made Sage bite her lip in worry, once again facing an existential dilemma. She doubted whether her master's safety or following his orders was more important. But before she could come to a conclusion, her master vanished—only to instantly reappear right in front of the Kunai a few meters away.
"It works!! Hahaha!!!"
While her master laughed with all his might, filled with excitement, Sage, without saying a word, set aside all her thoughts and tasks to use all her computational power to check every last detail about her master. She searched for any problem his recklessness might have caused. That's when Kai commented with a huge smile, his eyes shining like flashlights.
"I'm fine, Sage. Although teleportation is more costly than I expected, I didn't feel in danger at any moment. It was so fast that I could barely process it, even with my thoughts accelerated to the maximum."
"Master, I thought you had learned to restrain your impulsiveness." For her part, Sage commented in an accusatory tone, staring intently at her beloved master with her hands on her hips. He couldn't help but laugh in amusement and reply,
"Don't scold me. I had a feeling everything would turn out fine, and look—just as I expected."
As he spoke, Kai conjured a new Kunai and threw it, but this one remained floating in the air. At that moment, Sage commented in an almost solemn tone.
"Master, no more tests until all the diagnostics have been completed."
"Are you giving me an order?"
Kai turned to look at Sage and asked in a flat tone, his eyes giving off a strange glow, which almost made the beautiful fairy step back. But, having decided that her master's safety was more important than anything else, she gathered her courage, put her hands on her hips, and replied in a firm tone.
"I'm not going to let you do anything reckless again, Master!"
"Heh, so my Sage is entering her rebellious phase..."
Kai commented in a flat voice, analyzing every last detail of the tiny fairy floating in the air. Sage couldn't help but lower her head and tremble slightly with visible apprehension, biting her small lips hard to hold back the tears forming in her beautiful blue eyes. At that moment, Kai dispelled the Kunai and spoke in a more relaxed tone.
"Run all the diagnostics, Sage. We need to perfect the skill as soon as possible. It will be vital when we return to Spider Island."
Hearing her master's voice, Sage turned to look at him, filled with surprise, but a huge smile quickly formed on her face, and she exclaimed with visible happiness and relief.
"Yes!!"
After speaking, Sage shot straight toward her master's head and clung to him like a koala, unwilling to let go for anything in the world. This inevitably made Kai laugh in amusement, and after a moment, he spoke again in a serious tone.
"Well, now that that's settled, there's something that's been bothering me. Sage, is it just my imagination, or do the 'voices' we sense with Observation Haki now 'fluctuate' slightly?"
"That is certainly the case, Master. Although I haven't been able to study the phenomenon in depth since I was completely focused on the Aura Script pattern. Ever since you asked me to schedule it along with the [Alcatraz] investigation, I've been gathering some data, and in general, Haki does seem to have changed."
Clinging to her master's head like a Koala, Sage replied in a serious tone while creating holographic screens with specific data in front of her master, which made her look somewhat funny. At that moment, Kai began to study the data carefully, then asked, sounding both doubtful and surprised.
"Are you sure about this, Sage?"
"There are still many more tests to be done to confirm it beyond any doubt, but it's highly likely that our Haki has generally taken a step forward. During some small experiments, I noticed that the maximum range and precision of Observation Haki have increased by about 30%."
Sage responded seriously, which immediately reminded Kai of the strange vision he'd had upon waking up—that out-of-body, black-and-white vision—prompting him to comment thoughtfully.
"There's also that strange vision…"
Quickly, Kai sat down on the ground in a lotus position, then began to breathe deeply, focusing completely on his own voice. Little by little, he delved deeper into it, while his aura began to fluctuate rhythmically in unison with his breathing, until, after a while, an image appeared in his mind: himself, sitting in a lotus position, surrounded by an aura that also fluctuated rhythmically.
But the moment his mini-self appeared in his mind, Kai noticed something strange. Although its lotus position had hardly changed, now there was a slight smile on its face that hadn't been there before. This left him a bit confused, since until now, the expression of his mini-self had always been blank and expressionless, as if it were asleep or something similar.
However, though he was curious about the strange smile, Kai quickly set it aside and focused entirely on the aura of the mini-self. This quickly allowed him to notice something interesting: for some reason, it was now much easier to control. Although not at the level of his own aura, the difference was noticeable, which practically confirmed for him that something had changed—and perhaps something quite significant.
After manipulating the mini-self's aura in various ways, Kai took note of the new level of control he had over it. Then he tried to influence the mini-self itself in some way, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened—the mini-self didn't even react. So, after a while, he started to control his own aura to try to influence the mini-self and provoke some kind of reaction.
At that moment, Kai saw that the aura of the mini-self imitated, to some extent, the movement of his own aura. This sparked a crazy idea in his mind that he couldn't help but try, so he slowly concentrated his aura in his eyes—something the mini-self's aura imitated. That was when he felt something 'click' in his mind.
Almost instantly, Kai felt his Observation Haki expand uncontrollably, allowing him to sense everything within several kilometers. At that moment, a 360-degree black-and-white image of the surroundings formed in his mind, incredibly similar to what he had seen when he woke up, so he quickly opened his eyes.
Unexpectedly, what appeared in Kai's vision was the same black-and-white, 360-degree view, which made him a little dizzy. But after a few seconds, he focused in the direction of his mansion, causing his vision to somehow move through space, quickly reaching Keiko's room, where he saw her black-and-white silhouette sleeping in the bed where he had left her.
Surprised, Kai tried to "move" his vision, which allowed him to start "wandering" between the girls' rooms, seeing their silhouettes in black and white as they slept. But as the seconds passed, Kai began to "see" a sort of "double outline" around everyone's silhouette, so he focused completely on Shino's silhouette, who was "in front of him." This allowed him to see that the second outline fluctuated slightly, which he quickly associated with the strange fluctuation he had been perceiving.
But just at that moment, Kai felt his "vision" suddenly cut out, and a strong wave of fatigue washed over him, forcing him to fall backward to the ground. Sage immediately cried out, visibly worried.
"Master! Are you alright?!" As she spoke, Sage began running all kinds of tests on her master in rapid succession, to which Kai replied, somewhat amused,
"I'm just tired; the fatigue from Inverse Flow is quite severe. More importantly, Haki really has changed. Now I can somehow see at a distance, so we need to study this phenomenon carefully. And it's probably a good idea to do some yoga; I think it'll bring excellent benefits this time."
"I understand, Master. I'll add it to the schedule." Sage responded in a serious tone, never stopping her thorough examination of her master, who quickly got up from the ground and commented.
"Adjust today's schedule, Sage. First, we'll do yoga for two hours, then we'll have breakfast, and after that, we'll work on my armor while you run all the tests and diagnostics for teleportation."
"Understood, Master."
With Sage's reply, Kai headed to the gym, where, after stretching, he went to grab a yoga mat. But just then, in the mirrors covering all the gym walls, he noticed something he hadn't realized until now—his forehead was completely smooth, with no trace of the scar that had accompanied him for ten years.
"So, I lost this…" As he touched his forehead with his fingers, Kai couldn't help but comment in a bitter voice, which prompted Sage to explain in a voice full of guilt.
"It was my fault, Master. Your face was so badly injured that your scar reopened completely, so when I activated Angel's Breath, it was erased along with everything else…"
"It's not your fault, Sage. You did what you could to save my life—in the end, it was my own actions that led to this outcome…" Kai replied bitterly as he ran his fingers over the place where his scar used to be, but at that moment, a strange smile formed on his face, and he commented.
"Life is ironic—usually the problem is ending up with a scar, not losing one…"
"But the pain is still there, Master…" Sage said in a soft, sad voice as she moved closer to give her master a kiss on the forehead, to which he replied with a small smile.
"There's no point in dwelling on it anymore… all that's left is to learn and move forward."
After letting out a sigh full of emotions, Kai took the mat to the center of the gym and began his yoga routine with absolute concentration. Soon, this caused his aura to start moving rhythmically, almost as if following his movements, until, after a while, Kai could clearly hear a 'click' sound in his mind.
In that instant, his aura automatically entered Ren state, expanding throughout the gym, then returned to Ten state, visibly calmer—a process that repeated cyclically every few minutes until finally it settled completely. At that moment, Kai sat in the lotus position on the mat and began to meditate as his aura and Haki flowed through his entire body.
…
…
…
Waking up, still somewhat sleepy and confused, Nemuri found herself in her room, the one she had been forced to use again over the past few days. But after just a few seconds, the memories of the previous day came back to her, causing her to jump out of bed in one swift motion. She glanced at herself in the mirror for a moment and quickly fixed herself up. After which, she hurriedly left her room.
As she straightened her pajamas, which consisted of simple and comfortable light gray pants along with a loose white blouse, and fixed her hair, she soon ended up at Kai's room, which she opened with familiarity. She found it empty, which left her slightly disappointed, but she quickly headed to the bathroom to make sure her beloved wasn't there.
Once she confirmed the bathroom was empty as well, Nemuri started walking toward the exit, feeling an overwhelming urgency in her heart to see her beloved. Due to the circumstances, she had been forced to hold herself back until now, and it was taking a toll—her body felt like an oven about to explode, and only the love of her life could cool her down.
But as she returned to the room, Nemuri couldn't help but laugh in amusement. At that moment, Ryuko cautiously entered the room, wearing nothing but a pair of cat ears on her head and a black choker around her neck, leaving her sexy, toned body completely exposed. This led Nemuri to comment in a low, teasing voice.
"Well, well, what do we have here—a clever little cat burglar…"
***
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