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After pressing the doorbell, it didn\'t take thirty seconds before I heard various sounds from beyond the wall as the door opened to a familiar face.

"O-Oscar, welcome!"

Flushed and with a stutter, Ella Chiba-Wallace naturally welcomed me into her home.

"Hi, sorry I\'m like th-this..."

Facing the floor as she quickly closed the door behind me, she seemed to feel awkward as she all of a sudden apologised.

I did message her beforehand, but perhaps the timing of my arrival was rather unexpected as she wore nothing but a fluffy bathrobe over her skin, glistening with fresh water.

"No, it\'s my fault for not specifying a time in advance."

"I would offer a drink, but do you mind if I go and get changed quickly?"

"Go ahead. I\'m probably not staying for long anyway, but I can make you or Liam some tea or juice if either of you would like. I even brought more stevia leaves."

I noticed her expression reveal a piqued interest to my words.

"Is... Is that okay?"

"Sure. It\'s not like there\'s a reason not to use them."

She stared at me for a moment before smiling, "...Then, if you don\'t mind, I\'ll take you up on that. I\'ll be back in a minute, sorry...!"

Leaving that message, she hurried upstairs. Immediately turning away from wherever she fled, I entered the kitchen and set down my bag on the countertop.

Zip-!

Rustle-!

I took out the same zip-lock bag that contained the stevia leaves as before and placed it on the side. Then, carefully grabbing a black case inside the bag, I did the same.

The case was precisely thirty centimetres across and a little under that in width, but what was held within was only a fraction of the size.

Click-click-!

Unlocking the clips on either side, I lifted the lid to reveal a small ampoule of amber-hued liquid in the centre; surrounded by nothing but shock-absorbent foam on all sides, it was a case specifically designed to secure and carry ampoules of high-value substances such as this.

Borrowing a glass from the cupboard, I poured out some apple juice and cleanly snapped the top open, proceeding to empty all of the contents into the juice.

Giving it a momentary stir, the liquid had mixed enough to be unnoticeable. To finish it off, I also put a stevia leaf into it as a sweetener.

After that was done, I returned the case and gloves to my bag and quickly brewed a cup of tea for Ella. I had never done it before so I had to follow the instructions of the Measurement of Truth; by asking what Ella\'s preferred style was, I found myself effortlessly completing the task within a couple of minutes.

Setting the tea and juice on coasters atop the living room\'s coffee table, the two Chiba-Wallace siblings soon greeted me downstairs.

"Oscar...!"

"Hey."

"Sorry for making you wait."

Greeting them whilst they took their seats at the table, I eventually watched the last drop of my apple juice concoction slide seamlessly out of the glass and into Liam\'s mouth.

Thud-!

"Ahh! It\'s super tasty today! Did you put more of those leaves in?"

At that point, my job here was done.

❖─────❖─────❖

What I snuck into Liam\'s drink was the final prototype of the M.E. Serum I had been working on.

Once the chemicals enter his bloodstream after being digested, the particular compound of ingredients I used should interact with the physical body in such a way that provokes the \'soul\'―and thus, inducing the evolution of its power.

If all goes to plan, the boy should wake up in a few days with newfound power.

Furthermore, because I had designed the mix to work specifically for Liam as a unique individual, it should, in theory, work to maximum efficacy and with little to no issues or side effects.

Of course, because it is in no capacity a finished product, the likelihood is high that something unexpected will occur, but there was no time left to make any further improvements, so I made do with what I had.

In fact, all the chemists, metrisologists and inventors working on artificial Measurement evolution have gotten stuck on this exact step of creating a functional prototype.

As I\'ve mentioned before, making it this far is the most difficult part; however, it is unfair to ask even a professional to guarantee any quantity of results.

Each mixture is tailor-made to fit the individual because every \'soul\' is unique. Even the theoretical existence of a one-size-fits-all substance that could evolve anyone\'s Measurement regardless of characteristics, is plain impossible, so it has to be done this way.

If you add onto this that these mixtures are intended to communicate with something so incredibly personal that it is mind-boggling to much of the populace, then it becomes understandable why each and every concoction these people come up with is painstakingly made following months or even years of study, research and hard work―and yet still fail with astronomical, practically null odds of success.

Knowledge of the \'soul\', and around Measurements in general, is by its nature esoteric.

Still, what little has been uncovered all leads to the conclusion that what these people are trying to do, including myself with this M.E. Serum, goes against the will of the world.

That is, \'Artificial Measurement Evolution\' was only ever contrary to the way of nature from its theorised conception.

If a mixture were to fail, due to the fact that it is interacting with what has been dubbed as the \'scientific existence of the soul\', the subject in question will die.

It is what has been recorded time and time again; in countless experiments and with thousands of M.E. mixture variations.

I am not so naive nor arrogant as to think that my concoction will be unique or all that different from the rest.

However.

I don\'t have the time to be twiddling my thumbs in a laboratory perfecting a mixture to evolve Liam Chiba-Wallace\'s Measurement, especially when I don\'t even know what the result would be in the event of success.

What\'s more, due to the classification of Forbidden Knowledge, there is not even a way for me to know what the chances are for what I\'ve made to work.

I had a choice to postpone working on the M.E. Serum until after the confrontation, but what I administered to Liam was as close to perfection as I would\'ve gotten, at least in my own eyes.

I don\'t think there was much else I could\'ve done to improve it, so I\'ll just hope for the best and see what happens.

If it ends up that something unfortunate does happen to him and all progress is lost, then it will be a great shame, but so be it.

In any case, now that the M.E. drug has been taken, all that\'s left is to wait for the results. Until then, however, was the confrontation in the park, and there was one thing remaining to discuss in regard to that.

Entering the school rooftop, I was met with the familiar faces of Sophie Asanami and Tarou Fushigimi.

"Oscar. It\'s tomorrow, right?"

Tarou, who had resumed attending school as normal the other week, asked me.

He must\'ve been full of anticipation.

After all, today was Friday―the day before tomorrow\'s time limit is up.

He appeared to have reacclimated to the school environment after being away for a while, and thanks to him not being particularly close to many people, there were few who asked questions regarding his previous disappearance.

There was almost a misstep when a couple of Atsuko\'s friends confronted him about her not coming to school or responding to any of their texts, but he managed to resolve it rather slickly by covering the reality up with a mixture of falsities and half-truths.

"That\'s right. I assume you\'re not unprepared to do what has to be done?"

Alongside implicative words, I shot him a glance. Thankfully, after hearing his response, there appeared to be no issues.

"Don\'t worry. I was ready from the beginning. I still felt a little conflicted about Atsuko, but she\'s not being physically harmed in any way, it\'s fine. I understand it has to be done to maintain a certain level of balance."

Exactly.

Taking just us three and pitting us against the main trio enemy force of Saburou, Avon Laura and Azaki Kiryuuin, then we are undoubtedly at a massive disadvantage.

There was a need to even out the balance of power, and taking a hostage happened to fit the criteria for that quite well.

It is unfortunate that the latter two don\'t have any remaining family, or else I wouldn\'t have hesitated to do the same for them too, but it\'s no matter.

With everyone else on my side, the forces have come to quite a nice balance, so I feel I can be at least somewhat satisfied with the current situation.

Nodding my head at Tarou\'s answer, I turned my gaze to Sophie.

Recently, I\'ve come to a realisation that she is not as glued to my side as I had originally hoped.

Of course, there is only so much attachment she can feel for someone who unconcernedly pushed her off of a roof, but I feel that I\'ve done quite well since then to amend our relationship.

I know she feels positively towards me because of the rapport I have been able to build with her through our many conversations and devious activities as my most convenient partner in crime...

...However, she has begun to show some resistance to some of my actions.

Taking the admonishment during the Atsuko kidnapping case as the most recent example, she seems to have raised a subconscious barrier towards committing certain acts.

Even if it means taking a leap towards her goal of vengeance, the common denominator that results in this resistance presenting itself appears to be when an, in her eyes, \'innocent person\' is involved.

She showed a similar reluctant attitude during the creation of the anti-Space room and even back when we went to recruit Tarou from the city outskirts.

Atsuko and Tarou―despite these people being directly related to Saburou, the one she wants dead, she continues to show hesitation whenever it comes to a matter dealing with the two of them.

It\'s not so bad at the moment that I feel the need to do anything in particular about it, but just so that it\'s a concern that doesn\'t rear its head again in the future, I\'m thinking I might need to have her sign an Absolute Contract sooner or later.

Still, for the moment, it\'s fine enough that I can afford to wait until all the immediate problems are dealt with.

Just as my thoughts were beginning to conclude, a thunderous noise resounded in the air.

Crack-!

Crackkk-!!

I knew what it was at once and braced myself; the same went for the other two, whose eyes narrowed at the sudden appearance of a warp in space.

Following this, the emergence of two individuals whose faces I had grown to greatly dislike naturally occurred.

"Truth!"

"..."

"You have one day left! I have come to offer one final chance at persuasion."

Seeing Azaki Kiryuuin announce the purpose for his arrival, a displeasing sense of déjà vu began to settle in my mind.