Chapter 6

I spent my whole life as a researcher in my previous life, and now I work in a lab doing odd jobs and running errands.

Life was a real mystery.

My task this week was washing the equipment. My work was done when the lab tools were washed clean and laid out on the shelf.

Looking at the transparent beakers, flasks, and cylinders, I felt a strange nostalgia.

“How can you do it so well, A-702?”

I was confident when it came to washing experiment devices. I did it so much in my first life, I ended up developing eczema on my hands.

“Thank you. I’ve done mine quickly so I will help you too.”

“Haha, no. I will do mine.”

Most children here generally endured life like hopeless, vacant dolls, but some did not. Like A-888 that’s talking to me right now.

He was originally from an aristocratic family, but he had adapted well to this place. Rumor was that he was the illegitimate son of a duke, who gladly sent him to make him a psychic, but he may actually have sent him away to dispose of him.

Unfortunately, we don’t call each other by first names. So we didn’t know each other’s names and addressed each other by our assigned numbers.

As I recalled the look in Kalisten’s eyes earlier, I had a strange feeling.

I thought he was an emotionless psychopath, but maybe he was simply an uninformed person, ignorant of how to deal with non-hostiles.

“Ugh… !”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

It looked like someone had left a scalpel blade on the appliance in a container, when you weren’t supposed to.

Blood was dripping from my hands, and it was stinging because of the detergent.

“I’ll do yours.”

“It’s fine. It’s not a big cut.”

Having said that, I endured the stinging and put my hand back into the water.

“Ugh… .”

“Leave it. I’ll do it.”

“No, I’m fine.”

A-888 was particularly friendly towards me. Maybe it was simply because he didn’t have many other people to talk to, but he was naturally a sociable person.

He is doing this because of the last time I helped him.

“Help me next time.”

“Alright.”

When A-888 was injured before and couldn’t clean, I had done it for him.

It stung. I put my hand in the water and continued to move without thinking, and the wound started to hurt less.

After he washed the dishes, I dried them meticulously until they were squeaky and stacked them up.

“Excuse me, number A-702.”

“Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

I wondered if I could tell him. But my curiosity won.

“I am Aselia. How about you?”

“Felix.”

Felix looked at me with a smile, which dazed me for a moment. He had white hair and mysterious green eyes.

How could you not know his name?

“Actually, I came here looking for someone.”

I had to make sure again that there was no one around. It was just the two of us, and no one was nearby.

My heart was pounding because of the tension.

Felix.

I heard the name and realized it.

He was not just the illegitimate son of a duke.

He was Felix Magnolia, the Duke’s son, who would become the next Duke.

He would be leaving the institute next week. He was the one who picked up Kalisten’s body after he awakened and he committed suicide, and brought it to another research center he had.

“Who are you looking for?”

Felix smiled spread slowly, making me unconciously back away.

The Duke’s illegitimate son was not a real Esper. However, Felix in “And Everyone Was Silent” was different from other Espers and is able to leave the lab. Because his father, the Duke, was the director of this institute. 

“Yes, there is someone I want to kill.”

I wondered how much he wanted to kill the Duke, to pretend to be a test subject and enter here. And could he tell me something so important? What if I tell another researcher?

“W-why would you tell me such a thing?”

“Well.”

His approaching footsteps felt too big and close, so I stepped back. But I was very easy to catch.

“Ugh… .”

He grabbed my injured hand and pressed down on my cut. Then, the blood that had barely stopped was running again. He stood so close my head almost touched his shoulder and spoke softly in my ear.

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Oh, i-it hurts… .”

As Felix squeezed my hand, more blood began to flow than when I was initially injured. The blood dripped down my hand and on the floor.

“The person I’m looking for has blonde hair and calm eyes. Just like you.”

“Huh?”

“And they smell as good as you.”

When he said that with a twisted smile, I forgot that I was trying to pull my hand out of his grasp.