"Eugh," Rinko rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Her brain was short circuiting again. "What is that?" 

"I don't have an exact word for it but the closest I could say is this being Irish's essence," said Shinichi. He dusted off his knees as he stood up. 

"His essence--whuh??" Rinko raised her brow. "Are you really not gonna kill him?" 

Shinichi chuckled. "No. I could do something better though." 

He stared at the floating ball on his hand, brows tied together. His tongue clicked as indiscernible utterings left it. Then, Shinichi blew into the light once and it reacted. 

It was almost explosive. It burst into a fiery orange, crackling violently as though a fight was starting within its core. Yellows, oranges, and reds clashed together, its arrhythmic shattering a vicious struggle for dominance. Almost like a fire that has been disturbed, as though one threw water or fuel to it. Yet Shinichi’s expression never changed, his soft smile unwavering, the light’s branches breaking off of its roots clearly reflected in his grey eyes.

The flying wisps of this strange realm came to life. Flickering to the ball of light—no, ball of fire’s beat, they descended into the space Shinichi occupied, gathering around like a snooping crowd.

Rinko looked up. The wisps that lit up the sky were plummeting down in an endless stream.

She trembled, knees locked together. What was happening?

The ball of fire opened its blazing palms, inviting the guests into the fight. The wind changed, whipping at Rinko’s clothes, pushing into the direction of the fire. She squeaked, the strands of her hair almost slicing through her skin from the strength of the wind. The wisps swirled together, shaping into a cyclone with no visible beginning.

Her breath was drawn away. She imagined her breath joining with the wisps, twirling along the windstorm. Her eyes followed the travelling wisps until it reached its eye.

The cyclone was being vacuumed within the ball of fire.

It ate all the collective wisps, greedily sucking them all into its core. The blob fattened with each wisp it wolfed down.

Then, when it had enough, when it had eaten its meal and bloated its non-existent stomach, the once flickering fire became stagnant.

The wisps calmed down. No longer attracted to the ball of fire, they continued their aimless floating, this strange realm reverting back to its normalcy.

"Enhancing, upgrading, nurturing, this is sort of like that. I like calling it feeding. This little guy always looks like he’s gulping all those stuff down," said Shinichi fondly. He rubbed the blob of fire with his finger, at least that’s what Rinko believed. Wait, how does one even touch light? And why would someone rub it like it was their pet dog? “He was still a tiny flame when I first laid eyes on him. Now look at him now. I’ve raised him well.”

The ball of fire seemed to jiggle and twinkle in response. A squeaky sound came out of it. It has a voice? Rinko's addled mind thought. Then, as though it was releasing air, tiny flames flew out of what Rinko assumed was its mouth. One wisp floated away from it, uneaten.

Rinko closed her open jaw and swallowed, feeling thick saliva grazing through her dry throat. “I’m going insane…”

“I neglected feeding the little guy for a few days so I prepared a whole buffet for him,” Shinichi explained. He then smiled, wrapping the floating blob with his hands and nuzzling his cheek on it. “He ate it all so fast!”

Nodding, Rinko recalled the strong suction-like wind. “Too fast… too fast…” Rinko made a frustrated noise. “I want to go home... Can I just…wake up?”

“That’s up for your physical body to decide. How long do you usually sleep?”

Rinko’s face grew dark, her lips set into a thin line. Her arms hang limp as her one hope left her sight. “12 hours.”

A small ripple of fire fluttered away from the blob as it circled Rinko’s head, its squeaky voice almost sounded worried.

Shinichi even felt his heart drop for her. That’s not normal sleeping hours for a teen at all, he thought. Well, Rinko does look like she’s 12. But still, she should sleep properly. Honestly.

“So, what was it that you did back there?” Rinko’s mouth tilted up unnaturally. She gave Shinichi’s arm a weak punch. “Fancy fire trick or something? You got those storm abilities going on? ”

“Like how mana consuming makes your body more resilient, what I did there can improve abilities," he explained. His lips quirked into a smirk, his thumb obnoxiously pointed at his chest. “Basically, I improved Irish’s Ability.”

Rinko shook her head so fast, Shinichi wouldn't be surprised if she accidentally got whiplash. "This doesn't make sense! This whole thing doesn't make sense," She waved her arms and stomped her feet, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "Improving abilities, those devourers passing through us, body and soul being separated?” She breathed out raggedly. “It goes against everything I know of reality!!" 

"After everything, you chose to question that now?" Shinichi grumbled to himself. "Wouldn't the existence of Instances support the possibility of this realm being real?" 

Rinko squinted. 

Shinichi's hands dropped, expression a steady impassiveness. Looks like she never paid attention at school, Shinichi thought. 

He sighed as he turned to their surroundings. The ball of fire was hovering behind him like an obedient dog. The wisps continued their languid float, the sky was a dark abyss, and the people of the material plane (Zero and Irish) were coated in grey paint. It was difficult to remember how he had reacted when he first learned of this realm. He had hit rock bottom and his frayed mind was desperate to cling onto anything. Any form of hope he could take. This realm was a special gift to him, and as someone who actually paid attention to Monster Theory, its contents made sense to him. 

"But believe it or not, Rinko, this is happening. This is the true reality."

Rinko threw her head back, groaning to the sky. “Gods, let this be an actual dream…” She started pacing, wanting to be away from everything.

"There's also another reason why I showed that to you," said Shinichi. "I believe you. That you don't know why and how you're here. It'll be a mystery we could solve later on. But now, I want to say that I'm interested in you." 

That took her attention. Rinko faced Shinichi, expression horrified. She cringed. "Mr. Janitor, you're like way older than me—" 

"Gods, no!” Shinichi gaped at her. “Not that kind of interested, I meant I'm offering—" 

"Yourself?" 

"Rinko, let me finish," sighed Shinichi. He gestured to Irish. "I'm offering to you what I'm doing for this guy. Feeding your ability." 

The blob of fire somersaulted over Rinko’s head, small bits of flames bubbling out of its blob shape as it chirped. It was excited to make a new friend.

"What?" Rinko's eyes widened. She took a step back when Shinichi tried approaching her. "Uh, why me?" 

One hand rubbed Shinichi's chin. "I sense a very… strange aura exuding out of you. I'm guessing you possess a very strong ability, that's why you refuse to show it." Shinichi smirked. "Creating this image of a fragile little girl to trick enemies but behind your back, you're brandishing a very dangerous weapon… I like that. And I'm interested in making it stronger." 

"Aura? Ability!?" Rinko said, mystified but then she corrected her expression with a cough. "I mean, yes, my ability! That's—" Her throat constricted, eyes caught on something. 

Shinichi tilted his head, a hand splayed out as he waited. “Well, Rinko? What do you think?”

But Rinko wasn’t listening to him anymore. Rinko’s face was a disturbing paleness.

Shinichi paused, sensing a change in the air. His offer wasn’t that bad, was it? She wants to become a hunter. Surely, having a stronger ability would be a good thing. Rinko was frozen in place, as though one move would mean her end. Rinko covered her mouth with her palm and raised one finger, pointing behind Shinichi. Her movements were almost identical to how she reacted to those devourers. 

Shinichi followed her finger, facing his back.

Behind him was the figure of his mother, staring at them with a smile.