Ena looks confused and frustrated at Elios’ laughter.

“Curse, blessing, power, abilities. They go by many names, don’t they.” Elio says as he stands up.

“What do you mean?” Ena questions.

Elio steps closer to Rin, causing her to cling to Ena. He places a gentle hand on her head. “You just got a special ability, just like the two of us. It’s no curse. It’s nothing to worry about.”

She looks up at Elio. “Not a curse? Special ability? Are you sure? How do you know?”

Elio smiles. “Yep, the one you’re clinging onto can make things bouncy and me well, this might be shocking, but I can feed off of blood and taste all its different flavors.”

“You’re a vampire too?” Rin says as she lets go of Ena and turns towards Elio.

“Vampire? No, but that does sound fun. I’m just a person, like you.”

“No, that’s not true.” Rin’s eyes start to tear up.

Elio looks up and lets out a sigh. “Your ability is just a part of your body; you were born with it. Like how some people can wiggle their ears. You can taste someone’s health. Hydration, blood sugar, organ function, nutrient level, toxins, and even stress. Such complex flavors. No wonder you love tasting it. But it’s a mix of flavors that doesn’t tell you what each flavor means. Does that sweet apple flavor mean I have high blood sugar? Does that hint of honey mean I need more vitamin B? Interesting.”

Elio looks at Rin, who is now crying in Ena’s arms. His eyes widen at the crying child. Ena looks annoyed at Elio as he raises his hands up, confused.

“Why are you crying?” Elio asks. “It’s not a curse. It’s just part of you. There is no need to cry.”

“Not a curse? It’s just a part of me? It can’t be fixed?” Rin says between sniffles. “I've had it since I was a baby? Sniffle. “I was just born wrong?”

“Born wrong?” Elio scoffs. “Are you an idiot? No one is born wrong. A little weird, sure, but not born wrong.”

Rin looks up. “Really?” She says, unsure as her breathing steadies.

“Yes, you’re fine just the way you are.” Elio confirms.

“But.. I’m still bad.” Rin pauses. “I just want my parents to be happy.” Rin sniffles, “But you said it’s just a part of me? Am I stuck with it forever?” sniffle “Can you take it out?”

Elio leans forward. “It’s a part of you. Like a part of your brain. You can’t remove your brain, can you?”

“Just change my brain or whatever. I just want to be normal.” Rin mutters.

“Huh, what’s so fun about being normal?” Elio wonders.

“It would make my parents happy if I were normal. Just fix me. Change any part of my body. My brain, my tongue, my teeth, anything I don’t care.”

Elio’s tone grows cold. “That wouldn’t make your parents happy.”

Rin wipes tears from her face. “How would you know?”

Elio gives a soft smile. “That’s the body your parents gave you. They wouldn’t want you to change it for them or anyone else. Especially your brain, that makes you, you.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Rin sniffles.

“Yes, I’ve made the mistake of changing my brain, and when my parents learn of what I did.” Elio looks at the ground. “The look of worry they gave me is one no child should see. I would have much preferred anger or disappointment.”

“You changed your brain to fix your curse? Rin whispers. “But you said it’s a normal part of us, why did you do it then?”

“not to fix. Elio looks up and gives Rin a kind smile. “Well, I wasn’t a good student, so I altered my brain so I could read super fast, but now I can’t enjoy books anymore. Do you like books?”

Rin nods. “Yeah, I’m one of the best readers in my class.”

“Well, that’s good. Now, why don’t we help you out.”

“You can do that?” Rin questioned. “How?”

“Oh, not us, that’s too much work. But I have some friends who can help. Why don’t you play with Ena as I call them up.”

Rin nods and gives a little smile as she finally calms down. Ena wipes away the remaining tears from Rin’s cheek, and then they go over to the game drawers. Ena helps Rin pick out a game for them to play. Meanwhile, Elio makes a call and describes the situation. While on the phone, he walks over and asks for Rin’s last name. She tells him her name before returning to playing with Ena. Elio repeats her name to the person on the phone. For the next 20 minutes, Rin and Ena play board games while Elio lies his head on his desk.

Ding-dong

Once again, the doorbell rings. Elio answers the door to two Mender workers who are wearing casual office worker outfits. With them is a kind-looking woman in a sweater. Rin spots the woman and cheerfully skips to her.

“Mom! They can help me.” Rin says as she hugs her mom.

 The mother picks up Rin. “I’ve heard. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yeah!” Rin cheers.

The mother greets Elio and Ena. “Thank you for helping my daughter.”

“She just came here, and I called the guys who will actually help her.” Elio deflects.

“You’re welcome.” Ena politely replies.

The mender workers introduce themselves to Rin and speak kindly to her and her mother, much like social workers. As they talk about what they can do for Rin, Elio and Ena take a step back and let them handle it. They discuss various options such as going to a special doctor, going to after school programs, or even to a different school.

 Rin’s face lights up when the topic of going to a new school comes up. Her mom looks concerned at what all this would cost, but the workers reassure her that it would be fully paid for, and these special schools are top-tier schools. When she gets older and if she applies to other schools or wishes to transfer to another, there would be no problem. After some more discussion and filling out forms, they prepare to leave.

The mother thanks Elio and Ena again. Rin runs up and gives Ena a hug and waves towards Elio before leaving. One of the Menders stays behind to talk to Elio.

“Thank you for your assistance.” The Mender says.

“Anytime,” Elio smirks.

“Could you write a report about her ability for us, since you’ve used your ability on hers?”

“Hmm,” Elio thinks for a moment. “Sure, but it will cost you.”

 “I am aware of the contract you have with us.”

He pulls out an envelope and hands it to Elio. “Here is your finder’s fee. There will be a report fee too, once we get it.”

Elio opens the envelope. “Only 5,000?”

“That’s the amount that is in your contract.”

“I should have read that.” Elio chuckles. “I’ll get that report to you.”

The Mender lets out a smile. “Thank you. I look forward to it.”

The Mender leaves, and Elio looks gleefully at Ena, showing her the money. “Guess today was worth it.”

 Ena looks at the money. “You get paid for finding ability users?”

“That was the first time but yeah. I was hoping it would be more.”

“It’s still something,” Ena looks at the used game board. “Was it best to send her off to The Menders?”

“The Menders are good people, I think.” Elio chuckles. “And besides, they have way better resources. We couldn’t handle a kid’s growth, so it had to be done.”

“I guess that is true.” Ena turns to Elio. “Have you told them about me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“No need to.”

“But we could get money.”

Elio thinks for a moment. “Maybe if we get desperate.” He jokes.

“You won’t get into trouble if you don’t?”

“Nope, well as long as you don’t cause any trouble with your Bounce and they learn that I know about it. Then I am fine. So if you break any laws and get caught, don’t tell them I know you.” Elio grins.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I rob a bank. So what exactly was Rin’s ability?” Ena asks. “You said she needs to drink blood to understand someone’s health? What does that mean?”

“Pretty much, but it’s a mixed bag of flavors. I used my Alter on her ability and bit my cheek to get a good read on it and it was so delicious. How addicting it can be is the main issue.”

“Blood can be addictive to Rin?”

“Addicting like food and sweets, that’s why she thought she needed to feed on blood because she was actually becoming addicted to its delicious flavors. Which can be a problem for anyone but especially for someone that young. Plus, her ability could be concealing other issues.”

“So she doesn’t actually need to feed off of blood. It’s just addictive?”

“Yeah.”

“What other issues can it hide?”

“If someone had night vision eyes but had problems with bright lights. One could assume those two are related, but what if it’s a completely different issue? Maybe it’s an eye issue, or maybe it’s a mental issue. I had a friend who blamed a condition on his ability, but I knew the truth.” Elio lets out a soft laugh.

“That sounds tricky. Did you help your friend or send him to The Menders too?” Ena comments.

Elio reminisces with a smile, “We didn’t tell anyone. It was our little secret. Those situations can be pretty tricky but luckily, we don’t have to deal with that.” He laughs. “That’s the Menders’ problem.”

Ena chuckles. “You handled that situation better than I thought you would.”

“Kids are a pain but once I learn it was just her ability acting up, it was easy.”

“Early? What do you mean?”

“Abilities activate either at birth or at puberty. Hers activate at birth. Ones at birth can grow quite a bit. I wonder what will happen with hers. She will need careful guidance. It is impressive that it only became a problem now.”

 “How can you tell the difference? Was yours at birth?”

“Yep, as a kid I could only tell if people had an ability or not. It wasn’t until I was 12 that I could use my Alter on other abilities, or maybe I could have always done that from the start. It could have been a situation like you not knowing you could use your Bounce on your hands, who knows.”

“But how can you tell the difference?”

“I can feel how young an ability is. It doesn’t come up often, but it can be helpful.”

 Ena nods her head. “Could you tell if my Bounce started when I was a teenager, like when I thought, or if it was actually at birth?”

Elio shakes his head. “Yours was at puberty. On that track field was most likely the first time for it to activate.”

 Ena looks a little disappointed. “Does that mean mine can’t grow?”

“No, all abilities can grow. It’s just that the ones at birth have an early version of their ability. The main benefit is that they get used to their abilities sooner and can grow them earlier but as you saw with Rin, it can cause other problems. Also, they can hit a wall with growing their ability more often than those who got theirs during puberty.”

“So the ones at birth are more privileged.”

Elio chuckles. “For sure. Bunch of spoiled brats.”

“Were you one of them?” Ena’s head jerks at Elio. “Wait, did you really alter your brain to read better or were you just saying that to Rin?”

Elio gives a devilish smile. “Yeah, I did do that but not just my brain. I’ve altered so much of my body. You could call me the Body of Theseus.”

“Body of Theseus? Does that mean there’s a version of you with your old parts? Is there two of you? Which one is the real one?” Ena jokes.

Elio looks confused. “Wait, that’s what that story was about? Oh, weird.”

“It’s not really a story.” Ena clarifies. “Does that mean you can change your body too, not just other abilities?” She adds.

“I wish.” Elio chuckles. “No, it was an ability that let me change my body. In the academy, I had a friend who had a regeneration ability that I studied with. I figured out how to improve my body with her regeneration. And once I made a change to my body, it would remain even after I stopped using her ability.”

Elio sighs. “Then I got the wild idea that I could improve my memory. It took a lot of studying of brain structure, but I was able to alter my brain so that I could read textbooks super fast and remember all of it. That way, I wouldn’t have to pay attention in class.”

“Wait, you gave yourself photographic memory so you wouldn’t have to pay attention in class?”

Elio shakes his head, agreeing. “Yeah, class was boring. And it’s not really photographic, it’s just for reading. I can scan a page and remember all of it. Very useful but when I told my parents, they had their worries about what I did. They told me my brain made me who I am, but luckily it was just my memory, nothing important.” Elio jokes. “And what’s worst is no one persuaded me to do it, no teacher or anyone. I did it all on my own because I wanted to be a good little student.”

 “That’s wild.” Ena eyes Elios body. “So you’re have a super enhanced body. What else did you do?”

Elio flexes. “I don’t know about super, but it’s pretty enhanced. From body to eyes to ears.”

Ena leans into Elio’s face. “Eyes and ears?”

Elio winks. “Eyes were the first things I enhanced. I got that super 20/20 vision.”

“20/20 is normal version. Did you just give yourself normal vision?”

“Oh?” “Elio tilts his head. “No, it’s much better than that; it’s like 20/2, then.”

Ena smirks. “That would mean you can see the fibers of a shirt. Do you have 10X zoom vision?”

“It’s not that good.” Elio blinks hard. “Then 20/10? 2/10? I don’t know. I don’t need to see eye doctors or any doctors.”

“Must be nice.” Ena laughs. “Enhanced muscles too.”

Elio shrugs. “Yeah, kinda.”

“Of course, it is. Is that why you’re so toned? I thought it was all those eggs you eat.”

“You could say that.. “Elio laughs. “The eggs do help. You should eat more eggs.”

Ena thinks for a moment. “I do like egg sandwiches.”

“Those are good.”

Ena stretches and looks around the office. “I guess I’ll head on home. Unless the doorbell goes off again.” She smirks.

Elio glares at the door. “I think we’re done for the day. You can head home, and I can finally take a bath. Can you turn the sign to close when you leave?”

Ena picks up her bag. “Leave it to me.”

The day finally ends, and the two go home and relax, enjoying the lack of doorbell ringing. The following days are quiet at the JOAW office but the two don’t seem to mind the quiet, however, they wouldn’t mind a job coming their way. Actually, both are getting antsy for a job but keep it to themselves. On one of these quiet days, Ena and Elio are playing a card game. From time to time, one of them would get up and check the website for any job requests but there would be none, so they would sit back down to resume playing. 

A storm approaches the city as the two focus on their card game. The shadow of its clouds covers the JOAW office. The two barely notice as it grows dark in the office. They didn’t even notice that the music on Ena’s speaker has completely changed genres a while ago. They keep playing until-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Frantic knocking on the office door causes the two to shoot up. They both look overjoyed. Elio goes towards the door as Ena gets the tea.