Inside the confinement cell, Araka was still wrapping up her review for the upcoming quiz. 

“Araka, you’re free now,” a soft voice passed through the iron door, echoing inside the confined space. Araka turned her head and through a small window, a familiar face was on the other side - Huashin, with her long purple hair and her soft smile. 

Araka, now already in changed clothes - a light blue hoodie and a pair of shorts - approached the door while holding her notes for  the upcoming quiz: “Instructor Huashin, I am sorry for what I did on Monday. But it’s only Wednesday -“

“That’s okay, Araka. Director Kuu Ninfo said he had communicated with the SAIR Central headquarters about the special circumstances and you have been pardoned,” Huashin said: “Since you have learned your lesson, let’s resume what we had left, or at least what was planned for today.”

As Araka stepped out of the confinement cell with her belongings, Huashin guided her to a deeper part of the complex that seemingly had fewer members than the lecture rooms. 

While finally regained freedom, Araka found the hallway in the Division 2 Training Complex of SAIR Central was colder than she expected - not by temperature, but by the atmosphere. The floor’s blue-gray tiles had the sheen of sterile order, and each door they passed was only marked with sequence numbers. This wasn’t the bustling complex she saw on the first day, she thought.

“This part of the complex is the research wing,” Huashin explained, “this is where Anawa and her team work.”

“But why do you bring me here, Instructor Haushin?” Araka finally asked with a low voice, still catching up with the atmosphere outside of her confinement cell.

“Ever since your first interview with us, you have used your Matake at least twice without you even knowing it,” Huashin said while walking down the corridor: “Once during the simulated combat session during the entrance exam; and the other one, during yesterday’s incident.”

“I didn’t mean to and I had no idea what Matake actually was -”

“I know,” Huashin cut in, gently, “That’s not an assumption - it’s a fact. Which means it’s time we stop pretending you’re just a high performing intern with good instincts.”

They stopped at a sealed door marked Room D-12. Huashin placed her palm on the reader, and a low chime responded - the door slid open.

The inside was a dimly lit, interrogation room like space - a desk divided by a glass panel, with chairs on both sides. Unlike a usual lab, there were not many devices - only a console with its screen turned off and a speaker on the glass panel. On the other side of the glass panel, a girl with pale skin and long grey hair, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and long pants, sitting in silence.

“Araka, do you want to learn what Matake really is?” Huashin asked as she brought Araka inside the room. 

Araka nodded. 

“This is Ami (雅美),” Huashin said softly. “She’s been here almost a year now.”

Araka glanced toward the girl. “Is she… okay?”

“She’s recovering, or at least not harming anyone anymore,” Huashin replied. “She’s like you, born with an innate Matake-sense – except hers leans toward, let’s say, cognition overload. When her power awakened, she didn’t know how to filter what she heard, saw, or felt.”

“So why did she end up here in the SAIR?”

Huashin’s voice lowered: “She overloaded the mind of her family even though she clearly didn’t mean to. 

Her mother ended up in shock, almost paralyzed. Her father had a nervous collapse. She was hospitalized and restrained for two weeks before the SAIR Central, especially Director Kuu Ninfo, personally intercepted the case, and let me and Anawa bring her here.”

“So does she talk?”

“Rarely. But after extensive monitoring, both me and Anawa think she’s ready now,” Huashin turned to Ami, while placing a hand gently on Araka’s shoulder: “More importantly, we think you’re the few one who could be able to talk to her - the same gift as Ami, and we also want to understand more about yours as well.”

Araka nodded: if this were the answer to what my Matake was about, then I may have a try. 

Araka stepped forward and grabbed the chair on her side of the room, sitting calmly. She turned her face toward Amy and looked at her. Then, a shock came through Araka’s mind - not the overwhelming one like Huashin described, but a visible current washing upon her mind. 

What did I just sense? Araka thought. She then took a closer look at Ami - hands on her lap, while her eyes moved away, trying to avoid direct contact with Araka. 

Araka waited for ten seconds, and then Ami’s lips finally moved. 

“Wait, who are you? And why - why didn't you collapse?” Ami’s voice was clear, but barely audible. 

“I’m Araka,” Araka said, “Instructor Huashin told me I could talk with you to understand what Matake really was about.” 

“Ma-Matake? You mean I have that?” Ami said. 

“Wait, Ami,” Araka glanced at Ami one more time, “How could you even speak this loud without moving your lip?”

“Araka. Your speech- yours seemed not as noisy as mine. How did you do it?”

“I - I was asking why are you able to speak without moving the lips-“

“So you’re not afraid of my - ”

Just as Araka was listening to Ami’s voice, a loud noise started taking over the speech. Araka started feeling a bit dizzy. 

Out of instinct, Araka blinked her eyes and caught a glimpse of something inside the void - the silhouette of a girl. She closed her eyes again, and then she saw it - the outline of a girl that was formed by dark dots, standing in the middle of the blank space. 

Who was that? Araka thought, and why could I see it?

“You can see her, right?” Ami’s voice emerged from the noise. “You’re the first one who didn’t collapse when seeing this image.”

Then, a strong headache hit Araka that forced her to lower her head and lay on the table. 

Where did that feeling come from? Araka asked herself while still processing what she saw in the void.  

“Does it hurt?” It’s Ami’s voice again.

“A bit,” Araka said, “But I’m okay.”

“But you’re not scared of me?”

“No,” Araka replied, while keeping her head straight, “I just think there was someone inside your mind, and I had no idea where that feeling came from. But - but I don’t really think I was threatened or something.”

“And I can also see yours,” Ami’s voice echoed in Araka’s mind, “yours is more stable than mine - it produced less noise. I - I’ve never seen anything like that before.” 

“Wait, you mean I also have another ‘self’?”

Ami nodded slowly. 

“And is that where my instinct came from?”

Ami nodded again. However, this time, she moved her lips and spoke: “You - do you have natural Matake?”

“I - I don’t really know,” Araka said while watching Ami raise her head: “Instructor Huashin said I have that, but I really don’t have any idea how I acquired it and how I can use it.”

“Then yours is the natural one, just like what Huashin said about mine,” Ami looked at Araka and said, “I - I felt yours is quite stable, like a friend who could have a conversation with me.”

“But I still feel dizzy when I try to look at that girl inside your mind,” Araka said.

“Because you should,” a soft voice came by. Araka turned around and found Anawa in a lab coat coming by: “or we should question you who you really are, suspecting if you’re hiding something from us?”

Araka blinked her eyes, gasping. 

“From what I could read from the Matake field detector, Ami’s field had shrunk to the point that me, one without Matake, could come closer to you. Basically, the sprawling cognitive field had largely clustered around you rather than spreading all over the place.” 

“Wait, ‘cognitive field’? What is that? Do you mean Ami could influence me with some kind of spell?” 

Huashin, who was further back, nodded: “A cognitive field is the parameter your Matake-influenced brain is able to project messages to - think of it like a sound wave. While many were able to acquire that ability through meditation and training, for you and Ami, your instincts were able to form the message without the need to study.”

“But what does that mean if I can ‘contain’ Ami’s field?” Araka said while looking at Ami, whose face now looked less pale than before. 

“Because yours,” Ami said again, “your field - it’s not destructive at all, and I felt like I finally someone who could understand me.”

“Wait, Ami, so you managed to visualize Araka’s field?” Anawa asked.

Ami nodded. 

“And Araka, you also managed to see Ami’s?”

Araka nodded: “I managed to see something - something alive within Ami’s mind, like a figure of a girl shaped by a cloud of shadow. But- but whenever I face her directly, I feel dizzy.”

The comment brought a brief moment of silence to the room. 

“Then I guess my hypothesis was correct all along,” Anawa broke the silence as she spoke under her breath: “that Ami’s Matake field was more complex than a typical Matake field.”

“And it seemed to be Araka was the only one who could see beyond distortions,” Huashin said while looking at the readings on the device. 

“Wait, instructor, may I ask what does that mean? I thought Matake was some cognitive ability that allowed me to read other’s minds, and maybe project my thoughts. But now it feels like I can somehow manipulate all my senses as well, and my mom hasn’t mentioned anything similar.”

The two instructors didn’t reply immediately. Then, Ami started to speak.

“I mean - it could happen, and I get that part,” Ami said, “I didn’t even know I have that ability until that one morning, and - I don’t even mean to hurt mom and dad.”

Araka turned her head toward Ami, whose expression now looked less hollow than before.

“I - I mean, I don't even remember much about my past before coming to the SAIR complex. I’m turning 17 now, but I still feel like I’m stuck at the time when I was eight 

, maybe even six. Whenever someone tries to talk to me, I - I just feel like there is always a shadow inside me that would always try to silence everyone. ”

“So that means you never went to high school?”

Ami nodded: “I - I just don’t want to hurt others.”

Araka lowered her head, pondering Ami’s story: is this the nature of the Matake? Will I become someone who would turn others unconscious just because the shadow inside my mind wants me to?  

“Ms. Huashin, Ms. Anawa,” Ami then said again: “I - I think my mind has become more stable now. Can I hangout with Araka? I think she could help.”

“This does not seem to be the case of the reading,” Anawa said while checking the tablet: “while your cognitive field is becoming more contained than before, if you move beyond this glass panel, your field will still immediately set off the alarms in this campus. Plus, we still didn’t know much about the properties of your field. So until we will keep you here longer until we figure out a way to stabilize your field.”

“Anawa,” Huashin said after taking a glance at Ami, who was now sitting on the chair quietly, “Ami is still a teenager, and she still cares about everyone here. I - I guess we should give her more hope. Plus, we find Araka and we know her field is stable even as a natural field.”

“Maybe my words are too blunt,” Anawa said, then turned toward Araka: “As for Araka, we also don’t know much about her field other than the possibility of hers inherited from her mother.”

“Then maybe give it a try,” Huashin said, “if Araka held the key to the origin of the stable natural Matake, then - “

“Ami? Are you okay?” While the instructors were talking, Araka noticed that Ami had become distracted and exhausted.

“I - I guess - I guess I spent too much energy when talking to you. I’m sorry, Araka, but - but I hadn’t talked to someone for this long, and - “

“Ami!” Araka pushed against the glass panel, while on the other side Ami collapsed on the table.

Anawa, upon seeing an unresponsive Ami, decided to check the tablet. 

“Ami’s field had become dormant, but it took too much of her energy for her conversation with Araka.”

“I’m going to bring Ami to her bed,” Huashin, already unlocked the side door leading to the other side of the glass panel, said: “Anawa, you bring Araka to the main wing.”

Anawa nodded and turned toward Araka: “Araka, it’s time to go” 

“Is Ami okay?” 

“She’s fine as long as she gets some rest - this happens when you use too much energy forming your cognitive field. Huashin will handle that.”

Anawa and Araka stepped out into the hallway. Without the door sealed behind them, Anawa exhaled and adjusted her tablet: “Guess I should explain this to you.”

Araka turned toward her, eyes opened wide. 

Anawa, taking a deep breath, said while bringing Araka away from the room: “We have confirmed you have a native Matake resonance, and more importantly, you’ve already been using it.”

Araka blinked. “Using it? But Instructor Huashin said I need to go through training to actually use it properly ”

“I - I think you may not need the initial training,” Anawa clarified. “Even if you weren’t aware of it, you are able to receive a complex message like Ami’s, you are to even interact with her field, and -”she then pull out a clip from the Matake field map, “you are also using some forms of an advanced channeling technique at one point without overloading yourself - which is even rarer among first time Matake users.”

Araka looked down, trying to remember everything from the entrance exam to the latest expressway panther mission. The sudden certainty out of nowhere, the inner voice, even the recall of her memory of Ms. Possible that was supposed to be gone years ago - maybe, maybe I’m another form of Ami’s field. 

“I - I just didn’t know I had any of this,” she admitted quietly. “Not before Huashin told me during the confinement. Even then, I thought she was exaggerating, but I couldn’t exactly tell why my mind was suddenly sharp at some moments.”

“Well, now we have some idea why your performance stood out,” Anawa said with her tone softened, “to be fair, I was more worried about you rather than the fact you have Matake - especially for a native one. Since it seemed you could control your cognitive field, let’s face it - You’re not just an exceptional intern anymore, we will treat you as a potential Matake user.”

“What does that mean?” Araka raised her eyebrows.

“For you, it doesn’t mean anything until you receive proper training. But for us, we need to keep an eye on you - to make sure you comply with the rules of the SAIR, not to make a breach of protocol like last time.”

She glanced sideways with a quiet smirk: “…Hope you understand what I mean.”