𝑸𝑶𝑻𝑪:

𝑯𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.

***

Her eyes fluttered open. Evening sunlight glistened through the half rolled down shutter in the garage.

Asami had become unconscious soon after Kiyoshi left. The paralysis on her body wore off, but her head was still fuzzy. She regretted underestimating him, that gray-eyed wolf.

Balancing her body on the wall, while holding the door of a run-down car beside her, she tried to get up. Sweat oozed out of her body, her throat still stiff from the blow.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥.

She cursed him in her thoughts.

Limping on her left leg, she somehow made it home. It was already half past seven in the evening. Exactly at 8:00 p.m., she would meet up with her father for dinner. It was an everyday routine to have dinner finished before nine.


The trilling of crickets pierced through the dim silence of midnight. Faint breeze entered her room through her window, making the light blue curtains dance in mid-air. Dinner was successful. Her father's fingerprints got traced on the lipstick marks she made on the chair. It was a simple plan. Her father would have to shift the chair to eat with his back straight. And after a brief observation, she noticed that he always picked his chair from below to move it forward. Habits like these were common in people, so they could not precisely notice it, which could become the most dangerous weapon against them. As for the smudge on his finger, that was a wager on whether he would pick on it before washing his hands in the disinfected water tub, as they did every day before lunch and dinner.


Asami held the cello tape piece with the red fingerprint mark traced on it, glaring at it with her eloquent, beady, sapphire eyes hoodied under thick, white eyelashes.


Hiding in the darkness after light out, she took gentle steps to reach the floor. Her father would most probably be in his room. The housekeepers would be in their respective rooms. So, the third floor was vacant and devoid of any threats. Still, to be careful, she was on her guard. After a few days of practice, she had grasped on how to heighten her senses. Silently sticking that tape on the fingerprint sensor, she took a deep breath. She was one step away from finding everything she wanted to know.


The lock on the door went off. She grabbed onto the handle, taking deep breaths that distended her chest. Pushing it down, she entered inside. A study table loaded with piles of papers and documents rested before a mobile leather chair in a tightly packed room. Behind it, large bookcases filled with files and books decorated all the walls of the room. A redolent smell of decaying paper hung around in the air.


Closing the door behind her, Asami entered inside. The locking system was exactly like she had in school. They need not unlock it from the inside.

𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦.

She rummaged through the pile of documents. There was, in fact, useful information regarding POWANs.

Opening one of the most basic books that might have been hand prints for the textbooks for the special courses of the academy, she began going through.


...

"POWANs or powerful white-eyed anti-humans are creatures that share the same external appearance as humans, but with a slightly different internal structure. Their specific characteristic includes white pupil, nerves bulging out in the area near the eyes, and sharp canines. These characteristics are only revealed when the subject gets paranoid or is in control."

...

"The thing that is most necessary to keep in mind is that they are not aware of their own identity. They think of themselves as normal humans and merge in with the society easily."

...

"They can transfer their powers via their sharp canines."

Asami clicked her tongue.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭.

She flipped through the pages and threw away the book when she couldn't find anything. She sifted through more of them lying there. Her eyes caught on to a page in one. 

𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘖𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘴

...

"A human created the first POWAN. The theory of it being an experiment on immortality is believed to be true but is not yet confirmed. A powerful microorganism, likely different from the ones that are already known, was created. The scientist who created it, used it on himself becoming the first ever POWAN to be in history. And the microorganism was named PMb (POWAN Micro-beasts). This organism exists in a pair, one male and one female, as per the latest researchers. The two upper POWAN canine holds one of each and transfers them individually. The two cells undergo repetitive mitosis and mutation, finally forming a whole organ, referred to as Powarta. The Powarta is a symmetrical body, half male and half female. It is located in the thoracic cavity, cushioned between the lungs, heart and liver, and is attached to the spinal cord. It connects itself with the cranial nerves and takes control over the brain. The male powarta provides the host with physical strength, supernatural powers, regenerative ability, sensory skills and is responsible for the left side of the body characteristics. The female Powarta keeps a check on the host's consciousness, making it forget its identity. It also controls when the host might transform into a POWAN, if not paranoid. It balances the strength provided and is responsible for the right side of the body characteristics."


Her eyes opened wide when she read this. She lifted her hand and touched her left eye. She quickly flipped the pages to check about any one white-eyes POWAN, but there was no mention of such a creature.

𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘚𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘦𝘺𝘦.

She pushed her finger inside her mouth and rubbed it on her teeth. The elongated fang on the left side of her teeth pierced the skin on her fingers.

𝘈𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯... 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧-𝘗𝘖𝘞𝘈𝘕?