Part 1

"That's it, Tatseyo, give it to me!"

"Diz, I don't think I can hold it anymore!"

"AH! Just a little longer! I'm almost there!"

Crap, ever since I told everyone about it, Diz has been taking it too far! How many times will she want to do it?

"Alright! So I'm gonna be even rougher now!

"W-what? No, if you do this I'll-"

"This is the final push!"

"AHHH! It's here! It's here! OH FU-"

BLAM

Before she can finish her words, Diz body convulses and she collapses on her back

A brief silence follows as I watch Diz laying down, breathing hard and with a hand covering her face

"... It's the third time today, how long are you two going to keep at it?"

Manaki asks while adjusting her glasses

"And today's battle goes to... Tatseyo again! Fufufufufu"

Mayumi declares clapping her hands

I wipe the sweat off my forehead and gulp down with my sore throat before asking

"Are you alright?"

Diz breathes heavily for a while and simply gives me a thumbs up before I reach my hand out and help her stand up

"Y-yeah, you're really getting better at esper martial arts"

I've been training with Liliana's peerage for some time by now and I can say that I have grow consistently, it makes me wonder why have I never trained before

"It's thanks to all of you, without your help I wouldn't have thought about developing it, though there's still ways for me to go"

I still cannot unleash 100% of my power without strong emotions and I still haven't figured out my skill but...

"Your growth is truly explendid, Tatseyo, it's great to see your control and techniques improving so much, fufufufu~"

"Tatseyo-san is impressive as always!"

Aya and Mayumi say in a cheerful voice

"Tatseyo is improving... that's good, the Khaos Brigade will fall faster and we can get rid of this hassle..."

Manaki says, always so pragmatic...

"Tsk, I'll take a shower, see you later"

Diz quickly says goodbye turning her back and waving

"W-what's gotten into her? I thought we had a good training, is she still mad because of that thing?"

I turn to the other three, Manaki's face is as unreadable as ever and Aya is just as confused as me

"Did we do something wrong?" - The green haired girl asks

"I wonder why..."

Manaki says tilting her head

"Fufufufufufu"

The only one who seemed to understand something was Mayumi

"Ara, so that's what's happening now~"

I look at her wondering what she's thinking

Wait... am I really trying to guess what a telepath is thinking?

"Tatseyo, shall we continue your training?"

Pulling me out of my deductions, Mayumi signs for me to follow her and I wipe myself with a towel before going after the three towards an area surrounded by trees witha river nearby

Mayumi is the first one to sit and motions for us to take our places

"Let's do the mental landscape again, sit over here"

"Alright..."

I take my sit where she motioned me to and the four of us sit on a circle in a zen pose

Closing my eyes, the sounds of the river, the wind and of Mayumi's voice floods my ears

"Now focus and let your mind wander to the place of your design"

I take deep breaths and gradually all the sounds around me begin to fade away as I start to sense the enviroment around me more with my psychic self and gradually dwell into the domain of my own mind

"Here I am"

Memory Palace, you probably already heard this term somewhere, associate information with spatial enviroments to enhance someone's memory.

A mental landscape is kinda similar, by building one's own territory within their mind we can use it to carefully navigate our 'psychic self' and strength our own mind.

The more control one has over it's own ESP, the bigger and more complex can be a mental landscape, you can stretch or narrow time and space or even create animals and people, the opportunities are endless and, with enough willpower, one can be nigh-omnipotent inside their own territory.

"So let's see, if I turn this street I should arrive at..."

My father can perfectly recreate Seasoning City in his mind, mom can recreate the entire base of A-city, whereas for me...

"So the dagashi store should be around... here! Aha, I knew it!"

I can perfectly recreate the neighborhood I grew at!

Okay, it's not as big as mom or dad and the control I have over it is still pretty limited, but it's still good to the point I can use my powers here and even alter space and time to a degree

Going inside the store, I check with some pride that everything is as flawless as I pictured, however, there are no kids running around, no nice old lady sweeping the store's front and no smiling old man behind the counter, I still obviously can't create people.

Despite the limitations that this shows about my psychic self, I wander through the neighborhood with a smile on my face, a sense of nostalgia washes over me as I keep strolling by the same buildings, parks and streets from the areas I spent a good portion of my life at

Untill.

"So it ends here..."

With a knot on my throat I reach out to a blank space that collides with my hand

At this point the scenery fades away and I can no longer proceed, a white wall blocking me from going further, I can go anywhere else, except further down this path.

I've tried using telekinesis on it, but it feels like using my powers on something that's not even here.

"It's just like Manaki said, a firewall... but why?"

It doesn't make sense for this to exist, that's not how someone's mind works, this was placed here on purpose. But I sure as hell didn't built this, also, how come I've never seen this place before?

I mean, it's true that I didn't train before, so I barely went to my mental landscape since it serves almost no combat purposes, but even so, shouldn't I have seen that at least once when I was here?

"What in the world..."

I say 'what' because I'm too afraid to say 'who', if this work is what I believe it is, then finding out my skill would be the least of my problems

After trying and ultimately failing in my attempts to pierce through the invisible barrier, I gave up and made my way back into the old dagashi store.

Scrolling through the shelves, I reach and take a candy that I used to enjoy a lot as a child

I unwrap and put the brightly colored sphere on my mouth with few expectations

But to my surprise...

"G-good!"

It actually tastes good! I was able to recreate flavour inside this landscape! That's a really good step forward!

"Well at least that's some progress, haha..."

I declare with a half-hearted laugh and glance at the clock on the shop's wall

The hours on it the are not the same as the outside world, but it's supposed to help me mark the time inside with the time outside, I have a somewhat control of the flow here, so every hour is supposed to be like a few minutes outside to let me explore more freely.

Stretching my arms upwards I decide I've spent enough time here

"Ah, guess it's time to go back"

I close my eyes again and when I open them, the scene that greets me makes me flinch backwards

"W-woah! Ma-Mayumi!?"

A pair of big purple eyes smiles staring directly at me only a few inches away, she's much closer than before!

"Sorry, you looked so peaceful that I couldn't help but approach a little, did I scare you? Fufufufufu~"

She kindly laughs and I sit back up again

"Mou, don't tease Tatseyo-san when he just got back from his meditation!"

When I look behind her, Aya-chan is pouting

"Fufufufu, don't worry, I'm sure Tatseyo's heart won't give out so easily"

Mayumi replies with a playful wave of hand

"...Did you made any progress?"

Manaki asks and I shake my head trying to brush off what just happened and go back to a serious mood

"Y-yeah, just like you said, that thing is like a firewall that I can't get through no matter how..."

I declare in a voice more saddened than I intended it to

"Uhm, that's so weird"

Mayumi frowns and all I can do is nod back

"So... nothing happened? That's not good at all..."

Manaki gives a long look at nowhere and I look at Aya-chan who is also making a depressed face

"D-don't worry, Tatseyo-san, we'll get there eventually! I'm certain of it!"

Man, the mood got bad fast, maybe I should give the good news now to ease it up

"But hey, look, I discovered that I can reproduce flavours! Isn't it awesome? I just had some candy in there"

My attempt to lighten the mood gets three weird looks as a reply

"T-that's good, right?"

I say, thinking that maybe this wasn't the right way to try to shift the mood, but soon I hear a laugh that eases my nerves

"Fufufufufufufu"

Mayumi covers her move to hide her giggles but still seems pretty amused by what I said

"That's incredible Tatseyo-san, I'm really happy for you!"

Aya-chan replies in a childish manner

"I see... that's a good sign"

Manaki says adjusting her glasses, it still seems I couldn't change her mood, but the overall atmosphere got less depressing

Mayumi chuckles for a moment before regaining her composture and addressing me seriously

"Still, this shouldn't be happening, a mental landscape should not have a wall like that"

I support my chin on my hand and reply

"That's true, and it's so weird that I hadn't noticed it before..."

"Uh? Why is it so weird?"

Aya-chan asks tilting her head

Before I can answer her, Mayumi lifts a finger and replies

"When you meditate, Aya-chan, do you ever run into giant walls you cannot cross no matter what?"

The green-haired youkai girl seems to think for a while before answering

"No... no matter how far I go there's never a definitive end"

Mayumi nods

"Exactly, every creature has it's own mental landscape, even if it's in a limited form. But one thing they all share is that, just like the human mind, they are boundless. Even if you run out of territory in a space, you should return back to where you were at the beggining or something among this line, hitting a wall like that shouldn't happen, unless..."

Mayumi hesistates and frowns, drawing a curious reaction from Aya

"Unless what?"

Aya-chan asks bending forward in antecipation

However, I believe I already know what's worrying Mayumi and reply before she has the chance to.

"Unless a limiter is being used, right?"

The explanation that has been floating in my head ever since I discovered that barrier within my mindscape is ackowledged by Mayumi, who gives a troubled smile

"Exactly..."

I nod, so we were at the same frequency after all

"That's troublesome..."

Manaki says with a sigh, however, a loud exclamation follows her words

"Eh? W-w-wait a minute!"

We all turn to look to the source of the exclamation, Aya-chan, who has smoke coming out of her ears

"S-s-sorry, what are you talking about? W-what's a limiter?"

Oh, yes, Aya-chan wouldn't know about that too

"Ah, sorry to leave you out Aya-chan. I'll explain this time"

Aya moves closer to me

"You see Aya-chan, sometimes, in order to contain an esper's abilities, psychic barriers can be placed as 'locks' inside of them."

She nods

"I see, w-wait, so you are saying someone placed a barrier on you?!"

Her eyes go wide and she asks panicked, but Mayumi laughs and puts a hand on her shoulder

"Limiters come in various forms and types, some can be physical devices, some can be generated through mind manipulation, brainwashing or even by the person themselves"

Aya-chan seems even more confused now

"S-so Tatseyo-san placed this limitation on himself?! Tatseyo-san, why have you done this!?"

She throws herself against me with tears on her eyes and I panic for a moment

"T-that's not it! Calm down!"

Watching the scene, Mayumi laughs and waves her hand

"Fufufufufu, no Aya-chan, I don't think Tatseyo would have any repressive behaviour like that given his personality, which is strange because..."

She then looks at me with stern eyes

"You also don't seem to be the type that's constantly repressing your feelings, so why is your 100% only released when your emotions reach their exploding point?"

I shake my head saddened

"I-I have no idea, I always thought it was some sort of genetic thing, my father had when he was a teen, so I would have too"

I cover my mouth with a hand, that was what I believed, but is it really true?

"Kageyama-san can already control his 100% without relying on emotions, correct? Then why can you not?"

"I believed this emotional limitation would vanish as I got more used to my powers, but that wall... I don't know how I only noticed that now, was it even there before?"

The turrent of questions without answer made the mood back to getting darker, however, someone that I didn't expected is the one to break the silence.

"I do know for a fact that it was there when I first checked you, but rather than a date of creation, I believe that our priority should be finding if it was a person created it and in that case, the reason they did it, correct?"

Manaki declares and we all turn our heads to her and I give out a nervous laugh

"...Did I said something funny?"

"No, sorry, but you just reached a topic I was avoiding to go at..."

Manaki furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head

"Is that so? I am sorry then"

I shake my head

"No, you don't have to be, actually, it's the right thing to ask. Who could have done this to me? What would they gain by limiting my 100% state? Is it also blocking my skill?"

Mayumi was listening to us with a lost in thought expression

"If this was indeed created by another esper then we know that an esper's seal can only be as strong as the esper himself, do you know anyone who could have done this?"

I shake my head once again and look down to see my hands trembling, how could I know? I've spent who knows how long without even knowing it was there!

"Why did mother, father, my teachers, why did no one realized it?"

What does this all mean? When I first started working with Liliana I felt bad for lying to everyone in the community, but now I think they are the ones hiding things from me.

Why? What reason could they have to do this?

"...Tatseyo-san?"

Aya calls me and I manage to swallow down my anger and confusion

"It's okay, Aya-chan, I'm fine, thank you"

I pat her head as she smiles at me

"It'll be fine"

In turn, I also feel a hand gently caressing my hair

"Mayumi?"

I turn to see Mayumi smilling while saying 'there there~'

"Everything will be alright, whatever it is, whoever it is, we'll find a way."

"I'll do my best too!"

Aya follows with an enthusiastic smile

I smile a little at this 'petting triangle' that we created, sorry for making you all comfort me, but I really needed this

"Thanks, I feel much better now"

[Good, but you don't have to be sorry]

"Huh?"

Mayumi's voice rings into my head and she sticks her tongue out at me

[Fufufufu~]

Her impish laughter echoes through my ears and I answer

"A-alright..."

I'm serioulsy not getting used to her using telepathy on me

"Then let's continue!"

Aya-chan says and Mayumi agrees, however, she looks at me and points out

"But I believe we are done for today with your training, Tatseyo, why don't you rest for a while? I'm sure Liliana-sama must be dying to talk to you as well, fufufufu~"

She says with an impish laughter

"I'll go with you, I need to go back to work as well..."

Manaki says and steps behind me

[I'll also see you later, Tatseyo~]

I hear Mayumi's inner voice one last time and gulp, why does she always manages to make me so nervous?

Part 2

We walk out of the training dimension and Manaki walks right behind me without saying a word

"..."

I start to feel her eyes burning holes in my back

I look behind me and we make eye contact, instead of asking if there's something wrong, she simply keeps staring at me

"A-are you alright?"

I ask and she answers without breaking the contact for even a moment

"Yes..."

A simple answer that doesn't leave much room for conversation, ah, breaking the ice with her is always complicated...

"O-okay..."

I continue walking ownards and the intense feeling of being watched does not go away as Manaki keeps following after me

She stays dead silent making me very unconfortable untill she finally decides to adress me

"Mayumi was communicating telepathically with you, was she not?"

I freeze up at her question

"Y-you noticed?"

She nods

"Your face was weird... weirder than usual"

Ah, that's right, I gave it out, but that last comment was really not necessary!

Manaki glances at nothing in particular and says in a monotone

"I wish I could use telepathy as well..."

"E-eh?"

Manaki suddenly expressing a desire like that takes me by surprise, I think it's the first time she tried to initiate a conversation with me

"Why is that?"

She tilts her head

"Because it would be easier to figure people out..."

I don't think you out of everyone should be saying people are hard to read...

But it took me by surprise that Manaki also has problem with reading people

That's right, even before then I couldn't read Manaki at all, even after I dropped the news that got everyone shocked she didn't seem to be even fazed by it

"Is there a person you wish you could understand better?"

Manaki nods and adjusts her glasses

"I find many people hard to read, but particularly..."

She points in my direction

"You"

I keep looking at the slender finger directed at me taken over by confusion untill her statement sinks in

"E-eh? Me? Why?"

Manaki puts a hand on her chin and looks at me for a moment before giving a reply

"I don't understand why you're helping us so much..."

"W-what?"

A mumbling being the only answer I can give, the shock of Manaki's interest in me still lingering on

"The risk of punishment, of losing the love of your family, the respect of the esper community, of your friends... why are you helping us?"

Despite Manaki's serious inquisitve, neither does her voice or expression change, making it sound like she just asked me how the weather would be tomorrow

"It's like I said before, even if it's risky, I trust Liliana and Ayumu enough that I can make this decision for the sake of our goal."

I reply as clearly as I can, however, Manaki still doesn't seem to have understood and keeps staring at me blankly before taking a hand to her chin

"Selflessness..."

With this single word she stares at me

"I wouldn't say that... like I said, I'm also gaining from it..."

Feeling a bit embarassed I brush away what I believe was a compliment and she keeps looking at me, this time without uttering anything else

Starting to feel uncomfortable again, I point out

"I'm... going to shower..."

Turning around and keep going on my way, parting ways with Manaki.

The bath here is quite large with a split onsen and separate areas for shower, it seems to be mostly made of marble, just like Liliana's office. This whole place is so damn fancy.

I walk into the man's shower area, take a bath and put my clothes into one of the shelves, with only a towel covering me from the waist down I sink into the hot water and give a relaxed sigh

"Ahh, so good~!"

I let the water bury me up to the shoulders and rest my back against the edge of the onsen a I close my eyes and relax

"Hmmm"

My mind begins to drift away and I start to feel sleepy untill a noise wakes me up

*Splash, splash*

"Huh?"

I hear sounds coming from the water

"Who's there?"

The fog only allows me to see the outline of a figure untill it finally approaches me and the sight of it makes my face go red

"W-what?!"