Volume 4—Chapter 86: Time and Space
“So… miss stalker… tell me, why did you follow Aria?”
The voice echoed through the dark room. A single light pointed directly at Caroline’s face, blinding her to everything else and leaving the rest of the room swallowed in shadow. The source was impossible to look at, but it was enough to make out the outline of the girl who stood beyond it.
That voice… it was familiar. Caroline could not place it with certainty.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Caroline replied, forcing her tone to sound calm, trying to feign ignorance.
“Really?” The girl’s voice grew colder.
“Yes. And tell me, how could I even be here all of a sudden? I don’t recall losing consciousness.” Caroline narrowed her eyes, buying herself time with questions of her own.
Carol was not completely clueless. She already knew about the existence of Espers, and she herself was one. Whoever this girl was, she must have used some ability to bring her here. All Carol could do now was stall for time until she could free herself.
“You’re really good at pretending, aren’t you?” the girl said after a pause, her words carrying a faint trace of amusement.
“What do you mean?” Caroline asked, tilting her head slightly, as though still confused.
The girl finally stepped a little closer, her silhouette clearer against the blinding light.
“I know you are an Esper.”
“Owh… well… cat out of the bag, I guess,” Caroline muttered with a calm smile. By the time she said that, her hands were already free from the restraints.
The girl standing in front of her noticed and quickly moved to restrain Caroline again. However, her motion froze midair. Her eyes widened, realising her body refused to respond. It was not her own will that stopped her.
“Time stop,” Caroline spoke softly, almost like it was nothing.
She then stepped out of the chair and walked leisurely, circling behind the girl. With a small wave of her hand, time began to flow again.
“Huh… what happened?” the girl said in confusion, looking around.
Now that Caroline stood directly behind her, the light finally revealed the girl’s face. Caroline narrowed her eyes.
“Viola?... interesting,” Caroline said.
Viola’s shoulders stiffened, then she turned around sharply. “How did you get behind me all of a sudden?”
“Good question… how did I end up here?” said Caroline, glancing around the strange room.
“Well… whatever,” Viola replied flatly. In the next instant, her figure blurred and vanished.
A second later she reappeared right behind Caroline, her hand raised for an attack. Caroline, however, caught it with ease.
“I don’t have time for this,” Caroline muttered, and with a snap of focus, the world around her froze. Viola’s body locked in place, suspended in mid-motion.
Caroline stepped away and looked around the room, trying to find an exit. Yet there was none. No doors, no windows, nothing but four walls and a ceiling. Her brow furrowed. How did she end up inside a place like this?
Her gaze returned to Viola, still frozen in time... Time then resumed its flow.
“So… teleportation? Or maybe some kind of space manipulation? Quite a fascinating ability you have there,” Caroline said.
Viola lowered her arm and smirked. “I could say the same. It looks like you have a power similar to mine.”
“Only… it just appears that way,” Viola added. “If your ability was truly the same as mine, you could have left this room a long time ago.”
“Well… you did say time stopped earlier. Quite naive, if I say so myself,” Viola sneered. Her figure blurred, and in the blink of an eye she disappeared.
Caroline clicked her tongue. “Tch.” She froze time for half a second, sidestepped, then let it flow again. Viola reappeared exactly where Caroline had been standing, her strike cutting through empty air.
“You dodged? Interesting,” Viola said, her eyes narrowing.
Caroline raised her hand. “Your movement is fast, but predictable.” She stopped time again, moved behind Viola, and tried to land a blow. But the moment time resumed, Viola flickered out of existence, escaping the strike.
“Not bad,” Viola’s voice echoed, as she reappeared several steps away. “But your time stop is short… I just need to pressure you until you slip.”
Caroline smirked. “And I just need one opening.” She clenched her fist, the air around her tightening with intent.
Viola vanished again, reappearing in rapid succession, circling Caroline like a phantom. Caroline closed her eyes for a moment, listening. The instant she felt a shift of air at her back, she froze time.
Viola’s arm was raised mid-strike, frozen inches from Caroline’s neck. Caroline exhaled, walked around her, and pushed Viola’s shoulder. When time resumed, Viola stumbled forward.
“Tch… annoying trick,” Viola growled, quickly recovering and teleporting out of reach.
“Your ability is flexible, I’ll admit,” Caroline said, her tone sharp. “But every time you blink away, you reveal where you’ll strike. I just need to catch you once.”
“And if you can’t?” Viola smirked, vanishing again.
Caroline braced herself, her hand twitching, ready to stop time at the perfect instant.
Caroline’s purpose was not to win this fight, but to escape. Yet how could she escape a room that had no entrance and no exit? The answer was simple.
“Gotcha!”
All she had to do was touch Viola at the exact moment she teleported. Caroline timed it perfectly, her fingertips brushing Viola’s arm just as the girl blinked away.
The scene around Caroline warped and blurred. The suffocating darkness of the interrogation room melted into green. Towering trees rose around her, their trunks thick and old, moss clinging to their bark. The ground was damp, soft with layers of fallen leaves. A pale, silvery light filtered through the branches, not the warm brightness of day but the faint glow of early dawn. Mist drifted low between the trunks, carrying with it the chill of the night that had not yet lifted.
The forest was quiet, unnervingly so, broken only by the distant call of a night bird and the rustle of something unseen moving through the undergrowth. Caroline acted instantly. Time froze at her command. The drifting mist halted in place, caught in mid-curl, and even the droplets sliding down the moss seemed to stop. She bolted away from Viola’s frozen form, weaving deeper into the woods until the pale light behind her all but disappeared.
When time resumed, the forest stirred again, dew catching what little light touched the canopy. It was cold, damp, and disorienting. Caroline’s chest rose and fell, but her expression stayed calm. She didn’t know where this was, but at least she was outside. Free.
Escape was now possible. Finding her way home would be the challenge, but with her contacts, she could manage. Even if she had been thrown to the other side of the world, she would make her way back.
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