I like you.
Mia took his actions, smile, and the look in his eyes as an appeal for her to understand his feelings. Her heart squeezed and throbbed, and her tears were tempted to spill forth once more.
Step by step, she ignored the shrieks, bellows, and screams telling her to stop as she came closer to Felix.
“Mia Baumann! STOP! You mustn’t touch him! Our country is doomed if the infection spreads!” the president raved like a madman.
Henrik observed his reaction. “I get it. We might be able to bring the truth to light,” he whispered to Mathias.
He and Mathias immediately emulated Mia and approached Felix.
“Henrik Vigant! Mathias Weiss! Stop!” Professor Rueger shouted.
Though the other professors and everyone else present begged them to stop, they weren’t prepared to face their deeply rooted fear of infection and physically restrain the kids.
Seeing their reaction, Henrik tilted his head to the side in wonder and abruptly stopped walking. He surveyed the entire room carefully and cocked his head again.
Mia reached Felix alone. The woman in the protective suit alone stood between Mia and Felix. Thinking they were saved, the faculty stopped yelling and waited for her restrain Mia instead.
“Stay back. Are you going to claim the same foolish idea, that you won’t get infected?”
“It’s not a foolish idea. I really won’t get infected. We’re convinced we won’t be infected. And we’re about to prove it to everyone present!” Mia and the doctor stared each other down.
This isn’t just something we made up. Please understand. Mia held her gaze, refusing to look away. Mia earnestly hoped she’d understand. A few silent minutes, filled with nothing but the sound of pressurized pipes, passed before the doctor finally stepped out of Mia’s way.
“So you’re Mia. Letts’ favorite apprentice.”
“You know Doctor Letts?” Mia asked in surprise.
“He often talked about you at the Medical Association’s gathering. It only happened once a year though,” she briefly answered, then went on, “I’ll support your theory. Ever since the day I was granted permission to step into this dismal hellhole, I’ve been hoping that someone like you kids would come here. I’ve waited for the door to the outside world to be tossed open. Letts always said he’d bring the truth to light somehow, and it looks like the seed he planted grew just right.”
The doctor stood up straight, her rubber suit squeaking, and raked her gaze over each person in the cafeteria. Then she deeply inhaled and proclaimed, “He is not infected. Naturally, he couldn’t be—Demon Claw is not contagious.”
The assistant standing beside the doctor leapt at her, grabbed her neck, and slammed her against the concrete wall. “Chief Kreutzer, you seem to have made an erroneous statement. Would you care to correct your mistake?” He definitely wasn’t treating her like she was his boss or the chief of this Sanatorium.
Everyone froze. Doctor Kreutzer painfully, yet firmly objected, “Who are you calling chief? What a farce. I’ve been confined to this hellhole just the same as our patients. We’re exactly the same as patients who will die if they don’t cut off contact with the ‘germs’ in the outside world. I—no, we doctors aren’t allowed to live unless we sever all ties to the outside world. And they,” she gestured to the walls lined with people clad in rubber suits, faces veiled by the masks, “pretend to be medical assistants, when they’re really our jailors.”
The assistant who had his hand around her throat pinned her with a menacing glare. Mia found herself thinking, if he could kill her with his eyes, he would’ve. She shuddered when she realized he would’ve snapped Doctor Kreutzer’s neck, had there not been a full audience to witness it.
Then another realization dawned on her, after all this time—she had practically never seen Doctor Letts leave the premise of his clinic or its Sanatorium. In other words, he had been just as much of a prisoner to his workplace as this doctor was. He never informed her about anything because he hadn’t wanted them to steal away her freedom as well.
“You volunteered of your own free will to help them. Confidentiality was a part of the terms of your contract,” the assistant stated icily. Doctor Kreutzer didn’t flinch. Resolve burning in her eyes, she met his death glare with a hard stare.
“Anyone would keep their mouth shut when their patients are taken hostage. I only wanted to help the sick, dying people here. The people who will die if they catch a simple cold. The people who no one will save, who we are not even allowed to attempt to make a medicine for, who are left to rot away to be forgotten with the passage of time.”
“We’ve worked on a medicine. But it’s not POSSIBLE to make,” the assistant shouted.
Rage surged from the pit of Mia’s being, propelling her into action. “YOU’RE LYING! You haven’t even tried to make a medicine! You’ve prioritized Angel Tears and put Demon Claw on the back burner. Of course you would. Because the disease known as Demon Claw won’t ever occur again if you don’t want it to! Once the current afflicted people die you won’t need a medicine for it anymore, so you’re just trying to wait out the tide until they’re all dead!”
Absolute bafflement crossed many faces in the dead silent hall.
“What are you on about?” Professor Rueger asked, as the representative of the faculty.
“Mia, take this.” Henrik held out an envelope. Wiping away her tears, Mia accepted it, surprised by what was inside. What she pulled out was their team’s Grand Plan.
“How…?” For some reason, the Grand Plan she’d unquestionably turned in to Professor Einz was now in her hands.
“Didn’t think using Professor Einz to deliver it was enough insurance. Professor Rueger,” Henrik turned and addressed their professor, “I’ve put another copy of this same Grand Plan in your mailbox, under Mathias’ and my name. Please check for it later. If it catches your interest, I hope you will allow us to add Felix and Mia’s name to it.”
“You submitted it with just your and Mathias Weiss’ name?”
“I had a hunch someone would interfere with our submission if Mia’s name was on it. I kept Felix’s off just in case too.”
“Let me look it over.” Professor Rueger hesitantly stepped forward to accept the envelope from Mia. Then he took out the Grand Plan and began to read it. “The causation of Demon Claw is immunodeficiency, which occurs when there is a sudden and drastic decrease of the body’s natural magic levels. This is purposefully induced, and the magic siphoned from Demon Claw patients, through a reformed version of Neu-Aera Technology, is then directly injected into an applicable candidate to produce an artificial mage. Consequently, an excessive increase in the body’s magic levels causes an outbreak of Angel Tears …?”
He turned blue as he reached the conclusion written in the Grand Plan’s abstract and looked up, wide-eyed, at President Strickler. President Strickler responded with an arched eyebrow, urging Professor Rueger to continue.
Professor Rueger promptly read on, “The basis for this theory is the following:
First, the outbreak for both diseases occurred approximately at the same time.
Second, we repeatedly found that patients of Demon Claw were of the same exact age, and all had taken and failed the entrance exams of Isea Royal Academy’s Mage Department.
Third, there were an inexplicably large number of students who enrolled in the Academy’s Mage Department who developed Angel Tears that same year.
Above all else, there is an extremely high chance Demon Claw is not contagious.
※ Researcher Mia Baumann was not infected even though she regularly handled letters she had received from her infected mother.
Despite all of the aforementioned facts, patients are systematically quarantined, more heavily than likely warranted. If not for precautions regarding infection, the next, most logical reason would be that it is meant to conceal another truth…” Professor Rueger stopped reading again.
President Strickler shot Felix an annoyed look. “An audacious and extremely dangerous theory you’ve got there…”
“But we took the appropriate measures to line up several evidence-based facts. You finished analyzing the medical charts, yes?” Felix flashed an intrepid grin.
“…You’re a walking magnet for disaster. You know I took this easy job because I loathe getting involved in trouble.”
“Please do your job to earn your pay.”
Watching their banter from the sidelines led Mia to speculate about their relationship. They seem really close… How do they know each other? Is it because Felix was held back a year?
In contrast, Professor Rueger was thrilled and began to rave about their theory, drawing Mia’s attention back to him. “If your theory is right, then it’d mean the military is afraid of losing their mage forces, so they’re desperate to hide it… Indeed, this would explain why huge funds are given to Angel Tears’ research and none for Demon Claw, or any other topics for that matter!”
“There’s no funding for other diseases?!” Mia’s eyes went round.
He nodded. “Other diseases don’t have any sponsors. That’s why the faculty is stuck with researching Angel Tears and making their students participate. Nothing can be done without money. But if you win the competition, you’ll receive research funds directly from Isea Kingdom instead. No one can complain if you receive money from the Kingdom. I was being hard on your topic because I wanted you to make something you could win with. I try to support passionate students and help them succeed, you see.”
Mia was astonished to learn how Professor Rueger felt for the first time. He hadn’t been trying to bully them? Guilt and shame hit her. Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry for calling you a wall and other bad things!
“This will win, won’t it?” Henrik stepped in front of her and grinned at their professor.
Professor Rueger gave a hearty nod. “This topic wouldn’t have been possible without the joint effort of the Law Department, Mage Department, Medical Department, and Pharmacology Department. You think I’d stand to let them bury such an intriguing topic? I’ll stake everything on getting this through.” Fierce determination lit his eyes as his gaze swept over his fellow professors.
Were they frightened of making an enemy of the military? The Mage Department’s Assistant Professor Bahr looked conflicted, while the Academy’s headmaster and the Law Department’s Professor Kesten averted their eyes. Only President Strickler quietly nodded.
“Very well then, you there, release the Doctor…” The assistant hesitated, but under the steady gaze of the president Doctor Kreutzer was released. “Miss Baumann, Doctor, if you would follow me, I have a number of pointed questions I need answered.” He headed for a nearby office. “I hate extra work, so we are going to proceed under the terms I set out, and the rest of you will follow without question! Am I understood?”
Everyone in the room silently nodded and hurried to follow. Mia was at the front of the group, a tiny smile pulling at her lips.
Silence reigned as the cafeteria emptied out. “Uhh… Guys? Somebody? What about me?” Felix called but no one answered. “Isn’t anyone going to untie me?” he shouted shaking back and forth in his chair. “GUYS!”