The scientist sat behind the several monitors on his desk. He typed away on the old mechanical keyboard. The only light source lighting the room was his monitors along with one single window. Notes were scattered everywhere on the floor and his desk. As he pressed enter on the keyboard, an image of seven individuals appeared on the center monitor. They varied in sex and ethnicity.

“These guys again eh? Certainly nostalgic.”

Behind him, there was a knock at the door. His chair squeaked as he leaned back to respond.

“Yup come in Charlotte!”

A girl in a maid outfit comes into the room, holding a tray with a beverage on top.

“Oh thanks, love my daily coffee.”

Charlotte scans the monitors on his desk.

“These people were... the original, elite team that Azure assigned as first hand protectors of humanity?”

“Ah, oh them? I think you're mistaking them for my co-workers during my old early graduate school days. Haha!”

She gives him a cold stare.

“You can’t fool me, master.”

“...Aaaaanyways, how’s your morning so far, Charlotte?”

“Sir, it’s the afternoon now.” she said, her eyes squinting even further.

Charlotte looked down at the tray she was holding. The coffee cup began to feel lighter. It shook a little, then completely left the tray on its own, in the direction of the scientist’s hand. Unfortunately, he couldn’t catch it and spilt all over the floor, leaving a complete mess.

“Looks like today wasn’t the day either eh?”

“Sir, I thought I told you not to do that again.”

“C’mon, I need to train my hand- eye coordination somehow.”

“...I’ll get the mop.” The maid turns her way to the door before being stopped.

“Wait, Charlotte. I designed that pipe system above me for a reason.”

In a way that violates the laws of physics, the liquid that splashed all over the floor suddenly rose up into the air. It collected into a somewhat lopsided sphere and rose even further up. There, the ball of liquid was released and fell into a chamber above the scientist’s head. The sound of liquid running through pipes was audible enough that a person could hear it a room away.

The maid then noticed the tray got noticeably heavier. Anticipating what was going to happen next, she flipped the tray upside down. The coffee cup lifted off the ground and pressed up against the tray. She flipped it over again and the tray returned to its normal weight.

“Alright, let’s get back to my oh-so evil plan to destroy the world.”

Charlotte sighed. “Of course my oh-so evil overlord. Just be sure to submit the world-ending assignment by 11:59 today.”

The maid, having to deal with her master’s antics every single day, loves to throw shade at him for making over the top claims such as this.

Now that she has finished her task to give him his daily coffee, she can go back to  plans of her own. One second, her right hand was empty and the next, she was holding a hyacinth flower. The maid raised it to her face, and hoped that victory was just as sweet as that flower.

・・・・・

“The innkeeper is gone…” 

No one was on post behind the counter. Even if it seemed like this inn barely gets any visitors, at least being short on staff wouldn’t appear to be a problem.

“That old man, huh. What could this mean?” Rikki asked.

“It means that this is not an inn. It’s not listed on any map, nor public catalogue list. So the innkeeper in question can keep a low profile.” Kaori said.

“Right, we need to get started fast. We already wasted four days so far. We don’t have that much time before the exam. Let’s get investigating.” Tamaki ushers the order.

Over the next couple of hours, the three searched the entire interior of the inn head to toe. On the surface, it appeared to be your average everyday inn. There wasn’t anything to it. Every room showed no signs of suspicious activity and it seemed like they were making no progress at all. The floor creaked with every step Rikki was making, which made him much more creeped out than it should.

It’s like I’m going to fall through the floor.

That was until Rikki found a strange protrusion on said floor. It seemed to appear to be a handle. A basement door. It was a square door with a handle in the rear. Surprisingly, it opened with ease. Rikki, having no experience in the matter, asked Tamaki for her input whether or not to go in without worry of burglary traps.

“We’ll just have to find out.” Tamaki grabbed a stone seemingly out of nowhere.

“...Wait, do you have stones just stashed in your person like that?” Rikki asked.

Tamaki reaches out and puts her hand on his hand.

“Huh, what are you doing?”

“Hmm… oh? Seems like you’re going to sneeze in a couple of seconds.”

“What are you talking abo— ACHOO”

…

“Well?”

“...You’re just flexing the fact you have an ability.”

“Ara, surely you are not going to deny my intellect?”

Tamaki lets the stone drop down the staircase. They heard the stone hit concrete. After a few seconds had passed, Tamaki stood up.

“As I thought, nothing.”

They both enter the basement. It took some time for their eyes to adjust to the level of darkness. Before that though, they first noted the peculiar smell. From what they saw, this smell stemmed from the tons of beakers laid out before them.

“A lab?”

Indeed, from what the two saw, there was scientific equipment everywhere. Rikki and Tamaki explored the tiny space that made up this lab. Over on the center table were some sheets of paper sprawled around. These were papers published in some sort of journal that he had no clue how to read when Rikki picked them up.

“It’s lines and lines of basically saying that humanity has yet to understand anything. Followed by explanations using these squiggly lines. What were they again? Inte… Inte…”

Tamaki peered over his shoulder to take a closer look.

“Those are integrals… Oh? Oh! I know this! This is for the world conference of Science and Engineering that occurs every year in different locations around the world!”

“Huh. Say what now.”

“*Sigh* That’s right. You see, there exists an annual Science Conference to discuss the latest discoveries in our modern understanding of the Universe. The last one occurred about a year ago from today.”

In the sheets of papers, Riki noticed the intrinsic designs of what seems to be huge hunks of metal tubes.

“Particle accelerators…”

“Rikki, you know about these?”

“Well I knew about stars and beach balls before.”

“Ok. It seems like these papers were published years and years ago. This is due to the fact that I remember reading up on a certain physicist that engineered multiple particle accelerators. They then showed them off during one of these conferences which caused a huge uproar in the community. This happened when… let’s see... I was still learning how to ride a bicycle, perhaps?”

Rikki didn’t see how this would tie into an arsonist. Tamaki however, was bewildered. She made the connection that the making of these particle accelerators occurred almost within a few months of her waking up with an ability.

“That’s so strange, a lab and papers. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. Could it?”

Tamaki considered everything they knew so far. They waltz into the incorrect inn, earrings went missing, an unknown arsonist appeared who was going to blow up the inn but then didn’t once she announced that it was her’s originally, and now a lab that held papers dating back to almost the same time that she woke up with an ability. She was going to collapse from thinking until she saw something in the corner of her eye. It was a book, more specifically, a ringed notebook.

“What’s this? An address book?”

Tamaki picked up and flipped through the pages of the used address book. There were dates marked down of specific events. 

“That’s strange. If you look, there are a bunch of filled in dates in the calendar sections but they don’t specify anything at all. And it’s not like these are holidays or anything.”

“Really now?” Rikki had his turn to peer over her shoulder.

“...Wait. I found a specific address with the name, ‘Asimov’.”

“There’s no way.”

“342 Shaker Street.”

Rikki swallowed, his throat suddenly became dry. It couldn’t possibly have been that easy to find a lead. But then again, they had no idea what they were investigating in the first place. 

“Rikki, let’s meet up with Kaori for a plan on what to do next. I’m not sure what to make of this.”

・・・・・

Kaori had a keener eye than most people. This was, of course, a result of countless times where she had to tidy up Tamaki’s hair and clothes. No imperfection was tolerated. Yeah, her friend wasn’t very lenient. When she first laid her eyes on the doorknob to the inn, there was a peculiar shade of green concentrated in a couple of spots. It wasn’t as if it was turning green from age, no. Kaori took a closer look to see plant leaves stemming from its deep crevices.

She got the idea to inspect every single nook and cranny of the inn, looking for any more of this stuff and if there is a pattern to them. As Kaori thought, the wooden furniture had this anomaly as well. Coming out of the wood of the stool was plant life. Live leaves and stems were shooting off of almost every part of it. As far as pattern goes, they only ever appear on chairs and tables. That’s where it hit her. The lighter had plant matter inside the hood as well. 

“Kaori!”

The valet turned her head to see her mistress holding a stack of papers accidentally catching her foot on a chair leg and spilling all of them on the floor. Her face now red with embarrassment. It was time for a discussion.