A Reason to Live

Names and Faces

3 POV
The nameless boy followed from a distance behind Shinonono Tabane towards her laboratory.

Mary's voice resounded in his head,

'I can't believe master walked in on Tabane when she was taking a shower. As expected of a pervert.'

The boy clenched his fists and a tick appeared on it.

'I don't know where you get this idea of me being a pervert, but that was an accident, and you know it.'

'But master could have knocked first. That's how it should be in another person's house. That's common sense!'

'But still, who in the world would destroy a whole house just because of a little skin being seen?'

'I mean, I would've killed you if you saw me naked.'

'Hah?!'

For some reason, the boy felt that the last sentence was more like a warning than an expression of an opinion. Just what was wrong with these girls, he would think to himself obliviously. But he noticed he was walking a little too close to Tabane, so he slowed his paced down a tad bit.

"You don't have to stay that far away. It's not like I'll bite you, you know?" Tabane reassured with a bright smile.

But said young man knew the true intent behind her words, and he did his best to stay far away as possible.

"I just got my life back. I'm not planning to lose it again." He chuckled to himself a little.

But Tabane twisted her head slightly ponderously,

"Ehh? But Tabane doesn't know what you're talking about!"

She let out a cute "Teh-het" like a klutz. But he ignored her.

It didn't take long for them to reach Shinonono's research lab, since it was right underneath her own house like a basement. Except, it was humongous, at least the size of a football field. There were a lot of different departments and unfinished work lying around here and there.

"Wait, I know. Shinonono, you can describe what I look like, right? What hair color, eye color? What age do I look like?"

The nameless youth fired away a lot of his inquiries eagerly, but he only heard Tabane giggle a little and give him a smile.

"Well, all I can say is, you're not bad-looking." That was all the answer he got.

'That wasn't even my question…' the boy sighed exasperatedly.

Tabane led the boy down another level through a set of stairs, and he was surprised to see a clear opening, like a weapons testing site.

"Here we are! From here, you can test your IS all you want without worrying about my toys being destroyed!"

Tabane then produced a tablet from her cleavage and pressed a couple buttons.

"Oi, before we get to the IS stuff, I want to see what I…" The boy trailed off, but when Tabane held the tablet out in front of him, he saw a projection of a tall, slim, but well-built teen. He had short spikey blonde hair, yellow brows, azure eyes and a pale face complementing all of the above. He seemed to be around 17 years of age and let out a strong air of charisma. (A/N: Genos from One Punch Man)

"Who the hell are you?" the nameless boy demanded. The projected figure had this transcending look against the boy and he didn't like it one bit.

Then, Tabane erupted into her unique laughter.