I walked through the door of my apartment and closed the door before turning on the light switch.

The light bulb flickered and died again.

Sighing, I fumbled in the darkness for a second before calling out her name.

"Rai-chan?"

In an instant, Rai-chan burst out of my chest with a blue glow. The small AI girl was clad in her usual orange sundress, and she looked up at me with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Yeeeees, Ikki?"

"Thanks. Just needed a light again."

She crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks. "You know I'm not a walking... floating flashlight, right?"

"Of course not," I replied. "You're also my co-pilot and my friend."

"Good!" she replied with a pouty face. "What would you ever do without me?"

"I don't even wanna think about that," I replied.

Then, she giggled, and she flew around me in circles. "Well, whatever! You have fun with the lady friend?"

"Oh zip it, short-circuit. I know you were listening the whole time."

"Sure, but I didn't butt into your little date."

It wasn't a date, but I knew denying it would only make her needling worse. Instead, I sighed and just side-eyed her.

"Anyway, she's a pretty interesting one, that Natasha. I was totally right that you two are birds of a feather," Rai-chan said with a wink, poking me in the shoulder and phasing through. "Oop! I can't poke people!"

"Shush you," I replied, smiling. I moved over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, frowning when I waved my hand inside. It was cool inside, but it was pretty evident that the power was out. I sighed again.

"What's up with this, anyway? The lights across the neighborhood have been on and off all night. Is there a brownout? Some sort of issue with the power grid?" I asked, looking up at Rai-chan. "And, do we have a backup generator or anything?"

Rai-chan floated next to me. "The power flow through Greenhaven has been sporadically going in and out since the Chaos Event. Apparently, some kind of collateral damage from the battle knocked out a few substations and the repair crews are still getting around to repairing them. And guess what? They've been triaging and prioritizing other parts of the city because we live in the poorest neighborhood in the city."

"Of course," I said. "It's been out for three days now. Well... thankfully I got all the perishables to the rest area over at the Magitech Pavilion or else they'd be spoiled."

Rai-chan sighed.

"Why even stay here, anyway? You've only been here for a few weeks and technically you're getting both the apartment and suite for free. Why don't you move over to the Pavilion and live there for a while? It'd save you a lot of trouble and it'd eliminate the commute to school."

"Well, to be honest..." I paused for a second and thought about it. I knew I wanted to stay here. I wanted to be a part of this community.

But, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of living on campus.

It was closer to school and the people I'd be seeing every day. Plus, I had access to all the amenities, including the dining hall and gym.

Not to mention the commute wasn't that short, and the Pavilion was right on campus. That was a heck of a long time to commute for no good reason, especially if the trains were delayed or shut down like this morning.

But the cost of living... the lunch room was closed during the evenings and weekends. So I'd need to either buy food or make it, and that was an expense I couldn't afford.

"Look," Rai-chan said, as if she were reading my mind. "You've been here a couple of weeks now. You've met the people. You know what's up around here, and what's wrong with this place. Now, I'm not saying to just leave and never come back. You can come back when this place isn't rotting from the inside out. But, it makes no sense to live in an apartment where you're not going to get any of the utilities that you need."

I nodded slowly.

"You're... right."

"I usually am," Rai-chan replied, smiling.

"You know... there's something that feels off about all of this."

"How so?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know, you can just move to the Pavilion. There's no shame in that."

"It's not that. This whole thing feels like it's part of a larger problem. I think there might be more to it than meets the eye. I've seen the work crews in this area. The trains and rooftops, for instance. I saw them fixing that today. The power stations, though... you'd think they'd be more important than that. Why did they decide to prioritize that over everything else? Why did they decide to leave Greenhaven in the dark for so long? It just seems strange, and I'm not sure if I trust the situation. I'm starting to think something else is going on. Maybe someone's trying to hide something?"

Rai-chan stared at me for a few moments. She looked annoyed.

"Maybe you've just been watching too much Detective Conan," she finally said.

I sighed. "I'm just being paranoid. You know I have good reasons for it."

"True," she replied. "And, I know I'm a pretty blunt, logical sort of gal, Ikki. But sometimes, I don't say anything because I don't know the right words to use, and I think it'll cause more trouble for me to try and figure that out."

I frowned. She was hiding something from me.

Rai-chan frowned back at me, staring at me long and hard, before she sighed and nodded to herself. She then flew up and poked my forehead, phasing through again and making a face.

"Ugh."

"One day it'll work again, Rai-chan."

She huffed, before looking at me.

"Well. It's annoying," she muttered, rubbing her finger on the hem of her sundress. All these little mannerisms were 'unnecessary' - but it just made her seem all that more human. "Anyway... Ikki. I have a proposal for you."

"Oh?"

She nodded and crossed her legs in midair, before clearing her throat. Her eyes were glowing with a faint orange glow.

"I can tell you're planning on being the hero here, and you want to keep an eye on Emily. Probably figure out what's going on with the residents here," she said.

I sighed and nodded, before shaking my head. I didn't like where this was going.

"I knew it. I was built for you, and I know you better than you know yourself."

"What's your proposal then?"

"Safety comes first," Rai-chan said, and she gave me a look that was very serious and stern, like the look of a parent to their child. "You know it. I know it. Natasha sensed it the second she got out of the train station. There's something wrong in the air here, and I don't mean the Aberrations. And I know you've been dying to poke your head into it. Your curiosity gets you into trouble and you know it."

"Yeah," I said, frowning and sitting on my bed. "It feels like... like the tension of the ghettos back home, right before a gang war. You could tell when one was gonna go off, and this is the same."

She nodded. "You know, I've been scanning everything, and I think I've found a pattern in the energy that's been bothering you two."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's everywhere, in every building. The trains, the people. But it's concentrated around here in Greenhaven, and especially in this apartment. It's not dangerous, it doesn't seem to be affecting you or anything."

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I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

"Are you trying to say this apartment is haunted? That's why I should leave?"

"Not exactly," Rai-chan replied. "But it's a lot of the reason why I think you should leave this apartment behind, at least temporarily."

"Care to explain?" I asked.

Rai-chan paused, and the orange glow faded from her eyes as she thought for a second.

"I've scanned every source of electricity that's gone into or come out of the building and I've traced the source to a single substation. It was built to service a lot of high-energy demand buildings in the area, and it seems to be running on overdrive to try to keep up. It's a big power grid. And there's a ton of other things hooked up to that one station."

"So?"

"I can't really explain the feeling that I have. But, if something goes wrong... well, if anything goes really wrong with that station, a lot more than this building goes dark. It just so happens that something kicked up its emergency demand to the max. I'm worried."

"Worried?"

She sighed.

"Something isn't right with it," Rai-chan said, and her orange glow flared to life in her eyes again. "I wouldn't have discovered it if I weren't monitoring the outages in our apartment, but this morning when you went to get tea with Natasha, the grid had a spike of over three hundred percent demand. That means whatever was using the energy was suddenly using over several times what they were supposed to, and it was all from the same substation that this block draws from. I can't put a finger on it, but it's something big. What could be using that much power in a neighborhood mostly inhabited by immigrants from Earth? And why is there an emergency demand coming from that substation?"

I frowned.

"But... you can't tell me exactly what it is that you think is going on? I'm not asking for much, I'm not asking for the truth, just tell me what you're guessing."

She shrugged, and she shook her head. "It's too vague. But, it's something that would be a massive risk if it went wrong."

"Is this a 'gut feeling' of some sort?"

"Something like that. My intuition is based on my programming and all the complex magic systems that go into creating a simulacrum of a human mind, so it's a lot more complex than your average person's intuition. But, in a way... it's similar. Something feels off about that substation, and the amount of power it's using is beyond abnormal. It's... an order of magnitude greater than what it should be using. I've been watching the system and the data flows I have access to and everything is just a little too close for comfort. Something is going on and I'm worried it could be something very bad."

"And you can't figure out what it is?"

"I can't. But it's not like I have the processing power to monitor everything that goes on in the world, and the information is limited by my physical proximity and access to the internet. And to be frank, even though our synchronization level has skyrocketed, what little mana you've unlocked is pretty pitiful by Terran standards, Ikki," she replied.

I looked at her.

"You're holding something back."

She nodded. "There's something that's bothering me. A bunch of people are talking about this on the internet, and the Terran News Networks haven't really covered it much. The Chaos Event has kind of overshadowed it as well. But supposedly the bank robbery was blanketed by a massive mana-infused storm. It's what created the weird fog that day, and I'm seeing a pattern emerge between that and the massive surge of electricity going into the power grid here in Greenhaven."

"What do you mean?"

"I think... and I can't be certain," Rai-chan said, pausing as she gathered her thoughts. "But... remember when I said it was a perfectly normal mist when I was just waking up? When my personality matrix hadn't fully formed?"

"Yeah," I said, remembering when I was on the way to the exchange to convert my family's savings to Terran credits. Right before I'd met Midori and Talia. Before we'd been subsequently kidnapped and taken hostage by the robbers.

The fog had seriously creeped me out that night, but Rai-chan had told me it was perfectly ordinary.

"I snooped in on the report filed by Dior before she treated you to dinner. I didn't want to worry you, but she highlighted that Celestial Sonata diffused the mana that permeated the fog that'd covered the entire city. But, there was no indication the mist over Greenhaven had any magical energy to it at all."

I furrowed my brows, crossing my arms as I leaned against the kitchen counter.

"I don't follow."

"Look, I've run through all the information publicly available to me, and there is absolutely nothing in the area that could have caused the storm to be infused with mana like that. But, if the weird mana signature wasn't present in Greenhaven... why wasn't there anything special about that part of the fog? Why didn't it have any magical energy to it??"

I frowned, but nodded. "I'll bite," I said, "Why would that happen? It should be the same mana infused fog, shouldn't it? If the storm wasn't made in the area and just came over the entire city, why didn't it hit here too? There's a river between the rest of the city and this part of the city, but I can't imagine that's what's keeping the magical fog from getting here. I don't see why that would even matter."

She shook her head, and the orange glow in her eyes dimmed. "I have no idea, and I hate not knowing," she said. "That's the thing about this whole situation, I can't figure it out, and I have no way of knowing for sure what's going on. All I can tell is that the grid's being used way more than it should be and it's sketchy as hell."

"So what do we do?"

"We leave," Rai-chan said flatly, her eyes narrowed. "For the time being at least, we leave this apartment. We have no reason to stay, and I have no way of knowing whether something is actually going to happen. But I don't like that this is going on so close to you, and the power grid here has been flickering and shutting off every few hours. I can't guarantee something isn't gonna happen and we have just enough information to say something spooky is going on here. We should get out."

I paused, thinking about Emily and her father Bishop, and then the mysterious woman with black hair. Something told me they were all connected, and all tied together, but what?

And why was the grid drawing so much power? It was clearly being used to run something in the area that required a ton of energy. But, what could possibly be drawing so much power?

"And if the city is triaging repairs and prioritizing wealthier neighborhoods... do you think it would be safe to presume this is happening without the knowledge of key decision makers?" I asked.

Rai-chan nodded. "Assumptions make asses out of us, but I wouldn't be surprised. The utility companies are all controlled by higher governing bodies than the local Terran government. The amount of energy here is just way too much. It wouldn't surprise me if someone with access to a lot of resources and money is taking advantage of the crisis to pull a fast one. The fact that it's a blind spot and they aren't getting caught probably means whoever's behind this knows they aren't supposed to be doing whatever they're doing."

I frowned, and I thought for a second about my family back on Earth.

My father had always told me to keep my nose out of other people's business, and to keep to myself. That if I did that, then nothing bad could happen. He'd said the world was a big place, and I should focus on the things I could control.

Elio had always taught me the exact opposite. That the best way to live life is to always look for opportunities to do good. That a good man always helps others, and that it was important to look for ways to improve the world and do my part.

My dad was all about the idea that you shouldn't poke the hornet's nest. That the worst possible thing you can do is poke it and get stung. At the same time, he'd stressed that I should find my principles and stick to them, no matter what.

And now, as I sat on my bed and looked at Rai-chan, I knew what I would do. I thought about the rail-thin little girl, accepting Natasha's chocolates like a stray cat that was finally being given food. I thought about how happy and relieved she'd been.

And I thought about how, if she was anything like my family back on Earth, then her life had been hard. If her life had been anything like my childhood. Like that of Izumi's...

I couldn't ignore this, and I couldn't just leave without looking back. Not if something was going to happen here, something bad.

And, if Rai-chan was right, and there was something strange going on here...

Well, it was worth checking out. It was worth taking a risk for, even if it ended up being a waste of time or a dead end.

Her abilities would allow me to investigate the power grid without drawing suspicion, and if there really was something heinous happening here in the making then she'd have access to all the evidence she'd need.

I looked at her and sighed.

"Okay," I said, and she gave me a knowing smile. "We'll look into it. I don't know how, but..."

She nodded and crossed her arms.

"Remember. Safety first," she replied. "Whatever happens, your life matters more than the answers we're looking for."

"Relax," I replied, chuckling and putting up my hands. "We're just gonna take a look around. Nothing crazy."

She stared at me and raised an eyebrow, the orange glow of her eyes flaring up.

"Nothing crazy?" She asked.

I sighed. "Alright, alright. Safety first."

I walked over to my bedroom and plopped down on my bed. Rai-chan was still in the air, but her glow had dimmed.

She gave me a small smile as I pulled out my phone. "Gonna text the lovely lady then?" She asked.

I smiled and chuckled, shaking my head as I pulled out the phone.

"Sheesh, will you knock that off? We've known each other for like all of a week and change."

"I'm just teasing. She's cute and you know it," she said.

I sighed and pulled up Natasha's number. It wasn't that late, just a bit past nine. Not too late, and she should still be awake.

I sent her a quick text.

>Hey, thanks again for today, it was fun. I'd be up for doing it again.

It didn't take long before my phone buzzed, and a text popped up.

>>Samesies!

I smiled, and I could hear Rai-chan giggling from beside me. I rolled my eyes and typed back.

>See you on Monday then?

She replied quickly.

>>I'll send you my schedule once I'm back home. Gonna be out for some errands tonight and need to make some arrangements.

>Take your time!

She sent a smiling emoji.

I set the phone down and turned back to Rai-chan, and she was still smiling at me.

"She's a good one. You should definitely hang out with her again," she said.

"Shush you," I replied.

"Anyway," I said. "We're going to look into the substation, aren't we? Let's get on that before the sun rises."

Rai-chan blinked.

"You're serious?" she asked.

"Of course. You're not wrong, it's sketchy. But for all we know the reason they're sucking up all the electricity is because they've got some sort of mana-infusion plant somewhere or a vital cornerstone for a negentropy generator."

"That is true..." Rai-chan replied.

"And I'd rather be sure than regret it," I said. "Let's get to it. If we just walk away and this neighborhood goes up in flames or something, I'd never be able to forgive myself. And besides, it'll be a good way to spend my evening, since we're not gonna have any electricity to entertain us until the power grid gets fixed. And, it's not like we're in a hurry or anything, so why not?"

Rai-chan sighed. "Fine. Let's go. Remember, you promised me. Safety first, and no crazy shenanigans. Just take a peek on main street, see what we can figure out without drawing attention to you, and leave."

"Gotcha," I replied, smiling. "No crazy shenanigans. Promise."

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