The Cat's Tail-Chapter 34: Instances

At the bike rental shop, the shop owner was on his way to put the bike Callisto rented to where it was before when something caught his curious eyes.

"What is this?"

His gaze sharpened as he examined both ends of the bycicle's handlebar. Both ends had a dent. But not just any other dent.

"It wasn't like this before."

Both ends looked as if someone held the bar with a rather powerful grip, causing it to reform with the shape of their grasp.

The sight got the bike rental shop owner scratching his head with wonder.

Just who could do such a thing? What kind of grip strength do they have to leave the metal handlebar in such a state?

"Well, the girl used it and didn't say anything about it. So I guess it's fine as is."

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From the moment she started studying for the EPT up to the current day, Callisto was able to unearth a few things about herself.

"Calli, aren't you going to buy one yourself?"

"Ah, I will. I'm coming."

On top of being a quick learner, Callisto had a rather powerful memory retention skill. Not only did she remember everything she studied with Elesis and Hinata in a very detailed way, she could also recall the first few moments of her birth.

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"Uwaaah! Uwaaahh! Uwaaah!"

"Look, Adela," Raymond spoke as he held the newborn baby right where Adela could see from the bed, his voice a mix of relief and excitement. "She's a healthy girl, isn't she?Callisto's finally here."

An exhausted, yet affectionate smile formed on Adela's lips. "Hello, Callisto."

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Callisto couldn't exactly recall where it was or how everyone looked because her vision was nothing but a dark void. However, she vividly remembered hearing her parents' voices on top of the others who were also there when she was born.

Not long after realizing the incredible memory retention skill she had, Callisto also learned that she was capable of reading, deciphering and speaking many other languages.

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"Here it is," Patricia said after pulling out a korean novel out of her small bag. "I thought about going to Korea one day, so I figured, why don't I study korean? I gave up, but I looked at the translated version of this novel and ended up liking the story. It's about a really beautiful and arrogant girl who was on the verge of death because of an incurable illness. Song-Yi's mother, on a desperate search for a way to save her dying daughter, encountered a mysterious witch and begged her to save Song-Yi's life. The witch agreed to help save Song-Yi, but she warned the mother that tampering with life and death comes with a price. The mother, wanting nothing but..."

"For her daughter to live," Callisto uttered, cutting Patricia's words. "She disregarded the witch's warning and requested her to save her daughter. And so the witch did the mother's bidding. But in exchange of having a second chance in life, the beautiful and arrogant girl, Song-Yi, lost her beauty."

For a moment, Patricia seemed at a loss for words as the silver-haired lady uttered the rest of the korean novel's synopsis.

"Did you just read the story's synopsis?" Patricia asked in wonder, her gaze never leaving Callisto's that were glued on the back of the book. "You can read korean?"

Callisto tried to hide her nervousness creeping up her body with a forced smile. "No, I just remembered reading this story before. The translated version, I mean."

Patricia was easily convinced by Callisto's explanation. "I see. What did you think about the ending? It's good, right?"

Callisto nodded in response before uttering a lie. "It was a good read."

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After that exchange with her fellow worker in the convenience store, Callisto made sure to read the entire story of Lost Treasure, the korean novel Patricia lent to her in case Callisto found herself discussing it with her again.

She also read stories from other languages to make sure she didn't just happened to know how to read and speak korean and japanese out of thin air.

There was no doubt in Callisto's mind that these abilities came as a result of the Mutated DNA Fusion operation. However, those weren't the only thing she had discovered.

Out of all the things she had learned about herself, this was what truly boggled her mind the most. frёeωebɳovel.com

The golden glow in her eyes.

Though it wasn't permanent, this change happened on multiple instances.

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On the second day of Callisto's preparation for the Educational Placement Test, occupying a table at the convenience store's dining area, Callisto's focus was solely on a piece of paper filled with a number of questions Hinata himself made for her to answer.

"Plato have 10 apples, 10 oranges, and 5 mangoes," Hinata reiterated the question despite knowing Callisto probably couldn't hear him at the moment after seeing the absorbed expression on her face. "Plato gave Aristotle 7 apple 5 orange and 3 mango. How many fruits does Plato have left in total?"

"Remember the given instructions," Callisto mumbled to herself. "Read the question properly. Find out what's wrong with the given questions."

Right as she said that, right as she figured out what was wrong with the question...

Gleam!

"Oh!"

It happened for the first time. Though Hinata and Elesis did not notice it, Callisto certainly felt something was strange as the color of her sky-blue eyes turned gold.

"What the...?" She asked herself in thought as she started looking around her and outside the convenience store through the glass, leaving Hinata and Elesis confused.

"Calli, are you okay?"

"What's the matter, Callisto?"

The moment her gaze bore the shade of the sun, all four of her ears was bombarded with an endless flow of noises.

Voices of people.

"I want five kilos of the 56 peso rice."

"You got it."

"How much for a kilo of Tilapia?"

"Let me put a kilo on the scale."

The utterance of animals.

Ribbit! Ribbit!

Bark! Bark!

Chirp! Chirp!

Tweet! Tweet!

Engines revving from vehicles on the street as they go left and right.

Vroooom!

Vrooooooom!

The bell of the ice-cream man ringing and drawing the attention of young people.

"Ice cream, please!"

"One for me, too, please!"

Callisto couldn't help but ask herself in her mind; "What's going on?"

Right as confusion clogged her mind, the golden glow in her eyes faded.

Callisto felt someone's hand hold hers, drawing her back to her senses. That hand was Elesis'.

"What's wrong," asked the red head, concern etched on her features. "Are you sick?"

Callisto forced a smile in response. "No, I'm fine."