The boy stared at Farah, confused. His eyes narrowed slightly, unfocused for a moment, until he finally realized just how close she was to him—close enough that he could feel the faint warmth of her breath, close enough that the gold of her eyes dominated his entire field of view.
He'd quickly move back and pull his hands away from her before coughing into his fist.
"I see... What does that mean?"
The lynx grinned as she looked at the nameless boy, the expression slow and sharp, like a hunter who found her prey completely off guard and had every intention of savoring the moment.
It had been a long time since she'd come across someone she genuinely, desperately needed. Who would've thought picking up a random unconscious boy off the roadside would end up being her ticket—her long-awaited chance—to fix the greatest problem she'd been struggling with?
"It's an educated guess." She explained calmly, though the glint in her eyes betrayed how much she enjoyed being right. "The two times your Conviction activated—when you panicked about your name, and when I lied—were both tied to knowing the truth."
The boy nodded slowly, absorbing the words like they weighed far more than she let on.
"You also believed everything I said," she continued, her tail swaying lazily behind her, "even though you should be more disbelieving of my words. It was almost like you knew they were the truth."
Her logic was sound. Even the nameless boy agreed, especially with that soft, persistent voice whispering in the back of his mind—an echo that had been repeating ever since he woke up.
"You're right."
Blue eyes met gold. Neither looked away. Both stared intently at the other, thoughts racing, gears turning, each realizing—almost simultaneously—how they might make use of this new discovery.
Farah was already planning. She was thinking of how to put him to work, because someone like him would be perfect for journalism—perfect for digging up information with absolute certainty. And journalism was something the AC-B desperately needed.
The Association of Conviction-Bearers, or AC-B for short, was an organization formed by Hogaamin Farah herself, established to mediate Conviction-based conflicts and minimize the destruction caused by Conviction-Bearers across the world.
The problem was, the world was big. Too big. And despite her reputation and resources, Farah could barely keep up with the constant flow of people she needed to watch, track, study, and sometimes stop. To this day, she still cursed that cat for causing all of this—whatever "all of this" meant to her, it was clearly personal, and clearly something she never let go of.
With this nameless boy, however, she might finally have a solution. Researching, finding Conviction-Bearers, figuring out what they were doing, and where trouble was brewing, that's just what he could possibly accomplish with just what he could currently do.
The nameless boy, meanwhile, had completely different thoughts. Everything about this situation was strange—too strange. But there was one thing he didn't doubt: this woman wasn't lying.
He rubbed the back of his right hand as he thought.
What should he do now?
He didn't even know what he could do. He didn't know where he should go. He didn't know anything about himself, let alone the world.
Then, it clicked.
This girl in front of him—this strange, confident lynx woman—she had helped him without hesitation. She talked to him. She explained things. She understood things he didn't.
Maybe… just maybe… she could do something more.
Maybe she could give him a place to stay. Maybe even a job. She did seem rich, after all, and people like her always owned something—a company, an organization, a facility—somewhere he could belong.
The two smiled at the same time, an unplanned response that felt almost eerie in its synchronicity. As if pulled by the same invisible string, they raised their hands simultaneously and shook, never once breaking eye contact.
With both of them on the same wavelength, they opened their mouths at the exact same moment and spoke in the exact same moment.
"Let me work for you."
"Let me hire you."
And just like that, the two were already officially going to be working together—by chance, by instinct, and by a truth neither of them could ignore.