Then—right before our eyes—the phone flew through the air as if sliding across it and landed neatly in Toga's hand.
"Fuu… How was that, Kotoha-chan? I did it!"
"Y-Yeah… Well done. That was perfect."
At my praise, Toga broke into a bright, happy smile—on my face. The dissonance was intense, but her attitude was pure Toga, so I reached out and patted her head like always. …It was somehow easier to pat than usual.
"Now, how about my amplification?"
"Sure! Then… um, let's charge this…"
She focused on the phone in her hand. I peered at the screen from the side… and watched as the battery percentage visibly increased right in front of us.
No doubt about it—she could use amplification too.
"…Incredible," Anakin breathed.
"Yeah, really…"
"Wapuh!"
"'Whoa?!'"
While Anakin and I stood half-dazed by how impressive it was, Toga's body suddenly melted.
I know that sounds absurd, but there's no exaggeration or lie in the description. Her body abruptly lost its shape and dissolved into a gooey mass.
At the same time, it began to expand and quickly reformed into the fully naked Toga. Still riding that momentum, she threw herself into my arms.
"~~! You and your sudden hugs again!"
"Waaai~ I love Kotoha-chan's scent~"
"That's not what we're talking about right now!!"
She rubbed her bare body against me like a cat in heat.
I quickly pried her off and hurried to get her dressed again.
"I see… So when you use someone else's Quirk while transformed, it drains your stamina massively and drastically shortens the remaining transformation time."
From behind her while helping with the clothes, I asked, and the way she had melted earlier seemed to confirm it. The transformation had been forcibly ended.
"Yeah. But when it's the Force, that doesn't happen. I wonder why? It's so mysterious~"
Yeah… that's probably because the Force isn't a Quirk…
I decided to keep that thought to myself for now.
"So, Anakin. What do you think?"
"I'm not an expert on Quirks, but… I'm bothered by the way the transformation解除 looked like melting. Hey Toga, does it look like that when you activate the transformation too?"
"What did the big brother just say?"
"Does it look like that when you activate it too?"
"Yes, it does. Why?"
"She says yes."
"Hmm… Melting, huh… This might sound crazy, but could it be that her body is being reconstructed each time? If so, then during解除, the cells… specifically, a tiny portion of the midi-chlorians might not be fully dismantled and remain inside her body…"
Anakin stroked his chin, humming thoughtfully.
That was certainly a plausible theory. If that were the case, it would have required an enormous number of transformations to reach this point…
"Hey Toga. Do you transform often?"
"I do it every day I get to chuu chuu from Kotoha-chan!"
"So that means… since you two met, that's nearly five months… you've definitely transformed over a hundred times already. During Golden Week, it was almost every day, wasn't it?"
"By transforming repeatedly, and in such short intervals, her Quirk caused some kind of error, leaving behind a tiny residual amount of my midi-chlorians…"
"And on top of that, her Quirk has been growing stronger."
A surprisingly high-probability hypothesis had emerged…
Unlike the Force, my amplification Quirk hadn't manifested in Toga's original form. That made sense—the two powers were fundamentally different in nature.
No matter how many times I said it, the Force required midi-chlorians within the cells. It was completely separate from the "Quirk factors" that gave rise to Quirks.
"…If that's the case, then the more Toga transforms into me from now on, the closer her Force powers will get to mine…?"
"It's possible…"
"Really?!"
Toga, now fully dressed, leaned in eagerly.
"I don't know for sure, but if that hypothesis is correct, there's a high chance that's what will happen…"
"Then I can have the same Quirk as Kotoha-chan! Yay!"
"…Is that really something to be so happy about…?"
"Isn't it normal to want to become more like the person you love?"
"…Is it…?"
It was a feeling I didn't quite understand.
I glanced toward Anakin, wondering what he thought.
"Ah… well… yeah… I wouldn't say it's impossible…"
For some reason, his answer was unusually hesitant. Maybe it brought up some unpleasant memories.
Anyway, that could wait. Right now, it was about Toga.
If things continued like this, she would eventually become a full Force user. I couldn't just leave that unchecked.
Her natural alignment leaned dangerously close to the dark side. Teaching her carried risks, especially if she ever fully fell… but she would probably just copy my training and learn on her own anyway.
In that case, it would be better to teach her properly from the start and make sure she fully understood the taboos and dangers of the Force. After all, she was quite obedient with me.
"…That's what I'm thinking, Anakin. What's your take?"
"…There's only one thing I can say. Kotoha… make sure you take responsibility."
"Huh? Of course I will. That goes without saying."
I tilted my head at Anakin's obvious remark.
That's why I completely missed it.
Behind me, Toga had both hands pressed to her flushed cheeks, her face melting into an expression of pure ecstasy so intense it looked like she might ascend to heaven on the spot.