...99 seconds... 100 seconds! Wyyyyyy! All right, let’s start the game! The voice cracked like a starter pistol under a red dawn.

Ling spun on her heel, a crescent-mad grin cutting her face like a sickle moon, already picturing Volt ground into the floor like chalk dust.

But the utterly blank room, bare as winter fields, had swallowed everyone whole—vanished. Wait—no, one figure still stood like a lone tree in fog. Uhhh... it was Volt.

Everyone else hid like minnows under reeds, but her final target, Volt, just stood there like a deer in lantern light; that was a gift laid on a platter.

There’s a saying, right? Free points, class! The exam bell rang in her chest like temple wood.

She pushed off on one foot; wind sang in her ears like a bowstring, and one breath was all the distance between hawk and hare.

As expected, Volt drew a breath, and in the next heartbeat a hand clamped his arm, firm as iron tongs fresh from a forge.

Got you, Volt~ Her voice curled like incense smoke rising.

Volt snapped his arm with a flick like a carp, but Ling’s grip held like a vise in winter frost.

No, you didn’t catch me! His voice popped like a firecracker under eaves.

Hah? You’re a grown man; don’t you dare play dumb. Her snort was a spark in dry grass.

Volt shook his head and pointed at the floor, finger steady as a compass needle, telling Ling to look beneath his feet.

Look who’s talking under me. His words fell like pebbles into a still pond.

Ling glanced down and saw Ampere under Volt, sprawled like a flatfish.

While Ling blinked, Volt hurried on, words drumming like rain on tiles. See, I’m Volt and he under me is Ampere. That’s Volt over Ampere. You didn’t catch me—you caught... Ohm!

Ling didn’t freeze over a trifle; her mind flashed like a knife. Ohm, I caught you!

Volt’s smile bloomed like a foxglove, and Ampere beneath him kipped up like a salted fish flipping to life; they hugged tight, violet light pouring off them like storm auroras.

Now we aren’t Ohm! Together we’re strongest! Volt times Ampere—we’ve become Watt! Their boast rang like bronze bells.

Ling stared, baffled, at two purple-glowing geezers, that punchable smirk on Volt’s face bright as a neon sign; with Ampere beside him, it shone even cockier, and logic pinned her mouth shut like a clothespeg.

Then... Watt, I caught you? Her doubt fluttered like a moth to a candle.

Tch, as she feared, Volt only sniffed like a cat, but Ampere, arms locked with him, spoke first, words neat as stacked bricks. We’ve been hugging for several seconds now. We’re no longer Watt. Watt times seconds—Joule!

Ling went silent, tongue tied like a knot in wet rope. She wasn’t built for science—no, she wasn’t built for studying at all; if “anime studies” were a subject, she’d pass that one like spring rain.

Why wrestle a hedgehog. She turned away, the urge to avenge herself on Volt tossed aside like a dried leaf; the hate of studying weighed heavier than mountains.

Heaven must’ve pitied her. The one called Newton appeared the moment she turned, standing alone like a milestone five meters off—no one near him. Ling lunged and grabbed Newton’s hand, swift as a falcon stoop.

Got you, Newton! Her words flashed like steel.

No, you didn’t catch Newton. His voice was cool as river stone.

Aren’t you Newton? You want to cheat too? Her glare burned like midsummer noon.

Look at my feet. His finger tapped downward, steady as a metronome.

Ling looked. Under Newton lay a black square tile, one meter by one meter, plain as night ice. No trick like Volt’s, which only sharpened her frown like a blade.

This one-square-meter tile—me standing on it is Newton per square meter. So you didn’t catch Newton. You caught Pascal! His explanation slid into place like a lock clicking.

Enough was enough. Fire jumped in her chest like oil on a pan. She took flight and drove a kick into Newton’s face, a comet boot that launched him off the tile; he skidded across the floor for meters like a thrown stone on a frozen lake.

Speak! Are you still Pascal?! Her voice cracked like thunder over hills.

Newton pushed up on both hands, rising like a reed through water. Correct, I’m not Pascal anymore. You moved me several meters, so now I’m Joule! Hahahahaha! His laugh rattled like loose shutters in wind.

Mom! These people aren’t normal! The cry in Ling’s skull curled like smoke in a shut room.

She folded forward and toppled, a wilted reed in autumn wind; for the first time in her life, the thought hit like hail—I need to study.

Reality—

Severing Slash: One Thread! Alicia’s shout cut the air like a red kite’s cry.

A fire-red shockwave leapt from her downward stroke, a molten wave rolling from sky to earth, but her target wasn’t the ram-headed fiend—it was the black fireball in its maw.

Both were flame, yet they clashed like water and fire, snarling together for a few heartbeats before both winked out like twin lanterns in a gust.

Tch. Alicia clicked her tongue, a spark under rain, and glanced at the small one tucked in one arm; the child slept on her shoulder like a curled cat, a pained look clouding her face like a stormed mirror—likely a nightmare.