Aaah… I see you've acquired yet another one of my vessels.
…What's the matter? You look surprised.
Oh? Don't tell me—could it be you weren't expecting Toui herself to make an appearance in this tale?
Well, I am a contracted Ego now. It only makes sense that I'd show up eventually.
That's right, Meteor Kingdom, Toui has descended upon you.
And look! I'm even in a new format apparently.
clears throat
But I digress.
Come to me, mortal. Lean in close and lend Toui your ear.
smirks
You wouldn't be interested in learning the details of my contract with Iris St. Claire, would you?
Usually Egos and Ego Users would keep these things private—security reasons, you understand.
But in this case…
I suppose it's safe to let you in on a few secrets.
You see, as the all-seeing Ego, Toui possesses the ability to see the past, present, and future—as well as peer into other dimensions. The dimensions bit is still new, though, so I'm still working on it.
However, while outside of Enho, Toui is limited to just the past and present. That's just a universal rule—any Ego who steps back into reality has to deal with its limitations.
Still, even then, I choose to stick to the past and present.
Knowing what's going to happen in a story really takes the excitement away, wouldn't ya say?
Like I said, there are always trade-offs. But that's just part of the deal when you're not in Enho.
In Enho, Egos are free to use the full extent of their power—and even develop new abilities. If I wanted to, I could see as far into the future as I pleased. No restrictions.
But once we're contracted, everything gets a hard reset.
We still have our powers, but our vessel holders must rediscover and train them from the ground up. We act as guides—nothing more, nothing less. The more we teach them, the safer both our lives will be.
Of course, we do get to keep a little something-something for ourselves… depending on your rank in Enho.
Now, onto the details of my contract with Ms. St. Claire.
I'll keep it brief—just the key points. No fluff.
Being the watchful Ego that I am, I took this contract for one reason—and one reason only.
When I found out Ms. St. Claire was the one investigating the Bordeauxs, I simply had to forge a contract with her!
Sure, she sought me out first, but her goals aligned perfectly with my desire to see Noir's future play out from a different point of view.
So, it was an easy decision. Well, for me anyway.
Being the upper-level Ego that I am, my power didn't come without a condition.
You see, Iris has great potential—enough to contract someone like me, obviously.
But tell me… what happens when you obtain something simply because you can?
The difference between Iris—someone barely capable of contracting a third-tier Ego, but still capable—and, say, some random who's strong enough to contract a powerful second-tier Ego and almost a third-tier, is this:
Iris scrapes by.
They fall just short.
A narrow gap, sure.
But in this world, narrow is the difference between a spark… and a flame.
There's a hairline difference between the two when it comes to her—a difference so subtle it's almost invisible…
…and yet, to some, it's massive.
So massive, in fact, they speak of her in whispers—and not always kindly.
While Iris can use my abilities, she'll never be able to wield them at their full extent.
Power—true power—should always be absolute when in use.
Anything less invites failure.
And it's for that reason that, when Ms. St. Claire contracted me,
another condition was imposed on her.
She had to give me her eyes.
Hey, I know it sounds creepy—but hear me out.
Like I said earlier, when you're doing something, your power ought to be absolute.
And that just wasn't the case for Ms. St. Claire.
So… she had to give a little extra.
To access the power I could offer, there had to be more of me—and a little less of her—in certain terms.
Toui became Ms. St. Claire's eyes.
As you can see, Iris has no vessel to wear.
Why?
Because when a contract is made for a lifetime, the Ego lives within the user.
In her case, I reside inside her.
The only way Toui can be harmed now…
is if someone destroys the matter that makes up her eyes.
Now, you may be wondering—
If you only recently contracted, Toui, then how are you already capable of speaking to us in this dimension?
Simple.
Unlike most Egos, I'm not bound by the usual barriers.
My all-seeing nature grants me a unique connection to the dimensions.
allowing me to appear, observe, and communicate in ways other Egos cannot.
In most cases I actually can't communicate, but in special cases like this, when I appear as just words in a book, my thoughts are translated directly onto the pages.
However—
I will admit, it's much harder for me to persist in this dimension than it was the last time.
I'm afraid that until Ms. St. Claire grows stronger,
my visits here will be far less frequent… and much shorter.
So, this isn't goodbye.
It's à démin.
That means until next time, in the Ego's tongue.