Chapter 88: The Answer
"Above... me?"
There it was, the answer he had been looking for. The answer that had been quietly nagging his brain. The answer he had been refusing ever since it came into question.
He had been trying to come up with all sorts of explanations as to why he couldn’t detect or sense Riley at all. Mr. Monday always prided himself on being a great mind mover. He had already admitted to himself that he wasn’t the strongest in terms of raw power; there are a lot of telekinetics better than him in that regard.
But a twelve-year-old who had just woken up to his abilities? What sort of sorcery was this?
No. He refused to believe it.
"You think a little child like you is above me?" Mr. Monday slowly stood up, a smirk creeping onto his face as he stared at Riley.
"Just because you managed to get the upper hand on me once doesn’t mean that you’re above me."
"I am not a little child, Mr. Monday. That definition would have been true six years ago, but that does not apply to me now." Riley shrugged, his arm once again picking up the sodium-ion battery he placed on the box beside him as he approached Mr. Monday.
"And yes, I am above you. If that is not obvious to you yet, then I fear that you might be far deeper than I on the spectrum. Because Mr. Monday, you were clearly outclassed in our earlier exchange."
"I told you that you just got the upper hand!" Mr. Monday waved his hand, throwing the box that was next to Riley toward him and pinning him to the wall, or so that was what he thought happened. In the end, the box only got squished, compressed to the point that it was almost flat, and stopped an inch short of slamming onto Riley.
"Of course, I would get the upper hand, Mr. Monday—as I told you, I am above you. It would not make sense for me to have the lower hand."
Riley sighed. He held the sodium-ion battery with the other hand, while spreading out his palm with the other and placing it on the now compressed and flat box. And without even any warning, the flat box suddenly shot toward Mr. Monday at blinding speed—it didn’t quite create a boom, but it almost did.