"Is this what Rum was looking for?"
Taking the black solid from Tangze, Tooru Amuro held it up to the light for inspection.
After all, this was a modern-themed amusement park whose selling point was its lighting design. Even after nightfall, the lighting remained ample, even in this corner where few visitors lingered.
The sphere felt very smooth, and its texture did resemble a pearl. Yet when light passed through it, it displayed a semi-transparent black quality that was not entirely translucent, like a polished crystal or some gelatinous substance whose outer shell had hardened.
"You took it off Curaçao?" Unable to make sense of what it was, Tooru Amuro could not help confirming again.
"More accurately, it fell out of her eye," Tangze corrected. "Before it shrank into such a tiny lump, it was a thin piece a little larger than a thumb, something like a colored contact lens. That was where Curaçao's black eye came from."
Tooru Amuro studied the little sphere for a while longer. After confirming once again that there were no seams, he fell into thought.
This was clearly not something that could return to its original state simply by being rehydrated. If it were that simple, Rum would not have felt comfortable sending them to retrieve it.
But if it was important enough to dispatch someone specifically to collect it, simply handing it back to Rum untouched felt somewhat unsatisfying...
"Have you considered giving it to your sister to examine?" Thinking of where it had come from, Tooru Amuro asked Tangze, half teasing and half serious. "Other than her, no one might be able to figure it out."
"Mm, that was the plan." Tangze admitted it readily. "I've already taken a sample."
Calling it a sample was putting it mildly. What Tangze had handed