still crossposted from SB.
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Espers. Psychics. Exorcists and Spirit Mediums. They had been known by many names, but they historically referred to those who interact the waywards spirits of the dead, and those who wield powers far beyond the understanding of men. They were people who could interact with the paranormal, and stand within the borders of the natural and the supernatural.
In the recent century, advances in the various fields of science had led to the creation of what would be known as 'espers' in the scientific world. Espers, or those who wield the power to warp the world to their own will, and produce effects that were otherwise impossible according to common sense, was the groundbreaking discovery that shook the very foundations of science itself.
This led to the creation of artificial espers, espers who were created from the application of drugs and various other methods to release the latent power hidden within the recesses of their DNA, and study them even further.
Espers. They were the discovery that had changed the world. They were the discovery that would lead the world to a brighter future.
And to achieve that brighter future, they are willing to do everything it took to reach the future that they envisioned.
Everything...
§
Kageyama Shigeo, or just 'Mob' according to those who knew him, was currently walking on his way to school on this bright and sunny day. He had woken up early today, and had prepared all his things just for this moment.
Even though it had been quite some time since he and his brother moved to District 7, Mob still found the various sights around the city to be quite interesting. From the bin-shaped robots that roamed around the sidewalks, to the giant airships that fly around the sky, even those giant wind-turbines that were built all around the city, everything here really was strange, and high-tech.
Seeing it really is believing, huh? Academy City really is advanced, especially when compared to their old place...
Thinking about it, Academy City was also richer compared to Seasoning City, having all these high-tech robots roaming around the streets and all that. Weren't they always featured in those science tech magazines that our teacher used to give us during science class while writing a research or something? He couldn't really remember, as he hadn't been interested in any of those things back then.
He wondered just how much money would one of these robots costs. Perhaps enough to buy a hundred notebooks? Maybe a couple of those fancy computers? A car, maybe? Or a house? He did not know, except that he most likely couldn't afford them even then. Probably. He wasn't really sure, he didn't really know much about robots anyway, except that they were expensive. Though, Ritsu did say that they were basically like janitors, cleaning up the streets and all that. Perhaps that's why they look like trash cans?
When one of those robots moved towards him, he made sure to avoid it, partially because it would be rude to block their path, and mostly because he was afraid that he might break something if he did touch it. It was a bit irritating when it tries to block his way, though, but he still didn't really want to touch them out of fear of being reprimanded by their owners, or by the people around him.
Still, it was still quite amusing to look at them moving about and travelling across the street. It was just like watching ants moving across the ground towards their anthill, or like watching birds flying on the sky.
Suddenly, he heard his phone ringing within his pocket. Was it his Master calling him? He was pretty sure that Master wouldn't call him, especially at these hours. Master did have Serizawa-san and Kurata-san working in his office, after all. And even then, he had Dimple with him, so Master wouldn't be short of hands. And Ritsu was busy with something. What that something was, he didn't really know, but he trusted his brother enough that he decided not to pry much into it.
Mob then took out the phone from his pocket just to know who was calling him.
No, it wasn't a call or a text. It was actually just a mistimed alarm he had set the night before.
He sighed, he still wasn't used to setting the alarm on his phone, or doing anything else with it, for that matter. He had only ever used for calls or text, and even then, he didn't really know much about it except the basics. At least Ritsu knew how to operate it, maybe he should ask him about that later? Ritsu is pretty reliable when it comes to things like these, after all.
After checking for messages or missed-calls, and after snoozing the alarm, he returned back to the home-screen and saw the clock on it.
Oh no.
It was almost eight in the morning, according to the time in his phone. Mob quickened up his pace and hurried.
It wouldn't do if he were to be late on his first day of classes.
§
Mob had arrived on the school. Just in time apparently, at least according to the giant clock that was at the center of the school. Instictively, he checked his clothes and his bag, making sure that he didn't forget anything and that his clothes were neat.
Ah, the letter! He quickly rummaged through his pockets, and took it out to read it again, just to make sure. He still had to go to the Principal's office and introduce himself, along with many other things. He still did not know his way around the school, so it will probably take him a while.
He noticed a girl standing infront of the school, she wore some sort of headband that was adorned with various beautiful plants and flowers. Approaching her was another girl, a bit taller than the one with flowers. Aside from that, she appeared quite like the average girl.
Hmm, even though he was in Academy City, his new school reminded him a lot of his old school back on Seasoning City.
"Ui~ ha~ ru~!"
With one swift motion, the taller girl lifted the other girl's skirt, seemingly with glee.
It was unexpected. It was so unexpected that he found himself looking away, face flushed red in embarrassment. Was this normal? Do they really do this a lot here? Academy City really is strange...
"Ah, it's the usual striped-blue panties today, huh?"
"S-Saten-san!"
His face flushed deeper red, and he staggered in his path. He had subconsciously turned his head downwards, and then away from the sight. He really did not want to have such image stuck in his head right now, even if he never actually saw it. He smacked his face and shook his head a couple of times, and quickly remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Shaking his head a couple times more, he then walked towards the entrance of the school.
He could probably ask the other students here for direction. Either way, he will most likely be late for his classes.
§
Uiharu Kazari sighed as she looked outside the window. While the lesson right now wasn't really that mind-numbingly boring, she had other things on her mind right now.
Tap tap tap.
Uiharu felt a quick tapping on her shoulder, and quickly turned towards the person sitting right behind her. It was Saten Ruiko, one of her closest friends in the school, and the girl who kept on lifting her skirt to sneak on her panties, for whatever reason.
"Hey, hey, Uiharu." Saten whispered to her. "Have you heard about that new transfer student who moved here?"
"Transfer student?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"Yeah, him." her friend said. "Apparently, he moved here from Seasoning City after that terrorist attack there five months ago."
Five months ago, huh? She remembered a lot of things about it, considering her job. From what she heard, there was some sort of esper terrorist group named CLAW that attacked Seasoning City, and had somehow managed to kidnap the Prime Minister of Japan, along with hacking most of the television and communication systems to declare that they will take over Japan.
CLAW had also managed to somehow penetrate the high-security systems of Academy City, and various streaming services throughout the nation just to declare their insane plan. While the interruption had been short, she remembered that it caused a lot of chaos, especially for the various research facilities who feared a major security breach.
It had been hard work, but Anti-Skill and Judgement managed to keep the public from panicking. She did not know much about what happened to CLAW that day, but apparently, their leader, Touchiro Suzuki, had been defeated and captured, kept in custody within Academy City. Not much is known about him, except that he was estimated to be a Level 5 Gemstone.
Given all the events that happened on that city, it wasn't hard to feel sorry for that transfer student.
"Apparently, he was supposed to repeat his second year here, because of the differences of the curriculum or something." Saten speculated, "And, according to my in-depth research on various reliable sources all over the internet, I hear that he's an esper."
"An esper?" she asked, surprised. It was rare to have espers from outside the city, but it wasn't that surprising either. Even one of the seven Level 5s of their city also came from outside the city. "Wait, by 'in-depth research on various reliable sources' you mean 'browsing on those forums' right?"
"Don't mind the details!" her friend admonished her, shaking her head in mock anger. "Also, from what I found, I hear that he was also at least a Level 4, possibly a Level 5."
"A Level 5?"
"Yeah! There was even a news report and recorded evidence about a school flying into the sky, along with various unexplained destruction of buildings just the past month! Isn't that cool?! Also, there was even some speculation that he crushed that terrorist group alone, can you believe that?"
"Hang on." she stopped her "There was a news report about a school flying into the sky? Recorded video evidenceabout a school simply flying towards the clouds?"
"You should see it later!" Saten looked at her, her eyes gleaming brightly.
"A-alright, alright! I'll watch it later with you!"
After talking more about various other stuff to pass the time, her attention immediately faded towards the blackboard, which had been filled with various writings and discussion.
Ah! I forgot to take some notes!
She immediately pulled out her notebook and began writing as fast as she could, before the teacher would erase the writings on the board.
She didn't notice the time passing on, but the day immediately faded away, and hadn't noticed that it was already dismissal.
On her way to the school entrance, she saw two young boys talking infront of the gate. One of them wore a Nagatenjouki uniform, while the other had a strange-looking bowl cut. From how they both acted, she assumed that the Nagatenjouki boy was the elder brother, even though they looked quite similar in age. Maybe he was fetching his younger brother from school? What a responsible guy...
"Ui~"
Oh no.
"Ha~"
Please, no!
"Ru~!"
Nooo!
She felt a sudden rush of air within the spaces between her legs, and heard the sound of her skirt being lifted into the air. She then felt her face grow warmer, and wanted nothing but to disappear right now. She tried in vain to bring down her skirt to keep her dignity intact, but it had been too late. The damage had been done, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Looking around, she could see the faces of her various schoolmates, many of them had turned their faces away from her, their cheeks flushed red with blood. Many of them, mostly guys, looked at her with silly smiles stuck on their silly faces, either laughing or giggling.
She caught sight of the two boys standing near the gate. One of them simply looked away, while the other covered his eyes, and they quickly left the school's premises.
How embarrassing, how embarrassing! For a student from another school to see her like this...
"Sa-sa-sa-sa-Saten-san!" she shouted, trying to intimidating the perpetrator with her shaky voice.
"Ah, nice to meet you Uiharu!" Saten said, unfazed from Uiharu's meager intimidation attempt. "Say, you wanted to see that video right?! Let's go!"
"D-d-don't change the subject!" Uiharu replied angrily, but the taller girl ignored her, and Saten quickly ran off.
"Saten-san, w-wait!"
§
Kageyama Ritsu was beginning to have doubts about Nii-san's school, judging from that obscenity they had spotted earlier.
Nii-san shouldn't have transferred to Sakugawa, he thought. This school was too far from Nagatenjouki, and there were many other schools around that were far better compared to Sakugawa.
But since it was Nii-san's choice, then there was nothing else he could do about it. The application letter they had received on that day had listed many possible schools they could attend, but Hanazawa had advised Nii-san to choose Sakugawa for some reason. He didn't really know what both of them had talked about, except that Nii-san told him that they had a talk.
It was a bit suspicious, but Mom had wanted them to accept that invitation after what happened, while Dad wanted them to reject it. They had a fight that night, but soon enough Dad relented, and had allowed them to go and study here.
He did warn them to be careful here, and to be extra cautious of the people living there. It was extremely odd, especially for Dad. It wasn't really like him to act like that, so it was extremely strange.
Thinking about your older brother again, aren't you? What a bro-con.
He could hear a voice inside his head, and it wasn't his own. He quickly turned his head around, and saw a boy his age standing right next to a telephone booth.
Takenaka! Stop fooling inside my head again!
"Sorry, sorry." the boy snickered as he gazed back to him. "I couldn't help it."
Takenaka Momozou. He had been a member of the Telepathy Club back in their school, before he quit, causing it's disbandment.
Well, it's not as if they had been composed of Telepaths in the first place. As far as he knew, the Telepathy Club had been a useless club of sorts, with Takenaka being the only telepath in that club. Back then, both Nii-san and Takenaka went with the rest of the Telepathy Club in Mud Boat Mountain. From what Nii-san told him, they managed to summon aliens using Takenaka's telepathy, but he really doubted that. At most, they could have probably summoned some spirit or such that pretended to be aliens, but Nii-san would know if they were spirits...
So what could those things be, then?
Why are you asking me? As if I really know what they are, except that they came in a UFO or some shit. They could be those science cults, for all I know.
"Takenaka!" Ritsu near-shouted. "I told you, stop doing that!"
"Do what, brother-kun?" Takenaka asked in a sarcastically. "I'm doing nothing. Also, stop shouting. People would look at you weirdly like that."
"Damn you..."
"Alright, alright. I'll stop." the telepath replied. "Anyway, after the System Scan I'll go with you. After all, you know where that Judgement building is, right?"
Right, Takenaka also signed up with Judgement, so he'll be headed to the same training building as me.
"I suppose we have to introduce ourselves to the 177th branch tomorrow," he said. "Anyway, I have to go back to my apartment, and after that I'll have to visit Nii-san's apartment to check up on him."
"Heh. At that rate, people will end up getting confused about who's the elder brother and such." Takenaka sighed. "But I suppose that's normal, given what you're brother is capable of doing."
There was no way they would forget, especially after what had happened during CLAW's attack on their city. Even know he still didn't understand why they did so, was it because they are capable of doing so? Did they even have a plan? True, Nii-san might be strong enough to crush them all, but even so, if they actually had a plan to conquer Japan, they should have thought of something other than attacking our city, and they wouldn't be defeated that easily either.
He still did not understand it... From what Shou told him, it had something to do with Academy City. But what was it? What was it that made them act that way? He did not know.
Well, that's the reason I signed up with Judgement, after all. Maybe that would give me some insight as to what CLAW was thinking at that time, or at least that's what I thought back then. Maybe when I get to be a full-time member, I would get a glimpse of that reason...
"So, I guess I'll take my leave, then." Takenaka said. "See you at school tomorrow. We still have that pain-in-the-ass System Scan to attend to."
And with that, Takenaka plugged back his earphones, and went on his own way as he disappeared into the crowd.
"Yeah, I guess so."
Ritsu then continued his walk. Nii-san would be waiting for him, after all. Best not to keep him waiting.