"Sayaka brought us together a couple of days later to discuss what happened. I don't recall your having much presence there.

It's true we haven't done much since then, as a "team". But I see no reason to dwell on that; rather, I think we should move forward."

He crossed his arms, meeting her implacable gaze with his own.

"You being older has nothing to do with this. We're in entirely new territory. So you being, what, a year older? That doesn't lend any weight to this. Neither does "class representative". Martial arts training...that's great for up-close combat skills. But did it cover anything like this in those classes of yours?"

Without so much as a twitch of an eyebrow, two of the chairs next to the pool rose up into the air, spent about 20 seconds whirling around each other, before settling back into their original positions.

"Not all of our powers are the same. So our leader would need to be able to think outside the box.

I'm not saying we should all be field leaders. I do think that, outside of actual fights, all our opinions should be given equal merit. This isn't a government, or the military. This is a group of friends working together ot help and defend each other.

And before you say that I want to take control, I'll give you a counter-proposal for leader."

He suddenly points to his rather quieter friend over to one side.

"Nakahiro. He's in kendo. He likes mental strategy games like Go. I know him, and he's been interacting with everyone except you for a while now. His powers are varied enough he's already going to have to think outside the box; that gives him a leg up on the rest of us. And while I'm more talkative, I trust his judgment.

To be honest, Michiko, I don't know you. That means I don't feel I can just trust you to lead us. Maybe one day I can, but I'm not just going to jump right into it from the start. Especially not after that annoyingly false note. Perhaps we can find a system to figure out who really is best suited to lead us. If nothing else, we need to make sure our group doesn't close ranks too tightly, in case there are others who end up needing our help. Shoot, maybe one of them will turn out to be an even better leader."