[RailITP] Academy City FFRP IC I

[Terry576]

"Yes Ishimaru-san, I never knew that you enjoyed gun games. I am indeed quite surprised by this development." If Moroe wasn't so sure that Hajime had no concept of sarcasm, she would have sworn he was being sarcastic. Anyone else would have an amused glint in their eyes, a grin that said something like 'you caught me'. Hajime had nothing of the sort, merely that same empty blank look as he followed the girl inside, grabbing his own gun.

He was not as good as Moroe at the game; if anything he was almost noticeably inferior. Hajime didn't use guns, he preferred to be in close, and the idea of shooting someone who was far away was anathema to the existence of Hajime.

"I am not fighting you, Ishimaru-san. I merely do not have a favorite. I find the idea of 'choosing one to be better then the rest'... confusing. Different in a way that I cannot describe to you, Ishimaru-san. There is no difference between one flavor to the next, or one game compared to another. All of them are, to me, the color 'grey'. Unassuming, not in the way, and completely without interest."

He suddenly fell silent, staring at the gun in his hand for a moment before returning to the game as he spoke, more then he'd said to Moroe in a single sitting in a while. "Imagine, Ishimaru-san, if I told you to 'pick a favorite shade of black'. You would tell me that 'every shade is the same', wouldn't you?"

[Anyr]

Moroe stayed silent for a long time after that. They were almost at the final boss by the time she spoke again.

"...Is that how you think of me, too? An arbitrary choice? Is 'master' just a label that got stuck on one of the many grey blobs around you? Say I picked out some random person on the street, and said 'They're your master now'. Would you care? Or is one master just as good as any other?"

She was barely looking at the screen any more. Her eyes were fixed intently on Hajime. The look she gave him was very ambiguous; And no wonder. Even Moroe herself didn't know what answer she wanted to hear.

[Morcleon]

Thank you, miss.
Shantelle says to the waitress, and chuckles.
It happens.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"You're welcome, nya~!"

"Mrr... it was so obvious too..." Shizuka smiles back sheepishly and takes a sip of her tea. "Mm... their food is always very good. Go ahead, try yours."

[AnimeKid]

"Itadakimasu!"

That was Kin's token nod to the concept of table manners. No sooner had the word had left her lips, when said lips were filled with the first of many sugary treats. She proceeded to devour the offered delights with a ravenousness that would put most hyenas to shame. When in the company of Crocell and other good friends, there was no need to stand on ceremony. At times like this, Kin took great pleasure in ignoring all the ladylike eating habits which had been drilled into her since childhood.

The only exception was the fruit tarts which Crocell had bought for her. They alone were spared from the sugary massacre. Only when the rest of the table was clear (save for crumbs) would Kin turn her appetite to them. Like each new thing she tried, the tarts would receive her full and undivided attention. In the meantime, though, there was reckless devouring to be done.

"So *gnarf*, how's Judgement treating you *sshlurp* these days? Saved any more *Chlump* innocent lives lately?"

Crocell just smiled at Kin before he dug in as well, eating the sweets with a joyous smile on his face. He always did have a major sweet tooth. He was a little self-conscious of his ravenous consumption of sweets when he first hung out with Kin, but he then realized that the girl was just as bad as he was if not worse. So her loosened up a little. Hearing Kin's question in between mouthful's of food Crocell chuckled and swallowed the delicious pastries he had stuffed his mouth full of.

"Gee Kin, you make it sound like I'm some kind of super hero. But naw, it's been relatively quiet lately. SO people haven't needed to be saved, which it just fine with me. As for Judgement, we got a new guy a couple of weeks ago. He's a level 3, kinda spineless kid from Onizuka. He's got talent though, and his hearts in the right place. Just needs some confidence ya know?"

Onizuka (Has Great Teachers)

Why, to get out of school and go exploiting the city of course!
Scarlett replies with cheerfulness.
Wanna explore with me?

Tobio looked a little shocked at how casually she just invited him to hang out with her, by himself. In possibly in places there would not likely be other people. Blushing furiously Tobio shook his head rapidly like a dog trying to shake out it's fur. Pulling himself together he answered the girl.

"W-Well I guess I could g-go. At the very least y-you need someone w-who can go for help if you get in t-trouble. A-Actually since I'm part of Judgement I-I could just radio in if something b-bad happens."

[Terry576]

Hajime responded automatically, his words still empty of any sort of emotion or feeling.

"No. Ishimaru-san is a spot of color in an otherwise grey world. If I did not wish to be around you, I could simply leave. It is my choice to not do so, isn't it? I can choose to ignore your commands. I can choose to lie, cheat, steal, and any of the things that criminals do. But I do not; I have no reason or interest in doing so."

He stared at the screen with blank features and stood in silence for a moment as the final boss fell to the ground, the splattering of blood that appeared on the screen spelling out the words - "You Win!"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"You're welcome, nya~!"

"Mrr... it was so obvious too..." Shizuka smiles back sheepishly and takes a sip of her tea. "Mm... their food is always very good. Go ahead, try yours."

Shantelle sips her coffee!
What it tastes like, is up to you.
Hey, you could've done worse at guessing.

- - - Updated - - -

Onizuka

Alrighty then, let's go!

With that, Scarlett departs to explore, Tobio likely being dragged along!

[Morcleon]

Shantelle sips her coffee!
What it tastes like, is up to you.
Hey, you could've done worse at guessing.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

The coffee is rich, teeming with a slight hazelnut and vanilla flavor, yet still containing a hint of bitterness. It's also very warm.

"Mm... I guess so." Shizuka grins. "So how do you like your drink?"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

The coffee is rich, teeming with a slight hazelnut and vanilla flavor, yet still containing a hint of bitterness. It's also very warm.

"Mm... I guess so." Shizuka grins. "So how do you like your drink?"

Shantelle sips the drink, quite liking it.
It's almost as if the waitress was psychic and knew how she liked her coffee brewed (which, knowing this place, she probably was)!
Perfect!
She replies sincerely

[Morcleon]

Shantelle sips the drink, quite liking it.
It's almost as if the waitress was psychic and knew how she liked her coffee brewed (which, knowing this place, she probably was)!
Perfect!
She replies sincerely

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Good. I thought you'd enjoy this place." Shizuka smiles happily. "So could you tell me about your ability? What exactly can you do with it?"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Good. I thought you'd enjoy this place." Shizuka smiles happily. "So could you tell me about your ability? What exactly can you do with it?"

Shantelle sets the cup down.
Well, I can manipulate glass like a telekinetic can manipulate almost any object. I am also able to change the color, reflectiveness, and opaqueness of glass.
It's not a very interesting ability
Shantelle replies.

[Morcleon]

Shantelle sets the cup down.
Well, I can manipulate glass like a telekinetic can manipulate almost any object. I am also able to change the color, reflectiveness, and opaqueness of glass.
It's not a very interesting ability
Shantelle replies.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

Shizuka nods slowly, staying silent for a few seconds. Then she looks up at Shantelle, smiling faintly. "I don't suppose you can modify the resonance frequency of glass? Like, by changing the density or composition of the glass?"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

Shizuka nods slowly, staying silent for a few seconds. Then she looks up at Shantelle, smiling faintly. "I don't suppose you can modify the resonance frequency of glass? Like, by changing the density or composition of the glass?"

Theoretically yes. I've never tried before.
Shantelle replies, sipping her coffee casually and looking quite intrigued.

[Anyr]

"Gee Kin, you make it sound like I'm some kind of super hero. But naw, it's been relatively quiet lately. SO people haven't needed to be saved, which it just fine with me. As for Judgement, we got a new guy a couple of weeks ago. He's a level 3, kinda spineless kid from Onizuka. He's got talent though, and his hearts in the right place. Just needs some confidence ya know?"

"You fight for justice, save people's lives, and shoot fire from your limbs. Sounds like a super hero to me. As for gaining confidence, that's easier said than done. My sunny disposition certainly wouldn't last long if I was in Judgement."

Kin's smile briefly faltered. Thanks to an incident not long ago, She had first-hand experience of the sort of horrors which Judgement officers sometimes faced. Just the memory of that night was enough to jar her. A moment later, though, she'd gone back to munching on eclairs. A few of those did wonders in dispelling bad vibes.

Hajime responded automatically, his words still empty of any sort of emotion or feeling.

"No. Ishimaru-san is a spot of color in an otherwise grey world. If I did not wish to be around you, I could simply leave. It is my choice to not do so, isn't it? I can choose to ignore your commands. I can choose to lie, cheat, steal, and any of the things that criminals do. But I do not; I have no reason or interest in doing so."

He stared at the screen with blank features and stood in silence for a moment as the final boss fell to the ground, the splattering of blood that appeared on the screen spelling out the words - "You Win!"

"But WHY?! WHY do you want to stay with me? Don't you understand that I'm a worthless, horrible person?!"

Moroe froze. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. She gave an embarrassed cough, and turned hurriedly away from Hajime.

"Er, ignore that. L-let's just go."

Gathering up what little dignity she had left, Moroe made a beeline for the door. Wasn't this trip supposed to be about about awakening Hajime's emotions?

[ImpSyndrome]

"[You...? Oh, no, that one just sounded like a door. Ow ow ow.]"

Shellie pulls her headphones back on as she and Eli reach the door. They're probably within earshot of Team Serious Business at this point, but the groups aren't necessarily paying attention to each other. At least, not overtly.

"[Sorry, I didn't mean to cause a panic. I had some medical complications last year and hearing's been all... gwrrrlglfsst.]" She decides not go into more detail about that. It's a slippery slope to describing how, to her, Eli looks like a flaming orange creamsicle against the backdrop of green snow outside.

"[Anyway. Did you say you needed to go check on something? Because I was thinking of going to an arcade.]"

[ONIZUKA, Before leaving...]

"Huh?" Eli had no idea what "one" Shellie was talking about, as he only heard one sound. After a moment or two, though, a door slammed nearby, and he recognized it as a clearer version of the disturbance he had picked up earlier. "[Oh, yeah, that...Wait, so there was something else...?]" By this time, though, Eli was getting dragged out of the school and probably had no time to ask more about the other noise she'd heard... ((Phew, sorry about that.))

[Back in the present...]

Eli simply nods his head in acknowledgement of his companion's issue, clueless though he remains. When asked about his own agenda, though, he's reminded of an errand he needs to run, and he elaborates, "[Yeah, I need to head home and check for a package. I ordered one of those fancy 'translator collar' things, since I...well, since my Japanese royally sucks...I just hope they gave me the right size so I can wear it beneath my shirt; the tech is awesome, but the design makes you look like a complete tool when you're wearing it...]"

((Translator collar = Instant made-up language barrier hack...Because it's 30-year-futuristic tech, so why not?))

[Morcleon]

Theoretically yes. I've never tried before.
Shantelle replies, sipping her coffee casually and looking quite intrigued.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Well, if it does work, you could make glass shapes that I can make vibrate and create cool patterns and music!" Shizuka grins. "So, what do you think? Wanna try it sometime?"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Well, if it does work, you could make glass shapes that I can make vibrate and create cool patterns and music!" Shizuka grins. "So, what do you think? Wanna try it sometime?"

Shantelle nods eagerly, smiling.
Sure! Why not?
She replies, sipping her coffee.

[Morcleon]

Shantelle nods eagerly, smiling.
Sure! Why not?
She replies, sipping her coffee.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Awesome!" Shizuka takes another slow drink from her tea, grinning. "Mm... maybe we can even put on a show or something. I could sing and you can do cool things with glass and create special effects and stuff."

[Tebryn]

{OOC: Apologies for the delay.}

"You have got to be kidding..."

Lava in films and games tends to be a purely tactile danger: It only hurts when you touch it. Real lava, on the other hand, isn't so generous. Just being near a fresh flow could boil someone alive. Thanks to the temperature sensors on his visor, Katashi was well aware of this fact. In the limited time available, he surveyed his options.

Run? He'd still get burned. Dive underwater? The kid would electrify it. Hide in a crate? Fish in a barrel. No choice, then. He'd have to bluff his way out. Putting on a (false) expression of supreme triumph, Katashi opened his arms to welcome the oncoming lava. His survival depended on him looking as impressive as possible during the next few seconds.

"USELESS!"

For a moment, all the lava seemed to pause in mid-air: And then it exploded. A massive hemispherical shockwave erupted from the visored Esper, sending crates and lava alike exploding outwards; And possibly reversing Kyosuke's attack back at him. From the untouched centre of this devastation, Katashi grinned up at his opponent.

"Hey kid, that lava is really something! For a second there, you almost made me get serious! Know what: It'd be a real shame to just kill someone with potential like yours. What say we call it quits for today, and give you some more time to practise? I'd love to finish this with you at your peak, instead of axing you early! Deal?"

Everything about Katashi's performance was designed to give Kyosuke a false impression of his power. He needed it to seem like such a shockwave was nothing to him; And that continuing this fight was a foolish risk for Kyosuke. Because beneath that unconcerned grin, Katashi was actually powerless right now. Releasing his limiters that far had temporarily disabled his ability. It was time to see just how convincing he could really be...

Kyosuke reels back at the explosion, weaving between globs of slowly cooling molten rock. He listens, motionless, to the other combatant's call for a truce before slowly moving to hover just off the ground. "No." he states simply, raising his staff before more molten earth floods towards the other man. "I gave you a way out, you refused. You can die forgotten. That is the price you pay for facing The Calamity."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Onizuka Grounds

"[Yeah, I need to head home and check for a package. I ordered one of those fancy 'translator collar' things, since I...well, since my Japanese royally sucks...I just hope they gave me the right size so I can wear it beneath my shirt; the tech is awesome, but the design makes you look like a complete tool when you're wearing it...]"

Shellie immediately knows the ones he's talking about - an advanced translation program compressed into proprietary hardware and sold as an expensive fashion statement for tourists and hipsters. The main draw is that it can mask the wearer's voice sub-vocally and screen out incoming speech, creating the illusion that the translated vocalizations are coming from the human speakers rather than the electronic ones.

Of course, the translation isn't 100% perfect, and the voices never quite match up...

"[Ha! Well, it can't be much worse than the headsets some of people wear, with the eyepieces.]" She's lying. They're actually way worse. "[But, you'll probably be able to wean yourself off of it in... a year or two... I hope...]"

Shellie seems more serious for a moment. She wonders whether he'll actually stick around that long... but is it really appropriate to ask?

"[...well, alright, good luck anyway. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Later!]"

- - - - -

Soonish

"Ishimaru-san is a spot of color in an otherwise grey world. If I did not wish to be around you, I could simply leave. It is my choice to not do so, isn't it? I can choose to ignore your commands. I can choose to lie, cheat, steal, and any of the things that criminals do. But I do not; I have no reason or interest in doing so."

Yes, Tieger followed Hajime and Ishimaru to Jii's arcade. To be fair, it was technically on her way home, if you ignore the fact that there was at least one stop for the underground between school and here that she could have taken. Shellie had considered the problem of hiding the fact of her flagrantly stalker-like behavior, but the blaring, crackly jazz and the smell of cigar smoke solved that much for her; she couldn't get any further than the doorway before quickly withdrawing to nurse her headache outside in the freezing cold. This was a terrible idea.

"But WHY?! WHY do you want to stay with me? Don't you understand that I'm a worthless, horrible person?!"

...huh.

Shellie hears Ishimaru excuse herself and start coming her way. She takes this as her cue to resume her detoured walk home, rather than risk having to deal with Moroe right this moment. Later, maybe.

[ImpSyndrome]

[ONIZUKA, JUST OUTSIDE]

Shellie immediately knows the ones he's talking about - an advanced translation program compressed into proprietary hardware and sold as an expensive fashion statement for tourists and hipsters. The main draw is that it can mask the wearer's voice sub-vocally and screen out incoming speech, creating the illusion that the translated vocalizations are coming from the human speakers rather than the electronic ones.

Of course, the translation isn't 100% perfect, and the voices never quite match up...

"[Ha! Well, it can't be much worse than the headsets some of people wear, with the eyepieces.]" She's lying. They're actually way worse. "[But, you'll probably be able to wean yourself off of it in... a year or two... I hope...]"

((Wouldn't 30-year-futuristic tech be more reliable than that? Or are we using the general "tech is as dumb as the people who make it" logic?))

"[No...no, actually, it's much...much worse,]" Eli responds. Surely Shellie has seen the ads somewhere; the commercial district especially likes to flaunt them for the benefit of tourists with fat wallets. The only way he and his family differs from them is that his father's employers offered to cover a portion of the cost as a business accommodation; really, there was no way they could afford one otherwise. (He doesn't realize that she's fibbing, probably to make him feel better about it.)

"[Oh, yeah, like I'm going to rely on that thing to teach me the language,]" he snarks at Shellie's follow-up. "[Not a chance. If anything, I'll be studying harder than ever so I don't have to wear it all the time...Except...ugh, studying...Someone, please just kill me now...]"

"[...well, alright, good luck anyway. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Later!]"

Once all the joking is set aside, Shellie will take off, and Eli will bid her farewell as she makes for the arcade she mentioned. He himself will start heading for home, but when he puts his hands into his jacket pockets to warm them up, his one hand will brush up against the folded-up class schedule he's carrying, and the implication of succeeding in securing enrollment at Onizuka will finally strike him. He'll start grinning like a madman, and he won't go too far before pumping his fists up into the air and shouting for all of Academy City to hear:

"[I'm gonna be a freakin' PSYCHIC!! Whoooo!!]"

[Anyr]

In the corner of Katashi's visor, a counter slowly decreased; Far too slowly for his liking.

[Cooldown time remaining: 30 seconds]

"30 seconds?! It was 17 last time! Is a little consistency too much to ask?"

Kyosuke reels back at the explosion, weaving between globs of slowly cooling molten rock.

[23 seconds]

"I really want those wheels. Maybe the R&D guys have some in stock."

He listens, motionless, to the other combatant's call for a truce before slowly moving to hover just off the ground.

Inwardly, Katashi breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness this enemy was a good listener. If he'd ignored the speech and just attacked, Katashi would have been dead.

[11 seconds]

"Come on, just waste a leeeetle more time..."

"No." he states simply, raising his staff before more molten earth floods towards the other man. "I gave you a way out, you refused. You can die forgotten. That is the price you pay for facing The Calamity."

[5 seconds]

"Damn it!"

Well, so much for that bluff. Katashi's unconcerned facade immediately dissolved like wet paper. With no concern for his own dignity, he broke into a flat-out run.

[3 seconds]

"Not gonna make it."

He could already feel the heat on his back. A red glow suffused the area around him.

[2 seconds]

"Not gonna make it!"

Being on the edge of safety wasn't enough. Even if he escaped the boiling centre, drops of lava were raining down all around him. Why oh why had he skipped so many of those physical training courses?

[1 second]

"Not gonnamakeitnotgonnamakeitnotgAUUUGHH!"

The nerves in Katashi's right arm screamed in agony. He could feel the limb being eaten away by the stray splash which had hit it. An instant later, his left leg suffered the same fate. Overwhelmed by pain, Katashi stumbled, then fell...

[READY]

...and then surged forward like an unstable ballistic missile. The still-horizontal Katashi careened haphazardly out of the danger zone, spurred by a desperate activation of his ability. He was in too much pain to plot a route, or prevent himself from occasionally scraping against the rough ground. He just kept picking distant objects at random, and pulled himself towards them at dangerous speeds. In a mere handful of seconds, he'd have departed the battlefield. After that surge of speed, though, it was obvious that he wouldn't get far.

"You guys...had better...be waiting...to take me home..."

Should Kyosuke decide to pursue, he'd have little trouble finding the site where Katashi had eventually come to rest. However, the wounded Esper himself would be absent. In the distance, the sound of receding vehicles could be heard...

[Lord-Cao-Cao]

"[I'm gonna be a freakin' PSYCHIC!! Whoooo!!]"

Eli would promptly have been met by several stares from the surrounding students. Not only was there a gaijin in their midst, he was also a loud one who apparently fit in Academy City even worse than the plethora of odd figures they already had. There was a moment of silence, followed by hushed murmurs and the crowd parting for ... Eli? No, parting for someone else.

A lean, swarthy boy with a red scarf wrapped tightly around his neck made his way past Eli, heedless of the fearful mutterings of his fellow students, who trepidatiously moved away from him as he made his way home. If Eli could understand Japanese, he'd have heard the whispers of 'that demon-ninja kid who fought half the school at once,' and 'tangled with that rich gangster guy and won,' and 'came back from the freaking dead,'. Whatever the case was, Onizuka Middle School was a little unnerved about this particular fellow.

Who, barring his long, red scarf, looked about as ordinary as ordinary got. So pointedly ordinary, in fact, that he was somewhat of an oddity among his occasionally outlandish peers. And if he was aware of the somewhat uneasy muttering in his general direction, he made no show of it, walking along the frosty cobblestoned path with his eyes facing downwards; the very image of a shy middleschooler. If Eli paid attention to the boy's lips, he'd have noticed them moving slightly, as if he were mumbling to himself as he walked; conveniently in the same direction as Eli would have, at least for the moment.

As soon as he'd rounded the corner, however, he'd have glanced around to make nobody was following before leaping clear off the ground and bounding off objects that Eli might have found hard to see, much less leap off. Telephone wires, the tops of signs, and window ledges were all fair game to the boy as he swiftly and effortlessly made his ascent onto and across the rooftops with his blatantly obvious psychic power. For Eli, it might have seemed like a message, bright as day.

Welcome to Academy City.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________

This boy was Nimori Shougo, and the past few weeks of his life had simultaneously been very exciting and very trying. On the upside, he had been accepted into the prestigious Ascendancy Institute, a program designed to produce Academy City's first true psychic paramilitary force, had began earning more than enough money to support himself and his mother, and had recently been judged a 'Level Three' in a recent System Scan. His enemies, at least on the surface, were either in prison or had fled the country, and his meteoric ascension from a nameless Level One to a Level Three in a matter of weeks had made his name known to those in the system. His father's memory had been avenged.

On the surface, life was good. But...

He had been plagued with strange feelings recently. Feelings? No, outright thoughts, he corrected himself. He had known of them for quite some time now; there was a little voice inside of his head which had been doing the absolutely precise calculations required for his psychic power, Charge Action, ever since he woke up miraculously healed in the hospital after suffering a near-fatal beating at the hands of his now-defunct nemesis. Without this voice, he knew, his psychic abilities would not have improved even one iota from where they were before. This voice was also a source of comfort, shoring up his often fragile self-esteem and filling him with confidence. And this voice, he knew, was the source of those surreal and beautiful green dreams he had been experiencing as of late.

It was also the source of irrational jealousy whenever he spoke at length to a girl, he noted with discomfort and a little amusement. More worryingly, it had been his adviser when it had come to conflict, and he knew it had hardened his heart in a way that would have disappointed his father, who believed in having great compassion towards all things. He was finding it hard to take things at face value, and he had begun to second-guess everyone; even his own mother. Suspicion, a trait his father believed was mostly negative, had become a major part of his life, and Shougo was not sure he liked it.

Another source of his discontent came about with his sudden lack of free time. He no longer had the afternoons to spend with Tobio, his only real friend in Onizuka, and he felt truly terrible about it. They had been taken up by the Ascendancy Institution's rigorous training program. He wondered where he was; today was one of his few days off, and he wondered if he could make up for lost time. But how would he contact him for that? The little voice in his head provided him with an answer almost immediately.

Technology, his Achille's Heel. Of course. He came to a sudden stop as he pulled out his shiny, new mobile phone, sweat visibly beading on his brow as he attempted to wrangle it and bend it to his will. Why did the Ascendancy Institute have to give him another infernal piece of plastic, more complicated than his (relatively) simple one that preceded it? His fingers slid wildly over the screen as he attempted to pull up the menu that would have allowed him to call his friend. 'Low on battery power,'? He just charged the thing three days ago! This whole issue infuriated and shamed him, and his face began to redden with embarrassment. As a Japanese teenager, he scolded himself internally, he should know his way around technology. No doubt the world was watching.

Struggling to control a sudden bout of hyperventilation, Shougo reflexively looked around himself for bystanders. It would not do to have a Level Three member of Academy City's up-and-coming psychic paramilitary police force be seen as someone who could not handle something as simple as a mobile phone. Seeing nobody on the same level as he was, or above him, Shougo let out a sigh of relief; at least, until he saw a flash of blond beneath him.

Beneath him? Shougo looked at his feet.

Oh.

He'd stopped on top of a street light, one leg held in the air as he clumsily attempted to get this blasted of technology to work. He had been seen.

And not only had he been seen, he had been seen by a foreigner.

His mind immediately began jumping to conclusions-What if she were a foreign dignitary, here to see the promise and brilliance of Academy City? And he, as its representative, had shown himself to be an abject failure? The voice in his head sighed in exasperation and began calculating the trajectories required for him to leap away unharmed and unidentified. Unfortunately, Shougo leapt in the opposite direction as intended. As a result, he fell off the street light into a pile of snow by the side of the road.

"Oof."

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________

For Shellie, this must have seemed somewhat surreal. First, a boy around her age had been leaping around everywhere like a ninja, only to unexpectedly stop on top of a street light to use a mobile phone unsuccessfully before inexplicably turning red and jumping into a snow drift by the side of the road.

[ImpSyndrome]

Spoiler: Attention Hogs

Show

"[I'm gonna be a freakin' PSYCHIC!! Whoooo!!]"

Eli would promptly have been met by several stares from the surrounding students. Not only was there a gaijin in their midst, he was also a loud one who apparently fit in Academy City even worse than the plethora of odd figures they already had. There was a moment of silence, followed by hushed murmurs and the crowd parting for ... Eli? No, parting for someone else.

A lean, swarthy boy with a red scarf wrapped tightly around his neck made his way past Eli, heedless of the fearful mutterings of his fellow students, who trepidatiously moved away from him as he made his way home. If Eli could understand Japanese, he'd have heard the whispers of 'that demon-ninja kid who fought half the school at once,' and 'tangled with that rich gangster guy and won,' and 'came back from the freaking dead,'. Whatever the case was, Onizuka Middle School was a little unnerved about this particular fellow.

Who, barring his long, red scarf, looked about as ordinary as ordinary got. So pointedly ordinary, in fact, that he was somewhat of an oddity among his occasionally outlandish peers. And if he was aware of the somewhat uneasy muttering in his general direction, he made no show of it, walking along the frosty cobblestoned path with his eyes facing downwards; the very image of a shy middleschooler. If Eli paid attention to the boy's lips, he'd have noticed them moving slightly, as if he were mumbling to himself as he walked; conveniently in the same direction as Eli would have, at least for the moment.

As soon as he'd rounded the corner, however, he'd have glanced around to make nobody was following before leaping clear off the ground and bounding off objects that Eli might have found hard to see, much less leap off. Telephone wires, the tops of signs, and window ledges were all fair game to the boy as he swiftly and effortlessly made his ascent onto and across the rooftops with his blatantly obvious psychic power. For Eli, it might have seemed like a message, bright as day.

Welcome to Academy City.

Eli can't care less who hears him or watches him; he's on top of the world right now, and nothing's going to change that. People begin to quietly chatter among themselves as he passed, but he doesn't mind the fact that he can't understand a lick of it, being far too excited about his prospects for future greatness. (Of course, this also means that he doesn't realize that they're not talking about him.) His pace quickens slightly as he starts out for home again, barely even noticing the kid matching his stride as he follows a memorized path. He only slows down when the boy with the red scarf overtakes him and turns down an alley before climbing on an assortment of improvised footholds to reach the rooftops.

Rather than being intimidated, though, Eli sees this display as a portent of things to come, and his grin only widens. "[Just watch]," he says to no one in particular. "[That'll be me soon enough, you'll see.]"

[Arkhosia]

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Awesome!" Shizuka takes another slow drink from her tea, grinning. "Mm... maybe we can even put on a show or something. I could sing and you can do cool things with glass and create special effects and stuff."

Shantelle finishes her coffee.
Hmm... Sounds like a cool idea.
Shantelle muses, smiling with a humorous light in her eyes.

[Anyr]

Gossiping students weren't Shougo's only audience. He even drew the gaze of Academy City's faceless maintenance droids. Whenever he walked the streets, there would always be at least one of these dutiful servants working nearby: Working and watching; Always watching.

Meanwhile, Ishimaru Moroe paced through the streets at a speed which (given the amount of ice around) bordered on reckless. Right now she almost wanted to slip on something and get knocked out. At least then she wouldn't be able to make any more terrible decisions.

"'Let's go to an arcade', I said. 'Let's get in touch with your feelings', I said. What was I thinking? I'm not meant for this sort of thing..."

Nothing had been going to plan lately. Before all this chaos, Moroe had had a very clear picture of how the next few years should pan out: She would continue to pantomime a life which was nothing but a sham; Slowly crush the last vestiges of self-worth within her; Slave away for the Powers That Be until she outlived her usefulness; And then die in a ditch somewhere, alone and unloved. That was how things were supposed to go.

Instead she'd been praised as a hero; Received a devoted companion who existed solely to please her; And won the love of a boy who gave her hope for the human race. In other words, Moroe's life had gone completely off track. She'd barely begun to set it right.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Freaking show-off...

The boy's presence was pretty hard to miss. His body heat lit up in the cold, a cool blue ping occasionally flashed through his pocket from his barely-used phone, but more to the point he had been bounding from wall to wall like a lunatic.

He must have caught her squinting at him, trying to make out his face amid the psychedelic display pervading Shellie's vision. It's a glaring red... he must be pretty flustered...

He tries to leap away but slips on the icy lamppost and dives straight into a snowbank.

"Shoot-" Shellie hastily checks for cars and dashes across the crosswalk, eliciting a frustrated beep from a motorist some 10 meters away.

Spoiler

Show

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK

"ERRRRRRRrrrgggghhhhh..."

The blonde cringes and clasps her hands over her ears, which by all rights are already behind some pretty thick protective coverings. Car horns are seriously the worst.

Just the same, she makes it to the other side to check on Mystery Dude. Snowbank or otherwise, that was a pretty high fall.

"Oof."

"Are you-" she winces in response to a distant follow-up beep, but quickly re-focuses her attention on the patient. "...are you okay? You really need to watch out for the ice in this weather."

...yeah, she speaks perfect Japanese. But doesn't that just make her even more likely to be a spy?

[Terry576]

"It's quite alright Master, I found the experience 'enjoyable', if I could feel the 'idea' of enjoyment. Your attempt was successful, for it taught you something about my emotional stability, did it not?"

Naturally, Hajime was right behind Moroe, always walking a little to the left, and just a bit slower then she was. He didn't have any ideas or reasons for what Ishimaru Moroe spoke of - his only purpose was 'the serve of Ishimaru-san', and he was quite happy with it.

[Lord-Cao-Cao]

"Ah-"

The boy in the snowdrift immediately leaped back to his feet, apparently none the worse for wear, and immediately bowed before stammering out an apology.

"T-T-This one humbly begs for your forgiveness, Gaikokujin-dono, for his inappropriate and shameful display."

Curious. The way he spoke was old and quite outdated, to the tune of some two hundred years or so. It would probably have taken Shellie aback for a moment while she attempted to process his response; he spoke in the manner of characters in Edo-era plays. Not only that, his voice had a curious flange to them, as though his vocal cords had been damaged at some point and then repaired. Shougo would have noticed her noticing his unusualness and immediately tightened his scarf around his neck, as if he were attempting to hide himself.

Just as interestingly, there were, to Shellie's eyes, a curious number of colour-shifts that had been going on throughout his body and had been ongoing ever since he fell off the street light. She might have recognised those as impacts caused by falls, but those only occurred at the moment of impact, and they were frequently quite intense. But for this boy? The impact was apparently dissipating throughout his body slowly.

He continued to ramble for her forgiveness, apologising for his ineptitude, letting her know that he was not representative of Academy City, before trailing off as he noticed the thick earmuffs around Shellie's ears. It was clear from the look on his face that he thought she could not hear him, and the embarrassment on it mounted further. It was also evident that he was very unused to dealing with foreigners.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________

Shougo winced internally as she told him to be careful. She was right; he had to watch his footing. But it was unusual that he had fallen; Shougo was normally sure-footed, even on the coldest and iciest of days. He liked days like these; it reminded him of his very first lesson from his father, the day after he had been taken from the orphanage. Truly this was a disgraceful show on his part, and in front of a foreigner, too! As he spoke, he took in her appearance.

She was pretty, he half-decided, and frightfully thin. And decidedly affluent; but that was to be expected. What unsettled him most, however, was the earphones on her head. Was she listening to him? Or was she listening to music of some sort, as the people his age were wont to do? He wondered if she knew how rude that was, before berating himself for forming any judgement on this girl whom he knew nothing about. Nevertheless, he decided to let her speak first.

[Tebryn]

In the corner of Katashi's visor, a counter slowly decreased; Far too slowly for his liking.

[Cooldown time remaining: 30 seconds]

"30 seconds?! It was 17 last time! Is a little consistency too much to ask?"



[23 seconds]

"I really want those wheels. Maybe the R&D guys have some in stock."



Inwardly, Katashi breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness this enemy was a good listener. If he'd ignored the speech and just attacked, Katashi would have been dead.

[11 seconds]

"Come on, just waste a leeeetle more time..."



[5 seconds]

"Damn it!"

Well, so much for that bluff. Katashi's unconcerned facade immediately dissolved like wet paper. With no concern for his own dignity, he broke into a flat-out run.

[3 seconds]

"Not gonna make it."

He could already feel the heat on his back. A red glow suffused the area around him.

[2 seconds]

"Not gonna make it!"

Being on the edge of safety wasn't enough. Even if he escaped the boiling centre, drops of lava were raining down all around him. Why oh why had he skipped so many of those physical training courses?

[1 second]

"Not gonnamakeitnotgonnamakeitnotgAUUUGHH!"

The nerves in Katashi's right arm screamed in agony. He could feel the limb being eaten away by the stray splash which had hit it. An instant later, his left leg suffered the same fate. Overwhelmed by pain, Katashi stumbled, then fell...

[READY]

...and then surged forward like an unstable ballistic missile. The still-horizontal Katashi careened haphazardly out of the danger zone, spurred by a desperate activation of his ability. He was in too much pain to plot a route, or prevent himself from occasionally scraping against the rough ground. He just kept picking distant objects at random, and pulled himself towards them at dangerous speeds. In a mere handful of seconds, he'd have departed the battlefield. After that surge of speed, though, it was obvious that he wouldn't get far.

"You guys...had better...be waiting...to take me home..."

Should Kyosuke decide to pursue, he'd have little trouble finding the site where Katashi had eventually come to rest. However, the wounded Esper himself would be absent. In the distance, the sound of receding vehicles could be heard...

Kyosuke does indeed pursue, investigating the crash site for any traces of information should the clean up crew not be to precise on their pick up. He doesn't linger however, in a city like Academy City a fight even of their scale wouldn't go unnoticed for long and it was best not to alert the authorities of his presence before he could complete his mission. His new found "friend" however would not be forgotten, and their next fight would not go the same.

[Morcleon]

Shantelle finishes her coffee.
Hmm... Sounds like a cool idea.
Shantelle muses, smiling with a humorous light in her eyes.

Tokiwadai - Cafe

"Mhmm!" Shizuka takes one last drink of her tea, smiling back. "So when are you free? We'll need to do some planning about what we're gonna do exactly."