Teamwork!

"Furuta Renjiro…sensei? I wasn't informed about this at all."

"Hmph… I'm amused to know that the high school dropout still has the tact to remember my name."

"Who wouldn't remember you when you have that way of speaking like you can't decide between being humble or proud?"

"Ugh… Stop that…"

Furuta Renjiro. He used to be my math teacher back in school and is the teaching partner of Maeda Katsumi-sensei. At the age of 28-years-old, he has achieved a Doctorate degree in Applied Mathematics and could've worked in New Tokyo University as a professor, but he declined the offer, saying that it was too much of a hassle and he's satisfied with just being a high school teacher.

And now, that exact same person is standing in front of me. Dressed in a business suit and having his hands hidden behind his back while his sharp-looking eyes, who share the same jet-black color as his hair, is hiding behind a pair of eyeglasses.

"And you… Fujikawa Mana from Class 2-D, right?"

"Yeah… what of it?"

The tomboyish girl with scarlet-colored ponytail hair and brown irises in our group was someone that was famous… or should I say infamous, in Miyazono Old Tokyo Academy.

"Just giving a greeting."

"No need. Just focus on what we should do."

Fujikawa Mana from Class 2-D. She used to just be a regular high school girl who has average looks and academic performance until she became infamous when she was asked out by an egocentric baseball club captain. She instantly turned him down, while also rightfully insulting his high-chinned confession that sounded more like a boasting than a statement of affection.

Instead of taking it like a man and accepting his mistake though, he slapped her in front of the onlooking students and repeatedly shouted insults towards her. However, he didn't know that she isn't one to hold back when she has already been directly hurt.

For a week, the baseball clubroom and field became empty. After all, the members who tried to back up their captain while he was being pummeled to the ground had their arms broken and faces turned into mush by a lone schoolgirl who was too angry to stop them.

"Well, we're teammates now. Would be fine if you try to form some teamwork dynamic, right?"

"Che! Say that after you prove that we can work together properly..."

"…"

Seems like she's not aware of what the operation is about… It would be hard to work with her.

"Hyahaha! Sorry I'm late, boss!"

"Kai! I told you to be here at exactly 5 PM! Where did you go to be late for 15 minutes?!"

Suddenly, a guy who is a bit younger and less tall than me walked towards us while looking slightly embarrassed. He has black irises and similarly colored hair with greenish highlights on the tips.

"Sorry much, boss… I hafta take a good dump after I trained the newbies yesterday. You know, with my power and all that-"

"That's not a valid excuse, now get here before I lose my patience with you!"

"Right, right!"

The three of us stood in front of him after he seemed like he has something to say. I stood straight and with an attentive expression on my face, while Fujikawa-san and Kai didn't seem to care at all or still has an awkward expression respectively.

"…I believe you're aware about why you are here and what kind of person you became prior to this meeting. I am talking especially about you, Chronia and Fujikawa."

""…""

"Now that you have become Psychics, you might as well say goodbye to your normal life and consider yourself as an inhuman being with an inhuman power over something that you control."

I felt a pulse of energy centralized from Furuta-sensei and in an instant, saw our surroundings in a monotonous scheme. Everything save for us four Psychics, was black and white.

"I believe that introductions are necessary. But I'm not so much of a droll teacher to fake a smile and ask your names and the like. For me, it's show over speech. Thus…"

*Tik-!*

"Grau! GAAAA!!!"

He snapped his fingers and suddenly, three indescribably misshapen creatures appeared from the ground with metal shackles on their bodies. They writhed, groaned lowly and tried to reach for us. Basically, they look like the run-of-the-mill monster. But Furuta-sensei's shackles kept them away from reach.

These are Psych-malignances. Almost alive organisms that exists in Mental Subspaces. The reason they are called as "almost alive" is because they cannot escape into the material world but can amplify the amount of negative emotions in an area and thus, affect the people there just like how places perceived as "scary" becomes "scarier" when a mass of people believes on it.

I read about them from the instruction manual sent to me by Kirin-sensei. She told me that I should go to some haunted place to look for and fight them to train my powers. However, I didn't have the opportunity to do while I was in the transitional period of my life where I have to process the new me and how it will affect my family.

Nevertheless, I had enough self-training to handle one. I am confident that I can do this!

"Show me how you can handle these Psych-malignances. I'll give you ten minutes to brawl with one of them. Do everything that you can to finish them or damage them as much as you can. You are free to use all of your powers."

"Haha… Been a hot minute since I last fought scrubs like these!"

"Heh! Is he taking us for weaklings? Even an E-rank Psychic can handle this."

Kai cracked his knuckles and wore a wide grin, feeling excited with the battle. Fujikawa-san, on the other hand, began chewing a stick of bubble gum and formed a machete made of fire on her gloved hand.

"I can do this…"

For me, I opened a flask of blood from my utility belt and solidified it around my hand to easily manipulate it.

"This is your tug-of-war with them! Your timer starts now!"

As soon as Furuta-sensei broke the chains, the psych-malignant monsters charged towards us as we hopped back, giving each other enough elbow room to fight.

"<Chlorokinesis!><Vine Web!>"

"Ha-kyau!"

It didn't take a moment for the Kai guy to finish his opponent by throwing seeds that he imbued with his powers, making them grow sporadically into vines that constricted and crushed the monster.

"Gya! Guk!"

"Tch! Get outta my way, dumbass!"

Fujikawa-san came next as her opponent extended its hand towards her which she pulled on before plunging her flaming machete into the monster's neck. Burning the monster completely into ashes.

"I'm next, I guess…"

"Grau-!!!"

"<Hemokinesis><Blood Bloom!>"

I used both of my hands to punch my opponent's torso where I turned the solidified blood around my fists into a liquid form, made it enter the monster and solidified it again to pierce its body through.

"Haha! I told ya, boss! Ya shouldn't underestimate us!"

"Tch… too easy."

The two was already celebrating their victory when I noticed that the monster I killed suddenly spasmed before opening its eye again which made me shout at them.

"Hey, you two…! These guys aren't dead yet!"

My statement came at the right time as the monster that Kai slew reconstructed itself back with no wounds or signs of damages at all. Fujikawa's monster on the other hand healed itself back from ashes.

"What the-!?"

"I incinerated you already!"

"Darn it! Liquify! Liquify!"

We three quickly hopped back as our opponents came back to life to fight us once more. I was still stuck with mine as my hands was included in the blood's solidification. So, I hurriedly liquified it before its swinging sharp claws can reach me.

"How did they come back?"

"Aren't they supposed to die once hit by a Psychokinetic attack?"

"I know that! This doesn't make sense!"

I observed our situation and politely asked my fellow psychics about something.

"I noticed something… they orderly went towards us, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Psych-malignances are supposed to go after the one who has the most Astra energy in front of them since they consider them as the most threatening being around. But these three went after each one of us when Kai has the most energy between us three."

Even right now when we are sticking together, each of our opponents are going after us as if we are their only target.

"I get your thinking. Let's switch up opponents then!"

Without another beat, Fujikawa-san jumped in front of Kai and sunk her fire machete into his opponent while I handled hers who was about to pounce on her.

"Yours is mine then, newbie! Guts!"

Kai threw an activated seed into the remaining monster's mouth and after chanting his skill, it exploded into bits.

"Did that get them?"

"…No. They're regenerating again!"

"I'll try something out! <Hemokinesis!>"

I liquified the blood on my fists and covered the carcass of the monster that exploded, aiming to stop the pieces from recombining back. But after some struggle between me and the blown-off pieces, I felt those pieces disintegrating and recombining bit by bit into the dead body.

"Tch! Didn't work!"

"Boss pulled out all the stops on this test… Makes me more excited!"

"Hey, foreigner! Any other observations or ideas in that head of yours?"

"I'm doing it now!"

I looked at the monsters again, drawing every judgement and keeping up with my observations while we are running and jumping around to dodge the persistent monsters.

"For now, let's cut them up and get more data. I'll tell what I know after that!"

"Roger!"

The three of us kept our opponents engaged with us. We exchanged blows and sometimes got an opening to finish them off. But they keep on regenerating and standing back up to fight us again.

This went on for five more minutes until I noticed something when I saw Furuta-sensei sitting from afar and watching us.

"…Wait."

I remembered something when he started our fight and test.

"One minute left, newbie! Any progress with your observations?"

"Come on, foreigner! We'll fail at this point!

He said something earlier that felt a bit too off-topic. Something that caught my attention as it was too far from what we are currently doing.

"Tug-of-war?"

I remembered that statement before we started. Why did Furuta-sensei tell us that this is our tug-of-war with the monsters?

"Hey newbie! Our ten minutes are almost out!"

"Then let's bet on this one! Everyone! Finish them with your sure-kill attacks on my mark!"

I took out a knife and slashed my palm to make it bleed out. With freshly shed blood like this that came from my own body, this is currently my strongest skill.

"Alright girlie! Ya heard the newbie!"

"No need to remind me, weirdo!"

Kai took out a flower bulb and began pumping it full of his Astra energy while Fujikawa dispersed her flame machete and clasped her hands that started emitting purple flames.

"Now! <Hemokinesis!><Blood Rapture!>"

With my blood, I formed several spears that I flung using my ability. They plunged themselves deeply into my opponent before explosively crystalizing inside of its body.

"<Chlorokinesis><Death Blossoms!>"

Kai threw it to his monster and as soon as it latched into its body, it began voraciously devouring its flesh as red spider lilies sprouted one by one until it died.

"<Pyrokinesis!><Core Furnace!>"

Fujikawa's attack was the most destructive as she compressed the purple flames and threw it to her monster who didn't even have a moment to respond before it was incinerated on the spot in the midst of a storm of flames.

"Did that get them?"

"We'll know."

I took initiative and liquified the blood on my monster, connecting my tactile senses on it to feel around the corpse.

"…There's no response. I think they're dead for sure."

"I can attest to that, you brats."

Finally, our instructor jumped towards us and spoke the results.

"You passed two of the three conditions I had. First, you satisfied my power standard. Your abilities all belong in the higher C-rank. As Psychics, you have good control over your powers and you have a variety of abilities that you wisely and efficiently use on the spot."

"Yes! Ah… Oi."

"Sorry, I saw nothing."

I heard Fujikawa cheer under her breath like a girl. I almost turned to look at her before she recomposed herself and looked at me fiercely.

"Second, you turned from "minding my own business" to "let's do this together" quickly after you realized that you can't finish the exam without each other's help. Kai, you turned to Chronia for plans as soon as your attacks didn't cut it. Fujikawa, you didn't hesitate to make a decision even with just a primary observation and deduction. That's a good thing. In a fight, it's better to make a lousy or satisfactory decision than staying on the spot and sucking your thumb."

"Thank you, boss!"

"Thank you, sir!"

"And for your Chronia. You're smart. I don't know how you picked up on such an obscure clue, but you got it and deduced what it meant before your timer ran out."

"Thank you, sensei. That was… a good tug-of-war."

Our instructor told us about the last condition that we didn't meet out of the three that he gave.

"The last thing that you didn't get to do is break free of the Mental Subspace after the fight."

"Well…"

I raised my hand to emit Astra energy which broke the barrier that was keeping us inside the pocket dimension. After a blink of the eye, we were back in the vibrantly colored oriental courtyard where some people looked at us for a moment before returning to their businesses.

"…Too late, Chronia."

"Never hurts to do it late."

"That lateness could've costed your life if this fight is real. Remember this, you brats. Lesson number one, your life is in the most harm when you're stuck in your enemy's Mental subspace. The more time you spend there, the more your enemy gains control over the fight and thus, the more time they get a chance to end your life."

"…"

"As Psychics, the Mental Subspace is our most valuable battlefield as it keeps innocent people out of our fights, allows us to keep our physical bodies safe while in battle, and amplifies the power of our Psychokinetic attacks. But when your enemy is stronger, he would most likely fill the subspace with his own Astra energy in order to warp it to how he wants it. In that case, disengage from the subspace by all means possible. Losing a battle is better than losing a Psychic… remember that."

"""Yes, sensei!"""

"Now. I'll ask for permission to bring you around the city for a patrol. Stay here for a while and rest. We'd most likely fight more malignances while we're out there."

Furuta-sensei turned around to go into the innermost place of the estate as the three of us agreed to sit below a cherry tree nearby to rest. Kai only had to lie down on the ground before he quickly snored away. It was an amusing thing to see. Fujikawa, on the other hand, crossed her arms in front of herself while turning away from us.

"So… how did the resident delinquent of Class 2-D end up becoming a Psychic?"

"…None of your business."

"Come on, if you say yours, I'll say mine."

"What a scam. You probably became one because you're a genius or something. I'm not gonna bite into such a tilted deal."

"…Are you also a fight-or-flight Psychic?"

"…"

I knew it. She's been very coarse since earlier. She doesn't like to talk, was very glad when she was told that she's strong and when she was about to rest, assumed a defensive position by crossing her arms in front of her torso. A primal gesture of insecurity and anxiety.

"I got my powers after saving an underclassman from a stalker. I was supposed to only escort her until she arrives at the station, but I was hit by the crazed stalker with a pipe and was kidnapped along with the girl. She was about to be assaulted when my adrenaline surged, and I fought our captor and freed her."

"…"

"I was able to push her out of the place and tell her to run before the stalker stabbed me. As I remember it, I was ready for a fight to the death when I lost consciousness and was told after I woke up that I awakened as a Psychic and killed the stalker with my powers."

"Does that bother you?"

"A little… I killed a person after all. But whenever I begin to doubt myself and feel bad about it, I feel at peace whenever I remember that that person could've caused more damage if I didn't finish him there and then."

"…"

"For the greater good… as one of my dear friends used to say it."

At this moment, Fujikawa looked at me and said something.

"I believe you're aware of how I became well known in school, yes?"

"You made our school lose the regional baseball championship by crippling all of its players. Yes, I am aware."

"You know what happened to those bastards. But do you know what happened to me even though I was the victim?"

"I heard you got suspended for two weeks and the admin arranged you to received anger management therapy."

"You're right. But that ain't anger management therapy, it was a plan for a set-up."

"Set-up? For what?"

"…They told me that they have someone they wanted to kick out and my circumstance was a good one. They asked me to write a manifesto of the events and that it must include you in an antagonistic role. It can be anything, they said. I can state that you riled us up to fight, intentionally misinterpreted our conversation or you beat them up yourself and pinned the blame on me."

"This is the first time that I'm hearing this, and I think I should be the one receiving anger management therapy right now… Well, what happened?"

"If it isn't already obvious since you still got to attend school for five more months after that, I didn't agree on it and they deferred my social aptitude grades and noted "extremely violent" on my report card."

As much as I was thankful for her decision, it also made me curious about why she didn't take the deal.

"…Why didn't you take it?"

"I'm a delinquent… But I am not a liar. I like to slug heads and exchange fists with people who piss me off, but I ain't gonna involve people who aren't in my bucket list in my business… The world already sucks, I have no intention of being a part of it more."

"…"

"What? If you're going to appreciate my decision, I'd prefer that you do it by shutting your mouth. That test drained me, and I don't think we're going home early with this patrol."

She turned on her side and napped. It seems like she really was exhausted from that test we had earlier.

"Well, I still want to give my thanks."

"…"

Even though she did it under her own principles, it saved me from those pesky higher-ups who was willing to play dirty to get rid of me. I thanked her even though she doesn't seem to be awake.

"Huh… You and Girlie here seems to be a bit close."

I was a bit surprised when Kai spoke while sitting up and stretching his arms. It seems like he was actually listening to us earlier.

"No… We just came from the same school."

"School, huh? I heard about that place. Is it really as crowded as they told me about?"

"Well, Old Tokyo isn't that populated anymore so only a few of the buildings there are used. I think the student population is on 1,600 overall."

"Wow. That's still an impressive number. I'd like to see it one day."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Why are you saying that you want to visit it? Are you-"

"Yup. I haven't attended school at all since I was born. All that I know was taught to me here by Mom, Kaede-nee and Boss Renji."

Oh, I get it now. So, he is home-schooled by the people here. Now it makes sense why he doesn't seem to have the usual characteristics of a typical person.

"Ah! By the way, Your teacher is my mom. I'm Imamura Kirin's child."

"Really? Well, I shouldn't really be surprised. Kirin-sensei didn't have to tell anything personal. It's still amusing to know that she has a son."

"Well… that is kind of a half-truth…"

"Huh?"

He unbuttoned his shirt and opened it to show me something on his left chest where his heart is located.

"I'm only a portion of Imamura Kai. From how it was told to me, Kai was born with an extraordinarily high Astra energy capacity that his infant body can barely keep it in. To solve that, he was placed by Oyabun-sama in a cytostatic sleep in order to fool his immature body to hibernate and stop emitting his energy and prolong his life."

"Then you are…"

"Oyabun-sama knows that it would hurt Kirin-san to see her beloved child behind a vat of preservation liquid. So, she took some cell samples from Kai in order to make a clone that will at least plug that painful hole in her subordinate's heart. And that clone is me. Kai, just Kai!"

Even though he narrated everything with a joyful expression, I still sensed some kind of pain under his smile.

"Then this small machine in your heart is the opposite of the Diminisher ring that I wore when I haven't controlled my powers yet."

"Yup. This is an Augmenter core. It allows me to have a portion of the Astra energy that the real Kai has that we share through our genes. It's not as dangerously high as the real Kai, but you may have already sensed it since you said that I should be the one being chased by the monsters earlier… It's still a pretty large reserve, yes?"

We conversed for a little more about our work. I feel like working with Kai will be easy, given his lively and understanding attitude. At some point, I was able to open up a discussion about his powers.

"My Psychic ability is over plants. See these green highlights on my hair?"

"Yeah. That actually interested me earlier."

"Look at this… Hngggg… Hya!"

"Woah!"

He groaned for a bit and suddenly, the green highlights on his hair started to glow brightly.

"These works like leaves on my head. They aren't as effective as the real ones on plants, but by using Photosynthesis on myself and connecting them on the seeds and flower bulbs that I use as weapons, I don't need that much time to convert Astra energy to a form usable by plants."

"That's some crazy idea. I can't imagine someone placing photosynthetic cells on his hair."

"It does become a bit of a hassle when I take a bath. They sometimes wilt from water stress and give me some headache, but the pros outweigh the cons, as Kaede-nee used to say."

He looked around for a bit and picked up a twig from the cherry tree above our heads. He started supplying it with his power and it began sprouting leaves before a pair of cherries came out of a bud.

"I'm quite amused of the type of power that I got. As a clone, I am simply living the life of someone who cannot live properly. If tomorrow or any other day, they get a proper way to revive the real Kai, they would probably rename me and relegate me as just someone who used to be Kai… That's why the fact that my power is one that gives or flourishes a life… it is quite ironic, right? Hahaha!"

I can sense it again… The hidden pain beneath his words.

"Well, I don't know about the real Kai. I only know the Kai who is right here and is talking to me right now."

"…"

"If push comes to shove and you feel bad about losing that name, remember that you are worth more than the name that you have. Every life is sacred. Even though as a doctor by trade, I am against cloning humans, the fact that you are right here, right now, living and interacting with us… no one has the right to take that away from you."

Suddenly, he placed the twig that has the pair of cherries on my hand before he laid back down on the ground.

"What is this for?"

"…We should rest. The patrol we'll do may take a while."

"…Got it."

I took the cherries and ate them. It feels a bit sweeter than the ones I had before. Probably because of Kai's powers.

"…Yeah. I should also rest."

I sat up properly to make sure that my legs won't cramp, and I closed my eyes to try and nap. I felt some familiar feeling of my body feeling light which I was thankful as every time I tried to sleep, I would just suddenly wake up tomorrow morning, feeling recharged even though my mind didn't seem to feel unconscious at all.

"It's just a nap… please give me this."

However, even that didn't go as I wished.

"Hey brats! Wake up! We're going on a patrol at northern Old Tokyo!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"Augh… Finally, huh?"

Fujikawa and Kai attentively stood up and I followed, but not before I peeked on my watch and saw the time.

"It happened again."

Two hours passed by even though it felt like nothing but an instant to me.

Just what the hell is happening that I can't feel like I got a proper sleep?