Chapter 10: Family Visit; Idol and Pursuit

The next day, after school is over, Nao comes over and says,

"Let's get going."

We head to a train station nearby and wait for our train to arrive. Nao then asks me if I am hungry. She then proceeds to buy station-special food with a look of excitement on her face. This is the very first time I see her making such an expression.

We take an express train, and Nao eats her food on the train. Once we reach the desired station, we get off the train and ride a bus. On the way there, Nao begins to tell me about her past,

"When we were younger I passed the exam of a magnet school for a national university. When I went to tell my brother about it, he encouraged me and spoke of how he was going to make his debut in music soon.

But in the end, I never got to go to school. Our mother, one day, began speaking of a school that my brother and I should be transferred to. My brother couldn't accept it and started retorting her. In the end, our mother got on her knees and bowed to us, begging us to go to the school, claiming that it would help our family's financial situation. After that, my brother couldn't say anything else, and so both of us transferred to the school.

The place looked like a school outside, and I got to make new friends easily. At the end of the day, I was made to take a physical exam of sorts. Even though the two of us were in the same school, we never got to meet each other. Whenever I wanted to look for him, my friends would prevent me from doing so. And so, I was unaware that my brother had become an experimental subject for scientists.

My brother had the special ability to manipulate vibrations in the air at will. He was discovered when he used his power on a live stage to make his guitar make various sounds. Scientists believed that his ability could be used to jam communications, or even jack the airwaves; In the end, I managed to meet my brother after one year, but it was too late by then. He was no longer the brother I knew. He couldn't even recognize me, his little sister, anymore. I had enough of it all and ran away from that sorry excuse of a school.

Afterward, I met the only person I can place my trust in..."

They were sold for money? By their own mother, no less? This is not what I was expecting. Why did she do it? HOW could she do it? How could someone sell her children for money? Forget it, it's the past. What matters right now is who is the guy she met. Before I could ask her about it, she says,

"We've arrived."

We go over to a huge building. Once we're inside, Nao goes over to the reception and says,

"I'm Nao Tomori. I've come to see my brother."

The reception then responds,

"He's in room 12, go ahead."

Nao then asks,

"Can I take him outside?"

To which the reception replies,

"As long as it's within our grounds it's fine."

------

We get to room 12. After knocking on the door lightly twice, Nao slides the door open. What enters my sight is a brown haired guy shouting as he shreds his futon to pieces. Feathers are lying all over the place.

"The painkillers have worn off again...", Nao lightly mutters, as she approaches the bed and presses a button.

"What is he doing?" , I ask.

"Composing. He thinks he is playing the guitar. The grunting is the main melody line.", she replies

A nurse gets to the room after a while and injects the guy with painkillers. She then removes the shredded futon and gets a new one. Once everything is settled, Nao asks her brother,

"Would you like to go outside? The time of the day the scenery looks the best."

The guy just sits on his bed, staring at nothing, his eyes looking lifeless.

------

She sure wasn't kidding when she said the scenery is beautiful. It's dusk at the moment, so the color of the sky fits perfectly with the boundary between the sea and sky. We're standing on a cliff filled with greenery, air gently blowing on us.

"How did you get your brother to such a place?" , I ask her, curious about how she could afford such a place.

"It was all thanks to the person I could place my trust in.", she replies.

------

Once I'm home, I'm met with Ayumi standing there, with a pout on her face. She's clearly displeased with something. Knowing her, I tell her,

"I didn't expect the student council to take so much of my time."

"Oh, you're a part of the student council? It's my first time hearing of this!", she flips moods like a switch.

As she goes back to cooking whatever it was, I begin to think of today's happenings. Based on what Nao said, there is a high chance that Ayumi could have special abilities of her own. If I am to be captured, Ayumi will end up just like Nao...

"It's done!", exclaims Ayumi as she places a plate of curry in front of me.

I grab a spoonful and chew on it. Sweet!

"Could it be... that you used the secret ingredient..."

"It's the secret recipe of the Otosaka household - the pizza sauce!", she exclaims.

------

The next day, I put on my school uniform and headed to the kitchen. There, Ayumi hands me my lunch box for the day.

On the way to school, I give Ayumi another piggyback ride.

Once at school, the guy soaked from head to toe appears once again. All of us head over to the student council room. He drops the water droplet on the map and says,

"The special ability is - Channeling."

Which Nao explains as the ability to bring back dead spirits to the living world. Before we could set off, the guy says,

"There is another - Pyrokinesis."

All of us are alarmed by what he said. Someone that has two special abilities... We head off to the location and meet a bunch of thugs. We inquire from them info about "someone with the ability to talk to dead spirits and control fire". They react suspiciously to our inquiry.

We had to convince them that we were all special ability holders. They then lead us to an underground poker club location. There, before any of us could say anything, Joijiro screams at the top of his lungs,

"YUSARIN!!!"

Yep. The idol girl on TV is here right now... I have a headache already. The guy starts getting creepy, shouting out how he has bought all her CDs and merchandise.

Nao proceeds to introduce herself once we've moved the weirdo out of the way,

"Hello. My name is Nao Tomori. Nice to meet you."

As the idol girl, Yusarin was about to answer, the weirdo reappears beside Nao and says,

"My name is Joij-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he receives a swift kick to his guts as Nao exclaims, "I wasn't asking you!"

The girl seems to be unfazed by this whole ordeal and casually introduces herself,

"Nice to meet you! I am Yusa Nishimori, nicknamed Yusarin!"

Then Nao begins to ask around about some stuff, and we find out the mystery to why she is able to have 2 abilities. It turns out the dead spirit of Yusa's sister can take over Yusa's body using Yusa's power - Channeling. That spirit, whose name is Misa, has the ability of pyrokinesis -Able to materialize and control flames at will.

Turns out that Yusa is facing an issue, and that is that she accidentally discovered scandalous materials on a producer in her company. That's why she is being looked for. To deal with this, we arranged a skit...

------

Yusa, more specifically Misa, waits at an open space for the producer to arrive as the rest of us hide in the shadows. Once they arrive, we see 3 black vehicles. The producer gets off, and with him are four bodyguards.

The producer begins rambling about how he has her cornered and will get rid of her to leave no loose ends, to which Misa scoffs at him and raises her arm, using her pyrokinesis to set one of the bodyguards ablaze.

"I guess I'll get rid of another one.", she says as she sets another one of the bodyguards ablaze.

Misa then raises her other arm and says,

"All I have to do to have a normal life once again is to simply get rid of you guys."

She then waves her hand, and one of the two bodyguards grabs his knife and stabs his own thigh. IT HURTS! My possession goes away, but there is still a lingering feeling of the pain I felt as I stabbed myself with another person's body.

Misa once again waves her arm, and then the only bodyguard left is sent flying, thanks to Joijiro. She then walks towards the producer and punches the air, but the producer feels a punch to his face. She kicks the air, and the producer feels kicked. Yep. It's Nao's ability.

After threatening the man to never repeat his actions, Misa simply walked away from him. Then, all of us meet up and celebrate our success.

Suddenly, I feel a chill up my spine. I look back and see a man dressed in black running away. I sprint in his direction and as soon as I'm about to catch him, his speed increases by a huge margin. Almost as fast Joijiro's speed. I attempt to possess him, but I feel a sudden headache, preventing me from focusing on my ability.

I look forward and notice that the guy has stopped using the abnormal speed. I put all of my strength into my lengths and dash towards him. As I get near him, he suddenly turns transparent. Sensing his movements, I notice him turning around and raising his right arm.

Suddenly, flames start to materialize out of the air, forcing me to dodge and focus my senses on my surroundings. Once the flames have gone away, I look at the place where he used to be and notice him running far away using the abnormal speed once again.

Not willing to let him get away, I put a great deal of force into my legs and jump on top of the closest building. I jump across one building to another as I keep an eye on him. But then, a motorcycle comes out of nowhere and the one riding it grabs the guy's arm, then uses alleyways to drive out of my sight.

Realizing that it's pointless to pursue any further, I come to a stop and begin thinking of what just happened...