Let's rewind a bit to maybe around two months ago. I know that flashbacks can be annoying sometimes, but I figured talking about my own origins will add a little context to the story. And now really is the best time for me to talk about myself now that the main cast introductions are out of the way.
It all started a week after I entered high school. The cherry blossoms were still in bloom and I had more or less gotten used to everything. School had ended, and I was walking around the front courtyard. Clusters of kids my age held up signs advertising for their respective clubs. And they were really gung-ho about getting someone to join them. Maybe a little too gung-ho.
Now on a day like this, when clubs will be out scouting for new members, you expect to see large signs decorated to be eye-catching being waved around while members passed out colorful flyers to anyone passing by. You expect to hear boys and girls calling out to the crowd in loud voices, asking if you'd be interested in this club or that? You expect them to hold performances to showcase a bit of what the club does, like holding chess tournaments, basketball dribbling sessions, or handing out free food samples. And they got all of that. What you wouldn't expect, and what I didn't, was how much of a battlefield it turned out to be. And it was a literal battlefield.
There were clubs screaming their heads off at each other to go somewhere else. A girl in a tennis uniform pushed a guy in a basketball uniform to the ground as she made her way to some first years. Teachers were there holding back students in black kendo armor while some first years found themselves playing the rope in three separate tug-of-war games. And at one point, I thought I saw a small dude from the Shogi Club do an elbow drop on a member of the Chess Club.
I kept my head low and my phone out while thinking to myself that I wanted to go home already. The only reason I was sticking around now is because my mom said that I had to absolutely join a club.
"You're in high school now," she said. "Go spend time outside with other people. Socialize!"
Being the good son I am, I listened to her. It certainly wasn't because she threatened to cut off the internet. So there I was, looking around for a club to join. But none of the clubs I'd encounter so far really fit what I'm going for. Just looking at me, you could tell that I wasn't the sporty type. I also didn't really have any talent for the arts. I considered joining a board game club, but those clubs were aiming for championships so I passed. I wasn't really a fan of traveling for those things, and I wasn't confident my skills would be up to snuff.
So, as you could see, I was having a hard time finding the right club for me. That was when I was approached by three students. They were Mirai, Omoyo, and Isaneko.
"Hey there," Mirai said. "The name's Toshiro of the Mirai Family. I'm a second year. This here's my childhood friend, Homura, also a second year, and our other friend, the esteemed Lady Isaneko."
The girl called "Lady Isaneko" scowled. "Please stop it with the 'esteemed Lady' stuff, Toshiro," she said. "It's embarrassing."
"Whatever," Mirai said. And then he turned his attention back to me. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd be interested in joining our club. We're pretty much brand new and need one more member to become official."
"Uh . . ." I went. Although I figured they had approached me to have me join their club, I couldn't think of anything to say at first and hesitated. But after getting back my wits, I asked, "What kind of club is it?"
Mirai had a big smile on his face when he answered.
"I'm glad you asked," he said. "Ahem! We are the Community Service Club!"
"The . . . Community Service Club?"
"Yeah," Mirai said. "The name pretty much spells it out. We're a club that does volunteer work for the community."
"And what exactly would I have to do?" I asked. That may have come out wrong, but I couldn't help it. I never really cared about joining any clubs to begin with.
But to my surprise, Mirai said, "Nothing. Like I said, we just started the club and are desperate for members. As long as you sign up, you can come and go whenever you want and use our clubroom however you want. As long as you don't break any school rules, that is. Hell, you could just sit around and play games all you want there."
I had to admit, with a sales pitch like that, I couldn't turn them down. I said I'd be interested and they took me to their club room.
"Great!" Mirai said, smiling. "By the way, what's your name?"
When I first saw them, I thought Mirai, Omoyo, and Isaneko were normal students. Mirai seemed really sociable, Omoyo looked tomboyish, and Isaneko felt like an old-fashioned lady, but that was about it. So I never really had my guard up and just told them my name. Little did I realize from Mirai's happy-go-lucky smiley face, lurked a sinister spirit.
Now, before entering high school, I had only ever seen clubrooms in TV shows, but the room Mirai and the others took me to was a lot smaller than I thought it'd be. I actually felt a little claustrophobic going in. It'd probably be a little more roomy without the pair of bookshelves at one side and those plastic storage boxes at the other. I was a little curious about what was inside those boxes, but kept to myself like always.
"Welcome to your new home!" Mirai said. "Now that we're here, let's just cut to the chase and have you sign the entry form."
"Sure thing," I said. "Oh, no need to lend me a pen. I got my own."
I pulled a ballpoint pen from my pocket and placed it on the table. While I sat down, Mirai reached into one of the desks, and then stopped.
"Hmm," he went. "That's strange." He shoved his arm further into the desk and felt around. "I was sure I put them here."
I guessed he was looking for the entry form for me to sign, but couldn't find any.
"Let me try the bookshelf," he muttered as he got up and moved. He looked at the shelves up and down and then went, "Aha! There they are!"
I looked up to see him pointing at thick, green binder that sat at the very top of the shelf. That was probably where the forms were usually kept. Now that he had found what he was looking for, all he had to do next was to grab it, but it looked like he was having a hard time reaching it. I got off my seat thinking I should go help him, but then -
"Whoa!"
Mirai's hand finally caught the binder, but as he pulled it off the shelf, he lost balance and fell. But before he hit the floor, he stopped midair and slowly floated back up. A chair moved on its own and stopped right beneath him for him to make a gentle landing. The binder, meanwhile, flew over to Isaneko and entered her hands.
"Phew!" Mirai said. "That was a close call. Thanks, Lady Isaneko."
I quietly stared, unable to process what I had just seen.
"What . . . was that?" I asked. "Y-you were falling, but then you weren't, and then you went all floaty like a balloon. And then the binder just flew into Isaneko's hands on its own. And then you thanked her. Wait, does that mean that floaty thing was her doing? That was your doing, Isaneko? You did all that floaty stuff? Does that mean you have superpowers?"
"Homura?" Mirai said while he and the others stared at me.
"Yeah, Toshi?" Omoyo said.
"Lock the door."
"Huh?" I went. "Wait, what?"
I turned around, but Omoyo had already reached the door and locked it. And then she picked up a baseball bat that had been left at the nearby corner, tapped it on her shoulder and leaned against the wall.
"Sorry, Hisao Oota," Mirai said. "But you just saw something that you shouldn't have. Now we can't just let you leave."
"Wait, what?" I cried out. You can imagine just how scared out of my mind I was. "Yes you can. Just open the door and let me out."
"Sorry," said Mirai, "but there's a chance you'll tell someone about our superpowers, and we can't have that."
"I won't tell anyone!" I shouted. "I swear! I promise!"
"I wish I could believe you," Mirai said. "I really do. But there's no way to be sure you'll keep your promise or not."
"Wait, Mirai," Isaneko suddenly cut in. "I have an idea that may benefit both sides."
Mirai turned his gaze to Isaneko and said, "I'm listening."
"If Hisao Oota has powers, he would be in the same boat as us," she said. "That way we'll all go down together if he tells anyone about our powers. And I'm sure he doesn't want that, right? Right, Oota?"
"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" I went.
"Hmm." Mirai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You have a point. Alright! Today's your lucky day, Hisao Oota. You're about to get an opportunity that most people could only dream of. I will give you superpowers. And in return, you will tell no one about our secret. There's no room to negotiate, and you can't back out of this deal. Of course, you will have to join the Community Service Club as an official member. But you were going to do that, anyway."
And that was how I, Hisao Oota, became a psychokinetic, basically a guy who can shoot psychic energy beams out of his hands among other things. There are a bunch of other stuff I could do with psychic energy, but we'll leave that for another time.
Huh? What's that? You want me to tell you what Mirai did to give me my powers? Sorry, but no can do. I signed a contract, so I can't say a word about that. All I can tell you is that Mirai can give people superpowers and that's it.
So, from then on, I was a member of the Community Service Club. We met in the clubroom everyday after school to just hang out and do our homework and stuff. Once in a while, we help out other clubs when they're short on people for something. And on the weekends we're out with volunteers to clean up litter off streets and parks. And that was my life in a nutshell. There weren't any major incidents, no drama, no conflicts of any kind. It was just regular, boring, peaceful everyday stuff. And I was cool with that.
Of course, I had to practice to know how to keep my powers under control. But that was it. And after a few days, moving around psychic energy just felt really natural to me.
Okay! Now that we're all done talking about me, let's get back to the present.
**********
Mirai leaned forward with a wide, almost sinister-looking grin on his face. He rested his chin on his hands and stared directly into Yuna's eyes, awaiting her answer. She stared into them for a moment, and then pulled out her smartphone. When she was done typing into it, she hit a button with her thumb and held the phone out towards the president. The computer's lady voice read out her answer.
"Granting me powers is unnecessary. I am already one of you, someone with a power."
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