*****
Hisao
*****
After being checked over at the nurse's office, I returned to the gym, got changed and then headed to the clubroom. I had Yuna go ahead of me to wait at the clubroom since it seemed better than waiting at the nurse's office. When I got to the clubroom, Omoyo checked to see if I was okay and asked me what I talked about with Naoko. I told her everything.
"Huh? Friends!? With her!?" Omoyo looked at me in disbelief.
"Now don't be like that," said Isaneko. "We were all sort of like friends to her, growing up. Although I'm surprised she would still call us that, after breaking away from her faction."
"Factions? What's up with that?" I asked.
"It's exactly what it sounds like," Isaneko said. "I'm sure you already know this, but we're not the only psychics in this town." After looking at my face, she corrected herself. "Never mind. You don't know."
"This town has a deep history with psychics," Mirai said. He was sitting at the head table like usual with his feet kicked up while wearing his usual cape and domino mask. "It used to be ruled by the Shirogami Clan, the most powerful clan of psychics in the country. Thanks to them, this town became sort of like a secret capital for Japanese psychics. But with the town growing over the years, a lot of psychics who came to live here split themselves into different groups."
"And one of those groups is the Soushu Family?" I asked.
Mirai nodded.
"That's right," he said. "I heard that the Soushu Family lived in this town for about as long as the Shirogami Clan, but they weren't all that powerful. They started to gain influence fifty years ago thanks to the leader's work in politics at the time. I think Naoko's mom is a member of the National Diet."
"A member of the National Diet!?" I cried out. "Get out of here! You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"
"No, it's true," said Omoyo. "I have an uncle who works closely with her mom back at the big city."
"If Omoyo says so, I guess it's true," I said.
"Ah, it hurts, Underling Hisao," Mirai said softly, with a high, shaky voice. "It hurts how you don't believe what I say until someone else says so."
I ignored him and his cartoony acting.
"But with a mom like that, what's Naoko doing in a town like this, going to a school like ours?" I asked. Don't get me wrong. My hometown is a pretty nice place, and up to date with most modern cities. But, it's still a bit of a small town when compared to places like Tokyo.
Mirai recovered from his earlier injury to the heart and answered my question.
"Well, like I said, this town's sort of like a capital for the country's psychics," he said. "So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that controlling this town is the same as controlling the country. You'd be surprised by how much pull supernatural powers has in politics. Because of that, lots of the people living in this town is connected to a powerful family or organization, or whatever."
As I sat back in my chair, taking all this new info in, a thought crossed my mind that filled me with a sense of dread.
"Say, Pres," I said.
"Yes, Underling Hisao?" Mirai said. "What is it?"
"With all this talk about different groups, control of this town, and control of the country, us in this club aren't going to get mixed up in some big trouble are we?"
"What are you saying, Oota?" Omoyo cut in. "You make it sound like there's some big war brewing over the horizon. This isn't some comic book. Sure some groups don't get along with each other, but we still got the Shirogami Clan. If there's ever a problem, they'll butt in and put a stop to it."
"But I think his worries are warranted," Isaneko said. "With the way things are going lately, you have to wonder just how long the peace in this town will last. And you heard Mirai. It USED to be ruled by the Shirogami Clan. They're still around and still play a big role in the town's shape, but they're not as powerful as it used to be. Not to mention having our newest recruits join in helping the Kendo club even though they're both complete amateurs leads me to suspect that something is up. It's as if you're getting them ready for battle, Toshiro."
Omoyo snorted.
"This is just stupid," she said. "Come on, Toshiro. Tell her she's overthinking things."
All our eyes were on the guy who brought us all together. To our surprise, he threw off both the cape and the mask and rest his chin on his clasped hands as he leaned forward while facing us all.
"I will admit that Aika has a point," he said.
Oh my god, I thought. He was talking properly in the clubroom, and he wasn't even using nicknames anymore! This must be serious.
I swallowed hard and tried to listen, but it was hard because of my heart beating loudly against my chest. And from my back, nervous sweat broke out.
"Things have been heating up lately between the Soushu Family and another group," Mirai admitted. "Naoko told me herself. But I also don't think we have to worry. Even though we have superpowers, we're still a bunch of high schoolers in a small high school club. As long as we keep going on with our normal lives, there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
And then he got off his chair, put back on the cape and mask, and gave us a twirl, throwing the cape to flutter at his right.
"That's right!" he said, all melodramatic. "No matter the dangers, or the evil that comes our way, I will keep you safe. So this demon lord swears."
He broke out in loud, bold laughter and then sat back down, pulling a sheet of paper out from his desk.
"Anyway, moving on," he said, "this weekend we'll be going by the riverbed and join other volunteer groups to pick up litter. The cleanup is supposed to start at 9, so we'll meet up by the bridge at 8:30. That's it for today. Dismissed!"
Done with his announcements, he threw off his cape and mask once again, straddled his bag over his shoulder and rushed out the door before anyone could stop him.
He clearly didn't want our earlier talk about warring factions to continue, but there was nothing any of us could do about it now that he had fled. So, we decided to give up, gather our things and go home.
When me and Yuna got home, my mom asked how our day. She had us sit on the couch in the living room.
"Are you okay, Yuna?" she asked when I told her that we helped out the Kendo club. "You didn't push yourself too hard did you?"
But Yuna just shook her head. She never did all that much except do a few practice swings. The rest of the time, she just watched me and the others spar with the Kendo club members.
And then I told Mom about the club's plan for the weekend. She was, of course, worried for Yuna. Because Yuna had been in the hospital for a long while, Mom probably thought she shouldn't move around too much. I thought there was nothing to worry about, though. As far as I saw in gym class, Yuna didn't have any problems. Yuna also said to Mom that she was fine.
Still, despite assurances from Yuna, Mom was not at ease. She did, however, give her okay for Yuna to join the club for our weekend volunteer work so things ended up as well as they could be with her.
And then the day of our cleanup of the riverbed came.
Apart from all five of us from the Community Service Club, close to a dozen people showed up for the cleanup, including a few elderly people, two of whom were a pair of high school sweethearts married for more than sixty years. Other than the CSC, the old couple were the most frequent volunteers. They probably had nothing better to do on the weekends.
When the old man saw me, he smiled and said, "Well, if it isn't the aloha shirt boy. How are you doing?"
Most of the grownups I run into on the weekends know me as the aloha shirt boy because, well, I always wear button-down aloha shirts. They're comfy, so I like wearing them.
After a little bit of small talk with me, the elderly couple went over to the people in charge of today's cleaning to grab what they needed. Each and every one of us was given a pair of long, stainless steel tongs and a plastic garbage bag and then sent off to find a place by the riverbed to scour for garbage. After getting brief greetings and getting our cleaning supplies, we went straight to work.
Us high schoolers took a space closer to the hill along with the old people, while the fitter grownups took the spaces closer to the river. There were also two men on lookout. By their feet were bags with letters that read: "LIFEGUARD". The organizers probably didn't want anyone accidentally falling into the river and drowning.
It was a bit hot out, but having grown up in this town, I was used to it. Yuna seemed to be holding up well, but I kept an eye on her just in case. Mom wouldn't let me hear the end of it if anything were to happen.
If this were a TV show, this would normally be the part where cheery, lighthearted background music, maybe from a guitar, is played while a montage of event stills showed our happy faces as we chat with each other and goofed around a little during our work. But this was reality. Sure there were some smiling faces to go with friendly chats among the volunteers, but to me, there was nothing really to smile about about while toiling under the sun, picking up garbage that stupid, litterbug jerks couldn't take care of themselves. And with my hands full, I couldn't take out my phone and fiddle with it.
Not too far away, kids gathered by the stream, playing soccer. There was also a family having a picnic nearby on a bright pink cloth. And joggers ran by along the edge of the hill topside.
After half an hour of sifting through grass and weeds, a question suddenly popped into my head and I had to ask it.
"Hey, by the way," I said, "what sort of power does Naoko have?"
"Oh? Taken an interest in the Student Council President, have you Underling Hisao?" Mirai said, while rubbing his chin with an evil grin. "Perhaps you hope to find a weakness of some sort with which to trip her up as you start your own world conquest."
I scowled at Mirai and said, "I was just curious. It's no big deal if you don't tell me."
I turned around and started to look for garbage again, but Mirai said, "Alright, alright! My bad. It's not that big of a secret, anyway. To answer your question, Naoko's an Omni-Kinetic Type."
I looked up and went, "A what?"
"Omni-Kinetic means she has more than one type of kinetic power," Omoyo explained. "You know how you only have psychokinesis and Aika only has telekinesis?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Well, Soushu has both," said Omoyo. "She can move things with her mind and make that Psy-Armor thing. Not only that, she can make and control fire, water, ice and wind. She can shoot lightning out of her fingers. And I think she also has healing powers."
"Wow," I said. "I didn't even know it was possible to have more than one power, let alone a whole bunch like that."
"There are actually quite a lot of psychics who're Omni-Kinetic, actually," said Mirai. "Most of the most powerful families in the world of psychics have Omni-Kinetics. Though being born Omni-Kinetic is really rare, major families like the Shirogami Clan can create Omni-Kinetics. I'd like to know how they do it, but security is so tight that there's no way for me to find out. Well, gotta make do with what you can get."
"Now that I think about it, where'd you learn to give people powers in the first place?" I asked. "That doesn't sound like something just anyone can do."
But Mirai held a finger to my face, wagged it and said, "That, my friend, is classified. Anyway, I have to go talk to the organizers about where we'll go next week. Do you guys think you can handle things without me for a bit?"
"Honestly, I think we'd do a better job with you gone," Omoyo said.
Mirai whistled and said, "Harsh. Well, see you guys later."
And then he walked away towards the shade beneath the bridge where the organizers' table was stationed, as well as the first aid table. After watching him leave us for a bit, we turned around and went back to looking for litter.
As I brushed aside weeds with my tongs, not for the first time, my thoughts drifted to imaginations for what I could do with my power. I already knew that I could create armor for myself. And I could shoot psychic energy missiles. But maybe there was even more I could do, like stretch my Psy-Armor to cover whatever I hold and turn it into a sword or make extra hands to work in place of telekinesis. I mean, if I could make a wall out of psychic energy, I should be able to do stuff like that, right?
That was when I encountered a semi-crushed soda can lying behind some weeds. I decided to put my power to the test, just a little bit, to see if it was possible.
I looked right. And then I looked left. With the coast clear, I held out my hand and tried to imagine it stretching towards the can on its own to pick it up. Space rippled around my hand and, just like I imagined, extended towards the can. The point of the clear ripple wrapped itself around two sides of the can much like fingers would and slowly lifted the can off the green grass.
It's working! I thought excitedly. It's actually working!
And then someone screamed.
"I didn't do it!" I cried out as my concentration broke and the can dropped back down onto the grass.
I turned around, but no one was looking at me. Omoyo, Isaneko, and Yuna were all staring at the river, along with everyone else, I noticed. They were all really pale and Yuna and Isaneko both had their hands cupped over their mouths. I turned around again to see what at the river captivated them so much, and saw what looked like a person in the river.
With so many people blocking my view, I thought that some idiot was doing backstrokes in the river while fully clothed. I could tell by the clothes and general outline that the person was a man. But as he continued to drift down the river, I got a clearer view of what everyone else was seeing.
I was right that the person in the river was a man, but he was not swimming. No, far from it. The way he looked, how it made me sick to my stomach made it clear to me, without a shred of doubt, that he was dead.
I was looking at a corpse.
As the corpse passed us by, I could hear heavy breathing nearby. Although the corpse was a horrific sight, too terrible for me to describe, I had to turn around. The one breathing heavily was Yuna. Her eyes, so very wide, so very fearful, and so very wild, were fixated on the corpse as it drifted away. And then all of a sudden, she screamed. She screamed and screamed, and screamed, gripping her head tightly between her hands.
None of us, especially me, could do anything or say anything to her as a terrible shriek spilled out of her throat. And then, when she couldn't scream anymore, she fainted on the spot.
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