I looked at Naoko Soushu in surprise.
"Really?" I cried out. "You have a special power too? What kind?"
Naoko Soushu had a surprised look on her face, as if she had been expecting a different reaction from me.
"I don't think you heard me," she said. "I'm Naoko Soushu, as in the daughter of the Soushu family."
"Yeah, I heard you," I said. "You're the daughter of the Shoyu family. They make that sauce, right?"
"No!" Soushu snapped. "It's Soushu, not Shoyu! What kind of family would have a sauce for a name?"
"Oh," I went. "Never heard of them."
Soushu smacked her palm against her forehead.
I was really clueless about a lot of things back then. But luckily, I was surrounded by people in the know. Including my own cousin.
Yuna tugged at my kimono sleeve and showed me her phone. It read: "The Soushu family is famous. They have a lot of power in the world of superpowered people and psychics."
"So she's like one of those underworld organization princesses you see in games and comics?"
Yuna rolled her eyes and then replied, "Yeah. Something like that."
"That's right," Soushu said, after calming down and regaining her composure. "I could be called a princess, given how powerful my family is. But given that you didn't even know about my family, I take it you really are an artificial psychic?"
I blinked once and said, "I'm a what?"
Soushu sighed and explained, "It means you weren't born with powers."
"Oh," I said. I probably looked like an idiot to her, but I try not to think about that. "Yeah. Before two months ago, I didn't even know that psychic powers were real."
"Was Toshiro the one who gave you that power?" Soushu asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
"And what about you?" she asked Yuna. "Did he give you a power as well? Since you're in the Community Service Club, I'm assuming you have one."
Yuna, however, shook her head. She typed into her phone and showed Soushu, "I was born with my power."
"By the way, Miss Shoyu," I said. "You seem to know Mirai and Omoyo really well, calling them by their first name and all. How are you related to them?"
"Again, it's Soushu. But never mind that," Soushu said. "To answer your question, we grew up together. Our families are all connected to each other and we've gone to the same school since Kindergarten. We got along so well back then. Sometimes I wonder how they're doing. If you don't mind, I'd love it if you could tell me what they've been up to."
"Hmm," I went, rubbing my chin. "There's not really much I can say. If you grew up with him, I'm sure you know how weird Mirai can get. Sometimes he shows up in some random costume, gives us weird nicknames and talks like some comic book villain. Most of the time, Omoyo's the one who signs us up for volunteer work outside school in the weekends. Mirai handles the clubs who come to us for help. We do practice using our powers sometimes, but most of the time is just normal school and club stuff."
"I see, "said Soushu. "What about any plans?"
"Plans?"
"Yes," said Soushu. "Like plans for the future. Has he ever mentioned anything he wanted to do? I'm speaking outside of club activities, of course."
I thought for a bit and then replied, "No," while shaking my head.
"I see," said Soushu. "Then, what about club members? I heard you recently got a fifth member. That is Yuna Oota here, right?"
Yuna nodded and I replied, "Yeah."
"Has there been others who visit the club a lot? Anyone else who wanted to join?"
"We do get a lot of visitors asking for help," I admitted. "But I haven't heard about anyone wanting to join. And Mirai hasn't tried looking for new members after I joined. I guess since he had enough members to make an official club, he lost interest in getting more."
"I see," Soushu said. She looked deep in thought. "So, it looks like you don't know anything after all. I expected as much but . . ."
She mumbled something beneath her breath. I heard what she was saying, but I didn't really get what she was after. For some reason, she reminded me of a detective from a mystery drama I liked to watch. She made the same kind of face the detective made after questioning a witness.
"By the way, Miss. Shoyu, couldn't you just ask Mirai all this?" I said. "You guys are friends, aren't you?"
"Once again, my family name's Soushu!" Soushu said. "And while Toshiro, Homura, Aika and I are friends, we've been so busy with our own thing that we haven't had time to talk. Anyway, we're here."
While we were talking, we had arrived at the nurse's office. Soushu opened the door and there, waiting to greet us was the teacher in charge, a man in a white coat, sitting at a desk. He looked up from some paperwork to see who had come in and said, "What happened now, Oota?"
"I . . . uh . . . got hit in the head," I explained to him.
"Again!?" the teacher exclaimed.
Both Yuna and Soushu blinked.
"Again?" Puzzled, Soushu looked at me and then at the teacher and then asked, "Has this happened before?"
"Oh yeah," I said. "Lots of times. Almost every other day, there's something flying to my face."
"That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" Soushu said. "It can't be that bad."
"It's not an exaggeration," said the teacher. "I've had him rushed here for getting hit by a flying baseball, volleyballs, and soccer balls,"
"Don't forget that one time someone accidentally slammed a door into me," I added.
"I still don't understand how that happened," the teacher spoke back.
"Uwah . . ." Soushu was struck speechless with a baffled look on her face. But she quickly recovered and asked, "Have you always been this unlucky?"
I shook my head. "No," I said. "From middle school to before, I think my luck was pretty normal. At least, I haven't had something fly into my face before I became a student here."
"The way you say it, it's as if this place is a jinx to you," the teacher said, looking dismayed. "Well, it doesn't look like you're hurt, like always. I'll just do a quick check-up and send you on your way."
"I'm in your care, Teach!"
"You seem to be in good hands so I'll excuse myself now," said Soushu.
"Huh? Oh, sure," I went. "Thanks for coming with me, Miss Shoyu."
"It's not Shoyu!" Soushu snapped. "You know what! Forget it. Just call me Naoko. Naoko's fine."
"Oh, in that case you can just call me Hisao," I said. "And this is my cousin, Yuna."
Yuna bowed when her name was called.
"I'll do that," Naoko said. "Well, see you later."
"Later!"
And then she left.
Just to give you a little heads-up, I will not be the only narrator for this story. If we relied solely on my perspective, the full story can't get out. So from time to time, someone else will take over storytelling for a bit.
*****
Naoko
*****
"Unbelievable!" I muttered to myself as I walked briskly down the hall. "Seriously unbelievable!"
After leaving Hisao Oota and his cousin under the care of the teacher in charge of the infirmary, I decided to return to the Student Council office. At this time, there were still students lingering around the hallway. A few saw and greeted me, but most simply passed me by without so much as a glance. I might have allowed comics to influence me a little because I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at how little attention I was getting despite being the Student Council president, let alone that I'm the daughter of the esteemed Soushu Family.
"To think my family name would be mixed up with a sauce! A sauce!"
As I headed down the hall to the stairs, a boy appeared and started following me. I wasn't alarmed because the boy was Eiji Shikouyama, the vice-president of the Student Council and my right-hand man. His family was also a supporter of mine.
"So, did you find out what Mirai's up to?" he asked as we walked to the Council room together.
I shook my head and shrugged.
"Not at all," I said. "Other than the fact he created one new psychic, it seems like Toshiro's not up to anything. At the very least, his new recruits don't know anything. But I expected that."
"Ahem!" Eiji coughed. "Well, it's like I always say, you never know if you don't try. But he must be up to something. You don't just create new psychics for no good reason."
"I know," I said. "But he hasn't made any active effort to recruit followers. He's only got one new member to his club in two months, a natural born who joined on her own. Other than his usual riffraff, he's been very quiet the last few months. I seriously don't like it."
Toshiro was always a bit of a schemer, I thought. It was strange that he hasn't made a move yet, and that worried me. It was like the calm before the storm.
"Well, whatever," I said as I opened the door into the Student Council office. It sat right next to the faculty room and was twice as big as a normal clubroom, which isn't a particularly big room to begin with. "As long as he doesn't get in our way, it doesn't matter what his plans are. And even if he does turn against us, all we have to do is crush him and his merry little band. We will show him, and all the other gangs that oppose us that the Soushu Family does not mess around!"
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