Chapter Two

Skyscraper

The morning went by like a breeze.

Second period was a typical after-summer class. The teacher spent more time conversing with students about their summer vacation than he did talking about the syllabus. We didn’t have a teacher for third period, so Miss Fujioka returned to substitute. She told us to self-study. Since it was the start of the semester, everyone simply pretended to read their books.

Life for Overseers wasn’t always this lax.

If we lived a hundred years ago, we’d be out in the field, punching monsters in the teeth— and probably dying in the process.

It’s hard to justify what the previous generation did to give birth to our kind. Perhaps it was desperation, or perhaps it was greed, a thirst for power that needed quenching. Now here we are, the sons and daughters of humans that transcended humanity, lost in the confines of a “typical high school life.”

“So, what’s your power, S-class-kun?” Kenta didn’t seem to care too much about Fujioka-sensei leading the class. Everyone else was keeping to themselves, but the blonde second year somehow found the urge to talk to me. It also didn’t bother him that he stood two seats away from me.

I tilt my handbook back. “I can read minds.”

Everyone in the class visibly flinched. Even the teacher nearly dropped her phone.

“Whoa, are you serious? That’s incredible!” Kenta said.

“Yep. Right now I can tell that everyone thinks you should shut up and keep reading.”

That got a few chuckles from everyone, Miss Fujioka included.

“Hey man, that’s mean.”

“I’m sorry,” I shrug. “It’s a gift and a curse.”

“I think you’re lying, though. If you could really read minds, then you would have been able to tell that I wasn’t reading in the first place.”

“I heard that!” Fujioka-sensei shouted.

“He’s reading a manga.” I say, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Wrong!” Kenta replied. “It’s a light novel.”

“Same difference,” Fujioka rolled her shoulders. “Get to reading, Yoshida-kun.”

For his part, Kenta gave the teacher the respect she deserved. He shrunk in his desk, raised his shoulders, and replaced the light novel in his hand with— another light novel.

“Seriously though, what kind of power do you have?” he asked again.

“You do realize that everyone can hear you, right?”

“Who cares, everyone is curious either way. But I’m the only one here with the guts to ask.”

“If I tell you what it is, will you let me continue reading?”

“Sure.” he replied, happy. “But we both know you aren’t really reading. You’ve been staring at that page for fifteen minutes.”

“Can’t help it. I’m a slow reader.”

“So, so what is it?” he leaned closer to me, which looked awkward because, again, we were two seats away from each other. Everyone between us was listening to our conversation, along with probably everyone else in the class as well.

“Saltus.” I say. “I can instantaneously move around and stuff.”

“What, super speed?”

“Nope. I can go from point A to point D without going through B and C.”

There was an audible gasp in the room. Students shuffled uncomfortably in their seats, and some even turned to glance at me, as if to check if I was real.

“Teleportation.”

“No. Saltus. There’s a difference.”

“And what is that, exactly?” he asked, hungry for more information.

“My power comes at a cost,” I said dramatically. “Every time I perform a Saltus, the nearest blonde guy ends up spending his Valentine’s Day alone.”

The class laughed at Kenta’s ire, and even I found myself smiling.

“I’m surprised you’re so comfortable telling us this.” a third voice entered the conversation.

The girl in front of me turned around to meet my gaze. When I arrived in second period, the teacher asked everyone to briefly reintroduce themselves for my convenience. I memorized the names and faces of anyone who seemed important.

This was Kimiko Ueda, the class representative. She offered me a friendly, if not fiery smile, before throwing Kenta an equally intimidating glare.

“Shouldn’t you be keeping your power a secret? Now I’m sure everyone else is thinking of ways to beat you.”

“It’s fine.” I shrug. “I was planning on staying low, but some idiot forced my hand this morning.”

I flip the page of my handbook, my eyes ignoring the words.

“Plus it gives me more of a challenge when people know what I’m capable of. Evens the odds a bit.”

[---

There are a lot of places to eat on this campus. Autumn Forest is sponsored by both the government and large privately owned corporations. You can find every single fast food joint in the school cafeteria, along with a few fancier establishments as well.

For my part, I have my own packed lunch, bought from a convenience store near my apartment.

Kenta invited me to eat with him and his friends, but I politely declined. I’d rather spend my first lunch alone, to get a better feel of the school. Plus, I don’t want to be associated with anyone just yet. It’s not a matter of not wanting to make friends, but more like— I just want to be alone for a bit. It’s easier to get a feel out of the campus without the bias of acquaintances.

I walk around campus for a bit, holding my wrapped bento in my hand, not really knowing where to go. I could just eat in the cafeteria with everyone else, but I’d rather be outside. I considered going to a rooftop, but there’s a good chance that people are already eating their lunch there. Still, the campus is pretty much a small city, I’m sure there are plenty of places I can go to.

Eventually, my eyes catch sight of the tallest building around.

The radio tower was a giant among dwarves. It stretched toward the blue sky, hundreds of meters of red steel, like a needle pointing toward a blue canvas. It swayed and shuddered slightly in the wind as clouds raced past its peak.

Yep.

That’s where I’m eating my lunch.

The world froze around me and I looked toward the radio tower’s peak. The world warped and spun, turning into a mosaic of colors and shapes. In the next second I find myself hundreds of meters in the air, standing on a steel platform no wider than two meters.

“Looks like an observation deck.” I say to myself as the wind blows around me, sending my blazer flopping around everywhere. The wind is cold but not overwhelming.

The view is nothing short of spectacular.

The city bloomed around me, a carpet of grey and black and silver, while the sea and the sky mixed together in the distance. Everything seemed so small from way up here.

But this view was nothing compared to the sight of the girl sitting crossed-legged on a platform just above me. Her mouth was open and her blue eyes, hidden behind a pair of thick glasses, were wide with surprise. The shrimp between her chopsticks was close to her lips, but she didn’t seem willing to eat it.

“Uh— hello.” she said apprehensively.

“Hi.” I replied, not really knowing what to say.

She narrowed her eyes and ate the shrimp, her gaze leaving my own. She watched the city and continued to eat her lunch, her attention now away from me. As the wind blew, her hair danced.

Time stopped and I perform a Saltus to appear on the platform beside her.

She didn’t bother acknowledging what I just did and instead continued to eat her lunch.

“It’s a nice view, don’t you think?” I asked her, leaning on the railing to stare at the city beyond.

She nodded, continuing to dig into her bento. Its contents were way fancier than what I had. I could probably trade ten of my bento for one of hers.

“Yes. I often come here when I want to be alone.”

“Ahh.” I said, crossing my legs to sit down beside her.

“Uh, what are you doing?” her voice was silk, soft but hard enough to demand respect.

“Enjoying the view.” I said, smiling and glancing at her. “I like high places, and this looks like the highest place in the campus.” I framed the city with my fingers. “Plus it gives me a perfect view to plot my evil plan to take over this city. See that place over there, the place with all the bright lights?”

“Akihabara?”

“Yep. I’ll start there. Take over the manga and anime industry, to spread my world through popular media! It’s 2075 and the foreigners still love the stuff, right?”

“You are very ambitious.” she replied. “But as President of this school, I’ll have to put an end to your nefarious plans, psychopath-kun.”

“It’s Kimura.” I tell her.

“Psychopath-kun has a better ring to it, don’t you think?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Then I’ll just call you Megane-chan.”

The girl sighed, her blazer curling and waving from the strong winds that surrounded us.

“This is— I’m not sure what I should be doing here. Hmmm.” she placed the chopsticks to her chin and stared at the sky. “I should definitely be acting a bit more proper around you, but it’s not like anyone’s around so— hmmm— I’ll just be straightforward. I want you to leave.”

“Not happening.”

“Damn it.”

I unpacked my lunch as she contemplated. The whiff of cooked, convenience store bento entered my nostrils. I said a prayer and started digging in, and for a time, we said nothing to each other.

“It must be hard, being the president.” I said in a lame attempt to start a conversation.

“That’s true.” she replied. “I have to deal with teleporting idiots trying to ruin my lunch.”

“Did you just call me an idiot? Wow. That’s not something I expected to hear from the school president. You looked so prim and proper during your speech a while ago. And, for the record, I’m not here to ruin your lunch. This is all a coincidence, really.”

“A coincidence.” for some reason she smiled.

“Yes, a coincidence. How was I supposed to know that you were up here? I thought people like you ate in fancy restaurants for lunch.”

“That sounds inconvenient.” she scowled. “I have a lot of things to attend to. I’d waste too much time leaving the campus and—”

“—heh.”

“That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

“Mmm—hmm.”

She smiled warmly once again, before her eyes continued to gaze across the vast cityscape before us.

The moment we shared could easily be described as romantic. Two people, a young boy and a young girl, sitting on top of the world watching the world and sky and the distant sea.

The moment lasted for a good two seconds before her phone began ringing, and playing a loud unromantic, English pop song.

‘So tell me what you want, what you really, really want—‘

Her ladylike composure disappeared in a whiff as she struggled to shut off her phone. The song continued to play for five more seconds before she practically crushed the phone in her hand.

“He— Hello!?” she said.

“What the hell was that song?” I ask, suddenly questioning everything I know about the world.

“Very well, I understand.” she spoke to the person on the other end with careful, ladylike grace. Almost like she was a different person. “I’ll be there soon. Miyamori’s there? Please tell her to prepare—”

I take out my own phone and connect to the internet. I change the keyboard language to English and start typing in, ‘tell me what you want—”

“Okay, thank you so much, Tachibana-san.” she quickly shut off her phone and stood up, wrapping and closing her bento before shoving it into her bag.

“Wow, the song was published in 1996. That’s almost eighty years ago.” I say out loud, reading through the Wiki page of the song that just played on her phone. “I didn’t know that they had songs like that back then. It’s pretty catchy, isn’t it, president?”

She didn’t reply with words, and instead simply glared at me from behind her glasses. She frowned, her blue eyes narrowed, but there was no real malice behind her gesture.

“Tell anyone about this and I’ll hurt you.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a proper lady?”

“I am. That’s why I said ‘hurt’ instead of ‘kill’.” she replied, a hand on her hip, her skirt swirling in the wind. “But—” she almost seemed vulnerable. “—ah, whatever you wouldn’t understand.”

I looked up at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, president. Your secret’s safe with me.”

She scoffed and crossed her arms.

“Just keep quiet about this, please. You sound like a friendly enough person, Kimura-kun. So I trust you with this.”

“You called me Kimura.” I pointed out. “What happened to psychopath?”

The corners of her lips lifted into a smile. “I’m just trying to get on your good side.”

I found myself smiling as well.

“I have things to attend to.” she said. “If you excuse me, Kimura-kun. Please, enjoy your lunch.” She turned around and placed a hand on the railing. “And don’t return here tomorrow. I quite enjoy the peace and quiet.”

“Is that an order, president?”

“A request.”

“Well, I choose to ignore it.” I say, picking at a stick of yakitori.

“Whatever. I’ll put you in your place, soon enough.”

“Another unladylike thing to say. But I’ll be looking forward to that, either way.”

She scoffed loudly and puffed her chest, before suddenly disappearing in a blur of blue. What she did completely took me by surprise. I nearly dropped the yakitori as I stood up to reach over the railing, my eyes instinctively scanning the campus faraway below.

I spot her not a moment later, her long, braided hair standing out amidst a crowd of shorter-haired students. She looked over her shoulder, up at the radio tower, as she continued to stroll. I can’t read the expression on her face, and I really don’t care, but her glance caused me to smirk.

“The only other S Rank in the school, eh?” I sigh. “Ah well, at least I have blackmail material on her.”

I unlock my phone, go to my favorite music store, and start downloading the song. It may come in useful at some point.