Chapter 5: The Challenge

  I

  “Would you like a study session with us, Saionji-san?” Hina asked with a warm smile toward the pink-haired girl.

  Junshin noticed the camaraderie between the girls already, and was glad to note that the tension that was unfurling from Nanami in waves was starting to ease up and make his mind calmer and more still like a clear lake. A perfect reflection of serenity and peace, of his inner most self of balance, and Junshin tried to meditate and calm himself so that the former tension from before didn’t overwhelm him. Losing her friends was a tough thing for any teenager to go through, but to have that kind of friendship that was invested in for years and to only have it cast aside like it was nothing probably hit Nanami harder than she let on through her cheer and smiles.

  Hina providing Nanami an opportunity to study with them would help Nanami get her mind off of things while also giving her an opportunity to get to know them as people. Of course, Nanami is free to decline and there was no pressure for her to join them—though Junshin valued relationships and knowing other people, because he believed that the bonds and trust that people forged came through all kinds of people through different walks of life.

  “There’s no pressure to, of course,” Junshin said. “Though you’re always welcome to.”

  Rika smiled, before she said, “Besides, we will be glad to help you in your studies or power training or just be friends. We hope to get to know you better, along with you getting to know us.”

  Nanami bowed, he pink side ponytail draping. “T-Thank you so much! Ack! I’ve bit my thunge!”

  “Careful now,” Hina said with gentle laughter, conjuring up a flavored ice pop of various colors in her hand for Nanami to suck on to ease her tongue. “Pick whatever flavor you want, or take them all! I can always make more.”

  “T-Thank you…” Nanami murmured as she took a blue ice pop and begin to suckle on that.

  Hina also conjured up a glass of warm salt water to help with Nanami’s tongue, and Rika clucked her tongue for a few moments before saying, “There is an open position in the Student Council, actually.”

  “Eh?” Nanami said, eyes widened. “Really?”

  “We need an office worker to sort and catalogue our dossiers,” Rika said. “And keep track of internet requests. Kanna was the one that was originally taking care of that for the moment, though having someone who could do that for us would be most helpful. Besides, this is for a future investment and I think you will be a great help to us.”

  “You really think so?” Nanami said, blushing and sucking her ice pop. “Me?”

  “Of course!” Hina said enthusiastically while nodding her head. “Nanami, you’re an intelligent and smart girl that has been doing her coursework in this school. That’s not an easy feat. Though remember, you’re not your powers nor what you do or achieve in your grades, but you’re a kind hearted girl that believes in her friends and wants to do well by them.”

  “We can’t tell you what to do about your other friends,” Junshin said. “Though just be careful, all right?”

  Nanami nodded. “All right.”

  II

  While they helped cheer up Nanami and send her off to her class, Junshin, Rika, and Hina made their way to the Student Council room to discuss their plans there while Shizuya and Kanna came from their separate directions to reconvene in the Student Council Room as well.

  “Okay!” Kanna said, folding her arms across her scrawny chest and glaring at the message that was shot up on the screen. “We’re going to be having a meeting about this, and we need to find out what we should do to discover the thread that leads to the person who sent this message to us.”

  “Is there an inbox or website for the ANGeLS that someone made, correct? Don’t you think there would be a forum about the incident on there?”

  “Take a look yourself,” Rika said. “It would be nice to have another pair of eyes over it.”

  “Please do,” Junshin said, before Hina went to get the laptop that was sitting on an ovular desk in the office and brought it to Junshin to exam. He scanned through the forums, with people usually fangirling the ANGeLS for their service, though there seemed to be one message in particular that stuck out to Junshin.

  “Did you find the message that stuck out, Fujimoto?” Hina said.

  Junshin scanned, his eyes stopping on one message that stood out to him, before saying, “We’re going to revolutionize and reform Tokyo from its former soulless self and inspire the fires of nationalism and patriotism into its heart. The ANGeLS are a nuisance to these plans, and consider this our calling card and challenge to you—if you can’t figure out the mystery behind the psychotic breaks, then we will consider your credibility s a false standing and will do everything within our power to destroy the reputation of SeRAPH, the ANGeLS, and the Symbol of Peace.”

  “This was issued right after the train incident when you came to school,” Rika noted. “At precisely 9:18 AM. Honestly, one could consider this pretty daft, though not for the reasons that you would expect.”

  “Are they that confident in themselves that they will take us down?” Kanna scoffed. “I say bring it.”

  “It’s not the challenge itself that I find insipid,” Rika said. “But rather…hm. I’m committing this message to memory and trying to ascertain the hidden meanings behind it. It’s a pretty straightforward challenge to inspire us to action, though a criminal’s motive is something is important. Why send this to a young high school group of children? Probably because this is an easily impressionable age where people can be directed into certain trajectories for future heroism or crime.”

  “SeRAPH Academy has always been fishing for experimental guinea pigs in their projects,” Shizuya noted. “Yet these criminals or mysterious brotherhood or syndicate of bad guys wanna take advantage of our trade secrets.”

  Rika shrugged. “Makes sense. Though the manager of our website has found potential people to uphold the positive public opinion of the ANGeLS and taking on this challenge is something that we can do.”

  “Do you think that we can manage?” Hina said. “We have another event coming up that involves the party and everything. Not just Junshin-kun’s celebration, but a ceremony for the medal of Kazuki-san.”

  “It’s gonna be a momentous occasion for certain,” Rika said. “Though it would be a perfect time for the criminals to take advantage of such an occasion to do their mayhem.”

  “We won’t let them do it,” Kanna said while striking a palm against her fist. “Because the ANGeLS can do anything!”

  “That’s right!” Shizuya said as he stomped his foot on top of a desk and put a hand on his chin. “We’re the ANGeLS. We wipe up criminals on the floor and kick ass and take names. Don’t you just wanna go out on an all out brawl with those who would disrupt the peace in our peaceful city?”

  “But what can rookie here do that we already can’t?” Kanna said with a mocking sharp gaze toward Junshin as though she dared him to contradict her. “We were doing fine on our own before Kazuki dropped this bombshell on us…”

  “Never mind that!” Shizuya said. “Besides whether or not Fujimoto can haul ass where it matters, what matters is that the teachers are being reluctant to call into action, when we need to DO something about this. The more that they loiter and hem and haw about the situation, the more the political tensions between Natural’s and Psions gets more tense and might lead to an outright riot. We’re Level 5 Calamities! We should be able to take on any mission, though why don’t they send us, if no one else, to do it?”

  “It is prudent to be cautious,” Rika said as she narrowed her silvery blue eyes in concentration as she thought and deliberated her words. “Though I agree that I don’t exactly like being sidelined like the teachers want us to be.”

  “I’ve been taking so many notes about this case!” Kanna said, her eyes alight. “I think I’m onto something.”

  “I have some notes too, if you want to compare,” Junshin said helpfully while holding out his notebook of notes to Kanna.

  “Lemme look,” Kanna said, a look of contempt on her face as she riffled through the notes. She frowned a bit, then hemmed, and humphed, “Well, you may not be a complete idiot, but don’t think this makes you Sherlock Holmes or even Watson, for that matter!”

  Junshin bowed humbly, before the rest of the team reflected together on the whole matter, bantering back and forth about their thoughts and what they wanted to do for their next school-board agenda.

  “What should we do?” Hina said as she thought about it. “It’s obvious the teachers are not going to give us the greenlight to go unless if something is done about it.”

  “We could always sneak and spy on the teachers and listen to what they’re saying to get info,” Shizuya said with a wink.

  Kanna, as an Enforcer, was naturally pissed at this. “What! Breaking the rules! Of course you would, Shizuya!”

  Rika folded her arms before saying, “If we’re not caught, then we might get some good information.”

  Kanna gaped at Rika. “I thought you were a good girl, Kobayashi!”

  Rika smirked. “A good girl is a bad girl who was never caught.”

  “Damn it!” Kanna said. “I don’t wanna be a snitch, but I can’t allow this happen! The rules are the rules! When the teachers say that something is private, it’s private! Besides, we all respect Reito-sensei, right? Why would we do this to him?”

  “We respect our sensei just fine,” Shizuya said with a slight furrowed brow. “What I don’t like is that the other teachers are saying that we’re being sidelined. I’m sure that Reito would understand that we’re the ones that should be out there.”

  “Mm,” Rika said, putting a hand against her cheek as she contemplated things further. “This message that was sent to us…something is rather disconcerting about it and I think it’s a setup to a grand spectacle and manipulate us into making a scene. A damned if we, damned if we don’t scenario. What to do in this sort of situation…”

  “I say we wait for the teachers!” Kanna complained. “Because if we break the rules and act on our own, we’re no good as soldiers or students. We’re meant to listen to our superiors, yeah? Why do you think they have ranks in this classroom of elites?”

  “I get your point,” Rika said. “Though sometimes we need to practice a little independent thinking. We can’t rely on someone else to make the decisions for us. Besides, if we just sit around and do nothing and something does happen, we won’t have the psychological advantage and reputation that the ANGeLS have over criminals. Though we may not be able to be everywhere at once individually and do everything alone, reputation that the ANGeLS can do anything and everything precedes. This is important to instill fear and discipline into the hearts of criminals.”

  “On the other hand,” Kanna said with a frown. “You do know what Reito’s powers are, right?”

  “I’m perfectly aware,” Rika said calmly. “Though I’m sure that Reito-sensei would be our ally in this case. Like you, we admire and respect Reito-sensei, Kanna. We don’t want to impose on his privacy or boundaries, though he holds key intel along with the other teachers that we need if we’re going to embark on a private mission.”

  Kanna crossed her arms, closing her eyes and tapping her foot.

  “Mmph! I’m still not entirely persuaded, but I’ll go along with you all, just in case if trouble happens. Though remember, I told and warned you guys against it!”

  “We’ll take full responsibility,” Rika said with a nod, before she turned to Hina. “Well? You in.”

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  Hina held up a hand, before she grinned. “I think this sounds like a lot of fun! I’m totally in if that’s the case, and besides that, I’ve always been curious what Reito-sensei thinks of us when he’s not acting so stern.”

  Kanna sighed, shaking her head, before Rika, Shizuya, Hina, and Junshin departed from the Student Council room, reluctantly following them as they made their way to the teacher’s office where they could hear low murmuring voices from the door.

  Rika used her enhanced Hearing against the door and gestured for the others to follow suit, secret signalling them through telepathy what was being transmitted them through the sound barrier that was put up meant to keep out probing ears. As an extra layer of protection, the teachers were talking about something out loud that didn’t relate to the real objective, which was going on in a telepathic conversation in their minds. Rika ‘hijacked’, the telepathic conversation so to speak so that everyone else could listen in.

  We can’t let this stand, Setsuna-sensei said, her voice brimming with worry. The psychotic breakdowns, the challenge against the ANGeLS…we can’t let this go on unchallenged. If we do, it would make the school look unprofessional and weak in the eyes of the people. Aren’t we supposed to be protectors of them.

  It’s obvious that we have to do something, Gin-sensei said. Though what to do for that course of action is important. What we do here decides everything. Well, Reito-kun? Have you decided in your Time Anomaly Streams what have happened?

  Not yet, Reito-sensei said. I need to check the various Time Streams and see what’s going on in each of them.

  You’ve seen many Future projections through Olympia Simulator and your own Chronokinetic powers, Setsuna said with some approval. You’ve had the good fortune of being able to mentor many good students, many of which are Rank 5 Calamities…

  Rank is just a number, Reito thought gruffly. Just a fancy title. Everyone has the potential to become a good ANGeLS member through training, hard work, and practice. It’s an important distinction to make here.

  But don’t you think that some students just have that ‘special’ factor to them? Gin-sensei said with a hint of a teasing tone. Kobayashi Rika comes to mind, actually. With her Infinite Telekinesis…

  I’ll admit I’ve seen some pretty interesting cases of students in this school, Reito said. But I respect them all and believe in the mall to become their best selves if we nourish their minds and hearts. I would much rather have a Rank 0 Impotent with a good heart and mind then an incompetent power hungry Rank 5 Calamity. Though of course, Kobayashi Rika is nothing like that, she is…

  Everyone leaned closer, trying to hear more of the conversation.

  The door suddenly opened, and Reito appeared before the students, arms crossed.

  “What are you doing outside this door trying to peer in on our private conversation? Naturally this will have consequences, and you can possibly expect a demerit from your credits if you don’t explain yourself.”

  “It was my idea,” Shizuya said. “No one else’s. I just dragged everyone else along into it.”

  Rika put a hand on Shizuya’s shoulder, before shaking her head. Then she looked Reito in the eye and said, “I had my own contributions to the scheme as well, Sir, so Shizuya should not be solely to be blamed or demerited for this action. However, we wanted a solution to the growing problem of our Telepath X, that issued a challenge to us on the website for the ANGeLS.”

  Reito crossed his arms and leaned gainst the door frame.

  “Oh?”

  “I went along with it too,” Hina said quietly, holding her hands together in a prayer like position. “I was curious and it got the better of me.”

  Junshin said, “I wanted to know for sure what was being discussed and what plans we can enact, if possible, on how to fix the scenario that we have laid out before us.”

  Everyone looked expectantly at Kanna, who simply reddened and said, “I tried to stop them, you know! But I…I also wasn’t doing my job properly and didn’t try harder to stop them. So there y-you have it, I guess!”

  “So you see,” Rika said, “If Shizuya is going to be punished…then so should all of us.”

  Reito sighed. “Trouble some kids.”

  He patted Rika on the head, before he murmured, “You have to have an adult supervising you on this mission, okay?”

  Everyone smiled, before saying, “Okay, Reito-sensei!”

  III

  “We better catch this criminal that issued such a challenge to us! We won’t back down!”

  “I think we should make preparations first,” Rika said. “Though time is of the essence. What are our thoughts?”

  “What I want is that sweet payload,” Shizuya said. “Helping citizens is great and all, but let’s not pretend we don’t do this for the benefits.”

  “That’s a shame,” Hina said with some disappointment in her voice. “The citizens in Tokyo should come first rather than our pay raise.”

  “Hey, you need money too, dontcha,” Shizuya said with a wave of his hand. “Don’t pretend that you’re completely selfless, Hina.”

  “Yes, the money is nice,” Hina said. “Though we all agree that we’ve committed to helping the citizens of Tokyo with our powers. That much we all agreed upon.”

  “True,” Shizuya said, before he downed the rest of the contents of his coffee and put his cup on the tray at the ovular table. "Though who knew that sweet, admirable Hina had a lust for money like the rest of us.”

  “I have my reasons, you know,” Hina said, while she put her hands on her hips and gave Shizuya a mock glare. “It’s for my family!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Shizuya said while waving a hand lazily. “It’s great you have a nice family to do those things for, but for me, I’m looking out for me. I want the power and freedom rise from my former position and make my way to the top.”

  “What do you do the ANGeLS for, Kanna?” Junshin asked.

  Kanna folded her arms and let out a scoff.

  “Well, obviously to catch crooks and bad guys, but I suppose I want to help my father’s detective work.”

  “And you? “Junshin nodded to Rika.

  “Mm…” Rika said as she contemplated and finished the last of her cappuccinno with resplendent toppings of whipped cream and decided to put the empty cup on the table’s center on the tray. “To develop skills and for self-improvement. I want mastery.”

  “Really?” Hina said, looking toward Rika. “Weren’t you working another position before that paid really well?”

  “It became too comfortable and I didn’t believe that my skills would develop there,” Rika said. “Changing environments into more competitive scenes is more important to develop the mastery and skills that you need to become a better person.”

  “Well, true,” Hina said, before she thought about it a bit longer. “Though you worked for your father’s company a bit, didn’t you? How was that?”

  “He expects me to become heiress to his company,” Rika said. “Though I wanted to balance a life of ANGeLS work and school and the company standing to improve its public image.”

  “So, in order to prepare against this challenge,” Rika said while getting everyone on board with the initial agenda. “We have to analyze the contents of the message. We could easily dismiss this as a prank, though taking things like this seriously is what we must do so as not to strain our credibility if it does turn out to be legitimate. But the way that they’re going about this is…hm, shall I say it…unwieldy.”

  “What d’you mean?” Shizuya said. “Stop with your pompous pep talk and make sense, will ya.”

  “You perfectly understand what I mean,” Rika said calmly. “I know you better than that, Shizuya. Anyway, they are talking about a revolution and reforming Tokyo from its former ‘soulless’ self. We need to ascertain whether these are ordinary criminals or whether they are Psion criminals behind this challenge or perhaps a mixture of both. We’ve heard incidents of the train hijackings where people lose consciousness while driving trains…perhaps this is connected to that?”

  “It is too fishy to be a coincidence,” Shizuya said.

  Hina nodded along as she ticked off on her fingers her thoughts.

  “So first, there is the train hijacking that happened due to train driver error. Could possibly be a human error due to actual carelessness or something bigger, part of a development from an organized crime ring that is working smoothly and unseen.”

  “Right, so these supposed psychotic breaks that are taking precedence in the trains and people in Tokyo,” Rika said. “Is an obvious flag or pattern, the modus operandi, if you will, of how our criminal operates. We don’t know what type of power it is, however. Obvious signs point to a telepath user, though one could be an advanced telekinetic user that uses a variety of possibilities to shut down senses or thoughts, or a biokinetic user that causes a temporary illness or inflammation that makes them lose concentration, or an electricity user that can wipe out thoughts…profiling our criminal is going to take some time, but we can narrow it down by taking the cases of the big known criminals that we have in our books and go one by one in the profile books and start to find them.”

  “Did Gin-sensei come back with reports about the dazed train conductors who have been having psychotic breaks?” Hina asked.

  Rika shook her head. “He was determining a theory, though he found no foreign substances in their brain or bloodstream, no unusual foods that were digested, no illnesses or previous history of mental complications that would cause them to lapse like this. We can’t yet say that this is the work of a Telepath user, but if it was, he’s a great user of a wide scale with a scope of the likes we haven’t seen. A Level 5 Telepath User, if you will.”

  “So if I’m getting this correct,” Junshin said while steepling his hands together and narrowing his eyes as he analyzed the data before him through the round room conference table discussion they were having. “We believe that these psychotic breaks are a Psion user, and the message clearly challenged to the ANGeLS through the website might be the same people connected to those incidents. Did we spot anything on the cameras in the Tokyo subways any unusual movements of people among them?”

  “They kept themselves well concealed,” Rika said. “Or perhaps they have a network of people that are operating underneath his command and will. We will, of course, require further investigation, but let’s say it’s a safe assumption that it’s a probable Telepath user that we’re dealing with, and a high level one at that.”

  “How many meters do you think he can operate by?” Shizuya said.

  “I’m thinking,” Rika said, putting a finger underneath her chin and furrowing her brow slightly. “He has to be from a pretty far distance away if he hasn’t been spotted at the scene of the crime. The disadvantage of being such a powerful Telepath is that he probably has to hear the thoughts of everyone all at once, unless if he’s got a steel trap mind to form mental shields to block other voices except the ones that he wants to hear from a great distance, too. Such an opponent is dangerous and should be stopped.”

  “All Psions naturally have the ability to Hear though, right?” Junshin said.

  “Well, obviously,” Kanna scoffed. “Though Hearing through Telepathy is a fine-tuned technique that takes practice and training from a young age. One test for Telepathy involves a child picking up on adult concepts that they theoretically shouldn’t understand yet. Another involves empathetic connection that mirrors the person that they’re around on top of people hearing the child or toddler’s ‘voice’ in their head, a sort of presence trying to explore or sense it.”

  “Though if Psions all have the natural ability to Hear,” Junshin explained calmly. “Shouldn’t we cast out a Telepathic Net to discover this Telepath master himself? Or would that be too dangerous? There is a possibility that he can wipe our memories of him if we do have contact with him or perhaps blow through our mental shields.”

  “That is a possibility,” Rika said as she countered. “Though the possibility of him being a powerful opponent cannot be denied and we must err on the side of caution. Telepaths can be tricky opponents because they can disable the electronics around them and communication devices and satellites in the world if they want to commit a crime, and if this Telepath is on the scale that we think he is…well, let’s called him our theoretical, unnamed Telepath Master.”

  “This Telepath master would’ve been caught, wouldn’t he?” Junshin said, folding his hands and considering things through. “This is a modern day society where people densely populate the area. He can’t have such hyperfocus all the time that he blocks out the thoughts of everyone In the world twenty four seven. So there must be some kind off limit to his abilities that prevent him from outright attacking in the open and mocking the ANGeLS for it. There’s a reason why he has to act in secrecy.”

  “My thoughts, exactly,” Hina said, before she put a fresh tray of warm cookies on the table. “Sorry, got hungry and decided to get us some snacks! Okay, now that we’ve got some sweets to help us think better, what do you think is the better solution—wait to act until we come up with a plan, act decisively and put an end to the Telepath Master’s actions, or just…I don’t know, I think we need to think of something then just sit around talk. I have a family to think about, you know!”

  “Goddamnit!” Kanna said while rolling her eyes. “This is making me groan. It should be obvious but nothing is coming to me! There are so many unknown things that we don’t yet know…but we’re trying to gather evidence from the train conductors and possibly question some locked up Psion criminals who the person could potentially be.”

  “I think that should be our next stop,” Rika said. “To the prison cells and talk to the criminals directly. Some of them slip through the cracks and the ANGeLS have naturally kept the streets of Tokyo mostly crime free, though there is a person running loose who might unleash chaos upon us all.”

  “I know just the contact that we can go to,” Shizuya said with a smirk, while everyone looked dubiously at Shizuya. “What? I have my connections. I won’t say who it is…but I have my reasons…and I won’t tell you where or how I’ve acquired the info. All I will tell you is…I had to do what I had to do.”

  Rika rolled her eyes. “Please, Shizuya. The person you’re talking about is that jackass father of yours.”

  “Yeah,” Shizuya said, and his face scrunched at the mention of his father. “Though he did work in the underworld and knows some of the hidden networks in Tokyo that involves criminal routes and illegal wares. He might give us some good info.”

  “Well, we’ll interview him after we’ve had our school session,” Rika said. “An education is important, you know.”

  “I already know this stuff,” Shizuya complained. “And Rika you’ve probably read the school’s entire library three times over! Do any of us really need to study here? We should be out kicking ass and taking names!”

  “The teachers are keeping an eye on us,” Rika said softly. “We’re one of the few students with Level 5 Calamity Rankings. They want to make sure that we don’t go too out of control with our powers.”

  “Yeah but still, don’t you wanna let loose, at times?” Shizuya said with a grin, inching closer to Rika’s face as she looked nonimpressed. “Cause a little chaos?”

  “I’ve reflected that if I unleashed my powers the entire world be decimated and if it even recovered and there were very few individuals even considered alive from the incident living, it would cause a throwback to cave man civilization without the modern conveniences and technology that we love and appreciate,” Rika said with a prim purse of her lips. “And there is a teacher that can beat all the students at once if they came at him.”

  “Who would that be?” Junshin asked, curious about this individual.

  “Only one of the best teachers in the school!” Kanna said with unexpected admiration in her eyes. “Reito-sensei!”

  “He’s really that powerful, huh?” Junshin said.

  Kanna looked absolutely starry-eyed at this. “He’s just so cool! That jet black hair, those steel grey eyes, and the way that he just postures and holds himself—Reito is a prodigy among prodigies who became an ANGeLS member at five years old and a Teacher at seven, far surpassing everyone else in his age group. He’s a huge inspiration and one of the greatest minds in the school who contributes to the well-being off its student kind, so there is not a SINGLE day that I will not go to my shrine of worship for that man.”

  Junshin blinked.

  Kanna then changed her attitude immediately and said, “Tell anyone else about that, especially Reito-sensei, and you get roasted.”

  “Noted,” Junshin said with a gulp.

  “Well, you’ll get used to the team sure enough,” Hina said with a warm smile, holding onto Junshin’s hand. “We just hope that you’ll stay committed to the cause!”