Prologue: Begining of a Certain Esper - Level_0
The sun shines above Academy City.
Even so, the rays of light fail to illuminate a certain urban alley, for some light is needed in that darkness.
As by-passers move by, most of them in student uniform, their attention is lured to the alley.
"Who are you waiting for again? I'm pretty sure whoever they are, they won't show up. That said, why not hang around with me and my friends? Heh heh heh."
A group of 5 thugs are gathered around a schoolgirl. The helpless schoolgirl is against the drabbed wall, frightened. Her only action is staring at the ground, as if a way out will present itself on that concrete.
By-passers stop as they witness the situation. But one by one fled because they lack the strength to do anything. The only thing they did is leaving with a pained expression.
"This looks bad. Maybe we should call Judgment." whispered by a couple who stopped across the street.
The situation looked grim for the schoolgirl. For every by-passer who has gone by, her hopes of rescue dwindles. Her eyes tear up from hopelessness.
"Aww.. don't cry, I promise you we will treat you nice."
"Yeah! Real nice, if you get what I mean! Aha haha."
After saying that, the thug and proceed to grab the girl. As his hand reached closer to the distressed girl, a sharp call came out of nowhere.
"THIS IS JUDGMENT! DON'T RUN!"
This call is similar to that of a megaphone and it echoed through the alley and everyone froze in their movements.
The thugs were shocked as they stared at the end of the alley.
*Tap tap tap tap!*, footsteps were heard as it got closer and closer to the alley.
Now, the attention of the girl is also directed at the end of the alley.
*Screech*, the sound of rubber sliding on concrete.
That screech was made by a guy, a runner perhaps, as he made a quick turn into the alley and continued with his mad dash in.
This guy, the mad dasher, was in fact our protagonist who is he being chased by Judgment, but why? Why is our protagonist being pursued by the police force Judgment?
Worry not, let us take a look awhile back before this "situation".
Saturday, June 22nd.
It was an hour to noon time.
The streets weren't crowded with people, but it was not empty too. Half of them are in their school uniform even though it is a weekend. It is likely the people with uniforms have extra classes to take.
Among those were 2 friends heading to a certain meeting. One of them was our protagonist, Ian Khaw. His hair is short and black and his eyes are dark brown.
White T-shirt with a short sleeve, red checkered, button-down shirt over it, unbutton of course. Black jeans and dark sports shoes. These are his attire in that morning.
"So this meeting we're going now, it is located in the Seventh Smith?" questioned Ian.
"Yeah, didn't you know they had meeting rooms there?" spoke the other friend.
They stop at a pedestrian crossing. The reason is because the light was red for the pedestrian crossing.
"Hmm… all I know that it is a mall. And they have an arcade on the ground floor."
"You really should take a look around in the building, then you'll know your way around." He said while he nudges Ian with his elbow.
"I do, but I don't remember things unimportant to me… oh the meeting rooms in Seventh Mist! Yeah now I remember. They have big rooms too."
The light turned green and they start walking again.
"Really? They didn't say it in this flyer." Said the other friend while taking out and unfolding a partially crumpled piece of paper.
"Eh? You did not know? And here you made it sound like you knew the place." Says Ian with a confused look on his face.
Three security robots zooms pass the streets and past them.
"Haha no problem! Even if I, Kokawa Isao, didn't see it with my own eyes, information is enough for me! Hahahahaha!"
Isao was laughing out loud and that laughter attracted attention around them. Isao had on his school uniform and bag. Evidence of later classes he has to take. His hair is short, spiked up and blond with dark brown eyes.
"… Right. Anyway let me see that flyer." Ian had his hand out .
"Ya." Isao passed the flyer to Ian.
Ian took the crumpled piece of paper and began reading it.
"ESP Level Meeting, June 22nd at noon, free food and drinks, located at the-"
*Pang*, the sound of a trashcan getting kicked. It was from the other side of the street where Ian and Isao stand, in an alley.
"Ow! My feet!"
"Ah quit being a crybaby!"
Or in this case, the sound was from being bump accidentally to the trashcan.
In the alley, there were 5 thugs surrounded a grade schoolgirl.
"Hey girl, what's a cutie like you doing here?" said by one of the thug, acting cool.
"You must be lonely, well you should join us then. We will have so much fun together Hahaha."
The girl, with both hands carrying her bag close to her, was push against the wall by the presence of the thugs.
"This looks bad Ian." Isao got serious.
"Yeah, a bunch of jackasses are harassing a girl." After saying that, Ian was gripping that piece of paper, squeezing it. Then he exhaled, not in a relief kind of manner but in a angry yet hopeless kind of manner.
"But… we can't do anything about it, the only thing to do is to call Judgment" said Ian.
"What do you mean we can't do anything about it? And it will be too late when Judgment comes here, you know it! We'll have to do something about it!"
Isao had his hands gripped to fists.
"I know what you mean, but what can we do? I am a level 0 esper and I don't have much fighting experience, and you're a level 2 esper but your ability is not suited for fighting."
Just as Ian has stated it, he is a level 0 esper, no ability, and Isao's ability is not the offensive kind of ability.
Both of them were disgusted as they took another look at the situation at hand. Which is the thugs in the alley.
"Damn it! Why can't I have a useful ability?" His fist clenched harder.
"Hmm… at times like these, it is no use to blame yourself. I guess if we really want to do something, we have to form a plan. Some way for us to get those thugs away."
"A plan? Well you're the smart one, you should form a plan." Isao lighten up as he place his hopes in Ian.
"Sorry to disappoint but I have nothing useful at the moment, plus we spent too much time assessing the situation, we should've called Judgment and hope for the best."
"Hahahaha" Laughter came from that alley and it took both Ian and Isao's attention.
The thugs were still around the girl but they have not made any moves yet.
"…! I got it! I got the idea! This plan will need your help and my ability!"
And so, Isao told Ian the plan. Ian looked rather shocked by it but nevertheless he accepted it after letting out a sigh.
*Screech* now we continued where we left off with the 'Mad Dashing Ian'.
"I AM WARNING YOU, I'LL BE FORCE TO TAKE YOU DOWN!"
Ian ran pass the thugs and all they did is stare at that runner exiting at the other side.
Staring with teary eyes, the girl also did the same thing.
"M-maybe we should leave!"
"Maybe? Of course we have to leave! No way we can stand against a Judgment member, let's get out of here!"
The 5 thugs left in a hurry, using the same exit as the guy who ran in moments ago. They ran out, leaving the schoolgirl in that alley. She just stood against the wall, staring at the exit with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Hey, you ok?"
The girl looked at the entrance, to the call.
At the entrance, Isao stood there with a grin on his face.
He walked in the alley, towards the girl.
"Don't worry now kid, you're safe. What is your name little missy?"
She stared at him for a second then wiped her tears.
"M-my name is… A-Aoki Asuka… sir…"
"Sir? I am not that old yet! Just call me Isao, Kokawa Isao. Heh he!"
From the exit of the alley, Ian walked in. He was a little out of breath upon entree.
"Ha… some plan you had there Isao, had me running around the area. They all followed me." Ian walked closer to them.
"They? Who are they?"
"Those thugs. I am not sure if they were chasing after me or they were just stupidly following me."
"Really? Well at least the plan worked right? So everything is ok!"
Isao had his hands on his head with a big grin on his face. Ian stared in disgust at Isao. In his mind, he thought 'We just got lucky', and then he turned to Asuka. The girl jumped a little from the sudden turn.
"And you are?"
"… Aoki Asuka…"
"Aoki Asuka huh? Well I'm glad you're ok. My name is Ian."
"His name is Ian 'Khaw', weird name right? But don't worry, because this guy here is Chinese, with an English first name." told Isao as he is giving away Ian's personal information.
Asuka just nodded and lowers her head in response.
"…yo…ly…ame…" whispered Aoki.
"Huh? What did you say? I didn't quite get it." Isao got closer to listen carefully.
Asuka head is still lowered, but slowly she looked to Ian.
"Um… t-thank you for saving me…"
She made a 180 degrees turn and run out with her head down while carrying her bag close to her with both her arms crossed.
"Hey what about me? I did the planning and shouting!"
Both of them watched Asuka exited the alley.
"What was that about? We saved her and all she does is ran away, pretty strange huh Ian?"
Ian turned to Isao and raises his shoulder that is stating I don't know.
"You know, maybe she likes you." Said Isao as he went into tease mode.
"Highly doubt it."
"Not with that attitude you don't. Come on Ian, you need to take action when a chance presents to you!"
"Sorry but I don't want to be a pedophile, my love life is none of your business, and even if I need some consult, I won't be asking a guy who changes his girlfriends every week."
A grin came from Ian and he starts walking out of the alley. The sentence obviously affected Isao like a knife going through him.
"Hey, I'm working on it! I- er… I'm just looking for the right girl y'know."
"Yeah yeah, come on now, let's get moving. We have spent quite some time here playing hero, any more and the meeting would be over."
Isao starts to walk towards Ian and they exited the alley, on their way to Seventh Mist.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about it. I was too caught up in the action, but you can't deny that it felt good to help someone!"
Isao's fist is up in the air, maybe to strike a victory pose while walking.
"Too caught up in the action huh? I believe that was me. But you are right, always glad to help someone really in need. Though, I must say, this time we got lucky."
"Come on, have a little more faith in our team work!"
"Right… right… Come on let's go."
Even though he sounded unoptimistic in their event, Ian let out a satisfactory and relieving smile. A job well done, as he would put it.