Saten Ruiko woke up with a start.

"Ugh, another school day," the pretty middle schooler with blue eyes and long black hair complained as she eventually rises from her bed, evident that she's still sleepy as she yawns and stretches her arms. But as soon as she checks her alarm clock, which was ringing loudly, her drawled attitude suddenly turned into an alarmed one in a split second as she realizes something frightening.

"Uwaaah! It's already quarter to 8!" she screamed in horror as she struggles to get out of her bed and remove her sleeping clothes. She nearly trip in panic as she immediately ran towards the bathroom as she didn't care anymore whether she forgot to turn on her heater. She endured the ice-cold water as she scrubs her slim body as fast as she could. After that, she went out of the bathroom, shivering because of the cold water. She dries out her body as fast as she could and struggled in putting on her sailor uniform. After doing so, she just took out a bread and some peanut and jam to at least eat something so that she can have enough energy to last for the whole day in school.

In thirty minutes, she was seen already running towards her humble school in Sakugawa Middle School. Being the athlete that she was, she manage to cover the somewhat far distance on foot pretty fast as she just reaches her school in no time. Wasting no breath, she immediately runs into the hallway of the school and was a little embarrassed when she checked her clock and realized that she was late for about 10 minutes.

"Gomen!" she shouted as she abruptly interrupts her physics teacher, who was already busy discussing about something in speed. Just as she was about to enter the class, she almost slipped in the floor as she suddenly stepped on something slippery. She looked up and almost wanted to curse as she suddenly saw one of his classmates, a certain guy everyone calls Kaitobi, who is a class jock and was a known bully in school. The latter loved going especially at Saten since he mocked her being a science geek. Yes, a science geek. Despite her love for superstitions and rumors, she was actually a nerd when it comes to anything related to scientific topics and often times, some of her classmates ended up going to her for some help in their homeworks.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Some kind of nerdy kid just came even late, thinking she's so smart for this one," Kaitobi whispered which was actually loud enough for Saten to hear. But the latter can't do anything (as well as her classmates) as the bully was actually famous in the school, whether good or bad.

#

"That's one hell of a class," she sighed as at last, the school day is over and she was very excited to join her very-extraordinary friends who happens to be none other than Misaka Mikoto, the third-ranked Level 5 in Academy City, Shirai Kuroko, the Level 4 Teleporter and one of Judgement's finest officers, and her best friend, Kazari Uiharu, who was also in Judgement and is also a student of Sakugawa except that she's excused to attend her matters in the city.

I'm pretty envious of them. They don't need to work that hard in school. Saten sighed as she simply walked in the streets towards the destination where they all agreed to meet. It was quite slightly understandable about how she feels about her friends. Out of the four of them, she's the only one with no Esper powers despite having taken the Power Curriculum Program when she first entered Academy City. Because of this, she was classified a Level 0 and despite her working so hard, she remained stuck in the lowest level. In fact, it prompted her to use the infamous Level Upper device which wreaked havoc in the whole city and it almost cost her own life. Now, she can pretty say that she had accepted her own fate and that she strives to work harder for her own level up. But this does not means she doesn't feel any occasional grudges.

After a few more minutes, she reached Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant where she immediately spotted her three friends by the large window all busy laughing and chatting which each other. Sprinting, she went inside the establishment and walks towards the table, just in time to see Uiharu already stuffing her mouth with her deserts.

"Hey, Saten!" Misaka spotted the taller Saten and quickly waved her hand, "You're late! What happened?"

"Ugh…you see," the person in question sighed as she sits down, "We had an overtime in our class and I wasn't able to get out of the school in time."

Misaka nodded as she pushes a glass of parfait in front of Saten, "I see. Well, it'll be my treat for today so just dig in." Saying "thanks" to Misaka, Saten immediately took her spoon and bgean to eat the multi-layered desert. As she was eating, she hears Shirai suddenly babbling about her dear onee-sama being able to recharged their school's generator with her mere touch of her hands. Misaka just blushed as she was being showered with compliments and praises by her own kouhai. Uiharu just smiled and said that she was everyone's savior. They were all talking so loud that they didn't notice Saten feeling down on herself.

And so, she was just as infuriated as she is, seeing that her friends were all happily eating. She knew she should also be jovial as well, seeing that she was just eating with them at the same restaurant. If anything, she can't just relate with her friends, who had ESP powers. Heck, even Uiharu had one despite being a Level One. She can hear them talking about other stuff, such as Misaka successfully apprehending a group of robbers, with Shirai assisting her and Uiharu providing them maps. While she, the most bubbly one, felt useless.

"Excuse me," she suddenly said aloud, catching the attention of her friends, "I…I think I need to go home. I suddenly remembered that I have something to do for schoolwork. I'm sorry…I…uh…I promise that I would make up with you tomorrow!" She then quickly stood up, not even bothering to finish her half-eaten dessert. The three girls just stared dumbly as they watch their friend hurriedly get out of the building.

"Eh, why did she suddenly leave like that?" Uiharu was quite concerned about her fellow Sakugawa student.

"Hmmm…maybe she's just a bit tired in her school works," Shirai offered, "I mean, who wouldn't?"

"Sometimes, I wonder how you actually got into Tokiwadai with that attitude of yours, Kuroko," Misaka teased the teleporter.

"Onee-sama!"

#

"Why did I leave so stupid like that? I know I shouldn't feel something bad!"

Saten thought to herself as she was rushing her way back home. She has been trying to deny her bad feeling when she heard about her friends being able to use their powers for their good intentions. I mean, I can also help even though I had none of those powers so why am I getting away so suddenly!?

*criiiing*

"Huh? Someone's texting me?" Saten thought to herself as she brings out her smartphone and was gasping when she read it.

To: Saten Ruiko

From: Mother

Subject: Your stupid old brother

Message: Ryouta would be coming to your dorm there to visit you and stay there for some unspecified time. Just be a good girl, honey!

Great. Saten grumbled as she wasn't actually a fan of her loudmouth, annoying brother who studies college abroad and is working as a part-time model. Now, I would have to deal with his whining for a long time again. She was deep into her thoughts that she didn't realize that a large, dark spider, larger than a tarantula, was lurking on the backgrounds surrounding the poor girl. And before she even knew it, the spider lunged into her legs and bit her all of the sudden.

"Ouch! Gyaaah! What's this?!" Saten scream, horrified to see the large spider on her legs. Luckily, she was able to yank it off her legs and threw it out somewhere to god knows where. But it was too late. The spider's bite was able penetrate her legs. The girl then ran away from the place, somewhat unscathed with the exception of her leg with the bitten portion. She ran as fast as she could until she was safely able to reach her dormitory.

"I thought I was about to die," the girl heaved a sigh as she then removes her clothes shamelessly in her room. But as she was beginning to lie down in her bed, she felt a headache suddenly forming around her. Ouch! What's with this headache!?

Her vision also began to blur every second that passes. My head feels heavy and my eyes feel sleepy.

In an hour, she was already lying in her bed, asleep and without even a single trace of clothing.