===HOMERUN===HOMERUN===HOMERUN===HOMERUN===HOMERUN===

Brightly coloured neon lights lit up the bustling Hakoniwa Batting Cage. The favoured location of delinquents and the local students buzzed with admiration and activity as the Homerun panel lit up for the thirtieth time in a row.

"That sure worked up a sweat!" exclaimed a teenage girl as she exited the thirteenth lane of the batting cage. She had short, indigo hair tied up in a tail to the side, framing her strikingly confident and beautiful facial features. Her body was toned and well-built, but not overly muscular like those bodybuilders you see on television. She was wearing a maroon shirt which exposed her slim midriff, along with an open light yellow jacket. She matched this with a standard pair of jeans. The overall impression she gave off was one of overwhelming confidence and perfection.

「With such a flattering description, you could probably go further than that, you know. If it were me, I would definitely mention her glamorous body.」A boy with black hair and dressed in a black Suisei Academy school uniform nodded sagely.

"Stop talking like you don't live up to the name of sexual-harassment-senpai already, Kumagawa-senpai. Who was that directed at anyway?" A boy with spiky blonde hair wearing the black Hakoniwa school uniform countered. The special black uniform (in contrast to the normal white) indicated that he was part of the Hakoniwa student council.

The two boys engaging in a classic boke and tsukkomi routine seemed oblivious to the fact that this teenage girl of about the same age as them had just scored thirty consecutive homeruns in the batting cage. Out of the thirty balls pitched in a single round, all of them had hit the bullseye without fail. This was clearly abnormal, far beyond the realm of possibility, far beyond the physical capabilities of any girl their age – but not for her. Not for the 98th and 99th student council president of Hakoniwa Academy, Kurokami Medaka.

"Hahahaha! Energetic as always, the two of you are. Nevertheless, it seems that I just beat both your scores pretty badly. The results should be showing up on the leaderboard soon, Kumagawa and Zenkichi," Medaka said as she turned her head and looked towards the electronic leaderboard. The board was updated almost instantaneously. The top section of the board could be seen clearly to all:

Kurokami Medaka - - - - - - - - - - 30

Akune Kouki - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20

Hitoyoshi Zenkichi - - - - - - - - - - 19

Nabeshima Nekomi - - - - - - - - - 15

Tanaka Kouhei - - - - - - - - - - - - 10

Kikaijima Mogana - - - - - - - - - - 06

"That's really amazing, Kurokami-san. Or perhaps I should say, that was expected? I only got sixth place on the leaderboard, so I can't really speak here." The girl placed sixth on the leaderboard, Kikaijima Mogana, wore spectacles and the standard white Hakoniwa school uniform. Although it could not be seen to the people around her, she was wearing a swimsuit beneath her uniform out of habit.

"I got utterly thrashed there, even though I tried my best. I got second place on the leaderboard though, so I have no grounds to complain." The second-ranked Akune Kouki, was a tall, handsome young man, with long blonde hair and was wearing the standard white Hakoniwa uniform as well.

"I can't believe I lost to Akune-senpai by one point… Where are you anyway, Kumagawa-senpai? I don't see your name on the board at all…" The aforementioned boy with the spiky blonde hair, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi, scanned the board a few times with his eyes.

「My name is right there. Can'tyou see it, Zenkichi-chan?」The boy in the black uniform pointed to an oft-overlooked section of the leaderboard. Their gazes followed his lead, and thus they saw it:

Kumagawa Misogi - - - - - - - - - - - 01

"Ahhh… the very bottom. Well, I suppose I can say this time that it was indeed expected of Misogi-chan…" Kikaijima let out a sigh of resignation.

「I have to say though, I had not expected the batting cage to be such an ordeal. The first few balls pitched in my lane were quite normal and I managed to hit a homerun, but suddenly the pitches were flying all over the place. A few balls hit my stomach directly, some hit the bat clear out of my hand, and at least one ball gave me a serious concussion. Apparently, the pitching machine in my lane malfunctioned pretty badly not long after I started my round.」The boy in the black uniform, Kumagawa Misogi, stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

The other four sweatdropped comically upon hearing the valiant war story of the brave soldier Kumagawa versus the renegade pitching machine.

"Yeah, I have no idea how a pitching machine could even go haywire that badly. Then again, it is Kumagawa-senpai, so I can see how that might happen if it were you…" muttered Zenkichi.

"Regardless, I hope you all had fun! It's been a while since the old student council got together like this, so since it's the holidays, I invited all of you here today to relax and have some fun!" laughed Medaka.

Indeed, this was a gathering of the student council of Kurokami Medaka's era. Hitoyoshi Zenkichi, the former General Affairs Manager (and, in fact, the current president). Kikaijima Mogana, the former Treasurer. Akune Kouki, the former Secretary. Kumagawa Misogi, the former Vice-President. Finally, the main protagonist herself, Kurokami Medaka, the former President.

Indeed, the fact that a gathering of highly talented individuals was concentrated in the Hakoniwa Batting Cage at that very moment was most definitely not a simple coincidence. That is not to say that it was a complex coincidence, but rather it was, quite plainly, not even a coincidence to begin with. If it were to be given a fortuity rating, or a rating which measures the chances of an event occurring, that very situation would have been scored the lowest of the low, a situation very similar to the boy named Kumagawa Misogi. Of course, this meant that it had to be planned, guided into such a development – the very antithesis of a coincidence. Naturally, yet unbeknownst to all of the characters present there, the simple truth that there would be no deviations of fate attached to that meeting would have highly unexpected and greatly unprecedented results.

The five teenagers stepped out of the batting cage and into the open air. The Hakoniwa Batting Cage was situated just a few roads away from the entrance of Hakoniwa Academy, thus making it the ideal location for students weary of studying to let off some steam and pressure by wildly swinging a bat at baseballs pitched at amazing speeds. The group of five friends chatted animatedly as they walked together towards the school grounds.

"Man, it's nostalgic to be able to talk to all of you guys together again. I haven't had the time to meet up like this ever since I became the Student Council President – there's too much damn stuff to do! Especially the paperwork – it could crush me flat if it all fell on me at once from the top of the academy's clock tower," complained Zenkichi. "I really dunno how Medaka-chan did it back then. Any advice from the perfect student council president?"

Medaka's eyes widened happily. "Ah, how nostalgic! The paperwork really was a problem, even back when I was president. Although it got cleared quickly enough with Kurokami Phantom –"

"Are you even supposed to use Kurokami Phantom like that?! If so how am I supposed to clear my backlog if I don't have any special moves that allow me to move at the speed of sound?!" Zenkichi interjected as he wailed in agony, fulfilling his role as the straight man rather impressively even as he imagined the impending disaster of an endless flood of red tape with his face contorted in horror.

「If you don't mind, Zenkichi-chan, I can make all the paperwork disappear as if it never existed with my All Fiction,」contributed Kumagawa, as he tried to sound helpful.

"I have a feeling that might make administrative matters even worse, Kumagawa-san," laughed Akune.

The five individuals continued to banter away, unaware of the fact that some of them were about to have their lives thrown upside down by a wholly unexpected occurrence. It happened without so much as a symptom or warning. All of a sudden, a wave of nausea came over three members of the group of five. The three of them stumbled, as their eyes glazed over with a white blankness, as if their visions were being distorted by some fundamental force of the universe. Their knees buckled as they crumpled in a heap onto the tarmac of the road, clearly and obviously out cold. This was obviously no ordinary occurrence either – there was very little in the known world which could, with minimal effort, knock out three exceedingly powerful individuals all at once.

"What on earth - ?!" muttered Akune Kouki as he turned around, only to see three of his friends lying unconscious on the ground.

"Medaka-san! Misogi-chan! Hitoyoshi-kun! What's wrong with you guys?!" A worried Kikaijima Mogana shook the still bodies of the three, attempting to jolt them out of their immobile state. Indeed, the three supine individuals were none other than Kurokami Medaka, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi and Kumagawa Misogi.

"Damnit, is it yet another crazy strong enemy attacking us?!" Akune gritted his teeth as he heightened his senses and scanned the environment for signs of a possible ambush. Yet, he could sense nothing.

Now, this was of no fault of the boy known as Akune Kouki. Although he was not what you might label an Abnormal, he was clearly not Normal either. He had abilities strong enough to warrant his classification under Specials. Furthermore, his training in judo had earned him the title 'Prince of Judo', and his skills in fighting were definitely top-class. In this situation, the fact that he could not sense any enemies nearby was due to the simple fact that there were no enemies nearby.

"Akune-kun! Look here!" Kikaijima shouted frantically. Indeed, she had ample reason to be flustered, for the three lying inactive on the ground had started to blur in a very peculiar manner, almost as if it were an afterimage on a screen gradually fading into nothingness.

"!" Akune dashed towards the three, hoping to grasp onto at least one of their arms. However, it was too late. Kurokami Medaka, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi and Kumagawa Misogi had already vanished.

"Where on earth are we?" muttered Zenkichi.

「Looks like we were somehow knocked out and transported here. Maybe this is what they call a kidnapping? How exciting ~」chanted Kumagawa.

"Please be serious, Kumagawa. I, Kurokami Medaka, may be more relaxed now that I've stepped down as student council president, but I am wholly serious when the time calls for it – and the time is now." Medaka sat cross-legged and certainly with a very serious look on her face.

For it appeared to the three that they were somehow located along the roadside in the heart of a bustling city. Skyscrapers surrounded them, creating the spectacular cityscape skyline. For some reason, there were wind turbines dotted around the area, catching the strong wind which was geographically native to the area the city was apparently located in – although you could also say it was the many tall buildings which provided a man-made channel for air to flow through quickly. There were drum-shaped robots moving around on the streets independently, with no apparent controller in sight. The population of the city was just as busy as you would expect them to be, hurriedly rushing from one place to another – except they seemed to be mostly students, judging by their various uniforms. Overall, their surroundings gave off a particularly futuristic aura entirely unfamiliar to them.

"Are we even in Japan anymore? Even though the people here seem to speak Japanese, I definitely heard a few words that I haven't even heard of, let alone understand," mused Zenkichi.

"… This isn't going to get us anywhere," stated Medaka. "Very well. It appears the best course of action can only be this…"

"Call the police?" suggested Zenkichi.

「Rain chaos and destruction upon the unsuspecting citizens?」proposed Kumagawa.

"No. I will simply ask one of the locals here," said Medaka, rather anticlimactically. "You there!" she shouted as she pointed towards a random person who appeared to be purchasing something from a vending machine. As the person turned his head towards the source of the commotion, she continued, "I would like to ask you a few questions please!"

"Such misfortune…" sighed a certain spiky-haired boy.

It was a very apt description of this certain boy's daily life. In fact, it would probably be the only phrase which would fit him perfectly. After all, what would one have to say if, firstly, one was forcefully woken up at 3.00 a.m. in the morning by a starving loli nun, proceeded to have his breakfast completely consumed by said nun, then happened to be late for school because his watch was somehow set to be one hour late, was given extra homework and detention as a result of being late, and then chased around for some absolutely unknown reason by a middle school girl who could release one billion volts of electricity at will, while accidentally destroying public property in the process of getting away from that certain Electromaster. The black-haired boy sighed his signature phrase as he barely gave the #3 Level 5 in Academy City the slip by running into a particularly dark alley.

Kamijou Touma. That was the name of the certain spiky-haired boy. He had an exhausted look on his face, the white shirt and dark blue pants of his school uniform drenched with sweat. He also wore an orange t-shirt underneath his white shirt, but that was clearly not part of the standard school uniform. Even though the events which occurred that day would definitely be greatly abnormal for the average student, the narrator regrets to inform you that it was merely an average day in the life of the boy named Kamijou Touma.

However, Kamijou Touma was certainly not your average teenager. For one, his misfortune levels were off the charts, but that is not the main issue here. He is a boy with loads of valuable experience in encounters with the two major special powers known today as ESP and magic. ESP, or extrasensory powers, the recent result of the academic curriculum developed by Academy City, a city with technology thirty years ahead of its time. Magic, the collective name for power developed over hundreds of years to combat those with naturally occurring abilities, and was deeply based in religious ideologies. The battles between the two warring factions in today's age all occurred backstage, culminating in explosive battles all over the world – yet remaining largely unknown to the majority of the Earth's human population.

Yet, the single boy named Kamijou Touma had been led to be involved in each of these major clashes. He had experienced firsthand the multitude and magnitude of abilities which were meant to be hidden behind multiple veils of secrecy and top-level confidentiality. All this due to the intriguing nature of his right hand. It was exactly this right hand of his which would lead him into yet another unwilling conflict.

"All that running made me really thirsty… what on earth is up with that Biri-biri?! Oh, it's a vending machine, what excellent timing ~!" Kamijou Touma whistled as he walked up to a certain vending machine. However, he was instantly struck by an ominous realisation. He had only a 10000 yen note on him.

"Khhh… I suddenly got the strange feeling that if I put this note in, I would have to go without dinner for the next few days… but I have no choice! It's either this or I dehydrate to death!" With renewed conviction, Kamijou Touma slotted the 10000 yen bill into the vending machine and pressed the button for a can of sports drink.

As the reader would have expected, nothing came out. Not even a drop. The vending machine had eaten up Kamijou Touma's dinner money completely and mercilessly.

"Such misfortune…" Kamijou grabbed the vending machine with both hands as he looked down in resignation. He was almost smiling, as though his emotions and the way he expressed them were completely inverted.

Just as he was wallowing in self-pity and despair, he heard a sharp and clear female voice ring out, "You there!"

Kamijou, with his curiosity piqued, looked up and towards the source of the voice. "I would like to ask you a few questions please!"

If you were to ask the narrator here, "How did these two groups of people meet each other at such a perfect timing?", the narrator would be hard pressed to reply. After all, there would be a multitude of reasons as to why the sequence of events would happen as such leading to the meeting of Kurokami Medaka's group and Kamijou Touma. If, for example, you were to ask the being known as Ajimu Najimi, she would give a nonsensical answer such as, "When two people of protagonist status happen to be in the area at the same time, of course their meeting would be facilitated by the plot!", while winking, sticking out her tongue playfully and giving a peace sign.

The narrator, on the other hand, can give no exact answer. He cannot say it was a coincidence, for he knew it to be a fact that in this case, it was definitely by no means of fortuity that this meeting of the two occurred. After all, the whims of Lady Luck never fell on the one known as Kamijou Touma. The only thing the narrator can inform you of is that this meeting would be the start of yet another high-stakes incident.

"…Hah?" stuttered Kamijou Touma. "Questions?"

"Yes indeed, questions! The three of us appear to be lost, so I was hoping you could help us out a bit!" said Kurokami Medaka, with her typical forcefulness.

"Um… which school are you guys from? I don't recall seeing those uniforms anywhere in Academy City… are you three outsiders, perhaps?" inquired Kamijou Touma.

「I see, so this location is known as Academy City… If you don't mind, Medaka-chan, I'll take over the questioning from here.」Kumagawa Misogi stepped forward, his hands outstretched.

Out of nowhere, a giant screw erupted from each of his hands.

"Uwawawa?! What the hell - ?!" Kamijou Touma was caught unawares and taken aback by the two metal fixtures which had seemingly burst into existence from nowhere. "You are definitely outsiders then… what are you doing in Academy City! Are you magicians? What do you want?" Kamijou lowered his body stance, ready to take any possible attacks coming his way.

「Out of all the passers-by you could have chosen, you picked him? Don't act as if you chose this boy randomly, Medaka-chan. This is no time to be acting innocent. I'm sure you felt the same overwhelming presence as I did.」Kumagawa smirked at Medaka, even as he held the two screws at the ready, clearly wary of the spiky-haired boy.

"…" Medaka stayed silent, a sombre expression on her face. She had been thoroughly seen through by the creepy black-haired boy in the black uniform.

"What are you two talking about?! What's going on here?" The boy with the spiky blonde hair, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi, worriedly asked Medaka.

"There's something… something off about that boy." Medaka gritted her teeth. It was not a common action by Kurokami Medaka. "Kumagawa's right. I chose him because I felt something disturbing about his presence."

"What on earth are they talking about… could they be referring to Imagine Breaker?" muttered Touma under his breath, as he overheard the conversation.

「That settles things quite nicely. Now, as for you.」Kumagawa turned back to Kamijou Touma. 「I would like some answers to the questions I am about to pose to you. You have three lifelines: 50/50, Call a Friend and Ask the Audience. Don't say I'm not a lenient game master! 」

Kamijou Touma shuddered slightly at the sinister aura the boy in the black uniform was giving off. However, as soon as he realized there was no other way to resolve this, he steeled himself. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm kinda pissed at how my life is going right now so if it's a fight you want it's a fight you're gonna get!"

NEXT TIME: Kumagawa Misogi versus Kamijou Touma?! An explosive fight between major characters just into the second chapter of this fanfiction! How will the skill to turn everything to nothing, [All Fiction], fare against the ability to negate the supernatural, [Imagine Breaker]?