A/N: I don't hate Ritsu or anything, don't worry, he'll be put into a more positive light. ;3 Also, feel free to look at my PFP on FFN to see what Miko looks like! :D


This girl could play.

Sure, she was very quiet and got easily flustered, but she could play. Safe to say, the boys were very impressed.

"You go, Miko!" Josh said. He smiled at me, as to say, you saved our band!

Oh yeah, the girl's name was Miko. She was 14, and taller than me. She'd been playing piano since she was young, she told me. I hadn't seen her around before, so either she was new or very low-key. But I couldn't complain too much. She was one Hell of a pianist.

"This is gonna be our best performance yet!" Josh cheered. He waved his arms around like he was a cheerleader. "Go Paranormal Investigation!"

"Yeah..." Miko said, blushing. I patted her on the back.

"Don't be too nervous," I said, smiling. "We'll do great."

Miko nodded, brushing the dark hair out of her grey eyes. Daizō gave her a thumbs up. She must've been good to get a reaction out of him.

"Hey," Miko said. "You know. I was thinking about making some, like... bracelets or something for the band."

"We already have shirts, but more merchandise can't hurt!" Josh said, grinning. "Go for it, girl!"

Miko nodded. "Okay, then."

Josh put his arm on my shoulder. "The school will be at its knees when it sees our next performance. It-"

"HEY!" the band room door slammed open, and my friend Tenga Onigawara stormed in. Josh looked like he was about to pass out.

"What do you want?" I asked Onigawara.

"Your brother Ritsu is a psychopath," Onigawara said.

"Not surprised," I sighed. "What's he done this time?"

"He got one of my friends suspended," Onigawara said. "He... and Kamuro."

Alright, hold up. Let's rewind a bit.

The previous night, Ritsu had been acting weird. Weirder than normal. He kept talking to himself (I presumed), and giving me funny stares. It was almost like he was trying to threaten me or something.

"The Hell is wrong with you?" I'd asked him. "You look like a damn murderer."

"Heh," Ritsu had said, staring at his hands. "You better watch out, Arashi."

He'd walked away after that, still creeping me out.

Back to Onigawara. I was scowling.

"Yeah, he's acting really weird lately," I said. I clenched my fists. "And I'm going to figure out why."


Operation: Ritsu started by stalking him after school. I put on a grey hoodie, and followed him as he walked home. I made sure I wasn't too visible, because if he saw me, I was in big trouble.

Ritsu walked along his regular street, a serious look on his face. A group of boys from our school were standing nearby, glaring at him. I flattened myself against the wall, hiding with the trash cans. A person in a blue hoodie clambered out of one of them, freaking me out. They winked at me before disappearing.

"Excuse me," Ritsu turned to the boys, "can I help you with something?"

"I heard from Kamuro that you're the one that's been planting all that false evidence around," one of the boys said, a dark shadow over his face. "Tell me, are you the one who framed us?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ritsu said, dropping his bag. His expression became twisted. "Even if I did do such a thing, it's too late."

"Why you little-" the boy growled, holding out his fists. "Who in the Hell do you think we are?!"

He launched his balled fists towards Ritsu, but my brother simply caught them in his palm, and forced him to the ground. The others raced towards him, all reaching the same fate. Soon, Ritsu was surrounded by a bunch of unconscious teen boys. My eyes went wide.

Ritsu began to cackle, like some kind of Disney villain. My heart was racing. Since when was Ritsu this strong?!

That's when another guy walked over. But it wasn't just any random guy. It was Teruki Hanazawa.

And his hair. You should've seen it. The blonde wig was almost as tall as him! Girls across the street were snapping pictures of it, and some little kid was having a mental breakdown. I couldn't blame him. I was convinced I was going to have a mental breakdown.

"Hey, you there," Teruki said.

Ritsu stared at him. "What's up?"

"I think you've done enough," Teru said. "If you depend on that, you'll get hurt. You've got the wrong idea about this; you think you're really special. I know. It's hard to look at someone the way I used to be." He held out his arms. "Consider this a warning. Don't try to live relying on psychic powers."

Wait, what? I almost had another mental breakdown. Ritsu… Ritsu has psychic powers?!

"Are you another esper, like me?" Ritsu asked Teru. Yep. Ritsu was an esper. Both my freaking brothers were espers. Fantastic.

Ritsu scowled. "I have no idea who you are, but I have no need to take warnings from you."

Ritsu held out his hand. It was probably some kind of rude gesture espers made at each other. Teru took his hand, almost too quickly.

"Why thank you for the handshake," Teru said. "I'm Teruki Hanazawa. It's a pleasure."

Ritsu fell over, his eyes wide with shock. He had gone completely pale. Trust me, I felt just the same.

"Fallen over, huh?" Teruki laughed. "You're so young."

A blast of wind made Teruki leap back and shock and grab his wig. I rolled my eyes. He went from intimidating to stupid in two seconds. Espers for you.

While Teruki focused on not losing his wig, Ritsu made a run for it. I raced after him, but not before staring at Teruki.

"You really showed him," I said.

"Oh, hey," Teru said, keeping his hands on his wig. "Shigeo's sister. Nice to see you again."

"Right, because the last time we met was super nice," I grumbled. "I still owe you a butt-kicking, by the way. So keep your hair on."

I ran away before Teru could ask anymore questions. I followed Ritsu, who ran until he reached a metal pole. He panted, putting his hand against it.

"I was surprised at how strong he was back there," Ritsu said. "Maybe it's because his brain is so developed?"

"I'm questioning how developed your brain is when you're talking to yourself!" I snapped, pinning my brother against the pole. He yelped out in shock. "Why the Hell didn't you tell me you had psychic powers?! Why are you so violent all of the sudden? What the Hell is wrong with-"

Ritsu interrupted me by grabbing my arm. "You were following me, weren't you?"

"Obviously, you idiot," I snapped. "You've been acting weird lately, and knowing you, you kept it all inconspicuous. But I've got you figured out. You're an esper! And!" I glared at him. "I bet you've got some kind of scheme planned. After all, who else would've framed Onigawara and his friends?!"

"You're friends with delinquents," Ritsu said, "or maybe, you are a delinquent. After all, you keep getting into fights all the time. Maybe you'll be the next to leave." He gave me a dark look, similar to the ones he'd given those boys. "I could tear you down piece by piece, Arashi. How fun that would be."

"What the Hell?!" I yelled. "What's wrong with you?"

I slapped him. He held his cheek in pain, and gave me a stare. He looked kind of sorry, but that quickly turned to rage.

"I'm not going to let you push me around anymore," he growled, glowing blue, like Mob did. I held up my arms in a defensive position, but he never struck.

"Shigeo would never forgive us," he said, sighing. "But don't worry. I'm not done."

He turned away, like he was about to leave.

"Wait, Ritsu," I said. "One more thing."

He looked at me.

"Tell me about the Awakening Lab." I said.


"Well, this is it. The Awakening Lab."

"This thing?" I asked, frowning. "This is an apartment building."

Ritsu and I were standing in front of a pretty-average apartment complex. It was grey and looked about twenty-stories tall.

"I know," Ritsu said. "But it's the place." He walked towards the door, muttering, "Yeah, I know. Hopefully she'll leave soon."

"Who the Hell are you talking to?" I asked.

"None of your business," he said. He opened the door and walked inside. He looked back. "Are you coming?"

I frowned, and followed him inside. We didn't say anything as we entered the elevator, though I swore I heard Ritsu muttering some more. The elevator opened with a ding, revealing a nice, modern living area. A bunch of kids around our age were there, talking and chatting. And the happy guy with the bad fashion sense was there, too.

"Ah, Kageyama!" the guy said, cheerfully. "Welcome back! And I seen you've brought…" His brow raised as he stared at me. "Your sister!"

"She's only here because she got curious," Ritsu said. "She's not an esper. She'll be leaving soon."

"Hey," I snapped. "I'll decide when I'll leave."

"Well, you're very welcome here," the guy said. "I'm Kenji Mitsuura. I own this building. I put fortunes in it so I could learn how to become an esper myself."

"Okay…" I said. I'd never met any other espers beside Mob before, so this was something new. I looked at all the kids there. "So these guys are espers, huh?"

"Yep!" said this blond boy in a blue jacket. "I'm Go Asahi! I'm a pyrokinetic." He held up his finger. "Watch this!" He groaned, as we watched with anticipation. A teeny tiny flame erupted from his finger. I was so underwhelmed I was speechless.

"I'm Takeshi Hoshino!" a boy with fancy hair and a crescent-moon-shaped face said. "I'm telekinetic!" He held up a fork, and like Go Asahi, groaned, until the fork bent about 1.5 centimeters. The others clapped.

"You've got to be kidding." I muttered.

"I'm Rei Kurosaki!" a girl wearing a pink jacket said. "My power is clairvoyance!"

"She has a 62% accuracy!" Kenji added, as Rei looked over a pile of eight cards. She cheered with glee when she picked the 'right one'. I had to stop myself from committing self-defenestration.

"And we are the Shiratori twins," said two young boys that looked like Minecraft characters. "We're telepathic." They stood a distance away, and both yelled, "Ah ha! You were thinking of rice."

"This is embarrassing," I muttered. Mob's level of power must have raised the bar for psychic powers in my eyes. That, or these guys just really sucked.

"I can't disagree," Ritsu muttered back. "Well, you've seen it now. Happy?"

"You're much more powerful than any of them," I replied. "Why are you here?"

Ritsu stared at his shoes. "To learn how to control my powers."

He sounded kind of sad, and for a moment, I almost felt bad for him. But then I remembered what he'd done.

"You were right," I said. "I'm leaving."

"Bye, Arashi!" Kenji said. "If you see any other espers, tell them to stop bye!"

I decided not to mention that my other brother was also an esper. Because I had something else to worry about: foiling Ritsu's schemes.


"So, that's why I started karate." I told Miko. "It's really good. You should join."

"Sounds scary…" Miko said, staring at her feet.

"Eh, it's fine," I said. "Makes you look cool, too."

Miko shrugged. She opened her lunch box. "Want some cookies?"

"Sure," I said, taking one. "Thanks." I was about to take a bite, when someone interrupted me.

"Arashi Kageyama," it was Kamuro, with Ritsu loitering in the background. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Kamuro," I said, glaring at him. "What are you doing here?"

"You've gotten in a lot of fights, haven't you?" he asked. He smirked. "And I know about your latest scheme."

"What latest scheme?" I asked, scowling.

"Graffiting the walls outside the school," Kamuro said. He held up photos of someone in a school uniform (that sort of looked like me), covering the school's back walls with rude words in graffiti. "Don't try to deny it. An anonymous student caught you."

"What the Hell?" I asked, holding up my fists. "I never did that! You're framing me!"

"That's what the victim would say," Kamuro said, his face tightening into an evil smirk. "After all, you've spent a lot of time in detention and are friends with the delinquents. Hard to believe your brother is in the Student Council."

I was so angry I nearly punched the wall. "Go to Hell."

"Off you go," Kamuro said.

I stormed off, ignoring Miko yelling my name.


"It sucks, Shigeo," I sighed, as we ate ramen. "I didn't even do anything!"

Tome had gone home after we failed to find any espers. So now Mob and I were in my favourite noodle bar, and as usual, I was complaining about stuff. I was telling Mob all about Ritsu... and how there was some guy from our school beating people up. I believed he was White T Poison.

"I believe you," Mob said. "You never liked art anyway."

"I can't even enjoy this," I said, pushing my ramen back. "It's just… Ritsu. I need to find him."

"Okay, I'll come too," Mob said. So the two of us looked for Ritsu. Teruki ran into us, and led us to him. What we found was horrifying.

Ritsu was in an alleyway, surrounded by a bunch of unconscious people.

"What." I said. "What the actual Hell."

White T Poison