It was quiet in the Academy Island infirmary. The only student checked in at the moment was Fubuki, who lay motionless on a bed, his eyes closed. Juudai peered at him from around the edge of the door, wondering if this visit was really such a good idea. Fubuki was obviously in no condition to appreciate visits from anybody. Also, Asuka was there, silently keeping vigil, and he wasn't sure she would appreciate company either.

His mind was made up for him by the arrival of the nurse, Miss Ayukawa, from the hallway behind him.

"Oh, are you here to see Fubuki? Don't be shy," she said. "He's not awake right now, but I'm sure he'll be happy to know you were concerned about him, once he wakes up."

"He's going to wake up?" asked Juudai, louder than he'd intended. Asuka looked up at him with a stricken expression.

"He's going to wake up," Miss Ayukawa assured him. "We're keeping him asleep on purpose right now while he heals. He'll wake up when he's feeling better, I promise."

Juudai blushed. "Oh, ah, I didn't mean... Well, I mean, I'm glad he's going to be okay."

Miss Ayukawa herded him over to Fubuki's bedside, opposite to Asuka.

"Now, make your visit quick," she said. "You don't want to be late for class."

Then she bustled off, leaving him staring awkwardly at Asuka.

"Uh, hi," he said.

She gave him a wan smile. "Hello, Juudai. It was nice of you to come visit."

He shrugged a little. "I guess I just wanted to see how he was doing. Is there any change?"

"Not really," she said. She looked down at her sleeping brother. It was strange, Juudai thought, to see him so still. He had the impression that Fubuki was not the sort to spend a lot of time quiet and motionless. "The doctor says they've never seen anything like the stuff he was injected with. They're still trying to figure out what it is and how to counteract it." She bit her lip. "I'm really worried about him. He seems all right while he's sleeping, but when he wakes up, he's in so much pain, and no one knows why..."

"They'll figure it out," Juudai said, trying to sound confident. "These guys, they're supposed to be the best in the world, right? If anyone can do it, they can."

"I know," she said, and sighed. "But I still worry."

Juudai looked back down at Fubuki.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm worried too." He clenched his fists. "I wish there was something I could do to help."

"Me, too," she said. She offered him another faint smile. "It's nice that you care, though."

A head popped around the door of the infirmary. It was Shou, looking rushed.

"There you are!" he said, hurrying in to grab Juudai's elbow. "You'd better hurry up, or you're going to be late for... oh, uh, hi Asuka."

"Hello, Shou," she said. "Don't let me hold you up. I've got permission from the chancellor to stay here with Fubuki today instead of going to class."

Juudai got up. "See you later, then," he said, and let Shou drag him out of the room.

"What's the big hurry?" he asked, as Shou continued hauling. "We're not that late for class yet, are we?"

"No," said Shou, rolling his eyes, "but we're having open combat again today!"

"Oh!" said Juudai. "Gotcha."

And he did. It had been three days since that disastrous trip to the mainland. This would be the first day in which they had actually been allowed to use their abilities in battle. They were going to be playing the token game again today, or so Chronos had promised, and that meant that for the first time, Shou was actually going to have a fighting chance at, well... fighting. That thought made Juudai smile just a little. Whatever else may have gone wrong during that fiasco of a trip, it had certainly made Shou a happier student. He'd made himself almost intolerable for the first day or so, wanting to show everyone his new trick. Of course, he hadn't fully gotten the hang of controlling it yet, so there had been some minor property damage involved, but even that hadn't managed to dampen Shou's mood.

Juudai, for his part, was trying to be supportive. Shou was, at this point, probably his best friend. Juudai wanted to be happy for him - was happy for him, in fact. He was glad to see Shou's confidence increasing as he gained skill in using his new talent. If it had been up to him, Shou would have been the world-record setter for S-levels and impress the hell out of everybody. All the same...

Why couldn't it have been me?

He knew he had a talent now. It was so close, just within his reach. If he let his mind go blank and approached it sidelong, he could almost get the shape of what it must be. He felt like he did when he'd been watching mystery movies on TV, and the detective announced that he knew who the murderer was, while Juudai was still completely at sea. He had a sense that he'd been given all the clues, but what they added up to eluded him. And yet, if he could have just put it all together, he felt sure that he could have changed the outcome of that awful night. Maybe he could have saved Fubuki. Maybe he could have at least stopped the building from catching fire. Instead, he'd been doing little more than tagging along while Shou pulled himself together and became a hero.

Shou seemed to notice his lack of enthusiasm, and slowed down his jog down the halls to turn and look at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked. "Are you worried about Fubuki?"

"Yeah, kinda," Juudai admitted. "I was just thinking... I wish I could have done more, you know? I feel like I was just kind of sitting on the sidelines while everyone else did stuff. Even the crocodile was more use than me."

Shou's expression softened. "You were a lot of help, Juudai."

"How do you mean?" Juudai asked.

"Well," said Shou, "you were the one who found out they were going in the first place. You were the one who talked us into going along. If you hadn't done that, Asuka and I wouldn't have even been there, and if we hadn't been there, Big Brother would have gotten shot too, probably, and Asuka and I wouldn't have been anyone there to keep him and Fubuki from getting squashed when that shelf fell. So when you look at it that way, you really saved everybody."

Juudai brightened. "You think so?"

"Sure I do," said Shou. "Even if you don't know what your powers are yet, you're a... a whatchamacallit. An instigator."

Juudai blinked. "Is that like an alligator?" An image of Jim's pet flitted through his mind.

Shou smiled and shook his head. "It's a person who makes things happen. That's what you do. You stir things up so things can happen that wouldn't have if you didn't."

"I had a hard time following that last bit," said Juudai, and laughed. Shou laughed too.

Things that wouldn't have happened, Juudai mused. Isn't that kind of what Jim was saying about...

Before he could finish that thought, Shou grabbed him and started hauling him again.

"Now, come on!" he said. "Or the thing you'll make happen is getting us both detention!"

"Yeah, I guess we don't want that to happen!" said Juudai, and picked up the pace. He'd have plenty of time to try to figure out the answers to his mysteries later.

The rest of the class, happy to be having activities that day instead of a lecture, was nearly as anxious to get started as Shou was. A few of them were, in fact, looking interestedly at Shou as he entered the classroom, having heard of his miraculously sprouting powers in the nick of time, but not having had a chance to see them in action yet. They sat impatiently through the usual lectures on how to behave during a training exercise, and then surged to the back of the room to wait for the doors to the training hall to be opened. Once inside, Chronos swiftly sorted them all into groups. Juudai was a little disappointed to learn that Shou wouldn't be on his team today. This time, his team consisted of Manjoume, the brawny boy who turned into a dinosaur, his friend the dark-haired little girl, and a small and rather frail-looking boy that Juudai didn't know.

"Hey," said Juudai, ambling closer to him. "Haven't met you before. I'm Juudai! What's your name?"

The boy mumbled something indistinct. The girl smiled and said, "This is my pal Marty! He's strong but he's really shy." She wrapped both arms around one of his, either out of affection or because she wanted to make sure he didn't slink away.

"It's Martin, actually," the boy murmured.

"Well, nice to meet you, Martin," said Juudai. "So, what is it you do?"

Martin made more inaudible noises. Juudai cocked his head.

"Sorry, what was that?" he said.

Martin looked irked. He took a deep breath and replied, "I SAID I SHOUT AT PEOPLE!"

Juudai gave a yelp and clapped his hands over his ears, as did several of the other people in the area. Shout was right - when he raised his voice like that, the sound of it went through Juudai's ears like a jackhammer.

"Wow," he said. "You sure do."

"It's why he doesn't talk much," said the girl, with the pleased expression of an owner who has just seen her dog do a trick. "I do most of his talking for him. I'm Rei, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

"And I'm Kenzan," the brawny boy added, thrusting out one of his large hands to shake. "I guess you've seen what I can do already."

"Sure did," Juudai agreed. "It's kinda hard to miss."

Manjoume did not seem interested in socializing. He'd been standing a little apart from the rest of the group, his arms folded, glaring at them as if their existence personally offended him.

"This is terrific," he said. "I'm glad we're all getting along. Can we start talking about the game now? Because I really don't intend to lose this time around, and that means I don't need you people screwing things up for me."

"Don't listen to him," said Juudai. "He's just a grouch."

"I kind of figured," said Rei.

As Chronos began moving around the room, handing everyone their tokens, Rei began removing several silver circlets that she'd been wearing around her neck and wrists. She piled them neatly in a corner.

"Worried about losing your jewelry?" Juudai asked her.

She shook her head. "These aren't jewelry. They're power governors."

Juudai gave her a blank look. "They're what, now?"

"Power governors. Restraints. Professor Daitokuji invented them," she said. "Which is good. A couple of years ago, before he did, I wouldn't even be in class. I'd be locked up in a room somewhere getting private lessons."

"I don't follow," Juudai admitted.

She gave him a serious look. "I'm a mind controller. I can make people think they want to do things for me, whether they want to or not. I'd be too dangerous to just let wander around loose. The cuffs help. As long as I'm wearing them, I can't influence anyone by accident. They're not perfect but they help enough that it's okay for me to come out and do stuff."

"Wow," said Juudai, suitably impressed. What must that have been like, if up until a couple of years ago she couldn't help but keep twisting people's minds, even if she didn't want to?

"My parents wore earplugs a lot," she said, "and left me with an old deaf grandma sometimes. It doesn't work if you can't hear me. That's one reason I hang out with Marty. If he doesn't like what I'm telling him he can just shout over me."

"It could be worse," said Kenzan. "There's a guy called Saiou up in the Blue Dorm who's so strong even the cuffs don't help him much. He has to live in this whole special room made out of the stuff, and he hardly ever goes outside because it's so hard for him to control himself. If anyone wants him, they have to go visit him."

"That's sad," said Juudai, and meant it. It would be terrible to be cooped up all the time, never to sit in the sun or dangle your feet in the ocean or pick the tropical fruits that grew here and eat them right off the tree. He couldn't even go out and find his friends if he got lonely, which he must do a lot, being sealed in a room all the time.

Rei nodded. "Someone told me he takes all his classes virtually through a computer. Poor guy."

"Enough chatter!" shouted Chronos, his voice cutting sharply through the hubbub in the room. "Does everyone have their tokens? You know the rules, correct? Very well, then. Planning sessions begin... now!"

Everyone began to huddle together while they considered how best to use their advantages. Even Manjoume overcame his reluctance to talk to anyone else long enough to start working out some sort of strategy. Actually, Juudai thought, he was a pretty good leader when he got over his attitude for a few minutes. Clearly, his desire to win overcame his desire to sneer at his teammates. Between the five of them, they hatched what seemed to be a viable plan of attack, and by the time the starting signal went off, they were itching to get moving.

As soon as the game began, Kenzan shifted to his dinosaur shape, and crouched down long enough for Rei to scamper onto his head. This she did with the ease of long practice. It was clear the two of them were friends, and had done this many times just for the fun of it. Once she was up, the two of them went lurching across the floor in the direction of their drop box. The team had mutually agreed to take a risk and give Rei all of their tokens. The idea was that Kenzan's superior height and strength would keep most people from ever getting anywhere close to her, and her skill at persuasion would keep the rest of the attackers away. Juudai, meanwhile, was making his way around the perimeter of the room, with Martin by his side. Their task was for Martin to use his shout to paralyze anyone they got near, at which point Juudai (who'd be plugging his ears in self-defense at the crucial moment) would then dart in and swipe any medals he could lay hands on. Manjoume would be doing something similar on the other side of the room, stunning people with low-powered lightning bolts and then rifling their pockets. It was a good plan, and it wasn't long before Juudai had collected a respectable handful of tokens. He began to have high hopes that his team would manage a first-place finish this time around. At the very least, they were likely to make the top five again.

He should have known better. The game hadn't been going on for very long before Juudai realized that his teammate was in trouble. He gestured for Martin to stop, and the two of them looked at the other side of the room, where Manjoume had gotten himself into difficulties.

It was, of course, Mototani and Torimaki. They had set out an illusion of several of the other students, their tokens just visible as the ribbons dangled from their pockets, presenting too good a target to pass up. Manjoume had duly gone after them, and as soon as he had, the illusion had vanished, and Mototani had portaled in to bowl him over. Now the two of them were sitting on him, one holding down his arms and the other crouched on his chest while they systematically stripped him of his tokens.

"We gotta go help him!" said Juudai.

Martin looked doubtful. "But we'll lose all the tokens we got already..."

"Doesn't matter," said Juudai. "He's our teammate. Come on."

Without waiting for a response, Juudai went pelting across the room, dodging the array of fireballs, energy beams, and weirder projectiles that always flew thick and fast during these games. He thought he was getting pretty good at it. One thing was for sure - he was one of the few people he knew who'd managed to never get hit. He skidded on a patch of water someone had left on the ground (making him think briefly and painfully of Fubuki), bounded over one of the trenches in the floor, and began scampering up a construction of roughly hammered-together lumber that made a crude but climbable framework.

He found Edo perched at the top, scouting the lay of the land.

"Whoops!" said Juudai, remembering immediately that Edo wasn't exactly the most kindly disposed towards him.

Edo's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing up here?"

Instead of answering, Juudai pointed at Manjoume, who was still being held down by his two ex-comrades. They seemed to have finished removing all his medals, and were now simply taking their time to gloat. A couple of others, apparently their teammates, had come over to enjoy the show. One of them lobbed a bubble of something pink at him, which splattered over his face like glue, making him cough and sputter. The others laughed.

Edo shook his head. "I see. Well, all right, then. Just this once."

Before Juudai knew what was happening, Edo had grabbed him around the waist with one arm. The other arm lashed out, flinging a cable around one of the overhead beams, and the next thing Juudai knew, they were swinging across the room like Tarzan and Jane. Juudai gave a delighted whoop.

They landed a few feet away from Manjoume. Edo released Juudai just before they fell, giving him the room he needed to make a solid landing if not a graceful one. Edo, of course, landed with perfect poise. Juudai didn't waste any time - he just gathered himself up and flung himself at Torimaki, who was the one holding Manjoume's hands down. The two of them toppled over sideways and went rolling across the floor, pummeling at each other. Juudai gritted his teeth and held on. Torimaki wasn't a strong boy - he was used to letting his illusions do all the work - but Juudai was a rough-and-tumble type who was used to physical activity, and that gave him the advantage.

At the moment Juudai had launched himself, Edo had flicked a cable out and looped it around Mototani's neck. He gave it a jerk, and Mototani went "urgh!", clutching at his throat. Then he opened a portal and dropped floor. The cord, which had been wound loosely enough to keep from choking him, unspooled as he fell. He came out a few feet away, falling clumsily out of the air and landing with a stagger.

Manjoume sat up, blazing with anger. Lightning bolts snapped around the room, somehow curving around Juudai and Edo to hit everyone else in range. Juudai flinched and let go as Torimaki twitched in pain and surprise.

There was a sound of someone whistling. Juudai looked to see Martin catching up to them, running across the room as best he could. Juudai caught what he meant at once.

"Edo! Manjoume! Ears!" he ordered, demonstrating by jamming his fingers in his own ears.

The two boys looked baffled but they did as they were told. The others reacted with a bit less haste, which meant that a moment later, they were curled up in stunned pain as Martin screamed at them. Juudai couldn't hear too clearly with his fingers stuffed in his ears, but he had a feeling that Martin was annoyed and calling them a few words he would have normally been hesitant to use in a school situation. The instant the noise died down, Juudai and Edo moved to grab at Torimaki and Mototani to start taking back all the medals they'd stolen from Manjoume - plus a few extra for their troubles.

"Go on!" Martin shouted at the rest, not quite using his ear-blasting shout but definitely making himself heard. "Get out of here! Leave us alone!"

They backed off, anxious not to get caught in that blast a second time. In the midst of all the chaos, Juudai, Martin, Edo, and Manjoume found themselves inside a little circle of relatively peaceful space.

Manjoume got to his feet, looking slightly dazed. Juudai didn't blame him. Even with your ears covered, getting shouted at by Martin was a dazing experience.

"You okay?" Juudai asked him.

Manjoume, characteristically, glared at him. "What was that all about?"

Juudai shrugged. "You were in trouble. We came to help. You're our teammate, aren't you?"

"Huh," said Manjoume. He gave Juudai a long, measuring look. "Is that so?"

"Sure," said Juudai. "Any time."

"Don't ask questions," said Edo unexpectedly. "I think that's just how Juudai is. He jumps in and rescues people."

Juudai was surprised. It seemed like a rapid turnaround from the last time he'd really talked to Edo.

"Huh," said Manjoume. And then, surprisingly, "Well, thanks. But don't think this gets you off the hook for the rest of the game. We've still got more medals to grab."

And then, before anyone could even try to continue the conversation, he turned and darted back into the crowd.

Juudai turned to look at Edo. "So, what was that all about?"

"Search me," said Edo. "I don't know anything about how that guy thinks."

"I wasn't talking about him," said Juudai. "I mean you. Why did you jump in to help us? We're not on the same team."

"Maybe I've just changed my mind about you," said Edo mysteriously. He turned his back on Juudai. "Anyway, Manjoume's right. We've got a game to play."

He, too, darted off into the crowd. Juudai watched him go, wondering. Then he shrugged. "Well, Martin? What do you say? Feel up to grabbing a few more medals?"

Martin nodded, and together the two of them flung themselves back into the fray again.

On the far side of the room, Rei and Kenzan had made it safely to their goal and deposited the team's five starter tokens. Having managed this successfully, they were now stomping around the playing area, hassling other groups of students in hopes of grabbing a last few tokens before the game was over.

"Hey, Martin," he said, "I think we'd better head for the goal before someone manages to catch up to us."

Martin nodded, his face showing clearly that he liked this plan. He was a small boy, and even though he and Juudai had been sharing the burden of carrying all the medals they were winning, he positively clanked when he moved. He seemed to be getting a bit out of breath, too, from all the running around they were doing.

Juudai was just waiting for Martin to finish chunking the last of his tokens into their drop box when he became aware of a commotion. To be more accurate, he became aware of one more specific commotion, because there were quite a lot of them going on at the time. The only reason that this one caught Juudai's eye was that Shou seemed to be somehow in the center of it.

"Come on!" he said to Martin, and went chasing across the room.

The found Shou being harassed by one of the older students, a bespectacled young man with spiky reddish hair and a somewhat haughty mien. Juudai hadn't been formally introduced to him, but he was under the impression that his name was Amon. He was notable for having control over air and clouds, and he was proving it now by conjuring up an indoor thunderstorm. It wasn't very big, only about two yards across, but it was throwing off miniature lightning bolts that were still strong enough to stun. Shou had one of his shields up - Juudai couldn't see it clearly, but the rain rolling off of it marked the place where it had to be. It might well have been good for keeping rain away, but lightning passed through them as if they weren't there. Shou was starting to look a little singed.

"Hey!" Juudai shouted. "Quit picking on him!"

"Juudai!" Martin hissed. "You can't just go around rescuing everybody! He's not even on your team!"

"I'm not rescuing everybody! I'm rescuing my friend," Juudai insisted.

Amon turned to regard him blandly.

"And what," he asked, adjusting his glasses to pin Juudai with a look, "do you propose to do to me?"

"I don't know! I'll think of something!" Juudai shouted back. He watched Shou, behind Amon's back, trying to collect himself. The floor was slippery with rain, and he seemed to be having trouble walking without falling down. Juudai kept talking, trying to keep Amon distracted. "I just know I'm not going to let you keep picking on my friend!"

"I'm not picking on anybody," said Amon reasonably. "This is the way the game is played. If he can't defend against my attack, he either needs to learn how or find another line of work. And if you can't handle that fact, I'd advise you to find another line of work as well."

His hand moved, almost too fast to follow, and the storm cloud surged and spat out a fork of lightning. Juudai ducked and it whizzed harmlessly over his head to strike one of the obstacles behind him. Juudai grinned.

"Missed me!" he taunted.

Amon's face creased into an expression of annoyance. "I won't miss a second time." He took a step closer, losing interest in Shou as Juudai goaded him. Martin stepped bravely forward, drawing in a breath to shout, but Amon tossed another bolt at him, making him squeak and back away.

"You stay out of this. I'm wise to your tricks," said Amon. "Now, are you carrying any medals, I wonder?"

He took another step, the storm cloud growing and darkening behind him. Juudai felt the hairs on the backs of his arms rise in response to the electricity.

Now would be a really good time for my powers to do something! he thought.

Immediately, there was a twang!, and something struck Amon in the back of the head. He jerked, stumbling forwards, and Juudai took the opportunity to scramble away. He probably didn't need, to, though. Amon had already lost interest in him, and was looking around for the source of the projectile.

Behind him stood Shou, staring at his hands and looking confused.

"Did you do that?" Amon demanded.

"Maybe?" Shou squeaked.

Amon scowled. "Well, you'd better not do it again, or I'll..."

Even as he began advancing on Shou again, Shou held out his hands as if to defend himself. There was another twang, and everyone, Shou included, watched in surprise as a bolt of blue-green energy sprang from his palms and smacked Amon in the stomach. Amon was caught flat-footed and toppled over backwards.

"Time!" Chronos shouted. "Everyone deposit your tokens!" Everyone regretfully began simmering down. Shou stared a moment, shrugged, and then hastily grabbed a handful of tokens out of Amon's vest pocket and scurried away.

"Well, that was weird," Juudai muttered.

He rejoined his team next to their goal box and waited with interest to see the results. He was gratified to see that they'd come in first this week. Shou's team had also done very well, coming in third. Considering that the second-place team had included Edo and Jim, he thought that was pretty remarkable. He hoped he and Shou would have a chance to celebrate a little later. He thought they could both use a reason to celebrate.

But it was not to be. As soon as the points had been tallied and everyone had been herded back into the classroom, Chronos took Shou aside.

"Mr. Marufuji," he said, "I want to see you after class."

Shou looked stricken. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Chronos, holding up his hands and trying to seem reassuring. It wasn't doing much. Shou was shrinking backwards, trying to disappear into the wall. "I just want to consult with you about a small matter."

"What kind of matter?" Shou asked. "Is it because I shot at Amon? I didn't mean to. It just sort of happened."

"You aren't in any trouble," said Chronos firmly. "There's just... something I want to check on. Remind me, how high were your S-levels? In the low hundreds, yes?"

"A hundred and thirteen," said Shou promptly. He looked glad to have a concrete answer to something.

"Hm, yes," said Chronos, looking thoughtful. "Well, it's probably nothing, but I still want to check. I'm sure it won't take long."

"Well, okay," said Shou, looking mystified.

Juudai patted him on his shoulder. "I'll catch you later, okay? Good game!"

Shou mustered a smile. "Yeah. Thanks for coming to bail me out."

Juudai waved goodbye to his friend and started for the hallway. He wondered just what Chronos was all worked up about. He hoped it wouldn't get Shou into trouble, whatever it was.

He was about halfway to his next class when he became aware of a dark shadow next to him. A faint chill crawled down his spine, a dim memory of something he'd almost managed to forget, something about a boy in a dark forest...

Then Juudai turned his head and realized that Manjoume was walking beside him.

"Oh, hi," said Juudai. "What's up?"

"You saved me," said Manjoume, glaring at him as if that were an accusation. "Again."

"Well, yeah," said Juudai. "I couldn't just let them keep picking on you like that. They were being pretty harsh."

"You still didn't have to save me," Manjoume persisted.

Juudai shrugged. "You were my teammate. What was I supposed to do, just leave you there?"

"You don't even like me!" said Manjoume. He sounded angry. There were spots of red color rising in his cheeks.

"Hey, calm down," said Juudai, holding his hands placatingly. "Geez. If I knew you were going to get all worked up about it..."

"You came for me that other time, too," said Manjoume. "When we were in the woods, and that guy got me."

That brought Juudai up short. Yes, he did remember now. It was strange how he had let it slip out of his mind.

"Yeah," he said soberly. "Yeah, I did."

Manjoume shook his head. "You have some kind of hero complex."

Juudai laughed, a little nervously. "That's nothing strange about that in this place, is it?"

"We need to talk," said Manjoume. "Not here, though. Someplace nobody is going to listen in - especially not those two clowns Torimaki and Mototani. Do you know someplace private?"

Juudai thought quickly. "There's a tunnel through the shrubbery near the front of the school. Shou and I found it our first day. Can you meet me out front after class?"

Manjoume nodded. "Fine. See you then. Don't make me wait or I'll change my mind."

He picked up his pace and threaded his way into the crowd until he was lost from sight. Juudai stared after him, frowning slightly.

"Weird," he said.

One thing was for sure, though. He wasn't going to miss being there when Manjoume finally explained what this was all about.


"Something very odd is going on."

Chancellor Samejima looked up from the report he'd been reading to see Chronos standing in front of his desk.

"Don't do that," he scolded. That was the problem with working with someone who was capable of bending time: he had a habit of appearing out of seemingly nowhere whenever he wanted to be somewhere in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you'd want to know," said Chronos. His expression was uncharacteristically grave. Samejima was used to his most senior professor looking aggrieved, or outraged, or even downright furious, but this sort of solemnity was something rare.

"Well, then, what can I do for you?" Samejima asked.

"Are you aware of Shou Marufuji?" Chronos asked.

"Ryou's younger brother? Of course," said Samejima. "Is he doing all right? I know his brother has been under some strain lately..."

"No, that isn't the problem," said Chronos, sounding testy. "At least, I don't think he has anything to do with it. The problem is that young Mr. Marufuji has suddenly started developing powers right and left."

"Well, what's so strange about that?" asked Samejima. "It runs in the family, I suspect. We wouldn't have admitted him to the school if he hadn't had some potential in that direction."

Chronos snorted. "I'm sure you know he suddenly started creating force fields while he was out on that mission with his brother."

"Yes, indeed. One of the few good things to come out of that event, or so I hear," said Samejima. "I understand he saved several lives that night."

"I can't speak for that," said Chronos primly. "I can say that he's been quick to master the art of creating shields. Now, in class today, he suddenly started throwing energy beams around."

Chancellor Samejima sat back in his chair. "Well, that is unusual, to have two such strong talents settle on one person. He really must take after his brother."

"One might think," said Chronos ominously. "Now, look up his student records. Tell me what his S-levels are registered as."

"Professor Chronos," said Samejima, "why don't you just come out and tell me..."

"Humor me," the professor replied.

Chancellor Samejima sighed. With a few quick keystrokes, he brought up his database of student records and typed in Shou's name. The file opened before him, showing all of the boy's student records: name, age, registration date, previous educational and disciplinary records, and, of course, his S-levels. Samejima stared, frowning slightly.

"One hundred and thirteen," he said slowly.

"One hundred and thirteen!" Chronos agreed. "I looked them up myself, and the boy confirms it. With power levels like that, he should be lucky to conjure up a bit of light or have slightly enhanced speed. Instead he's using the powers of someone with three times his S-levels."

"How can that be?" Samejima murmured. He had never in his life heard of someone having such strong talents with such low S-levels. It didn't seem possible.

"How indeed," said Chronos grandly. He was on a roll now. "So after class today, I had young Mr. Marufuji accompany me to the infirmary and have his S-levels tested again." He fixed his watery blue eyes squarely on Samejima's. "They registered at three hundred and fifty-two."

Samejima sucked in a breath. He had never, in all his years, heard of someone's S-levels changing. The level you were born with was the level you died with, no exceptions. There had to be some mistake... but where it might be, he couldn't imagine. Their tests had always been accurate, so far as he knew, and he had a hard time imagining the kind of confusion that would cause someone to write "113" as "352" on multiple documents. It didn't make any sense.

"Chancellor," said Chronos, resting both his hands on Samejima's desk, "there is something very odd going on in this school. First we have that boy who registers the most unheard-of S-levels and yet doesn't manifest any visible powers, and now we have a boy with practically no S-levels at all who is suddenly manifesting powers he has no business having. Surely you can see that something is developing here."

"Well, I don't know about that," said Samejima slowly. "So far as we know, these are two unrelated incidents. I'll grant you, it's strange that we should have the two of them so close together when noting like this has happened before, but..."

"Excuse me?" said a hesitant voice.

Both men turned to see Miss Ayukawa standing in the doorway. She was biting her lip nervously, as if afraid to say the wrong thing.

"Miss Ayukawa," said Chronos haughtily, " we are in the middle of an important conversation."

"One that you might be able to shed some light on," said Samejima, causing Chronos to deflate. "Did you help the professor here to test Mr. Marufuji's S-levels?"

"Yes," she said. "That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Only part?" Samejima prompted.

She nodded. "After he left, I was checking on Fubuki Tenjoin to see how he was doing, and I thought, well, since I already had the equipment out, it couldn't hurt to check. I didn't think I'd find anything, but..."

"What did you find?" asked Samejima, but with a creeping feeling that he knew.

"His S-levels," said Miss Ayukawa. "They've changed."