There was a lot of commotion, but DD ignored it all. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing, and were therefore of no importance to him. The important thing was that he needed his powers back. There was nothing else he could do until he had that problem solved, so all he had to do was solve it.
There's no way that kid can be telling the truth. No one can just take away someone's powers with a touch like that. He's got to be some kind of healer - all he did was counteract the effects of the drugs. That's the only possible explanation...
Images flickered across his internal movie screen. He saw himself powerless, forced to give up his hero career, and all the power and prestige that came with it. A high-profile hero earned money from endorsements and government sponsorships. All that would be gone if he lost his powers - he'd be destitute in a matter of months. Without that money and without his powers to keep his men in line, his research empire would crumble, and so would all his dreams for the future. He'd be left with no family, no money, no job, and no prospects. It would be the end of the world for him... but that couldn't happen. Nothing so momentous could happen in an instant's touch like that.
He took the elevator down to the medical ward. The drug cabinets there would be locked, but that was not a problem - he had the keys to unlock anything in the building. The medical ward was empty now. There were no patients at the moment, and the all-hands signal meant that everyone, even the medical staff, would be out searching for the invading heroes. There was no one to see as he unlocked a cabinet, reached for a syringe, and filled it from a bottle.
This will fix everything, he told himself, as he rolled back his sleeves. His arm bore the marks of several other recent injections. He had prepared heavily for this mission. It could not possibly fall apart like this. He swabbed an undamaged patch of skin with antiseptic and pressed the needle into a vein.
For a moment, he felt nothing, but that wasn't unusual. It took a few seconds for the serum to take effect. He simply waited, breathing deeply while he waited for the familiar comforting rush of renewed strength.
It was hard to pinpoint the moment when he realized that something was wrong. It began with a sense of lightheadedness, and a faint ringing in his ears. His heartbeat began to feel strange, rapid and fluttering in a way his dash down the stairs couldn't account for. As the ringing in his ears grew to a roar like the tide, he became aware of a creeping sense of nausea that grew steadily with every second. Strange lights began dancing in front of his eyes. With a groan, he sank to his knees and let his forehead rest against the cool tile of the wall as he waited for the sensation to pass.
No! It can't happen like this. It has to work. It has to work... Maybe I just need more...
With a tremendous effort, he hauled himself to his feet and managed to seize a second bottle. He refilled the syringe with hands that was slippery with sweat. This was dangerous territory. These drugs were not safe at high doses; he knew that much from his experiments. There was a chance that a second dose would be permanently damaging, even fatal.
I need to push through whatever he did to me. There's no other option. I have to get everything back somehow. Otherwise...
Once again, he rammed the plunger home. Then he sat back against the wall, enjoying its coolness and the way it supported his weakening body. Already he was starting to feel a little better. His heart rate seemed to be slowing, the frantic pounding fading to a weak fluttery tremor. The dancing lights in front of his eyes were fading, replaced by a slowly closing circle of darkness. Even as the darkness closed in on him completely, he knew he had made the right choice.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?"
"Down," said Ryou. The two of them were clattering down the staircase, trying to listen for the sounds of battle over the sound of the sirens.
"All right, fine, stupid question," said Edo. "Better question: do we know what we're going to do when we get where we're going?"
"What we've been doing this whole time," said Ryou. He felt reckless, almost cheerful. True, he hadn't managed to defeat DD, not properly, but he and Edo together had pushed him so close to the edge of defeat that he'd had to pull this sort of cowardly move just to get away. More importantly, Ryou had managed it without powers. He had fought one of the most powerful supers in the world and come out on top, and he had done it with nothing more than his wits, a few tools, and what physical strength he'd been able to muster. At the moment, he felt like anything was possible. Taking on DD's goon squad was going to be a piece of cake.
Edo made a noise of frustration. "And I thought Saiou was the king of cryptic remarks."
"You were the one who wanted me to make friends with him," Ryou replied.
Edo gave a bark of laughter. They continued to run.
They stopped running at about the point where a wall buckled in front of them, and then the leg of a tyrannosaurus protruded through it.
"Sorry!" said a familiar voice, and then, "Why am I apologizing? I'm supposed to be stomping you people!"
"We're not from G.R.A.S.P.!" said Edo hastily. "It's us, Edo and Ryou!"
The leg withdrew, to be replaced by a scaly snout and a huge pair of nostrils. They sniffed a few times.
"Oh, hey, it is you!" said Kenzan. "Good, then you can take care of him."
The snout withdrew, and reappeared a second later carrying a limp body gently in its jaws. Edo's eyes widened.
"Saiou!"
He dashed forward and began trying to lift Saiou down from the dinosaur's teeth. It was interesting to watch, given how much taller Saiou was than Edo. Edo probably couldn't have done it if he hadn't been given super strength.
I really need to find out how he managed that, Ryou mused. Now was obviously not the time.
Edo lowered his friend gently to the ground, so that he was half-sitting and half-lying on the stairs.
"Come on, wake up," he said.
Saiou stirred and groaned softly.
Rei squirmed through the hole and came out to join them.
"He blasted the bad guys," she explained, "and then he passed out like this."
"Burned himself out again," Edo muttered. "Well, he'll be okay in a while. He just needs to sleep it off." He looked up at Rei. "How are the others?"
There was a whoosh beyond the hole in the wall, followed by a thud. Plaster trickled down from the broken edges of the wall.
"We've been better," she said.
"Right," said Edo. He stood, rolling up his sleeves. "What do you say, Ryou? Want to show these guys what we did to their boss?"
"No," said Ryou.
Edo looked at him curiously. "No? What, are you planning on staying here and nursing Saiou?"
"No," said Ryou, stepping towards the hole. "I just think we can do it better this time."
Edo grinned. "That's more like it. Come on, let's show these guys they picked the wrong crew to mess with."
Juudai was feeling lost. That shouldn't have been possible, since all he had done was run up the stairs, so running down again should have taken him back where he started. Unfortunately, he could no longer remember what floor he had started on, and he thought his friends might have moved on without him. He was no longer sure where to even start looking.
He was still trying to formulate a plan of action when something rose up through the steps in front of him. Juudai jumped backwards with a yelp, and would have fallen if Yubel hadn't caught him and set him upright again. By the time Juudai had collected himself, he realized that there was something decidedly familiar about the rainbow-hued shape in front of him.
"There you are!" said Johan - or rather, the shade of Johan. "Everybody's been looking for... holy crap, what is that?"
"His name is Yubel and he's my friend," said Juudai quickly. "Yubel, this is, um... wait, can you even see him?"
"I can half see him," said Yubel, staring very hard at Johan. "But he's transparent. Is he supposed to be that way?"
"Most people can't see him at all when he's doing this," said Juudai.
"Oh," said Yubel. "I noticed I could see a lot better once I could open my third eye."
Johan studied Yubel with interest.
"You know," he said, "some people are just being metaphorical when they say things like that. Listen, though - the whole gang is wondering where you went. Ever since that alarm went off, everything has been going crazy. You need to get down there and help!"
"On my way," said Juudai. "Do you know where they are?"
"I'll lead you to your team," said Johan. He started down the stairs in a blur of rainbow light.
Juudai glanced back at Yubel. "You coming with me? You don't have to, you know. I'll understand if you don't want to fight."
Yubel flexed his claws. "I don't like any of these people. I'm going with you."
"Good enough for me," said Juudai. "Lead the way."
They hurried back down the stairs - Johan trailing rainbows, Yubel sailing on silent wings, Juudai forced to clamber along on his own two feet.
Guess there's really no end to this hero thing. Still, at least it was more interesting than lessons.
Johan darted up ahead and returned an instant later.
"There's a big crowd up there," he said. "I can't help at all, except by watching your backs. Think you can manage with just the two of you?"
Juudai looked at Yubel. The expression on his friend's face suggested that it would take a lot more than just a few goons to stop him.
"I think we'll be fine," said Juudai.
As promised, three more floors down, Juudai came up against a wall of angry men in dark jackets, all of them waiting to take their turn fighting with whoever was in front of the crowd. They seemed to have become bottlenecked around the door to one of the rooms, beyond which Juudai could hear the sounds of battle. There seemed to be no way for him to get inside to help. Juudai considered for a moment before stepping up to the nearest man and tapping him on the shoulder. The man turned to glare at him.
"What do you think you're doing, kid?" he demanded. "You one of those hero types?"
Juudai smiled up at him and pointed behind himself. "Hey, look what I found! He followed me home. Can I keep him?"
The man followed his pointing finger, his gaze traveling further up the hallway and landing squarely on Yubel. Yubel smiled, showing teeth.
"Hello," he said. "Remember me?"
The man did apparently remember Yubel. He let out a shriek and began trying to escape. Unfortunately for him, there were only two directions he could go: backwards towards Yubel, or forward through the crowd of men in front of him. He chose the safer option, attempting to shoulder his way past his comrades. This caused the ones nearest to him to turn around and see what the problem was, at which point they saw Yubel grinning at them. Juudai watched the domino effect with interest. He wondered what had been happening to Yubel that made everyone so afraid of him.
At least he's on our side, now.
The crowd was beginning to break up. A few of them managed to push their way to side corridors or further down the stairs to flee - they might have been willing to fight a handful of trainee supers, but dealing with their own monster was clearly not on their to-do list. A few others stood their ground, drawing their weapons or radioing for backup. Others were pressing forward, trying to break through the wall of defending heroes. The heroes, however, seemed to have realized something was undermining their foe's morale, and they had rallied accordingly. Juudai caught a glimpse of Shou hovering near the ceiling, firing off blasts of energy while Asuka protected him with her shields. Jim had ducked into a corner, partially concealing himself with a bookshelf, calling out directions and warnings to his friends while Karen stood guard over him and snapped at whoever came near. Fubuki was making himself useful, too. He didn't seem to be back at full strength, yet, but he was contributing anyway by making sudden patches of half-melted ice appear beneath the boots of oncoming attackers. Juudai watched as one man drew a gun, and then screamed as it exploded in his hand, its muzzle blocked by hard-packed snow. Part of his hand exploded, too, and Juudai winced. It wasn't that he wanted to see his friends get hurt, but...
This is stupid. They're fighting for a guy who can't lead them anymore. I stopped him already...
Hayato had taken refuge behind Manjoume, who was doing a good job of protecting the both of them. Anyone using an electrical weapon couldn't get anywhere near Manjoume without it shorting a circuit, and Hayato was fending off any other dangers with what seemed to be shields with wings. They were only made of paper, but they did a surprisingly good job of deflecting bullets and other projectiles, at least until they ran out of power and crumpled to the floor. Hayato was having to scramble to keep drawing new defenses, and Juudai found himself wondering how much paper he had left.
All this went through his mind in the space of a second. Then two of the guards decided that tackling one boy just standing there looked a lot safer than attacking either a terrifying dragon-beast or a lot of heroes actively engaged in fighting. One of them took a swing at him with a shock baton, and Juudai ducked. Yubel flung himself at the man who had attacked him and wrestled him to the floor, but the second man stepped forward and aimed a kick at Juudai's ribs. Juudai managed to roll out of the way - not quite fast enough to avoid being struck, but fast enough that he didn't end up with a few broken ribs. His attacker snarled and stepped forward to try again.
Someone stepped through the wall, grabbed a chair, and stuck the man smartly over the head with it. He went down with an expression of surprise on his face. Juudai looked from the prone man to his rescuer, and saw Misawa looking down at his handiwork with an expression of distaste.
"This is really not my line of work," he muttered.
"Did you kill him?" Juudai asked. He nudged the fallen man with a toe.
"How should I know?" Misawa replied. "I'm a field technician. I'm not combat trained."
"Well, if he wakes up, we can ask him," said Juudai. He found he didn't have much sympathy for the fallen man. His own bruised ribs aside, Juudai wasn't about to forgive someone who had been complicit in torturing Yubel and hurting Fubuki and everything else that G.R.A.S.P. had done. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Helping you," said Misawa. One of the men tried to lunge at him. Misawa's outline flickered as the man passed straight through him and crashed into the wall. "It seemed to me as though you could use some backup, and I am your backup. As soon as I realized things were getting out of hand, I sent a signal to the police and the local hero alert system, and then I came to see what I could do to help."
"Great," said Juudai. "Can you get into the P.A. system?" He saw Misawa's expression and added, "Stupid question, of course you can. Get on it, then, and tell these guys that their boss has been taken down already and there's nothing left to fight for."
Misawa's eyebrows rose. "Is that true?"
"I'm pretty sure it is," said Juudai. "Also the monster they made to fight with us is on our side, and I'm pretty sure he's not happy."
He indicated Yubel, who was fighting with six men at once and apparently enjoying himself immensely. Misawa turned to watch him. A bullet zinged through the space his head was occupying without encountering any resistance.
"I think your message may be somewhat unnecessary," said Misawa, "but I'll do what I can."
He stepped through a wall and vanished. Juudai watched him go. Then he turned back to the fray.
"Oh, well," he said, grabbing the chair Misawa had abandoned, "better help out for now."
Edo released a series of energy beams that left a row of charred starbursts across the wall, and watched in satisfaction as opponents dove for the floor.
He really didn't train these people very well.
Of course he hadn't. These were grunts, meant to do the menial work and nothing more. DD had believed that when it came to fighting actual powered heroes, he would be there to manage that part. He had expected sheer numbers and his own power and brains to be enough. He hadn't counted on his own protégé and someone like Ryou to come along and confront him. On the whole, Edo was enjoying proving him wrong.
Even if they weren't working for DD, they deserve this for hurting Saiou.
That was one good thought he could carry out of all this. His father was gone, and not even taking down his killer would bring him back. DD had betrayed them both, but soon his empire would be broken and he would never be able to hurt anyone else ever again. All the family Edo had was gone, but he wasn't alone. Ryou and Saiou had been here for him, even at risk to their own life. Even when Ryou had lost all his powers, and must have known his chances of success were nearly nonexistant, he'd come to help Edo face down one of the most dangerous people in the world. There were people in the world Edo could trust, truly trust, and that made them as good a family as he was ever going to find.
That didn't make what had happened today stop hurting, but it took away a little of the sting.
At least the battle was finally starting to go their way. Saiou's sacrifice had not been in vain; he seemed to have taken out at least twenty of DD's men with his psychic blast. Now the numbers were more evenly balanced - not equal, but close enough that the addition of Edo and Ryou to the mix was allowing the heroes to hold their own. Rei had managed to sweet-talk one of the men into giving her his shock baton, and she was now gleefully whacking anything that came near her. As Edo watched, Martin grabbed one of the men she had stunned, jerked him down by his collar, and shouted something in his ear, making him stagger backwards clutching his skull. O'Brien fired off a round of fireballs, causing a row of men to dive for the floor, and Kenzan snatched one up in his teeth and threw him at the wall.
We might actually win this, Edo thought.
"Watch your back!" came Ryou's voice behind him.
Edo ducked and whirled just as something zinged over his head. Edo fired off an energy blast and knocked the gun out of his attacker's hand.
"Don't shoot that indoors," he scolded, as his attacker shook his burnt fingers. "You're going to hit one of your own men. Honestly, didn't they teach you people anything?"
"It's not like there's a shortage of them," Ryou grumped, as he flicked Edo's whip at an approaching goon. Ryou was standing guard over the hole in the wall, preventing anyone from getting too near the still-unconscious Saiou. "It seems like every time we clear some of them out, more show up."
"We have to run out eventually," said Edo. He blasted another black-coated man off his feet, then turned and kicked another in the groin.
"The trouble is," said Ryou, "there aren't but so many of us either."
He whipped his lash around a man's arm and managed to jerk him off his feet. Before Ryou could untangle his weapon, another man rushed at him with one of the electrical prods. Reflexively, Ryou raised a hand to knock him away with an energy bolt, forgetting too late that he couldn't do that at the moment.
But it ended up not mattering, because the man suddenly stopped moving forwards and instead tilted backwards as the floor beneath him seemed to give way. His eyes widened in shock as he fell down, passed through the floor without meeting any resistance, and vanished, leaving only a shadow behind. Ryou's face split into a relieved smile.
"Fujiwara! Nice of you to join us."
The shadow rose up from the floor and made a show of dusting himself off.
"Well, the rest of our friends seem to have everything under control where they are, thanks to that dragon," he said, "so I thought I'd come check on you - and in the nick of time, it looks like."
"The more the merrier," said Edo. "So where did that guy go?"
"I don't know," Fujiwara admitted. "The basement, I think. I wasn't really aiming for anywhere in particular."
"It probably doesn't matter," said Ryou. "Send a few more away, if you want."
Satisfied that all was well, Edo turned his attention back to the rest of his opponents. They were beginning to look like they were reconsidering the wisdom of being here. A fireball or a dinosaur might be dangerous, but they were easy to understand. Getting gobbled up by a shadow triggered fear on a more visceral level.
Yes, well, they had better be scared. With this team, there's no way we can lose.
Even as he was thinking that, a crackling sound came from overhead. Everyone instinctively paused, the better to hear the voice coming over the P.A. system.
"Attention, all," said a clear, no-nonsense voice. "This is Misawa Daichi, your friendly neighborhood superhero. I'd like to inform you all that DD has been defeated. This organization is now officially dissolved. Furthermore, the authorities have been alerted and are on their way. I repeat, the authorities are on their way. I advise all members of G.R.A.S.P. to put down their weapons and surrender..."
The goon in front of Edo scowled. "That can't be true. This is a trick! You just got him to say that to make us think we'd lost!"
Ryou and Fujiwara drew close behind Edo, Fujiwara gathering a handful of shadows in one hand, Ryou holding his whip. Edo smiled.
"You wanna bet on that?" he said.
The goons put down their weapons.
Juudai sat on the curb and looked up with mild interest at the building in front of him. Parts of it still had flames roiling out of it. When the authorities had arrived to collect the criminals, they hadn't messed around. Even as Juudai watched, a small chunk of cracked masonry gave up its hold on the rest of the building and went plummeting to the pavement.
I hope we're not going to have to pay for this, he mused. Otherwise we're all going to have to graduate and get sponsorships really fast.
At the moment, though, he couldn't get too worked up about it. He had been sitting and watching the building fall apart for nearly half an hour now, and so far nothing bad had happened to him. He and all his friends had made it safely out of the building. Now the police and a few local heroes were rounding up stragglers, while Johan helped the medics patch up anyone who was injured. Traffic along the streets surrounding the building had been blocked off, so apart from Juudai's friends, the police, the medics, and the fleeing G.R.A.S.P. agents, and the noise of the building going to pieces, everything seemed pretty quiet. It said something that Juudai found this situation soothing.
It had been a long day. After all the excitement and all the strain he'd put on his powers, Juudai was ready for a long nap. He had, in fact, nearly dozed off when he became aware that a shadow had fallen over him. He looked up to see that Saiou had drifted over to stand next to him. He looked as tired as Juudai felt.
"Do you care for company?" he asked.
Juudai silently patted the concrete next to him. Saiou sat down with all the poise of a man taking his place in someone's parlor. Juudai had to respect the fact that the man could move so gracefully even when he was plainly exhausted.
"Where has your dragon friend gone?" Saiou asked.
"Dragon?" Juudai repeated. "Oh, you mean Yubel? I guess he does look kinda like a dragon. The healers are checking him over now, trying to get a handle on what DD did to him. I don't think they've been feeding him as much as they should have." The thought made him outraged all over again. He was the sort of person who placed a high priority on good food.
"They found him, you know," said Saiou. "DD, I mean. He was in one of the medical wards."
Something about the flat tone of Saiou's voice gave Juudai pause.
"Was he... okay?" he asked.
Saiou shook his head. "It would appear that he injected himself with an overdose of some substance. The medics haven't been able to identify it yet, but he was holding a syringe and had fresh marks on his arms."
"So he's dead, after all," said Juudai. He sighed, staring down at the pavement at his feet. "I didn't want to kill him. I really tried not to."
"You didn't kill him," said Saiou. "He chose his own way out."
"I gave him the idea, though," said Juudai gloomily. "I was the one who told him that taking his weird drugs would probably make him sick, and he went and did it anyway. And they wouldn't have hurt him so much if I hadn't done what I did, and if I hadn't done it, he wouldn't have needed to."
Saiou took this rather jumbled protest calmly.
"He could have chosen otherwise," said Saiou. "He could have surrendered, gone to jail, and perhaps in time, he could have turned his mental abilities to better purposes. He could have, but wouldn't have. He never would have chosen to live without his powers - not just the physical superpowers, but the power he had over other people. Once he lost that, he would not have wanted to go on. He'd have found some other way to end it all, no matter what you did."
"I still don't like it," said Juudai. "I always thought winning would be fun. I never wanted people to die."
"The life of a hero, I'm afraid," said Saiou.
"I'm not sure I really want to do this anymore," said Juudai. "The more I do this, the harder it seems to get. I thought things would be easier once I knew what my power is, but it's not."
"There is only one easy way to have power," Saiou observed.
"That's what scares me," said Juudai. "I'm afraid of becoming like DD. I don't think he was a bad guy, to begin with. He thought he was going to do something good to help people like Edo and Shou who feel like they aren't good enough. And he really was a hero - he saved a lot of people's lives and put a lot of bad guys away. I think in the end, he still felt like he was doing the right thing. I don't want to end up like he was, convincing myself that everything I do must be right just because I feel like it is. It was bad enough with someone like him. If it happened to someone with power like mine..."
"You could change it," said Saiou.
Juudai looked up again. "Huh?"
"Change your power. If you have power over powers, then that should include your own," said Saiou calmly. "I have a sense that this is so. You could change your powers to limit yourself to something that will demand less of you - healing powers, perhaps, if the idea of taking lives distresses you, or something small and amusing that no one will ever ask you to use on the battlefield. Take them away from yourself entirely, if you like. You have the freedom to choose what you would like to be for the rest of your life."
"I don't know what I want," said Juudai. "That's the problem. If I give up, I'll feel bad for being able to help people and not doing it. If I keep doing what I'm doing, I'll have to worry all the time about making the wrong choices."
"Ah," said Saiou. "Well, I wouldn't let it trouble you too much."
Juudai glared at him. "That's it? That's your advice?"
"It's all you need," said Saiou. "Consider this: how much time do you think DD spent worrying about whether what he was doing was the right thing?"
Juudai turned that thought over in his head for a moment.
"Huh," he said at last.
"Food for thought," Saiou agreed. "And now, I believe we had a bargain...?"
"What?" said Juudai, and then, "Oh, sure! Just hold still a second."
He reached for Saiou's hands and closed his eyes. After the awfulness he had found inside DD, the cracks in Saiou's soul seemed clean and simple by comparison. He wasn't so badly broken, really, just a little strained and frayed around the edges. Juudai had a sense that he had come into his power too soon, before he had been ready to control it, and he had never quite bounced back. Now Juudai smoothed the rough edges away, sealed up the cracks, reinforced a few things so they wouldn't break again. It seemed to take no time at all.
When he pulled back, though, he could see that his work had made a difference. Saiou's pallid skin had a healthier tint to it, and the strain around his eyes had smoothed away.
"Amazing," he murmured. "I had no idea it had gotten so bad..."
"All better now?" Juudai asked.
"Vastly improved, thank you," said Saiou. "I will remember your kindness, Yuuki Juudai. If you ever need my help, you have only to ask."
He stood, made a polite bow, and walked away. Juudai watched him weave his way through the crowd to go chat with Edo. Juudai leaned back, hands braced behind him on the sidewalk, so he could stare up at the sky.
I get to choose, huh? he thought. He looked up at the still-smouldering building, and then down at the commotion going on in the street. Shou and Ryou were having a lively discussion together, while Edo was congratulating Saiou on his improved health. Juudai smiled as he saw Yubel hurrying back to him.
"Hey," he said. "What did the docs say?"
"They say I'm all right," said Yubel. "Someone called the school and the principal says it's all right for me to come back with you. I don't even have to take an entrance exam."
Juudai smiled. "That's great. And hey, I bet Professor Daitokuji and I can help you get back to something more like your own shape, if you want."
Yubel thought about that.
"I'd like to be more human again," he mused, "but I kind of like the wings, too."
"We'll work on that," said Juudai.
His spirits were lifting. This, he decided, was no time to worry about making huge important decisions. Now was the time to think about going home to the island with his friends, having a good meal, and taking a long nap. Then he could talk to Professor Daitokuji and Miss Ayukawa and the rest of the healers and work on helping Yubel get back to something more comfortable for him. There was a lot to do.
I guess my friends need me, he decided. And maybe that was the secret: letting other people decide for themselves what they needed of him, instead of trying to decide their lives by himself. It was worth thinking about, anyway.
"Hey, Juudai!" That was Fubuki, still a bit weak but with good humor fully restored. "Are you going to sit and daydream all day? We're ready to go!"
"Coming!" he called back. He scrambled to his feet with Yubel's help and started back towards the harbor.
Lots of time to decide later, he decided. Right now, I'm going home.
"All right, all right, one thing at a time," said Principal Samejima, holding up his hands defensively. His office was rather crowded at the moment, more so than usual, and the air positively crackled from having so many strong powers crammed into one small room.
"I can't listen to you all talking at once," he said. "Everyone sit down and let's go over this one person at a time."
Everyone sat down. Suddenly the room looked a lot less crowded, now that everyone was sitting still and not shouting at him. His eyes played over the assembled students: Ryou, looking almost painfully eager, an unusual expression on such a normally self-contained young man. Edo, looking almost as eager and excited as his friend and rival. A little further back, Saiou and that other boy - what was his name? Ah, right, Fujiwara Yusuke - continued chatting quietly together. And all the way in the far corner sat Juudai, still and watchful.
Interesting, Samejima thought. He made it a point to know all his students - their names and faces, their particular knacks, their personalities. With Juudai, had formed an impression of a boy who was long on enthusiasm but perhaps a bit short on common sense, someone with good leadership potential in his ability to get other people to listen to him, but not so good it came to thinking about long-term consequences. This still silent boy with the watchful eyes was something new and mildly unsettling.
"All right," said Samejima at last. "You first."
He pointed at Fujiwara, who jumped a little as if he hadn't expected anyone to realize he was there.
"It's nothing," he murmured. "It's only that I was hoping to re-enroll in classes. I don't think my student records were ever purged from the archives, but my status might be a little... obscure, at the moment. I'd like it all cleared up, please."
Samejima studied him for a moment, then turned his attention to his computer.
"Hm, yes, I see what you mean," he said. "You've been out of commission for a while, haven't you? Remind me what that was all about, again?"
"A little problem with my powers misfiring," said Fujiwara. "It's all sorted out now, though. The medical staff will confirm it."
"Well, that's all right, then," said Samejima. "I see no problem in getting you re-enrolled. You'll have to start over with beginning classes, though."
"That's all right," said Fujiwara. "I know I'm a bit rusty with... well, everything. Starting at the beginning will help."
"Good, good," said Samejima. "And you, Mr. Saiou? It's unusual to see you outside your rooms. What can I do for you?"
"I have come to inform you," he said, "that Professor Daitokuji has given me a thorough examination, and he has concluded that I am now fully in control of my abilities, and can therefore be safely allowed to attend classes with the rest of the students."
"Really?" said Samejima, interested. Up until now, Daitokuji and the rest had given him the impression that Saiou was basically a hopeless case, and would probably need to spend the rest of his life confined somewhere for the safety of himself and everyone around him.
Saiou's response was simply to hold up his hands, showing that he was not wearing the power dampners that he normally donned any time he felt the need to descend from his ivory tower. Samejima did a quick mental check of himself. He had known any number of psychics during his years as a professional hero, and known even more as a teacher. He had learned to recognize the signs of when a psychic was putting mental pressure on him. Just now, he felt nothing at all, or at least nothing that he wouldn't have expected to feel in a room full of strongly talented individuals.
"Very impressive," said Samejima. "How did that happen?"
Saiou seemed to consider a moment before responding, "It's a matter of an advanced new treatment. You should probably discuss it with Professor Daitokuji if you want all the details."
"I will be sure to do so," said Samejima, and made a note on his appointment book. If there was a sudden breakthrough in controlling rogue powers that was effective on this kind of scale, he was annoyed that no one had told him sooner. "In the meantime, if I can confirm these reports with the good professor, I see no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to begin attending classes."
"Thank you very much," said Saiou. He stood and made one of his formal bows. "May Fujiwara and I leave now? I would like very much to continue our conversation, and we don't want to disturb you."
Samejima made a gesture of assent, and the two of them strolled out together. Samejima heard Saiou saying, "Now, as I understand it, memory is more than simply a mental phenomenon, inasmuch as any bodily process is not ultimately controlled by the brain..." Then they were out of earshot. Samajima wondered vaguely where the rest of that conversation was going.
He turned his attention to the remaining students. His gaze strayed to Ryou, but Ryou saw the look he was getting and turned to look pointedly at Edo. Samejima had the impression that whatever Ryou wanted to talk about, he wanted to do it with as small an audience as possible. Samejima stifled a sigh. He was deeply curious about what his favorite student was thinking, especially after the trauma of his previous mission. After this last one, Samejima was half afraid that Ryou was going to ask to leave the school entirely.
"All right," he said aloud. "Mr. Phoenix, what is it that you wanted?"
"I need to show you something," said Edo.
"Well, go right ahead," said Samejima. "Unless it's something you don't want everyone else here to..."
He didn't finish, because Edo had stood up... and then continued to rise, drifting gently until he could have reached up to touch the ceiling. He held his hands in front of him and shot a bolt of energy at the nearest window. The window, which was made of specially reinforced energy-resistant material, wobbled a little. Point made, Edo floated serenely back down to his seat.
"I'd like to request having my course levels upgraded," he said. "I think at this point, I'm ready to tackle something a bit more advanced, don't you?"
"Er... yes," said Samejima. He was still looking at the window. It was still vibrating. "If you don't mind, could you tell me..."
"Let's just say I got a dose of the same thing that made Shou suddenly start manifesting powers," said Edo. "But having them isn't enough. I really need to learn how to use them." He made a face of chagrin. "They're a lot harder to manage than I thought they'd be."
"We will certainly see about that, then," said Samejima. "Talk to Professor Chronos and he'll arrange for you to be re-evaluated, and then we'll decide which courses will be best for you."
"Thank you," said Edo. He started to get up, then paused. "Do you think I could be in the same class as Ryou?"
"We'll see," said Samejima. He didn't want to make any promises he couldn't keep, and right now, he was still wondering seriously about Ryou's future.
Edo shrugged, accepting the answer. "All right, then. In that case, I'm going. I've got a lot of things to do today."
He strode out of the room. Samejima watched him go with concern, and made a mental note to talk to him again when there was a chance. Being orphaned was a continual risk in the superhero business. The school was equipped to deal with students who didn't have a home to go back to, and Edo had been earning his own sponsorships for years now. He would be fine, at least in terms of having a place to live and something to eat. As for the rest of it... well, he'd have to see about making sure that he was in the same classes as Ryou and Saiou. He ought to be close to his friends right now.
And on that note...
"Well, Ryou?" he said. "Are you ready to talk now?"
"I think so," said Ryou. "You've heard about how things went in DD's stronghold, haven't you?"
"Some of it," said Samejima. "I understand, though, that the medics say that your powers will return to full strength in a few days."
"That's right, sir," said Ryou. "I'm not worried about that right now. What I came to ask you about was my class schedules."
"Yes?" Samejima prompted, thinking, He really is trying to withdraw from school...
"I'd like to reorder my schedule a bit, if that's all right with you," said Ryou. He took a sheet of paper from beneath his jacket. He was still wearing the black coat he'd stolen from the G.R.A.S.P. facility, although he'd covered over the acronym with a patch of the school logo. "I sat down with Edo, and he helped me decide on a new schedule. I think this will help me a lot more than my old one."
Samejima accepted the paper and skimmed over it. His eyebrows rose.
"Medical training," he said. "Computers... emergency preparedness... armed combat? Ryou, these courses are not designed for someone with your power set."
"I know," said Ryou. "That's exactly why I want to take them. I was put in a situation where I couldn't use my normal skill set, so I had to improvise. It would have gone much more smoothly if I had ever taken the time to learn the things I'm capable of doing without my powers. Who's to say I won't be in a situation where that will happen again? Who's to say I won't be in a situation someday when the things I'm best at doing won't be the best things to do?" He smiled a little. "They say when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I'm asking to be given a better toolbox."
"I see," said Samejima. He gave Ryou a considering look. "Is this why you and Edo want to be trained together?"
"That's part of it, yes," Ryou agreed. "We both have things we can learn from each other."
"I see," Samejima agreed. "Then I think perhaps you're right. I will personally see to it that you get a new schedule arranged to your liking. And perhaps you would like to share some with your brother as well? I think there are some things that you could teach him as well."
Ryou seemed to consider this. Then he nodded.
"Yes," he said. "I think that would be a very good idea. In fact, I think he's already asked me about it."
"Very well, then, I'll sort that out for you," said Samejima.
"Thank you," said Ryou. He stood to leave.
"Mr. Marufuji," said Samejima, and Ryou stopped to look at him expectantly.
"Yes, sir?" he said.
Samejima smiled. "I think you're really on your way to becoming a true hero."
Ryou smiled back. "Thank you, sir."
And then Samejima and Juudai were alone in the room. Samejima was aware that somehow, even though there were fewer people there than there had been before, the tension in the room felt a lot higher.
"Do you mind coming a bit closer?" Samejima asked. He didn't say, "You're making me nervous, staring at me from over there," but the thought crossed his mind all the same.
Juudai obligingly moved to the chair nearest to the desk and sat facing Samejima earnestly. It didn't help much.
"Well, now," said Samejima, "what can I do for you?"
"Do you want to know what really happened today?" Juudai asked.
In Samejima's opinion, there was no way of telling "what really happened." The best you could do was get someone else's perspective on the subject. Still, he had the sense that getting Juudai's perspective on the day's events might be worth knowing.
"Please," said Samejima.
So Juudai began to talk, and Samejima listened. Juudai was not a very organized storyteller, and his narrative contained a lot of strange digressions, but you couldn't be principal of a school full of teenagers with superpowers for more than a few years without developing a high tolerance for strange things. Samejima concentrated on listening and paying attention until he was able to put the pieces together.
"Well," he said at last, sitting back in his chair. "That explains quite a lot of things."
"Yeah," said Juudai. He sounded gloomy. "It's not really what I signed up for, you know?"
"I know," said Samejima. "I think all heroes go through that feeling, at some point in their careers. You're getting it a bit early and a bit more dramatically than most, but..."
"Does it get better?" Juudai asked.
"In time," said Samejima. "We all learn our limitations. It never gets easy, but you do learn better ways to cope."
"I think I have a lot to learn," said Juudai.
Samejima smiled. "I suppose it's a good thing you're in a school, then, isn't it?"
Juudai thought about that for a while. Tentatively, he smiled back.
"Yeah," he said. "I guess it is."
And one thing more...
The dorm room was quiet and full of light. Sunshine poured through the window to cast a square of light on the worn carpet. Gradually, it inched its way across the floor and up the edge of the blanket, finally landing squarely on the face of a boy who was still curled up in bed. Juudai groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.
"Jus' five more minutes," he told the world.
His door burst open. Juudai tried to ignore the sound of people clambering into his room, but it was impossible.
"Come on, Juudai, are you still asleep?" Shou asked.
"It's Saturday," Juudai complained. "I'm allowed to sleep on Saturday."
"But Fubuki made it snow again!" Shou insisted. "And Asuka and Manjoume have already built a really good snow fort, and Saiou's using his psychic powers to make the snowballs fly, and we need you on our team!"
"Oh," said Juudai. He stretched without opening his eyes. "Well, maybe that's a good reason. All right, gimme a few minutes to get dressed. Go start building a wall or something."
"Okay!" Shou said, and scampered out of the room again.
Juudai yawned hugely and resettled himself under his blankets. He was cozy and warm where he was, and the thought of snow just made him that much happier to be beneath the blankets.
A leathery wing flopped across his face.
"Hey," said Yubel. "Don't go to sleep. You said you were going to play with us."
"I will, I will," Juudai mumbled.
The wingtip prodded him a few more times.
"You aren't awake," Yubel insisted.
"I am, honest."
Something grabbed his blankets and yanked him away, and then a powerful wing scooped him up and dumped him on the floor. Juudai sat up, laughing, and raised his head to see that Yubel was laughing down at him.
"All right, all right, I'm up already!" he said.
Yubel reached down a claw to help him up. Still grinning, Juudai went to dig through his closet for snow gear. Through his window, he could already see that the rest of his friends were busy with their snowball fight. Taniya, in tiger form, was racing around through the snow while Misawa lobbed snowballs from his perch on her back. Edo and Ryou, working together, were knocking snowballs out of the air with bolts of energy, making them explode in dazzling puffs of white. Even as he watched, Juudai saw Shou creep up behind Fubuki, tag him, and then run away laughing and trailing snow from his fingertips.
"I've never had a snowball fight before," said Yubel wistfully.
"Well, you're going to have one now," said Juudai, as he busily yanked on clothes. "And then later, we can come in and make hot chocolate and watch a movie or something. We'll invite some of the others too. It'll be fun!"
Yubel's eyes lit up. "You promise?"
"Promise," said Juudai. He finished strapping on his shoes and started for the door. "Now, come on! Everyone's waiting for us!"
Yubel swooped after him, and they both dashed out of the building into a snow-filled tropical wonderland.
"Look out, guys!" he shouted, as he slid down the front stair rail and landed in a heap of snow at the bottom. "Here I come!"
Someone - he didn't see who, lobbed a snowball at him, and he ducked. It struck one of Yubel's wings instead, and Yubel reached down to snatch up a handful of snow and clumsily pat it into a ball with his claws. Juudai scurried to help, laughing. Sure, the world was full of serious things and big decisions, but those could wait. Today, his friends were all safe and happy, and there was snow to play with.
For now, at least, being a hero was fun.