Location: Academy City's Neurotic Hospital
A long time ago...
"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"
"Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock!..."
"BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!"
A child at the age of five is lying on the floor of the room, which was located in a highly praised hospital.
With his eyes strictly closed and with his small ears covered by his hands, he was hoping for a better life.
His mind got bombarded with impulses from both sides of his skull and he didn't want to let these impulses also come from the front of it. It was too hectic for him, the worst experience was the sensation of his eyes, who got burned with fire from Hell itself.
-I don't want to die...
"THAT'S AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS LIVING CIRCUMSTANCE SONOMASU-SAMA. WE HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED SUCH AN EXTREME VERSION OF THIS, IT'S ALREADY PAINFUL ENOUGH TO SEE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG KID SUFFERING FROM THIS NORMALLY SMALL CALAMITY IN THEIR SENSES," the voice of the person blasted through his mind, the volume of the speech was too loud for him. His surroundings felt like a personal Hell to him, from both sides of his head, the impulses of the ears were too strong, too mighty for his mind to handle it. He could stop the flood from the front, but it made only a bit less harsh.
-Don't scream...
It was unknown if his thought was refering to himself or to the person who explained the current situation to boy's mother.
"HOWEVER, WE WILL DO WHAT WE CAN FOR YOUR PRECIOUS CHILD. FOR NOW, WE CAN ONLY SOFTEN THE BURDEN OF HIS BRAIN A BIT."
The man carefully moved the hands that were covering his fragile ears.
"BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!"
A spam wave of subtle nuances of the incoming sounds were targetting his brain all at once.
"Aaaaaaaarg!" the child cried out loud, with all the air that he had in his longs. The amplitude of noise in his brain was immense.
His ears got almost effectively closed off, but the sound waves still pierced through the headphone.
-This is-
"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!"
-(...)
"This won't stop it, but it will soften the incoming sounds, so that it will be at least bearable to his mind," the man explained with a calm voice.
"Tick tock tick tock..." the soles of the shoes from the people in the hallway was still loud, but it didn't tear his eardrums apart anymore.
"Bzzzzt," the experience of the clean air conditioner has turned from a turbo engine next to him to the annoying sound of a large bee swarming around your head.
"It will take some time to develop the device that he needs to live a normal life, so we will ask you to return to here over two months. If we have finished it earlier, then we are glad to give you a call," the tenor voice of the man was giving the details of the current plan to his mom. He didn't know if it was the voice of his father or not, because he hasn't heard his voice for ages.
"Also," the man said, filled with wit, "let's make you stylish with these fancy sunglasses."
The young boy could feel how the frame of the sunglasses was put on his face.
"You look beautiful with those sunglasses on, you look like a star actor."
The voice came out of his mother's mouth, it was partly muted and what was left was the lovely essence of his mother.
The noise was much more bearable and since a long time, he was confident enough to open his eyes.
His world got filled with colors filtered through the dark brown, almost black, lences of the sunglasses. He knew already the shape of most things around him, due to being able to open his eyes in the dark, without overstimulating them. However, he was now able to fill these empty spaces with shaded versions of the colors.
"That's all what we can do at the moment, but fear not, we will work on a solution."
The man in the lab coat, who appeared to be a doctor, was waving goodbye to him, when he and his mother left the room.
Location: Academy City's Neurotic Hospital
Two months later...
"First, your eyes. We will change the glasses," the doctor instructed with the muted voice. It has become casual to the boy to hear everyone's voice muted.
The child closed his eyes and felt how the glassed were switched.
"That's done," he heard and discovered that his vision was less dark shaded, while maintaining the sight that he had with the previous one.
"This must work, just endure it for a few seconds, after that it will be over for good," the doctor said, while he was holding a headphone in the boyish colour of dark blue.
He nodded when he was prepared and faced the tornado of sound that hit his brain.
He kept his mouth shut, but he was able to alarm the whole hospital in one single scream. However, if he did that, then the flow of impulses and their magnitude would become even stronger and louder and that could damage his brain a lot more.
These few seconds felt like that they were during multiple visits to this hospital and specialist, but finally it ended in a complete silence.
"(...)"
No single frequency or sound was hurting his mind anymore, where after he deeply sighed.
-This feels like Heaven, this is only silence. All the sound demons are gone for good.
He could vaguely see the adults talking, but he didn't hear anything.
The doctor noticed the effect that the child displayed. The boy saw how the and of the docter reached to his head and suddenly, he could hear them clear and on normal volume.
"It seems to work, how do you feel now?" the doctor questioned and he got a humble response in return.
"I am feeling, wonderful, I think. It's over..."
He didn't couldn't find the right word for the feeling that he had.
"Am I, grateful?"
He tried to correct his words, but it seemed that the doctor wasn't bothered by his hesitation.
"That's nice to hear-ha ha ha- I will direct you to the speech therapist. It will be a lot better if you can communicate with your the other children and with your friends, isn't it?"
Location: Academy City, District 7, Judgement Branch nr.13
11 years forward...
Academy City, the world famous achiever of scientific discovery. Fans of science-fiction would pay huge chunks of cash to see the engineering marvels of this wonderous city in Japan, who applied the technology of the future, at least twenty years in advance compared with the rest of the globe, with the rest of this planet Earth.
However, somethings don't change with time...
-What shall I choose? Just some simple soda won't satisfy me.
A student of Chakuri Middle School was standing for an vending machine from the first years of the twenty-oneth century, making a big dilemma about his preference of tonight's can of soda.
-I know for a fact that Lemon Popz and Razz Blast are mixing very well together and I don't know the other combinations, so I go tonight for the easy route.
His finger pressed on the images of the brands and got feedback about the price of his order.
His right hand slipped into his pocket, trying to grab his wallet.
"I know that I have enough money to buy it, but I can't find it at the moment," he said towards the vending machine, who had all the time of the world and demanded 500 yen to take his request.
"Beep," a faint sound came from the black coloured headphone that he was wearing. It signalled to him that it caught a new unidentified voice in his surroundings.
When he turned himself to the source, he encountered five people slightly above his age, covered in recognizable punk outfits.
They encountered a slender young man, wearing a headphone and blue shaded sunglasses. His usual black curly hair blended perfectly with the headphone.
He saw how the punks were yelling at him in absolute silence.
"Please, wait a moment," he requested politely. He couldn't find his wallet, but that wasn't his focus anymore.
The student looked to the thugs with a confused expression, while his right hand moved towards a button at the same side of the headset.
"Excuse me, but can you repeat it please? I wasn't completely aware that you spoke to me," there was no hint of suspicion, hostility or regret.
"Who do you think you are? Are you selective deaf or something?" one of the punks responded rude towards him.
"My name is Riuyi Sonomasu and no, I am not deaf. I just like music a lot."
Riuyi knew that he lied, but these people, actually nobody other than his own family, didn't have to know what was wrong with him.
"?" a sturdy build punk reacted, apparently, he was the leader of this small group.
"Pfft, that won't make a difference. It's already reckless enough to wonder around at night for a simple soda."
-What do these level zeros want from me? Maybe my cash? I don't even know by myself if have money with me.
"(...)"
He was speechless, he couldn't interacted with the thread that the leader made.
"And don't think that Judgement nor Anti-Skill will protect you. You have chosen the wrong neighbourhood for that kiddo."
-Oh yeah, this is branch number 13, which means we need to defend ourselves. Not that it is a problem for me.
"Do you know that you can spend that money better? Hand it over to us and we will show you how-"
"?" the three punks were surprised when Riuyi took a step from the vending machine towards the middle of the road.
"Listen," he started his explanation in a relaxed state of mind, "I just realized that I forgot to bring my wallet with me, so I don't have any cash with me."
"In that case, it's coincidental that you like music, because we are going to perform a song for you: a beat-up song."
The leader gave him a smug expression, while a few extra man were surrounding him.
Riuyi closed his eyes and sighed.
-I don't want to hurt them, but if they take the initiative, then I don't have a choice.
He already counted more than five people around him and figured out that he was outnumbered. However, that didn't mean that he immediately would lose the upcoming fight.
"It seems to be working boss, he's nervous," a grunt of them was pointing towards Riuyi's shoes, who's were tapping the floor in regular phases.
His head was bouncing in sync with the tapping, which revealed that the headphone was made from black polished steel.
-Is it forty Hertz? Nah, it's too fast for that.
While he was in concentration, the punks started to close him in, standing in a circle around him. Normally, a person would be desperate in this situation, but Riuyi was glad that they did what he had planned.
-Could it be twenty Hertz? It feels a bit closer to it, but now it's too low. Maybe...
The whole scene felt awkward for the punks, who all decided to take one step back.
"What's going with you all?" the boss commanded irritated, until:
"!" even he took a step back, when he saw a satisfied smile on Riuyi's face.
-I got it, it's twenty-seven Hertz. Thank you all for the extra time.
"Attack now!" the sturdy punk commanded, but it was already too late. Riuyi stomped with his right foot on the street, which got feedback in the form of a loud-sounding crack.
The street tiles around him started to crack open, like if they were hit by a small meteor out of the sky. The force of the moving stone and ground had enough force to throw all the punks off-guard and out of the circle.
The right hand of the boss, started to realise with who they had picked a fight.
"I recognize that move! It's Frequencer!"
All the thugs were starting to display signs of terror and crawled hastily away from him. Because, who has not heard of the level four Esper who was famous for terrorizing the tragic Judgement branch number thirteen?
Riuyi witnessed the deflate of all of them and wasn't happy with the outcome.
-I wanted to ask if I could lean some money from them for the vending machine.
He shrugged and decided to go back to his apartment.
-What's the deal? I am a level four, but that doesn't matter, I am not famous or something.
Yes, he was indeed famous by his name that outsiders gave to him, but he wasn't aware of that and for which deeds and achievements he got that name.
And the boss of the thugs was right, he was known as the person who terrorized the tragic Judgement branch of number 13.
*A note from the fan-author Headphone Headache:
This Fan-Fic will more be an original story set in Academy City than being a story of already existing characters.
With that said, I am glad to announce that I got the first plot set up in my mind, so some of the details are still vague, but I am excited to continue this OC story with some references to the original series. Of course, motivation is sometimes difficult to find in life, so if you want to support this completely new spin-off, then please follow the story or give feedback via the review option.