A Certain Unknown Mob

Okay! It's not easy, people. But I somehow made it. Do expect slow updates because it's not easy to track back the timeline of Index and Railgun series. Without further ado, onto the show!

Chapter 2: Level

Power Curriculum Program.

It was a special, large-scale curriculum in Academy City taken alongside with the regular curriculum, for the sake of unlocking special potentials of participating students and citizens - in other words, their psychic powers. However, the further details of the program was a story for another time.

There was one part of power curriculum where students of Academy City would take once every year, the System Scan; the Kageyama brothers were expected to attend one as well. One Ritsu Kageyama found himself sitting in one of the testing rooms. The boy in question was listening to the proctor's guides and instructions, while his mind was still filled with the conversation with his brother on the night prior.

oXo

"The test thing is tomorrow, right? What is called, um…. System Scan?" Shigeo read the itinerary paper in his hand, as he and Ritsu were preparing for bed in their shared apartment room.

"Yes, it is. The System Scan is held once a year and determines people's power level, which is ranged from 0 - the weakest, until 5 - the strongest." Ritsu replied while writing on his diary on the desk.

Shigeo hummed for a second as he put the paper beside him on the bed, but his eyes remained on it. "Say, Ritsu… How strong do you think a level-5 is?"

Ritsu blinked at the question, before his hand stopped writing and moved to look into internet on his cellphone, his eyes looked through more information on his phone's screen. "Let's see….. There's no actual information on internet, but…. From old news and rumours, people say a level-5 can single-handedly take on an army… That sounds amazing, actually."

"Heeh…." Shigeo stared at his younger brother, amazed himself at the fact. He then looked up in thought, "I wonder if any of our friends back home is a level-5…"

Ritsu could not help but chuckle at the question. "Well, if we're talking about 'friends', I'd say Hanazawa, Serizawa, and Suzuki….. But I think you're definitely a level-5 too, nii-san."

"No way I'm that good out of the blue." Shigeo replied with an amused smile. The fact that he replied with a sincere tone caused Ritsu to shake his head in amusement at his brother's humble mind-set. Ritsu then dismissed the thought soon enough, because he thought of something more important. "Anyway, nii-san…. I'd like to talk about our System Scan tomorrow."

"Hm? What about it, Ritsu?"

Remembering the talk he had before coming to Academy City, Ritsu turned on his seat so he could talk face to face with his brother. "Well, here's the thing..."

oXo

The idea was simple, doing their best not to excel in the test. The brothers had known enough how much problem they had gotten themselves into, prior Academy City. What kind of trouble that would come after them if they announced themselves as high-level espers? Then again, there was also a factor that they were in a city that valued the strong, so perhaps announcing their strength could give them some kind of insurance of convenient life?

In the end, while Shigeo and Ritsu were certainly not wanting to gain unnecessary attention, going out their way to flunk the test might also attract wrong kind of attention. Thus, the ideal outcome was for them to be classified as level 1, 2 or perhaps 3. However, the real issue was, that they had to be careful to precisely control their power so they could achieve the desired results….. Which might be difficult for the older Kageyama, considering how powerful he was.

"...Kageyama-san? Any question?"

Ritsu blinked as he was snapped out of his thought. "Ah! No, nothing. Please proceed." He said as he took a quick breath. He had no real issue of controlling the scale of his power; he could only hope that his brother could do the same.

The doctor stared at the teenager for a few seconds before he nodded and proceeded to prepare his pen and clipboard. "Very well, Kageyama-san. For the first test, please move the needle by 90 degrees." He instructed as he pointed at the scale with an arrow on the table between him and Ritsu.

oXo

"Now, please move the arrow by 35 degrees."

In another room, Shigeo had no idea what and how he was doing. The scale-arrow test required him to move the needle by specific angle. He had agreed with Ritsu that they should not ace the test, but not flunk it all the way either. Still, as he moved the needle, he questioned if he put too much accuracy; was it exactly 35 degrees? Did he go way off the mark? Not to mention, wasn't the test seem too simple? This kind of test should be easy for any capable esper, right? How would the scientists measure the performance? However, the proctor, a middle-aged woman in formal suit and lab coat, did not seem to show any significant reaction at the performance he gave so far. Perhaps his performance looked average to her? The Mob could only hope.

Currently, Shigeo was staring at the round object on the table before him - a regular egg. "Um… What is this again?" He asked the proctor.

"We call it Columbus' Egg test." The proctor explained. "Just try balancing the egg upside-down on the surface with your power, until I allow you to stop."

Blinking a couple of times, Shigeo activated his telekinesis and held the egg on the table with the narrow end against the table surface. It was nothing complicated, all he had to do was to keep the egg steady on the table; hence Shigeo was not sure of what the proctor was writing on her clipboard after she observed his performance.

It was a good few minutes later that the proctor finished her writing with somewhat pleased expression on her face. "You can stop now, Kageyama-san."

Shigeo did so, and he saw the female scientist picked out a deck of cards onto the table. "For the next test, I am going to hold these cards one by one before you. Please describe the picture of each card as best as you can."

Shigeo could not help but sweat; how would he half-ass this one? How many cards were there in total? How accurate should he answered? In the end, Shigeo's only option was to 'wing' the whole thing as the proctor began her questions on each card.

22%

oXo

"How was the test, nii-san?"

It was lunch time; there were no lessons despite the school days due to system scan, so the students were given free time for the rest of the day until they received their test results before evening. The brothers were sitting on a bench, eating their well-deserved lunch.

"It's okay, I think…. How about yours, Ritsu?" Shigeo replied as he took a drink from his carton milk.

"It's harder than I thought to pull-off what we're planning." Ritsu sighed as he took a bite from his bread. "The researchers of this city were nothing like the ones from ours. I'm not sure if they're fooled to believe that we're holding back."

Shigeo only hummed as he kept drinking through his straw, until the carton box imploded after all the content had been drunk by the boy. A few seconds later, both boys let out another sigh.

Suddenly, they heard a ringtone from their cells and found a message had been delivered to them.

[Shigeo Kageyama and Ritsu Kageyama, please return to the lab for additional tests. We apologize for any inconvenience]

The brothers blinked at the message, and worry began to fill their minds. Oh, shit - did they mess up? Were they in any trouble? In the end, they nodded to each other and made their way to the designated location, hoping for the best while planning for the worse case scenario.

"Ugh, it's finally over..." Uiharu slumped on one of benches outside the building facility where the System Scan was conducted. "...And I don't feel I did any different from last year either."

"Hear, hear." Ruiko sat next to her and patted her shoulder sympathetically. "But, meh. Not the first time since grade-school, anyway. I'm probably still a level-0 this year."

Uiharu wanted to say something to cheer her friend up, but considering her own mood, she could not bring herself to say anything encouraging while she herself was discouraged. "I wonder how the rest of our classmates are doing…?"

"Hmm…. I don't think they're doing much better… After all, our school is not as elite as Tokiwadai or other rich schools with strong espers…" Ruiko replied while looking up absentmindedly. "...Say, speaking of classmates, what do you think about the transfer students?"

"Kageyama?" Uiharu glanced over her friend before she gave a thoughtful look. "Hm… It's rare to see an esper from outside Academy City in person… Maybe they can achieve level 3?" She spoke with somewhat optimistic tone.

Ruiko scoffed lightly, but she herself was entertained at the idea; level-3 espers could be considered as elite at Academy City, and would receive scholarship and recommendation to better schools, accomodation, and more stipends from the Board. In Sakugawa middle-school, Ruiko only recalled several third-years being a level-3. A level-3 during the first year? Ruiko imagined the Kageyama brothers at the thought; unlikely, but might be entertaining in its own right.

Then, Ruiko spot a couple of familiar faces at the corner of her eyes. "Ah, speak of the devil…"

oXo

Ritsu and Shigeo were walking together that afternoon, their expressions were slightly pensive.

Their system scan had ended for the day and they had received their results. However, the results were not ideal. "Sorry, Ritsu… I..." Shigeo said while looking down.

"It's okay, nii-san. Even I was lucky myself." Ritsu took out the result, a card printed with results of his each test and his overall result of his power, being a level 3. Ritsu sighed at the result held in his hand, "...Even the proctor said that it won't take long for me to achieve level-4…"

Looking at his younger brother's dejected expression, Shigeo also fished into his pocket to look at his own card result. However, both siblings were interrupted at a familiar voice calling them. "Hey, Kageyama!"

Both siblings, Shigeo in particular, blinked to see their new schoolmates, or in Shigeo's case, his classmates. "Saten-san and Uiharu-san…" Shigeo recognised the girls. "Good afternoon." He bowed politely

"Good afternoon, Kageyama-san." Uiharu returned the greeting in kind, before her eyes turned to the younger one. "And this is…?"

Knowing his cue to speak, Ritsu sported a polite smile on his face as he bowed lightly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ritsu Kageyama, the younger brother. Thank you for taking care of my brother."

Uiharu blushed lightly at the pleasantry, while Ruiko was amused at Ritsu's appearance - the guy's looks has more style than the elder brother.

"It's no trouble, Kageyama-san. We are looking forward to know you two better!" Uiharu bowed as well.

"Ah, feel free to call us by our first names, since we both are Kageyama on the same year. It would save us the confusion." Ritsu said, accompanied with a nod from Shigeo in the process.

"Then, Shigeo and Ritsu." Ruiko spoke while tilting her head slightly. "Did you boys go to your system scan?"

The girls did not notice the siblings flinched slightly at the question, but Ritsu replied easily enough, "Um, yes, we did. What about you girls?"

"Yep." Ruiko's smiled turned slightly bitter as she and Uiharu showed their results. "No good at all. What about yours?" Her eyes trailed at the card on Ritsu's hand.

Ritsu inwardly scolded himself at his own blunder - he already had to reveal what he wanted to keep secret of. "Well…" He was not sure how to break it down, thus he simply showed his result with sheepish expression.

"Oooohh…" Ruiko and Uiharu's eyes widened at Ritsu's level. "That's amazing, Ritsu-san! You're already a level-3! How did you do that?!" Uiharu asked with stary-looking eyes.

"I assure you, it was a lot of hard work from my part. Sometimes I thought if the result was worth the pain I had to go through." Ritsu replied with raised hands, trying to placate the enthusiasm aimed at him.

"Are you kidding? Of course it's worth it! Man, whatever I'd do to switch level with you right now!" Ruiko remarked, barely able to keep her own jealousy from showing up. She then turned to the older sibling. "What about you, Shigeo? What's your level?"

When Uiharu also turned to him with an excited smile, Shigeo's face paled lightly. "Um, err…" He quickly glanced at Ritsu, silently asking for help. However, the younger brother also was not sure of what to do. Should they refuse to answer? If so, what reason did they have to refuse? Should they lie to avoid attention? If so, wouldn't lie cause more troubles in the long run? Should they have just come clean, after all?

"...What's wrong?" Ruiko asked when she noticed Shigeo's nervous expression, even Uiharu also lost her smile and was looking a bit worried.

"Could it be that you didn't score too good?" Uiharu also said her piece, before she gave a warm, encouraging smile. "It's okay, Saten-san and I were not doing any better ourselves, no need to be shy. Besides, people would eventually find out if they look into the city's databank, so there's no really point to hide it. Although, if you really can't tell us, we understand."

Shigeo blinked after listening to Uiharu's words. If what she said was true, then it was only a matter of time until Shigeo's power-level became a public knowledge. Looking back at Uiharu and Ruiko once again, both girls' faces were expressing patience, especially Uiharu. That made Shigeo feeling slightly warmed at the girl's soft nature. He then looked at Ritsu once again, who returned his gaze with a small nod. Taking out the card result from his pocket, Shigeo stared at the result before he took a deep breath, having made his decision.

"So? What are we looking?" Ruiko's curiosity peaked slightly, knowing that Shigeo intended to tell them in the end. Uiharu herself also had her eyes lighting up in anticipation.

"Well…" Shigeo chose to simply show his result like Ritsu did, and both girls were silent as their eyes were homing at the card in Shigeo's hand.

A second later, the afternoon air was filled with two loud female shrieks. "EEEEEHH!?"

Progress towards Mob's explosion: 30%.

Inside a certain building within Academy City, a figure was sitting on a languish desk in his dimly lit office, working on several paperworks. He was an elderly-looking man with a ever-present smile across his face, while his body was clad in a formal working suit. His hand stopped writing to pick up a paper with a picture of a boy attached.

"Hoo… I see why Aleister wanted this one inside the city." His smile widened as his eyes gained a sinister, and intrigued gleam. "To think there are more gemstones than we thought possible….. This boy and perhaps his brother… Could they be another Black Box…? No, results so far did not show so much anomaly, unlike Attack Crash… Kukuku… I wonder if this one can touch the god's territory… Or has he already stepped inside it?"

"Looking forward to work with you…. I believe we can achieve great things together, should we cooperate, Kageyama-kun."

Please review! Ahsoei, over and out.