The auditorium was filled with students, all watching and listening to the tall, dark lecturer at the front of the large hall. The man was discussing quantum mathematics, an advanced form of mathe, something quite appropriate for the majority of the students in the class.
Meanwhile, near the edge of one of the middle rows, Kuroko Shirai struggled to keep her eyes open.
She wore her white shirt under her dark-blue blazer for the first time in what must have been a week, as well as her black knee-length skirt. Misaki had tied up Kuroko's hair into her signature off-centre pigtail, having nearly left the dorm without her singular pink ribbon. It was all well and proper, though her slouched position on the desk countered that to a degree.
The teleporter was not bored by any means. Her heart was pounding within her chest, a sign of just how tired she was. It had only been a few days now since the incident and, despite her slow recovery, was still in a poor state. Maybe she needed an extra hour or two of sleep, or perhaps a little more water in her system, but she felt compelled to attend her classes again. That drive and discipline of hers was returning and beginning to dominate the current weaknesses of her ailing body.
There was also the matter of her physical exam, which was within a few hours.
The dread that Kuroko was feeling over the exam was gnawing at her stomach. She had taken plenty of them before, but she despised how this one would count towards her credits as well as her Esper Level evaluation. She was in greater control of her mental processes now than she had been while sweating buckets in bed, the cloth below and around her drowning like a neglected toddler in a swimming pool, but her body was still lacking the energy needed to cope with the draining effect her powers could have.
Kuroko had yet to break her fast either. Sure, she was able to get some water down her throat now, but the lack of food in her belly was seriously starting to strain her. Too nauseous to eat in the morning, she began to regret not forcing something nutritious into her body.
Fortunately, with the lecture ending and an hours break before her crucial physical test, Kuroko had the chance to dash to one of the cafeterias. She walked briskly to her desired location, even teleporting to cut down on time. With the state that her body was in, she was not at all picky or thinking about calorie counts when choosing the foods she knew she could eat.
From appealing pre-made sandwiches of ham and cheese to an enticing chocolate bar, Kuroko forced down what she knew she could eat, enjoy and fuel her for the upcoming exam. Her body might remain weak and trembling, and her mind fatigued and eyelids heavy, but the energy intake would keep her going for just a little bit longer.
The Level 4 knew it would not be enough to salvage the test, but she was as well prepared as she could have been under the fraught circumstances.
Even with some tasty food before her on the cafeteria table, it was still a struggle to eat it all and then to keep it down. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips, bouncing on a fancy, body-bound trampoline. The nerves, the anxiety, the sickness, it was all compounding. Kuroko willed herself to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged and opted against any teleportations to the university testing fields. She got up slowly, and walked at a calm, casual pace, not wishing to antagonise her tummy.
Kuroko set off just a little bit earlier to compensate for her snail's pace. She still wished to arrive on time, presuming that there might have been a penalty if she was late, but mostly for manners. Kuroko just now noticed and remembered all the hustle and bustle around the university. She had been so zoned out on her journey to class and her trip to the cafeteria that she had completely blocked out everyone around her. It felt like she was back on her nightly patrols, threading herself through the crowds and corridors like a needle.
It was almost pleasant.
As she stepped outside, she could feel the beating heat and light of the sun. She kept her head down and her shoulders involuntarily hunched. There was an uncomfortableness in being outside. Kuroko was feeling exposed, and she feared she was being watched. She had never been paranoid in the past, at least not to this degree, and the terror of her encounter and the night so long ago were still so fresh, still so terrible.
Kuroko forced herself to look up and forward, pushing away the thoughts that made her tremble and her throat constrict.
Ahead of her was the testing grounds. It was a large field that adorned a wide array of sporting related features, like a race track for runners and goal posts for fun and games.
Today however featured a wide array of technical equipment, from computers to sensors, as well as other objects that helped to determine skill and ability limits. There was someone standing beside the red-headed evaluator, seemingly being given a run down of their own evaluation. One section of ground appeared dishevelled and broken, rough and imperfect spheres of grass, mud and clay bumping up against each other. She did not know the student and did not have the mental energy to guess the kind of kinetic power that was being used.
Kuroko stood there, feeling slightly awkward, a slight grimace on her face as she continued to force her food to stay put inside her. She had borrowed some of Misaki's makeup to cover the dark rings below her red-brown eyes, but makeup could not mask the veins that streaked through the whites of them. Her cheeks looked a little gaunt, something that dismayed her, and she hoped that her muscle strength had not waned too much with the lack of food; her ribs already appeared to protrude a little more than before when she observed herself in the mirror this morning.
A few minutes passed and, finally, the student began to walk away with a preliminary results sheet ripped from the teacher's clipboard. It was a male, probably a year or two older than her, with brown hair that bordered on being black. He had yellow eyes from what Kuroko could tell, though he was looking down at the piece of paper that detailed various data points for him to consume. He momentarily glanced up, giving a little smile and a courteous nod, perhaps trying to signal that the examiner was now free for her.
Kuroko forced a little smile of her own, as well as a tiny nod, and walked towards the evaluator.
Only a few steps had been made by the teleporter before the red-headed examiner turned to greet her, likely having heard the footsteps or felt an encroaching presence. A smile appeared on their lips, a woman in her late thirties. Whether the smile was genuine or professional, Kuroko could only guess; she had only really met the woman two or three times before this moment, so she was still formulating an opinion on that.
"Ah, good afternoon Kuroko Shirai-san!" The teacher greeted her with some enthusiasm, beckoning her to come closer with her free hand. Kuroko felt slightly bemused at the hand waving; she had nowhere else to go but forwards towards her anyway.
"Good afternoon, Clara-sensei." Kuroko greeted in return. The one thing she did remember about her personal tutor and examiner was that she preferred the usage of her first name over her last. It was not exactly the norm here, but she had no reason to go against it. Clara looked her up and down, one eyebrow raised while the other frowned.
"Are you alright, Kuroko-san?" Her smile was still ever present as she asked the question, and if there was any concern within her then she disguised it well, her tone still slightly jovial. Kuroko hummed, finally stopping a step or two before the evaluator.
"Fine… just under the weather." The teleporter said vaguely, omitting some very key details.
"Has Judgement work been rough then?"
"...yeah." Kuroko winced, wishing to avoid the subject. Clara seemed to get the message, her expression breaking momentarily before returning to her professional jovialness.
"Well, unfortunately, we must proceed with this evaluation." Clara began. "We cannot continue to use your prelim results, and the interim tests weren't official."
"Yes, you need an update, I understand." Kuroko finished off the red-heads point, resulting in a nod and a little "Yup" from her. With that, the examiner began to gesture with her free hand towards the examination areas.
"Follow me."
Walking in tow, Kuroko began to roll her head on her neck, and she began to stretch her lower arms. She blinked forcefully, ensuring her eyes were focused and rested, ready to take in every little detail in her perfect vision. The pair approached their end of a long strip of well cut grass, reaching a few square metres of concrete. The special section of concrete flooring hosted an array of specially designed weights that rested on the coarse, grey ground. As well as that was a table hosting a few other pieces of equipment, including a laptop, with what was likely a junior examiner keeping tabs on the direct datastream that the device received.
"Procedure requires me to reiterate what is before you, so please bear with me."
Kuroko only hummed.
"Ok, so, our first task is a simple accuracy test." Clara began, her open palm pointing towards a set of black, cube-shaped weights. "The blocks before you are the same weight, within the margin of error of your recorded maximum of 173.29 kilograms." The blocks were the size of a puzzle cube, extraordinarily small for their stated weights, and each side had a small red dot in the middle of them to mark the measurement point. Each block was exactly the same dimensions as the other, and the weight of which were designed to be adjusted with some Academy City scientific sorcery.
"Ahead of you is a marker, roughly 100 metres ahead of you; below your maximum, but that's for the next test." Clara continued, grabbing a pair of binoculars from a small foldable table to pass to Kuroko. "Your aim is to place the centre point of the block within the narrow red strip, repeating this five times." As she finished, the examiner had passed the binoculars to the teleporter, who proceeded to look into them.
100 metres ahead of her was that thin red stripe painted over the grass, and to the left and right of it was an array of sensors and cameras to record the result. It was rudimentary, but it did the trick. As she observed the field closely, she saw a few white circles placed into random positions, accompanied by sensors and recorders.
"Last time out, three of the five blocks were dead-on target, so let's try and maintain that at the very least." Clara said, subtly suggesting the disappointment that it would be if she could not. But Kuroko remained calm. In her mind she knew that it was her baseline, and thus what she should achieve. She went to kneel, reaching down towards the small, heavy weights, grazing them with her hands.
"You may begin when ready, Kuroko-san."
Kuroko was not really listening at this point, and she went to grasp onto one of the blocks. She was not able to pick them up, and would likely have struggled to have done so even at full strength, but it helped give her mind a strong sense of them for the calculations. After a few more moments she pulled away, resetting herself for stage one of the exam.
She took a few breaths, letting her lungs filter the air that entered her and the waste product that left her. Kuroko was not one for deep breaths nowadays, preferring to be calm physically as well as mentally. Then her hands surged forward, ready to touch and teleport the objects before her.
A tinge of pain hit the side of her temple as the first teleportation was made.
The first weight vanished the moment Kuroko's fingertips touched it, disappearing from the dimensional plane for the briefest of moments before reappearing 100 metres ahead. As the first tiny black cube was teleported, Kuroko's hand already began to move to the next one. She would sweep across the weights in a timely, organised fashion, and each second a new weight would be transported to a whole new location.
It took only five seconds to complete the test, as expected.
Kuroko blinked, still looking down at the now empty concrete floor, and she swore her vision was blurry.
She felt something strange, like a dissociation. Kuroko was sure that it was associated with the odd, numb feeling she felt around her head, but it was like she had just woken up after being knocked out. The teleporter looked up, rising from her crouched position and stretching, looking over her shoulder to the examiner. Clara and another evaluator were looking at a laptop intently, discussing something between each other in a mumble.
Kuroko watched on, taking these few moments of peace to collect herself. Her breathing was completely fine, nothing else felt weird or strange. She was still ill, and she still felt that fatigue that was lingering like a thirsty mosquito, but nothing else was bothering her apart from her weird, numb head. Her hand went to her forehead, giving it a little massage. It did not do much, but she felt an odd sense of reassurance, as if she were glad that her head was not transparent or missing.
Suddenly, Clara rose from her hunched position over the laptop. Kuroko nearly missed the serious look on her face, quickly morphing back into her jovial standard.
"It's perfect!"
"I'm sorry?" Kuroko asked after Clara's declaration, surely having not heard her words right. The examiner beckoned Kuroko to come towards her as she walked back towards the laptop. Kuroko, her head tilting in even greater confusion, followed suit. When she reached the laptop, she saw a snapshot of what the cameras and sensors had picked up.
All five blocks were perfectly and exactly lined up on the red stripe on the grass.
Kuroko's mouth went ever so slightly agape at the image. There was not even a slight misalignment, with the figures on the side stating that there was not even a discrepancy in nanometres. The teleporter had done this once or twice before with two weighted blocks, even three for her entrance exam… but all five, at such a distance?
"It's staggering, isn't it?!"
Kuroko could only nod in agreement, with the assistant unable to contain his own excitement. Clara turned to face Kuroko, though the Level 4's near-red eyes were still locked onto the screen, double and triple checking every screenshot and datapoint.
"That is one of the most impressive results I have ever seen from any student, Kuroko-san!" She stated, patting the girl on her shoulders. "This might also be indicative of a weight or distance limit shift, which is very exciting!" Clara stated with glee, utterly fascinated at the turn of events and the prospect of more records being beaten. Kuroko hummed again, her gaze moving from the laptop, to the examiner and then towards the testing ground again.
Someone at the far end of the field was tinkering with the black blocks, likely reducing their weight with whatever fancy gadget they were holding in order to carry them back to where they belonged. Another person was cleansing the grass of the red paint that had been painted upon it, while what was certainly an Esper was levitating additional sensors around the area.
Kuroko just stood there and waited, mulling over what had just happened, while Clara moved to direct the other people in some unnecessary need to hurry them up.
With the first test a complete success, she felt almost bored, and began to wonder why she was so concerned in the first place. Has these tests always been so easy? She had only been just off the mark in the prior tests, so she figured that mental memory of the acts in the past were locked in, and her autopilot calculations only needed the slightest of adjustments to achieve an absolutely perfect result.
However, the next test would be a more real indicator of progress, so she pushed away those feelings of langour.
Now she was free to push her teleportation limits, not just confine herself to pitch-perfect accuracy. Over the years they had grown naturally with age and practice, but always in small increments. Kuroko had recently hit some kind of limit as of late, stuck at around 173 kilograms and a distance of 119 metres. She was hoping to at least maintain that limit while her illness continued to affect her, but reaching some even numbers would be quite nice.
The suggestion by Clara that her success in the first test may be down to a limit break gave her some encouragement. Fully pushing away the slight apathy that encroached into her mindset, she began to refocus on the task ahead. Kuroko would need to adjust how her calculations worked in order to achieve her upper limits, but that was no large task to accomplish.
A few minutes passed until the weights were transported back down to the test site. The technician working on the blocks had a few words whispered to them from the chief examiner, with Kuroko presuming that Clara was likely relaying various weights that she wanted to be inputted into the fancy black cubes. The brown haired technician took another minute to finish inputting and validating the values before rising from their kneeled position. The woman, Kuroko presumed, then gave a thumbs up. Clara nodded and turned her gaze to Kuroko.
"Alright Kuroko-san, your next test is about exploring your limits. Five blocks as before, but at random weights around you proven maximum." As Clara explained she once more motioned towards the weights waiting patiently on the floor. Kuroko nodded, having done this kind of test and its similar variants for most of her life at this point.
Kuroko made her approach to the weights once more. As before she knelt down before the blocks, and as before she grazed and grasped the blocks, refreshening her memory for an adjusted set of calculations. She let a few moments pass again, breathing steadily, before she began the test.
First one, then a second. Grazing over the third and it vanished too, then the fourth. Kuroko then reached for the fifth block. Surely this was the one that was too heavy for her to teleport? But, like the other four before them, the fifth dissolved before her.
It was a great shock to Kuroko to see all five weights vanish before her. It had never, ever happened before, and she looked over shoulder with a puzzled look on her face. She thought that the technician had wrongly adjusted the weights, but the amazed appearance of Clara began to dissuade her. The examiner moved to look over the laptop again, and immediately was deep in conversation. The technician was there too, and even she looked stunned.
Kuroko rotated a little, and was about to walk to the trio at the table and laptop, but Clara began to jog towards her in a hurry. Her eyes were wide, and she appeared almost giddy.
Her heart skipped a beat.
"181.43 kilograms!" Clara exclaimed for a start. "129 metres!" She continued, and Kuroko's own eyes widened at the figures proclaimed to her. "That's the biggest percentage jump ever recorded in Academy City, the weight limit might be even higher, well done!"
"Wha- that, that can't be right?" Kuroko stammered, disbelieving and completely taken by surprise. Clara shook her head.
"Nope, it's all there on the laptop. You weren't ill, you were practising by yourself, surely?" Clara said, and if she meant to tease then it did not come out as such. It was almost accusatory.
"No… no I have been ill." Kuroko denied this by speaking the truth. "Light-headedness, fatigue, headaches-"
"Headaches?" Clara interrupted, her brow creasing a little, curiosity dancing across her features.
"Yes, I-"
Suddenly Kuroko coiled up, her hands reaching to grasp at her head. It felt like her skull was splitting in two; it was one of the most painful experiences she had ever had, worse than any other head pain she had the displeasure of feeling so far. A guttural cry escaped her, as sharp as the pain in her skull. The celebrating Clara suddenly darted right to the teleporter's side, throwing her clipboard to the ground, holding the younger woman's shoulders to stop the Level 4 from falling onto the hard concrete ground.
"Kuroko-san?!" Clara cried with worry, fear controlling her voice. Even she was scared. The examiner had never before seen a student go from relatively normal to sheer agony in the span of seconds. Kuroko continued to groan, her eyes sealed shut by the excruciating pain between her bloodshot eyes.
Her body shook and trembled, and a cold sweat formed on her skin. The junior examiners and technicians were looking on with their own expressions of shock and concern, and even some nearby students had paused their walks and activities to look at the worrying scene. Kuroko's breath was deep and quick, a bead of saliva was escaping from the side of her lips, her stomach and the muscles above it were constricting like a giant snake…
Then it stopped.
It was so sudden.
As quick as it came, the pain ended.
The cries of agony were thusly ceased, and Kuroko's eyes shot open as her head went from exploding to complete calm, akin to numbness. It was as odd and bizarre as the pain that preceded it. The teleporter attempted to catch her breath and to calm her rapidly beating heart, the air around and within her whooshing about with great force.
"Kuroko-san…" Clara spoke quietly, a voice merely a whisper, rubbing her shoulders. "Has the pain stopped? Are you alright?" She asked rapidly, her head tilting to try and meet the wide-eyed gaze of Kuroko.
"Yea… yeah." Kuroko stuttered, still coming to terms with what just happened. She straightened up but stumbled, though Clara was there to keep her stable and on her feet. Kuroko grasped onto her arm for extra leverage before thanking the examiner, slowly pulling away to assure herself that her bearings were still there. Clara watched her carefully as Kuroko slowly rolled her head on her neck and rubbed her eyes.
"Um, do you want to complete the test later, Kuroko-san?" Clara asked cautiously, not wishing to aggravate whatever issues Kuroko was having. The teleporter was silent for a few moments, contemplating the offer.
"...no, let's just finish it."
"Are, are you sure?" Clara asked again, giving the hesitant sounding Kuroko one more chance. Kuroko answered much quicker this time to dispel any aura of hesitancy.
"Yes, I am… I'll be okay."
"Okay, alright…" Clara said, relenting and allowing the exam to finish. She went to explain the final test. "So, this last stage is a speed test. Four points to teleport to, and as quickly as you possibly can." As she spoke slowly, the red-headed examiner gestured towards the four white circles on the greenery. Kuroko remembered seeing them before, and had already figured that they would be used for a test such as this. The Level 4 hummed, opting against a nod of her head for obvious reasons.
"Any particular circle you wish me to start from?" Kuroko asked before teleporting. Clara shook her head.
"No, whichever one you like, then give it at least ten seconds before you begin." Clara clarified. With that, and another nod from Kuroko, she teleported to the circle closest to her. It was a simple, white-painted marking on the grass that gave her plenty to stand within, but it was surrounded with various sensors. What Kuroko supposed to be a 'master sensor' on a long, metallic silver coloured stand stood near each circle.
Ten seconds passed but Kuroko was keen on taking her time. She wished to make sure that her body was calm and settled before completing the final task. The teleporter ensured that her heartbeat was at her normal rate, and that her breathing was as steady and calm as the prior tests.
Finally, she felt ready. She observed the three other circles for one more time…
Then she set off.
Point one, about 20 metres away, done.
Point two, around 42 metres away, done.
Dissolving, reappearing, point three was done.
Then back to where she started, point four was done, and so was the test and the whole exam.
The final test ended. Kuroko braced herself where she stood, ready to receive another bout of agony within her skull, her eyes closed and her hands closed into tight fists…
A few moments passed.
Clara looked on, herself a little worried that the pains that Kuroko had experienced not too long ago would return. She was ready to catch the teenager, her clipboard loose in her hands and ready to be dropped at a moment's notice.
She waited.
They all waited, anxiously.
But nothing came.
Kuroko opened her eyes and uncurled her fingers from her palms. She straightened her neck, looking on straight, before bringing her gaze to look at the blue sky above her.
It looked different.
It was not as if some clouds had begun to cover a clear sky or something. No, the light cloud cover was already there, Kuroko remembered. The sun shone as brightly as before, gracing the edge of her vision. Birds were still flying in the sky, likely pigeons or seagulls, and a lone jetliner was making a pass over, perhaps taking a journey to the other side of the world.
Kuroko felt… changed.
"Amazing!" Clara shouted in the distance. "0.942 seconds! You've actually broken your 1 second limit!"
Another record… broken.