How long has it been since I did another chapter? Er… nevermind.

Disclaimers: …What? Yeah, I own that… Wait, what are we talking about?

Ratings/Warnings: … Strangeness?

Pairings: None as of yet. Still.

Other: I don't know. Stuff kinda happened… Daisuke makes some friends that actually might be less insane and… er… yeah. Another crazy teacher for the ESP class…

Crossover with: the term 'Esper' coming from FFVI, characters from Pita-ten, I suppose and… yeah.

---

Extras: Character Profiles

Er… no new characters were introduced. Ah well.

---

Why are we so wary of the truth? How it any different from the lies that we are constantly told about? It makes absolutely no sense and is bound to be pointless beyond belief.

So why aren't we ever told the truth in the first place?

Can we not understand? Do they believe that we are too weak to make sense of the horrid truth that is our lives? Are we that pathetic that they think they can protect us by not telling us?

… Yeah right.

Yeah right…

---

History Lesson #11

Other Worlds: Magic based on Theory

Some magic is good. Some is bad.

That was the key aspect in the theory of magic.

But was there more to it?

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

No one could really remember, and honestly, they couldn't care less.

Normal people believe that magic as it is and that not controlled will lead to chaos beyond belief that they have never seen before. There seems to be a truth in that, but there is definitely more.

Magic is in the veins, in the blood. True, there are the ones who have more power than others, but it's not due to weakness of any sort.

It's the willpower that is necessary.

Believing in oneself and being confident in one's own abilities is a must in the controlling of magic, otherwise it will run amok.

The theory has some right in it, yet there is more to it.

Some things are more important than others, but manipulation of magic is… something complex. Something that cannot be done in a few days, weeks or even years. It's a lot longer than what one would thing, but the battle between on thing or another can cause many problems.

Also, the fact remains that some people don't care enough to put a proper theory in the basis or magic.

It's there; it's used.

That's all that is to it.

000

History Lesson #12

Other Worlds: ESP

What is ESP to be exact? No one has ever been able to comprehend such a question. All they know is that it is a branch of complex magic that cannot be fully known because… well… they destroy the evidence in the end.

It's strong, it's unknown… people are afraid of it.

But it's because of their mistrust that most of those who possess ESP don't own up. Why should they? It's not like they're doing anything that can hurt anyone else.

So they try to dig out the ones they suspect, get them to admit to the power that's within them, and then get rid of the power in them… somehow. Who knows what they do.

Either way, in the end, it's a form of life that will, one day, most definitely, lead to chaos…

So what does it mean to them?

ESP. Esper…

Beings with magic power beyond what should be.

Did that make any sense…?

---

People don't seem to understand the truth between the lies. There's so much that confuses people, and maybe it is that that makes others believe that lying is the best way out of it.

Supposing some truths hold the lies, and the lies hold the truths.

In the end, we just don't know.

---

Chapter Five: ESP and Friends

Daisuke blinked at his classmate who ignored him and wandered off, muttering something under her breath, but it probably wasn't directed to him so it didn't matter. He was just trying to get his head to work right and process what she had just told him. Although something about 'destroying the evidence' was a good enough excuse for him to run off screaming anytime now. But he obviously wasn't allowed to actually do that so he would just have to stand there and panic until he fainted from shock or something. Not that that was actually a possibility, and he would end up having to face it in the end, so he might as well do it now.

It also came to his attention that there were only a small number of students around, most of them minding their own business and saying very little. The writing on the whiteboard wasn't exactly the most welcoming, and if the death glares at the board and door meant anything at all, then, well, he'd just have to wait and see for himself. Even though he honestly didn't want to, but hey, who was he going to complain to anyway? It was crystal clear that the principal had allowed it to proceed, otherwise there wouldn't be a class like this in the first place. Though why he wanted to dig out all the 'different' magic-potentials he didn't know.

And why would he know? He was still the new kid and all, and these sorts of questions really shouldn't have been running through his head, but he couldn't help it. Besides being born insanely curious, he also managed to jump to more than one conclusion, seemed to attract trouble no matter how far away from the situation he was, and didn't even like the attention he got from it. How did that make any sense in the first place? That's what he wanted to know.

Cutting the thoughts off in his head, the redhead looked around the classroom and the students, trying to identify them. It wasn't hard to point out that Satoshi was there, sitting in a corner and reading a book while looking incredibly bored; Dark and Krad were just looking out the window, also looking bored; then there was Ekaiyu, who was still chunnering to herself and that left the rest of the school population for him to figure out. There seemed to be an even number of girls and boys in the classroom, and everyone was keeping to themselves anyway, as he made his way silently to a desk that was unoccupied. Far, far away in the back so, hopefully, no one would notice him. And they didn't; although Dark smirked, muttered something to the blonde, who rolled his eyes, and Satoshi glanced up for a millisecond before returning to his book.

As expected, everyone else didn't even blink when he'd moved and the annoying stillness of nothing clouded over them. It was sort of depressing, yet not, and had the kind of consistency that made someone want to bash it over the head with a giant mallet, if possible.

But it was merely a wishful thought, so they all dismissed it and then there was the silent agreement to bash the teacher over the head as soon as they arrived. Maybe it would spare them the really long and tedious lecture they were soon going to have to witness.

"He's late."

The silence had been cut through sharply by Krad, who was staring down at his watch because there was obviously nothing else to do. Dark blinked at this while all the other students just stared at them and then cracked a random grin for no real reason, it seemed.

"Maybe someone finally decided to do away with him!" he decided out loud, everyone still staring, although he didn't seemed fazed the least, "We all needed that he had to be sacked. Who in the right mind allows a psychopath to teach a bunch of students while threatening to stab them with a knife anyway?" He looked around the staring faces to see if they agreed of not. They didn't do anything, but it seemed to be enough for agreement to him and the purple-haired teen continued smoothly, "Seriously, he had it coming to him, and what was the point in it? This is a bludge and a half. We don't learn anything except that all ESP people are creatures of the devil and deserve to die, blah blah blah--"

"That's not true," cut in a boy with short blonde hair. He didn't look happy at all with the contrast of devils and was about to get up, but a girl with brown hair pulled him down.

"Klaus… please don't try to start a fight," she said softly, but the silence allowed them all to hear, "Besides, he was talking about the teacher…"

"Then I'll take it out on him." growled the blonde, allowing himself to be pulled down again. A girl with long pink hair with bunny accessories pounced on him, grinning wildly. "Gah! Let go you stupid angel!"

"Why?" the girl pouted and clung onto him harder, "Scared that I'll choke you? Su?"

"And don't talk like that. It's annoying!"

"Misha-san… I don't think Higuchi-san would appreciate this…"

"What? He had to go to the bathroom. Su!"

"Shut up shut up shut up!"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow at this and assumed that they were some of the exchange students from the whole 'other world' thing. Angels and Devils, obviously. But why were they also here? Not to mention the pink-haired girl in particular didn't seem to care less about their predicament. Of sorts. He wasn't too sure anymore.

The three bickered – or, the blonde and the pink-haired girl did, while the brunette tried to calm them down – and then trailed off into the unfavorable silence that they all seemed to be used to: and the most interesting thing that happened after that was that a boy with light purple hair entered the room and took a seat with the bickering three and shot them all suspicious looks. They returned the gesture coolly and said nothing.

Half the lesson was actually over before a teacher entered the room. And seeing that everyone was sending him death-threatening glares, Daisuke concluded that this was their teacher for the lesson. He didn't LOOK like a psychopath, to say the least, but something in his eyes seemed to scream that out and he decided not to talk too much about it. Or think about it. It was a lot safer to pretend it didn't exist; unless it was trying to kill you.

About middle-aged and wearing glasses as well as a business suit, the man shambled over to the desk and dropped the folder and papers that he'd been holding and then looked calmly up at the students. Dark, who was sitting a few seats in front of Daisuke, muttered to Krad, "Anytime soon…" and the blonde just nodded once to indicate that he had heard.

The redhead blinked at this, not understanding what was meant by that, but he didn't have to wait long to find out.

With little to no regard on his part, the teacher slammed the desk with his palms so hard that the table looked ready to split. The loud noise that followed after it rang through the room and Daisuke blinked, caught by surprise and trying to understand what was going on now.

Glaring down at the small number of students before him, the teacher took a deep breath and began to rant; "You must not hide all the power in you! It is for the good of society, the world, and yourself! You must not, I repeat, must not act like you don't know what you're talking about!"

Everyone stared at him.

Watching from the relative safety of the back, Daisuke observed the man getting angrier and angrier as he fell into threatening them, but all the students didn't even react when he'd begun his speech…

At the most, they were reading, talking to the people next to them, or catching up on their other work. So, in the end, they did absolutely nothing and seemed completely unfazed with the threats that were being dished out. But then again, if that was what he did every single day, anyone would – eventually – get used to it. It was kind of hard not to, anyway.

In the end the teacher got into a pointless political argument with one of the students and - as the bell rang overhead for the start of the next lesson – everyone else filed out quietly. Once out of hearing range, though, they seemed to relax more and talking more among themselves. The only problem for Daisuke then was the fact that he didn't know anyone from the class and they were all beginning to split up to get to class.

A tap on the shoulder made him whirl around in blind – and pointless – panic.

Satoshi raised an eyebrow at the reaction and the redhead blushed in embarrassment. He wasn't supposed to be THAT paranoid, was he? No, he had only been here for a few day – less than a week, for sure – and already he was scared of being blown out to space by some random magic-using-person-thingy and he didn't know why.

While these thoughts ran around in the back of his mind, Daisuke tried to collect himself and managed a small, but shaky, smile that just didn't look right, "Hiwatari-kun…"

"So they dragged you into the ESP class as well," concluded the blue-haired boy impassively, like it was the world's most normal conversation possible. "I thought there was something different about you. Even if you don't know what origin your magic is," he added as an afterthought.

Daisuke's mind, which had obviously been in the clouds of blank nothingness, snapped back to attention and he would have tripped on air if he hadn't caught himself. It was all very confusing and a lost cause to the boy, but seeing as the blue-haired had started the conversation, there was no harm in continuing it; I mean, he was in the same class! "Oh… really? How could you tell that?" Was he a sort of analysis-adept-thingy or something? Being able to read the magic and life pulses in a person?

But Satoshi merely shrugged as they ploughed through a wave of students going down the hallways the other way, not caring about the world around them. "I'm not a Perceptionist, if that's what you're thinking. It just… came to me when I saw you."

"Uh… okay…"

The redhead fell silent, trying to make it out what his classmate meant by that, but it was also clear that said boy was not going to say anything else on the subject. Shrugging, they entered the classroom, where Satoshi was swamped by a few girls in the class and Daisuke had to try not to get himself killed/choked in the process.

Some of the non-fangirls that were sitting around in small girls merely rolled their eyes at the scene and muttered random comments – mostly "pathetic", "no sense of dignity" and "I think they lost their brains this morning" – which fluttered around the room, while all the other guys just watched on with faint amusement. And then there were the guys who most definitely had a girlfriend in the little group and were glaring daggers at Satoshi.

Even so, it was clear that the blue-haired boy had no interest in them whatsoever and he merely tried to get out of the grasp of the squealing, giggling and shrieking fangirls, to no avail. Daisuke felt sorry for him.

With (who had been hiding since the crazy ESP interrogator began belllowing) merely 'kyu'-ed for something. Most likely food.

Sitting down, Daisuke tried to ignore the annoying voice of Ryu, who was currently in full-swing as to how to irritate the teacher beyond belief for them all, and tried to make sense of all the things the ESP lesson was supposed to do for them.

It was an obvious case of phobia against a certain branch of magic, but who cared about that? It wasn't like they would have to face it, right? Unless that was what they were actually afraid of happening… well, that made sense of sorts, but what they meant by destroying the evidence… he just couldn't place it. Sounded like they were getting rid of all the ants in some contaminated house.

Not a nice thought, he had to admit.

So what was the point then? What were they trying to prove here? What did they want to see happen? Was there something special about the powers that no one knew about? What was going to happen? And why did he have to be dragged into something like this? He never asked to be. It was so unfair.

Life always was.

And it had all started with him finding out that he could actually use magic.

--- Flashback with Daisuke: Part Three ---

"Daisuke! Come back here!" bellowed Takeshi, shoving a group of innocent bystanders to one side as he chased the redhead around the park. He was closely followed by Masahiro, who was trying to calm him down, but was failing miserably.

"Why should I!" yelled Daisuke as he kept a good distance away from the dangerous raven-haired boy.

"Come on! It's not that bad!"

"Going someplace where you are always leads to pain and agony for me!" was the reply he received. "And my mum doesn't want her son in pieces, you know!"

"You've never ended up in pieces before!"

"Uh… don't you remember the time he broke his arm?" Masahiro pointed out in between pants for breath. "And you came close to breaking your neck, if I remember correctly. I think you should just drop it."

Takeshi ignored him, as always; "Daisuke--! It won't be the same without you around and you know that!"

Daisuke chose not to reply to that and continued running. He was only always there because he was the ONLY one capable of getting them out of a tight spot which would lead to parents getting angry. For some reason his childhood friend just ATTRACTED attention in all it's forms, no matter how far away he was from the scene of chaos. It was quite annoying.

"You're being so mean!"

"No, he's being sensible, you see. Something that you don't have in that tiny brain of yours."

Forgetting about chasing the redhead, Takeshi spun around and tackled the blonde, choking him in the process. "WHAT!"

Glad that this would mean there was a good chance of getting home without too much trouble, Daisuke stopped sprinting and slowed down to a walk, tucking his hands into his pockets as he tried to get his breathing to calm down. Most of the people in the park consisted of students, who had all been watching the proceedings with faint amusement, but were now ignoring him, which he was thankful for.

Why was it always like that anyway? Every time Takeshi came up with a crazy idea, he would somehow manage to convince Daisuke to tag along and then the problems would start. At first they had been small things, but more and more frequently, stranger occurrences would be seen and heard about, with no explanation granted. Of course, small explosions seemed to be a part of their life, but now… now it was just so… odd.

And perhaps the strangest part was that the redhead seemed to be in tune with it. More than once had he had to save his friends from certain pain and the like and now… his mother wasn't actually saying anything, but he could tell that she had something up his sleeve. Something that he didn't know about, and didn't want to know about.

Did he really want to go home then? Well, it wasn't like he had much of a choice in the matter.

Ten minutes later found him standing in front of his house. It looked peaceful enough, but the odd sixth sense seemed to be saying otherwise, and it had never failed him before.

With one final breath to collect whatever courage he had left, Daisuke opened the door and entered.

Nothing happened.

… At first.

Before he could truly comprehend what was going on, a trigger of traps and spell alike flew out at him.

…

And who knew how he survived it. But he did and the next thing he knew, his mother was hugging him like she was giving him away to someone she loathed, and he blinked, still freaking out.

"Uh… I'm home?" he finally squeaked.

Emiko smiled down at the obviously surprised and confused redhead, "I knew you had it Dai-chan! Welcome home!"

"… Huh?"

And that was when Emiko took her son inside and ended up having to explain what was going on from the start. How her bloodline had had magic potential and that there had been a good chance that he'd have it as well and so forth. And that he would have to change schools as well, now that she thought about it.

Daisuke had fainted.

--- End Flashback #3 ---

Snapping out of his thoughts, Daisuke looked up and saw that Satoshi had finally gotten free from the freaky girls that had been overwhelming him and the teacher had finally made it into the classroom. Everyone had finally taken their seats and calmed down, textbooks sitting on desks, and the odd eraser flying across the room for one reason or another. But that was all ignored as the female teacher wrote something on the board.

"Today in English we will be study how descriptive words are essential," she started in a non-nonsense manner. "And any magic in this class WILL give the student permission to 'visit' the principal."

A sigh of disappointment rang through the room, but no one brooked any sort of complaints as they settled down for one long and boring lesson.

---

Lunch found Daisuke doing his best to avoid Ryu at all costs, who had somehow heard about the ESP lesson and was now demanding to get some questions answered. Not that they would be willingly given, but the redhead wasn't in the mood to try and deal with him.

Problem was that since Daisuke was still new, he had no idea where to hide, because it was obvious that the brunette chasing him knew where he was going. So where the hell was he supposed to go now? And hiding in the bathrooms wasn't an idea either. Especially after that time he had heard it blowing up into smithereens.

That was how he found himself hiding on the school roof again.

"Wa-gah!" was all the redhead managed to say when he nearly tripped over his feet, while Satoshi watched him impassively. He raised an eyebrow when he heard Ryu yelling as he charged up the stairs, and swung the door closed. After muttering a word – or two – he walked away from the door and there was the distinct sound of someone running straight into it. Then came the sound of someone trying to turn the knob; only to find it locked.

"Dammit! Hiwatari!"

Not saying anything to reply to the curses that were beginning to flow from the other boy's mouth, Satoshi bent down to where Daisuke lay. The redhead was looking straight ahead of him, muttering something random under his breath but started when the blue-haired boy poked him in the shoulder.

"Hiwatari-kun?"

"Niwa-kun."

"Er…" it was only then did the redhead notice the sounds of chaos behind the door and shook his head, "Why him of all people…" he muttered, before adding, "If anything, he has to be related to Saehara…"

As Daisuke pulled himself up again, Satoshi took a seat away from the pounding door and then stared at nothing. There was no reason to why he was doing that, but… maybe it was just what he did all the time. Not that he could probably help it… or something… and now he was getting himself confused…

Shaking it all out of his head, the redhead looked below to where the scene of destruction was situated. It was amazing how far up they were, where one could only guess who each individual person was, but the flow of magic flying everywhere was something that could not be mistaken and the boy could only wonder why it was being treated in such a fashion. True, small children with magic might not know what they were doing, but what was with the whole teacher-against-student policy for? Not to mention their PE classes really could lead to some serious damage.

"I'm assuming that Kinamora heard about the ESP lesson," stated Satoshi out of the blue… literally. Turning around from his position of staring at the people running around below, Daisuke nodded once. Again his really creepy-kind-of classmate was stating things right out of nothing. It was strange, seeing as he didn't look the sort to want to say much at all and didn't enjoy company either, so then why did he want to break the silence that was plaguing them. Not the uncomfortable silence like in class, just… silence.

But being who he was, Daisuke decided to continue the conversation that had been started, ignoring the curses that Ryu was throwing out at them from the other side of the door, "But I don't see why he would be so interested in something like that. I mean…"

"It's because of his parents," cut in the other boy simply, "They're one of the researches in this topic and they want to dig out all the people with the potential so they can destroy it."

That was what Ekaiyu had been talking about…

"But why? It's not like anyone with it is actually doing something bad with it… right?" Daisuke swallowed when he met Satoshi's eyes, but the other boy shrugged.

"They're paranoid and I think you know that. How they suspect and place students in the class… I don't know," a small frowned crossed his immobile features, "Maybe it's due to their origin, their family name… or what race they're from, as you saw from Klaus."

Daisuke nodded, understanding the meaning behind that – Klaus being a demon and all – but couldn't help but continue talking; he had little to no idea to what ESP really was, "But WHAT is it, exactly? All I know is that it's a complex branch of magic and people don't like it, so…"

"… Indeed. Magic sealed away because it was too powerful for normal magic-potential people to control. But some of the stronger ones could, so they got jealous or afraid… and now they want to get rid of it."

Lots of gaps in the information, obviously, but Satoshi didn't say anything else after that and the redhead suspected that some of the things that had happened would have to require his own investigating.

Sometime during all of that, Ryu had left – muttering random curses under his breath – and the door swung open. Daisuke blinked at this and Satoshi sighed as he got up to confront the two people who had entered.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, "You know that you're not welcome here."

"Aw… you're so cruel," Dark rolled his eyes and then noticed Daisuke, "Then how come he's allowed to hang around. You're the new kid, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Right, I knew that," came the off-hand reply and then he confronted the blue-haired boy again, "Geez, creepy boy, why are you always so mean to us, hm? I want an explanation here."

Krad rolled his eyes as the two began to argue about something and noticed that Daisuke was just staring at them like they were all crazy. He walked over to join him, away from the arguing that would soon end up into a full-blown out fight.

"They fight all the time," he explained, trying to reassure the obviously worried boy, "Ever since they met face-to-face… well, it ends up pretty painful in the end… I wouldn't worry about them."

"Uh… okay…" mumbled Daisuke, wondering what was going to happen next. The blonde didn't seem to find the arguing and fighting the least bit disturbing and it wasn't long before he finally decided to step in and put a stop to it. Pushing the two boys apart, he glared at them both.

"Maybe you forgot that there's a poor student just watching this happening?" he hinted coolly. This brought a stop to it almost instantly, but it didn't stop Satoshi from glaring at the older student, who stuck his tongue out. Sweat dropping, the redhead blinked and didn't comment.

Ignoring the simple fact that the blue-haired boy was probably planning his death, Dark sauntered over and gave Daisuke a winning-looking smile. Or something close to that matter. When no reaction came, he sighed and waved a hand in front of the shorter boy's face. "Hey, anyone in here?"

Jerking out of his muse, the redhead stared at the upperclassman, "Er… yes?" he asked hesitantly. If he was expecting anything from the purple-haired teen, getting a more friendly welcome hadn't even come to mind.

"Well, if you plan to be creepy boy's friend over there, you might want to keep your distance," Dark grinned as he jabbed a finger in Satoshi's direction, "If looks could kill, we'd all probably be dead and that's saying a lot. And just call me Dark. It's Daisuke, right?"

Dumbfounded, the boy could only nod and blink, unable to comprehend what was going on. Satoshi was glaring at Dark, who was ignoring him, and Krad was just in the background; probably waiting for something to happen which would then involve getting people out of trouble.

"Well, nice to meet you then, Daisuke. I think it's best you stick by us, in case Taro gets another idea on trying to attack you, huh?"

"Er… okay…?"

Frowning at the boy's reluctance, Dark spun around and began to complain loudly, "Why does every single new kid I talk to answer me and give me the look like they're afraid I'll eat them?" he practically yelled, waving his hands around, "I'm not THAT bad a student, am I!"

"Quite the contrary, you're much worse than that," Krad replied coolly.

"And I don't know why we hang around you either," Satoshi added.

One could almost see the vein pop out of Dark's head, "WHY YOU--"

The scene itself was highly comical and Daisuke was forced to stifle a chuckle, but it wasn't enough to escape Dark's notice. He mock-accusingly pointed a finger at the redhead, "What's so funny!"

"I don't know," joked the redhead, "You?"

By the look on his face, that hadn't been what the purple-haired teen had expected and the look on his face even managed to get Satoshi smirking… for a second. And then it faded. Krad poked Dark in the back.

"If you keep your face like that, it's going to get stuck like that," he explained simply, "Or should I stick it like that for you now?"

Frowning at his friend, Dark managed to collect himself, "I'm just fine, thank you very much," and grinned at Daisuke, "You're an interesting person, Daisuke. I like you."

"It's nice to meet you too, I suppose."

Satoshi sighed and rolled his eyes as he offered the redhead some advice, "He attracts more trouble than he's worth. I would advise you keep as far away from him as possible--" Which then led to another fight between the two and, by the look on the blonde's face, he'd given up on tearing them apart.

And seemed that for the first time since… the few days he'd been there, Daisuke had managed to find some solid friends. It was a bit sudden, the people were a bit weird, but they seemed to understand each other well enough. And that was enough for him, as long as he wasn't dragged around by the neck.

Oh, and Ryu got a concussion for running into the door.

---

And that's a wrap. Of some sort, anyway. Er… yeah, it was great. Don't know what will happen next, but… yeah…

Reviewer replies:

Hakudoshi-chan: Yeah, it was a pretty random thought, I must say…

Salioka: Er… really? It was okay? Eheh… I just have way too much to do, so… that's why I tend not to update as much… it's kinda confusing… and I actually don't read or watch much. It's an annoying process for me… if I ever get the time (or money… or space… whatever comes first) maybe I'll check it out. XD Thanks.

Luna: Uh-huh. Took me long enough though…

Kyo's little koneko: All out war seems to be the main focus in this story… and yeah, they finally meet properly. And Satoshi's there and now… who knows.

Gold-Saiyaness: Really? You like it? XD Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it and all!

… I have nothing else to say, really. My mind is bouncing around and… yeah. That's it for now. 'Til next time.