Monday April 11th

4.

School.

I was already aware that it was going to be challenging but I had no clear ideas on how to get out of it. Sure, there were accelerated methods that could finish high school in three instead of four. But those generally required a level of commitment that would be totally out of place for old Sparky and that was still almost two more years of learning things I now already knew. There were tests, however those needed parental approval and even those required me to be at least sixteen so not an immediate solution.

Sadly, I decided that for the time being school was going to be a necessary evil and that I was even going to have to keep up the act. It seemed such a waste of time where I could be programming and earning money to help the family. The less about my other parahuman abilities the better, I wasn't willing to consider any of them visibly. Priority one was pretending to be old Sparky.

The day started with homeroom and computers with Ms Knott. This was a class that old Sparky actually didn't do too bad in. Not that I'd ever got top marks, but I'd always pick the hardest part of any exercise, do that well and then half-heartedly do the barest minimum for the rest. It was enough to satisfy dad and it was also enough to put me above most of the class. That was a rather sad statement about the quality of the school and other students when I thought about it. I could have done so much better if I had applied myself and yet now, with even more intelligence behind me what was I going to do? Exactly the same just so I could conceal the change. Pity.

Thankfully for all my lack of effort I was still in the advanced stream and sat with a few eager students and future IT professionals. It generally made it easier to rest my head for the second half of the classes as they tended to be the quieter group. A quick glance around determined that as per normal everyone else was engrossed in their own work so I completed the project quickly, making sure to save it at various stages on in the unlikely event that the teacher asked me to show my progress I would have something ready. Then I switched to sorting my email.

I was very pleased to see that dad had jumped on the opportunities I had arranged for him. Looks like I had priced it right, though accessing his accounts through our home network had certainly helped there. For all his paranoia he had left some huge holes in his security all in the cause of providing the whole family with shared storage space. I'd already started addressing the worst of the security flaws there.

Glancing around I was very aware of the number of people in my group wearing glasses and wondering why that was. Was there a correlation between intelligence and poor eyesight or lack of care of eye health or was it more about people that cared about vision would get glasses and those that didn't either forgo them or went with contacts.

Glasses would almost be an advantage. I could implement a HUD and then with a portable keyboard built into a skin coloured glove I could actually work whilst at school.

I was still working on plans for this when the class finished and Ms Knott had to call my name a few times to get my attention. Seems I didn't have to try too hard to keep the act going. My lack of focus seemed quite capable of handling that all by itself. Bonus?

Mr. Gladly was next. Thankfully this was a class that I could put my head down for, as a wannabe popular teacher he never rocked the boat. I went and sat next to Greg, I could be assured that he would fill the air with white noise, or as he would term it, a detailed description of what computer game or interest has caught his interest recently. Greg was predictable and was unlikely to notice anything different as long as I behaved normally. Which would consist of muttering the occasional 'really' and then sleep.

I watched the train wreck approaching as first Taylor and then Julie joined our group. This wasn't a good combination and then Madison, one of Taylor's tormentors moved her group over so it'd be next to ours. I almost visibly winced as I reviewed memories of their past interactions and wondered how Taylor hadn't snapped yet.

A frown crossed my face as Julie asked to see Taylor's work. It was very obvious that she wasn't planning anything nice so when she tossed it towards Madison I reached out and snagged it. Learning to juggle drumsticks really does improve coordination. There were a few noises from the girls, but I ignored them as I started reading through Taylor's work. It was very good, certainly above typical Sophomore level. Showed both a level of intelligence above most of the students as well as a very keen interest in parahumans. Despite myself I got engrossed.

When Greg was elected to present for us, I could not resist telling Greg to just read the first two sentences of each paragraph and then the last before pretending to tune out.

I noticed Taylor giving me a strange look, which I tried to ignore. I wondered if I had made a stupid mistake acting out of character to the one person who actually seemed to take the topic seriously, especially with the topic being parahumans.

I tuned out halfway through Greg's presentation. It wasn't that he was doing a bad job of it even with his stuttering, but I had already read the material and I was still keenly aware of Taylor's attention. Logically what I had done was pretty stupid, but I couldn't bring myself to regret my actions. I just needed a way to deflect the attention.

I didn't subscribe to the whole Hero vs Villain theory that most people supported. Taylor's point about parahumans being the upper echelon of professionals leaving regular law enforcement more time to handle the regular work and expand their knowledge was interesting, however I didn't feel like it quite dug into the core of the damage that parahumans were doing to the world. Parahuman's were people, people with powers but still people with all inherent flaws increased alongside their abilities and it just made their impact all the more damaging. Yes, remaining or at least pretending to be the same lazy, unfocussed musically talented but disconnected person I was previously was the safe choice. Is still felt like a bit of a cop out.

During the rest of the presentations, I occasionally spared a glance at Taylor. I hadn't really paid too much attention to it previously and whilst I was no expert, I could see that Taylor was disconnecting herself from her emotions. She would start to get angry, upset or distressed and then, snap, those emotions were gone. Somehow, she had developed a technique to reset her emotions. This would last for a short time, and she would come back to herself, and those emotions would slowly bleed back in but without the same strength. It certainly wasn't normal and whilst I was no expert, I couldn't help but conclude this was a sign of something pretty severe.

Mr Gladly was talking again, thankfully not to our group, some sort of prize and I put my head down just at the right time it seemed as once again I was seeing another location superimposed over the classroom. This was no mere workshop though; this was a massive factory floor I was looking down on from a suspended catwalk suspended. Below me were giant war machines, tanks the size of suburbs, and cannons that you could drive a car down. Amongst them were smaller versions down to, at a distance at which detail should have been impossible, weapons and machines small enough that they could be used to wage war on ants. The juxtaposition between the scales was almost overwhelming.

I was almost thankful as the catwalk slid past me taking me into a large hall with an arched roof and rows of bookcases each with built in reading tables and an assortment of books floating above them. The room settled around me and I had a strong sense that I had reached a new destination and a new power. I needed to see more so I raised my head from the table and looked around slowly. I forced a yawn in half-hearted hope that it would look like I was waking and trying to work out where I was but truthfully there was something there that required my attention, and it was as I looked at those floating books closest to me that I found it.

Those books were about the magical skill of enchantment. With that realization came the knowledge that I already somehow knew, but needed reminding of, that I could now embed any magical power I had into items, places, animals, or people. Strangely enough, this I understood perfectly whilst also knowing that I had no magical power that I could embed.

This conundrum soon had my head spinning as I tried to find a logical explanation. I couldn't understand what was going on here. What was triggering these new and seemingly extremely random powers? Was I losing my mind? I had confirmation that my intelligence had grown and that I was able to repair items with random bits of bark and twigs. My sister's reaction and the money that I had donated to the family supermarket fund provided enough evidence of that. But the two new powers, the inability to lose my powers to a power stealer and the ability to enchant non-existent magical abilities, were both something that I might never be able to test or prove. Maybe this was the counterbalance to the increased intelligence. Hallucinations and a belief in the unprovable.

I was very concerning as what could be next, the belief I could fly and yet not be able to or something equally dangerous. I would have to be very cautious in testing any future abilities that I may believe I had gained.

I was so lost in thought that I hadn't realised the classroom had nearly emptied. Taylor had just finished a discussion with Mr. Gladly and was leaving the room when she spotted me at the same time as I looked up.

I didn't understand the expression she made as she turned away and headed towards the exit. I noticed Mr. Glady purposefully looking away from her as he gathered his papers. I wondered what they had been talking about as I grabbed my bad and followed Taylor out.

Celestial Forge Perk - They are mine and mine alone - Medaka Box Abnormal - 400cp