Part 2: The Precocious Boy

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"You are likely wondering why I called you in here," The principal of Shuichi Saihara's middle-school, an average-looking man with glasses, addressed Shuichi's uncle, a man with dark colourings for hair and eyes who arrived in a formal jacket.

"Is Shuichi-chan in trouble?" Mr. Saihara instantly asked, sighing once the principal shook his head.

"I won't take up too much of your time today. I just want to talk about some specific things concerning Saihara-san that...concern me," The principal adjusted his glasses. "As you know, the system here at Project Junior High is similar to a Western school in the sense we emphasize not only academic excellence but also social excellence. We encourage students to make friends with their classmates and try to form a potential lasting bond,"

Mr. Saihara just nodded, still confused as to where this was going.

"Your nephew is an intelligent young man, anyone could see that. However, I worry he's not socially enriching himself enough. He always eats lunch alone and shirks away at any hint of a group project,"

"Well, some kids are just shy at that age. I'm sure it's something he'll grow out of," Mr. Saihara offered.

"Maybe, maybe not. I've had him in my office a few times and when he does manage to speak to me he just sounds so...unsure. Confused. As if he has no idea what he's even supposed to be doing," The principal stood up. "I say this as both a father and uncle myself. Summer is coming up. Take that time to get closer with your nephew and try to figure out what's going on in his head. Maybe he truly is just shy, or maybe it's the sign of something more severe,"

Mr. Saihara just nodded again, and a few days later, when he picked Shuichi up from school, he noticed his nephew in question sitting on the steps leading to the school's gymnasium, his black cap pulled tightly over his eyes, in the middle of a thick book. His classmates chatted and played around him. Mr. Saihara honked the horn and made Shuichi glance up, blushing at the noise and walking down the steps, getting into the car.

"Hey. What do you say we go out for some pizza today? Celebrate the start of summer?" Mr. Saihara suggested, teasing.

"It hasn't started yet though. Um, we haven't even taken our final exams yet.." Shuichi answered nervously.

"We're celebrating the last day of freedom then!" He drove off and noticed Shuichi running his fingers along the page edges of the book. "That a good book?"

"Yes! It's very interesting,"

Mr. Saihara got a glance at the cover and realized it was a book about famous dictators. He suppressed a shiver.

At the pizza place, Shuichi managed to drink down three cups of soda as well as eat an entire pizza himself, wiping his fingers carefully before he spread his book out on the table and started reading again.

"Your principal called me down a few days ago," Mr. Saihara began. "He suggested that maybe...you should try to open up more,"

Shuichi blushed at that. "...It's hard. I do try, believe me, but..." He stared idly at the table, and the empty plate of pizza in front of him hovered a few feet in the air before spinning and landing softly back down on the table.

Mr. Saihara said nothing; he was used to such displays, after all. They weren't too terribly common, but every once in a while he caught Shuichi deeply focusing on his book or homework or whatever and something close to him would start floating in the air. It was a fact of life they had both accepted and never really questioned.

"Tell you what. The day after finals, you start packing your things up, Shuichi-chan. We're going to take a long trip to Germany," Mr. Saihara teased, making Shuichi look over in disbelief.

"Germany? Why Germany of all places?!"

"I just heard it's lovely in the summer,"

Shuichi wouldn't mind finally getting out of his native country and visiting Germany. Or any country really. He had spent twelve years in Japan and it was enough for him.

And Germany would be lovely; new flowers to see and maybe the heat would finally compel him to take his hat off...

"I can't finish this last piece. Want it?" Mr. Saihara offered, and Shuichi surprised both of them by eagerly agreeing.

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After finals, Shuichi stood outside in the hot mid-July sun and waited for his uncle's car, tugging on his backpack straps. Just as promised, he had been packing since that last night.

"Did you ace your final?" A voice surprised him, making him jump slightly. Beside him was a girl with wavy pink hair tied up into twin dumplings. Even though it was likely against the dress code, he could see faint hints of her sheer petticoat underneath her uniform skirt and the black thigh-highs that vanished underneath, making him blush.

"Ummm...I'm not sure. We just took them today, isn't it a bit too early to ask?"

She giggled. "I guess you're right. I guess...I feel like I failed it badly. I tried asking one of my friends but she laughed me off," She played with her fingers shyly. Shuichi suddenly felt compelled to take her hands.

"I'm sure you did fine. I nearly missed half the questions on the backside," He smiled a bit when she laughed again.

"Kiriko-chan! Your dad is here!" A guy walked over and the girl-named Kiriko evidently-nodded in understanding and raced off. Shuichi caught the guy giving her hand a brief squeeze as she ran by him and felt a small twinge of jealousy. A trashcan outside suddenly shoved back a few paces.

Shuichi spotted his own uncle and waved to him, getting in the car.

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At approximently two that morning, a man and a woman dressed in all black managed to infiltrate the Saihara residence. The woman killed the alarm system and the man snuck inside the adult's room, planning on slitting his throat silently.

The woman, on the other hand, snuck into the boy's room, finding him asleep soundly on his back, facing the ceiling. The woman grabbed a cloth and doused it with chemicals, taking a few steps and accidentally bumping her hip against the boy's dresser. A trophy fell off and clattered to the floor, waking the boy up. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the shadowy figure.

"Mother?" He asked sleepily.

"If you want." The woman shoved the cloth into his face, easily catching him when he had fainted and was successfully rendered unconscious. She gingerly scooped him up and carried him outside to the van, meeting up with the man again.

"Is he dead?" She questioned, and the man nodded. "Good. Did she say which one this one is? TP?"

"He's just a regular TK. A bit stronger than thought but that's good for us! It'll make her proud!" The man shut the doors and silently drove off. The woman remained in the back and kept an eye on the unconscious boy.

Inside, his uncle laid slain in his own bed, and the authorities and media would both start to question it. Did Shuichi do this and run away? He was always a strange little boy, always muttering about blood and death. Best that he ran then.

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In her office, Junko Enoshima boredly flicked through her various screens on her monitoring system. She wore a denim jacket over a blouse and matching jeans, looking more like a mom than anyone in a position of power.

"Our newest arrival...right on time," She smiled to herself. "Saihara Shuichi-kun."

"Mistress Enoshima!" Ruruka Andoh popped her head in, wearing an all-pink Victorian maid gown with a heart sticker on her nametag. "Sorry if you're busy, but I finished the paperwork you wanted! I think you'll be so happy with the news!"

Junko turned the monitoring system off and smiled more, leaning in. "Oh? Then totes tell me already. It's boring in here,"

"Five more coming in, ahead of schedule! Our people do such great work, huh?" Ruruka set the papers down neatly on her desk and pulled a sucker out of her apron pocket, licking it. It was purple. "Two tonight and three tomorrow. Four are just standard TKs, but one is TP, and I heard from a little bird that they're an extremely strong TP!" Ruruka licked her lollipop some more.

Junko instantly went through the files, nodding. "They scored the highest on the physic tests that we've seen so far. Oh, I'm totes excited to meet them!"

"Fujisaki Chihiro," Ruruka commented. "That's the name,"

"From Akibahara. I totes remember now. The parents are a pair of computer programmers who live in the very heart of the city. They're also super uber mega ultra Catholic, so there's that," Junko closed the file. "Still, this place hasn't had someone as strong as that in ages. Even now the most we get are just a few lame-o TKs. So boring. Also, this one is super special. Minimum shots and don't do anything to induce seizures or drowning. Don't wanna harm the goods, ya know?" Junko laughed and returned to her computer. Ruruka nodded, bowed, and left.

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Shuichi recalled a strange dream he had that night of a woman with black hair and nebulous eyes that seemed to glow in the dark leaning over his bed and saying calmly: If you want.

Was it a dream? It had seemed so clear to Shuichi when it was happening despite him blacking out moments after.

Clothes were neatly laid out on the foot of his bed, where Shuichi often kept them the night before, and gingerly stepped out of bed and looked them over.

A black T-shirt, grey striped overshirt, black jeans, white sneakers. His black cap to top it off. Some white boxers as well. Everything looked right, but Shuichi had the suspicion it wasn't all right.

There was no window in his room like there was at home, just an unmarked wall of blue paint. He had a poster of Princess Aiko near the door that had a small rip near the bottom; he ran his hand along the edge. All smooth.

The bookshelf was still filled with the books it was normally, but the miniature figure he placed on top; of Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4, was missing.

Not his poster, not his bookshelf, clearly not his room.

He strode over to the door after getting dressed fully, his heart beating loudly as he turned the knob and pulled the door open, blinking a few times to process that indeed, he was not locked in.

The hallway was made of cinderblocks painted a garish shade of green and multicolored lights shone down, illuminating the floor in dizzying contrasts of green, blue, purple, yellow, red, and pink. Doors made from stainless steel lined the hall, with a poster featuring a nurse dressed conservatively and giving a wide smile that said: 'Embrace your true talent!' Shuichi thought the nurse looked more uncomfortable and awkward than genuinely happy.

He stepped out more and looked over to his left, finding a girl sitting in front of another set of industrial doors. She had dark skin and despite seeming to be the same age as Shuichi, perhaps a year older, she was smoking a cigarette.

Shuichi stepped closer in confusion and fascination. She had her brown hair up in a ponytail tied with an orange bow as well as a silver hair clip. She wore an orange tank top and blue gym shorts with matching sneakers that had a wavy pattern on them. On her left wrist were a bunch of colourful bracelets and around her waist a red track jacket was tied.

Overall, she looked to be a loud, colourful mess.

"Hey there," She greeted, sucking on the cigarette. It was just a candy one.

Shuichi gave a brief nod and glanced up at the poster she was sitting underneath. It featured a woman in an elegant ensemble hiding her mouth with a deck of cards. The poster read: 'Never shy away from telling the truth!'

"Like that poster? I find it ironic. It's like one of those propaganda pieces from the war,"

"Where am I?" Shuichi asked instead, biting his lip. He suddenly felt like crying.

"According to Miss Kirigiri, somewhere in Hokkaido. Really far up north," She took a bite out of the 'cigarette'.

"M-My room. I was asleep, but then I woke up in a room that looked like my room but wasn't,"

"Yeah," The girl just shrugged and Shuichi had no idea what emotion she meant to relay from that. She slipped a red box out of her jacket pocket and held it out. "Want one? They're pretty good,"

Shuichi took a candy cigarette out from the box and bit into it, feeling the sugar swarm around in his mouth.

"It was one of the last boxes in the Kuma-Kuma Box. They also have the real stuff if you can believe it, not like I'd go near it," She stuck out her tongue.

"For kids?!"

"Yeah. Oh, I never introduced myself! I'm Asahina Aoi, and you are?"

"Saihara Shuichi,"

"Nice! Oh, my friends usually just call me Hina, or Aoi-chan. You can call me whatever, but don't call me 'sweetie'."

"Why?" Shuichi polished off the last of the candy cigarette.

"It's what they say when they give us tests. 'Be a good girl and it won't hurt, okay sweetie?' 'It's just some water, don't be scared sweetie,'" Aoi sighed. "But you'll be fine. You're a good person, I can tell. Just follow the rules and everything will work out,"

Shuichi looked up and down the hall and noticed all of the steel doors again. Likely a room behind every one. More posters he was too far away to read. "How many more kids?"

"Ummm..just five I think. Never that many here, but Miss Kirigiri says we're going to get some more by the end of this week." Aoi stood up and slipped the box back into her pocket. "So, whaddya do for fun?"

Shuichi blushed at the sudden question. "Read, mostly. Play video games..? I don't think I'm an interesting person,"

Aoi laughed. "I like sports, especially swimming. I wanna be a famous Olympic swimmer when I grow up! I want to win the gold medal!"

"Doesn't look like there's a pool here,"

"You'd be right about that..."

A door at the end of the hallway suddenly opened, revealing a woman trying to drag something out of the room while propping the door open. Aoi gasped and hurried over, Shuichi following. As he got closer he saw the woman was wearing a conservative brown dress with ruffles on the hem and sleeves, black slip-on shoes on her feet. She was trying to drag a huge bin of clothes out of a lounge-looking room with couches and a large TV on the wall.

Shuichi opened the door for her all the way and she pulled the bin out, offering him a small smile.

"Thank you," She had short violet hair that reached her chin with two black bows on either side and icy skin that matched her demeanor. Shuichi couldn't even guess how old she was, for she seemed to be one of those people who looked old yet young at the same time. She had a nametag with a violet bar of soap as a sticker. "Saihara Shuichi-chan, right?"

"Yes," He blushed in surprise and offered her a bow as he was taught. "How'd you know?"

"Read about you," She glanced away. "Nice to meet you,"

Shuichi decided it was nice to meet her specifically, but it wasn't nice to meet her in a place like this, with no clue as to where he was or how he got there. What about his uncle? He'd tear the whole house up in a flurry to find him. He'd call the police and get the whole town searching. And as for his parents...

"Kirigiri Kyoko. I'm a..maid, I guess is a good way to put it. I keep the rooms neat and orderly around here. I'll keep yours nice too," She continued, a firm grip on the bin.

"You're not a messy person, are you?" Aoi asked. "Because Miss Kirigiri has enough on her plate already!"

"He doesn't look like a troublemaker. Unlike Oowada-chan, who is the sort of person to wreck havoc on a room by simply being in one," She sighed. "Where is he? I didn't see him playing outside with Ouma-chan or Maizono-chan,"

"You know him, he never wakes up before one in the afternoon. And then he uses up all the hot water when he showers," Aoi huffed.

"It was nice to meet you," Kyoko addressed Shuichi again before she walked off, taking the bin full of clothes with her. Aoi nudged him off in the other direction, taking him into the lounge. She shut the door and her expression suddenly turned more serious. "Almost all of the people who work here are terrible people. They're bad towards us..but Miss Kirigiri is different. She barely talks but she's a good person, I can tell. Plus she has a lot of stuff going on in her life,"

"Really?" Shuichi asked curiously, glancing out the window. It was late afternoon and he spotted two kids hanging out on the playground. He assumed these were the Ouma and Maizono Miss Kirigiri mentioned earlier.

"Yeah. She's really sick but doesn't want to get treatment. She's been trying to live as private as a life as possible because her grandfather keeps threatening to run her out. But she has something she has to do before she's finally ready to cut him out of her life for good," Aoi said.

"She really good you all that?" Shuichi asked in surprise. True, Aoi was a very friendly and cheerful person, he could tell that about her already, but that didn't seem like the sort of information you'd even tell an adult not involved, let alone a kid.

It wasn't any of his business though.

"Are you a TK or a TP?"

He might've spat out his drink if he had been drinking anything.

"You know what I'm asking!" Aoi pouted.

He thought of how things sometimes floated around him randomly if he focused intently on something. The plate at the pizza place. The trashcan the last day of school.

"TP is telepathy while TK is telekinesis," Aoi continued. "I'm a TP, and quite proud of it too!"

"You read minds..." Shuichi covered his mouth. "I'm just...TK I guess."

"Sure do! That's why I know all of that stuff about Miss Kirigiri. She's never told anyone else," She pouted. "I...I feel bad about prying into her private life like that, but...it's not really something that I can help, you know? The least I can do is try to help her out,"

He nodded. "I can make things float, but only if I concentrate really hard on something else." He looked out the window again at the kids and saw the girl jumping up and down on the trampoline and the boy dribbling a basketball. Neither looked super invested in what they were doing. "Ouma-san and Maizono-san?"

"Yeah!" Aoi joined him at the window. "Ouma Kokichi-san and Maizono Sayaka-chan. They're both TKs. TP is super rare. I actually don't think I've met any here aside from myself,"

Shuichi pointed out the window at the playground in general, hoping she'd get his question.

"Huh? We can go outside. In fact, the playground is never locked even at night. We're made to have at least an hour of outside physical activity a day, but most of us just continue to stay outside anyway," She gasped. "Oh, and slather yourself with bug spray when you go outside. The bugs here this time of year are brutal,"

"Are they nice?"

"Those two? Sayaka-chan is really nice to everyone, and Ouma-san is...Ouma-san. He mainly teases people, but I guess he has the potential to be nice. They haven't been here super long. Sayaka-chan has been here for ten days, while Ouma-san has been here a week. And then Oowada-san has been here longer than them, and I've been here a month," She suddenly looked sad. "...As much as I hate to say it, I don't think close friendships are things you should have here, Saihara-san. Everyone leaves here eventually,"

Shuichi nodded again.

"And don't be too scared of Oowada-san if you run into him. He likes to talk tough but he's nothing but a puppy on the inside," Aoi stated. "His speeches can get annoying though,"

They started to head for the door, Shuichi getting there first, but Aoi suddenly pulled him back and planted a large kiss on his lips. His whole face blushed a hot red and when she pulled away, looking proud, he found he couldn't speak at all. His heart hammered.

"I was in quarantine when I first came here, so no shots for dots. Consider it a favour," She explained. "I don't even know how I got sick, guess it was some kind of fluke. Bad case of strep throat, I nearly got scarlet fever it was that bad. Maybe I'm still a bit sick and you'll get sick too, and then you'll have a week of nothing but juice and watching TV!"

Shuichi nodded and noticed the girl waving at them.

"Come on! Let's go meet the others!" She happily took his hand and led him outside.