The bus arrived not too long after Ritsu showed up. Teru payed for the tickets as he had promised, and they both made their way to their seats.

"So where exactly are we going?" Ritsu asked.

"It's a surprise!"

Of course it was, but Ritsu was too tired to complain or protest. The bus was mostly empty with nobody else but a single sleeping man in a suit. Now that he and Teru were both sitting down, Ritsu was beginning to realize just how hard it was to keep his eyes open. The night was foggy and there was hardly another car on the road. Stoplights shot by like shooting stars, putting Ritsu into a hazy trance. Surely, there was no harm in getting a little bit of shuteye. Ritsu shuffled his body into a comfortable position and closed his eyes.

It didn't take long for his consciousness to fade. As soon as he shut his eyes he immediately began to drift off. And just as quickly as he left the waking world, he was brought right back by the feeling of a cold sensation dripping down from his head and onto his back and chest.

"What the fuck?!" Ritsu yelled, as he jolted awake and looked to his right to see Teruki holding a now half-empty water bottle in his hand and sporting a shit-eating grin.

"No sleeping!" Teru put a cap on the watter bottle and reached back into his giant backpack.

"You assho-MPH" Ritsu was about to tell Teru off, but his mouth was suddenly full of something rather tasty. Teru was holding a breakfast sandwich in his mouth.

"Eat," said Teru. "It's going to be a long bus ride, and you need to stay awake for all of it. So, if you're tired, eat."

Ritsu took a bite and swallowed, pulling the sandwich out of his mouth.

"I already ate a banana this morning."

"Not enough. Eat or you'll regret it later. Our next meal is at noon. Although I'll allow for a single snack break once we reach our destination."

Ritsu reluctantly took another bite of the sandwich. He hated to admit it, but it was really good. For some reason, that pissed Ritsu off even more.

But Teru was right about one thing; the bus ride was really long. And staying awake for it was torture. The opportunity for sleep was dangling right in front of Ritsu's eyes, but his jacket and shirt were still damp from Teru's cruel wake up call. Ritsu looked back at Teru, who was staring straight ahead with bright eyes. There wasn't a hint of exhaustion on his face.

Is he even human?

It was exactly six when Teru nudged an exhausted Ritsu to notify him that this was their stop. A hint of light was just peaking out through the foggy horizon, but anyone could still mistake the scene for night. The stop Teru had picked seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. There was only an old looking bus stop, and a lot of forrest just off the road.

"Ok!" said Teru, in an obnoxiously cheery voice. "Now we can start."

"Is this where we'll be doing psychic training?"

Teru laughed, as if Ritsu had just said something absurd.

"Psychic training?" Teru laughed, as if Ritsu had just said something absurd. "We still have a few hours before we even start that!"

"What?"

"Psychic powers can be used strictly with the mind, like with your brother, but not all of us have that kind of gift. In order for espers like you and me to become strong, we need to train both our bodies and our minds."

"Are you serious?" Ritsu didn't think it was possible. Teruki Hanazawa may have just reached beyond Reigen levels of obnoxiousness.

"I'm dead serious. Even if you never use your physical strength in a battle, training your body will give your mind a sense of discipline. Now start stretching. We depart in five minutes."

"Depart?"

"Of course! We're not even close to our destination just yet."

Of course…

The stretching at least helped Ritsu wake up a little bit, but all the while he had Teru talking his ear off.

"This part is simple," instructed Teru. "Your job is to follow me to the training grounds at my exact speed. No slower."

"And I can't use my psychic powers?"

"That's right! But I won't be using mine either, so we should be pretty even. I heard you were one of the fastest in your school, Ritsu-kun."

"Yeah, I am."

"Well I am too, so this should be nothing for you!"

That should have been true. But Ritsu could sense a more sinister intention behind those words. His smile was too bright. Ritsu felt it. Underneath that innocent looking grin and those encouraging words, there was sadistic intent lying in wait. Teru was absolutely about to kick Ritsu's ass in one way or another. Ritsu could tell.

And Ritsu was absolutely right. It had been… well Ritsu wasn't entirely sure how long it had been. The sky was no longer dark, although it was still gray and foggy. But the sun had obviously risen and it had done so a while ago. It had to have been at least over an hour since they started.

At the start of the run Teru confiscated Ritsu's phone. He said something about discipline and psychological warfare and how fighting through that would help him in the long run. Or some bullshit like that. All Ritsu knew was that now he was running toward a special training place that Teru promised to bring him to. When they'd reach it, Ritsu had no idea.

Ritsu was certain now. Teru was absolutely a monster. Even with that huge backpack on his back he was still keeping up a consistent pace that was significantly faster than Ritsu's.

Ritsu's panting and wheezing must have become loud enough to reach Teru's ears, because he started yelling out more words of "encouragement."

"Come on, Ritsu! I thought you were supposed to be one of the fastest in your school!"

Ritsu thought so too, but with no clear end in sight and no way of telling how long it had been since they started, the process of running became not only physically draining, but also mentally draining. The uneven ground didn't help. They really were in the middle of nowhere. There were no roads nearby to speak of. The ground was muddy and slippery and full of roots and rocks and other things that could easily trip anyone up.

And yet Teru was doing just fine, keeping his balance and never slowing his pace. And Ritsu couldn't sense a hint of his psychic powers. Teru was doing all this with his own physical strength.

Unless , Ritsu though, Maybe he isn't.

Ritsu did have to wonder if there was a way of concealing psychic powers. Usually, any esper could know right away if another esper was using their powers to accomplish something. But there seemed to be a lot of ways to use these abilities. Ritsu wondered if he could do it. He'd just use his powers for a slight boost.

Ritsu focused his energy onto himself. All he needed was a slight speed boost, that was all. He did it subtly, as if he was just slightly nudging himself forward. And before he knew it, he found himself face first in the mud.

"Didn't I tell you not to use your psychic powers?" Teru was now jogging in place above Ritsu, looking down on him with a smirk. He was barely breaking a sweat.

"Bastard…" Ritsu coughed out, as he got up on all fours, spitting the mud out of his face.

"Did you think I wouldn't catch you?"

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Teru just laughed, and started running ahead again, forcing Ritsu to quickly try to catch up.

I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him

The rest of the run was hell. Ritsu's whole body was now damp and muddy, making his clothes a much more noticable weight. Every step was a new kind of torure. Ritsu was almost certain that Teru was just fucking with him at this point, and he was almost about to throw in the towel completely until Teru's pace started slowing down at an opening in the forrest.

"We're here!" Teru yelled back as he stopped. Ritsu ran up to Teru, about thirty seconds behind him and slouched over putting his hands on his knees practically gasping for air.

Ritsu's vision was blurry from sweat and watery eyes, but he had a pretty good idea of where "here" was. He knew something about this forrest felt familiar, and looking at the broken mossed over building, he recalled some familiar feelings of anxiety.

"This… is…" Ritsu attempted to say between gasps.

"That's right! It's the Seventh Branch! Or at least, what's left of it," confirmed Teru. "Here, we don't have to worry about holding back. This place is already destroyed."

Ritsu took a seat on the grass and was about to open his mouth to say something until Teru interrupted him.

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting down?"

"Why?"

"I'm tired, asshole."

"You know it's bad for your heart to sit down right after a long run."

"Fuck off."

"Get up. Walk around the building once and come back."

Ritsu wasn't quite sure before, but now he was absolutely certain Teru was getting some kind of sick kick out of his pain. But Ritsu got up, reluctantly admitting to himself that he was the one who asked for this, and started walking. It took about fifteen minutes to walk around the whole structure, and Ritsu was starting to realize just how hungry he was. When he came back, Teru was sitting down eating a sandwich.

"Why do you get to sit down?"

"That run was nothing for me."

"Whatever," Ritsu said, about to kneel down until a force stopped him from doing so. He looked over at Teru, who was pointing a finger at him.

"Not yet," Teru said with a smirk. "Let me finish my meal. Then you can sit down and eat."

"What?"

"Stand still until I'm done. This is another part of your training."

"What does this have to do with psychic powers?"

"Are you frustrated?"

"Of course!"

"Good. Then I'm doing my job."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ten minutes."

"What?"

"Ten minutes of standing in silence until you can eat. I want you to focus on your discomfort and frustration. I want you to deeply analyze it, find out where it comes from, and focus how it feels. Psychic powers come from emotions, and I assume the frustration you're feeling is strong. That's good. Work through that, and try to understand that."

I understand perfectly why I'm frustrated , thought Ritsu. But he remained silent, and did as he was told. After all, he did ask for this. For some fucking reason.

The source of the frustration that Ritsu was feeling was definitely obvious, but thinking back, Teru wasn't entirely wrong. Frustration was one of the words he used to use to describe it. That feeling seemed to take on lots of forms whenever it grew. It would always branch off into all sorts of emotions, but the source always remained a mystery. Frustration… where was it located again? Usually, it would reside in his throat, but today it seemed to be wrapping tightly around his teeth. His teeth…

Ritsu barely noticed it before, but now that he relaxed his jaw he realized he had been clenching his teeth this whole time. Dammit, they actually really hurt! Ritsu mentally cursed at Teru, whom he decided to blame for all of this.

Ritsu was never known for being the friendliest of people, but he wasn't quite as hateful as he seemed. He certainly had people he disliked, but hate was always too strong a word to describe the way he felt towards certain people. And the truth was, that feeling would only come out when he felt the need to defend his brother. But in that moment, Ritsu felt what he could only describe as pure, simple hatred. There were no complexities to it. There were no other elements involved. Ritsu hated Teru simply because Teru was being an asshole to him.

But, for a second, Ritsu could have sworn he felt something lighten in him. It came back as soon as he thought about it, but for just a second that feeling seemed absent. Ritsu tried to focus back in on his frustration, but to his surprise, it was gone. His jaw was still sore and his teeth were still aching, but his mouth was perfectly relaxed and neutral.

"Ok," Teru interrupted, "You can eat now."

"Huh?" Ritsu was sure it hadn't been ten minutes yet.

"It's a bit early, but you were doing so well. Consider it a treat."

"Were you reading my mind?"

"Telepathy isn't my specialty. I can't read your thoughts exactly, but I was able to get a vague idea of your inner productivity."

Ritsu grunted. He wasn't in the mood to protest. He was just happy to eat. He slumped down onto the grass and started sifting through the backpack Teru left out.

"Don't eat too much of that," warned Teru, "That's gotta last us the whole trip"

"Yeah, yeah."

"When you finish up we'll start with some barrier training."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But first, I'm thinking we should try to find a good spot inside the building. With all the rubble in there, there's definitely a lot to work with. And we can go completely nuts and break whatever we want, so why not utilize that?"

Teru was grinning again, but this time, Ritsu couldn't help but smile a bit too.

Am I actually enjoying this?